Beauty Pie: Luxury Beauty At Factory Prices

Doing it. Signing up, want me a piece of the pie. They’ve worn me down, sponsored post by sponsored post. Followed me all over the Internet. Damn you Beauty Pie and your excellent data driven marketing.

It wasn’t just the Facebook ads. I’m sure you’ve read about it by now, the beauty membership club Beauty Pie. Luxury beauty at factory prices. Have had my eye on it since it launched last year. The premise is an interesting one, as is the founder Marcia Kilgore, entrepreneur and beauty industry powerhouse behind brands Bliss Spa, FitFlop, Soaper Duper and Soap & Glory.

Kilgore says that all luxury beauty products are made in the same few laboratories – labs that she works with and buys from at cost. Cut out the other factors that contribute to huge product marks up – retail stores, fancy packaging, marketing budgets – and boom, high-end beauty at highstreet prices.

You pay a monthly membership fee for access to these prices. The level of membership you select (£5, £10 or £20) dictates how much you are allowed to buy (£50, £100, £200). The spending limit part is slightly grating and unnecessarily complicated. You’d think that a £5/month membership with a £50/month spending limit would be straight forward. But start shopping and you soon realise that the spending limit relates to the RRP values of the products, the price that Beauty Pie says you would pay in a Department Store rather than the actual price they sell them at. Starting to feel hard isn’t?

Before you lose the will, let’s check out the bargains yeah? Because most importantly, the products look lush. The line, initially just makeup, has expanded to include some lovely looking skincare, brushes, candles and fragrance. It gets good reviews too.

Makeup without the markup? How about some familiar looking strobing drops for £5.51? Or an eye crayon, typically sold by premium brands at £18 a piece, for £4.49? Or £6.50 for a Japanese-style cream cleanser in a pink tube that similar brands sell in SpaceNK for £25?

So I’m in. Though my patience, and wallet, got a workout in the process. Product reviews coming soon.

Til next time,

Hayley

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