We're Going To Disneyworld...For Minnie & Mickey and a Whole Load of Beauty Bargains!

Yes, I own a Minnie Mouse ears headband - now I just need a red and white
polka dot dress to complete the outfit!

Anyone that knows me is aware that I am off to Florida in September of this year for a 2 week holiday with my boyfriend. I am excited. No, let me rephrase that, I am excited that as of right now there's 34 weeks/238 days/ 5712 hours until I get to sit on that plane to carry me across the ocean :)
I last went to Florida when I was 15 and loved it, now, 6 years on I will be able to enjoy all that Orlando has to offer on account of the fact that I will be 21 when I touch down at Sandford Intl! We're doing Disney, we're doing Harry Potter world, and I don't know about J but I'm doing a whole load of shopping and this is what leads me on to today's post.
I was looking online at Walmart last night, primarily to discover the current price of Lucky Charms, and came across their beauty department. Now I am all for 'drugstore' make-up, (Can you really class Boots and Superdrug as 'drugstore'? Or do you have to buy things in Tesco and the like for it to qualify in the 'drugstore' category?) but seriously, the prices just blew me away. Here are some 'drugstore' examples:

(Image taken from Boots.com) The Maybelline Great Lash Mascara: I have owned this mascara and while it's never been my complete favourite in terms of application, brush style and the like it's relatively cheap, I believe, as far as mascaras go. On Boots.com this mascara retails for £4.99, however in Walmart you're looking at paying $4.24, which when I converted into £££ using the current exchange rate it's approximately £2.76 - seriously!!? For this price can you really go wrong?! I had said to myself that I wouldn't want to buy any product that I can find in the UK, but if everything's going to be marginally cheaper then I might as well stock up, hey! (Not with this mascara, by the way, this is purely for illustrative purposes, I'll get onto bigger and better products in a minute).

(Image taken from Walmart.com) L'Oreal True Match Foundation: Again, another product I have owned but not necessarily loved, I believe this is because I bought myself the wrong colour and ended up pearly white, I'll just stick to Maxfactor for the moment. (How cute is the packaging for the American version by the way, we have a pump bottle in the UK.) Boots.com retail this foundation at £9.99 which is the price one would normally expect to pay for a good quality brand of foundation that doesn't quite hit the high-end product criteria. Walmart retail this for $8.47, which when converted comes to approximately £5.53. These prices are crazy, but I'm not complaining! It makes me want to save like mad and go wild in the beauty aisles in the states!
Walmart's website has inspired me in a few purchases, I know I'm a little premature in deciding what to buy when I am out there but I thought I'd do a little research so that I don't end up wasting money on things I won't even like (trying to curb my inner impulse buying habit...). I am excited to try out brands like Covergirl, Wet & Wild etc etc that we don't get over here, and my inner early teen self can't help but love the lip balms in a range of flavours from Lip Smackers - Sprite or Fanta lips anyone?!

Moving on to another site I fell in love with, Sephora.com. I have been to a Sephora store before, it's where I picked up my first piece of Urban Decay that I mentioned in my last post, but I thought I'd do a little investigate and see if the bargains on the 'drugstore' brands extend to the more high end products that I love, namely from brands like Mac, Benefit, Nars and Urban Decay.

(Left Image taken from maccosmetics.com, right image taken from sephora.com) Mac Lipstick: I am getting more and more into lip colour - my latest buy being the Babydoll Look Beauty Lipstick and I know that everyone says how brilliant Mac are for lipstick I just haven't got round to purchasing one yet. My nearest Mac concession is in House of Fraser where they retail each Mac lipstick for £14.50. When I clicked onto the US Mac website I was quite surprised to see that they retail on there for $14.50, literally a match for match price. But, thankfully converting my £££ into $$$ and not the other way around means that I end up getting more for my money - hallelujah! $14.50 is approximately £9.45, again another bargain and a saving of around £5 on every lipstick. For this price I think I'll be testing shades here and then finding Mac to purchase!

Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion: If you read my previous post about the UD Sustainable Shadow Box you'll know that it includes a baby version of this lovely eyeshadow primer. I was completely enthralled by the quality of the product and loved that it kept all eyeshadow in place on my eyelids all day. And naturally now I want the full size version. House of Fraser retails this product for £14.50, Sephora for $19, convert that and it becomes £12.38 (not a massive saving, but a saving none the less!).

Other things that caught my eye were Nars Blushes for $29 (£17), Naked 2 for $50 (£32) and of course lots of Benefit for cheaper prices. (I am aware that the US adds sales tax at the till and it's not included in the ticket price on the shelf like we have here in the UK, but I just wanted to show you how this vary in price anyway.)

So I'm eager to get out there and spend my hard earned and hard save pennies! Have you ever been to America? What do you think of the price differences?