Beauty splurge vs. Save...a story of shoppers remorse and the mission that follows

Hello there fellow beauty lovers. For those of you who know me, this will come as no new information, but for those of you who don't... let me introduce myself by describing my favorite vices and/ hobbies.

Number 1: I love makeup, beauty and fashion. I love timeless fashion, new makeup and hair trends, and killer shoes. I love all things girly. My favorite color is SPARKLES, and yes... I do believe its a color!

Number 2: I love to coupon and find an amazing deal! It is a stress reliever and gives me a high I can only assume many find with vices that may be much more harmful than saving a few bucks. 

Number 3: I love high quality items, but obviously I don't always love the price tag. 

So why am I writing this? Well, it all started Saturday. 

I was finally feeling like myself after a few weeks of just feeling a bit off, and I was getting ready for a night out with the hubby. I decided I was tired of scraping the bottom of some foundations from who knows when and that it was time to treat myself to some new makeup. 

I decided I would buy 3 items. Lipstain (Sephora brand, my favorite and it lasts all night), new quality foundation that covers and doesn't dry, and a new item that I had only used once or twice, a Contour palette.

 Now, I got to Sephora at about 8:35, this was my first mistake ( and it was the JcPenny Sephora), there was one employee and a slew of people trying to grab last minute items. I should have left, but I REALLY wanted to have some fun new makeup to play with. At about 8:54 the sales lady got to me. She later informed me that she had just worked 16 hours and just wanted to go home (red flag number 2). Long story short, she picked out and sold me a $40 foundation, urban decay( which happens to be my favorite brand), and a $28 6 shade contour palette (which I downgraded from the $45 one she picked first). I also grabbed my lipstain, sephora brand $18. 

$87 dollars later and I was slightly excited. 

I went home and put my make on and it looked great... 

However,

1.) The foundation took 4 layers to get to what I wanted

2.) I only used 2 colors of the contour palette, after all I am just learning that technique.

Soooo

Since Sunday I have debated returning it, and today I did. I just didn't love it. This situation has caused me to begin a new experiment, which I would like to keep updated here on the blog.

How can I, as an avid couponer and saver, get quality makeup for the best price. How can I use my money wisely to get products that work, and assure that they are worth what I am paying? 

Don't get me wrong, I love Sephora and I will spend way to much money there, but there are some products that seem to be substantial for a lot less money. 

So let the experiment begin.... What products do you drop big bucks on and where do you save? Let me know! 

I will start it off...

Sephora lip stain is $18 and I absolutely will buy every color. It is completely worth is.

Eyeshadow is also my big money weakness, but I will experiment here as well.

Stay tuned to see my first experiment: Rimmel Cosmetics. I will also break down how to save on it this week as well!