As a beauty writer I spend a fair bit of my time watching Youtube videos and researching the latest hair and beauty trends - but, one thing that always bugs me is just how much everything costs! That's why I decided to write this low budget beauty post!
I love watching beauty tutorials on YouTube, but my main bugbear is how much everyone seems to spend on makeup, bar one or two vloggers — as in, their entire makeup bag would cost as much as my mortgage kinda money. To each their own, of course, but I very much hope that you don't feel like you need a bulging and rather costly makeup bag to look a million bucks. Drugstore finds and increasingly, several of my favorite clothing stores, are releasing their own makeup lines. This means that I can refresh my makeup bag with this season's swag for next to nothing. Here, I wanted to share the top products that are most important for your makeup bag and what to focus on when looking for new pieces of kit.
First Up, Beauty Boxes
By now, you must have heard a little bit about beauty boxes — you can either buy them as a one off, or get them sent through your door every month. I took a little while to figure out the best box for me, and it's from a company called My Little Box, based in France. They send out three beauty products and up to three lifestyle products a month, and the beauty products usually cost more than the box itself — which is a brilliant way to add to my makeup bag.
Last month, I got a mineral bronzer, a lip/blush souffle in a deep marsala color and a really rich body milk. If you like this kind of approach, look for boxes that only include full size products and make sure that you specify your skin type and hair type on the website, and you should find yourself elbow-deep in gorgeous products. It's also a really good way to get seasonal stuff, like new colors of nail polishes or heavier moisturizers for winter.
Key Products
For me, I find that you only need a couple of key products for a "finished" look, and so I splurge a little bit more on these items than the rest. You might prefer to spread your money around. Similarly, I'll spend more on stuff that I know I'll use over and over and over again, like a nude eyeshadow palette (again, this doesn't have to be expensive, just a decent palette in my budget), vs a bright turquoise shadow that I know is only in for this season before being replaced with metallics for autumn/winter.
How you divvy up your budget is up to you: another way to do it is by focusing on the areas of your face that you like to draw more attention to.
For example, if you like a bold lip look, you'd spend a little bit more on long-staying color formulas and lip coats to keep your lippy in place all day vs a $10 brow gel. Or, you could focus on your skin and prepping after all, the more you prep, the better your skin will look and the longer your makeup will last, wherever you bought it from.
Makeup: What To Scrimp On
There have long been rumors that lower cost brands, such as French makeup brand Bourgois, are actually manufactured by more expensive companies, such as Estee Lauder. There are also rumors floating around that companies like L'Oreal actually own several of the big name makeup brands, so no matter where you buy from, you're getting roughly the same sort of quality. For me, I've noticed that there are a few like-for-likes in terms of quality. Revlon and Maybelline are roughly the same in quality, but then, they're also the same in price. My favorite cut price switch though is Soap and Glory for Benefit. They're roughly half the price, but the quality is absolutely spot on.
Having said all that, I do think there are a few things you can scrimp on as well as a few things that it's better not to scrimp on.
Lipstick, as an example, especially if you want to try out a fashion color, like a deep purple or a bright magenta. Look for products that contain plenty of moisturising ingredients and steer clear of matte formulas unless you've tried and tested them before - the cheaper they are, the more likely it is that they'll flake off. Plus, you can get the look of a matte lip color simply by layering a little matte powder over your lips.
Other scrimpers:
- Moisturizer: As long as it is clear and contains tea tree or witch hazel, it doesn't matter how much it costs (for me, anyway).
- Blush: Cream formulas and gels are best as they last for far longer than powders, especially if you're scrimping.
- Brow pencil: As long as it has a hard nib, which lets me make precise lines, and stays put, it will do. It needs to be a brow formula though, rather than an eye pencil.
Nail Polish
It's also not a crime to scrimp on nail polish, either. As much as I love Nails INC I can't justify spending £15 on a bottle of nail polish when I know that could buy me a bottle of liquid foundation and a blusher in some shops, which is more important to me than nail polish. Just make sure you use a bottom and top coat and it'll stay put, really, regardless of how much you spent.
My Big Splurges
For me, it's most important that my skin looks good, because then I can get away without wearing any other makeup. So I'll spend a little bit more on primer, foundation and a finishing powder, rather than splurging on the fanciest of mascaras. To me, all mascaras do pretty much exactly the same job anyway!
- Photo courtesy of Idhren via Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/idhren/14802154009
- Photo courtesy of shawnzrossi via Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/shawnzlea/54117410
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