Hello everyone!
In today's post, I am going to talk to you about some budget friendly makeup and beauty options. As a student, I don't really have a big budget, especially for makeup. That is why I want to find cheaper options that work great and that last for a significant amount of time. So let's get started:
1. Maybelline Affinitone
This is and has been my favorite foundation for years. When I was going to prom, I wanted to find something that would give me a fair amount of coverage, even out my skin, cover the bumps (we all had a few in our senior year, right?), look good in photos and not be expensive (I don't see why someone in high school would need a high end foundation). So, when I found this, I was super happy! It gave me great coverage, didn't have SPF, so it looked good in photos and it was less than $10. To this day, I still have about 1/5 of this left (and I bought a new one). And yes, I still use this. I don't really care about all these supposed expiration dates... if it smells normal, the formula hasn't changed and it works like it used to when I just opened it, I don't see why I would throw it out. Anyways, the point is that you need the tiniest amount, so it lasts you for a LONG time. I don't wear makeup every single day, so it lasts me even longer, but for less than $10, I think this is a great find, and definitely not appreciated enough by the beauty world.
2. Makeup Revolution makeup
This is one of the makeup lines I discovered not so long ago. Maybe 1-2 years ago. You can't buy this in store, but it's quite accessible online, so don't worry. Anyways, this is a very nice brand that is really cheap, but quite good quality. I own a couple of their products, and the only thing that disappointed me was their matte nude lipstick, whose formula was just too dry and patchy. However, their eyeshadow palettes are wonderful, with beautiful colors and nicely pigmented. I have an Essential Mattes palette, because I didn't own any mattes already, and this one worked really nicely. And it is only £4, which is about $7- for 12 eyeshadows, not so bad, eh?
I also have their bronzer in Medium Matte, which is the only bronzer I use and I love it. You get a huge amount, and it takes eternity to use it up. The price? £2, or $3-4! Crazy, isn't it?
The last thing I own by Makeup Revolution is eyeshadow primer Focus & Fix Eye Primer. This is the only eyeshadow primer I own, but I really enjoy using it. I can certainly see the difference with and without it beneath my eyeshadows. It retails for £2.5, or $4-5.
Overall, this is a great brand for makeup beginners, but also some more serious makeup lovers that need variety, but don't want to spend too much money.
3. ELF 100 eyeshadow palette
ELF (Eyes Lips Face) is another brand I found online. They were just closing their online store for UK market (and the rest of Europe (don't worry, their site is back up)), and there were some really cool discounts. That's where I found this palette. Now, I am not saying that you should get this one, but that it's cool to get a big one like this. There are plenty of options, and they are at a fairly reasonable price. I like to have a variety of colors to play with and that's exactly what I got from this palette. There are some colors that are not as pigmented as I'd want them to be, but some are really nice and I love using them. This palette was £4.5, which is around $8. But remember, we're talking about 100 different colors in this one :)
4. Alverde Naturkosmetik eyeliner
Alverde cosmetics are in Croatia available in DM, which is a German drugstore. I'm not sure where else they are available, but this is by far the best eyeliner I've tried. The brush is on a quite long handle, so it's pretty easy to work with, it's tiny, so you can control the thickness of your line and the eyeliner itself has a great formula. It dries pretty quickly after you apply it, and it dries matte (or close to matte), which I really enjoy. It retails for less than $5, so it's definitely worth checking out.
5. Maybelline mascaras
I have been loyal to Maybelline, as far as mascaras are concerned, for a long time now. I've always gone for the Volum' Express ones, and they were always great. They really gave me a lot of volume, length and almost a fake look to my eyelashes (my eyelashes are pretty long to begin with). I have, over the years, tried various versions, and the last one that I'm using at the moment is Smoky eyes, and I am really enjoying this one. It has a pretty wet formula, so it doesn't dry too quickly, which means you can go back and fix what ever clumps or if your eyelashes have stuck together. I am actually looking for a new mascara at the moment, so if you have any recommendations, let me know. These mascaras retail for around $10, but I always buy them on sale (they are on sale very often), so I pay even less for them.
6. Essence nail polishes
Well, I think that this one speaks for itself. Essence has really stepped up their game as far as their nail polishes are concerned, and I think they're doing an amazing job. They have the best variety of colors, they folow the trends as far as the colors are concerned, they dry really quickly (and I mean REALLY quicky) and their formula is actually quite great. Who cares if your nails chip a bit after three days if you have an amazing color for just $2. I have the craziest amount of these, and I don't think I'll ever stop buying them. I love and use all of them, I even mix them up to get a different color and I'm really impressed.
7. Wet'n'Wild makeup
Wet'n'Wild has just recently come to Croatia, and to just a few of the DM stores. After the hype was gone (the stands were always crowded and I didn't want to bother and go in such a huge crowd), I wanted to check it out. After carefully considering everything on the stand (a part of it was sold out, of course), I decided to get a blush and a lipstick that would work for fall (which means darker and deeper berry colors, for me). I picked a lipstick in E905D Smokin' Hot Pink and a blush in E833W Mellow Wine. If you want to see more about these two products, check out my Fall must-haves post. These are truly beautiful. The lipstick is really creamy and doesn't dry my lips out, and I don't have to keep reapplying it so often (which means I don't use it as much), because it really stays and stains my lips, but I don't have any trouble taking it off. The blush is really pretty as well, but you have to be careful, because it is really pigmented, so you need the tiniest amount. But it gives a very pretty flush to your face and it looks really nice. Aaand, as you need a very small amount- again you don't use a lot of it, which means saving. Lipstick was about $3-4 and the blush was around $4-5.
8. Avon
Advance Techniques Dry Ends Serum (for all hair types)
This is my holy grail without a doubt. I've been using this for as long as I can remember, and I can really see the difference in my hair when I'm not using this- my ends look really dry and my hair is dull and not very healthy. This is a really silky product, which makes my hair really smooth and shiny, and it smells really nice! I really enjoy using it, and for a drugstore price of less than $5, I think it works really well. I would recommend it to anyone (dry and split ends or not). You can see how I use it and some more details in My Hair Care Routine, which is to this date by far my most viewed post and I want to thank you guys for it :)
This is it for my favorite drugstore buys! What are yours? Do you like mine? Have you tried any of these? Let me know!
Thank you for reading :)
Have a great week!
See you soon! xxLabels: beauty, favorites, makeup
