Beauty on a Budget

No matter how much you love treating yourself, there comes a day when you may realize that your skincare and beauty products collection is a little out of control. With prices in the beauty industry constantly going up, you could quickly find that your beauty budget needs a bit of pruning. How can you stay on-trend and fabulous, without breaking the bank? Here are some tips for being beautiful on a budget.

How to Do Beauty on a Budget

There are a lot of different things that go into your beauty routine. Nail care, hair care, skin care, makeup – it could all be part of your overall beauty budget. So, one of the first things you need to do is decide what categories are the most important to you. Do you just adore having your hair professionally colored at all times, and don’t mind doing your own manicures at home? Consider ditching your regular trip to the nail salon to prioritize your hair budget.

Once you have your priorities in place, look at the areas where you do want to spend money, and consider how you can shop for products in those categories without ruining your budget. The first thing to do is to embrace more affordable options. Some things are no-brainers. Expensive sunscreen isn’t really that different from affordable sunscreen, so long as both products block UV damage.

These days, drugstore makeup is giving high-end makeup a run for its money. Check out YouTube reviews of affordable makeup brands and you’ll see that you can easily keep up your fabulous makeup looks without having high-end brands cluttering your makeup collection.

Related: The BB Creams Basics

Once you’ve determined what products you’ll switch out for more affordable options, the next thing is to consider what products are your must-haves. Which things do you want to make room for in your budget, because they are just that important to you? Some good options to consider include:

• Multi-purpose products that you use religiously. For example, if you have a particular bronzer that you also use as contour, and have even used as an eye shadow, this is clearly a product you really love.
• Something that will last a long time. Eye shadow palettes are products that will last for months, if not years, while mascaras are usually used up within a few months at the most.
• Something that will help you stay healthy. If you have a particular skin condition, and you have finally found the right skin care products to take care of this condition, don’t abandon these products.

Additionally, consider how often you use your products. It could be that you could shampoo your hair slightly less often, and make your expensive shampoo last a bit longer.

Finally, be sure to shop in a way that saves you the most money. Take advantage of sales – but not to impulse buy! Instead, save up your shopping list for those must-have products that you have prioritized, and get those on sale. Sign up for loyalty reward programs where you typically shop. And be sure to look carefully at reviews before trying something new, unless you shop at a place that allows returns.

How Simplifying Can Help Your Budget

All of the tips above are great ways to trim your budget back quite a lot. But there’s another very big way that you can get your beauty budget in check, and that’s to simplify.

We all love those little extra luxuries that make us smile throughout the day. It’s wonderful to look down and see your beautiful manicure with multiple colors, nail decals, and something new each week. Who doesn’t love sitting down with their makeup each morning to create stunning eye looks, ombre lips, and perfectly sculpted cheeks? But these things have one thing in common: they require a lot of tools, products, and time.

Simplifying your routine can help you save money when it’s time to buckle down on your budget. For example, just having the necessary steps in your skin care routine, rather than 12 steps with multiple serums and masks, can still keep your skin glowing and beautiful – and your wallet will thank you. Another way that simplifying can help you save money? It’s easier to stay organized. When you know what you have, you won’t accidentally buy something you don’t actually need. It’s a great idea to keep some sort of inventory of all your beauty products, even if it’s just mentally – but it’s far easier to do this when you don’t have that much to begin with.

In order to simplify, consider making a list of what you would pack on vacation. Chances are, you only bring the absolute necessities when you travel. These are the things that represent what your simplest routine is. These are the things that you should spend your beauty budget on. The rest of your beauty supplies should be used until they are gone, and you should consider replacing those things to be a luxury, only to be indulged in when you can afford to.

However, simplifying can also mean using multi-use products that save you money. For example, can you find a cream lipstick in a shade that also works as a great cheek color for you? This could help you simplify your collection and save money.

Related: The Ultimate Guide to Lipstick

DIY Beauty Products to Save Even More

If you are asking yourself how you can look stunning every day when you can’t afford beauty products, don’t fear! There are many things you can make on your own, from hair products to skin products to makeup! Here are a few things you can make at home:

• Face masks
• Hair masks
• Shampoo for dandruff
• Brightener for your hair color
• Skin care for tightening skin
• Volume-boosting hair products
• Exfoliator
• Lip tint
• Blush
• Makeup brush cleaner

Here are a few DIY “recipes” for skin, hair, and makeup products to give you an idea of just how easy these things are.

Lip tint is usually a matte product that simply gives your lip some color, but no shine or moisture. For the same sort of look, just use a gelatin coloring for cooking. Dip a wet sponge into the color, then apply to your lips. You can make the color deeper by adding more. Then put some lip balm on top for a lipstick-like shine.

The old lemon juice and water trick has long been beloved as a natural brightener for blond and red hair, but there are other natural ways to add some brightness to hair. For example, redheads can use cranberry juice to make their hair shinier and brighter. Just wash your hair, then rinse with cranberry juice several times. Wrap your wet hair for about half an hour, then rinse out the juice.

Having trouble with under eye bags? Instead of spending money on expensive under-eye serums, try brewing up some tea. Any tea with plenty of tannins, like back tea, works great. Let the bags cool, then place under your eyes. This helps to improve blood circulation and tighten the skin, which makes your under eyes look much less puffy and more youthful.

More Beauty on a Budget Tips

There are tons of other ways that you can save money on beauty products. Here are just some of the many tips:

• Don’t buy multiple foundations if you tend to get darker in the summer and lighter in the winter. Instead, buy your summer shade, then use a very inexpensive foundation color mixer to make the shade lighter for the winter.
• Look for products that give you the same effect as a salon – For example, there are gel nail polishes that will give you that long-lasting manicure without needing a UV light or a salon.
• Fix broken makeup products, don’t toss them. A shattered powder can be fixed with just a drop of rubbing alcohol. Drop in the alcohol, then use a cotton ball or tissue to carefully press the powder into the container. The alcohol won’t change the coloring of the product, and you’ll have a newly solid powder again. Or, just use the product as a loose powder!
• Tear-free baby shampoo works great as an affordable makeup remover!
• Get rid of the rubber stoppers at the top of lip gloss and concealers with tweezers. This will let you get every little bit of product out of the tube.
• If you need to seriously cut back on your budget, choose just one feature to highlight – For example, having great brows can give the face a balanced look. Or, if you wear glasses or have heavy bangs, consider focusing on just wearing lipstick rather than complex eye looks.

Related: How to Achieve Your Best Looking Brows

• Cancel those subscriptions to beauty boxes – These are a lot of fun, and they are often worth the money – but you don’t need random products when trying to keep your budget tight. You need only the products that you truly need.
• Don’t use very specific, one-use-only products – Don’t use a moisturizer that can only be used for a specific part of the face, when you could instead buy a moisturizer that can be used on the whole face.
• Learn some basic beauty and self-care skills – You can find all kinds of instructional videos that will teach you how to trim your bangs between trips to the salon, or how to give yourself a salon-quality pedicure.
• Consider what products you have that can be used for other things, even if they aren’t marketed that way. Makeup, for example, can often be used for other things. Consider that eye shadow can be used as brow powder, and you may realize that you don’t need to buy brow powder again for a few years.

• Request samples! Many beauty stores will give you a sample of just about any product they sell if you ask for one. This will help you decide if you like a new product, or could be just enough product of an old favorite to get you by until you can afford to repurchase it.
• Don’t be caught up by cute packaging – Try to look at just the product itself. If it’s something like shampoo or skin cream, look at the ingredients, not the fancy glass bottle. If it’s makeup, look at the color or formula, not the cute collector’s edition packaging.
• Speaking of packaging, consider how the packaging could help you get your money’s worth – A soft tube that you can squeeze will let you get out every drop of foundation – while a glass jar could make it hard to get the last bit out.
• Take care of your tools – Be sure to wash your makeup brushes regularly to keep them in good shape, so that you don’t have to reinvest in these while you are working with a tighter budget.

Don’t Let FOMO Ruin Your Financial Goals

If you are someone who loves beauty products, chances are you look at Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, or other sources, to see what’s new in the world of skin care or beauty. This is a great way to get inspired, but it can also lead to some FOMO – fear of missing out. If you see a fancy new eye shadow palette being released that all the biggest beauty gurus are raving about, you may feel like it would be the perfect thing to add to your collection. Before you spend money on this, consider looking at what you already have. Do you have the ability to make the same looks with your current collection? Do you have more eye shadow than you could finish in 10 years already? FOMO is tough, but the freedom that comes with smart financial choices is much better. Love the collection you have and use these tips to be beautiful on any budget.

Related: How To Get The Right Eyebrow Shape for Your Face

More Great Beauty on a Budget Resources:

Staying beautiful when you can’t afford cosmetics

23 Genius Tricks That Will Save You Money On Beauty Products

Ten beauty products you can make at home