The Beauty Breakdown

Much like millions of other women across the country, I mave a slight obsession with beauty products
 

Okay, looks like Starbucks is not my only addiction.

Two of my favorite stores, according to my bank statements, are Sephora and MAC.  It seems both of these establishments pump something into the air that inebriates the brain cells, resulting in loss of short term memory.  Each time I walk in with one item on my list and come out spending at least $100.

Like everyone else affected by this economy, I recently went through my expenses and recalculated my budget to better fit my decreasing paychecks.  I started adding up all the money I spend on beauty products and/or services and was amazed.  It’s not cheap being a girly girl.

We spend what?

In doing some research on-line, I found an interesting Newsweek article, “The Beauty Breakdown,” that confirmed our upkeep costs a small fortune.  They calculate the average woman spends a total of $449,127 on their hair, face, body and hands/feet over a lifetime.  During the 30′s and 40′s alone, a woman will spend $158,160 beautifying those body parts.  Not only was that figure shocking, but it was also a bit of a disappointment to see that I have ventured into the 30-40 year old bracket.  Aw, good bye my dear youth.  It was fun while it lasted.

Looking at my makeup drawer and vanity in the bathroom, I would probably add another $100,000 on to their figure, when calculating in the cost of testing beauty products.  I have a graveyard in my bathroom of half used compacts, wrong colored eye shadows and half empty shampoo bottles.  Either I am a hoarder and haven’t realized it yet, or women also spend a good chunk of change just trying products – thanks to the wonderful world of advertising.

I’ll be your Huckleberry…I mean, Guinea Pig

Since we can all benefit from saving money these days (and since one of my best friends already coined me as her “guinea pig” for beauty products due to my obsession) I thought that I would share with you any products that I come across and feel are worth the effort and money to add to your own bathroom warehouse of beauty supplies.

Review #1

A Must for Wavy Hair!

Here I am, in my 30′s, and I am finally figuring out what to do with my wavy, frizzy hair, besides blow dry and flat iron every day.  To my dismay, being a single mom with a preschooler doesn’t really allow for a professional style blow dry every day.  So, I recently gave in to mother nature and started wearing my hair wavy/curly.  I have tried hundreds of mousses, sprays and gels in the past, but the combination and order of the following products are an absolute must for anyone with wavy hair.  I am quite the perfectionist when it comes to my hair and I hated my waves until now.  These three products are life and time savers for every busy, wavy haired, fashonista mom! 

One trick I learned to decrease the frizz and increase the waves was leaving my wet hair alone!  Before I would try to scrunch, diffuse or spray in the curls, but noticed that if I just let my hair air dry for a bit, after applying the Style Primer and Curl Enhancing Foam, then lightly scrunched after spraying in the Fekkai Wave Spray, I had some pretty nice waves/curls that I could live with.

Hmmm, now that you know way more about my morning routine that I would prefer…

I’ll search through my warehouse of makeup, anti-aging creams and hair products to bring you more must-haves for your Thirtysomething Beauty Drawer.

August 21, 2009 at 12:36 am Leave a comment