Topic #4: High End vs High Street

As much as I enjoy reading reviews and looking up swatches of various high end brands, I'm always wary of buying it.  I hardly ever go to makeup counters (a lot of sales associates that man the counters that I've been to tend to be a bit too aggressive in their pitch to make me buy something and can get rather offended if I don't).  My first experience with brands that weren't drugstore was during my first trip to Sephora; Urban Decay really caught my eye, but I also really liked Benefit and Stila.  UD is still a top favorite while I've drifted away from the other two. I know some consider these high end brands, but I tend to view them (and a lot of brands available at Sephora) as being in the middle: quite a bit more expensive than drugstore, but something I'm comfortable with spending.

However, I still would love to start owning more high end makeup. I tend to follow Lancome and Guerlain releases more than others (and are the brands that I actually own pieces from), but Chanel and Dior have a few items that I love to try.  Here are the two high end products I do have:

Lancome Color Design palette in Teal Fury. I'd been eyeing the palettes for a while and wanted one of the more colorful ones as I have plenty of palettes with a neutral focus. Overall, I think it's really nice.  The lid and highlight colors are very pretty; the majority of the shadows are very smooth and not that difficult to work with (for more color payoff, I use my fingers to apply the lid color).  The only problem shadow is the the crease shade for the fact that I hardly get anything on the brush and I feel that I need to apply quite a bit of it to have any impact.

The awful lighting does not showcase the really beautiful gold/pink shimmer in this

Guerlain Maxi Shine Lip Gloss in No. 421 Red Pow.  I was really drawn to this shade and one other (I think it was No. 469 Fuschia Ding).  I ended up trying both on, but I love wearing bold red lips, so this one won out.  This has pretty decent staying power (at least 4 hours) though I highly recommend wearing a lip liner with this to prevent feathering.  It's not a sticky gloss and the shimmer doesn't feel noticeable on the lips.

The items at the top of my wishlist:

Guerlain Meteorites Pearls.  I've heard nothing but good things about this but recently I've heard that it was reformulated and is not as good as it used to be.

Dior Addict Lip Glow Color Reviver Balm.  It's one of those gimmicky 'change to your chemistry' balms, but I've heard that the balm itself is good.  Also, their Creme de Rose balm is another one I'd like to try as I'm on the hunt for a new balm.

Chanel Illusion D'ombre Long Wear Luminous Eyeshadow.  I haven't really worked with creme shadows that much but previous limited edition colors have been quite pretty.

Since I don't wear a full face of makeup that much during the week, I most likely would be willing to spend money on a high end lipstick or lip gloss before any other makeup product.  Those are the two products I love to use the most (and if you prefer to play around with lip color rather than eye color, it's better in the long run).  What's the most you would be willing to spend a lipstick/lip gloss?