1. Use a lip brush to apply your lipstick. Firstly, with a lip brush, you will apply a thinner layer of lipstick than if you were to apply it straight out of the tube. Secondly, you can scrape out every last bit of your lipstick with your lip brush, preventing wastage. Waste not, want not.
2. Go easy on the foundation. No need to apply a thick mask on your face. Be brave on go more natural. That is the look this season anyway. Apply the minimum amount of foundation needed to even your skin tone and blend well into your skin. Using less foundation will make what you already have go a long way.
3. Skip the sodas and canned drinks. Replace these with water. Water hydrates your skin from within and is free anyway.
4. Instead of using an expensive hair conditioner to make hair shine, mix a tablespoon of cider vinegar with water. After rinsing away the shampoo with ordinary water, pour this cider vinegar water over your hair as a final rinse.
5. Do you really need an expensive mascara? Of all the makeup products, mascara is the one you can stinge on because the secret to a mascara lies in its brush, not so much the formula. Cheap brands like Maybelline have very good mascaras. Just make sure you use a clean mascara wand salvaged from an old tube of mascara you have thrown away, to separate your lashes after each application.
6. Can your skin only take premium, very expensive skincare products. You might be able to away with a home made cleanser. Try cleansing your face with milk and honey, if you are not allergic to any of these.
7. If you love luxury brands, you can still get premium beauty products within a tighter budget. Just go for the best deals.
1. Make Products Work Double-Duty
The beauty industry would like us to buy a different product for every body part and use, but most of the items in your makeup stash can pull a double duty. Some easy ways to shave pennies off your beauty budget include:
Don't buy eye cream - a gentle face moisturizer can also be used under your eyes (though moisturizer with sunscreen may irritate very sensitive skin).
Forget about buying eyeliner. With a small, angled brush and a little water, your eyeshadows can work as eyeliner, instead.
Got a stick of Palmer's Cocoa Butter or a tin of Smith's Rosebud Salve? You can use these products as a lip balm, frizz tamer, skin smoother and blemish healer.
Put that jar of Vaseline to work as lip gloss and much more.
2. Buy Less
It seems like a no brainer, but most of us don't even know what we've got stashed in the far reaches of our bathroom cupboards. Do a little cleaning/organizing and you may find out that you've got enough moisturizer to last for a decade. Resist the urge to buy new duplicates until you've actually run out (you've survived this long without whatever the next must-have product will be, so you can make it a little longer). Another way to buy less is to get as many freebies as possible - most cosmetics counters will give you samples, so make a habit of swinging by the high-end counters on your mall trips (some of you shopaholics may not be able to do this without a purchase, so ready your willpower before attempting).
3. Use Less
Most of us use less foundation in the summer and more moisturizer in winter, but we can shave a few pennies off of our spending by being more conscientious about how much of everything we're using (or wasting). Slathering lip balm on my lips is practically a habit, so just eliminating a few unnecessary swipes each day could help it last a lot longer. From shampoo to lipstick, moisturizers and concealers, try cutting your normal portion in half to see if it does the trick. Don't be afraid to use a Q-tip to get every last bit of that expensive eye cream out of the jar before you toss it, or to try stretching a product by mixing it with a cheaper version.
4. Know When to Splurge or Save
The economy is forcing most of us reign in our spending, but that doesn't mean we have to give up all of our favorite products. If you've got an expensive moisturizer you aren't willing to abandon, for example, you can offset the cost by switching to a budget mascara or a drugstore concealer. You'll feel better about your splurge items by making some concessions in other areas, and you might find new, cheaper products that work just as well, to boot!
5. Make Your Own Products
Mixing lip balms, hair creams or moisturizers from kitchen ingredients isn't for me (a mayo-coated hair incident years ago cured me from such experimentation), but there are plenty of DIY beauty recipes for those willing. Even those of us who'd prefer not to be in the kitchen any more than we have to might be willing to try some of these at-home beauty substitutions or tricks:
Use toothpaste or OTC cortisone cream on blemishes (eye drops can get the red out of them, as well)
Dab a bit of olive oil on very rough/dry patches of skin
Out of de-puffing eye cream? Chill a couple of spoons in the freezer and place over your eyes
