This is at the moment, my complete makeup ensemble. It consists of; Coconut oil for a primer, 1 concealer, 1 foundation and sponge, 1 powder foundation, 1 Bronzer and 1 contour brush, 1 Brow Pen, 1 Eyeshadow compact, 1 Eyeshadow brush, 1 Eyebrow ‘comb’, 1 Eyeliner, 2 Mascara’s, and 3 Lipsticks. I do have a few lip-gloss sticks smattered around the house, and probably one or two in the bottom of my handbag. 3 Items are ‘name brand’ products that I got on ridiculous clearance, and the rest are cheap ‘nothing’ brands that might not be ‘as good’ but certainly do the job. The point of this is to show fellow Mummies out there, that not only can you look good in 10 minutes (8 if you push it), but that you can easily do a great face of make-up on a shoe string budget and still look *amazing*. Cue timer:
Pic 1) bare and freshly washed face, primed only with coconut oil. (You can buy a huge pot of this from the supermarket ranging between $6-10)
Pic 2) My foundation and Concealer are “Boe Professional”, from ‘Big W’ the concealer from memory was $5.99 and the Fountation was $11.
Pic 3) How I do my concealer, note the extra concealer above and below “mum bags”
This is my “face basics”, My sponge, brush, and bronzer (featuring missing case and lid), are from the $2 shop, and my ‘powder foundation’ is the most expensive item in my make-up collection. It is “Bobbi Brown” label, I paid about $25 for it a year ago, but they retail for around $45-55 a pop normally.
Pic 1 & 2) This is my eye Kit minus mascara, second pic is a close-up of my eyeliner. The eyeshadow brush is a ‘rimmel’ one but I can’t remember the price as it was about 4 years ago I bought it. The eyebrow comb ($3) , liquid eyeliner pen ($5), brow filler ($5), and eyeshadow compact ($6), are all “BYS cosmetics”, available at Kmart and some pharmacies. Mascara is from Big W, and they are “Makeup of Australia” brand retainling for between $9-12.
Pic 3 & 4) Eyebrows shaded in and filled, complete eye make-up.
My lip liner is a $2 one from NZ, I only have one that I use uniersally for all lipstick no matter the shade, it seems to blend with any colour I apply, from nude through to bright red, and it does a really good job stopping my lipstick from ‘weeping’. Lipstick is an “Elizabeth Arden” one, they retail at most pharmacies and outlets for around $20 per lipstick. I was fortunate enough to get it from my Mum as the shade wasnt right for her, so that is a great score! My other lipsticks are “BYS”
‘Before’ and ‘After’ pictures. I am by no means a beautician so the job is not flawless at all, (although I can see a vast improvement!) this is simply to show what kind of make-up look you can get as a mum for a reasonable price, and that you don’t need to have a bulging bag of make-up to achieve results. I think it covers my ‘bags’ and blemishes very well considering the prices of the makeup, and I know I won’t be buying ‘name’brand makeup anytime soon!
For those interested my total make-up bag items cost is $96 for 18 items, which works out to an average cost of $5.30 per item! Some things last longer, what I consider ‘once-off’ purchases, but things like concealer I replace every 3 months, which is how long they tend to last. I try to regularly go through my make-up bag and throw away older or expired products, but I do make them all last as long as possible.
P.S. I stopped the timer at 13 minutes and 45 seconds, normally it takes me around 8 minutes, but with taking pictures in between each step, time crept up on me a bit!
Annie_Elsie_and_Me 