One of my favorite Christmas presents from Brent’s mom is a digital subscription to the New York Times. I love it, and read it every day (though I try my hardest not to look at it right before bed).

A couple weeks ago, I came across this piece of hard-hitting journalism:

The Best Makeup You Can Buy at the Drugstore

I love drugstore makeup. I can trace this love to a specific memory of my mom allowing me to get one thing from the makeup aisle every time we went to Drug Emporium (although, now that I’m a parent, I’m sure there was some sort of “good behavior” bribe that worked 100% of the time because who in their right mind would sacrifice a shot at something from Drug Emporium?).

But that article is right: there is a bunch of stuff at the drugstore, and not all of it is priced at “oh what the heck, I’ll try it” prices.

So I was prepared to take notes, write down every item the writer recommended, and then I stopped.

“Keep your eye on Wet n Wild. It is known for a few things: being very inexpensive, having luxury formulas, and most important, being one of the only cruelty-free beauty brands in the drugstore.”

That’s all I needed. Luxury. Cruelty free. And the cheapest brand by a wide margin.

I went to Walgreens, armed with my new information. In the past, I’d disregarded Wet N Wild as a kid brand. Also I just want to get ready in the morning and look presentable. I have no desire to look wet. Or wild. So I always always skipped it.

But if I think about it, I love supporting brands that are committed to being cruelty free. And I really should think about that, much more often than I do.

My favorite Walgreens has a little old lady working weekday mornings, who always tries to find me coupons. “Need help this morning, dear?” she asked as I started wandering through the aisle.

“Not this time, actually. Thank you though!”

I found the Wet N Wild section in the makeup-aisle equivalent of the $4 vodka: as close to the floor as possible.

I picked up the following:

[earnist ref=”wet-n-wild-photo-focus-foundat” id=”4011″]

[earnist ref=”wet-n-wild-photo-focus-pressed” id=”4012″]

[earnist ref=”wet-n-wild-silk-finish-lip-sti” id=”4013″]

[earnist ref=”wet-n-wild-color-icon-eyeshado” id=”4014″]

[earnist ref=”wet-wild-makeup-stick-blush-80″ id=”4015″]

[earnist ref=”ultimate-brow-retractable” id=”4016″]

And I really love them.

I had to get a darker shade of foundation after realizing the first one I picked made me look a little like I was wearing Kabuki makeup (not a good look for me, it turns out), and it felt wasteful to get rid of the one that didn’t work for me, but the price point helped alleviate that guilt. I’m unfamiliar with the return policy on opened goods, but I don’t have the energy to fuss about returning something that cost five dollars.

The latte factor, somehow.

I listed the products I bought on this post, but ONLY because this is the internet. I have not now, nor do I see myself in the future, buying makeup from Amazon.

I like being able to see, feel, open, touch, hold against my skin to do a better job guessing, makeup.

Plus, the memory of my mom’s bribe holds strong, and two-day shipping doesn’t compare to that memory.

I always went for Lip Smackers, in case you were wondering. To this day, I have a six-year-old’s fascination and love for lip gloss. My friend Tricia gave me birthday cake flavored gloss from Glossier, who I would link to, but if you click on it, their ads will follow you to the end of the earth. It was amazing.

Anyway, if you try Wet N Wild (whoa, their website is fun!), let me know! I would love to talk about it! (Obviously).