Thrifty Beauty

Looking to recession-proof your beauty routine? It’s all about getting the biggest bang for your buck and finding fabulous multi-tasking products. So, you thrifty beauty…here are some pointers to help your beauty budget:

Know when to go drugstore, when to go prestige.
When it comes to your skincare, we feel your pain. You’ve fallen in love with a particular face wash and although it costs a quarter of your paycheck each month, it’s worth it. Except you can’t pay your rent. Well, you may want to consider a drugstore alternative. There are many face washes that have similar ingredients to those that sell for much more.
For example, if you usually use Dermalogica’s Skin Clearing Wash for $35. Consider giving Biore’s Blemish Fighting Ice Cleanser for just $5. Dermalogica’s wash has .5% salicylic acid and Biore’s has 2.0% salicylic acid. They key when switching from uber spendy to uber cheap is making sure key ingredients match up. This could take some research, but it has the potential to save you a lot!

Choose multi-tasking products
Another great way to save money…find one product to do twice the work. This takes creativity! For example, consider using the shades from you’re My Sculpted Face palette as eye shadows and even eyebrow powders! One palette of colors, three uses. Another idea is to use your eye shadows as eyeliners. Just take a thin eyeliner brush, dip it in water, then in your favorite shadow color and then use to line those beautiful eyes of yours.

Make anything creamy!
Want to try out cream eye shadows and cream blushes, but don’t want to shell out the cash? Invest in an ivory cream mousse eye shadow, then blend it with any of your favorite eye shadows or blushes to turn them into creams. The best part is the cream allows you to easily mix two shades…so instead of buying violet eye shadow, you could combine the neutral cream shadow, blue shadow, and pink blush. Have fun Miss Beauty Chemist!

Every last drop
Lipstick can be used up to 2 years, so as long as it doesn’t smell or look funny, go for it! When you get to the very bottom of your lipstick container, don’t toss it out. Instead, scrape it into a container for later. Take a Q-tip, remove the cotton from the end and use the little stick to scrape the remaining lipstick and store up for later.

Don’t pump!
Make the most of your mascara by being careful to avoid pumping any air into the container when using it. Air will cause your mascara to flake and dry out sooner. While mascara needs to be replaced every 3-6 months, you may want to consider two eyelash building tools that will allow you to use and therefore buy less mascara: an eyelash curler and a lash primer. By building your lashes up pre-mascara, you’ll need less product to achieve your look!