Am I really about to pay $19 for MASCARA?!

This collection isn't mine. I kind of wish it were *_*

The title is a question I asked myself on Friday as I was getting my new foundation [HUGE shout out to MUFE 178!!!! I no longer look orange when I put on foundation! :-D]

Since my current bottle of mascara is getting ready to hit it's throw-out date (which is about 3-6 months after I first opened it, I had to ask-why am I about to pay $19 + 6% sales tax for something I have to put a date on and throw away in the next few months. I consider my make-up to be an investment, so spending more than 20 dollars on mascara...I'm not so sure if I can keep doing that!

So then, I started thinking-what worth the huge price tag and what can be purchased at CVS/Target/Walmart (since I am starting to venture into drugstore brands) and I broke it down like this...
What I should keep buying from department stores

1. Eyeshadows-For me, eyeshadows are an investment. But only the powder eyeshadows. Anything else, I usually skip because I'm not huge on cream shadows
2. Foundations-It's an investment and a hard to find item for me. I don't like getting my foundations 95% right, I need my foundations too be 100% on point.
3. Brushes: I bought my first MAC brush in 2005 and it still looks like the day I bought it after proper care. Enough said really.
4. Any powder products-Powder products last longer and are less likely to have bacteria growing in them unlike their cream and liquid counterparts. Correct me if I'm wrong...

What you can go to the drugstore for

1. Mascara-as a wise person once told me, you throw away mascara after a few months, so it's not necessary to buy high end mascara
2. Lip glosses-Imagine this: You open up your mascara, use that little wand to put on the lipgloss and then you put it back as you should. Imagine what that brush has after many many uses.
3. Cream/liquid based products-these products can harbor anything, so no point in buying an expensive cream blush.

This list doesn't have every kind of product (I think), so I just stuck to products that I have recently bought. However, if you are against animal testing or want cruelty-free products, then drugstore products aren't the place to find them. If you want to know which companies test on animals or are cruelty free, use this website. That list has once again made it hard for me to switch over to drugstore products -_- Oh well, the battle and search continues...

Happy shopping! x