Carmindy’s Five Favorite Ways to Stretch Your Makeup Budget

1.    Use mineral oil instead of expensive makeup removers. “Mineral oil is the No. 1 ingredient in the majority of makeup removers,” Carmindy said. “Get yourself a bottle of mineral oil for a buck and you can have makeup remover for life.”

2.    Vaseline can be a universal beauty product. Mix it with an opaque lipstick to form a lip gloss or use it around the eyes as an inexpensive eye balm. African American women may find that Vaseline also works well as a moisturizer. (Other skin types might find it clogging to the pores.)

3.    A regular Chapstick can replace eyebrow gel. “If you have unruly eyebrows, just run your finger over some clear Chapstick and put it over your brows. It’s like an instant brow wax,” Carmindy says.

4.    Carmindy recommends Cetaphil ($7.99) as the best daily cleanser on the market. “I like to get it for normal to oily skin even if you have dry skin because it really cuts through makeup,” she said. “It’s what my dermatologist recommends. It’s what I recommend. It’s the only thing I use.”

5.    Don’t  toss broken eye shadows or lipsticks.  Put half-used lipsticks into each square of a small pillbox, saving one square for Vaseline, to create a lip-gloss palette. Transfer broken eye shadows into small screw-top containers to use as loose eye shadows.