Being frugal doesn’t mean that I don’t like nice things (although it does mean that I have some money spare to buy the nice things I like) but no matter how cheap or how expensive a purchase is, I like to know that it’s going to do what it should do and that it’s going to give me value for money.
So every now and again, I thought I’d share with you something that I’ve bought that has cost me a little bit more than I would usually pay and let you know whether it turned out to be worth paying that bit more. I’m starting today with Benefit ‘They’re Real’ mascara….
Without exception, every mascara that I’ve tried has smudged under my eyes within a few hours of applying it, leaving me looking like a panda. I have no idea what I do, if anything, I just know that I’ve bought so many mascaras over the years hoping that their claims of being smudge-proof, water proof and whatever else proof would mean that I could get through an entire day without worrying about what my mascara looks like. None of them have which means two things (a) I have stopped wearing mascara altogether and (b) Miss Frugal probably has more mascaras than Boots as I always end up passing them to her when they fail me.
My eyelashes are really pale and I do feel more confident with a little colour on them so I started dying my own eyelashes but the dye I used to use seems to have changed formula as it doesn’t take very well on my lashes anymore. My next idea was to get my eyelashes coloured properly but that seemed quite pricey considering the frequency mine needed doing.
So, mascaras failed me, home treatment doesn’t work and professional treatment was costing too much which didn’t leave me with many options at all, did it?
And then someone suggested the Benefit ‘They’re Real’ mascara which they said really does stay put all day. I was a bit skeptical at first considering it’s price tag was more than double what I would usually pay but I decided to go for it when I read on the Boots website told me that it was the UK’s no. 1 best selling mascara and promised me bigger, bolder, sexier lashes with a long-wearing formula that wouldn’t smudge or dry out. I was really reluctant to pay that much when I’d been burned in the past so it took me a few weeks to decide to go for it but in the end I did and I paid £19.50 for a full size tube of it.
I’m no beauty blogger but I’ll do my best to tell you what I thought of my purchase of Benefit ‘They’re Real’ mascara. 😉
I like that it comes in a brown and a blue as well as a black shade as I think I’m too pale to get away with black but the brown is perfect for people with colouring similar to mine. I also like the specially designed brush which makes the mascara much easier to apply than any that I’ve ever had in the past – I really can coat my lashes from tip to top in just one quick layer.
Then there’s the fact that it really does make my eyelashes look longer and thicker which I always thought was just an empty promise made on TV adverts (I know, I’m very cynical where mascara is concerned) and the fact that my lashes did seem to curl upwards without having to use one of those eyelash curler devices that look like mini torture machines.
I can’t show you on my eye (well I could but they’re very red and gunky at the moment as I seem to have a mild case of conjunctivitis) so this is a photo of Miss Frugal who puts mascara on in about 30 seconds:
Obviously close up doesn’t do it as much justice as it should because it highlights all the imperfections that you’d expect from a 13 year old who applies make up pretty much like she tackles everything in her life – at twice the speed she really should. I daren’t do it for her as she hasn’t forgiven me for the time I poked her in the eye when we were doing each other’s make up.
So we’ve established that I like everything but the price so far, but does the Benefit ‘They’re Real’ mascara do the job I want it to do and stay on all day?
It absolutely does!
It stays put all day with no sign of budging so I can wear mascara with the confidence that I don’t need to keep wiping underneath my eyes to catch smudges for the first time ever.
This is a photo of us took on Saturday night after a full day of running around and then a trip to the shops followed by a walk down the river.
I can’t focus in on my eyes without ruining the quality of the picture but you can see that it still looks like I’m wearing mascara and also that there are no smudges under my eyes. Considering I will have been wearing this for at least 10 hours when the photo was taken then I think that’s pretty good going, don’t you?
It beats any other mascara that I’ve every worn hands down and is better (and cheaper) than getting my eyelashes done professionally as I get the added bonus of the volume that it gives me.
Is it worth paying the extra for Benefit ‘They’re Real’ mascara? Without a doubt, yes!
Just to be clear, we bought the mascara ourselves and have not been asked in any way to post about it. We’ve been using it for a while now and it seemed like a good thing to start with as an example of when paying more for something works out well.
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