Surprising beauty items you can SAVE on & not SPLURGE on!

Hey beauties! So, I got so excited when I had the idea for this post. I don't know about you but as an active beauty community follower {i.e. blogs, beauty gurus via youtube, review websites, etc.} I've heard over and over again things like, "there's some things you NEED to splurge on" or that you MUST buy the high end version of this or that. Along with that chatter comes the typical list of things that you have to buy the expensive version of because the cheap stuff just doesn't compare! Well, I'm here to tell you that's B.S. and don't you believe it, there are plenty of great cheap alternatives to the things ladies always claim you must splurge on!

Makeup Brushes:
I've heard youtube "beauty gurus" say over and over again, "you have to have Mac brushes" or "No other brushes compare to Sigma!" and obviously both those brush lines both seem great, but do I have the money for them? No. And have I been putting on my makeup just fine without them!? Yes! My favorite line of low cost brushes hands down is ELF. They make a wide variety of brushes for your eyes and face and at a price range of $1-3 dollars, that's right up my alley! Read more about my FAVORITE elf face brushes in this post!

These are some of my other favorite elf brushes L to R: small angled brush, lip defining brush, eyeshadow "c" brush, eyeshadow brush, and blending eye brush. I stand by these brushes not only because they're inexpensive because the quality is pretty darn good and I've had a lot elf brushes for years and they're still going strong! I also have had good luck with  forever 21 {edit: this is F 21 brush set I love! So much so, I bought a second one}.

Liquid Foundation:
I may get some backlash for this one... but I just can't bring myself to purchase a 30 or 40 something dollar high end foundation, that's just me, if you can do it more power to yah! Personally, I think people would never notice the difference if you're using something that works with your skintone and is a great drugstore product!

My choice for top 3 drugstore foundations

1. Covergirl outlast stay fabulous 3 in 1 foundation {whew, is that a mouthful or what!?} is my newest holy grail foundation it's really fantastic and super impressive stay power, read more about it in my summer essentials post! 2. Revlon colorstay was my holy grail foundation for years! Its got great staying power, the only down side to this foundation is that you have to work fast when applying because it sets quickly! But, overall colorstay provides a great, matte finish foundation. 3. Rimmel's lasting finish foundation I used this foundation for about a year straight before the covergirl one came out, if you're seriously broke, this is the foundation for you. lasting finish its only 4-5 dollars at Walmart or Target and it's comparable to colorstay honestly and leaves you with a matte finish, the staying power is just a little less I'd say, best cheap foundation I've used though.

 Brow products:
I know ladies rave and rave about Anastasia's brow powder and gel. But, even if I had the extra cash I don't think I could even make myself spend it on high end brow stuff. Don't get me wrong... I'm obsessed with brows... and making mine as close to perfect as I can. The thing is I can make that happen with drugstore products, so why spend more?

Rimmel makes great brow pencils and so does Milani. My preferred method is using my elf angled eyeliner brush and my Physician's Formula Canyon Classics Palette. It's pretty inexpensive it's an absolute must have eyeshadow palette (regardless of if you use a color to fill in your brows).

Can you tell what color I use to fill in my brows? lol.

  The bottom right shadow is a perfect, natural match for my light brown brows! Then I use my Maybelline great lash CLEAR mascara to set my brows and I must admit I wasn't very impressed with this at first, maybe it's just me but my brow hairs still moved out of place after using this. So I took a few spritzes of hairspray {what women doesn't have hairspray laying around!?} and squirting it into the mascara tube to give the gel alittle more staying power and it worked beautifully... even lasts through a sweaty workout!

Eyeshadow:

Now by now a lot of us beauty bloggers & makeup enthusiasts know that most {not all, but most} drugstore eyeshadows are just as comparable as the high end brands like urban decay, mac, etc and sometimes even better! But... I just had a sweet reader comment on one of my posts saying "I would of never thought wet n wild products were good!" ...well they're not just good, THEY'RE GREAT! And better yet, between my wet n wild eyeshadow collection & some elf palettes I almost positive I have both Urban Decay naked palette's duped and countless mac eyeshadows duped as well!

Some of my all time favorite eyeshadows, details below.

 1. L'oreal infallible eyeshadow in "Amber Rush" this is a must own shade. The perfect rose gold/coppery color which incomparable pigmentation.
2. Wet n Wild trio in "Silent treatment" great smokey eye palette, or you could go very daytime if you just used the eyelid color & browbone shade.
3. Maybelline's color tattoo in "bad to the bronze" is {obviously} a bronzey shade with a metallic finish, it's a gorgeous multidimensional shade that can be easily be "stand alone" eyeshadow.
4. Wet n Wild trio in "walking on eggshells" perfect for that everyday shimmery, neutral eye. Plus all 3 shades in this trio are Mac eyeshadow dupes!
5. Wet n Wild 8 pan palette in "Comfort Zone" this beautiful palette has an array of neutrals and even some darker sultry colors. This palette is damn near perfect and so unbelievably pigmented.


Is there any of your drugstore favorites that didn't make the list? Please share in a comment below! I could go on and on about makeup {especially affordable makeup} all day, so I'd love to hear what you beauties have to add! Just remember you don't have to spend a lot to get a lot, and if you try something new you may end up replacing your 45 dollar foundation with 10 dollar one... and that's money worth saving! :)


until next time!, xo Leah

Wet n Wild eyeshadow