Everyone that loves makeup usually wants to try the newest, greatest products that celebrities and professionals use, the higher end products seem to drag you in with their celebrity representations and expensive prices. We all find ourselves thinking, “Oh, well; it’s pricier, so it must be better!” This article will encourage you to dig deeper when purchasing high end products, hopefully helping you to think twice before buying items like that new Too Faced Mascara you’ve been dying for. It will be revealed to you how after buying one expensive product and LOVING IT, you will be potentially sent into a downwards spiral of high makeup expenses and inflexible standards.

You are walking through the aisles of Ulta. You know you should steer left to the drug store grade isles, but you can’t help but be attracted to the beautiful display of Benefit cosmetics in the right corner. The decision seems to be between Disneyland and Chucky Cheese; you know what you probably can afford and you know what will gobble your wallet in one purchase. Now, we’ve all gone to Ulta and filled our baskets with products like NYX, Maybelline, Rimmel, Covergirl, Etc. and felt great with the bulk of products we’ve just purchased. We have all also gone to Ulta, bought two high end products- including Too Faced, Urban Decay, Benefit, Tart, Etc.- and spent the same amount, if not more, than what we spent on the large amount of cheaper products. You usually leave the store having a feeling of contentment, but regret and guilt are soon to follow because you can’t help but hear your mother’s voice telling you, “You really should have thought that one through, honey.” The feeling of emptiness matches the new state of your wallet (sorry, not sorry).

Now let me guess: you are thinking, “Well, I will only get one expensive product to try, I won’t do it all the time.” Honey, with all of those good products out there, you will try it, most likely love it and pay $50 on that product every two to three months. One does not simply try the best mascara in the world and give it up just like that! This is an important lesson; if you cannot afford it in all circumstances, don’t even dip your toe in the pigmented pool! Spoiler: most expensive makeup brands make you love them, and make you want more and more and more and more. Now, when it comes to me, the first step to recovery is accepting you have a problem. “My name is Lacie, I have a Too Faced mascara that I bought six months ago, and I can’t let go of it.” I am speaking from firsthand experience: this amazing tube of mascara costs about 30 dollars, and despite the wonderful quality it dries out quickly. I have spent at least seventy dollars on mascara since July- that can’t be healthy! Save yourself the misery and stick to the best products of the drug store makeup brands. In the video below, you will see how expensive makeup and cheap makeup can give you the same result! You see, in our materialistic world, we have picked up this idea that if a product costs more it is better quality, and if it is cheap it is most likely not as good as the more expensive one. Why is that?

With celebrities and makeup artists flashing how much they can spend, we strive to reach the qualities they display, even if it is out of our means. We commonly fail to look at the quality of a product, instead looking directly at the price tag and the brand name that it holds. The celebrities are the ones in the spotlight, the ones we want to look like; we go for exactly what they say they use. If Kylie Jenner steps out wearing a new fifty dollar lip gloss she just bought four of, you sure as highlight will go online and try to get that product. As the celebrities flock to these expensive brands while we follow like puppy dogs, we skip over the drugstore product that could be worth more than gold. We don’t see these beauty icons promoting small brands found in Walmart or CVS, so of course they must be terrible!

Let’s bust this newfound idea that expensive makeup is the best makeup! Now, I am not saying that I have never bought expensive makeup and fallen into the “brand name trap”, but I have some products that are absolutely amazing and surprisingly light on the wallet! You know that 30 dollar mascara I was speaking of earlier? Bless, because I found a mascara that is less than half the price and dare I say it, even better! Scandaleyes Curve Alert by Rimmel is amazing! It provides long, full lashes and lasts all day! In the video, we used Maybelline Fit Me Foundation. This product is lightweight and provides great coverage, the foundation blended well with the forty dollar Estee Lauder foundation, so I guess it can roll with the “top dogs” of makeup! Once you get that coverage foundation provides, setting powder is a must. Translucent powders by Mac and other high end companies gloat their product’s exceptional finish, but they must have never experienced the power of Rimmel Stay Matte Powder! When I die, you best set my makeup with this powder for the funeral! This product leaves the face looking porcelain and air brushed, it stands as one of my absolute favorite products. Sold in drugstores, this makeup goes for five dollars! Highlighting, or “strobing,” with shimmer is a must in the world of makeup these days, and as the video shows, highlighter powder can range up to forty dollars in cost! But there was a highlighter that blew the Becca product out of the water-proof mascara! Fergie Wet n’ Wild highlighter, in the shade of Rose Champagne Glow, lit my face up like the fourth of July! My cheekbones were irresistibly pigmented! I could just go on and on for hours about the magic of drugstore products, but we haven’t got enough time for that.
Beautiful people, I leave you with this. I hope you have taken from this article the dangers of wasting your money on celebrity promoted, expensive makeup. Although we are just as fabulous as these icons, our wallets are not always quite as full. If you must spend excessive amounts of money on single products I highly advise you to try samples beforehand, put your wallet first, and research alternatives; you’ll thank me later! No ones cares how much that lipstick cost, as long it looks flawless.