Budget Buys - Long Lasting/Long-Wearing and Waterproof Products Review

Before I begin, I'd like to apologize for my absence. The past month and a half have been a little bit crazy but I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things. It's taken me longer to write this blog post than I would have liked, but not thinking about writing a post a few times a week made it harder to come up with inspirations for it.

Anyways, I'm back on track now! As you may be aware, I am planning on doing hair and makeup for one of my good friend's wedding. I have done stage makeup before, but this is a lot more intimidating to take one. As such, I have been preparing myself by practicing how I want her makeup to look and making sure I have all the right tools for the job. One of the biggest issues? Make sure everything lasts for hours! And, of course, make sure it doesn't smudge when she cries.  Because she will probably cry at least a little bit. If not, there will be plenty of sweat and tears coming from the loved ones around her on her special night. This leads to...


Waterproof Makeup:

• Waterproof mascaras are super easy to find. The formulas are different from regular mascaras so they'll hold a curl better if you like to curl your eyelashes regularly. L'Oreal Voluminous Mascara or Cover Girl Lash Blast are both great options and they usually sell for around $7.00. As you should change your mascara every 3 months, spending $20 a tube can be a bit much if you're trying to be budget conscious.
• A good waterproof eyeliner is a bit more difficult to find, not just because it's not as common, but because they don't all hold up well when water is involved. Makeup Forever has the new Aqua Liners that are swim-proof, but they cost $23 a tube. Yikes! On the other hand, Wet 'n Wild has a waterproof eyeliner for only $3.99. There is a downfall to it, and that is the fact that it comes with the worst brush ever. If you're going to be using the eyeliner, you should probably plan to use a different brush as the one that comes with it is a super stiff felt tip... thing. I did a swatch on my hand and it took about a day before it started rubbing off. Milani has a waterproof eyeliner that is still quite visible on my hand after doing a swatch Wednesday night. It retails for about $5.50, and Milani products can be purchased either online through their website or at either Target, Walmart or a chain pharmacy. Pro tip: don't apply waterproof eyeliner on an oily lid as it will make it smudge easily. Apply some powder to dry up the skin or use it on top of your eyeshadow. Wait until it has dried completely (it can take up to a minute) before you start batting your eyelashes like a maniac. 
• Setting sprays can most definitely help keep your makeup looking wonderful for hours. Urban Decay has one called All Nighter that works pretty well, but the cheapest you'll find it is for $11 in a tiny travel size. Instead of buying an expensive one, you can use the setting spray from e.l.f that is only $3 with the one downside being the initial smell of it can be a bit off-putting. Once the smell of it has faded, your makeup should be good and ready for hours! Pro tip: If you don't suffer from sensitive skin that liked to break out all the time, you could just simply use regular hairspray to set your makeup.

Long Lasting and Long-Wearing Makeup:

• It's all in the lips (well, hips, but I like my version better). A great way to ensure you have beautiful lips for hours is by using a lipstain. Lipstains keep color on your lips for hours without needing to touch them up. Revlon's Just Bitten lipstains, for $6, also come with a lipbalm on the other end so you can keep the dryness away all day. Another tip for lips is to wear a lipliner that covers your lips fully and apply your lipstick over it. This will keep the lipstick from sliding off and can also help you get the perfect colored lips as well. (Ugh. Could I have used the word "lips" more in that last paragraph? Challenge not accepted) 
• Lipgloss doesn't usually last very long. Especially if it has a yummy taste as (I'm guessing more people than just me do this) you'll spend the entire time you're wearing slowly licking the gloss off. Along comes Essence's Stay With Me lip glosses which, for just about $2, actually have very decent durability. The pigmentation is also wonderful, as it covers almost as well as a lipstick. 
• Eyeshadows look great. Until they crease. And then they don't look so great. What can you do to avoid losing your eyeshadow right after applying it? Use a primer! e.l.f. has a great dupe for the Urban Decay Primer Potion and it's only $1. Yes, just $1. It works just as well at keeping the eyeshadow in place, but also in how it allows for the color to be blended on your lid. Some eye primers seem to show color better while not blending color well while others don't show off the color but allow for easy blending. With the e.l.f. primer you get both! 
• Face primers will help keep your makeup in place, even in the summer heat. The good news is that you don't have to spend over $30 getting a quality primer from Shamshbox when you can just go to your pharmacy and buy yourself some Monistat chafing relief gel for $8. Apply a small amount after your moisturize and before you apply your foundation and your makeup will look gorgeous by helping to minimize the apparence of pores while improving the texture of your skin.
• Powders are typically used to help seal the makeup in place so it stays in place. If you need help controlling oily skin, a great option is to go for mattifying powders. For light coverage but great oil control, Rimmel's Stay Matte powder is a great buy for $4. If you want more coverage out of your powder, Milani's Multitasker Face Powder works wonders for around $6.  
• Foundations come in many forms. Some have SPF, some work well in matching your skin tone. Some have very sheer coverage while some will block every freckle you have. While coverage can be very buildable with most foundations, durability doesn't correlate with quantity of makeup used. The good news is that, while you generally have to try the foundation out (or read a bunch of reviews before your purchase) to figure out the level of coverage, you can very easily tell when the foundation is meant to last all day as it will be labeled as such. A great long wear foundation is Rimmel's lasting finish 25 hour foundation, which retails for about $6. Not only does it last for a really long time on your skin, but it has a really nice level of coverage without looking cakey in the slightest. The downside of this foundation is the lack of shades available to choose from, and the difficulty in finding the right shade to match your skintone (the colors look super dark in the tubes and there's only 11 shades to choose from)

Pro tips on long lasting makeup: if you use a cream product as a base, you can apply a powder on top to seal it into place. This isn't just for foundations and for eyeshadows, you can use this with blushes, eyeliners and lipsticks too! If you use a cream blush, set it in place with a powdered blush. Black eyeliner on your waterline tends to run easily, but not so if you apply some black eyeshadow over it. If you use a creamy lipstick, dust some loose powder on your lips through a tissue paper. Giving your makeup something to adhere to on your face will mean it's less likely it'll search elsewhere for it. Pro tip for life: get a pet. And don't listen to radio stations that censor the word "pants".