Charlotte Tilbury Multi-Miracle Glow Cleansing Balm, Photo: Janine Falcon
My friend Sydney, who is juggling all the usual stuff (a life, a family, a house with all its expensive moving parts) recently asked if I knew of a cheaper substitute for her beloved Charlotte Tilbury Multi-Miracle Glow Cleansing Balm, $70. She thought she should be spending less on a cleanser, even though she is completely devoted to this one. “The fragrance is heavenly, so that’s a huge draw for me,” she says, “and the texture is so luxe that even smearing it on feels lovely.” She also uses it as mask, applying it thickly before “sitting in the bath for 15 minutes.”
After a few minutes of fruitlessly trying to think of an equally rich and scented dupe, I realized that because we all live under a cloud of uncertainty, now is not the time to jettison something that unfailingly makes you happy once a day. Are pleasures so thick on the ground that you can afford to lose even one? No, they are not and no, you shouldn’t.
Food writer Nigella Lawson likes to say “I am extravagant but never wasteful,” which I take to mean as ‘squeeze every last bit of enjoyment out of your pricey treats, but make sure they are incredibly high quality treats and carefully chosen.’
Even if you are in an ok place financially but especially if you’re not, it’s always a good exercise to audit your monthly expenses with a metaphoric red pencil and cut out anything excessive. (I need to seriously drill down on having so many streaming services.) It’s easier to keep a death-grip on your expenses — hello, buying household staples at No Frllls instead of Loblaws — if your reward is guilt-free enjoyment of a happy-making and very fancy skin cleanser.
And if you also use Charlotte Tilbury Multi-Miracle Cleansing Balm as a mask, then you’re getting two products for the price of one. That’s like getting it for half price. Right?