Hi guys!

For the first time ever my friends and I have decided to do a under $25 secret santa dinner this year to celebrate Christmas with one another. We drew names a couple of weeks ago and I was excited to draw this particular friend because she loves makeup but isn’t as familiar with the different brands that are out there as I am.

I thought I would share with you my gift idea for her because it is inexpensive and a great gift for someone who appreciates makeup.

The $25 limit that we had set inspired me to try and find a full face of makeup products for that price. I also thought that this would be great because she is someone who owns mostly high end makeup. I wanted to get her products that I know are just as good as MAC (if not better) for a fraction of the cost. After watching a bunch of old youtube videos (anyone remember when the “under 20 dollar makeup challenge” was a huge trend?) I made a list and began my shopping.

For eyeshadow I knew I wanted to get her a wet n wild trio because they’re some of the best drugstore shadows (and are extremely inexpensive!)
Wet n Wild eyeshadow trio in “Walking on Eggshells”: $2.99 @ Walmart 

She wears a lot of pink lipsticks so I knew that I wanted to get her a pink lip liner. The liners from Essence are amazing and come in really nice colors.
Essence Lip Liner in “Wish me a Rose”: $1.49 @ Shoppers Drug Mart

The NYC liquid liner was a no brainer for this gift. This is the best liquid liner in the makeup world in my opinion.
NYC Liquid Liner in Extreme Black: $2.99 @ Walmart 

Most drugstore mascaras are just as good as high end ones, but they are usually priced around 10 dollars which was too expensive for my $25 budget! This Essence mascara is still a great one, but with a much cheaper price tag.
Essence I ❤ Extreme Crazy Volume Mascara: $3.99 @Shoppers Drug Mart 

For the rest of the makeup I kept obsessively checking elf cosmetics.com for one of their 50% off sales. Luckily they had one a couple weeks ago and I ordered the following items for half of their original prices!
(They still haven’t arrived yet, so photos of these products are all off of the elf site.)

I know that she likes to use her MAC foundation, but I wanted to get her one that she probably wouldn’t buy to try out for herself. This one has great reviews, I’m just hoping I picked the right shade!
Acne Fighting Foundation in Porcelain $6 ($3)

She is a huge blush fan so I thought that this palette would be the perfect choice because of the multiple blush options. If this wasn’t available I was going to go for a Essence blush, which are also really pigmented and blendable (Essence Silky Touch Blush: $2.99).
Blush Palette $6 ($3)

I didn’t think it would be right to skip out on this bronzer palette, because again, who doesn’t like options? But the NYC bronzer is also a great option for a inexpensive bronzer (NYC Sunny Bronzer: $4.97).
Bronzer Palette $6 ($3)

This eye primer is one of my absolute favourites and is probably the cheapest makeup product I own. It was another must for this gift.
Shadow Lock Eyeshadow Primer $2 ($1)

These elf lip glosses are generally just a awesome product. They hold their own against the much more expensive lip glosses in my collection because of their color payoff.
EX-tra lip gloss in Micheal $2 ($1)

She doesn’t use a lot of powder, but for $1.50 I thought a translucent powder would be a good addition. Because it is translucent it doesn’t cake up as easily as other powders.
Translucent Mattifying Powder $3 ($1.50)

I have a couple of these lipsticks and love them because of how comfortable they are to wear. I got her a color that is outside of her makeup comfort zone but that I know will look really good on her!
Moisturizing Lipstick in Bordeaux Beauty $3 ($1.50)

 

Grand Total: $25.46

As a finishing touch I bought a nice christmas box, ribbon, a bow and tissue paper to wrap up all of this makeup into a cute little package 🙂

I would include a nice photo of the finished wrapped gift, but I’m still waiting on that elf order. Crossing my fingers that it comes in time for the dinner!

I hope this gave you some inspiration for a makeup gift on a budget.

I’m a huge fan of drugstore makeup and am always curious to see what other people are loving. What’s your favorite drugstore product?

Thanks for reading!