Make-Up Budget 101

or, High-End Make-Up Brands Detox

I'm sure any other young make-up fanatic will be with me on that one - it is HARD to keep up with all the products that are available or released on a regular basis in the make-up world. Especially those pricey brands that, of course, are the most craved-for in a majority of cases (yes, I'm looking at you, MAC !). Brand-store brands might be a lot less attractive for many reasons, going for less glamourous to poorer quality, but many years of shopping have thought me, it's okay to be cheap ! This post is not meant to advocate in favor of some drug-store brand, or against any higher-end make-up brand - I just wanted to share my trick to talk myself out of an expense.

I'm a full-time student and work part-time, on minimum wage (which is 9.50$CAN an hour, where I live - and which, for clarity's sake, round up to 10$). Whenever I feel like indulging my beauty cravings, I do a simple math that determines whether or not I should indeed take the object of my desire home with me.

1. Think of a really bad day at work. Like stare-at-the-clock-that-won't-move-beg-for-the-fire-alarm-to-go-off bad.

2. Keep that awful day in mind.

3. Convert the price of the item you are longing into hours of work (for instance, an OPI nail polish is 10$ in Canada, which represents one hour of work)

4. Remember that very awful day : if your boss had come up to you and asked you to stay for X more hours, without pay, in exchange for the item you want, sincerely, would you have ?

This principle is not only applicable to make-up - some will find it's a great way to quit smoking ! Though, after a stressful day at work & a strong nicotine craving, most will find that they would spend three hours scrubbing the floor with their toothbrush for their fix. I try to think that way when I go out to get coffee or eat out as well - is your Grande Vanilla Latte Non-Fat No Whip really worth half an hour of washing dishes or folding clothes? (I've solved this dilemma - I now work in a coffee shop ;) )

That being said, there is one situation in which you should never (and I mean, ever) use this calculation. Under any circumstances. By all means, never convert any money spent at the gas station or the garage into hours of work - it will make you want to drive your car off a cliff. Cars are bottomless pitholes that suck tons and tons of money until there is no more money in the world, and then suck some more.  

( Quelqu'un a deviné que ma voiture fait des siennes depuis une semaine ?)

And for the unexisting person that cares, I wanted to get myself the Girl Talk OPI nailpolish this week because all the cool kids have brown nails right now - which was already better than getting the MAC nailpolish I wanted to begin with - and I left the store with the 3$ Rimmel's Torrid. How good am I ?