Thursday, June 27, 2013

has money, will buy makeup

I am happy to announce that I earned my first $5 gift card from Swagbucks after only about 5 days of...what do you call it? Swagging? Whatever. After 5 days of using Swagbucks. And when I finally earned enough 'bucks' to get a gift card, you would have thought I'd just won the lottery by the amount of excitement I was letting loose in our living room. Matt was all scornful, like 'it's only $5, you know...you do realize you have an actual JOB where you get paid a lot more than $5 a week, don't you?? You don't even get this excited about REAL paydays...' and I'm like...whatever. This was thrilling. I can't even decide if I should go for the Amazon gift card or the Starbucks one!!! 

Whichever one I choose, I definitely informed Matt that I would be spending it on ME ONLY ME. Please. He didn't put in the hard (haha) after-hours work of like...filling out surveys...and searching stuff...and stalking Facebook to find extra 'codes'...this is some hard-earned money, and I fully intend on blowing it as I please at Starbucks or Amazon. BOOM! Anyway. If you're easily as amused and willing to do stupid stuff for approximately 10 cents per hour, you should sign up too. BE RICH LIKE ME.

Speaking of being rich (I'm not), yesterday I happened upon a message board thread (who knew those still existed?) of ladies discussing the best splurge-worthy and cheap-o beauty products. Naturally I had to waste a few hours reading the whole thing, because I am all about beauty products. Lately, due to my unhealthy obsession with Ulta and Sephora, most of my beauty purchases have been tending towards the 'splurge' side of things...but now I have a serious mind to head to Target and try a few apparently tried-and-true cheapie products that people are swearing do even better than their upper-class counterparts. And also, I thought I'd share a few of my personal picks for both sides.

SPLURGE:
-I've already talked at length about my most favorite concealer and my beloved Naked Palette, so I'll skip out on rehashing those again and share something different.

source
This purminerals 4-in-1 tinted moisturizer is amaaaaazing. It has the perfect amount of coverage and goes on really well. It also doesn't sweat off (although I do put a powder over it, so maybe that helps). I love that it makes my getting ready 10x faster (than applying 5 different products)...my only complaint is that I can never decide if the color I have (medium) is exactly right for my coloring. In a lot of lighting and in pictures, I think it looks great. But for some reason, in my car vanity mirror it looks TERRIBLE and then I fear that I have the dreaded mis-matching face/neck situation going on...so I don't know. Since they only have 4 shades, there aren't a lot of options if I decide this is actually too dark. So I don't know. But other than that, I totally love this. BUT-- tinted moisturizers were frequently showing up on the 'best cheapies' list, so I may have to try a drugstore brand just for the sake of fairness.

CHEAPIE:

These e.l.f. oil blotting sheets are fantastic. I just grabbed the pack out of my purse and took a photo, can you tell? Ha. Anyway, I am slightly addicted to oil blotting sheets. I don't know if I'm just oilier than the average person or if it's a wicked cycle between bangs making my forehead greasy/ greasy forehead making my bangs greasy/repeat repeat repeat, but if I don't intervene early, bangs can look BAD quickly. And I guess my forehead does too, but since it's hidden...you will only notice the disgusting bangs. But I've loved blotting sheets since high school, when I ordered them from Mary Kay for like $10 a package or something. And then when I stopped ordering Mary Kay, I found some on Amazon that I would order. And then there's a Sephora brand, but still for like $5 a package or something. And then I found these at Target for ONE DOLLAR and don'tcha know, they're exactly the same as all the other ones??!! So I can use like 20 a day and not feel the slightest bit guilty! And I can buy back-up packs and keep them all over my house/car/purse/office! In other words, I really love these and I will never go back to buying expensive ones again.

So there are your beauty recommendations for today from me. But now you owe me: what's your favorite splurge/cheapie products? I mean, Matt can attest...I have just hardly a THING in my makeup cabinet, I am really in dire need of buying a bunch of new stuff....hahahaha, that's a lie. He's going to be so mad when he reads this, especially when I tell him I plan on trying everything yall recommend! Wooo!!

Oh, and now that I've written all of this, it seems obvious that I should use my Swagbucks to get a gift card for Amazon or Target instead of Starbucks so that I can use my 'free money' to purchase all the great new things I want. Look how smart I am! It all comes full circle!

24 comments:

  1. Ulta is a vast money pit... I love the Boing concealer, but that's a SUPER splurge for me... I've actually been pretty pleased with the Target elf brand as I slowly crawl from my Mary Kay pedestal.

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  2. Buying the blotting sheets! My bangs are forever making my forehead a slick, hot mess! Thanks for the review/recommendation.

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  3. Whoa! I seriously don't know if I'm in the right place to read your blog! It looks great! Now I need to read the post so I can comment on it :)

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  4. Now that I've read the post I wish I had some awesome make-up to tell you about but I seriously haven't worn it in years. I'm sorry I can't give you an excuse to buy some super-awesome stuff :(

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  5. If you think your foundation is on the dark side, then I suggest more tanning. ;) Alter your skin to match the product! haha

    As far as cheapo beauty products go, I've discovered that Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails is only $1.97 at Walmart. Target hardly has any (if any) of this line from Sally Hansen). I recommend it for pretty durable nail polish in a variety of bright and happy colors. My other fave "cheaper" nail polish is Cover Girl's Coverlast. It's $5 and works as well as Essie or OPI for half the price. Score. I just picked up a fun purple at Kroger yesterday (cheapest at Kroger). For skincare, I started using Neutrogena Naturals and I love it. While not the cheapest, it's also not the most expensive and I find it to be worth it ($7 for cleanser, $13 for moisturizer). I want to try some eye shadows/liners by e.l.f.

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  6. Hey, your blog looks different. Looking good, girl!

    Sooo I am hopelessly addicted to those little pots of superblack eyeliner and for years and years I wore MAC. One day I was like hey, it's way too annoying to drive all the way to Macys, I'm going to try something else. And you know what? The Sonia Kashuk (at Target) is EXACTLY THE SAME (and I already have the MAC eyeliner brush for application, which is the important part). And it's like, 1/4 of the price. So happy that I stopped splurging.

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  7. I'm a swagger girl myself. I'm saving for a paypal gift card so I can spend on myself or Reagan.

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  8. I have an amazing ability to look shiny all day long somehow- I never seem to notice in the mirror but it is always VERY obvious to me in photographs... so I should give those blotting sheets a try!

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  9. My love for ELF has been well documented as of late. I have not tried the blotting sheets, but these will be in my purse come Monday, bet your dollar.

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  10. I love blotting sheets too. I will try these ones out soon!

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  11. Congrats on your first $5 - I would be excited, too! Sadly I have no recommendations for you, because even though I like some of my products, I rarely ever branch out to try different kinds, so I have nothing to compare them to. Looks like you are getting some good tips though!

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  12. Some how, by the time I made it to the end, I forgot that your blog looked TOTALLY different. I love your little "I'm Erika" section... Roy G. Biv: you crack me up!

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  13. Just between you and me (and all of your friends...), I have a confession. I'm guilty of using one of those paper toilet seat liners that you find in public restrooms to blot the oil off of my face... I was desperate at work one day, oil was practically dripping off of my face, so I snatched one of those sheets and it worked fabulously! Seriously, grab one next time you're in a public restroom and try it! I don't make a habit out of using them, but hey, they're free and they work, so why not?? :-)

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  14. I love your new blog design!! Sadly I don't have any make-up advice because although I use it I don't find it "fun" to splurge on it :( For some reason it's not something I get excited to buy, now when it's time for a new cell phone I'm all about that! The only thing I LOVE in this catagory is different color nail polish and I buy the Sinful Colors at Walgreens because it's only like $2 and is dry pretty quickly. I would have been so excited to have $5 though, great job!!

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  15. cute new design :) I'm in the ever so long process of changing my blog name, etc, but it's moving veerrry slowly. You just gave me a bit of encouragement to try again !

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  16. New bloggie design?!

    My fave cheapie product is good old maybelline mascara. I will never spend beaucoup bucks on expensive mascara!!

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  17. Love the new blog! So summery and fun! I love the elf liquid eyeliner pens. The only way I can use liquid liner because my hand isn't that steady.

    My new favorite lotion that I use is St. Ives Timeless Skin Collagen Elastin Facial Moisturizer. Super thick and creamy.

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  18. Woohoo! 200 followers! Congrats!! Also, I TOTALLY get the greasy forehead/bang dilemma. And I hate it. I also have noticed in the years having blunt bangs that if I let them air dry (as opposed to blow drying them), they get nasty superduperfast. amirite?

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  19. Burt's Bees colored chapstick... the kind that is the size of a chapstick, not the wee, gloss sticks. The bomb. In Rose.

    Garnier Gel Moisture Rescue moisturizer... just as good as Clinique's gel moisturizer, trust.

    Sonia Kashuk's (target) makeup brushes...just as good as expensive ones.

    Seche Vite fast dry top coat, (amazon). This stuff is the schizz! You have to paint it on RIGHTAFTER your last coat of color, but then it makes a gel-hard, glossy top coat. I'm obsessed with it. But you have to do like first coat left, first coat right, second coat left, top coat left, second coat right, top coat right, otherwise it doesn't work right. Puh-lease believe me, and buy this, and then you can tell everyone how happy you are, and that I was the one that told you, and then I will be famous.

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  20. LOVE your new design...very you.

    I'm always trying to find the perfect tinted moisturizer, so thanks for the recommendation. Also, have you ever used BB cream? I don't really know what it is but it seems to be all the rage.

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  21. michelemybelle@gmail.comJuly 1, 2013 at 9:34 AM

    I have looked for the perfect mascara forever and instead found Mary kay lash primer that is AMAZING!! I don't sell Mary Kay nor wear it but I can put this on and then wear good ole' maybelline mascara and it looks awesome! Best 13.00 I ever spent on make up.

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  22. I just bought a splurge at Ulta. Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion. I bought the tiny size in the sample area for $9. I love it ALOT and you only have to use a tiny bit.

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  23. Loving the new blog design.

    So. . . I don't have any recommendations for you. I know, I'm super helpful. But if any of your readers has a suggestion for anti wrinkle cream that doesn't cost $5,000 (meaning no more than $20) then please pass it along. I wish I was joking but I have a wrinkle in the middle of my forehead that is the size of the Grand Canyon. Awesome!!!

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