If you look pretty much anywhere you’ll find someone more into makeup than I am.

While I indulge in my daily dose of foundation and mascara, you’ll rarely see me sporting eyeshadow or a bold lip. That said, I still enjoy making myself up every once in a while or trying out a new trend that speaks to me.

With the emphasis on lip colors lately I found myself in a bit of a dilemma: to spend money on makeup I may never wear, or to not spend money on makeup and get Taco Bell instead?

(via Shutterstock)

As you can see, my life is full of hard choices. Scroll below to find out the simple hack I discovered for this earth-shattering problem:

Because I don’t wear makeup often, I’m not a girl who likes to spend money on cosmetics. While I could find something that speaks to me at Sephora any day, one look at the prices and I run out of the store before you can say “free sample.”

That said, I found myself desperate to try out lip colors with an alluring appeal: “matte,” “metallic,” “neutral.” Each of these lip trends just felt right to me, but after spending money on fads that didn’t work out in the past, I just couldn’t bring myself to try these new statements.

I know what you’re thinking—just go to Sephora and try out their testers. This is great advice for someone who is 1) Confident in trying the trend in public and 2) Has a lot of time on their hands. Because neither of these factors apply to me, I had to get creative.

I’ve drawn out the suspense long enough. Without further ado here is my simple hack for trying out a bold lip color before buying the shade at a store: Eyeshadow.

(The missing shade was used in a nail polish DIY)

What, you ask?

Let me back up.

Recently I found myself desperate to try out a light pink lip. Typically I’m a person who only looks good in conventional makeup—neutral eyes, shades of red lip. I have about six tubes of lipstick that I’ll never wear again after purchasing them for an affordable price at CVS (where, to be clear, they don’t supply testers). So the question was, how do I try this color before making my next purchase?

Cue my eyeshadow palette. To try out this hack all you need is one or more eyeshadow palettes that contain a color you’d like to use for your lips. I have a very limited set of two palettes at home (like I said, I’m not a makeup person) but even these two palettes contained a variety of new shades I could try out as lip colors.

I tried everything from a smokey black to a baby pink. Consensus: Pink yes, black no (unless it was for some sort of themed night).

Dab the eyeshadow on your lips with a finger and clean up the edges with a Q-tip. This should give you a good sense of what the color looks like. The best part is that because it’s a powder, it’s much easier to remove than in store testers. No makeup remover is required and it doesn’t leave a stain.

If you like the look and want to take the hack a step further like I did, first swipe on a layer of Chapstick before patting down the eyeshadow. Top off with a clear liquid gloss and you have your own makeshift lipstick!

From this hack I discovered that I adore light and neutral-toned lips but unfortunately should probably stay away from more brooding or unicorn-esque shades.

 

If you’re drawn to the new shiny and shimmery glitter lip trend, click HERE to find out how the lipstick holds up after an entire day of wear.