Does looking; good; need; to cost a; fortune

0 Comments | Sunday Mirror, Dec 6, 1998 | by Angela Cooke

Most experts would have us believe that you get what you pay for in life - especially when it comes to make-up. If you really want flawless features, a perfect pout, and lashes long enough to poke your rivals' eyes out with, it's going to be at a price. But now, lurking on a supermarket shelf near you, is a range of make-up that is sending shock waves through the very foundations of the beauty industry.

Tesco's own-brand products called simply, Make-up, have been deemed so good that they beat the likes of Chanel, Yves St Laurent, Clinique and Christian Dior in the New Woman Magazine Beauty Awards. And guess what? They're a fraction of their competitors' price.

So, armed with a make-up bag bulging full of the stuff, Personal Magazine decided to carry out a test of our own. We made up half our model Anna Tillberg's face with Tesco's Make-up and the other half with Chanel's products. We've printed her picture here for you to judge the results for yourself. But, if you're anything like us, we are sure that the only difference you'll notice is the price.

And what a difference. To buy the Tesco Make-up for this look will cost you pounds 28. The Chanel products would set you back pounds 126.25 - that's pounds 98.25 extra.

And what's more, Jane Robinson - the top make-up artist who carried out our experiment - actually preferred the Tesco mascara, lipstick and lipliner to those from Chanel.

Model Anna, for whom cosmetics are the tools of her trade, says: "If someone had told me I could buy really good make-up from Tesco, I wouldn't have believed them. But after today's test, I'll definitely be using their products.

"Tesco winning the award must be a shock for the rest of the industry, because it shows that you can produce great products for less money. But that's good because it keeps the other companies on their toes."

Women have been using cosmetics since time immemorial.

The Elizabethans wanted to attain the pale look favoured by their Queen and used white lead and powered borax. To colour their cheeks they mixed ochre and mercuric sulphide - which could lead to pock- marked complexions as the poisons ate the skin, and instead of lipsticks they applied a cochineal blended gum.

In Britain last year we spent pounds 217.3 million on foundation, powder and blusher; pounds 178.5 million on eye shadow, eye liner and mascara; pounds 165.3 million on lipcolours, lip gloss and liners; and pounds 58.9 million on nail products.

The Tesco Make-up range was developed by Barbara Daly, the make- up artist who made up Princess Diana on her wedding day and designed the Body Shop Colourings range. Stylishly packaged in classic black, there are 37 Tesco products and no item sells for more than pounds 5.

Still, neither Barbara nor Tesco could have foreseen that they would be coming out on top against such powerful cosmetic houses as Chanel.

"I wanted to produce high-quality cosmetics I could sell very cheaply," says Barbara, whose husband Lawrence Tarlo was her co- managing director at Colourings before it was sold to The Body Shop. "Lawrence and I went to see Tesco with a proposal and they said they were thinking about the same thing. Tesco's health and beauty team have given us great back-up. Friends who are always honest with me have told me it's a great range."

In May, after three years of research, Tesco Make-up was launched. In contrast, Chanel had more than half a century of great couture behind their brand when they launched their make-up in 1974, with Coco Chanel having set the style for women of wealth since before World War One. But Chanel, whose lipliner alone costs pounds 14.50, believe their products are worth the money.

"All credit to Tesco for winning the award," says a spokeswoman. "But with Chanel and other premium brands you're paying for the high level of research and development. Also, when you buy our products you know that the raw ingredients which go into them are of the absolute highest quality."

Yet while Tesco may have struck a blow for consumers, intense snobbery still exists in the beauty industry. Make-up artist Jane Robinson, who has worked with Meg Ryan and Sandra Bullock, believes that the bias is so bad in favour of premium lines, that if she didn't carry a collection of famous names, she wouldn't be where she is today.

"If I opened up my make-up box on a job and it only had cheap products in it I probably wouldn't get the same respect as I do with a more expensive range of products.

"But the truth is that there's not always a big difference in quality between them. I've used Colourings products on Hollywood stars and they didn't notice any difference. Now I'll definitely be using some of the Tesco products."

Tesco are thrilled with the award, not least because sales of the range have doubled. A spokesman says: "We were completely surprised - not because we don't deserve it - but because in the beauty industry environment, you don't expect to get that level of appreciation. Tesco have extremely good technologists and have incredibly good suppliers. Barbara went all over the world looking for the best maker of foundation, the best maker of mascara. She knows exactly what women want and that comes through in our Make-up.