Couture going Perm?!?!?

[ilovexnerdsx]

i'm not that fond of the idea. the packaging doesnt look all that great, and the brush looks like it would hurt to hold in your hand while you use it!

for some reason, i dont like when mac comes out with different packaging: i like the standard uniform packaging. i couldnt even buy anything from lure

i would rather MAC spend time advancing the minor flaws in their products now.

 

[gummybug]

If I'm spending this much money, I'm getting Chanel or YSL. Sorry, MAC.

 

[mellimello]

I wouldn't mind Couture being a permanent line but I still think it's pretty ridiculous how much they mark stuff up... but it's not like MAC is the only line to mark up their makeup to make a bigger profit. Look at Chanel, Dior, YSL, etc etc, the quality is okay and the price is relatively high so I guess every high-end makeup brand (save a few lines here and there) is marked up astronomically.

Wow I rambled haha

 

[amoona]

Ok I understand everyone's anger at the mark-up (I wanted Red No. 5 but not for that much) but you have to understand MAC is a business before they are anything else. Businesses need to make a profit so yes they will mark up. However a lot of people see MAC as a high-end brand, even though it's not priced like Dior and Chanel. If you look at their overall pricing, it's not THAT much more then some drug-store brands.

The Couture line is SUPER overpriced from what you expect of MAC but I'm not buying it so I don't care. Even if it wasn't super priced I'd probably only buy Red No. 5. If it goes perm that's cool, maybe when I can allow myself to shell out that much for lipstick then I'll buy some.

 

[mjalomo]

I don't mind if it becomes permanent. The way I see it, some of us wouldn't question paying higher prices for rare items like MSF's and want a "luxury" now and then. I think they should have developed items that really stand out though and not the subtle colors in this line. For example, a pretty 187 brush would floor some ladies. A MSF like product in a sturdy, pretty container would be nice. An incredible mascara formula with a special wand to apply it. Also, we need some bright lipstick/lipgloss colors in this line. When I think couture, I think of those fantasy dresses that make you wonder where you could wear one to, but wish you owned. True couture is quirky, over-embellished, and not for the girl who lacks confidence.

 

[cherrycola]

If they made Couture a permanent 'premium' range, it wouldn't bother me - I'd probably just not buy very much from it!

I only bought the Mystery Powder from this range, and that was mostly because I've been searching for a nice compact case that I'd be happy to whip out of my purse from time to time. It IS kinda heavy, though.

The thing is, none of the other items appealed to me on basis of the packaging alone. For instance, I thought the little square cases were cute, but when I saw that they were just highlighter creams, I figured I'd pass because I had more than enough highlighter products on hand already.

 

[Eilinoir]

I find MAC's need to "play with the big boys" pretty laughable and almost insulting.

MAC is a mid-range product line that is, as many have already stated, very accessible to men and women, girls and boys of any and all ages and such (though many would like to disagree here and there).
Just the release of such a collection, so aptly called "MACouture", shows that MAC admits, "Hey, we're not high-end but we sure as hell are gonna try to look it anyway."

It's like the story of The Little Engine That Could, only worse.
Where's the integrity, where's the pride of the company?
Oh wait, yep, that started to disappear when Mama Lauder came along.

MAC was, is, and always will be mid-range make-up. That's not a bad thing either. I would just like it if they didn't try to pull off the wolf-in-sheep's-clothing act.
Don't try to be NARS, Guerlain, Armani, and what have you.

I agree with the person who said that if MAC was gonna charge prices similar to the high-end products, she will just go and spend it *on* high-end products and not MAC's versions. Because that's all it is - a version, a copy, a replica.
I'd rather spend my money on the stuff that I know is almost always good quality, not something that a company makes all special for one specific line. What does that tell me about the other things they sell if they're not touted as "specially formulated" and all that other marketing crap??

Imagine if Maybelline, Cover Girl, Rimmel, NYC, and/or Wet 'n Wild suddenly decided to become something like MAC or, wait for it, high-end like Chanel?
Does it not strike people as strange? Or wannabe-like? It sure does to me.
And to be honest, what does it say about the consumer?

For me, it's not even about whether I want to buy into this new "Couture" line or ignore it (and I take the word "Couture" w/ a grain of salt).
It just seems like MAC/EL underestimates the consumer. And I can't really respect a company like that.

 

[Katgirl625]

I find it kind of odd that there is so much debate about this. It is what it is - a limited release line that has higher price points, due to higher quality product and higher cost packaging. Think what you may of the product, if you don't like it, or aren't willing to pay that much for it - don't buy it. Period.

I think it's downright typical of any business to have "tiers" of product. Most of that time you will find that in large business that own many companies. For example, it's very similar in the automobile industry. Toyota and Lexus are linked. The engines for some of the lower end models use old versions of the high end brands engines. I know this is an extreme example, but it's a case in point.
Same with shoes, like nike and adidas. They have multiple price points - and the company expects that they will sell certain volumes at certain price points. For high price point items, they will have lower sales volume, but higher margins - trust me, it's very much calculated. I do some of this analysis for the company I work at currently. The marketing team dreams up a product, and then we have to fit it into a model - how much of it do we think we're going to sell? What price point do we want to sell it at? What margin do we want to make? How can we create the product that costs us "x" which we can sell at "y" to make a profit of "z"?

One other thought that I had before was that Mac wasn't testing the waters to see if they could sell at a higher price point all the time - but rather the other way around. Maybe they did it to say "hey, look - we could be like dior and chanel, and charge more for a little higher quality product, a little more chic packaging, and we could sell it - but we don't. Our focus is on recycling, the commitment to HIV/AIDS awareness and charity, etc." I like thinking of it that way - it's a much more positive spin.

 

[blueyesdancing]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Katgirl625 One other thought that I had before was that Mac wasn't testing the waters to see if they could sell at a higher price point all the time - but rather the other way around. Maybe they did it to say "hey, look - we could be like dior and chanel, and charge more for a little higher quality product, a little more chic packaging, and we could sell it - but we don't. Our focus is on recycling, the commitment to HIV/AIDS awareness and charity, etc." I like thinking of it that way - it's a much more positive spin.

Absolutely!

 

[FacesbyNiki]

blah blah blah, there are enough customers and enough money out there for eveyone (cosmetic lines) to get.

 

[User40]

Couture a bit of a disappointment

I totally agree with Padmita. I ordered some of the Couture line and was very disappointed with the cheap packaging. The Mystery Powder compact is really nice, but the top of the lid has cheap (lego-type design) plastic on it. From photos and descriptions I'd seen it looked like glass or metal jewels.

Same for the l/s. It has a metal base, but appears to have a plastic cap as does the l/g. The contents of all, however, are scrumptious, but not sure they're worth the extra $$.