Saturday, February 14, 2009

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?

4 comments:

  1. Hmm I splurge on some and save on others. I still use Clean and Clear pimple gel, and Dove facial wash and lotion. However in terms of masks, scrubs and serums, only the higher end ones seem to do the trick for me.
    I'm still looking for a HG eye cream though - no drugstore or high end eye cream has yet met my expectations. Looking forward to hear what you think about the Shiseido one!
    Btw another good place to try high-end products is Sephora. Reason being if it doesn't work you can still bring it back and tell them it sucked (and get your money back).

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  2. Depending on the item I may splurge but if I splurge it's normally on items I research before hand using makeupalley so I know I have a good chance of it working. I've spent so much money on my acne, I am willing to spend a little extra if it'll work.

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  3. I used to. I have two make up cases filled with MU and other related beauty products. Mostly MAC, Benefit & Urban Decay. This year one of my NY resolutions was to not spend $$ on frivolous items meaning no more MU unless I need it like foundation or moisturizer. Even with foundation, I get MAC's SFF which is $22 which is reasonable.

    The only thing I will splurge on this year is my shampoo and conditioner. I use PureOlogy and it works so well on my hair.

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  4. Wow, I really would love to try these products ! beauty salons..Thanks for the giveaway :)

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