Marisa Porter

I just paid my husband to go and take back my loot. He said the girl at the counter didn’t look too happy. I was so glad I wasn’t there. I’m done buying stuff I might have to return. The next eyeliner will be Stila liquid and the next shadow either MAc or Tarte cream shadow. The next foundation will be Tarte TM, and the next blush Tarte cheek stain. The next gloss will be Nuance lipgloss. The next mascara will be Tarte Gifted. Because I cannot stomach one more disappointing product or return.

By the way, total back in my beauty budget: $48.90.

I wrote the above a week ago and I notice two things: there’s a lot of Tarte, and I’ve already changed my mind about some of the products. For example, I had never heard of Inglot. Thanks to my wonderful blogging community, now I have.

Also Nate is obviously not so hard up for money so as to be the reason he made the return for me. He was more likely just trying a fix things for me once more, as he always does. I really need to do more stuff for him. When I sit down and start writing about how many things he actually bails me out on, it fills me with guilt.

But this is not supposed to be about Nate. (Again).

It’s supposed to be about my Obsessive Compulsive Behavior. (I was green with envy when I heard the name Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics because that is exactly what my skincare and beauty product company should be called. If I had one. Which I hope to some day.

I obsess about budget, health, color, performance, and returning.

My throat literally almost constricts like an allergic reaction when I am walking toward the checkout with a product I know I can’t return. Coincidentally, that is the same feeling I have when I actually have to make a return. I hate it. I’ve done it so often I’ve developed an allergic reaction to it. And depending on the reaction I get when I make a return, I will stay out of that store for a long time afterwards (if I feel the person at the checkout was upset or rude), or I will make sure I shop there if their demeanor lives up to their policy.

Speaking of policies, in desperate situations, they have not stopped me. Yes, I have cried at the Target counter begging them to take back a lip pencil that dried out my lips. I try to use words that make it sound like the product was defective without stretching the truth. “I have sensitive skin and this made me break out.” And yes, I have figured out which Targets within a 15 mile radius of my house are lenient with their return policy.

Am I proud of this? No. It is the inevitable outcome of being both an obsessive compulsive beauty product lover and a girl on a tight budget.

My recent return and seeing my beauty budget go up by $48.90 really got me thinking. I was really happy. Much happier to have the money than the products. So I really started thinking about budget products. The problem with most budget products is that they are not worth in happiness units what they cost. You buy them thinking you are not spending much, so it’s a bargain. But after 4 such purchases you would gladly take your money back and say goodbye to the budget products. And then I started thinking of the products that make me truly happy as cosmetics go. The reason my Real Techniques brushes and Nuance lip gloss make me so very happy isn’t because they were inexpensive, it’s because they were inexpensive AND truly high quality products. It’s because they give back so much more in happiness units than they cost. In these two cases, the price was not high, making the distance between what you gave up and what you got back quite long. When you give up hard earned money, it should give more in return than you pay, or you should not give it up. Paying with cash helps you see this more clearly. Add up all the little purchases you’re going to make and hold on to the cash in one hand and imagine holding the products in the other or vice versa if you’ve already bought the product. You might end up thinking, “I’d rather have the cash.”

In the case of one of my other favorite product, Tarte Tinted Moisturizer, the price is a little higher. It definitely could not be considered a bargain price. But when you add up all the factors, that it is both a skincare product and a cosmetic, that it is a considerably large amount of product, that it replaces several products at once, that it is skin clearing and anti-aging, skin brightening and scar-healing, the price begins to make more sense. You could buy several cheaper products and end up spending  more money and not getting the same payoff.

So if you want to buy that one expensive product that you know will help heal your skin, make you look beautiful, last a long time and give you confidence then it could be worth the price. And if it does all that and is also not hard on your budget? Even better. And that’s why I blog. To help myself and everybody reading this find the products that really work, that are really worth it, and that are made with ingredients that enrich your skin’s and overall health instead of robbing from it.