This Is What Happens When Guys Try To Guess Lipstick Prices

It’s fair to say that anyone not intimately acquainted with the inner workings of the beauty world might have a bit of a hard time understanding how pricing works. Like, how can one lipstick be sold for 99 cents on a drugstore display, and another for $90 on a glossy black countertop in a department store where none of the clothing is under $500?

We know there are several reasons why this is the case — packaging, marketing, ingredients, the list goes on — but none of them are easily translatable to the type of person who thinks body lotion is the same as facial moisturizer. For example: men. Not every male-identifying person is clueless about makeup, of course, but a lot of them have little experience with it… and therefore even less of an understanding of how shopping for it works.

That’s exactly what makes this video from Buzzfeed so funny: Watching guys swipe on some lipstick, then guess exactly how much it costs based on the formula, is like getting a peek into the mind of someone who’s walking into Sephora for the first time. Only this time, they’re under the impression that lipstick is made primarily of “insects and rhino horns.”

You might be surprised to find that, in the end, the dudes didn’t do so terrible a job with their guesses. “This is one of those $50 lipsticks,” one says with a groan as he twists up a Tom Ford tube. “That smells like a Jenner,” says another as he unscrews the cap off a Kylie Cosmetics liquid lipstick. Not bad, guys. Not bad.