That’s the best argument against the hybrid approach that I’ve heard. Makeup, hair, nails typically aren’t included under “joint” expenditures, but in this case they’re not really discretionary either. We haven’t encountered this problem, but one solution would be to estimate the monthly “work appearance” cost, and then allocate a little extra to each account to cover.

As you mentioned, that could get complicated and ultimately frustrating. Are you both savers? How do you manage keeping both sides on budget?