Typically L’Oreal products are more expensive than others that may be considered comparable, but this is a hugely successful brand nevertheless; a fact that has based itself on several different factors–

Good Quality – Undoubtedly their products are good quality, it is one thing that consumers can be assured about.  A lot of market research into what consumers want, research and development to create effective and beneficial products probably goes into L’Oreal products. So, good quality is one of the deserved reasons for their success. This connection with good quality is further fostered and strengthened by higher prices, which go to convince the buyer, that if it costs that much more, it must be good.

Good Packaging – If you decide to buy, say hair color, you are confronted with a plethora of options to pick from – Revlon, Garnier, L’Oreal, Wella and a host of others. There are reasons why the package containing L’Oreal will stand out. It is likely that the package is the biggest among all the others – which gives an idea (perhaps a misleading one) that you are getting more for your money there.

Secondly when you open up the package, you get a few luxurious extras such as a pre-color serum, a large quantity of after color conditioner, and some high quality, well fitting gloves. This offers a feeling of pampering or being special that many women are willing to pay a great deal extra for. L’Oreal has this figured out really well.

Celebrity Endorsement – It is undeniable that a celebrity endorsement helps up the brand value of a product. The associations that we often form between celebrities and luxury, exclusivity, or, in a sense, superiority; is something that is being exploited here.  The idea being sold is – she looks great and is endorsing X product; by buying the product the consumer is somehow associated with that celebrity, her allure and her aura. L’Oreal has a long history of very successful celebrity endorsements.

Clever Marketing Strategies – You will never see a L’Oreal advert in a down market sort of magazine. You will see it only in expensive glossies where the very paper feels thick and slippery and expensive. This cements the ‘high end’ association with this brand that you and I probably have already.

Secondly there is a clever verbiage that is used for products. For instance you use the word “serum” and you immediately convey the sense that the product is somehow more than a leave-in conditioner that it essentially is. You use the term “deep conditioning treatment” and you are immediately willing to pay more for a product.

Also consider how the name is simply “L’Oreal Paris” – the mere mention of the word Paris creating a connection with what is arguably one of the most chic and most fashionable cities in the world!

Then there is the long used L’Oreal catch phrase that has been wildly successful in the aura or exclusivity and privilege that it evokes – “Because You’re Worth it” somehow manages to indicate that if you use a less expensive brand you somehow value yourself less! It’s that clever and it’s that simple!

Author bio:

This is a write up by Sarika Periwal, whose website propagates natural hair loss treatments and other home remedies for common hair conditions. Hair ailments like premature graying, balding, etc can be postponed, prevented and sometimes even treated effectively through natural means.

I have loved this fragrance Paris since I was a little girl and it epitomizes romance for me. Here, I found each of the package sizes on a discount. The 1.7 oz eau de toilette spray is on a 32% discount, available at $32.80 down from $57.

Obsession from Calvin Klein is another classic fragrance, which though can be a little tricky. It can smell marvelous on one person and can smell rather weird on another because it is a strong fragrance. To me this is a heavenly fragrance. Buy.com stocks the women’s version of the perfume for 29.99, down from $49.

Flower from Kenzo is a fragrance I loved ever since a friend gave it to me as a rather extravagant gift some time back. I have to confess I love how pretty the bottle looks on my dresser as well. Here I found it for a substantial discount; at $43.85, down from $60.

Now if there is one scent that I simply adore on a man, and which I have to confess I wear myself though it is supposed to be a man’s fragrance, is the classic Versace fragrance, Blue Jeans. Here I found it for more than 50% discount; down from $42 to $17.99. All the other varieties of ‘Jeans’ from Versace were also to be found: Red Jeans, Baby Blue Jeans, Pink Jeans etc., but seriously blue is the best!

These are my own fave fragrances; but don’t go by what I say. Perfumes can of course be an extremely personal choice, so I would certainly advise that one should try the perfume out on skin (not on those silly bits of blotting paper they offer you at the store) and see how it reacts with your personal fragrance and then make up your mind.

Now at the end of a hard day I would like something like this heat massager for a bit of indulging of myself. This one promises to get rid of the tension, aches and pains as well as the fatigue and loosen the knots for you. The massager fits into the chair and the mechanism travels up and down the back in three programs.  This massager is available on eBay for $65.95.

These days I seem to have neither the time nor the inclination to go for pedicures. This is something that I find really relaxing so I think I should have this Bubble Spa Footbath. You don’t even have to give yourself a full pedicure, just a bit of scented oil or even some fave shampoo into the footbath and you feel nice and your feet feel great!  A good bargain for $28.50 I thought.

Aroma therapy may sound like a lot of new age mumbo jumbo to a lot of us, but the truth is that I find good fragrances very relaxing, soothing and even rejuvenating. The smell of lavender for instance actually makes me feel happier.  So I think a full works spa treatment at home with oil, candle, salt and massage brush may be a good idea such as this collection which is available for the price of $39.95.

Vanilla is another of my fave fragrances and liked the look of this spa kit which includes a Bottle of After Spa Hand & Body Lotion, a bottle of After Spa Body Mist, a votive Spa Candle, an exfoliating Loofah sponge, a 11 oz. jar of inspiration Spa Pearls and a bottle of Cucumber Melon Spa Fragrance. Comes in a vinyl tote bag.

So I hope I gave you some ideas and some inspiration to pamper yourselves and look after yourselves with some ‘me’ time!

Well one of the things that I have been meaning to get myself is a hair straitening device. Don’t get me wrong; I love my curls, but it is a great thing to straighten my hair occasionally just for a change; and it does make me look a wee bit glamorous, even if I do say so myself! So I liked this Wet to Dry Straightener which is available at a pretty good discount, at $112.50 down from $150. Then there was also this slim type heating iron (moist) for just $74.99 down from 139.99 which I thought was a great deal!

Now Monsterhair.com has a store wide discount of 10% to 33% over the weekend, and I headed to their conditioner section because my extra dry hair needs a lot of conditioning. I was happy to find that everything there was being offered at some or other discount. This Bonacure color save shampoo and conditioner duo I liked a lot since it is available for $45.99, down from the list price of $78; a whopping $32 discount!

Here I found lots of clearance and sale items, such as this Paul Mitchell 1 Gallon Hair Repair Treatment. And it is a one gallon package so I am guessing that this will last me a really long time! At the price of $73.99 (which they claim will save you about 45%!) I think is pretty good.

Check out the clearance sales here as well, such as this Wella System Professional hydro shampoo at a 20% discount: at $39.99 down from 49.99.

So I wish you healthy and beautiful hair this winter season; may you never need a hat to cover up your bad hair days!

Here I found some discounts on hair products such as this conditioning shampoo for men from Nautica for $7.70 down from the retail price of $15. Then this shampoo for colored hair is on a whopping 74% discount and is available for just $6.45. This Elizabeth Arden green tea conditioner also I thought was a good deal for $11.48 at a 36% discount.

Sleek hair.com’s sale/clearance section is arranged by brand name. For instance I found their Tigi Bed Head sale section very attractive with some excellent products on sale such as their Manipulator Conditioner which I really like.

Monsterhair.com is another site that has some great hair care product offerings. They offer some good discounts such as on this Pureology combo which you can buy for $38.99 saving yourself $20 over the retail price. They also offer some free samples with your paid order such as a free hairspray etc, to sweeten the deal!

Talking about free samples, check out these sites here and here, which offer free samples for the price of taking a questionnaire or a survey such as this Pantene Pro-V Shampoo package offer.

Now since hair is not just about shampoos etc. I also decided to check out some hairdryers. I found a good discount on this hair dryer which is on offer for $119 down from $300 and which comes with a free trimmer as well. Good deal I thought. Check out this hairdryer as well, which is available for a substantial discount here.

And BTW, I thought I would just mention this very useful hair care site providing natural solutions to everyday hair problems.

I have to tell you that this has been a tough post to do, there are so many tempting things to check out online, (cosmetics are one of my ‘things’ as you may know) so many reasons to digress, it is difficult to keep one’s mind on the job at hand! So peeps, I hope this stuff will be of some use to you and here’s wishing you have no bad hair days!

I tried a different tack this time; I thought I would search for specific freebies: first I tried out free music. I’m talking legal music downloads not limewire and bootlegs. This site, has some cool music on offer; within seconds I had this nice track from the Buddha Lounge, but you need to buy most of the stuff. The Gibson Guitars site also has a quite extensive list of stuff you can download, but most of the stuff I found a little underwhelming. There is of course the famous Radiohead initiative where they gave their complete album for free download. Check out the remixed album here. There are other sites to be sure but they require registration.

Then I saw this advert for free Ben & Jerry ice cream cone sample! And I simply love Ben & Jerry’s ice creams, especially their out there flavors, so I really perked up but was rapidly crestfallen: that offer was for only one day: 29 April. Ah well, there is always next year.

Then there are Walmart freebies (I can see you’re thinking, finally this is getting interesting): John Frieda collection sample! Wonderful! I clicked on the get your sample link and Presto! I got the BROCHURE! You do however get free toothpaste samples and bedwetting shorts samples for the price of a few details and answering a few questions.

Since I love perfume, I thought let’s check out if there were any freebie perfume samples to be had (they spray it on really liberally when you visit any store that sells perfume, so why not samples). Apparently you can get a free Escada sample here for the price of a few personal details, but only if you live in the US, Spain, Germany or France. Here also, you get free samples if you fill in some details and answer some questions.

Be warned though, my skepticism is still rife, so I will trust all these freebie claims when I smell the perfume, so to speak! If you have had good or bad experiences with freebies, do let me know.

I came across a few sites that not only stock many different brands of cosmetics so you can shop by brand if you so wish, but many of them offer discounts or gift sets and best of all, clearance sales!! At StrawberryNet I found a great selection in the Easter Special section with many items at a whopping 50% discount. I thought this Aramis travel set at a 50% discount would make a great gift for a guy. A good gift for a girl would be this Clinique Travel Set which is also at a 50% discount and includes moisturizer, turnaround concentrate, eye shadow, lipstick, lip gloss and bag.

And I know I would love for someone to gift me this Dior Travel Set which includes lotion, serum, concentrate, make up remover and bag! Really neat bag too!

Cosmetic America is another site that offers multiple brands and good deals; shall we go straight to the clearance sale? There is this 5 piece Estee Lauder Beauty Set at $19.95 and includes lip gloss, lipstick, cream, mascara and a night cream. Very nice! My fav fragrance in the world, Cool Water by Davidoff (for men? hooey! I wear this fragrance myself) is available with its deo and shower gel counterparts for the sale price of $ 39.95. Also very nice!

Buy me beauty is also a good site and sells you many heavily discounted items and also has a clearance sale section. I liked (I tell a lie, I love, love, love Elizabeth Arden products) the Elizabeth Arden flawless finish make up at a 53% discount, or for the price of $12.95. L’oreal’s eye pencil is offered for just $1.89, that is a whopping 75% discount!

If you decide to order these items online, check for shipping discounts or even free shipping on multiple items. So I hope I have given you an excuse to doll up a bit?