by Ashley
You know how I’ve been trying to save money by making do with items that we’ve already got instead of buying new ones? Well I’ve been wanting to talk about this one for awhile….make-up!!!
I’m not a big make-up person. 99% of the stuff I wear is whatever is on sale at my local grocery store. I never rarely (like, once every 2-3 years) go to Alta or buy make-up from the make-up counter in department stores.
Even so, make-up can still be expensive. Since I started blogging I’ve been avoiding buying any make-up. This never started as an intentional challenge, but (similar to my DIY hair dye and cuts, which are still going strong), its kind of morphed into a challenge over time simply because I’ve now been doing it so long that I want to see how long I can hold out!
Have I just been skipping make-up entirely?
No. Though, to be fair, I don’t wear a lot of make-up to begin with so it’s different for me than it would be for someone used to wearing a full face with base, powder, blush, etc. on a daily basis.
So what have I been doing? Make-up eventually runs out, right?
Yep. And I’ve gotten creative!
First, I’ve looked around the house for make-up and been surprised to find a ton stashed away in various places! I started by looking under my sink (side note: anyone else’s under-the-sink a total jungle? Yikes!) Just from cleaning that out I was able to find all kinds of old make-up that had fallen out of rotation and was lost in the “under-the-sink” stash of crap. My Mom used to always give me her Clinique gifts (she buys their moisturizer and would give me the free gift whenever it was “gift time”), so a bunch of the stuff I found was even brand-new!!!
Next, I decided to go through and organize my purses. Again – I’m not a big purse collector, but I’m a bit of a packrat so I always hang onto old purses. Most are from Target or Kohl’s so they’re not fancy brands, but they’ve been hanging around forever. Lo and behold, I find more make-up! In the pockets of many of these purses I found some variety of lipgloss or lipstick. I also found concealer and make-up brushes! Another score!
And, finally, I got creative. When I ran out of eye shadow I started using blush as an eye shadow. I broke out of my shell a bit and started using colors I normally wouldn’t touch. And I figured out ways to blend different colors of concealer to create the “right” color out of two “wrong” colors (e.g., by mixing one that’s too dark with one that’s too light).
There are some things that I miss. My ONE, SINGLE name-brand product that I use ran out about a month ago and I miss it (for anyone interested, it’s by Laura Mercier and it’s a bronzer. It’s incredible and my last one lasted literally 3 years). Even though it lasts forever, its pricey (I think about $50), and I do not think it’s big enough of a deal to spend the money on right now.
Oh how vanity goes in the name of saving a buck (remember when I also confessed to stopping botox??). It’s a bit of a sacrifice, but it’s worth it to see those debt numbers continue to be chipped away.
So that’s my latest contribution to the “making do” series.
What have you chosen to make do with in order to save some money?
Also…I challenge you to clean out underneath your sink sometime this week. I would bet you find something that you could use to save some money by making do, too!
