Mascara Minute: Maybelline Volum' Express The Falsies

($7.49, Maybelline, CVS)

Okay, EYE LOVE this mascara. Get it? "Eye" instead of "I"? You get it. Anyway, if you think you can't find a decent mascara at the drugstore, you are sorely mistaken. And the great thing about drugstore mascara is if you buy it and don't love it, you're out like a couple bucks instead of, say, $22. Also, I'm in no way paid to endorse them, but they are my favorite drugstore (especially since there's one about 14 steps from my apartment), but I really love CVS because they'll let you return any and all beauty products if you tried something and you were like "meh." But you will SO not be "meh" about Maybelline Volum' Express The Falsies. It's got a rounded spoon brush that's made of fibers, not rubber (though I definitely LOVE a rubber brush), which separate and truly truly outrageously elongate your lashes, while the keratin formula makes your lashes look way more full. Of course, like any mascara in the entire universe, you need to apply a few coats -- The Falsies dries quickly, so apply fast. I like to do one entire eye -- curl, apply one coat starting from the base to the tips, doing that wiggly technique thing, and then apply a second coat to really bring them out. If The Falsies fails you it's because you have failed The Falsies. Oh yeah, since I don't do waterproof mascaras, I can't tell you how the waterproof version works. Only the "Very Black." There's a reason Maybelline's The Falsies has the letters "T," "F" and "M" in its name: it also stands for Tamar's Favorite Mascara.

(Disclosure: I was sent this product by PR.)

Budget Binge Beauty Buy: Tropez Sunrise to Sunset Eyeshadow Palette In Olive Oasis

Drugstore beauty. Let's discuss: People, there is NOTHING wrong with buying your beauty products from the same place you buy your toilet bowl cleaner and tampons. I'm not saying you need to buy ALL of it there, or that you shouldn't save and splurge on a few must-have top-shelf items (like Armani's Face Fabric foundation or Napoleon Perdis Madame Curl Curl mascara) but you'd be straight foolin' not to test out similar shades in less expensive versions of the stuff you might want to upgrade to at Sephora. What I'm saying is, why pay $18 for a shade of shadow that looks LE HORBS on you when you could've just spent $2.79 on something AND possibly loved it just as much.

But obviously a lot of you guys know that since a.) you're smart shoppers, and b.) Duane Reade is in the black.

So, here's another on-the-cheap, less-is-more Binge-approved beauty buy I recently discovered and lurves: Tropez's Sunrise to Sunset eyeshadow palette in Olive Oasis!

(Tropez, $3.99, Walgreens)

I tried Olive Oasis just this morning, and seriously, not even lying, I like it just as much as the MAC and Prescriptives eyeshadows I usually use. It's richly pigmented, no skimpiness, lots of pop, and per this report, it stays on all day. And, one of the things I liked best -- there was almost no all-over-the-place residue, which is almost unheard of with luminescent glittery shadows. It's sold out on Walgreens.com, but here's where you can find Tropez products (lotsa drugstores and stuff.)

Anyway, there are three other Tropez palettes, each with six shadows, and at $4 each, you could easily try them all -- and still have cash left over for Charmin. Yay!