How it all Began

From the moment I felt my first lipgloss glide across my lips, I was in love. I was 12 and I wore Bonne Bell Lip Smackers in Dr. Pepper. To me, this was lipgloss. It was clear, rather tasty, and created a sunlit shine to my lips. It was light enough, where I could wear it everyday and the sugary taste made it addictive.

Pretty soon, I wanted more out of my lipgloss and wanted to add a punch of color to the mix. Being a preteen and not having an older sister to look up to, I had the next best thing...Madonna. Madonna was (and still is) the biggest thing around when I was growing up. She was everywhere, and had the most amazing, unique, style. I wanted to be just like her, but I was overweight, my skin looked like an erupting volcano, and my hair was as curly and big as a Halloween clown wig. I couldn't afford her clothes, I didn't have her hair, but I could copy her makeup. I watched the Borderline video about 5 inches away from my small 80's television and took notes on her look. The recipe called for bright lips, jet black eyeliner, 8-10 coats of mascara, heavy eyebrows and a touch of badass. I had the makeup part down at least.

I wasn't allowed to pluck my eyebrows at this time, so I already had the heavy Madge brow down. For the eyes, I used a 50 cent Jordana black eyeliner I bought at my local pharmacy and burned it at the end to make it darker (a trick I learned from my older, much cooler, cousin). As for the lips, I used Wet N' Wild lipstick in shade 202, which is a neon shade of pink which screamed "I'm from Jersey and I like Camaros". The whole "look" cost me under $5 but made me feel like $100 (this was a lot of money to me when I was 12).

So, from that time on, my love affair with makeup and fashion had begun. I still like to recreate looks in fashion and makeup, and am still pretty broke....but the pretty part is one part that counts :) You can be gorgeous on a budget, and look as posh as Victoria Beckham on the salary of a VH1 reality show castoff. You just have to know how to shop, and what to buy (or not buy), and that is what this blog is all about.