Let's Talk Beauty Products!

Here's my makeup box. Can you tell it's a tackle box? My sister started this WAY back when we were young. She bought a tackle box to put all her makeup in and I followed suit. It makes a perfect box for all those little containers. And you can tuck it out of the way in a closet or armoire. I don't use nearly all of this and I've even cleaned it out many times, but can't seem to get rid of all the eye shadow kits and other things I don't always use. My routine for makeup is much more simple these days.

Back in my 20's, I was so into makeup and fashion. I still love makeup and fashion, but not nearly like I did then. I loved it all and was a real beauty products snob and always shopped at the department store cosmetics counter. Estee Lauder was my choice of cosmetics for the most part and I ventured out with Clinique, Lancome, and Ultima III. I lived for the free gift with purchase events. That's when I'd stock up on foundation or loose powder or whatever else I needed to get one of those free gifts. Those days, I'm afraid, are over. I think I've gotten a little wiser over the years and realized that just because a beauty product costs a lot of $$, doesn't mean it's the very best OR that I can't find something just as good for less. So, let's talk money-saving beauty tips, shall we? About 3 or 4 years ago, I discovered Bare Minerals (or Bare Essentuals) mineral makeup and I haven't looked back since then. I think it works great with my aging skin and seems to give an overall better glow, rather than the heavier foundations I was using previously. I have tried many liquid foundations over the years, from Estee Lauder, to Lancome, to Revlon and Loreal. All of them were fine for the most part, but as my skin has aged, I felt the need to lighten up on the foundation. Mineral makeup works great for me! It goes on lighter, still covers enough and let's your skin show through without looking cakey or too made up. I have rather oily skin, especially the T-zone and the mineral foundation keeps me from looking like a grease pit at the end of the day. Of course, summer is still the worse for my oily skin, but overall I think mineral makeup is a big find for me. Have you tried it yet? I now purchase mine on Ebay. I've found several sellers on there and you can get some pretty good discounts if you shop around. The good thing is, one container lasts at least 6 mos. for me, so I don't have to buy that often. I use Fairly Light for my rather fair skin. I also use the bronzer called Warmth. It adds just the right amount of blush and if I want more of a bronze look in the summer, just add a bit over my whole face. Bare Minerals is not particular cheap, but I like it so much, it's worth it to me. Back in the 70's and 80's those huge makeup cases were all the rage too. I can't tell you how many Estee Lauder and Ultima III eye shadow kits I bought. There were so many colors in there...wild, beautiful colors, but really how practical are all those colors? Not very. I've narrowed down my best colors to the ones above. These look the best on me with my blue eyes....pinky browns, russet browns, golden yellow, and creamy white for accents. I love these eye shadows from Ulta. We don't have an Ulta store here in Birmingham, but I can always stock up when I go back to Atlanta. These eye shadows are very reasonable too and they often run Buy One, Get One Free promotions. Very practical!
Have you ever heard of Wet & Wild? I've been buying their lip liners for probably 15 years now and my favorite one is #666 (I know, strange), but it's also called Wine. It's a great pinky-brown shade for all of my lipsticks and that's the only one I use now. Best part is, they sell for about $1. I see that Walmart carries them now, as well as Target used to and I just saw this shade touted by a makeup artist from NY in a magazine recently, so I see I'm not the only one who's found it. Also picked up a dark blue eye liner for the same price and it works well too. Now, that's budget makeup! I've also found that when I've picked up Clinique or Estee Lauder lipsticks over the years in those freebies and find a shade I like, I can check Ebay and find lots of the brand new sample sized ones for sale for much less money than going to the department stores. I just put in the name I like and do a search on Ebay. Very cost effective!


I'm all over the board too with skin care products. Right now, I'm using Oil of Olay cleanser with microbeads (for anti-aging), Aveeno moisturizer, and some Boots of London aging serum, which I keep hearing lots about. Have you heard of Boots?? They are a low-cost botanically based skincare line out of the UK. I checked the line out at Target and it looks pretty good, so I think I'll try more when I run out of what I have currently. I got persueded last year to try Arbonne anti-aging skincare products. They were expensive and I really couldn't tell any difference in my skin, so I'll never do that again!
Here's another good hair product that I found at Walmart. Hask Spray-On Illuminator, one of those shine sprays with silicone to give a lot of shine to your hair. This one works well for me and I know there are much more expensive ones out there, but after I tried this one, I'm happy with it.

I'd love to find some good recommendations for hair products. I've gone back and forth over the years buying expensive shampoo and conditioner and cheap ones. Paula Begoun (The Beauty Bible lady) says that cheap shampoos are just as good as the salon products. I think when I was younger, I could get away with the cheaper ones, but now that my hair is getting more gray and coarse, I really need something that will keep it hydrated, soft and shiny and it seems the more expensive ones do that better. I know my hair feels better after I leave the salon! Tell me what you've found for hair products that work for you. I have really thick, coarse hair with lots of natural curl and a tendency towards frizz. I've always said it is just like a horse's mane and that's about the truth. Right now, I'm using a Redken smoothing shampoo for dry hair to keep it softer and tame the frizzies. I also picked up a deep conditioner for colored hair at Sally's by Ferria that works pretty well too, but

I'd love to hear from you about your shampoo and conditioner favorites. If I can find some that are less expensive, but still work great, I'm all for saving money.

Do you use cheap shampoo and conditioner or expensive and why? Can you really tell the difference? I'd love to find some good ones that are maybe in between really cheap and really expensive. We don't have any good places to shop for the salon products over here except at a salon (or at least I haven't found one yet). I used to shop at Ulta all the time in Atlanta, but we don't have them over here.

So, let's hear your recommendations! The girl who cuts my hair (and I'm still going to the Supercuts girl) said we should change up our shampoos and conditioners very often, as hair gets used to the same products and it's better to mix it up. Maybe we'll all get some good ideas! Feel free to offer any other good tips on makeup and skin care products too. What can't you live without?