The Cost of Beauty Around the World
Buying our favorite beauty products can be quite an investment, with some of the most popular and iconic products having a price tag attached that is just as luxurious as the item itself.
We wanted to find out which parts of the world benefit from the lowest prices for beauty buys and where you can expect to pay the most to stock up your makeup bag.
Taking five of the most iconic beauty products as picked by our beauty experts, we compared the cost of each item in different countries, based on the price given on the product websites.
Chanel No 5 Eau De Parfum
Cheapest place to buy: Canada - $172 / $132.48
Priciest place to buy: China - ¥1,520 / $229.29
MAC Cosmetics Retro Matte Lipstick
Cheapest place to buy: Turkey - ₺119 / $14.70
Priciest place to buy: Thailand - ฿890 / $29.10
Estée Lauder Double Wear Stay-in-Place Makeup SPF10
Cheapest place to buy: Canada - $52 / $40.05
Priciest place to buy: Taiwan - $1,980 / $69.30
Anastasia Beverly Hills DIPBROW Pomade
Cheapest place to buy: USA & Mexico - $21 / $21
Priciest place to buy: Netherlands - €26.99 / $31.90
NARS Sheer Glow Foundation
Cheapest place to buy: Malaysia - RM180 / $43.80
Priciest place to buy: China - ¥490 / $73.92
The Most Affordable Countries for Beauty
When we took the total cost of all five beauty products, these countries offered the lowest prices as we could see when converting into USD.
- Canada - $337 / $259.57
- United States - $265 / £265
- Turkey - ₺2,282 / $281.90
- Mexico - $5,400 / $285.37
- Malaysia - RM1,175 / 285.70
The Most Expensive Countries for Beauty
When we took the total cost of all five beauty products, these countries had the highest prices as we could see when converting into USD.
- China - ¥2,758 / $416.05
- Thailand - ฿12,096 / $395.45
- Taiwan - $10,906 / $381.72
- United Arab Emirates - dh1,292 / $351.80
- Denmark - 2,161 kr. / $342.83
Methodology
Our beauty experts compiled a list of some of the most iconic products that are available to buy internationally. We visited those brand websites for 50 different countries, taking the price for each product in each country, ensuring that the prices given were for the same measurements and shades.
Wherever these prices were not available, we took them from their Sephora site instead. These prices were then converted from their original currency to GBP and USD, using accurate conversion rates from XE.com on 09/11/2020.