10 Minute Essentials: Drug Store vs. Mid-End Products

I am about as much of a fan of drug store products as I am of catching extra sleep in the morning--and wow that is saying a heck of a lot. My typical 10 minute essentials are a combination--nay, a fusion--of drug store and mid-end products that I just can't live without. I tried today, however, to see if I could stick to just drug store products for one 10 minute look and do the same for mid-end products. The result surprised me, which I'm a bit excited to share with you lovely folks.



Here we have our drug store tools:

NYX Xtreme Lip Cream in Strawberry Jam: $6
Revlon Color Stay Concealer in Fair: $10
NYX Cream Blush in Natural: $6
Rimmel Lash Accelerator Endless: $8.99
Total: $31

And, of course, a freshly moisturized and makeup less face:

Why yes, my t-shirt does have a piece of toast spreading jelly on his belly, thanks for asking.

After 10 minutes:

Oooh, windswept hair? Don't mind if I do...

I have a fair amount of redness in my skin and all I really worried about here with this ten minute restriction was to brighten my dark circles a little bit and get rid of some of the hormonal redness that sometimes pops up around my nose. I'm fortunate that I don't break out very much, so I didn't have much work to do in the blemish covering department. But I did notice that the Nyx lip stuff was bleeding through my lip line on the top, so I had to change it out.

That's an awful lot of bleeding on the top lip.

I could have saved this by lining my lips with this cool universal lip liner I have (seriously, it's really cool) if I had more time. But I wanted to be accurate to this whole 10 minute experiment so I forewent the extra step. I did decide, as I do most mornings, to change my lipstick out since I don't exact recommend using a bleedy lip product in my 10 minute essentials.

Voila!

So, I changed the Nyx Xtreme Lip Cream out for their Round lipstick in Doll with a dab of their Soft Matte Lip Cream in Antwerp all around. I decided to show my thought process and mistakes here because I figured... Why not? It would be a bit disingenuous to show you this amazingly polished, Photoshopped final result and editing out all the goofups along the way. The lighting did change, though, because it's overcast as heck here and I had to chase light through my apartment for a bit.

Now, onto the mid-end goodness.

MAC Prolongewear Concealer in NW20: $16
Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick in Anarchy: $22
Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes: $20
Anastasia Brow Wiz in Granite: $21
theBalm Balm Voyage Cheek Stain in Captain (within the BalmVoyage Palette): $42.50
Total: $121.50

And here I am 10 minutes later....

Urban Decay's Anarchy is EVERYTHING.

Okay, so. I don't look a whole heck of a lot different when we compare the drug store final product and the mid-end one. My absolute favorite mascara of all time is the Rimmel one that I used. I mean, really. Look at this:

Oh, hello lashes. Nice to finally meet you.

The volume that you can get from this product is just as good--if not even better--than the Tarte mascara that I used above. So, please, save yourself $10!

As far as cheek products go, I really do love the Nyx cream blushes. The only problem, though, is weartime. I can't get more than probably 4 hours out of them. theBalm's cheek stains, though... Wow. If you already have the BalmVoyage palette and you haven't tried the cheek/lip stains: DO IT. They are amazing and blend so well. For almost $43, it's kind of silly to buy an entire palette just for one cheek stain. You could probably find something similar to this in a Benefit cheek stain. Again, those are pricey but if longevity is what you're after, it's definitely worth it.

The battle of the concealers, though, is another story. MAC concealers crease on me like nobody's business. I also have kind of ruthless dry patches around my mouth that the concealer clings to like my skin owes it money. Not cute. But I've never had problems with the Revlon concealer, so. Boom. There's another $10 in savings right there for you folks if you were in the market for a new concealer.

My brows are... Problematic. I don't have any drugstore brow products and I didn't want to fudge our lovely experiment here so I didn't even touch them in the drugstore pictures. It's a personal preference, but I like the look of my brows filled in and ABH makes amazing brow products that last forever and a day.

The only thing I'm going say about Urban Decay's lipstick in Anarchy is yes. Yes. I would wear this all day, everyday if I could. It's dang near perfect formula of long lasting, high pigmentation and moisturizing--yes, seriously, this stuff makes your lips feel like they are taking a bath in shea butter. I think I'm in love.


Until next time!