For a lot of color cosmetics, definitely, assuming they were the same quality as the full-sized. I’d rather pay less and get less than pay more and never use something up! For skincare, I think they are good for someone who can be more reactive to new products, so being able to try 1-2 weeks’ worth of product without investing in full-size is a good option to have.
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Oh absolutely! I actually just got rid of all my full size becca highlighters and replaced them with the minis. I also just bought all the tarte creaseless concealers (my favorite concealer) that came out in mini (I self tan so my skin tone changes all the time). I hate waste and I also fell less overwhelmed by my collection when items are smaller, and therefore less space is taken up by my collections.
Absolutely. I have a very hard time using up blush, eyeshadow, eyeliners, lipstick, lipliners, highlighter, etc. Either they expire or I tire of them and want a change of pace. Just about everything I buy now is mini size. My only caveat is that the pan size be wide enough to use a brush. The sad thing is that mini size prices are often elevated far above that of regular size items per ounce/gram. Even so, I still purchased them because they are a better value for my usage style.
I agree that the pan size can be an issue. I bought a mini of one of the Hourglass powders and the size just doesn’t work well for my large all over powder brush. I ended up buying the full size since I love the way it looks as a finishing step and I use it every day. So at least the mini served it’s purpose in letting me know the full size was something I really wanted.
Agree on the limitations of smaller pan sizes sometimes! I just finished a full-size Bare Minerals illuminating mineral veil and moved on to a much smaller, unopened container of the regular mineral veil that I must have gotten in some kind of value kit. I use one of Sonia G’s face brushes, though, and it doesn’t fit in the sifter or the lid of the container. So I took the sifter lids off the full-size product I just finished and the smaller container, and then moved the regular mineral veil into the bigger container. Now it’s much easier for me to use with my desired brush.
Absolutely, especially if the value was there too (often, the mini sizes of items available in full sized bottles/containers/formats cost a fair bit more per ounce or gram than their full sized counterparts). But I find smaller sizes very good for travel, particularly air travel since I prefer to fly with only carry on luggage when possible. I generally keep the empty bottles or jars of “travel sized” products (same with points perk and GWP products) to refill them with my own stuff for when I travel or for the gym. With regard to things like e/s palettes, if I can find a small one – like Smashbox’s Minimalist and Punked palettes – that performs, I’m happy to travel with those rather than a massive VICE or Too Faced Holiday type palette.
Absolutely, especially mascaras! I find that full-size mascaras dry up or go bad before I can make a serious dent in them. Ditto for highlighters, eyeshadow palettes, blushes, almost all colour cosmetics. For foundations it would be a great way to test out the formula, too!
Seconding mascara! I don’t wear it more than a couple times a week, which makes full sizes a waste of money. Minis are best.
Yes, definitely. Except mini bullet lipsticks. I’ve broken too many of them and don’t bother with them anymore.
Absolutely YES for skincare, mini e/s palettes like the ones Viseart makes, and mini foundation, too. Not for lip products, because of my tendency to lose them or my lips breaking them off or otherwise ruining them. Not mini mascaras, either.
Yes for mini powder products and mascara. No way I can get through all of it before it expires. No for mini bullet lipstick. I end up tilting them and they get everywhere.
I’m currently working my way through mascaras but I plan on just buying one or two minis after that. And my lipstick collection is so huge that any lipstick enters my collection has to be a mini. And I love trying haircare minis. Takes too long to use up full size. In the least it’s a good way to test things out before commiting to the full size!
Reading through all the replies, I found it amusing how the first word most of us used was “Absolutely”! Talk about a psychic connection!
You bet. Unless something is HG. Makeup takes a long time to use up, trial/travel sizes let you try without committing to a full size.
I agree, Christine. I’ve heard arguments that many (if not most) smaller-sized products are less of a value, but where’s the value in spending money on something you’ll never use up? Or that will go bad before you have a chance to use it up? Also, if you’re one of those people that can’t or won’t return products, smaller sizes (for less money, whatever their relative value) means less waste both literally and financially if the product doesn’t work for you.
Yes, I’m all for travel-sized products.
In reading through the other replies, I see that a number of people are against mini bullet lipsticks as they’ve had trouble with them breaking; I have mini bullets from Besame, KvD, MAC, and Marc Jacobs, all of which I use, and I’ve never had an issue with them, so count me in favor of mini bullets as well.
I wonder if it has anything to do with being heavy handed while writing. It’s hard not to push so hard. ?
Me too, Alecto and would gladly swap out most of my current lipstick collection, over 200, to have mini’s. It takes a lot for me to use up a lipstick as I have so many and with the chance of them going bad before I use them, a mini would be perfect. I haven’t had issues with breakage either, although likely due to the fact that I am careful about rolling them up too high or with darker shades, I use a lip brush so they are perfect for me.
I love mini lipstick tubes. I cashed in some points at Sephora and got a set of mini lipsticks from Bobbi Brown and I thought what a neat idea. Also bought a trio of minis from PML. I think if you have a light touch, breaking shouldn’t be an issue!
Yup absolutely. Especially mascara since I don’t use it much and I prefer the smaller wands on travel or tester sizes. I think that’s going to be the next wave of marketing for beauty products since we’ve hit market saturation and people will be looking at ways to decrease what they spend on new launches.
Absolutely prefer minis/travel size. I travel a lot anyways so I dislike taking along full sized products as they take up way too much room. That and I rarely use up full sized products anyways.
I love mini lipstick tubes. I cashed in some points at Sephora and got a set of mini lipsticks from Bobbi Brown and I thought what a neat idea. Also bought a trio of minis from PML. I think if you have a light touch, breaking shouldn’t be an issue!
Yes, definitely. My daughter and I were forced to take mini’s for our trip to Europe as we were travelling with carry on only. Trying to fit 5 weeks of skin care, some makeup products and body care into that situation was impossible even though we decanted most things into smaller containers. There was no way that we could take enough to last and so I was forced to either go without certain products or purchase similar products that I didn’t know anything about, while in Europe. I learned a valuable lesson and that was not to decant products with silicone’s into silicone containers. The first leg of the trip I noticed my silicone containers starting to feel mushy and by the second flight everything was a big globby mess. Had I been able to purchase travel sizes of my products while in Europe it would have saved a lot of money.
On a side note, if I were doing the trip again, I would just have checked a bag and included my liquids in that bag. My daughter and I have already discussed the idea of putting both of our liquids together into a medium sized suitcase and just checking that and doing carry on with everything else. It does slow you down when trying to get out of the airport at each location but we were often waiting for an uber to pick up us anyway. I would have to be careful to make sure there was enough lay over time for bags to be moved to the correct flight and several of our flights were so close that any checked bag would likely not make it.
Yes, for all the reasons everyone has given. Plus when I travel, I just enjoy products more if they are in original packaging rather than a plain plastic tube or jar that I have used to decant. It’s harder to find things.
If the quality was there, I might. I like the MAC X 9 eyeshadow palettes well enough. I don’t mind regular or full sized products.
Yes. Travel sized is good for testing purposes too. I wished more of them were available in my country bc I wouldn’t have so many full bottles of foundations in shades that aren’t right for me lying around.
Let alone we never end a lot things, which expire before we can finish and we have to throw them in the trash.
In this day of environmental terrorism, when my natural physiology is going to destroy the world ? according to the UN, it is curious the beauty industry didn’t wake up to the fact that travel sized anything is environment friendly too.
It would be nice to have more travel-sized variety but I really hate buying them because they’re ALWAYS more expensive per oz than the full sized product!
I prefer travel size (i.e. coffrets, rollerballs) for perfume. I always get bored with a perfume before I have the opportunity to finish a full size bottle. I would love to see manufacturers produce mini tubes of lipstick. Lipstick is another (over) indulgence of mine and I have never finished a tube.
Asking for dbl comment. What did I do????
Hi Susan,
Confused – what are you asking? I don’t have any pending comments from you other than this one right here.
YES!!!! Without doubt eyeshadow palettes and mini lipsticks. Not sure about blush?
Most definitely! I will never get through all the makeup I own and I am a bit of an addict– er, collector, so travel sizes would be perfect. I love those Mac x9 palettes.
Definitely – I’d rather have a wider selection of products in a smaller quantity! Powder blushes and highlighters take forever to go through and I can never seem to finish my lip products before they expire either. And I swear smaller tubes of mascara work better than the larger ones
I always try to buy mini for makeup. It takes me so long to get through products. My only issue is brands don’t readily offer complexion mini’s that are for my skin tone. I do get not having it in stores, but it would be nice if they offered it online. But yes, I always buy mini mascaras (or use the promo code to get it free with purchase), lipsticks, brow products, primers, setting powders, etc. I am not in the market to purchase anymore blushes or highlighters, but if I was, I would only buy mini. You just can’t get through the products.
It depends how small and how convenient the packaging is. Like some have mentioned, if the pan is too small for a brush, or the mini is less stable, like a mini-bullet, then no. It’s just going to be clutter.
And absolutely no on a hair product. A travel size conditioner or styler really isn’t enough for me to use more than once with my long thick hair. A conditioner may not EVEN be enough for one use if it’s a travel.
Overall, I think I prefer the full size because it’s easier to find in my collection and generally easier to use. For something like a Natasha Denona palette, though, I prefer the 5 pan size. I think I like the $48 ones better than the $25 though because of the pan size. Plus, I also cap at $75 for any item other than a vault. Can’t bring myself to pay anything like $129+ for a palette. I am considering the $65 ND palette.
For mascara, lipstick, and color cosmetics (except for staples)…YES! Also, for products I want to try out for the first time. I rarely use up full-sized products that are not staples. I don’t have mini-lipsticks break that often, but ones that do are easy enough to depot into a little empty palette from Amazon.
Definitely. I’d love more travel-sized options for lipsticks (especially bold colors that I take forever to use up) and skincare products
Absolutely! Especially for color cosmetics. I have ordered samples from Camera Ready Cosmetics and sometimes that’s more than enough. I like the mini-sized lipstick bullets from MAC and Bite Beauty and wish NARS Audacious would have some minis. I now like to buy smaller eye palettes like Viseart Theory or Naked Basics. I have 5 mini Becca highlighters. I also order blush pans that I can fit into my own travel magnetic palettes.
I have also ordered travel sizes of facial treatments that can’t be decanted BC of oxidation (vitamin C, etc).
Absolutely! I’ve always loved mini or travel size options although I don’t usually purchase skin care in travel sizes. I wish that the quality and expiration date on smaller sizes will become more reliable. I’ve received dried out unusable mascaras, lash primers, brow pencils, especially long wear waterproof eyeliners (often gel hybrid formulas).