The $20 make-up challenge

Hello everyone, and thank you for stopping by!

Inspired by numerous YouTube videos on the subject, The Beauty Scrooge decided to venture into Priceline to take on the $20 make-up challenge, made particularly difficult by the cost of make-up in Australia. Even "drugstore" inexpensive brands were still quickly pushing us out of the tight budget, but we persisted, and here we are, bringing you two different looks achieved by two people who each had $20 to spare in a "All your make-up products and tools magically disappeared - what do you do in this shock-horror scenario?" situation.

General Guidelines:

• $20 to spend on the essential beauty items, including make-up tools.
• Shopping in clearance/discounted items baskets is permitted and encouraged.
• The Beauty Scrooge decided to exclude the option of purchasing all-in-one palettes to keep the challenge in the challenge :)

Anna's bargain buys

Anna purchased:
Australis perfection brush on foundation in shade golden tan (clearance item $3.00 ), Australis paparazzi perfect high definition concealer (clearance item $3.00), Australis blush in colour sand dune (clearance item $3.00), Australis eye shadow quad in shade Moody Blues (clearance item $3.00), Australis intensifeye liquid eyeliner in black shimmer (clearance item $3.00) Savvy lipstick in pretty pink ($4.99). Grand total  $19.99.


I had to really blend the foundation.

I had all these grand ideas in my mind before starting of how easy this challenge would be, I WAS WRONG! I also had decided before hand that mascara would be the first thing I would buy, it wasn't. I ended up getting liquid eyeliner thinking i could try and use that as a replacement for mascara...The end result wasn't bad and a few of the products will probably make it to my favourites for the month.




Super dark eyes, not normally the way i roll!

I started with the foundation, it was completely the wrong colour I looked like i was putting a mud mask on because it was way too dark for my lily white skin. However with a huge amount of blending it wasn't too bad. the finish was quite light, it had a dewy finish and good coverage, i wish i could get this in the right colour. the concealer was AMAZING it was a great colour for me and i will be using this as my concealer on a regular basis. The blush was a nice colour i had to build it a bit but it came out really nice, the tiny blush tool that came with it was pathetic, but i used my fingers to blend and it worked well. The eye shadow was nice enough the colours particularly the black shade did a great job of blending with the eyeliner once again it was just the tool letting it down. i ended up just going intense black over the whole lid to try and hide the fact that my lashes were naked, slightly too intense for my tastes though. The eyeliner DOES NOT WORK AS MASCARA, however as eyeliner it was great, it was easy to apply because the tip was quite big and its a felt tip so nice and flexible. The colour has a slight shimmer to it so it broke up the black nicely and complemented the sparkle in the black shadow as well. I fell in love with the lipstick, it is my new favourite colour and was so moisturising, I will definitely repurchase this lipstick in lots of other shades. The look worked but i really missed having mascara, if i ever do this again the first thing I buy will be MASCARA!!

Product I would not buy again.... the foundation as it was the wrong shade for me, also the eyeshadow, it was nice enough but there was nothing very special about it.
  Product i would buy again... the lipstick and the concealer!


Anastasia purchased Savvy Volumising mascara ($9.99), Australis Paparazzi Perfect High Definition concealer (clearance item $3.00), Australis Eyeshadow in shade 82003 Violet Vamp (clearance item $3.00), Australis Colour Inject Mineral Lipstick in shade Hula (clearance item $3.00).
Grand total: $18.99.

Concealer used sparingly as a base

While I don't feel I'm in the position to skip a makeup base, I did decide to be adventurous, leave out the foundation and pick up concealer instead, which, placed strategically, seemed to do the job of evening out my skin tone and hiding imperfections fairly well! Emphasis on 'fairly' as the concealer is a shade or two too light to be using it as a foundation replacement; but it is
very buildable - a couple of thin layers applied with ring finger worked really well.
 
I then applied the lightest shade of eyeshadow all over the lid with my fingertip, and the purple shade in the corner and crease (applied with the sponge applicator and blended with fingertips). I then used some mascara on the clean end of the sponge applicator to create eyeliner - it worked a treat! Later I smudged it a bit using the darker shadow in the palette, and applied several coats of mascara to my lashes, curling them up with the wand.

Finished look

The lip colour  doubled up as blush, and here is the finished look!

Product I would not buy again.... the eyeshadow - not enough colour pay-off and chalky texture; the lipstick - a 'meh' product that feels a bit greasy on my lips, so I personally didn't find it particularly great. Plus the smell of it reminded me of old lipsticks my mum didn't use anymore that I used to find when I was little!

Product i would buy again... mascara - quite impressive for the price, nice wand, no clumps, no flaking, and the formula is just right - not too wet, not too dry; and concealer - very good consistency and colour, a great all-around corrector product!

  Lessons Learned:

• Prioritising is key - think long and hard of what you feel you absolutely can't go without and purchase those items first.
• Using one make-up product in several ways is a great way to keep the cost down while achieving a complete look.
• Keep an eye out for sales and clearance items hiding in the corners of the shop, on shelves furthest away or not at eye-level.
• Very often the reduced price items are hiding on the same shelf as full-priced products!

We had a lot of fun doing this challenge, hope you enjoyed reading the blog! What products would you spend your $20 on?