Part of this escalation is attributed - by cosmetics executives, at least - to the consumer's new taste for decorative packaging. Yves Saint Laurent, for instance, wraps its compacts in gold plate. Elizabeth Arden has switched from all-plastic cases to ones in gold-colored metal. Estee Lauder, too, has fluted gold-metal lipstick tubes and bits of gold on the glossy blue compacts in its new Signature line. ''The consumer is getting more and more interested in what we call 'handbag elegance,' '' says Leonard Lauder, chief executive officer of the Estee Lauder Companies. ''She wants the things in her handbag to bespeak a certain elegance and quality. Unfortunately, it costs a little more to produce that.'' With Lauder's Signature line, makeup prices will increase by 25 to 30 percent.

Most consumers won't tolerate a leap in price from packaging alone. That may explain the recent surge in makeups with skin-caring properties, ones that moisturize and protect against the sun. The Estee Lauder Signature makeups, for instance, contain a number of ingredients that used to belong to skin-care products alone. Other companies - including Guerlain, Elizabeth Arden, Shiseido, Princess Marcella Borghese and Prescriptives - also offer makeups with treatment benefits.

But some price increases go beyond the cost of ingredients or packaging. In many cases, they are part of a company's strategy to capture a bit of prestige in a business that thrives on image. Here's an example: Estee Lauder was once positioned at the top of the market, until several European brands came to the United States with loftier price tags. To regain its exclusive, upper-crust image, the company is raising its prices. ''We would not have raised the prices of our makeup with the existing packaging and the presentation,'' says Mr. Lauder. ''That's not doing the right thing for the consumer.''

Any kind of price hike may be unjustified, according to some companies. ''The whole industry is overpriced,'' says Robert A. Nielsen, chairman and president of the fashion and designer group at Revlon. ''If we could get prices down by a third, we could increase business by 50 percent.'' Revlon makes products that fit into virtually every cost category, from Princess Marcella Borghese on the high end to the classic Revlon products on the low. ''Regardless of the cost of goods, Revlon will sell lipstick for $8.50, a skin cleanser for $8 to $9 and a moisturizer for $10 or less,'' says Mr. Nielsen. Meanwhile, the company's Charles of the Ritz line will have a new, less expensive lipstick at $8.

This is an exception. In general, the cost of makeup, skin-care products and fragrances continues to climb. But there is evidence that this may not wash with the consumer.

Perfume, once a reasonably affordable luxury, has become so staggeringly expensive that American women no longer buy it for themselves. Instead, they use less expensive and less potent forms of fragrance, such as eau de cologne. The bulk of perfume is sold to men. who give it as gifts for Christmas and Mother's Day. Those sales are so spotty that some companies are introducing fragrance lines without including a perfume in the lot.

Compared to plunking down $1,000 for a wool jacket, paying $42 for a set of eyeshadows may seem relatively painless.

Then again, it may send women into the drugstores looking for relief - in the form of a $3.50 lipstick or a $3 bottle of aspirin.