Budget Makeup: I only have RM200 for makeup – Part 2

In Part 1 of my Budget Makeup recommendations, I talked about budget foundations and blushes that don’t cost an arm and a leg and still do what they are supposed to do – help make you look beautiful.

In Part 2 I will do the rest of the face – eyeshadows, lipsticks and miscellaneous items.

For budget eyeshadow here are my personal preferences:

• Silkygirl eyeshadow duos
• Kate Glam Trick eyeshadow palette
• Kanebo Media eyeshadow duos
• Kate Gradational Eyes eyeshadow palette
• Canmake eyeshadow trios

The prices range from RM15 to RM43 with Silkygirl being the cheapest and Kate Glam Trick palette being the most expensive. Budget eyeshadows are a tricky thing, like blushes because cheap eyeshadows tend to be less pigmented and be more powdery. However, these cheap eyeshadows I’ve tried are anything but inferior and in fact, work better than some brands of high end eyeshadow I’ve tried (e.g. Chanel).

The best thing is that for the price of 1 high end eyeshadow, you get a few colours in a cheaper palette which you can usually manipulate to work for day and night. My personal recommendations are Kanebo Media, Kate and Canmake. Silkygirl is pretty good for the price but their colour combinations tend to be a bit odd. That said, I included them because the pigmentation is good and it lasts.

At this point, for foundation, blush and eyeshadow, you would have spent anything between RM75 and RM133.

Most people would be more familiar with budget lipsticks and lipglosses. Here are my picks:

I would get these:

• Maybelline Watershine lipsticks
• L’oreal Glam Shine lipgloss
• Revlon Superlustrous lipsticks
• Revlon Super lustrous Lipgloss
• L’oreal Color Riche Secrets of the Stars lipsticks

The prices range from between RM25 to RM34 with Maybelline the cheapest and Revlon and L’oreal the most expensive. I like the Maybelline Watershine lipsticks for their sheer hint of colour and glossy look and the Revlon Super Lustrous lipsticks for their pigmented colour and range of colours. For lipgloss, my pick is the Super lustrous for gloss and L’oreal glam shine for shimmer.

At this point, you would have spent anything between RM100 to RM170 for foundation, blush, eyeshadow and lipstick or lipgloss.

To finish off your look, here are some miscellaneous items you might need:

• Maybelline XXL Mascara
• Silkygirl Funky Eyelights eyeliner pencil
• Silkygirl brow pencil
• Lash curler

Personally, I’d just tell you to splurge and buy a Shu Uemura eyelash curler or Shiseido eyelash curler. These will last you a long time and give you awesome curled lashes. Then just apply a lick of any mascara on your lashes and you are done. For eyeliner it is optional because you can just smudge a dark shade along your eyelid in place of eyeliner and for the brow you can also just use a brown or black shade of eyeshadow to shape your brows. So, my view is that these items (except Mascara) are optional and you would be better off getting the high end version – Bobbi Brown gel eyeliner and Shu Uemura brow pencil.

So, with the mascara, you might come up to under RM200 or about RM200. Not too hard to manage is it? The best thing, for me, is that these products, used well, give you the same results as you would get with higher end products, and you don’t mind toting them around because even if they get lost or broken, they won’t cost you the earth to replace. Now, if I was toting around a Chanel blush at RM133 I’d be pretty concerned about it shattering.

So, RM200 does get you quite a lot of stuff doesn’t it?

NOTE: I have not included Elianto, TheFaceShop, Missha, Skin Food or similar brands for the simple reason I have not tried them. So, whilst the products might be cheap or good, I don’t want to recommend something I have not tried for myself. If you have and it works for you, then feel free to leave a comment!