THIRDRAFT

We’ve all seen those gorgeous makeup products on Instagram—lipsticks in shiny cases, blushes shaped like flowers, and highlighters that look like jewelry. A ₹2,500 lipstick in a fancy tube, a blush that comes like a rose, a highlighter inside a pearl-shaped box. They look so dreamy! But when it comes to how they actually work—are they really better than cheaper ones? Or are we just paying more because they look nice on our dressing table? To find out, I talked to a few makeup lovers who got excited by the packaging, but were later disappointed.

“I bought this lipstick from a brand called ‘Dear Dahlia’, it looked so beautiful,” says Sanya Kapoor, 22, a student from NID, Delhi. “The marble design was so classy, and all the influencers were hyping it up.” But when she used it? “It cost me ₹1,800 and didn’t even last an hour. I had to keep applying it, and it felt the same as my ₹500 Maybelline one. I was so let down. Now I just keep it on my table because it looks nice.”

Ananya Sharma, 20, a fashion student from Amity University, Noida, had a similar experience. “I bought a blush from Kaja Beauty that came with a cute heart-shaped stamp. It looked so fun in the videos!” But using it wasn’t fun. “The colour barely showed up on my face. I had to put on so much that it started looking patchy. The heart stamp was cute but not useful, it just made things harder.”

Meher Joshi, 23, a beauty blogger from Bangalore, faced the same issue with a ₹2,200 highlighter from Half Magic Beauty. “The packaging looked so cool and modern. I thought it would be my favourite product,” she says. “But instead, it was just full of glitter. By the end of the day, my face looked shiny in a bad way, and the glitter had spread to my clothes, bag, even my phone! Not worth it.”

Today, many small makeup companies make products that look amazing in photos—pretty colours, creative shapes, pastel shades. But while they win on looks, the formulas inside often don’t match the high prices.

So before you spend a lot of money on a lipstick or highlighter just because it looks cute, ask yourself: Is it really good—or is it just good-looking? Because sometimes, a pretty package hides an average product.