Recession Friendly: Still Look and Feel Beautiful

I’m shar­ing some of my reces­sion friendly beauty prod­uct secrets. A grow­ing num­ber of peo­ple are need­ing to tighten their bud­get belts dur­ing these hard eco­nomic times. That doesn’t mean we have to give up look­ing and feel­ing amaz­ing! With this is mind, I am shar­ing five of my favorite beauty bar­gains. First, I have listed the high end item  I was using, then I have shown what prod­uct I think is of com­pa­ra­ble qual­ity, but at a frac­tion of the cost. This has def­i­nitely been a trial and error process. In some cases, the say­ing, “you get what you pay for” has been true. Hap­pily though, that has not been my con­clu­sion for everything.

–Please note I am only shar­ing my per­sonal opin­ions and have no finan­cial gain in this review.

Dior­show Black­out $24.50                           $6.oo (at Target)      

Dior­show has always given my short lashes that thick, lus­cious, long lash look. I am excited to share that the Loreal Volu­mi­nous mas­cara is just as good!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clin­ique sheer tint $27.00       Aveeno tint $11.99 (Drugstore.com, includes shipping)

Clin­iques sheer tint has SPF in it with­out any of those weird sun­block odors. The Aveeno is sim­i­lar in that regard. I admit, I pre­fer the Clin­ique a tiny bit more, but the Aveeno is a great choice for the value.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Artec Kiwi  $13.00 (8 ounces)       Loreal Vive Pro $4 (13 ounces)

This might be my favorite bar­gain. I have used a large vari­ety of pro­fes­sional sham­poos since I color my hair. (I guess the secrets out now!) The Artec Color was my bar­gain sham­poo until I stum­bled across the Loreal Color Vive Pro. I am so shocked how well this $4 sham­poo works!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mac eye Kohl eye­liner $15.00          Wet and Wild  Kohl eye­liner $1.00

This is another fan­tas­tic bar­gain where you don’t sac­ri­fice much qual­ity while sav­ing a bun­dle. I love Wet and Wild for my black eye­liner. I can’t see enough of a dif­fer­ence to jus­tify spend­ing the extra $14.00. How­ever, if I want a brown eye­liner, I have to con­fess, Wet and Wild doesn’t com­pare to Mac’s Costa Riche color. It’s per­fec­tion in a pencil!

                 

But­ter Lon­don nail pol­ish $18.00           O P I nail pol­ish $8

Oh, how I love butter…the nail pol­ish that is! There was no way I could rec­om­mend some $2 cheap nail pol­ish that would com­pare in qual­ity and color selec­tion. OPI is the only one that I have found to come close. It’s still not what some would con­sider a huge bar­gain, but it’s com­pa­ra­ble to But­ter Lon­don and half the price.

 Tips:

• Ask your friends for rec­om­men­da­tions on dif­fer­ent products.
• If you’re not happy with an item, save your receipt and return it right away. (shop at stores that allow this if pos­si­ble) This will help you avoid wast­ing money on trial and error shopping.
• Stock up when there is a great sale on an item you reg­u­larly use.
• If you have an Ulta Beauty sup­ply near you, join their club. It’s free and I have saved a lot of extra money using their points sys­tem. (remem­ber the points expire, so use them before they go to waste)