Miss Lady Mo & the Beauty Beat: Don't Diss the Drugsto'!!!

Ok, I said I'd never let myself fall victim to anymore beauty guru tags, but I HAD to do this one. I have a lot of awesome readers who are on a tight budget but still want to look fabulous, I mean, who doesn't??? Probably the number one question that I get asked is "what is your favorite drugstore product?" and to answer that, well, I need a whole blog post. And away we go!

1. What is your favorite drugstore makeup brand overall?

L'oreal

Like I've mentioned in previous posts, L'oreal owns Lancôme and several other big brands. While the products aren't identical, there are some amazing options out there for every skin tone and skin type. If you are in the L'oreal aisle and have one of those "buy one get one half off" coupons, you could pretty much blindfold yourself and grab the first thing in front of you and be safe.

Honorable Mention: Jordana Cosmetics

Jordana Easy Liner, both lip and eye, are fabulous and very high quality for such an inexpensive price. Jordana Best Lash Extreme is the best mascara under $5 that I have ever used. If you are a budding makeup artist, or if you're just broke or stingy, go to Walgreens and look for Jordana Cosmetics!

2. What are your favorite face, cheek and lip products?

Foundation: L'oreal True Match Lumi

Cheek: *tie*

Wet n Wild Pearlescent Pink and

Milani Baked Blush in Rose D'Oro

Lip:

Revlon Lip Butter in Lollipop and Berry Smoothie and pretty much every color.

As mentioned in the first question, L'oreal has a cache of amazing products, but if I'm pressed, I'd probably say their foundation is the best, specifically their True Match Lumi. I think this formula is my Holy Grail foundation. It gives me the most natural medium coverage, which sounds like a stretch, but trust me. My skin always looks so gorgeous when I use this and is one of those foundations that truly does give skin a healthy and youthful appearance. It's not a heavy shimmer or greasy look, it's simply beautiful!

Blush used to be a product I really didn't give two shits about until about a year ago, now it's an obsession! There was a tie because Wet N Wild and Milani just own this category. Every color is rich in pigment and looks radiant.

Pearlescent Pink, from WNW, is a good basic to have in your collection. It's great for all skin tones and cheeks look naturally flushed.

Rose D'Oro was the first Milani product I purchased. I needed a new blush and almost broke down and bought a MAC blush. So glad I didn't! Aside from saving $13, I also get complemented every single time I wear this!

Revlon has long been a favorite brand of mine. Cindy Crawford was my idol back in the day and anything Revlon that Cindy C wore was good enough for mama. Flash forward 20 some years later and here I am, still crazy in love, specifically Revlon Lip Butters. I am such a lip balm junky that these were a shoe in from the beginning, but the colors, the COLORS are heaven!!! Berry Smoothie and Lollipop were my introduction

3. Least favorite product? Maybelline Great Lash mascara

Ugh. I don't know how this can be a favorite of makeup artists and models. Maybe it's a faux beauty secret that celebs use to throw fans off their track. I'm sure there are some beauty secrets people want to keep to themselves. I've tried to like this but it's straight up caca. Maybelline has got so many products on lock, I guess there's always gonna be a dog in the bunch. Great Lash says "bark!"

4. What is the best makeup bargain?

Wet n Wild eyeshadows are really the best bargain around. All of them! You can find some great MAC dupes too! 9 times out of 10, when I get complimented on my shadow, it's Wet N Wild. These can be used wet or dry and the combinations of color, especially in the 8 color palettes, are stunning!

5. What is your favorite underdog product? (Something you love that often gets overlooked?)

L'oreal Voluminous Extra Volume Collagen mascara doesn't get a lot of love. Too many sheep are up Great Lashes butt. Fine with me. This is a huge improvement over the original Voluminous formula. When my Lancôme Hypnose Drama mascara started to become a health hazard, I was brokety broke broke and just happened to notice VEVC mascara on the rack with the ever exciting "NEW" sticker on it. #GreatestDayOfMyLashesLife . I don't think this is really a dupe of Hypnose, if anything it's a huge improvement! It gives gorgeous, full lashes and length for days! Most drugstore mascara formulas that promise volume give clumpy, spidery, Tammy Faye lashes. This is the anti Tammy Faye, VEVC is Jessica Hahn! Badum-dum, ching!

6. A drugstore product that is overpriced?

Physicians Formulas Bronzers have always been products that I lust for. They did dupes of high end bronzers and highlighters before it became cool. The cute designs on the bronzers along with the vast selection make this a wanted item. That said, I still feel weird about paying so much for a bronzer, especially when it's so close in price to the item it's a dupe of. Look for coupons, that's all I gotta say.

7. Show your best drugstore dupe(s)!!

Revlon Peach Petal gloss vs. MAC Underage

Milani Sangria vs. MAC Rebel

Maybelline Fuchsia Flash vs. MAC Candy Yum Yum

Wet n Wild Think Pink vs. MAC Creme Cup

Hard Candy Baked Bronzer in Tiki vs. The Balm's Mary Lou-manizer

Wet n Wild shadow in Brûlée vs. MAC Brûlée

L'oreal VIP polish vs. Chanel Black Pearl

8. Drugstore product that isn't worth the hype?

Maybelline Great Lash mascara

9. Favorite polish?

L'oreal VIP & Macaroon Me Madly

Rimmel Steel Grey

L'oreal again has my heart...and nails! VIP is the closest dupe to Chanel's Black Pearl that I've ever seen and Macaroon Me Madly is clean and will give your nails a beautiful, well groomed look. Great for lazy folks like me!

Steel Gray from Rimmel was recommended by my pal Emily aka lisettesbeaute from YouTube. Not only is it chic and universal, going with everything, it too is a great Chanel dupe! The polish Particuliere is perhaps a tad more cool toned, but hell, close enough!

These are some more faves from the drugstore!

Lip Balm's