I think a lot of the time when we read magazines or watch adverts we are given the impression that the more we spend on beauty products, the better. However, this, in my experience at least, is certainly not always the case.
The majority of my makeup and beauty products are from chemists (drugstores) or inexpensive websites. I do have a few high end / department store products, namely Esteé Lauder Double Wear foundation, (which I do love), and my NARS Sheer Glow foundation, (which I do not love, and it smells a little bit like bacon flavoured crisps to me, which is odd). Some MAC, Urban Decay and Benefit.
I certainly can not afford to be buying lots of high end expensive products, and I'm sure a lot of you can't either. And I am here to tell you we don't need to! There are so many fabulous inexpensive products for us to try. And the great thing about spending less, especially if you've never tried it before, is that it isn't a massive waste of money if it isn't the product for you!
So here are my top ten inexpensive products:
1. Baby Wipes
Now these can be found pretty much anywhere that sells beauty products, including supermarkets. They are really cheap, depending on the brand. The one's I'm currently using are
Boots Fragrance Free Sensitive Wipes and they were less than £1 for 72 wipes. I bought the sensitive ones because I do have very sensitive skin, I have however used 'normal' baby wipes and these work great for me too. I just think if they are ok for babies, they must be ok for us too! I use these every night to remove my makeup and I love them. I find that quite often with face washes or cleansers my skin can react badly to them but baby wipes make my skin feel clean and they don't make me break out. These ones do say not to use them on the eye area, however I do sometimes use baby wipes to remove my eye makeup too when I'm feeling lazy and can't be bothered to use a separate eye makeup remover. I have very sensitive eyes and I've never had any problems but it's up to you if you want to risk it. You do have to rub a bit more than you would with an actual eye makeup remover though. There are obviously good and bad baby wipes. I've bought some before which were two for £1 from a pound shop and they were awful, really dry and scratchy so now I just use them to clean my hands when I'm putting my makeup on. They were only 50p each so hardly a waste of money!
2. Elf Healthy Glow Bronzing Powder in Luminance
As you can see from this picture, I love this product as I've hit pan ( I bought this in November of last year). There are four different shades, Sun Kissed, Warm Tan, Luminance and Matte Bronze. Luminance is the palest of the four. The colours will suit a wide range of skin tones, but maybe not particularly dark skin. The one I have is a really shimmery, pale golden bronzer and I like to apply this with a big fluffy brush all over my face, building it up for more golden shimmer if its night-time. This was £1.50 ( I know!). Elf (www.eyeslipsface.co.uk) is a brilliant website to check out for inexpensive makeup, I love it. It definitely can be a bit hit and miss but with the products being so affordable, if you get a miss hopefully you won't be too upset about it. They have a whole range of products for £1.50 each, and some more 'expensive' lines (by expensive I'm talking £3.50). Also if you like their Facebook page you'll find out when they have special offers on, which is very regularly, check it out!
3. Rimmel Match Perfection Skin Tone Adapting Concealer 2-in-1 Concealer and Highlighter (Ivory)
This is my very favourite concealer for under my eyes, ever! £5.99 from Boots, I thought I'd got mine from Superdrug but I can't find it on their website. They do sell Rimmel products though and they can quite often be a bit cheaper than Boots so check your local Superdrug to see if they sell this product. Rimmel only make this product in three shades: Ivory, Classic Beige and Soft Beige, but as the title suggests this product is supposed to adapt to your specific skin tone. I doubt this would work for dark skin though. I use Ivory because I do have quite light skin anyway but also I like the concealer under my eyes to be lighter than a concealer on my face as it just brightens things up and makes you look more awake. You don't need a lot of this product for it to do it's job, and because of that it doesn't crease or get into the fine lines under the eyes. Love it!
4. L'Oreal 6 Hour Glam Shine Gloss Brilliance in Oriental Fuschia
This is a gorgeous highly pigmented non-sticky lipgloss, and it really does last a long time, it almost stains the lips. I love it. This particular colour is a deep shimmery pink. I actually got mine free when I spent over a certain amount on L'Oreal products at Boots a few months ago. Under normal circumstances this is £8.69 from Boots and Superdrug. Looking at the L'Oreal website this currently comes in 20 shades.
5. Jordana Eye Primer/Base
cherryculture.com for $1.99, BUT the cheapest shipping, as far as I can see is $10.56. So maybe wait until you have a lot of things you want to order before using this website. I've never used it myself so I don't know a whole lot about it, this information is just from me looking at the website now. There may well be other places to order it from, do your research, or befriend someone in America who can send it to you! Back to the performance of the product. It is really creamy and thick, and gives a fabulous base to my eyeshadow, just as good as UDPP which is a lot more expensive at £13.05 currently at Debenhams. My eyeshadow does crease a little still, in this warmer weather, but it did that with the UDPP, and I do have oily lids.
6. Maybelline Dream Mousse Concealer (Natural)
Just as the Rimmel concealer above is my favourite concealer for under my eyes this is my favourite for my face. I am practically completely out of this and will definitely be re-purchasing it. I just searched for this on both the Boots and the Superdrug website and it's not there! Please don't tell me this has been discontinued! :( I have emailed Maybelline to ask them so I'll add a note to this post when I find out!
(I asked a member of staff in Superdrug yesterday and she said she's pretty sure it has been discontinued, so annoying! I've now had an email back from Maybelline and they have confirmed this, they recommended the Dream Touch concealer instead). It's a fab concealer, really easy to blend and gives great coverage. According to the Maybelline website this comes in four shades: Nude beige, Natural, Sand and Rose beige. Again, no colours suitable for dark skin.
7. Elf Brightening Eye Colour Quad (Drama)
Another Elf product! This is another £1.50 product too. These quads come in 18 different varieties. I also have an Elf 32 eyeshadow palette. Like I said above, a lot of Elf's products are hit and miss and this applies to their eyeshadows too. However I would say the majority of the shadows I've tried have been good. They are not the most pigmented ever (compared with Urban Decay for example), but they are nice, especially for such a good price! They have a wide colour range too. I use the matte white from this quad every day as a highlight on my brow bone. It's perfect for me.
8. Accessorize Lip Gloss (Scandal)
Accessorize brought out their makeup range last year I believe and it's sold in Superdrug. This lip gloss is £3 and there are eight shades according to the Superdrug website. I love everything about this product, the packaging is gorgeous, it smells and tastes like butterscotch (yum!), and this particular shade, Scandal, is lovely. It looks like quite a scary hot pink but on the lips it's really wearable and pretty, and not sticky.
9. NYC Sky Rise Lengthening Mascara (Carbon)
NYC products are found at Superdug in the UK which is where I bought this mascara. However looking on their website now it's not there, what's going on! It is on NYC's own website at $1.99. Again I will email Coty (who own NYC) and ask them if it's been discontinued in the UK and add the info to this post when I find out.
(Coty advised this product is available from selected Superdrug shops, I also looked in my local Superdrug today and saw it so maybe it's just not available online). Anywho, I love this mascara. When it comes to mascara I definitely prefer length to thickness. I like a thin brush rather than a thick brush. So depending on how you like your mascara's will depend on how you like this one. It has a long thin wand and brush, and really does lengthen and separate the lashes.
10. Maybelline Super Stay 24 Hour foundation (Ivory)
I bought this at either Boots or Superdug, I can't quite remember. As I can't see it on the Superdrug website I'm guessing it was Boots. It's £9.19 from the Boots website and according to the Maybelline website it comes in eight shades, quite a decent range, but again maybe nothing suitable for darker skin. I really like this foundation because it gives me decent coverage without it being too heavy or cakey, and has quite a natural finish. I do sometimes mix this with my Esteé Lauder Double Wear foundation in Desert Beige if I want some extra coverage, and I usually apply it using my Japonesque stippling brush (I will be doing a post on my favourite makeup brushes soon).
These are just ten of a lot of inexpensive products which I love.
Let me know your favourite inexpensive / drugstore products, and thanks for reading!
