Having an addiction to makeup is a real struggle when you’re a broke college student.
Walking by Sephora makes me want to cry. It also makes me just want to say, “Screw it, I’m eating Ramen for the next week” and blow $100 on highlighters and eyebrow products. Usually hitting the makeup section in Target does the trick, and getting your makeup problems solved with products that are all under $10 is possible. Yay for new makeup, and yay for still having money in my pocket for Pancheros! I have compiled a list of some of my favorite tried and true makeup products that are all under $10 each for all of the makeup-addicted broke college students.
Primer
Compared to the Smashbox or Too Faced primers that are $30+, NYX has a primer spray that I have grown to love. It doesn’t make my face feel like it’s covered in product, and my face makeup holds up pretty well throughout the day. Their First Base Primer Spray is $7.99.
Foundations and Concealer
Spending $40 on a foundation from Sephora is kind of impossible when you can’t even afford to put groceries in your fridge. There are so many good drugstore foundations! It can be kind of hard to choose just one because there are so many, and not being able to color match like you can in Sephora is a struggle. Rimmel’s 25 Hour Lasting Finish Foundation is $6.97, and it’s a full coverage foundation with a matte finish.
Rimmel’s Stay Matte Powder is the $3.97 alternative to any setting powders in Sephora. I will always use this one, even if I can eventually afford that Laura Mercier. It sets my face so nicely, and my makeup doesn’t melt off of my face, even during the middle of July in the 90 degree heat.
Maybelline’s Fit Me concealer is one of those concealers that you can find in many YouTuber’s “Favorite Drugstore products” videos because it’s true. For only being $4.99, it’s a great concealer that is constantly compared to Urban Decay’s Naked concealer or the Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer. $28 versus $5 for concealer? Save that money and definitely pick up this concealer. You won’t regret it. It doesn’t crease, and it’s pretty full coverage.
Face Products
Wet N’ Wild’s Color Icon blushes are $2.99, and they come in so many different shades that it will be hard for you to pick up just one. They’re very pigmented, and last all day. My favorite shades are Blush Pink and Rose Champagne.
Wet N’ Wild also has amazing highlighters! They just released these babies over the summer. They’re stunning, and the best part about them is that they’re only $3.99. I reach for mine more than my Anastastia Glow Kit. They’re Limited Edition but are definitely worth the hunt to find them.
Eyebrows
Don’t get me wrong, I love my Anastastia Dipbrow more than life itself, but e.l.f. Cosmetics has a very similar product for only $3. Their eyebrow kit comes with a dipbrow and a brow powder. It lasts all day and doesn’t smudge, and for only a few bucks, it is a great brow product for everyone that cannot go a single day without filling in their brows.
Colourpop
Colourpop isn’t exactly a “drugstore” product, but all of their individual products are under $10. Their Ultra Matte and Ultra Satin liquid lipsticks are available in a wide variety of shades, and they’re only $6. Their highlighters are beautiful and only $8, and the one in the shade Lunch Money is my favorite highlight of all time (seriously, I use it almost everyday). I always catch myself scrolling through their website, wishing that I could just have one of everything.
Skipping Sephora and heading for the aisles of Target can actually be intimidating sometimes, but being broke and in college has turned into saving as much money as I can and trying out on a lot of new drugstore makeup. Your wallet will thank you for trying these new, money saving products!