While my cosmetics bag has a few drugstore beauty products in it, I'm a bit of a makeup snob, with a growing addiction to more expensive brands. Between my sensitive skin, my friends' must-have recommendations, and I admit, an obsession with style blogs, I can easily plop down a pretty penny for an awesome mascara or blush.
I honestly didn't think too much about it until my kids got into my makeup bag, destroyed my brand new lipstick, and lost my favorite blush brush. I might as well have just flushed $75 down the toilet.
So that's why I started taking stock of the cost of my makeup bag to see if it's really worth spending all that money on my face.
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Okay: confession time. All told, the contents of my makeup bag total about $396. Yikes! Judging me yet? I don't blame you if you do -- but I also don't really care. Because I wouldn't have it any other way.
I'm not sure about you, but let loose in a beauty store or cosmetics department, and I can do some serious damage. Maybe it's that the fluorescent lights have a weird power that puts me under a spell and drives me to plunk down way too much for the season's hottest eye shadow color.
Or that I'm always tired and feeling a little old, so I'm willing to try whatever I can get my hands on to make me look young and energetic.
Either way, if I find something that looks and works great, I will pay for it, and more often than not, it happens to be something pretty darn expensive.
Here's the breakdown of what's in my makeup bag by cost, which doesn't include the actual bag because I'd rather spend my money on a $55 blush brush, apparently:
- Mac concealer: $35 (I think?!)
- Chanel lipstick I got at Bloomingdale's that I just had to have: $40
- Make Up For Ever eye shadow I use as blush: $25
- Nars cream blush: $30
- Dr. Jart BB Cream (my all-time favorite): $39
- Kat Von D blush: $25
- Almay eye shadow: $10
- YSL lip stain: $40
- Cover Girl mascara: $8
- Almay powder: $10
- My favorite cream blush brush ever: $55
- Illuminating cream (that I found on Cupcakes and Cashmere): $29
- Nars eyeliners: $25 each (and I carry 2 these days)
And keep in mind that this is just in my regular rotation right now. I'm pretty sure I have enough lipsticks to last me well until the end of the world.
Oddly enough, even though I don't necessarily think twice about buying a $40 lipstick, clothes are a different story. A $40 T-shirt? Well, I'd think long and hard about spending that much on something I'd probably get more wear out of that wouldn't come off every time I took a sip of coffee. Funny how that works!
And as much as I like the idea of just popping into the drugstore to grab a fun new lip gloss or eye shadow, I've found that most of the more expensive brands are actually higher quality, which means they last longer, they look way better, and most importantly, I have fewer break-outs.
You do get what you pay for when it comes to makeup. And I'd rather not pay for pimples or rashes.
If you're like me and your post-baby waistline always seems to be changing, makeup is the one thing you can buy that you don't have to worry about fitting into.
Most importantly, everyone sees your face, so it makes sense to put something on it that's pretty and fresh, not cheap or crappy.
So for now, I'll be sticking with my nearly $400 (and counting!) makeup bag. And I will be keeping it far, far away from my children.
Spill it: How much does your makeup bag cost?
Image via © iStock.com/adisa