Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Budgeting; or a Guide to Fabulous Adulting

For the majority of my adult life I've been told that eventually everyone you know gets married and starts a family. I am at this point in my life. It seems like LITERALLY everyone I know is having getting married or having babies or both. And all the while I'm off in single land, enjoying spending my money on $35 lipstick and buying all the shoes.

As far as I can tell, marriage changes all the expenses. Maybe it's not marriage, it may actually be buying a home. But either way, at some point priorities change. Husbands, wives, houses, babies, but at some point stiletto pumps and the perfect mascara fall to the end of the list. So, I've been thinking about all of my friends, my new moms and new home-owning friends, and everyone who is trying to be fabulous for less.

So for you lovelies, I'll be taking a look into how to work on a budget, trendy bags, cute shoes, perfect lipstick, great hair products all on a serious budget. So, as a series for my ladies, I'll be putting together budgeted items and where to get them.

To start, makeup, for the lady on the go:

I follow the Jeremy Renner guide to quick makeup: lips, lashes, brows. I can't live without some kind of foundation too. But for a lady on a budget, here's a plethora of low-cost items to help.

In terms of drugstore brands, I love Maybelline for many of my products.

Mascara:
I love all three of these, but my favorite is Colossal Volume in waterproof. It's great for a day where you're not going to have a lot of mirror time. These run around $5.00 at Target or Walmart. I would recommend a lash primer with them as well, but they work alone as well.

If you don't love Maybelline, this Loreal mascara is amazing.

It runs around $10.00 at Target or Walmart.

I'd recommend the Maybelline 24 Color Tattoo in terms of shadow. There's a lot color options, and they apply easily with your ring finger. If you're really low maintenance, pick a neutral color, you just need one color.

These run between $4.00 and $6.00 at drugstores.

For your brows, a matte shadow goes a LONG way. You can also use this as a smudgy eyeliner.


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Revlon's matte shadow works like a dream with an angled brush to fill in brows. Maybelline has a brow powder around $5.00 at Walmart, and the eyeshadows run between $3.00-$6.00. 

I also recommend an eyeliner, just to line your top waterline. Rimmel has a good eyeliner, and it smudges less than most drugstore brands (Please note: I struggle to recommend here. I swear by Chanel and Marc Jacobs liners. They don't smudge and last forever.) 

These run around $4.00. I like the lighter colors, browns, and the beige is always a great selection to highlight the lashes. 

In terms of lipsticks, there are 2 I recommend. I am currently OBSESSED with Flower from Drew Barrymore. It's only available at Walmart. I got Desert Rose. It runs about $7.00 

The best part about it is the texture isn't grainy or sticky. 

But for something longer wearing, Loreal Infallible Lip Stain is fantastic. 

These run around $10.00. they do last all day, but I'd recommend only using them a couple of times a week because they are fairly drying. 

These products alone will give you a nice, clean fabulous look. Add a foundation or tinted moisturizer- Maybelline's Fit Me foundation is good, but is a bit oily, Maybelline's Dream BB Cream is great, and I would definitely try any of the Flower products, especially the Tinted Moisturizer; a Physician's Formula bronzer and you're set for the day. But just for the recommended products, even if you buy the most expensive you're looking at less than $40 before tax. And the lip products, brow, eye shadow, and liner will last at least 6 months. So, realistically, that's less than $10 a month. 

I don't ever want anyone to think that I don't respect people who are married with kids at my age. I have so much respect for that, and trust me, I think you should be every bit as fabulous as everyone else in my world.