7 Things the Makeup Industry Doesn't Want You to Know

If youre new to my channel, my name is Marlena Ive been a cosmetic brand owner. Since 2010., I had the brand Makeup: Geek Cosmetics, Im working on a new brand for the future. During that time, Ive worked very closely with chemists product developers. Everyone in that industry, space, Ive personally set foot in and worked with 15 Labs that are the most well known throughout the world. Dont say any of that from a cocky place you all at all. I am so blessed and grateful to have gotten to do all of that. I say that because its not me, speaking from just a quick little Google search online Ive, actually lived through this for many many years working in product development with these cosmetic manufacturers. So lets Jump Right In and start with. The first thing that the makeup industry doesnt want you to know: please: Music. The first thing that makeup industry doesnt want you to know is that high end and drugstore products are made at the exact same manufacturers. Now the argument always get when I talk about this online as well. It could be the different formulas this and that absolutely there can be different formulas at a lab, but if that lab or manufacturer has various formulas its not going to be this vast price difference between the two to Warrant the price difference between high end and drugstore. When you were buying a makeup product, most of the time, youre paying for the name, the reputation of that brand and the packaging youre not actually paying for the product itself, the product is the cheapest thing to actually make in all of this packaging for sure always Costs more than the product itself, which is so crazy.

What actually dictates price more than the formula itself is where its made. If I make a foundation in Italy versus a foundation made in China, Im gon na see two very different price points. Now, thats not bashing either one a lot of that comes from the price of Labor, the raw materials that are used, but from one specific manufacturer lets, say its Italy and I make a foundation in Italy. If they give me a few different formulas, there may be a slight variation in price, but its not going to be double and triple of one formula versus the other. Coming from that same manufacturer number, two kind of goes along with this. Most of the time when youre buying a product you are paying for just the name itself, so, for example, eyeliner pencils and I have some options to show you guys so Ulta beauty. I have an Urban Decay one I have LOreal. I have a Makeup Geek, one that I used to work on a Sephora one theres, a ton of different eyeliner pencils. These are all made at the same manufacturer. The formulas theres a few variations of the formula. But if you look at the ingredient, decks youre going to see a lot of the same ingredients used across the board and, at the end of the day, its the same packaging, its a pencil. It has a cap, theres, really not a lot that goes into the packaging, so this is one category for sure that you are paying for just the name and not the product itself and well do another video later you guys, where I will tell you how to Shop like a pro where to save your money and where to spend it based on what youre actually paying for on the products number three blushes is one of the products that has has actually a really large profit margin.

So blush is basically an eyeshadow you guys. I know its going to have different things in the formula that are going to be more for the skin. It may have less pigmentation, but if you look at the ingredient, deck of an eyeshadow and a blush its going to be very comparable, its going to have talc Mica its gon na have some binders in there. So when you see the price of an eyeshadow, maybe its a few dollars, you go to blush youre like oh its forty dollars. You know youre paying for the packaging, but outside of that that product itself is really not expensive to make. So I would say in this category would be one if you can find a color and drugstore that works for you great. You dont have to spend a lot of money on this product because its not really Im gon na use this just kind of loosely like a fancy formula that requires a lot of development and things like that, its a pretty easy thing to make blushes. So if you want to save money, that would be a category Id say: go to drugstore number. Four I talked on a little bit too is eyeliners, are almost all made at the exact same place and are very similar formula. So when you look at a drugstore eyeliner, the last time I checked, they were eight or nine dollars. Im seeing high end ones are like 21 22 dollars for the exact same pencil.

This is definitely one category you all that I would say if youre, just looking for a basic color, a black or brown, get a drugstore version, Its Made at the same place, its probably a very, very similar formula, its going to apply the same way. Youre. Really just paying for the name or an option of colors thats it number five I touched on two is that when you buy a makeup product, you are mostly paying for the packaging. So if you are a person where packaging – maybe doesnt matter to you as much, but you want a really high quality product, I would actually say go for some Pro Brands, like Krylon may run Ben Nye just type into your Google search professional makeup artist, Brands. Those Brands spend most of their money on formula the product itself. The packaging is not going to be fancy its not going to be super decorative its going to be a basic, clear lid type thing which is meant to be for pros because they dont care about the packaging theyre needing a heavy duty, high quality product thats. Going to work on a bunch of different clients, so if you really just want great products that arent going to break your budget, I would say: go for pro brand youre just going to get more bang for your buck from that actual product. Now, if youre a person that loves packaging, I am one of those included. Obviously the higher end brands are able to do that.

Well, they have a wider profit margin that they can spend a bit more and do really fancy packaging like when. I think that I come to mind of Pat McGrath, like her products, for me are pretty good. What youre, mostly paying for, is that beautiful packaging, the cases the gorgeous bucks it comes in all of that comes at a price because that is expensive to produce, especially if its something custom like what she does so thats. What youre actually paying for is the product, not necessarily the the makeup inside, so you could have a super Luxe high end brand. That has this really beautiful luxurious packaging and you try the product inside and its like Dusty, its chalky, its not very pigmented. Have you guys experienced that I know I have and I get so mad Im like I spent 60 on this eyeshadow quad and it doesnt even work and then after I got into what I do and worked on the back side of things with product development Im. Like oh Im, paying for that name and that really nice compact, but not necessarily the product number six – is a very taboo and a borderline scandalous thing to talk about, but Im gon na say it anyways, because you guys know me Im blunt when your favorite Brands Go to retail stores versus being independent in any brand. The quality is almost guaranteed to always go down now, heres. Why? When an independent brand, when they start selling, you know direct to Consumer, they just have their online portal theyre, not in any brick and mortar stores.

Theyre able to give you a better quality makeup for that price point, because they dont have to worry about paying another kind of middle person that needs to be profitable as well. So when I had Makeup Geek, it was selling direct to consumer that profit margin. I was able to bring high quality to the table for affordable price, but as soon as I started getting into retail stores, I lost my shirt on it. Basically, because I had to have a wide enough margin to be able to support that retailer as well and its not like the retailer is ripping you off, they have to make money as well, so there has to be such a wide profit margin that the brand Itself is able to make money to pay, their team pay their. You know overhead and all of that, but then that retailer they have staff, they have utilities, they have insurance, they have lost and damages all these things that it takes to run that business. They have to pay for that as well, so youre, basically supporting two different businesses in one when you buy from a major retailer versus buying directly from the brand itself. So what happens? Because their margins are not able to handle the extra expense of being in store? Theyre going to either have to raise the prices or theyre going to have to cut the quality of the makeup and most times consumers dont like when you raise the prices, obviously so theyre going to cut the quality to try to get that cost down.

To make sure that that margin is wide enough to be installed with all that being said, if you guys love a specific product and its an independent brand, I know a lot of people like. Oh, I wish it was in store. Yes, the accessibility is amazing and thats definitely a bonus, but it comes at a price, usually in that the quality is going to go down now. The last one I have is also one that a lot of people dont want to talk about its very controversial again. Dont shoot the messenger, but this is the actual reality of of behind the scenes. Talc is still a risk for having slight traces of asbestos in your makeup, and I felt like Ive been talking about this, you all since 2008, even before I started my own brand thats, why I had my products for talc free. It is such a common ingredient in cosmetics now Im, not trying to fear Monger Im, not trying to say that anything has talc is going to make you sick not at all. Let me explain talk when it is mind. If its not done properly, it can have traces of asbestos in it its just part of the natural mineral thats in the earth and how its mine, and all that its one of those things that its just, if its not done carefully and inspected and done really Well, it can have traces of that in there, so I dont know if you guys have seen over the last several years.

I think it was Claires makeup and some other brands where they had this really really inexpensive eyeshadows, and it got recalled because it had asbestos in it. The reason for that is because they used a low quality Health that was super cheap. So for me personally, my brand – I just avoided talc altogether, because I didnt want to risk it again. Im, not fear, mongering and Im, not saying that anything has talc is dangerous. Thats, not what Im saying at all. What Im saying is, if you have products that are very, very inexpensive and they have talc in it. I would be very weary about using that, because, if its too good to be true, then it is so when it comes to makeup if its super super cheap youre like oh, why? How does this so cheap? That is, why is because theyre using low quality ingredients in there, its probably made in a manufacturer thats, not very clean, who just doesnt care and all of that so for me, Ive gotten to the point in my life where Ill buy fewer makeup products but Ill Buy a little bit more quality because I know its made well its at a clean environment, and all that I know everyone especially nowadays is on a budget. I would say still for me personally is focus on brands that you know are going to be ethically made. Are gon na vouch for the the safety of their products like when I think of a budget brand in mind that I highly recommend, I would say, colourpop made in the US? I know Ive been to their manufacturer on more than one occasion.

Its super clean everything is done on the up and up there. So for me personally, if I had to recommend an inexpensive brand to go to would be colourpop, so lets go back to the talc really quick. I have Dr Eric Burke hes on YouTube. He has millions of subscribers hes a legit doctor. He talked about this in a video I was like yes. Finally, someone has talked about it, its not just me. The video is called five womens products that you should stop using immediately and he talks about this too, and I thought the information that he shared was pretty spot on so Ill. Put that clip here just so, you guys can see that now. Talc is the softest mineral and its highly absorbable, so itll absorb the oil from your skin and give you an appearance of kind of a soft silky texture. Now some of you are probably asking well, why do Brands even use talc? The reason is, it has a very soft buttery texture to it. So when you fill an eyeshadow or a blush and its very soft and buttery most likely its going to have talc in it, Mica is another mineral that is used in products. Sometimes youll see a combination of talc and my sometimes just Micah, sometimes just help. Comparing the two. A lot of Brands prefer to use talc because it is softer around the edges. Its Mica can be just a little bit more gritty, not a ton, but if you have a good chemist that is very great with formulation, they can find a way to make that Mica super smooth thats.

What I have with my shadows – and they were super soft and buttery and they were tell free, it is possible, its just a matter of you know asking the chemist to create that, for you so well see what happens in the future. With this, if companies will still keep using talc if theyll care or whatever its just something, to kind of put on your radar to look out for when youre buying your powder ingredients, hopefully you guys enjoyed that information. Let me know if you like, more kind of behind the scenes info like that, if you enjoyed this video, make sure to subscribe, come back next week for some more videos have a great week. You guys, and I will talk to you soon, bye.