|
Stretching your beauty funds
Beauty has a price. But who says you have to pay it? Using a few tricks of the trade
(and a little extra effort), you can get more bang for your beauty buck. Here are six
creative ways to save some cash, compliments of Diane Irons, author of
911
Beauty Secrets (Sourcebooks, 1999) and Tricia O'Shea, makeup artist at the Oscar
Blandi Salon in New York.
1 Bypass the beauty counter and head for the art store to stock up on makeup
brushes. You can get the same pony, sable, and goat hair bristles -- in all sizes -- at a
fraction of the price. (A pony hair blush brush that costs up to $60 in department stores
is only $6 to $9 at the art store.)
2 Make your own tinted moisturizer. Simply put a dab of last summer's liquid
bronzer in the palm of your hand, then mix in enough of your regular moisturizer to make
it spreadable.
3 Use baby wipes instead of makeup remover towelettes. They're gentle on your
skin and your wallet -- $4 for 80 compared with $14 for 40 at some beauty counters.
Fragrance-free wipes are best.
4 Use a transparent pencil case -- the kind kids use for school -- as your
cosmetics bag. Besides its bargain price (about $1.50), it lets you find everything at a
glance.
5 Make your lipstick last longer by salvaging the leftover part that's buried in
the tube -- often a quarter of an inch or more. Scoop it out with a bobby pin and pack it
down in a small plastic palette or pillbox, then use a lip brush to apply it.
6 Revive nail polish that's drying out in the bottle by adding a drop of nail
polish thinner (available at most beauty supply stores), which lubricates it without
affecting the color. Shake well, then test the consistency on a piece of paper.
--Michele Bender
|
