Budget Beauty | Beauty and Fashion Tech

Sep 4, 2007

Tropez, Ultra Cheap Cosmetics

September 4, 2007 By Carleenp 29 Comments

I was at Walgreens the other day and came across a new line of cosmetics that I had not seen before. The Tropez line, which I don't think is related to St. Tropez cosmetics (???), has everything priced from $.99 to $3.99. Most items were $1.99.

I purchased some items and didn't really expect much from them. To my pleasent surprise, I found that these are pretty good cosmetics! I certainly liked them better than Wet n Wild, which is similar in price. NYC is another cheap drugstore line, and it also happens to be quite good in quality. I would generally place the Tropez products in the NYC range of quality.

The lip gloss is fairly well pigmented, feels nice, and lasts a decent amount of time. It also didn't have any unpleasant scents or tastes. That seems to sometimes be a problem with other cheap glosses such a NYC, which looks absolutely gorgeous, but often has a bad taste to it.

The eyeshadow was also pretty good. I found it just as good as some more expensive drugstore brands and it had quite a bit of pigment, so at $1.99 for a duo, it was quite a bargain. However, NYC offers some excellent shadows with even more pigment at around the same price or perhaps only slightly more. There also were not a lot of shades to choose from.

What really stood out for me was the mascara. At $1.99, I thought I would hate it. When I opened it and saw that it had a big brush, which often doesn't work well for me in mascara, I again thought I would hate it. I was wrong. It turned out to be quite good. It gave a nice amount of length and there was absolutely no clumping. I liked it just as much as some of the $10 and $25 mascaras that I have lying around. It didn't really add much curl though, so if you want that, I suggest trying something else. Cover Girl Volume Exact is a fairly affordable mascara that can be good for that. Although frankly, I don't think any mascara can replace a lash curler. If you want good length for cheap, check out the Tropez mascara!

This is an interesting line. I can't find it anywhere except Walgreens and it must be quite new since I also can't find much about it online. If you like cheap cosmetics, it is definitely worth taking a field trip to Walgreens to take a look at!

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Filed Under: Eyeshadow, Lip Products, Mascara Tagged With: Budget Beauty, Eye Shadow, Makeup, Mascara, Tropez

Jun 18, 2007

Jane Cosmetics Eye Shadows: One of the Better Drugstore Values!

June 18, 2007 By Carleenp Leave a Comment

Update: Jane Cosmetics appears to have been discontinued.You can perhaps find replacements in our affordable makeup series: Best Drugstore Eyeshadow.

Jane Cosmetics have been impressing the heck out me lately. Highly affordable and high in quality, I think this is hands down the most consistently good and best value drugstore line out there.

Jane cosmetics eye shadows are super cheap and yet have a pretty impressive quality to them. They blend well and have minimal creasing. I found that the lighter shades did not have the pigment payout as some other more expensive, yet excellent value shadows that I have covered such as those from Flirt! or Smart Skin. But they still seemed to be better pigmented than some more expensive drugstore brands and the darker shades seemed to be quite well pigmented. The only serious issue I have had with them is that they seem to wear off a bit quicker than some of the more expensive brands and I found that they are a bit too soft for use as a liner. However, at around $5 for a palette of several shades, it is hard to complain too much. I have Jane Eye Zing Carry Along Eye Shadow, Browns and love the shades. Dream Cream reminds me quite a bit of M.A.C vanilla, which I have always loved as a base shade.

One of the fun things about the Jane shadows is that you can get them in many different forms and all are very inexpensive. The stores have them in individual pots and then there are palettes of 4 and 6 easily found in the drugstores. Online, there is the Jane Eye Zing Eye Mixers Eye Shadow Compact (pictured) which comes in a variety of collections of 8 shades. In the one pictured, it's A Girl, Hi Ho Silver, and White Lies are some of my favorite Jane Shades (it also has Dream Cream, referenced above). I have seen the 8 shade palettes in some, but not all, stores that carry Jane Cosmetics (Walgreen's and Osco are where I see them the most).

I also have reviewed Jane Be Pure Mineral Makeup.

Filed Under: Eyeshadow Tagged With: Budget Beauty, Eye Shadow, Jane

Apr 26, 2007

Jane Shimmer Mineral Blush

April 26, 2007 By Carleenp Leave a Comment

Yesterday, I reviewed Jane Be Pure Mineral Makeup. When I made that purchase, I also picked up a Jane Shimmer Blush in Natural. As with the mineral makeup, this too is a good value product. Bascially it provides a very light, sheer, neutral to pinkish shimmer that I find works quite well over matte cream blush. Or use it alone for just a bit of tinted highlight. Jane makes the same product in darker shades as well.

For those looking for a cheap sheer shimmer, it is worth checking out. Just keep in mind that it is quite sheer. Although labled as a blush, I view it more as a sheer shimmer powder that is best used to compliment another product.

Update: Jane cosmetics are getting hard to find and I suspect that they have been discontinued. For replacement ideas, look at the comparison shopping link below. I also tend to like e.l.f Mineral Blush quite a bit and it is very inexpensive.

Comparison shop for Mineral Blush