How not to overspend on makeup 💄

Hello Zesties!

I have been practicing mindful purchasing habits for a while now and thought I’d share some tips that worked for me when it comes to buying makeup!

1️⃣ For products where the difference in colour doesn’t matter, get one of each.

For products like foundation and concealer, unless your skin tone changed drastically after a camping trip, you don’t really need more than one bottle, especially since each bottle can cost anywhere between $50-90. This makes it important to choose something that suits you, and I’ll explain how below.

2️⃣ For products where the difference in colour matters, don’t get more than five.

It’s nice to have different colours to switch between for items such as lip tints, blushes and eyeliner, but try not to get too many. Makeup typically expires within a year or two, and it’s usually impossible to finish using anything. Most of the time, makeup expires before you have even used half of it.

Now you might be thinking, sometimes you make a wrong purchase and realise a product isn’t suitable. Either the formula is too drying, or the colour doesn’t suit you, and you end up having to abandon it anyway. So how can you prevent this?

3️⃣ Samples Samples Samples.

Always ask for samples! When you walk into boutique, stand-alone stores, like Shu Uemura, Dior, Chanel etc, they typically have samples available and you just have to ask. Bring it home and use it for a couple of days and see how it wears throughout the day before buying it.

Once, I asked for a tester for a new Shu Uemura foundation as they discontinued the one I was currently using, and I realised the consistency was quite different. It clung onto the textures on my skin and there was too much perfume in it. Safe to say, I didn’t get the full-sized bottle, and imagine wasting $70 on it if I didn’t ask for a sample.

4️⃣ Observe how the product looks in different lighting.

If you are trying something in Sephora or Watsons where they might not have samples, test the product on your skin and see how it wears throughout the day. It doesn’t have to be on your face if you’re skeptical about the hygiene aspect, it can be the back of your hand. Sometimes, the product looks good in the store lighting but the colour washes you out when you hit the outdoors. Or sometimes, the colour looks good for the first hour but fades to nothingness for the rest of the day. This way, you can increase the chances of buying something you actually like and will reach for often.

5️⃣ Expensive isn’t always better.

Some time last year, I was thinking maybe I should “upgrade” to using more branded makeup products since I’m older now, and have more spending power (not now that I got laid off lol but ya). So I decided to look for a new translucent powder (e.g. Huda Beauty’s loose powder in Pound Cake). But I was so shocked to find out that these expensive powders made my makeup cake whereas I didn’t have any of such problems with my Innisfree translucent powder which cost 1/5 of the price. That’s when I realised, it doesn’t mean that a product will suit you just because it is expensive.

6️⃣ Think about the clutter.

This might be an unpopular opinion, but I personally feel what’s worse than overspending is the clutter. Imagine having 10 lip tints lying around, 5 of which you find unsuitable after using once or twice. On one hand, part of you thinks your makeup drawer is messy and overspilling with products, but on the other hand, you find it wasteful to throw away something you barely used. This dilemma of being annoyed by the clutter while feeling reluctant to throw things away is, in my opinion, more torturous than overspending on the makeup itself.

That’s all from me! These are the steps I take before buying any makeup products, which has worked for me thus far.

That being said, we all have different goals and preferences, so if exploring different makeup looks every day is your hobby, feel free to make purchases according, as long as you are spending within your means. 🤍

#mindfulspending #deinfluencing #makeup