Beauty / Makeup

September Low-Buy

polishedandinspired15 Comments

Today’s post is on my September low-buy. To be honest, this month I wasn’t that into buying makeup. I’ve been on an art kick in the last two months (mainly due to the wedding) and found that lately I’ve been more interested in buying watercolour palettes than eye shadow palettes, haha. I couldn’t really decide what I wanted to buy in terms of makeup this month, and what I did want to buy was over my budget. Most of the items I picked up this month were “necessities”, although I did get one fun product!

IMG_3276a.JPG

Nail Polish Remover – $4.99

I don’t really have a go-to nail polish remover as I find that most brands will get the job done. My nail polish remover at home was at dire levels, so I just grabbed the least expensive remover I saw on the shelves while I was at Walmart, and it happened to be the one. I think Equate is Walmart’s own brand for OTC pharmaceutical and beauty products.

IMG_3274a.JPG

CoverGirl Lashblast Volume – $6.99

I bought this to replace the CoverGirl Clump Crusher, which still has probably about a month’s worth of usage left. I was going to buy this in October, but happened to see it on sale for $6.99, so it was a good opportunity to pick it up. I was careful NOT to pick up the waterproof version of the mascara this time. I’m super excited to use this as volumizing mascaras are my favourite.

IMG_3273a.JPG

Essie Nail Polish in Plumberry – $7.99

This caught my eye while I was browsing the nail polish section at Shoppers last week. Apparently it’s really hard to photograph this shade, because I looked up swatches online and they all turned out red, and now my photo of this polish is also red. It’s actually a fuschia-toned berry red in a crème finish. I wanted something that was autumn-esque, but still bright, and this was perfect.

For my September low-buy budget, I only included the Essie polish since the Lashblast Volume was to replace my current mascara, and the nail polish remover technically isn’t a makeup product.

10-4-2016-8-51-19-am

Still staying in the black! I think in the next few months, you may see some more interesting low-buy posts from me. I’ve been really uninspired lately by all of the nail polish I own, so I think I might do an overhaul of my nail polish collection over the next few months, which would include purging old ones and buying new ones. Also, I want to look into getting some better brushes! So any nail polish/brush recommendations would be greatly appreciated 🙂

 

15 thoughts on “September Low-Buy”

  1. I agree with your rationale of not counting the mascara since it’s a replacement! Fingers crossed that you’ll like this one and it’ll hold your curl!
    I’ve not heard of Essie Plumberry at all – looks like a perfect Fall shade. And YAY on a nail polish collection overhaul – can’t wait to see what you pick up. What shades in particular are you looking to pick up?
    Re: brushes. I’m overhauling my collection too. No more inexpensive “deals” for me because I’m learning that in the long run, the more expensive branded ones work better and wash up better. Off the top of my head, I have huge love for Trish McEvoy, and on the less expense end, the black handled Sonia Kashuks are great (esp the face ones). Are there specific shapes / uses that you’re looking for in brushes? I can maybe recommend on a case by case basis. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I have high hopes for this mascara, hehe!
      It was the first time I’ve heard of Plumberry too, but apparently it’s a permanent shade! To be honest, I don’t have specific shades I’m looking for in terms of new polishes – I just know I’m getting tired of the colours I own and need a change!
      Hah, funny that we’re overhauling our brushes at the same time! I agree that it’s better to get high-quality, expensive ones as they pay off in the long run. Where do you even get Trish McEvoy brushes from?!
      I think for now I’m content with my eye brushes, although eventually I think I’ll change some of them up…for now I mostly want to concentrate on finding good face brushes, specifically a fan brush, contour brush, and blush brush (although I use the Smashbox one from you every day, I would like to own another good one for more variety).

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      • I got the bulk of my Trish McKevoy brushes when I used to travel to NYC for work, but they are now at Saks and Nordstrom.
        I have a few fan brushes and they serve different purposes: the really sparse ones are good for the crazy highlighters (like Becca Opal!) and I like the one from Quo, actually. The silver handle line. Hmm I have a big fluffy one I forget which brand it is now… I think Sedona Lace, I’ll get back to you.
        My favourite contour brush is from Anna Sui! 🙂 Its just called their Face brush but it’s flat and fluffy.
        And I have a variety of blush brushes (I hear you about wanting more than one) – some stand outs:
        Trish McEvoy #37, Shu Uemura #20, Quo Professional blush brush (black handle), and Sonia Kashuk Domed Blusher Brush 29.

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

        • Arghh, I don’t think our Nordstrom’s has Trish McEvoy beauty products…I feel like our Nordstrom’s is missing a lot of beauty brands in general…boo.
          Thanks so much for all of the recommendations! I’ll have to check out the Quo ones! I’ve always wondered if their brushes are good, actually…I only have an eyeliner brush from Quo, but I keep going back and forth between trying some of their face brushes.
          I REALLY need to check out Anna Sui since you love a lot of their products so much. Finding a contour brush that’s fluffy is hard to come by! A lot of them are like the NARS Ita – just flat.

          Like

          Reply

          • The Quo brushes are hit & miss for sure. Some of them are rough and shed like a mofo. Same with MAC so I can only recommend specific brushes (to me, MAC excel in eye brushes).
            I’ll be featuring the Anna Sui contour brush coming up soon (end of Oct) as part of my Project Pan – I’ve been using it daily for my contour. So you can see how it compares to other “contour” type brushes!

            Liked by 1 person

            Reply

  2. Yep Equate is Walmart’s in-house brand (another is Great Value). I find some store brand products work just as well as name brands (and cost a LOT less). Point in case, I get the Equate brand headache meds. A bottle of 24 pills is 94¢. The exact same product with the exact same ingredients by say Excederin is $4-$6! My dad is a retired pharmacist and he told me to just go with the generics as it’s the EXACT SAME THING.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Yes, exactly! I used to take a medical studies clad in high school and the teacher, who was a retired nurse, told us the exact same thing about meds from no-name brands. Don’t remember much about that class, but that stuck with me!

      Like

      Reply

    • Nah, I wouldn’t say one is better than I other, I think waterproof vs non-waterproof is just a personal preference! For me, I find that waterproof mascara formulas tend to be too heavy for my weak lashes, and make them wilt through the day.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  4. Really liking that Essie shade! I fell off the “Not Buying Anymore Nail Polish til I use what I have” wagon and I picked up Essie’s Bobbing for Baubles and Angora Cardi. LOVE Angora Cardi – totally recommend it if you’re looking for a new mauve shade.

    Thumbs up on the low buy! Sometimes I get in a makeup funk too – but it’s usually replaced by something else so there’s no benefit to my bank account. Hee hee!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Angora Cardi has been on my ‘to-buy’ list for AGES…just googled swatches of Bobbing for Baubles and that looks gorgeous as well! Ugh, I’m wearing Plumberry right now and am a little disappointed. 90% of the time, it just looks like a fire-engine red. Only in certain lights can you tell there’s pink. Boo!
      Heh, I know exactly about not being able to save money when you just replace makeup with some other purchase!

      Like

      Reply

Leave a comment