Recently, I had the pleasure of spending some serious girl time with a friend of mine. The day was filled with lots of adventure, good food and…shopping. While were in the mall, my friend wanted to head to Sephora. I have only ever headed straight to the skincare section of the store, but I tagged along this time as my friend was perusing the lipstick options. As someone who is naturally drawn to most anything that sparkles, I randomly picked up a shimmery eye shadow. As I turned it over to see the price, I was floored.

$16 for eyeshadow?! How on Earth is this an acceptable price??

The Cost of Looking Good

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post where I speculated about whether or not looking good costs money. In it, I talked about the ways I save money on maintaining my appearance and how I value a more natural look that inherently costs me less overall. The comments from my post were excellent and enlightening–it was interesting to see each person’s opinions about their personal grooming/appearance maintenance spending.

Among the top things mentioned were haircuts and makeup–both of which can be extremely pricey. As I thought more about the concept of spending money to look good, I began to wonder how these expenses can be pared down. When it comes to your makeup routine, there are plenty of ways to fit your wants and needs into a balanced budget.

Invest Wisely

If you’re going to buy and wear makeup as most of us ladies do, make sure you’re spending your money wisely. This means learning when you can skirt by with a less expensive option–and when you need to splurge a bit. A general rule of thumb is to invest in items you’ll have for a while such as makeup brushes as well as those that are applied directly to your clean skin (foundation, primer, sunscreen).

As for those items you can definitely spend a lot less on, this category should be reserved for items that have a short shelf life such as mascaras and lipstick and those that are fad-driven such as eyeshadow and liners.

Try Before You Buy

The cosmetics world is filled with freebies, samples and promotions. You just have to find them or ask for them. Brush up on your negotiation skills or work on being less timid by approaching the person working at the cosmetics counter and asking for a sample or two of any product you’re thinking of buying.

I’ve personally done this with almost all of my skincare items, and I’ve found that sometimes the sample sizes vary. If you’re very polite or have an existing rapport, the person is usually happy to slip you the larger sized item free of charge!

Stretch it to the Limit

Prolong the life of your products by taking care of them. Whether it’s washing your brushes regularly or storing your foundation and nail polish in the fridge to help them maintain their consistency, there are plenty of ways to stretch your beauty dollar further.

When you’re nearing the end of a product, get creative about making it last even longer: Move loose/broken eye shadows into individual containers (old film containers or pill boxes are perfect options), melt the last of your lipstick down and put it in a pill box (you can also add a bit of Vaseline during the melting process to create a custom gloss), and use a damp Q-tip to get every last bit of product out of the original packaging.

Use it Before You Lose it

Pay attention to expiration dates and always check your stockpile before adding something new. If it’s time to buy something new, ensure you’ve already checked all of your purses, suitcases and travel bags for any duplicates you might have on hand. When you do decide to make your purchase, remember to take advantage of any frequent buyer programs, coupons or promotions the store might be offering.

How do you save money on makeup expenses?