A thorough beauty regime can pierce a serious hole in your pocket. With a little thought and planning you can still take care of yourself and put the money you’ve saved towards something you really want.
Skin Care
DIY skin care is nowhere near as labour-intensive as it sounds. You can create some lovely, natural cleansers and exfoliators from everyday ingredients, all at a minimum cost. It’s not always practical to splash out on luxurious beauty products but it doesn’t mean you can’t look after skin with your own home-made beauty remedy. Mixing sugar and honey together makes a great body buffer to keep your skin silky smooth. Oats also make a great mild exfoliator. Just mix with some grapefruit juice or water and gently massage into your face.
Hair Care
Be careful not to over wash your hair as this can dry it out and only lead to the need for more expensive hair treatments. You can look out for 2-for-1 offers on shampoo and conditioner or buying the largest bottle size possible also helps to keep costs down. When your hair needs some real TLC then mash up a ripe avocado and mix with two tablespoons of olive oil, massage into damp hair, leave for 20 minutes and voila, some beautiful shiny locks.
Nail Care
When your favourite nail polish starts to congeal there’s no need to rush off and buy a replacement. Put a few drops of nail varnish remover into the bottle, or stand it in a bowl of hot water for a few minutes, give it a shake and it’ll be good for a few more applications. I’m sure we’d all like to be coated in Chanel darling. The reality is when your money doesn’t stretch that far you can always find a budget brand that is following the latest nail trends straight from the catwalk. Make sure you look out for products which are long-lasting to prevent chipping and reapplication. You can also save money by buying products which are multi-functional for example a nail hardener that can be used as both a basecoat and topcoat.
Makeup
Going for multi-purpose makeup products is a great way to save some pennies and keep your makeup bag light. Look out for stains which can be used to keep your cheeks rosy and your lips defined. Alternatively, you can pick a natural coloured lipstick or multi-purpose stick which allows you to sculpt your cheekbones, plump up your lips and even define your eyelids all with one handy product. A subtle brown lip liner can also double up as an eyebrow pencil.
Melanie is a freelance writer, blogger and makeup enthusiast. She loves to use nail polish to brighten up her look.