The Drugstore Mascara Hack That Will Save You Money

Makeup can be a fun hobby — until it starts to tug too tightly on your purse strings. It's all fun and games until your favorite brand launches a face cream that costs $190. Fortunately, we live in an era where drugstore makeup is thriving. You no longer need to drop a hundred bucks to get a quality product, countless brands within the drugstore have grown to develop products that are competitive with luxury brands. Sometimes it's even as simple as them being identical because they're manufactured in the same factories. And yet, somehow, you can still sometimes find yourself itching for that bougie craving.

If you're an avid makeup lover, you're surely familiar with that feeling. Your favorite beauty influencer is swearing by the latest mascara that's dropped, they're showing you a side-by-side comparison, and suddenly, your entire life depends on owning it. You're convinced that a single product can cure your bad mood, pay your rent, and essentially fix your entire life. Try as you might to resist multiple recommendations, sometimes you can't help but treat yourself. 

But what about when you run out of that mascara and you crash from that high? Here's a hack that'll keep you going...

Instead of panicking after those too-brief 6 months of mascara dry out — reuse, recycle, and repurpose! You can get drugstore mascaras for as cheap as $3 now, but for some reason, people manage to convince themselves it's not the same (via Allure). It's all in the brush, they say. Well, okay then, how about keeping the brush around? Rather than tossing out $30 worth of product in the trash once it's finished, clean it up and give it a second life.

At the end of the day, aside from whether or not they're waterproof, mascaras are pretty similar. So, if it's the brush that you love so much, all you have to do is remove it from the packaging and give it a deep wash. Perhaps soak in some rubbing alcohol to really sanitize it from the past months of use. Then, when you're ready, just dip it into your fave drugstore mascara, et voila. The exact same result at a fraction of the price. 

Suddenly, that "treat yourself" moment doesn't fill you with regret. Instead, you realize it was all an investment in your future.