Your makeup, clothes and beauty products are more than just bottles and tubs that look pretty on your shelf. They’re more than mere vanity items, too. They help you to bring out the real you. They empower you by enabling you to accentuate the things you like about yourself while pulling focus away from your areas of insecurity (and, believe me, we all have them). Some consider their beauty regimen almost like donning a suit of armour. It protects them psychologically from feelings of self-doubt and insecurity and allows them to feel confident and emboldened in their careers, their relationships or on a night out with the squad.
Image by Felipe Parucker via Pexels
But, as any devout beauty buff will tell you… getting your beauty fix can be expensive. As a nation, our beauty habit cost us £2.6 billion in 2018, and this is expected to rise to 2.8 billion by 2023. In an era where it can seem as though it’s all we can do to keep the roof over our head sometimes, it helps to have some handy hacks to cut the cost of your beauty fix…
Affording life’s luxuries starts with budgeting
As with all things, the being able to comfortably afford the clothes, makeup and cosmetics you love is in careful budgeting. It’s all-too easy to see unpleasant surprises every time you check your bank balance if you don’t keep an eye on the little expenses that keep adding up. Download a household budget template and stick to it for a few months. You’ll find it easier to reign in those little sundry expenses and have more money free for the things you love. And when you’re looking for a fast loan to take advantage of a blink-and-you’ll-miss it bargain? That’s no problem because you’ll be able to pay it off quickly thanks to your superior budgeting abilities.
Know which products work… and which are a waste of money
In the ongoing quest for perfect skin, it’s easy to be bamboozled by the bold claims of various skincare serums and creams. But knowing which fundamentally don’t work can save you a lot of wasted money. For instance, don’t buy any skincare product with collagen in it. Collagen cannot be absorbed through the skin as the molecules are too big. The same goes for elastin. Oh, and stem cells might sound like the ingredient of the future but they need to be live to be of any use to your skin… and if you’re buying them in a pot, they simply can’t be!
Carrying out a little due diligence on the active ingredients behind beauty products will help you to see through the marketing and gimmicks and get to the facts that will help you make an informed decision.
Build an Amazon wishlist
Why buy your own makeup, cosmetics and other beauty goodies when you can be gifted them by loving friends and family when a special occasion comes along? Nobody likes to think that the present they get you won’t be useful to you, and a wishlist can help you to point your family, friends and significant other in the right direction. With Valentine’s Day around the corner, now might be the perfect time to start dropping some not-so-subtle hints that your loved one might find something on your wishlist that would make a worthy gift… also chocolate!
Create your own
Yes, it can take a little time. Yes, there might be some trial and error involved. But the ultimate, budget-friendly way to build your repertoire of cosmetics, makeup and beauty products is to make your own. In an age of increasing ecological awareness, many green-minded ladies are rolling up their sleeves and making everything from moisturisers and hair masks to toothpaste and shampoo for themselves. Here are some recipes to get you started. The ingredients are very inexpensive and because you’re making your own beauty goodies, you’re saving your local landfill from a lot of non-recyclable packaging (which is sadly the norm for the beauty industry). We draw the line, however, at using stinging nettles as a low-budget lip plumper (owch!).
Buy your clothes pre-loved
Finally, speaking of eco-conscious trends, one of the biggest ways to look after the planet while looking good is to buy more pre-loved clothes. This will help to break the cycle of fast-fashion which is not only creating huge environmental problems, it also has a pretty atrocious workers’ rights record, too. Whether you’re charity shopping or scouring eBay, pre-loved clothes help you to save money while saving the planet… and that’s a good look on everyone!
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