One of the things I love to do as I delve deeper into pro-aging is playing around with makeup.  As you may know, I am a huge proponent of using cosmetics to enhance what we had in our youth and to look glowing in our maturity.  But more than that, makeup gives us a confidence.  When we look good we feel good.  And the entire process of how makeup can transform us is just incredibly fascinating and intriguing to me.

My toys.  Makeup and wigs! At least I’m not at the casino gambling my earnings away!

And as we get older, we do become wiser.  And I’ve acquired a bit of wisdom where makeup is concerned.

Oh yeah.  Now THIS is the face of wisdom………..in immature maturity!

These days, I’m leaning more and more toward the “drug store” or rather “lower-end” cosmetics.  It’s funny because both of those descriptions make the more inexpensive cosmetics sound either mediocre or lacking quality in the products.  But hear me out.

I used to be a kind of makeup snob.  My cosmetics purchases were made at high-end department stores and the brands that were purchased were 95 percent luxury brands.  Within the past year, I’ve learned something valuable though.  There isn’t much difference between the luxury brands and the lower-end brands.

Will the luxury cosmetics cases be accompanying us in the lifeboats?  We’re makeup snobs!

Another thing that made me stop and turn around from the luxury brands is that they don’t care about my demographic.  Estee Lauder and Dior both stopped marketing to the mature woman and dropped us like hot potatoes to concentrate on selling to the demographic of the young, very young woman. With the exception of Lancôme bringing the beautiful Isabella Rossellini back as spokesperson, all the major cosmetics companies are catering to a younger demographic.

Thank you, Lancome, for bringing back the beauty of pro-ager Isabella Rossellini.  I believe I need to revisit and get back to purchasing some Genifique Serum!  

Why then, should I support companies that don’t care about mature women?

I would rather spend less money on cosmetics and the way to do that is to purchase the lower-end products.  (And yes, I realize these companies don’t include older women but at least I’m not spending as much money)

But—enough about cosmepolitics, let’s concentrate on some of the purchases I’ve made recently.  I’ll tell you, every single one of these products is a winner—proving that you don’t need to spend a fortune.  It’s all about applying with a light touch and blending.  Also…if some products have less pigmentation, that means they are more buildable.

Here’s a few of the winners I’ve picked up recently and I did my face before I wrote this blog post will all of the products except the eye shadow palette.  I’ll review that separately:

Before I wrote this post, I washed off the makeup that I applied this morning and replaced with everything below–except the eye shadow!  I double-dog dare you to see the big difference between high-and low-end!

Revolution Base Stick Foundation.  At $9.00 this is one of the most inexpensive foundations of the lower-end.  The funny thing is that I almost passed it by but it reminded me of the old Max Factor Pan Stick foundation from years and years ago.  The Pan Stick was great for covering up pimples but that was it.  It was heavy and dry and looked like a mask—but then again, when you are 16 years old, you only need that stick for pimples!  Anyway, I was being sentimental when I decided to buy this.  I’m glad that I did.  Even though this is a stick—there is a satin finish that comes with it.  It has a nice feel on the skin because there’s some moisture in it. It’s not dry nor does it come off as matte after blending it in.  It applied much better with a blending sponge as opposed to a brush.  The brush was just too soft.  But—when I buffed it with a dense brush after applying with the sponge, the finish was beautiful.

The shade is F-3 and is very compatible with my skin tone.  I see that it is .21 oz in weight.  But–a small amount goes a long way..

…a view from the opened tube. It’s two-toned but glides on very blendable..

As you can see, the foundation has a dewiness to it. It isn’t a matte finish.  There is definitely some moisture working here too!! It blended into my face quite nicely!

Revolution Conceal and Define Concealer: As if I needed another concealer—but why not? This is $7.00—perhaps a bit higher than the average price I spend on drug store/lower-end concealers but I like Revolution’s products.  This is good.  It does the job and isn’t too thick.  A medium to low thickness in concealers works better for my mature skin because it doesn’t dry up or look heavy.  The shade, C-3 is a perfect one for my fair skin.  If you are fair skinned with pink undertones, this shade is fantastic!  The applicator is a riot though.  It’s an oversized doe-foot!  Surprisingly, it works so well to apply the product!  This blended very nicely. VERY nicely!!

In the above photo, the foundation stick is on top of the Revolution Conceal and Define concealer.  The concealer does come in a sizeable tube..

The oversized doe-foot applicator turned out to be a great little surprise. I though it may have been cumbersome but it wasn’t!

The shade, C-3 is a perfect shade for my pasty white skin!

The applicator worked like a charm. And the concealer is a great consistency. Not too thick. Not too thin!

Elf Blush Palette. The majority of blushes I own is cream blushes.  I have one powder blush by Laura Geller and I like it.  But I wanted another blush that was a bit more to the pink side.  It’s so hard to find a decent powder blush and I found this at Wegmans.  Coming in at $6.00, it’s a great buy.  The colors range in various shades of pink with the exception of one rather warm brownish/pink that makes a decent contour.  These blushes are buildable and with a light hand blend in very well.  The powders, thankfully, are not ashy.  This was a great find.

This blush palette by  elf comes in two shade selections, light and dark.  Naturally, the lighter of the two works better for fair skin.  At six bucks–this is a great foursome of blushes. Actually, a threesome of blushes and the brownish shade makes for a decent contour!

It’s got a decent mirror too!

Pointing to the pink shade I used for this post..

Check out the cheeks.  The blush looks great.  I didn’t put lipstick on till last!

Revolution Incandescent Face Quad Highlighting Palette.  WOW!!  At $15.00 the highlighters in this quad are bright enough to light up a village! Highlighters are my new fun makeup item and I’m telling you they were made for mature skin.  What’s great about them is that with a little bit brushed on the cheekbone and the nose and a bit on the forehead, they can give you a luminous and dewy-looking glow.  This quad—its just as good, if not better than many higher-end and pricey highlighters.  I’m so happy I purchased.  Revolution climbs higher up the ladder of quality with each passing year and the brand manages to keep the price point down.  This quad is absolutely beautiful and a complete winner. I wish I had purchased it before I wrote my post on Highlighters!

This highlighting palette is crazy great!  AT $15.00 it it worth every cent and then some. It’s better than most of the higher-end highlighters too!

Morphe, Jacklyn Hill The Vault Dark Magic Eyeshadow Palette.  This palette is $15.00. I have yet to use it but if the colors blend and look as good on my eyes as on my fingers then this is a great buy.  Eyeshadows in the higher-end have gotten so ridiculously expensive its criminal.   Some higher-end shadow palettes are $100 and up.  No effing way am I spending that kind of money on eye shadow when there are lower-end brands that I’ve been incredibly happy with.

The shades in this are beautiful and I love a dark eye.  I’m a neutral gal but lately I’ve been getting into more color on the eyes and the selection of this palette is stunning.  I’m also quite intrigued because there’s been a ton of controversy about these Jacklyn Hill/Morphe palettes.  Many youtubers are really giving this a lot of negativity—so we’ll see.  I purchased this today and was just too lazy to take my present eye makeup off and reapply!

Dark Magic Eyeshadow Palette from Morphe/Jacklyn Hill collaboration. There’s been a ton of drama over this but I love a dark eye and these shadows are pretty dark so it looks like this will work out well and for fifteen bucks it’s probably just as good as the “over $100” eyeshadow palettes–which I think is criminal that eyeshadow palettes are being sold for that much money. I’ll be reviewing this soon!

So yeah—you can make these lower-end products work and work just as well as the higher-ends.  All have great formulations, all are well-pigmented and remember, a light touch is all it takes. I stand my ground.  I refuse to give my hard-earned money to cosmetics companies that ignore my demographic.  If I’m gonna wear cosmetics, I’ll stick to the lower-end ones from now on.

Sorry not sorry!  My over 60-year old face is doing just fine with drugstore/lower-end brands! Nothing looks heavy or caked on.  It all looks good and that’s all we ask for!!

What’s your view on drugstore/lower end makeup?  Are you a makeup snob?  Aren’t you angry at the luxury brand cosmetics companies for ignoring us?  Do tell in the comments. It’ll be fun to get everyone’s opinions!

My recent YouTube video is up and running—I go into more depth about the Korean cushion foundation and the Laneige Cushion Brow!