Do You Splurge or Save on Beauty Products?

I'm a huge beauty addict. I've got tons of cosmetics (mostly MAC), and a bit of an obsession with OPI nail polish. I have cut back a LOT on buying anything new in those departments though.

Within the last year or so, I've started to get into higher end skincare. I kept switching up the drugstore products I'd use on my face, and I was never completely happy with any of the new moisturizers I tried. I wanted to test out higher end stuff and see if I really noticed a difference in quality.

The first thing I bought was the MAC Microfine Refinisher. After using it for about a week, my dull skin was looking a lot less dull!

It wasn't too long after that when I started trying different moisturizers. I had better results with those as well. I'm still on the hunt for the perfect one though!

I recently ran out of eye cream. The skin under my eyes is really dry, with *gasp* a fine line or two. I wasn't totally happy with the cream I had been using. I had started reading reviews on MakeupAlley long before I ran out, and decided that I wanted to try Shiseido Benefiance Anti-Wrinkle Eye Cream. I'm not going to lie, the price kind of scared me. I thought about it for a long time and decided to give it a try. I think that if I'm really really happy with it, the price would be worth it. I do really want to be WOWed at that price though! So I'll give it a try for a while and report back.

A little bonus that helped me make the decision, I found a Shoppers Drug Mart location that sells Shiseido skincare products and went there to buy it because they were having a special that you get 20x the Optimum points if you spent over a certain amount on beauty products. Along with the eye cream, I got a couple of other products that I've been wanting to try out because of great reviews on MakeupAlley. Kiss My Face Peaches & Cream 4% Alpha-Hydroxy moisturizer - I will use this as a night cream because I like my day cream to have SPF in it. And I also got St. Ives Elements Micro-Dermabrasion exfoliator - I'm hoping this can be a cheaper substitute for MAC Microfine Refinisher that I'm almost out of.

Total spend on these 3 products was $89.81 after taxes BUT, this purchase earned me over 15,000 Optimum points which is equal to $25 in merchandise if I was to redeem those points. This makes me happy because I spend loads at SDM with a lot of that being on groceries, surprisingly.

Do you ever splurge on beauty products?