The receipt
Let's look at the receipt on Lumière Age‑Defy Serum.
The price tag only tells part of the story. We compared Lumière with other serums that use the same ingredients at the same strength, and worked out a fair price for a 30 ml bottle.
That fair price is about £30. The other £59 pays for the brand name, the packaging and the advertising.
Same product. Different perspective.
The formula
An £8 formula. In an £89 bottle.
Ingredients are always listed from most to least. Most of this bottle is water and glycerin, which cost pennies. The “marine peptide complex” advertised on the box is eighth on the list, at just 0.5% of the formula.
What's in the bottle, and what it costs
| No. | Ingredient | Amount | Cost (est.) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Water | 76.0% | £0.76 |
| 2 | Glycerin | 7.5% | £0.75 |
| 3 | Butylene glycol | 6.0% | £0.06 |
| 4 | Pentylene glycol | 4.0% | £0.05 |
| 5 | Squalane | 3.5% | £0.04 |
| 6 | Niacinamide | 1.0% | £1.00 |
| 7 | Phenoxyethanol | 0.9% | £0.01 |
| 8 | Marine peptide complex | 0.5% | £5.28 |
| 9 | Parfum | 0.5% | £0.02 |
| 10 | Sodium hyaluronate | 0.1% | £0.03 |
| Whole bottle | 100% | £8.00 |
Lumière is made up, so these costs are estimates to show how it works.
The app
Unmarkup does this for real products.
Search or scan any beauty product sold in the UK. We'll show you a fair price, what's really in it, and cheaper products that do the same job. Free to use, no account needed. Coming to iPhone and Android in autumn 2026.
We'll email you once, on launch day. That's it.