$25 Monthly Makeup Challenge Month 4

If you are jumping right into the $25 Monthly Makeup Challenge feel free to check out the previous months: Month 1, Month 2, Month 3.  Basically, the challenge is to build a quality makeup collection buy budgeting $25 each month. 

This month I knew I wanted to purchase mascara. And I wanted to share my thoughts on mascara.  I have naturally long lashes, lucky me!  But I use mascara everyday (and although my lashes are long, they are not naturally curled- boo.).  I love the extra length and volume mascara gives.  Here's the thing, though. Mascara has one of the shortest lifespans of any makeup product.  You should be tossing your old mascara for a new tube every 3-6 months.  I don't know about you, but for me, throwing away a high end mascara that runs $20+ after 3 months of use would make me cry a little inside.  In fact, I probably wouldn't.  Then I'd be risking my health and possibly introducing bacteria and such to my eyeball...so to avoid that temptation, I usually purchase my mascara from the drugstore. Don't get me wrong, the high end mascaras I've tried work and they work really well.  However, there are great options at your local drugstore, too.

So, this month I headed to Walgreens.  I love walking around Walgreens beauty section.  There's always deals and new items.  I planned to purchase a mascara that was tried and true to me, perhaps a CoverGirl brand or Maybelline but as I walked around this Revlon Lash Potion caught my eye.  I'm a sucker for fun packaging.  I like Revlon and at $9 I figured it was worth a shot.  It has a pretty standard brush but I like the formula a lot.  It gives great length but doesn't clump.

Walgreens had a Buy One Get One 50% Off on Revlon products so I figured I'd pick up another item for my makeup arsenal.  I decided on the dual brow pencil/gel combo, Brow Fantasy.  Usually I use a powder (truth time:  I usually use a eyeshadow powder from an ELF quad) but I was excited about trying a pencil but terrified at the gel.  I've used a clear gel but this tinted gel scared me a bit, I was worried it'd be like a marker.  After I tried it, though, I am super happy with it!  It adds just a little touch of tint to my brows and I apply it after using the pencil.

I knew my total would be well below the budgeted $25 so I took this opportunity to check out some bronzers.  I have and LOVE an inexpensive Wet N Wild bronzer but I wanted to go with something 'higher end' from the drugstore and one of my absolute favorite blushes I have is from Milani.  So, I headed to that section and found this fun bronzer!  It's a baked bronzer with some highlighting aspects, and I loved that.  After I got it home and swatched it I got a little worried.  It was sheerer and shinier than I'd hoped.  I tried it the next day and I ended up liking it but I have to use a very light hand to avoid looking shiny.  If you prefer a matte bronzer (I think it's good to have both in your makeup collection) this is not for you but I think that's obvious from the get go!

So, these are my drugstore purchases for this challenge.  I absolutely think you can get quality items from the drugstore and it's a great way to add to your makeup collection.  My personal collection includes high end and drugstore.

From the previous months I had accumulated a roll-over budget for this month of $43.52 for this month(in this challenge if you don't spend the full $25 we get to 'roll over' the amount saved!).

Total available this month (based on money saved so far and $25 each month): $43.52
Grand total this month: $22.71 
Amount left over (from $43.52): $20.81
Total Available Next Month: $20.81 + $25= $45.81