The Cost of my Daily Face

When Jesse impatiently asked me "How much money do you spend on all that shit, anyway?" whilst waiting for me to be ready to go out to lunch the other week, I laughed him off with the old "Oh, you don't wanna know", but getting ready this morning had me thinking: Actually, I do want to know. So that's exactly what I set out to discover. This list begins from the moment I wake up, from skincare to setting powder, covering all of the products that I use in the process.



Although I have a penchant for high-end beauty bits, I tend to save the expensive products for special occasions or nights out, so my daytime look is almost completely drugstore. Of course, the amount of make-up that I wear during the day depends heavily on what I'm doing. This breakdown is of my work day face (also known as the 'Oh Fuck, I'm Late' look). Typically, I'll spend more time and use more products on weekends (ohai, contour), whereas my weekday face is a much more simplified version.

I've linked the stores that I personally buy each product from, prices vary slightly from retailer to retailer, obviously. All prices are in AUD.

Skincare
I'm going to start off my saying: I know that my skincare routine may seem like a lot for some people, but dealing with my combination oily/flaky-dry, sensitive, intolerant skin (try saying that three times fast) requires so much effort, it's ridiculous. I've done so much research and have finally found a combination that works well enough to make my skin manageable (pls halp).

I rinse my face with only lukewarm water in the morning, no product, and as soon as the skin has been patted dry, I swipe a new found love of mine, Burt's Bees Intense Hydration Nourishing Facial Water ($24.99), which is a great toner for dry skin, over my face with a cotton pad, following immediately with Benefit's It's Potent! Eye Cream* ($59.00). I've been trying out various drugstore eye creams recently, but I've found nothing that matches this in terms of moisturising my dry lids and filling fine lines. As eyes are so delicate and show the first signs of ageing, to me, it's worth the spend. I allow the eye cream to sink in for a minute before combining a glob of my ever favourite Neutrogena Hydro Boost Water Gel ($24.99) and two drops of Trilogy's Antioxidant+ Rosehip Oil ($35.99) together in my palm and slathering the mixture all over my face, which absorbs deep down in to my skin. Once that has absorbed, I put a light layer of The Body Shop's Vitamin E Intense Moisture Cream for Dry Skin ($28.00) all over and follow with a dab of La Roche Posay's Toleriane Riche ($29.99) on the lower half of my face, focusing mostly on my cheeks, chin and nose. My forehead tends to get oily during the day and I find Toleriane Riche to be too much for that particular part of my face. I then like to layer Benefit's Dream Screen ($42.90 - converted to AUD) directly on top of my moisturiser (IT'S MATTIFYING!!! I'm obsessed). I find the consistency to be very much like a primer - non oily, kind of thick, a little tacky, so I honestly don't need to use one in conjunction with Dream Screen - ka-ching!

Make-Up
The order in which I apply my make-up is a little convoluted. I suppose everyone has their own preferred order (the age old eyes before foundation vs. foundation before eyes debate, for example) and I've tried it every which way you can think of, but this is the routine that I've found works best for me.

I begin with Maybelline's Instant Age Rewind Eraser Concealer ($18.95) as a concealer base to cover dark circles. I say concealer base because it's not overly brightening; I use Maybelline's FitMe on top to lighten later on. I like to leave that to dry for a moment so I'll define and fill in my brows with Rimmel's Brow This Way Kit ($12.95) in the mean time. I fall in to the foundation before eyes category. Always have - it's a habit, I guess, so next I apply Rimmel's Match Perfection Foundation ($18.95) with a damp beauty blender to my face and then I'll line both my lash line and my waterline with Rimmel's Soft Kohl Kajal Eye Liner Pencil ($8.95). I do prefer pencil eye liners to liquid liners when I'm in a rush (no wings for me) - I just find I'm much more efficient with a pencil. I then quickly set the eye liner on my waterline with any old black eye shadow that I have on hand (see my eye liner setting hack here) to keep it in place. Next I'll apply two coats of Maybelline's Lash Sensational Waterproof Mascara ($21.95), which I actually prefer to most high-end mascaras. Whilst my lashes are drying, I draw a triangle of Maybelline's FitMe Concealer ($14.95) under my eyes and blend out with my damp beauty blender, cleaning up any smudged out black eye shadow or finger prints in my foundation as I go. Any excess concealer on my sponge gets dabbed on my chin and the middle of my forehead to subtly highlight. I then sweep a little of Rimmel's Stay Matte Pressed Powder ($11.95) over my forehead, which is the only area of my otherwise desert-dry face that gets oily by midday and finish the look with a sweeping of Physician's Formula Butter Bronzer ($29.95) under my cheekbones and around the edge of my forehead to warm up the face and add a little depth.

Phew!
Total cost = $384.46 AUD - Holy moly!
I was actually kind of embarrassed that that is how much it costs to make me look presentable until I realized that the cost of my skincare alone is $245.86, which is definitely the most expensive part of my routine, and rightly so.

Of course, The actual cost of doing my face would be much less than this. This total indicates the price for a full-sized bottle /tube/whathaveyou of each product, rather than a breakdown of the cost of each individual squirt, dollop, gram, etc. that gets used on every look.

I really did enjoy writing this post. It was fun to discover exactly how much time and money goes in to being me and discovering exactly how many products I use without really thinking about it completely surprised me.

If you're interested in a similar type of post breaking down of the cost of my typical night-time look, where I use the good stuff (because I sure am!), let me know in the comments!

What are some of your go-to daily face products?













As always, this post has not been sponsored in any way, meaning that I am affiliated with none of the links included, nor have any items mentioned been sent to me, endorsed or paid for by anyone other than me, myself and I. This post does, however, contain affiliate links. Feel free to find and purchase the products mentioned elsewhere if you don't get down like that. :)

I will always disclose such information with an asterisk (*) for full disclosure to my readers.