Beauty vs Budget

After reading a post from Room to Dance Studio's April Maclean, I was inspired. She went on a year long comparison experiment between high end cosmetics versus drug store brands. My initial internal response to her experiment was incredibly defensive. I spend hundreds of dollars a year on those products and here she was, telling me that her findings proved that Sephora doesn't always beat out Walgreens when it comes to quality. This happened to coincide with a rough pay period at work. And thus I had an idea for my own experiment. Could I quit my expensive habit?
I decided I should give it a shot, I had nothing to lose...right? So I am setting out to see if I can one full year without spending full price on a single beauty product. This includes make up, cleansers, nail polish/care, lotions/moisturizers, hair care and hair color. I still need to work out my exact rules. After one Google search for the average amount spent on beauty products each year (between $200-$5000....super accurate, eh?) I have decided that I will attempt to spend no more than $300 on products for the next 365 days.
Rules:

• I can still use anything in my Caboodle, so I don't have to start from scratch.
• Anything given as a gift will not count towards my total, however gift CARDS given will count towards my total dollar amount spent.
• I will avoid Sephora and the make up counters at Nordstrom but they will not be excluded entirely. 
• I will not spend full price on any item. All items must be on sale or bought with a coupon.
• I will not use and then return any item unless necessary.
• I will still attempt to buy the best quality products I can.

I'll post any deals I find as well as reviews on the products I use. I've pretty much always been a product junkie so this will be a fun experiment. Although sticking to a budget of $300 will be tough, especially considering that I have spent half that amount in one trip to Sephora before. Yikes.
And away we go!