Please don’t call me cheap. I prefer the word “financially responsible” (everything extravagant but the price).

In this financially ailing world, where’s a girl who loves beauty products supposed to turn? Of course, we are department store devotees and Sephora sycophants. But if you need a quick fix to mix into your existing posse of products, get thee to the drug store, darling!

My local Rite Aid has a myriad of products. Granted, it’s a bit bright in here. No soothing music.  And where, oh where, is a decent mirror? You’ll just have grab the cosmetics you like and walk to the mirror sales aisle to see if anything might work.

Drug stores have a sort of nostalgic effect on me; I feel like I’m back in high school cruising the aisles with my hard-earned bucks for something that’s going to make me feel special. But as a woman of a certain age, I must slap my hand away from the frosted pink tubes that looks so great on me when I was 17. Oh well, I can just look at the Wet and Wild aisle, can’t I?

I picked up a replacement tube of one of my favorite lip glosses: Neutrogena MoistureShine Lip Soother Cooling Hydragel. For about 7 bucks, you get a nice product: thicker consistency, so it stays put, a luscious cooling sensation when applied and most importantly, it’s got 20 SPF, which is a higher level of protection than most lipsticks on the market. Perfection!

I’ve been a big fan of Almay’s Line Smoothing Pressed Powder. It’s cheap and I do believe it doesn’t sink into my lines. Now if I can just look like Cameron Diaz in “The Mask”.

I also really like Neutrogena Fresh Foaming Cleanser. Wow, it takes off all the caked-on makeup.

Another cheap, I mean, frugal buy…was a treat for my feet. It’s okay to put away some hard-earned pesos when it comes to pumice stones. Boot Barney Rubble aside in the shopping aisle and grab the cheapest piece of volcanic rock you can find. I got one for $2.29. Now my feet feel like, you guessed it, a million bucks. And no more pantyhose carnage!

Best of all, anything you buy that you don’t like or doesn’t work can be returned for a full refund. No questions asked. And you won’t get attitude from the pimply-faced teenage boy at the cash register. He’s just lucky to have had a social interaction with a feline like you. Try to keep your receipt until you know you like the product. Because, aren’t we all so guilty of having a ton of unused cosmetics (that we tell ourselves, we’ll need some day!) jamming up our bathroom drawers? Uh huh!

Dear viewer, what are some of your favorite drug store beauty item? Do tell!