Beauty 101: Spend Or Save?

This weekend, our Beauty 101 series is going to focus on the department store vs. drug store cosmetics. Which products are really worth the extra money? And which products work just as well as their high-end counterparts? Let’s find out.

Makeup can be expensive, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be, in order to be effective. The trick, I suppose, is trial and error, discovering which products are really worth the extra cash. I’ll always spend a little extra on tinted moisturizer because it took me a while to find one that didn’t bother my skin and that provided the coverage I was looking for, and I’d rather spend a few more dollars on my tried-and-true standby than end up throwing out a bunch of impulse purchase drugstore moisturizers after discovering they make my face break out or don’t last as long as I’d like them to. However, I’m devoted to drugstore mascara, drugstore eyeliner, drugstore night cream, and drugstore lip gloss, because I’ve found a few brands that work just as well, for me anyway, as their expensive counterparts. But what works for me might not work for someone else: I have friends for example, who swear by drugstore foundation but refuse to wear any eye makeup that doesn’t come from Sephora or MAC. It’s all about finding out what works for you.

So for today’s Beauty 101, I’m asking all of you to open up your makeup bag and tell us about the contents. Please recommend your favorite products, whether they’re from a department store or from a drugstore, and if you can, explain why certain things are worth the extra cash/worth saving on. Know of any less-expensive versions of fancier products? Have a drugstore replacement for a discontinued department store brand? Feel free to share them. A roundup of your favorite products from all price ranges will be posted at some point tomorrow.