Can you tell by looking whether others are wearing high or low end make-up?

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I don't think I could tell. Maybe some others here could. I think it lies in your skin's health and the technique you use to apply, as well as color and texture choices that are right for you.

I'm pretty sure I couldn't tell, but I'm interested to see if anyone else thinks they could.

 
I've only been able to tell one time. I knew someone who would sometimes wear a matte cream shadow on her lids with a matte dark mauve one in her crease. The mauve shadow was the tip-off since I'm not familiar with a good quality drugstore one that would look like this one did in her crease, given how dodgy mattes can be even in higher end lines.  

 
By and large I don't think its the cost of the product, but how skillfully it applied, and the quality of both the tools and daily skin care. I have had some really crappy, cheap products before (usually those awful flimsy shadow kits you find at flea markets, or anything from Claire's Boutique) but for the most part drugstore makeup performs as solidly as its higher-end counterpart. The only difference I can bring to mind is that with my higher-end shadow I can go longer without a primer. I wear a mix; some days I just want to kick back and wear my NYC and others I want to pull out the stops and break out the Estée Lauder. I don't think anyone has yet figured out the difference!

 
I highly doubt I could tell. If someone isn't good at applying makeup, even expensive things can look bad. Likewise, fantastic application of cheaper items can look really good. It would be interesting to do a side-by-side comparison of the same faces, using low-end and high-end cosmetics, and have a sort of guessing game.

 
I don't think I could tell, generally. But certain things at the drugstore are so bad that I think they can't even be applied with enough finesse to cover up the fact that they're cheap. The last 3 drugstore eyeshadows I have bought, I've returned. I think if I saw someone with eyeshadow that was chalky or very poorly blended I would be more inclined to think that eyeshadow came from the drugstore. Also, certain drugstore foundation (I'm thinking of Covergirl for the most part) are so bad that they look like paste or a mask on the face. But the other ladies had a point - foundation is more likely to look bad or poorly applied if the skin is too dry or too oily, in essence, not well taken care of.

 
No, but I'd love for people to post 2 looks and then guess which is which
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I have friends that swear by the high-end brands, but I honestly can't tell the difference if the person is skilled with whatever they're applying.  I've seen many people on YouTube who have done amazing things with typical drugstore brands, so I guess there's a number of factors in play that shape the final look. 

 
Quote: Originally Posted by turntrekgodhead /img/forum/go_quote.gif
  I can sometimes tell by the smell. I feel like Hannibal when I do that, though.
I swear anytime you post something, it's so funny! You are too much girl!

And to the answer this question, I don't think anyone would be able to accurately conclude whether someone's makeup is high end brand or pharmacy brand because it's the MUA's hands and talent that matter.

 
It depends on how well they applied it. If used correctly with the right brushes, you can make most low end products look flawless.

 
Sometimes for kicks I'll do what I call "face off." I put high end makeup on one side and drug store on the other side. I have enough makeup that I can find almost identical colors on both ends. I do full face this way. When I finish I can't tell a difference in the sides. After a few hours the drug store eye shadow usually starts fading and the eyeliner may migrate, but right after application they  look identical. 

 
I would say... definitely not. Some items from a high-end price range suck and some from lower-end price range are great. And some people can make mediocre products look amazing while others can have the highest quality and the makeup looks awful. 

High-end products are more consistent in quality than drugstore items so for that reason a person applying and wearing the makeup might be able to tell based on all that (application, wear time, creasing, etc) whether it's high end or drugstore, but looking at them immediately after application, I really don't think so!

 
Quote: Originally Posted by turntrekgodhead /img/forum/go_quote.gif
  I can sometimes tell by the smell. I feel like Hannibal when I do that, though.
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I don't think I have ever been close enough to a person to smell their makeup. I never notice makeup smells though.

 
Nope.

Skills count too much to be able to say if a person is wearing low or high end makeup.

On the other hand, we shouldn't forget that high end doesn't necessarily mean quality (like Chanel's eyeshadows? Jesus, everytime I swatch them they just look so sheer and cheap!! You just need to go to a L'Oreal counter and there you go, same identical eyeshadow for much less money)

However, I might guess sometimes if a product worn by a person is low or high end by the finish of it. Last time I was looking at my colleague's lipgloss and wondering what it was, it was so shiny, too shiny to be a low end lipgloss. I ended up asking her and it was MAC.

 
Quote: Originally Posted by feemia /img/forum/go_quote.gif

"High-end" and "low-end" are meaningless terms which don't indicate quality.

This. You can't tell because you don't know if the high end items are crap quality and the cheap ones are good. I have some lipsticks from milani that look just as nice as one I tried from Mac. 

 

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