Save Money on Makeup in 2014

Hi Sparkles!

Today's post is not going to be a tutorial, like I planned, but instead I am going to show you different ways to use your makeup products and how to save money on them. I'm sure we all have some makeup we don't use for its intended purpose, whether its the wrong shade, it doesn't quite look right... whatever reason. As long as you use makeup that is in date its all good. We spend a ton of money on makeup, well, I do at least. If you are the same, you might be owning more than you should, or, if you aren't exactly the richest person around you can certainly double up everyday products you might be owning. So, this post is how to save money on makeup this year.

A cheap, but high quality gel or cream eyeliner is really difficult to find. In stores, the best cheapest one is by Collection and it is £4.99 and the best cheapest one I found online only is ELF Cream Eyeliner for £3.75. Cream and Gel liners can be really expensive but it is really easy to construct a new one out of mascara. If you have a mascara that you don't really use, take a small precise brush that resembles an eyeliner brush and dip it into the wand of the mascara and apply it to your upper lash line as you would a liquid eyeliner. Preferably use one that doesn't flake off easily and make sure you prime your eyelids first.

I know how hard it is to find a really good inexpensive blusher or bronzer. This is a tip I have known about for ages but since I am not a massive fan of wearing blusher or bronzer, I don't like this tip as much as the other ones but you guys might find it useful. It can be difficult to find the right shde of blush, the right pigmentation, etc, but did you know that you can actually use a lipstick for blusher? Weird, I know, I did try it once and it did work but I hate wearing blusher and bronzer. All you need to do is take a lipstick of the colour blush you would wear, so for me I would use a light pink, and make three little dots in a triangle shape on the apples of the cheeks and blend towards the hairline. Then just set it with a translucent powder. I prefer using lipstick as opposed to lipgloss because lipglosses tend to be more sticker and do not blend as well and if you have a lot of hair that you wear down it will get stuck to the lipgloss. Lipstick is creamier, blendable and easier to manage.

My next tip on how to save money on your makeup is to use what you already have and try not to tempt yourself into buying high end expensive makeup too often. When I worked in Superdrug, I saw a lot of younger girls, younger than myself, buying expensive makeup such as Maybelline, L'Oreal and Max Factor and I heard them talking about the latest Benefit and MAC product they had bought and I wondered where they got the money from. I'm sure a lot of you buy the expensive stuff which is OK but opting for lower end and cheaper products can be better in a long run. There are loads of really great inexpensive brands such as MUA, Beauty UK, 2true, ELF... the list is endless. All you need to do is go to your nearest makeup store, I definatley recommend Superdrug because it is a lot cheaper than Boots a lot of the time. So if you need a new lipstick and you are getting tempted by £7+, STOP! There are excellent alternatives for half the price for example, I love MUA £1 lipsticks and the ones from NYC... all under £3. 

 

A lot of the time I find that makeup I have bought without using a tester often doesn't look quite right than it should do. So this brings me onto my next tip; use the testers in a makeup store!! People neglect testers because a lot of the time and they see a product with amazing reviews and just go out and buy it without testing it and end up hating it! That is one of the biggest wastes of money in the makeup world! The testers are there for a reason!! If there is not any testers available ask someone who works in this store, because there may be spare testers somewhere and they will definitely help you decide whether or not you like the product and can potentially save you the £££s.

My final tip is only buy what is essential. Don't buy two mascaras at once even if there is some kind of offer because when you use one for 6 months you can only use the other one for about four months and that is just a waste of an offer in my opinion. If you have a huge collection of eyeshadows and decide to buy an eyebrow kit, use the eyeshadow! Don't buy a new blush for the sake of if if you don't wear it etc. I only buy huge amounts of makeup because of the blog and as an aspiring makeup artist I feel it is important for me to invest my money into makeup but if you don't normally wear makeup don't buy bulks of it because makeup has an expiration date.

So I hope this post helps you guys and didn't feel like too much of a rant but these are some great money saving tips so I hope you try them out

SparkleEyes x