Late last year, a new service called Beauty Pie launched, and it kind of confused everyone. The service claimed to sell real luxury beauty products for drugstore prices — after a monthly or yearly membership fee, that is.
What seemed too good to be true had me asking: What the hell qualifies as a "luxury" product? How the hell does this membership really work? Should I be tossing my VIB Rouge card in the garbage?
I went on a mission to find out.
Basically, Beauty Pie claims to purchase products directly from luxury-beauty factories and sell them at their manufacturing cost.
What factories these actually ARE, I can't verify. But this is what Beauty Pie's website says about its manufacturers:
"Beauty Pie products are produced at the world’s leading luxury cosmetics and skincare labs and manufacturers. We currently produce products in France, Korea, Italy, Germany, the UK and the USA. Each of our individual item pages states the country of origin of the product featured."
Super vague, but I'll roll with it.
But to access the cheap factory-based prices, you have to buy a membership — otherwise, you pay a competitive market price, which is a lot higher.
So, I went ahead and bought a membership for $10 per month — but that comes with a catch, too.
With your membership, you are given a monthly "allowance" of makeup. You can ONLY buy $150 worth of product in one month — which you can spend all at once or throughout the month. If you don't use up your allowance one month, it simply rolls over into the next.
That sounds a like a shit ton of makeup at first, but this allowance isn't based on those super cheap factory costs. They're based on the competitive luxury prices. Woof.
And although Beauty Pie's pickings are slimmer than mosts brands, this makes shopping for the month REALLY hard for a first-time buyer.
Sure, the website offers just about every kind of makeup you could ever need — lipstick, foundation, eye shadow, the works — but there are only a few options to choose from within those categories. And almost all of these products come in one formula.
To someone who already owns all of these things and isn't exactly sure what products they should have faith in, determining where to spend those precious allowance bucks can feel as dire as choosing a last meal.
So, how much makeup can my $10 membership buy me in one month? And how much will it actually cost if I buy it all in one swing?
Turns out, $150 worth of product could get me a foundation, a highlighter, an eyeliner pen, and a lipstick. As you'll see in this screenshot, I did have $8 to spare, but the only items I could secure with that amount were additional eyeliners or lipsticks, so I passed.
The added price of these four items at factory cost plus my $10 monthly fee added up to a cool $25.45 — after shipping, I paid $30 even.
It doesn't seem like much, but I was pretty impressed upon checkout, seeing as I had just bought four products for what I normally pay for one highlighter.
Because I knew I was only allowed three to five products, I went ahead and got four products I use on a near-daily basis — these are also the products for which I have the highest standards.
Sure, they're cheap, but I have to ask: Are these products up to par? Because if they aren't, I'm going to riot. Just kidding. But I will cancel my membership.
My order arrived from Europe around two weeks after I placed my order, and I immediately took notice of the packaging.
Beauty Pie does NOT supply the beautiful, heavy packaging that one expects of luxury makeup. And in this case, it's a good thing. Beauty Pie's website states that it avoids weighted packaging and uses recycled materials for its packaging in efforts to be environmentally sustainable.
Despite the lack of heft, however, every item is beautifully sleek and minimal.
I didn't get the results I expected from the Everyday Great Skin Foundation.
While Beauty Pie describes this foundation as matte and medium-coverage, it took on a lighter, dewy finish on my skin. But that's not a bad thing! I'm just a Full Coverage Queen when it comes to foundation, which I don't wear often.
But after wearing it for a full day, I REALLY liked it.
In fact, I haven't worn another foundation since trying this. While its consistency is thin, its coverage is buildable, and it blends so flawlessly. Not only that, but it's one of the most comfortable, skin-like foundations I've ever worn.
Would I pay the competitive price of $44 for it? Probably not.
The Pro-Glow Highlighter is absolutely mesmerizing in its compact.
Legitimately, I stared at it for ten minutes straight after opening it. Beauty Pie's site states that it gives you an "instant" glow that's buildable.
It looks and feels just as nice on the skin, but you really have to layer it for visible results.
It's not my usual blinding sheen, but I don't hate it.
Is it worth it's alleged $38 competitive price point? Absolutely not.
The stiff pen tip of the Precision Eyeliner Marker instantly made me nervous — I usually have trouble drawing straight lines with liners of this nature.
12-hour wear, high pigment, and quick drying are all promised from this eyeliner.
But it wasn't the applicator that gave me trouble. It was the formula.
The quick-drying feature is SO quick that it makes application patchy, as you can clearly see here.
Beauty Pie's competitive price for this liner is $22. Does it live up to my similarly priced, tried-and-true Kat Von D Tattoo Liner? HELL NO.
There were six matte shades of the FutureLipstick, so naturally, I picked the loudest red-orange I could.
Beauty Pie states this matte lipstick is moisturizing, but not long-wearing — which almost defeats the purpose of a matte lipstick, no?
I ADORED the shade itself, but there was nothing particularly spectacular about its finish or its formula.
It's well-pigmented and super comfortable, but it doesn't stand a chance against my coffee cups.
This lipstick formula bears a heavy resemblance to Rimmel's $5 creamy, matte lipsticks. That being said, I would never in a million years pay Beauty Pie's competitive price of $25 for this one.
Surprisingly, there wasn't a single product I hated. But the foundation was the only thing I went back for.
And one foundation definitely isn't worth the trouble of a $10 membership.
At the end of the day, these products are pretty good! But they aren't great, either. Everything felt very generic, and I'm sure if put to the test against brand-name luxury makeup, Beauty Pie would lose.
And about those low factory costs — budgeted beauty lovers could definitely find these same exact items (if not better ones) for a buck or two more at the drugstore.
And while I see the merits of a membership system like this, it takes the fun out of makeup shopping for me.
Me? I almost never buy new beauty products online. I love long, romantic walks through Sephora with frequent stops for samples, swatches, and casual conversations with sales associates. Beauty Pie, while affordable, can't give me any of that. In fact, its allowance system made it quite stressful. And it didn't really end up being worth it.
That being said, I'll definitely be canceling my membership. Sorry not sorry, Beauty Pie.
What about you? Would you benefit from a beauty buyer's club like this?
Let us know on our Eyeliner Addicts Facebook page and like us for more reviews and beauty news!
