I know, all your friends are using MAC or Stila and you all go shopping together. I encourage you to look at your receipts and figure out just how much money you are spending on your make-up. If you don't have any records, dump your make-up collection on the floor and estimate an approximate total. How many hours did you have to spend at work to pay for your make-up? Do you like your job? The problem is that with the color products, you are not getting anything extra for the extra money you spent.

Suppose you own 6 MAC eyeshadows that cost you $11.50 each,
vs. 6 eyeshadows from M Professional for about $2 each.
That is $69 vs. $12, a difference of $57.

Here is another example that shows even if you shop only at the drugstore, you can still end up paying more than necessary:

I used to use L'Oreal lipsticks. They are $6 each. Right now I own around 20 Wet 'n' Wild lipsticks that cost $1 each. That is $120 vs. $20. If you are a "Collector" of a certain product, like I am with lipstick, it really pays to shop the most inexpensive drugstore lines. Can you imagine if I indulged in a collection of Bobbi Brown lipsticks? At $16 each it would cost me $320 for 20 lipsticks!

Nobody can tell what brand of make-up you are wearing or how much you spent. As long as your foundation and concealer match your skin tone exactly, you pick appropriate make-up shades for your coloring, and your application is neat and well-executed, you will look great. I have had more department store makeovers than I can count. With only a few specific exceptions, I have found no quality difference between drugstore and department store make-up. They all look, feel, and wear pretty much the same. I have found good and poor quality products at both the drugstores and department stores and within lines as well. I keep looking at the department stores for products to fall in love with and put on my next birthday and Christmas lists, but I rarely find anything that really impresses me. Look at this picture of me and see if you can tell which products on my face are dirt-cheap drugstore products, and which are from the department store. I'll tell you at the bottom of this page. Unfortunately, when I scanned the photo, it darkened it. I really don't wear my eyeshadow that dark, but I think it will still illustrate my point. You can also look at the editorial pages in your fashion magazines. You don't know if the model is wearing Chanel or Cover Girl lipstick until you read the print.

Do you really want to be spending this much of your hard earned cash when you can look just as good for so much less?  But you say "I want to spoil and pamper myself, this is my reward for working so hard." So get a massage instead and really pamper yourself and reduce your stress. Or you could buy a nice dress with the money you save. Your face will look just as great. Just make sure you actually get something of value for the money you spend. Spend the money on a department store product only when you fall in love with a very unique color, or when you find a product of exceptional quality that you love, and for your foundation and concealer so you can test them and get the color and formula exactly right. It is just a very expensive and unnecessary habit to buy everything or almost everything at the department stores or to make a lot of impulse purchases there. If you wish to seriously apply these principles to other areas of your spending habits and invest the money you save, you may eventually be able to cut back on your hours at work or arrange for an early retirement. Now we're talking serious pampering! (For more information, check out the Frugal Living links on my Link's page.)

You are the only one who can look out for your finances, and only you will pay the consequences of overspending and not planning for your financial future. I love many of the sales associates and make-up artists that have helped me and done my make-up. Many have been so kind and I have learned so much from them. But never forget: it is their job to separate you from your money (granted, there are some out there who are not pushy at all, and I just found out that MAC associates are not on commission). Buying into the belief system that the cosmetics companies and some of the sales people promote can run you into the poorhouse. As we have become so caught up in all the hype, we seem to have forgotten that expensive cosmetics are luxury items for rich people and not necessities. The cosmetics world does not usually acknowledge nor care that many of us are not in a financial situation where it is appropriate to be spending so much money on cosmetics.(However, I am pleased with Bobbi Brown's attitude expressed in her book that there's nothing wrong with buying most of your make-up at the drugstore.)

I understand that it can be a difficult habit to break. I think the attraction of department store make-up for me is more the shopping experience than the actual products. I also love being able to test a color first. I love all the individual attention and having someone else put make-up on me. It is great fun for a woman like me with too much time on my hands. I'm trying to get my pampering in other ways, but I remain hooked on free makeovers. If I didn't have my husband to answer to with my expenditures, it would be very easy for me to get carried away. From what I gather on the Internet an issue for many of you may be that your friends all use certain brands, it is a status thing, and almost like being part of a special club. If you can't kick the habit just yet, at least stick with the lower-priced department store brands like MAC. I think almost any make-up connoisseur could be quite happy never leaving the MAC store.

I also understand that many of you have been convinced by the cosmetics industry propaganda that you must buy expensive make-up to get quality or to look good. Or, that if you don't use the department store skin care products, terrible things will happen to your skin. It is very difficult to remain rational with the things some sales people say to you. Even though I know what they are saying is not true, it is hard not to get sucked in when they tell you something is wrong with your skin and you must buy a product to fix it immediately. They have used the scare tactics on me big-time and often. Usually trying to sell me eye creams. Because I have read Paula Begoun's books, I know more than they do about what causes wrinkles (sun exposure) and have gotten into some nasty arguments when I have opened my mouth and spoken the truth. Now I usually just keep my mouth shut and just listen to their ridiculous pitches.

Another thing to remember is that make-up once opened and used, does not stay safe to use forever. Here is a general approximation of the many different guidelines I have read as to how long to keep make-up products once opened:

Mascara and Liquid Eyeliner should be kept no longer than 3-4 months (a few say as long as 6 months), and other eye make-up no longer than 6 months to 1 year. My Ophthalmologist said that ideally, eye make-up should be changed every 3 months.
The FDA also says that if you have not used an eye cosmetic for a few months, it is better to discard it and just buy a new one. 
Other face products can be kept for up to 1-2 years.

If you like to have at least several color choices of products, it does not make sense to go expensive. You will have to trash them before you can use them up and get your money's worth out of them.

When you do find a department store product you really like better than a less expensive product you are using, do this analysis before you decide whether or not to buy it. Ask yourself exactly just how much better the product goes on, wears, or looks than the drugstore product you are using. Put a percentage on it. Now figure out how much more expensive the department store product is by percent and compare the two numbers. For example, if I bought a foundation from MAC, Zhen, Shiseido, Bobbi Brown, or Prescriptives, I could get a more perfect color match to my skin. That would look about 10% better than my own custom mixed drugstore foundation. To look just 10% better (the formulas are no better, just the color), I would have to spend 600% to 1000% more! That is just not worth it to me. The Bobbi Brown foundation at $35 per ounce is ten times more expensive than my Bonne Bell foundation for $3.50 per ounce. Department store products are just so incredibly expensive and overpriced. Before you plunk down a chunk of your hard earned cash for one, make sure the product is such a tremendous improvement over what you are using now, that you will be immensely happy you bought it every time you get it out and apply it!

In the picture I am wearing only department store concealer and a department store foundation mixed with a $3 drugstore foundation. All the other products I am wearing are from the drugstore and are under $3.50. In the picture on the front page of my web site, I am wearing only drugstore products.