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Do you ever buy a beauty product just for its packaging?


Do you ever buy a beauty product just for its packaging? Do you regret it? Do you use it?

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I’ve had packaging push me over into buying things, but it’s never purely for the packaging – I have to like the insides, too!

Thanks to Alberte for today’s question!

76 Comments

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courtney Avatar

It’s usually the packaging that catches my eye, but i never go for JUST packaging, even though the new to the beach lustre drops were tempting :-p

claudia Avatar

Quite often! Sometimes I don’t even care about the product at all! On the other hand, if I dislike the packaging, it makes me less interested in the product, no matter how good it is. I tried an EL lipgloss once and I liked it, but I don’t care for EL packaging (I don’t like gold and it looks to old-lady to me), so I don’t own anything from that line.

whitnee Avatar

So did I, and my purchase came with a purple hatbox with the flowers on it also. Swoon! I think the hatbox was 50% of the reason I bought it.

kenzie. Avatar

I just ordered a UD Pocket Rocket lipgloss because of the packaging. Well, I liked the color too, but the packaging really pushed it over the edge. 😀

Carrie L Avatar

i want to buy the timothy one because my boyfriend’s name is timothy and the description fits him to a T. i’m not even really interested in the product though

Miss Ak Avatar

Hell no!!!!I feel am way to smart to be convinced by just packaging….I always find myself checking the inside product regardless of the packaging.Besides….how many times do u ever get to use the packaging once u like the product?

Sari Avatar

Cute packaging can definetly sway me towards buying something , but I try to only buy things that I ‘ll actually use so I wouldn ‘t buy something just for the packaging if I didn ‘t like the product .

TheJoey Avatar

Cute packaging will make me take a second look but functional packaging will make me purchase a so-so product. I don’t have a lot of storage so I hate bulky packaging. I depot like mad most of the time but I found a great palette in clearance a my SDM a few weeks back. I hated the shadows but I pressed my own into it and it works great. I like the palette because it can fit into a card slot in my wallet but still had a little < 6g of product. No wasted space.

Lauren Avatar

I would never buy a product just for packaging! For me, if I buy a product I love and it has great packaging it’s an added bonus. But I just don’t have the money to waste to spend it on something as unnecessary as cute packaging.

nicci Avatar

My boyfriend likes the perfume bottles from Jean Paul Gaultier – he thinks the shape of the bottle is unique (woman’s body from the hips up) we went looking and I didn’t like any of the scents. He wanted me to buy one, finish it, and then he can display the bottle at work…lol. I asked if he was interested in the men’s version and he gave me a funny look 🙂

Rissy Avatar

Lol…not usually… though it does help me decide what to finally get. Like the to the beach refined bronzer. I knew it was perm, but the packaging was so cute… and it was my first bronzer. 🙂 so I bought it and now have my msf nautral in the cute compact for touchups. 🙂

ki. Avatar

When I first got interested in make up, I would do it all the time! It’s only now that I’ve understood my skin tone and the colours that suit me, so I’m very prudent!

fish fish Avatar

A few times, and I am actually quite happy with them. I am the type of consumers that read a lot of reviews and even go to play around with them for a while before I decide if I want to buy them. Oh, based on your Urban Decay Naked Palette review (love it!), after thinking for days, I decided to order one from Sephora today, eventhough I have not seen it in real. I bought Coco Mademoiselle in Twist and Spray because of the sleek and fun design. Same for the Urban Decay Eyeshadow Palettes, after the Ammo, I just have to own the Deluxe, Skull and Wallpaper.

Refinement Avatar

Of course!My most recent offense was the To The Beach collection by MAC. It has great colors but who could resist the pretty sea themed packaging, lol. I do use the products and I don’t regret my puchases at all because they are so unique. My next offense will probably be the Venomous Villians collection by MAC which is to be released in September.

Sarah M Avatar

I have had to put up with ugly packaging because I love a product but I’ve never really bought a product I don’t like because it looks pretty, as tempting as it is! 🙂

Hilana Avatar

I’m with Claudia on this. Bought some stuff (usually from cheaper ranges) because the packaging was so adorable. I have also NOT bought a product because I did not like the packaging.
But usually, it’s the product itself that sways me, not the packaging.

Lea Avatar

I bought the “Shell Pearl” Beauty Powder from MAC’s Liberty of London collection for the packaging, but I loooove the product, so that’s a plus. 😀

Azaza Avatar

Its an added bonus but I wont just buy it because of the packaging. That would just be wasteful if the product inside is not good

starr Avatar

sadly yes i do buy products just for the packaging. but i usually don’t end up regretting it because I’m too busy fawning over the packaging :). And sometimes its fun to experiment with colors you normally wouldnt have bought! and sometimes i end up loving the inside as well.

Maria Avatar

Cute packing is what attracts me to the product but I don’t buy it if I am not going to use what is inside . I have discovered some amazing products (that I use almost every day ) because the packing was cute.

Michou Avatar

The packaging does EXACTLY what the marketing companies WANT them to do to me… it luuuuuuuuures me closer and closer. However, if the product isn’t something I’d wear, then it’s not happening, no matter how cute or sexy the packaging is. 🙂

Jess Avatar

I have 100% done this! My friends and I joke that we are a product marketer’s dream- in sephora we are immediately drawn to anything in pretty packaging!

Lizz M. Avatar

It definitely makes it hurt a little more when I realize I can’t buy it, but overall, no, I can’t say i’ve bought anything just for packaging. Maybe if it’s less of an investment, like $10, I would.
Most recently though I fell in love with Benefit’s Sunday-Funday Packaging, and the other one, the ‘scene’ something or other, but I didn’t like or need what was inside. As much as I loved the packaging, I understood I had to pass, ha.

On the other side of that of course, fun packaging makes it that much sweeter when you love the product and get to have it.

lazeny Avatar

Nope, I never really pay much attention to packaging. A pretty case or a nice tube is a plus, but I don’t buy cosmetics just because it looks pretty, it has to look pretty on me. Cosmetics are not exactly inexpensive so I have to be wise in purchasing them.

Evelyn Avatar

No, otherwise I would have bought some tokidoki stuff. I really think their packaging is cute but I don’t really like the products.

Keener Avatar

It’s never the sole reason, but packaging does catch my eye. I do respect the brand if I think they’ve done a good job in delivering a product in a useable package and it’s looked like they’ve put thought into their own line and their customers.

On the flip side, it can deter me from buying a product if I find the it gaudy, childish, and/or poorly designed. Packaging matters to me in that way. As much as I like Urban Decay some of the packaging isn’t my style and I can’t go near Tarina Tarantino or Tokidoki (even though I do like the design, I don’t particularly like it for a make-up line… don’t ask me to explain that!).

Anitacska Avatar

Not solely for the packaging, but I did buy the Urban Decay AIW mainly for the packaging (I do also love UD shadows), and planning on buying the Vegan palette again mostly because of the packaging! But I do always look at the products itself too. I’m more of a sucker for pretty products, like Marine Life, Chantecaille LE powders, etc. and get them for just looking at! 😛

Janine Avatar

I just bought the Vegan palette… for the packaging. *sigh*. Of course I love UD shadows, and those colors are pretty good, but I HAD to have it! 🙂

katy Avatar

im the opposite. i let packaging stop me from buying things i might want. i know it sounds weird, but i’ll not buy a MAC product that’s in special packaging if i’m not a fan of the packaging, even if i’m a fan of the product.

betterthanmink Avatar

Absolutely! But I think I’ve been getting better about checking the blogs and other sources for reviews prior to purchasing to weed out the ones that are bad quality… as for judgment calls on whether I actually “need” anything, well I think it’s gone way past that.
I definitely went nuts over Hello Kitty, though, and I’m always drawn to Chanel

Rissy Avatar

Not usually just the packaging, but for to the beach I bought the bronzer (my first one) so I could put my msf natural in it for touch ups. 🙂 it now has a cute home and a mirror.

Nic Avatar

I’ll almost never buy something purely for the packaging, but it will sometimes make me take a second look at something I wouldn’t have otherwise thought to purchase. Likewise, I never decide not to purchase something purely because the packaging is ugly, but I will sometimes choose not to buy something (even if I like the product) if the packaging is very poor quality. If the product is good and the packaging is functional, I’m happy. 🙂

Faye Avatar

The packaging makes a product temping to purchase and i would say i do purchase things becuse they look pretty (hense being a benefit fan), but on the other hand i do have to like whats in the packaging too, i remember being in house of frazer and smelling a particular agent provocture perfume, cant remember which one, but reminded me of grannys i put that perfume straight back down

AnGeLwInGz Avatar

The only time I fell victim to that is with the (supposedly) L.E. Tokidoki quads. I really don’t like the quality of the shadows so I use the containers as trinket boxes

Krista.K Avatar

Yes, sadly lol. The cute packaging just makes the product a whole lot better, but if I don’t like the product, then it’s a big turn off, and I won’t get it. Unless it’s a beauty powder, I can take the tray out and put a new one in it (:

Marina Avatar

Just once and luckily i liked the product inside a lot too! It’s the Estee Lauder Tuberose-Gardenia compact powder, it comes in a cute golden metal case with real semi-precious stones on the cover. But then again, i got it on sale with like a 50% discount, otherwise i wouldn’t have bought it.

Kourtni Avatar

The packaging doesn’t really matter to me because I am the only one who is going to see the box but everyone sees the color on my face.

Radha Avatar

I think I bought MAC’s Hollywood Nights lipstick from Heatherette because of the hot pink packaging! And the tube was hot pink with like disco ball effects! It was soo gorgeous! I really have been trying to make hollywood nights work by pairing it with lollipop loving (also from mac) with a light lipgloss! But sometimes I just pair it with the lovely fantabulous dazzelglass and it looks really pretty.

Court Avatar

MAC’s Liberty of London collection. I was buying blush, two very similar colors (one perm, one Liberty of London) and I love birds… So I went with the Liberty of London 🙂

Helena Avatar

I actually had a discussion/friendly argument with a friend about this once. I’m firmly on the “Packaging doesn’t normally affect my purchase” side.

Kathie Avatar

Of course I have. The following MAC collections were purchased JUST because of the packaging: Hello Kitty, Heatherette ( love pink!), Neo SI FI ( I love orange!), Eyes on Manish eyeshadow pallet ( I love the packaging), To the Beach (I love the green and salmon colored compacts!) so yeah, I have and probably will boy most of the Disney colloboration collection because I love the packaging as well.

Lulle Avatar

The answer is definitely yes : I have a small collection of TF Quickie Chronicles, some of them featuring colours I would never use…
But I just love the vintage pictures and the little story on the back !

Margarett Avatar

Well I am planning on doing just that. I am saving so that I can buy the ENTIRE Disney Villains collection. Now I do like MAC products too, but this purchase is strictly because of the packaging.

Annette Avatar

MAC Liberty of London, and I actually use all of the products I purchased. I suspect that the same will happen with the Disney Villains collection. I am a definite sucker for packaging.

Paula Avatar

Sometimes, I do.
I bought Preciousness lipgloss from the Baroque Boudoir collection.
Yes, I do regret it. It’s really pretty up close, with gorgeous specks of sparkles, but further away it’s like a clear gloss. I’ve probably used it less than 15 times, and the majority of the time I force myself to use it because I feel like it’s such a waste sitting with the rest of my makeup. Such pretty packaging though!

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