Now, as a plant technician in a factory that makes cosmetics and toiletries I can say this is partly true.
We're contracted to make products for customers at nearly every level of the industry, and the most expensive raw material in any product is almost always the polymer(s), which make the product adhesive, moisturising, thickening, whatever - in short, it accounts for most of the function. The polymers we use come from many different suppliers in many different grades; before any large-scale manufacturing takes place, the development department will find a suitable polymer for a given product that meets the customer's performance/price requirements. The big names in the industry are often prepared to fund chemical companies' research into premium polymers designed specifically for use in their products; obviously, that drives up the price a fair bit. The really cheap polymers are generic, and are not always engineered well enough for performance to be guaranteed in any particular product.

Having said all that, the difference in production cost between the premium products and the cut-price stuff is nowhere near as vast as the the difference in retail price.
( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Tue 5 Oct 2010, 20:07, Reply)