![Close up of multicolor lipstick pieces Close up of multicolor lipstick pieces](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/beauty-pie-cheap-luxury-makeup.jpg?quality=85&w=2400)
Remember when Birchbox came onto the scene? Opening your mailbox to find pint-size serums and hair products instead of just junk mail and bills was a dream come true. It was such an extraordinary concept, and since then, beauty subscription services have skyrocketed into popularity. There’s pretty much a service and club for every beauty need you can imagine. But there’s a brand new membership deal that will speak to your luxury makeup-loving heart.
It’s called Beauty Pie, and if you love color cosmetics but don’t like spending all your cash on it, you’ll at least be a little bit intrigued. Launched this past December and available in the UK and the US, the two-month-old company basically charges its members a $10 monthly fee, and for that 10 bucks, you get access to discounted, factory cost “luxury cosmetics.” That $10 also is what pays the brand’s employees’ salaries.
It reportedly eliminates any “markups” that come with cosmetics, so you’re not paying any of the middle man and distributor fees or profit fees from the company. All you’d theoretically pay is the price it costs to get the product from the factory to the Beauty Pie HQ for each thing you buy, plus your membership fee.
Now, it’s not luxury beauty goods from multiple brands. Beauty Pie is the service and the makeup brand. Does $10 a month seem kind of steep to try a product that just launched? Understood and agreed.
You don’t have to have a membership to try the products. The brand does offer customers to chance to buy product at a “regular price,” which is a competitive price based on the quality of the products.
Read More: These Makeup Blurring Sticks Are Like Photoshop IRL
So for a “Volume-Boost Mascara,” members would pay approximately $2.06, while for regular shoppers, the item would ring up to $24. For that extra $20, you could easily get a shirt from Forever21, or if you dig the brand’s denim, a pair of jeans.
Now is it worth it? Well, you’d have to like the product. We played around with the Pro-Glow Highlighter and thought it gave a pretty pinkish iridescent sheen to our cheekbones—and it might have been our favorite from the collection. The satin FutureLipsticks were creamy and comfortable and could be dabbed on your lips for a “bitten” look, though we found the SuperGlazy Lip Glosses to be a bit sticky. The brand also offers a relatively wide selection of other face, eye, lip and cheek items, though there aren’t a ton of skin tone options for the concealer and foundation, so hopefully they have plans on launching more.
The packaging isn’t super fancy. It’s black, simple, and very light, as the brand doesn’t weight the packaging because it will up the cost, and the brand also focuses on ecologically-friendly options.
You’d also have to decide if you buy enough makeup to make the monthly bill worth it. Like, if you only buy three new lipsticks a year, and they’re all drugstore formulas, this sounds like a drain on your bank account.
But if you test out the formulas, dig them, and find yourself leaving Sephora with a bag every weekend? Maybe you should try a slice of this pie.
This article originally appeared on InStyle.com
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Breaking Down the 2024 Election Calendar
- How Nayib Bukele’s ‘Iron Fist’ Has Transformed El Salvador
- What if Ultra-Processed Foods Aren’t as Bad as You Think?
- How Ukraine Beat Russia in the Battle of the Black Sea
- Long COVID Looks Different in Kids
- How Project 2025 Would Jeopardize Americans’ Health
- What a $129 Frying Pan Says About America’s Eating Habits
- The 32 Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2024
Contact us at letters@time.com