A beauty client wanted a product shot that reads expensive, so I ran a gold glass cream jar floating on water with ripples and reflections spreading out around it. Gold jar plus water reflections is the fastest way to get that premium look, the tricky part is keeping the water from getting too busy and stealing focus from the jar.
Fleshed out the texture and lighting in more detail:
High-end beauty product photography. A gold glass face-cream jar resting on a calm water surface, surrounded by gently swirling ripples and mirror-like reflections. Exquisite glass and metal texture, realistic caustics and soft studio highlights, dark elegant backdrop, the jar as the undisputed focal point, luxurious refined commercial lighting.
Don’t let the water ripple too much, it should support the jar, not steal the show.