Beauty Guru Post: Olay and Giffen's Paradox!

Nobody ever said that women were completely logical about matters having to do with beauty and skin care. Gosh, we’d be so, um, uninteresting if we were! And the men in our lives would be less confused about us and that would not be good! Keep ‘em guessing girls!


There can hardly be any question if you divide the quality of Regenerist by its price, it wins just about any competition with competing products you can come up with. I tried it religiously for a month, as was my Guru assignment, and found it perfectly acceptable---not a miracle, but quite acceptable.

But am I capable of being that logical about my skin? Sad to say, I’m not. Will I still search for “hope in a bottle”? Sad to say, but yes.

Economists have for years identified a phenomena known as “Giffen’s Paradox”. Giffen’s Paradox describes a fairly small number of goods the demand for which goes up as the price goes up. This stands normal economics on its head. An example would perhaps be diamonds. At the upper end, buyers of diamonds are in search of quality and fineness and will pay up for it.

Ladies who pay a bunch for La Prairie or Sisley probably know deep down inside that they are not buying a miracle, but they have succumbed to Giffen’s Paradox. Step down a notch or two to Laura Mercier or Bobbi Brown and you have somewhat the same issue---they cost more than Regenerist but less than La Prairie. The logic for moving up that curve and paying more, runs, as you know, something like this: “It’s my only skin and I will spare no cost in taking care of it.”

Of course, we all can’t afford those products, so the good thing about all of this is that there is something for everybody! And with the recession, I’m sure more and more of us are moving down that curve. But I sincerely doubt that Giffen’s Paradox will be repealed and those among us that can, will continue to pay up for hope. I’m just thankful that there are good products all up and down those price points.

I’m a little bit skeptical about the Regenerist Eye Roller with the three little metal balls. I was always taught that you must be very, very careful with under eye skin because of its thinness and that you should always apply under eye cream with the finger next to your pinkie since it is the weakest finger of all and not capable of exerting much pressure.

In any event, I say, you go Olay! You have captured a valuable segment of the market with a great product! Maybe you will save me from myself and keep me from paying so much for the other products! But I doubt it. Next spring, a new miracle will show up in Vogue and I’ll paradoxically buy it!