Contest #3: Steals and Splurges

Splurge= Would have to be my MAC Prep and Prime.. .its fantastic (and boarderline steal)
Steal= Love My Eyes, brow pencil… it rivals all others and at around $1 for 2.. you cant go wrong!!!

eyeslipsface.com is a wonderful place for a Bitch on a Budget to buy makeup! As seen on the hottest magazines, ELF (for short) is super affordable. Lips gloss, shadows, and nail polish $1!!…I buy elf products often and use them along with the items I splurge on. They look great, feel great!!… Also Incolor by Jordana lipgloss ($1.99). Super shiny with a hint of color. At these prices you can have more of a variety in your makeup collection. Another fabulous product to have on hand is Aquaphor (by Nivea;Beiersdorf)…this product is a multi purpose product, wonderful for soothing dry cuticles (soak hands, then apply) and removing eye makeup, soothing cracked and dry winter skin (feet and hands), and great for chapped lips!

Mascara- Marathon, as a nurse I need something that will not leave black circles under my eyes when I get stressed. Foundation- Bare Essentials foundation and mineral viel. I have oily skin and at $25 for the foundation every 3 month and $40 for the Mineral viel once a year it is slurge worthy to me when I can walk out of 10 hours of crazy and not look like I have been behind a deep fryer for that whole time. The rest, I go for cheap. They all are the same in my book, I have never found anything that is worth the $$$ for eye shodow or blush. Once or twice a year I will go to a department store and when a brand like Lamcome is giveing away gift with purchase I get a product for the min purchase ( usually a $20 moisturizer that lsts me 6 months) and get the gift. Makes me feel like I have a new toy to play with for another month or so. But nothing evey messures up to my stand by’s!!!!

Total Steal: The Hard Candy make up line at Wal Mart. Classic Hard Candy Make up at Wal Mart prices. Nail polish and lip gloss for a mere five bucks a pop. Curl up and dye mascara in all the fun, trendy hip now colors: seven bucks a pop! Can’t beat it, can’t go wrong at those prices. Love, love, love it. Love Hard Candy and Wal Mart for teaming up!
Total splurge: Lancome Bi-Facil Double-Action Eye Makeup Remover $26 a pop, bottle lasts a while though. Best eye make up remover I’ve ever discovered, gentle enough for contact lens wearers, gets even the most difficult water proof mascara off and NO raccoon eyes left over.

There’s one more HUGE steal I forgot to mention in my previous post. TWITTER! Join Twitter and follow different Beauty companies and bloggers. They have Twitter contests VERY often. I have won items from several different companies and all I had to do was retweet their original posts. This savings has allowed me to spend money on splurges.

Splurge- Too Faced Primer $30 Lasts a long time though and covers even the largest of pores. Smashbox high def foundation stays put, and I love that they always have box sets at cheaper prices. Loreal Elnett $14.99. The large can lasts about a month and I love the 60’s vibe from the large can. Also you can have a Victoria’s Secret hairdo without even curling your hair. Sexed up! I love it!

Steal Covergirl lash blast length. Get it in the Blackest Black. NYC nailcolors 99cents last forever and the best colors, I normally like Essie, but for the price and how long it stays on it is perfect, and comes off really easy. New Covergirl foundation w Olay in it ROCKS, smooth pretty skin, and very natural. Also Revlon super Lustrous lip glss is the BEST, and I have tried all of the very expensive ones. Once you lick your lips after putting on it does not stick, not to your hair nothing. Great colors too. I like Cover Girls new lipstains., if you think too dark put on a qtip with a little visine and then put on your lips for a lighter effect.

I love the way unwashed hair styles and looks…but I still want my hair to LOOK clean!

When I want to splurge I buy Rene Furterer’s dry shampoo ($24). It smells great and works soo well–only problem is it doesn’t last too long.

However, when I want to get a similar effect I use baby powder…you have to be a lot more careful so you don’t end up messing the look up, but it’s wayyy cheaper (price depends on the brand, sales,etc. at your local drugstore).

steal- Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Stick…this has been a lifesaver for my face and body when I get out of the swimming pool as well as i use it on my legs in the winter. it has been just as good as any other moisturizer.

splurge- urban decay’s eyeshadow primer…i worked at a cosmetic store eons ago as a second job and i used to have to be at work by 6am…I had another job where i worked from 2pm-11:30pm…one night i took a power nap which turned into 4.5 hours of sleep with my makeup on (i don’t recommend this at home kiddies)…and when i woke up, my eyeshadow was still in place.

Splurge – Designer Shampoos that are suppose to make your hair look like you just stepped onto the red carpet.

Steal – When the above mention doesn’t do as promised, I dump the extra unused shampoo in my handsoap dispenser. I haven’t wasted the expensive shampoo and my “new” handsoap” smells good and leaves my hands clean and soft.

Splurge: Bare Escentuals foundation, definitely. Nothing else comes close, and one $25 jar lasts me about a year. I’m hooked on their eyeshadows, too. But again, $13 a pop for a jar that will probably last over 5 years.

Steal: Wet ‘N’ Wild waterproof liquid liner is the BEST, and it’s dirt cheap (like everything else Wet ‘N’ Wild makes). It absolutely will not budge, and has a felt-tip rather than a brush applicator, which makes it much easier to apply. Also, Revlon ColorStay lip gloss. Great colors, great texture, and lasts really well.

My steal? I save on skin care treatment by using grape-seed, extra -irgin and castor oils with a little bit of vitamin E oil (with different essential oils for scent) as a face wash., then I steam my face right at my kitchen stove and use Thayer’s Rosewater and Witch-hazel toner to tighten my pores after. My skin is always blemish free and I have no discernible wrinkles, though I am turning 40 tomorrow! I also make my own sugar-based body scrubs.
My splurge? I use only Bare Minerals makeup…and while they are pricey they last forever. I get lots of compliments on my skin and honestly, I think I probably spend less that $10 a month on it!
I love D.I.Y. beauty treatments. Who needs expensive, 500 ingredient laden products when nature has provided us with everything we need to be our healthiest and most beautiful? And I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE ‘Bitches on a Budget’! (My mother asked if she could borrow my only copy and I had to say “Sorry, but I covet that book almost as highly as ‘The Joy of Cooking’ and higher than ‘The Joy of SEX’!!!)

Ack, forgot to post my favourite steal. Max Factor Volume Couture mascara. It performs just as good as my Smash Box for a fraction of the cost esp when I buy it at Walmart. I hope it lasts through the lock out!!!!!

Splurge: MAC foundation, it works so much better than the stoer stuff.

Steal: Wet N Wild nail polish! Cheap so you can buy lots of colors!

Also wanna say thank you to Andrea for the heads up on ELF…Just made my first order from them!!

Nice post. I put you in my RSS reader now so I can read more from you down the road.