I am the mother of two young children under age four. I also work full time at a regular office job and have a part time internet business. Fashion and make-up are important to me. Even when I work from home or just run out to drop off my son at school, I make sure to wear clothes in which I would wear out to meet a friend or to go shopping. I also wear make-up every day.

Being the bargain hunter that I am, I clip grocery coupons, shop for clothing at stores like T.J. Maxx and Macy's (I only buy during Macy's sales) and search for frugal advice each week. For years I have used an inexpensive brand of make-up and it worked out fine. But mascara was always a problem for me.

My eyes occasionally tear and I wear contact lenses. This is why I can only wear waterproof mascara. The brand I used didn't run but it would become clumpy and flake off after only a few hours. When I looked in the mirror the mascara had either rubbed off or there were tiny specks of dark blue around my eyes. I would then have to use a creamy eye-make up remover and essentially would take off all of my eye make-up. This became very time consuming, not to mention very costly.

One day I was given a gift card to Macy's. I thought I would splurge on a fancy brand of mascara only sold at department stores. I hoped that I could find a brand of waterproof mascara which didn't flake or rub off. I was curious what quality I would get for spending $20 on one cosmetic item. My reasoning was that I would never spend this much on make-up but I was using a gift card. If this brand of cosmetics was worth it, I would be so happy and wouldn't mind splurging. Maybe the old saying "You Get What You Pay For" would apply here. Unfortunately, I was disappointed to discover that the brand I purchased was much worse than the inexpensive brand I had been using for years. It ran under my eyes almost immediately after applying it. The consistency was thinner than the cheap brand but the packaging was beautiful.

I returned it to Macy's and in exchange purchased another expensive brand of waterproof mascara. This brand was just as useless as the first brand I tried. I promptly returned this brand to the store and received a full refund. It was at this point that I decided it was easier to wear no eye make-up at all than to keep searching for good mascara. Even if I searched for an inexpensive brand ($7 or less) I would still be spending money and time on this quest.

Now my morning routine is a little bit shorter and easier without the extra step of eye make-up application. I don't have to use mascara, eyeliner, shadow or eye make-up remover. I still feel 'made up' when I go out and I don't worry about dark smudges under my eyes. This decision has actually made me feel more confident about my appearance.


Janet Freitag is the owner and creator of the website Hempwonders.com, a site about the fascinating little known uses and benefits of the hemp plant. She is also an affiliate of Site Build It!, the software program she used to create her website. You can visit Site Build It! at http://case-studies.sitesell.com/Janet36.html