Being an esthetician, clients often ask me if this skin care goop is worth it. They send me links of products to review to figure out whether they are worth it. Often times the products are quite costly and clients don’t want to waste money on things that aren’t going to work. There are 3 factors that I will share with you to help you make the decision.
3 Factors to Decide If this Skin Care Goop is Worth It
- Top 5 ingredients
- Price point
- Container size
Top 5 Ingredients
The first thing I look at is the ingredient list. Certain websites offer the ingredients right away while others have to be hunted down. These hard-to-find lists always make me suspect from the start. My focus goes straight to the first 5 ingredients, and I compare my findings to what the product is touting. For example, if it says it’s an anti-aging hydrating serum then I make sure that the product starts off with a hydrating base and hopefully contains anti-aging ingredients high up on the list.
Although I focus on the first 5 ingredients, I do take the entire list into consideration since the devils are in the details. These considerations would include excessive preservatives, parabens, phthalates and a slew of others that are on my radar.
Skin Care Price Point
Once my initial assessment is done I consider the price point. Being in the industry, I have a pretty good understanding of ingredient costs. If the ingredients are recognizable than it’s pretty easy to make an assessment of whether it’s worth it. Sometimes I run into ingredient names that are masked by trademark names and it’s impossible to figure out their value. In a previous post I described a $1220 eye cream and recently noticed that they have an eye serum for $1750. As I mentioned in that post, there’s no way to make a determination of their cost or their effectiveness.
Container Size
When determining a product’s value, pay close attention to a product’s size. If you’re not too savvy with the metric system, remember this ratio: 30 mL is approximately 1 oz. On average, most high-quality serums will be sold in 1 oz containers. With moderate daily use, this should last about 1 to 3 months. Masks, on the other hand, should be purchased in larger volumes. This is because we use more product for each application. Therefore, if you purchase a $150 mask that is only 50 mL, you may find yourself ordering that product every month or even more.
La Prairie Eye Cream Examined
Let’s take a look at the La Prairie Skin Caviar Luxe Eye Lift Cream as an example. The ingredients for this product are not clearly listed on the manufacturer’s website. This is a major red flag. Nevertheless, here is the list of ingredients:
As I looked through the first 5 ingredients of the La Prairie Skin Caviar there was really no need to read the rest, but, as stated, I did. I found myself talking aloud when I came across several red flags. In the first 5, you can’t help but notice the petrolatum and hydrogenated vegetable oil. Srsly? Since they’re charging between $380-$480, these ingredients could/should have been avoided.
Then, you scroll down and notice Sea Whip–I had to look that up and was hoping that I’d find a friendly sea plant, but, alas, it is an organism living within coral reef. I thought we were supposed to be protecting our coral reefs? Harvesting coral for our skin care ambitions is the opposite of eco-friendly.
Lastly, I’ll jump to the end where we have 4 parabens. Depending on your philosophy about parabens, 4 is significant and seems unnecessary and excessive. La Prairie polishes off this madness by adding “Fragrance” and the color additives Yellow 5, Red 40. Anytime you see an ingredient listed as “Fragrance” you should stop and ask yourself: “Why didn’t the manufacturer list the actual name of their fragrance? Is there something that they might be hiding?”.
As for color additives, the substances are questionable, plus they can cause allergies in some people.
Is this Skin Care Goop Worth It?
The product that inspired this post is called GoopGlow Microderm Instant Glow Exfoliator. After reviewing the product as a whole, I found the ingredients to be solid. In fact, their overall eco-message is quite good. They leave out all of the “bad guys” in skin care (parabens, petroleum, phthalates, SLS, SLES, artificial dyes, fragrances). That being said, is this particular Goop skin care product worth it? In my opinion, not really. Based on the ingredients, price, and bottle size, I think you can find similar products for less.
Goop’s exfoliator succeeds in providing a clean product that combines many different plant extracts and essential oils. However, you can find many other products containing the same types of ingredients for a lot less money.
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