Good news for H&M fans: the Swedish superstore is branching out into beauty. Come autumn, you’ll be able to pick from a mega-range of 700 products, covering makeup, beauty tools, and hair and body care. It’s already got a preview of the new range on its Instagram, with sleek rows of candy-coloured nail polishes and lipsticks. Prices will range from $2.99 to $24.99, with a special collection of certified natural and organic products to lure in eco-conscious beauty junkies.
Think of it as fast ‘fashion for the face’, as Style.com and H&M concept designer Sara Wallander put it. But while you might turn your nose up at that tagline (isn’t fast fashion meant to be bad?), here’s the thing: you don’t need to spend money to look money. Despite what the beauty industry claims, you don’t actually need to spend major dosh on your face – in fact, sometimes the opposite is true.
I’ve blown paycheques on £65 serums and begged foundation samples off unimpressed beauty counter girls. I’ve gone into friends’ bathrooms and dreamily sighed at their pricey makeup collections. I’d always thought that the more money you spend, the better the product. Then came the Valhalla of expensive beauty products: Creme de la Mer.
For those who aren’t familiar with it, this came out several years ago to huge fanfare. Beauty editors trumpeted its ‘Miracle Broth’ (yes, this was its actual name) component while raising their eyebrows at the price tag – a single 30ml pot costs £105. If you’re feeling particularly flush, you can also shell out for a 500ml bottle at the bargain price of £1,340.
Clearly, I had to have it. (Me, a sheep? Never.) Luckily, before I started going on a baked beans-only diet, my mother got a tub ‘just to see what all the fuss was about’. (You see where I get it from.) I obviously slipped my grubby fingers into it every second I could – and then, when I was home from uni and forgot my cheapo Nivea moisturiser, I started using it every day.
Tragedy. My skin broke out and started resembling that scene in The Witches where Anjelica Huston pulls her face off and is revealed as the pustule-ridden witch she is. Even after the biggest boils popped, it took weeks for the hard little spots around my jaw to fade. Let’s just say I never believed the hype again.
In fact, read any beauty blog and you’ll find people raving over the simplest bargain products. The virtues of apple cider vinegar (used as a toner) are praised; others worship at the cult of supermarket aisle coconut oil. Meanwhile, a whole new word – ‘dupes’ – has sprung up to describe cut-price alternatives that faultlessly mimic more costly products. Just check out this exhaustive Temptalia list, which matches Dior and MAC eyeshadows, lippie and the like with their high street equivalents.
You might worry about what you’re putting on your face (aka the ‘oh god this is so cheap what if it’s made from powdered limescale’ factor), but it’s never beeYou Don't Need To Spend Money On Makeup To Look Ace. Just Ask H&M.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.