How do you figure out where to save vs spend on skincare
I love skincare. I also love buying skincare, which has cost me more money than I'd like to admit on products where I was mostly paying for the jar. I've become a bit more wise about it though. For hyaluronic acid serum, which doesn't really need complex conditions to stay stabilized, I keep it around $10-15, either good molecules ($6) or grace & stella HA serum ($10), both are great.
For low-dose retinol, which still needs decent packaging but has much lower formulation demands than retinal, I've been using CeraVe resurfacing retinol serum ($22), also solid.
Niacinamide I think has gotten cheaper over time after the boom, and it's relatively easy to formulate from what I understand, grabbed the ordinary niacinamide + zinc for $6.
Where I feel like I have to spend more is vitamin C, retinal, resveratrol, and the peptides that are getting pushed hard right now. Though I'm not totally sure I'm right to, it might just be the same boom cycle we've seen play out with a hundred other ingredients.
So how do you decide? What do you actually pay more for and what's the reasoning behind it?