Makeup is one of those *things* that women are almost mindlessly spending fortunes on, and often times we are completely blinded by the marketing. Between pretty influencers unboxing gifted palettes, to endless YouTube tutorials, to the beautiful displays in a Sephora, buying makeup has become sport. It’s positioned as a glamorous hobby that involves owning and experimenting with every new product and shade by every brand.
If anything embodies the Woman Money approach to spending money, it’s how I buy makeup. Makeup is a super personal thing, because everyone’s face and preference is different (obviously).
First, I will always wear makeup. In my house, it’s called putting your face on. That doesn’t mean I put a lot of makeup on, but I do wear it just about every day. When I read frugality beauty tips that are simplified down to just not wearing makeup, that’s gonna be a hard pass for me.
Second, I like nice makeup. Let’s just get that out there. I almost always find that drugstore makeup doesn’t work for me for a few reasons (more on that later). My favorite makeup brands are high end and pricey, and I will also hard pass on frugal advice telling me just to buy cheaper brands.
But, I don’t spend a lot of money on makeup. I buy good products that I know work for me, and I buy them smartly.
Stick with the makeup that works for you
Once you find the foundation that settles in your skin perfectly (or as close to perfect as you’ll ever get), or that mascara that doesn’t flake into your eyes, or that lip color that is just right for your coloring – give yourself a huge high five and check that box. You no longer need to try every product on the market because why mess with perfection. Give yourself that mental energy, storage space, and – most importantly – that hard-earned money back and stick with what works (until it doesn’t anymore).
Don’t let drugstore fails add up
I’ve heard the same things you have – drugstore and department store makeup are all owned by the same parent companies and made in the same factories so just go with the less expensive drugstore brands. And don’t get me wrong – there are some products that you should 100% buy cheap. But there are some products that will never be worth their drugstore price point for 2 main reasons:
- The quality is not good, meaning the pigment is not strong and the product will not absorb and stay on your skin
- You can’t try the colors before buying, so you will spend a fortune trying to find the right formulation and color combo
The main products I have found this applies to are foundation, eye shadow, and lipstick. Save yourself the cost of experimenting and throwing away, and go for the nice stuff.
Focus more on skin care
Aaah I wish someone had told me this 10 years ago. This is probably my #1 makeup mantra these days. Makeup will never totally hide, fix, or perfect skin issues. I’ve dealt with rosacea, acne, dryness, you name it, and I know that no foundation, no matter how great it its, will totally hide skin issues or make you feel completely confident. It’s the skin that you should be focused on.
Once your skin looks great, you won’t need to use much of your makeup. So that high-quality product you’re buying will last so much longer.
Learn how to use products for more than one purpose
Makeup companies and influencers love to tell us that we need a specific product for every specific use. I’m here to tell you that no you don’t. The point of makeup is not to follow some formula written by someone else on how to paint your face on. It’s meant to enhance your natural features, and using products in more than one day gets that done. Here are my favorite hacks for multi-use products:
- Eye shadow palettes: Buy a great quality palette with neutral tones, and you will get so much use out of it. Use one of the brown eye shadows and a brush for filling in eyebrows (no separate gels or pencils needed). Then use a smaller brush, dip it in some water, and grab one of the darker tones for a soft, smudgy eyeliner.
- Bronzer & blush palettes: These can and should dupe as eye shadow! Bronzer makes a great eye shadow, and try putting just a tiny bit of your blush in the crease of your eyelid and tell me I didn’t just blow your mind.
- Cream blush: Use it on your cheeks, duh, but find one that’s meant to be used on your lips too… then put it on your eyelid creases!
- Eye shadow sticks: I love the quickness of the Laura Mercier caviar sticks, and I will take the darker ones and apply it right at my lash line, then smudge it out with my finger for a quick, smokey eye liner.
Know what to buy cheap
Like I said earlier, there are some things that are always worth the higher price tag because the quality can’t be found elsewhere. The same rule applies to the opposite: There are some products that you absolutely don’t need to spend money on. These may differ for everyone, but I’ve always found that drug store brands work just fine for me on:
- Mascara
- Bronzer
- Lip gloss
- Eye liner
- Eyebrow pencil
Know what is just a gimmick
The makeup industry is full of gimmicky products. Although the gimmicks come in beautiful packaging and make bold claims about how much of a difference they will make, they will always be money you wish you had later on. Learn to tell the difference between what you NEED and what the industry is trying to sell you. Some examples of gimmicks are:
- Primers – Have you ever noticed that a salesperson at a makeup counter will go on and on about primer? Eye shadow primer, face primer – they talk about it like it is the most important thing in your makeup routine. Yeah, they are trying to upsell you. You don’t need a primer.
- Setting spray – See above, except you REALLY don’t need a setting spray.
- Highlighter – Highlighters are tricky to get right, especially as we get older. Highlighter usually just looks kind of weird in person, and we’re not going to the Oscars. There are no paparazzi coming. Skip it.
Ignore the expiration “rules”
Have you ever read articles or been told by a makeup salesperson that you should replace foundation every six months and eye shadow every year, even if you’re not done using it. Guess who told them to say that? The makeup company that wants you to buy more makeup. It’s a lie! I’ve been using the same Nars blush for about 4 years and I still have half of it left and my face has not yet fallen off.
Go minimalist
You know the feeling when you clean out your closet of all the stuff you have but secretly hate? That first time you go to get dressed in your “new” closet, you don’t see the shirt that is too small, or the dress with the print that you always thought was a little embarrassing. Every option you have to wear is something you love wearing and makes you feel good.
Do that with your makeup. Clean it out. Marie Kondo it. Par it down. Make it lovely. How do you do this?
- Stop buying new products. Like, for a while. You will be shocked at how little goes wrong in your life even if you’re not buying new makeup you don’t need. Use up what you have. Do you have 3 halfway used bottles of CC cream, a full bottle of foundation, and 2 tinted moisturizers? Guess what? They all do the same thing. Do not buy anything else for your face until all of these are done.
- See how other products could serve multiple purposes. I recently ran out of my eyebrow pencil and have just been doing the eye shadow/brush trick I mentioned above for a few weeks. Works great! Try to stop the reflex to replace things immediately, and see if you could get away with using something else you already have, or go without it completely. If not – you can always replace it later!
- Go ahead and throw away stuff you hate. Remember when you thought you were a red lipstick girl, but you’re not? Throw away the red lipstick. You will never wear it, and whenever you feel guilty about having it and force yourself to wear it, you will hate it. So, save yourself the agony. It’s a sunk cost.
Don’t be fooled by marketing
Most importantly, start to think critically about the marketing messages being sent to you from every direction about makeup and beauty. I know we love our influencers and makeup tutorials, but it is not normal or expected for you or anyone to own as many makeup products as a makeup artist or YouTube influencer. It’s not reality, it’s social media. Influencers are hugely motivated to sell us every single little product they can, so remember that when you start to feel like you are the only person on the planet who has not tried a certain mascara or cult-status blush.
The makeup industry – from beauty counters to magazine ads to the packaging and unboxing phenomenon – wants you to feel like makeup is glamorous. Yes, when I put makeup on I do feel pretty. But pretty is not my value as a person and is only so important. And those beautiful, lovely smelling products? After a few months, they’ll be half empty and covered in makeup drawer sludge. I enjoy putting on makeup as much as the next girl – it is a moment with yourself that I truly do love. But, in the end it’s a means to an end. Life is not putting on makeup, and makeup products do not actually make us happy. As with anything there is a rush of excitement in the purchase, but it will go away while you rub your hard earned money on your face, just to wash it off tonight. Keep it in perspective, and only give it the portion of your money that it deserves.