A $12 lip gloss in a shade you wear twice costs $6 per use.
Price tag isn't the number that matters — cost per wear is.
Once you think in cost-per-wear instead of sticker price, it gets obvious where to spend more and where to hold back.
Foundation, concealer, tinted moisturizer — anything that's on your face most days. Better formulas wear longer, look better on camera, and are gentler on skin you're wearing them on for hours at a time. This is where the price difference is easiest to feel.
Cheap mascara formulas are more likely to flake, smudge, or irritate. If your eyes react easily, this is not the category to cut corners on.
A bold blue eyeshadow or a very-of-the-moment lip color you'll wear a handful of times doesn't need to be the $40 version. Save the splurge budget for things you'll actually finish the bottle of.
For most people, budget versions do the same core job as the luxury ones. Unless you have a specific skin concern a pricier formula solves, this is low-stakes to buy cheap.
A $60 brush set is wasted on a routine you're still figuring out. Get the 2–3 tools you actually use first, then upgrade once you know what you reach for.
A simple starting point: $50 is enough for a genuinely good 3-product edit if you spend it on the right things — not spread thin across ten. That's the exact budget the Avenyce quiz is built around.