Friday, September 25, 2009

My Budget Beauty Guide

I've never been much of a girlie girl. I'd never even colored or curled my own hair until I got into college.

Now that I'm a mom of three, I'm still not much of a glamazon, though, I still would prefer to go out into the world looking nice.

Over the years I've settled on a pretty good beauty plan which is nearly effortless, affordable and makes even a busy mom look beautiful!

So here is my Budget Beauty Guide!
These are the products that I advise you to give a try as they have worked wonders for me!

Let's start in the shower....

I use Suave's Brilliant Brunette shampoo and conditioner. I've used the higher priced brands and found that I get the same shine and smoothness with Suave, at about a third of the price!

Twice or thrice a week I use the Equate (Walmart) brand of Fresh Mint Dandruff Shampoo instead of the Suave. It's cooling and invigorating and has the added scalp moisturizing benefits. I don't have dandruff, and maybe this is why...

To wash my face, I prefer either a handmade bar of tea-tree oil or Neem oil soap or Noxema's Blackhead Cleanser.

After the shower the first step is to moisturize.
For the face, I favor Aveeno's Positively Radiant Triple Boosting Serum followed by Aveeno's Ultra Calming Daily Moisturizer.
Though at the point of sale both of those products seem pricey (at $10+ each) I promise you they are worth it in the long run. If you use them as per instructions they last a long time. I've had my bottles for almost six months and they are still going strong. I think $30 a year isn't much to pay for radiant skin!

Other basic products I use and recommend:

Vermonts' Original Bag Balm -- excellent for dry lips, elbows and heels

L'Occitane Mom and Baby Balm -- very mild in smell, excellent for sensitive skin

Colgate Special White Baking Soda and Peroxide Mint Zing Paste - always Paste, never gel...ew.

Dove Antiperspirant and Deodorant -- in Original Clean scent. Works great and helps reduce razor burn.



Onto cosmetics....

I have recently become a major fan of E.L.F.. Almost everything is $1 and everything that I've tried has been fantastic.
My favorites:

All Over Color/Cover Stick: I have it in Medium (a foundation color) and in Toasted and Pink Lemonade (both shimmery eyeshadow, cheek and/or lip shades).

The Cover Stick is fantastic. Creamy, moisturizing and light. It evens out my skin tone without feeling heavy
I also rather enjoy the E.L.F. line of cream eyeshadows. Lots of color variety! And almost everything is just $1. Great product, great value.




Another big winner in the E.L.F. family is the Plumping Lip Glaze. One side is a natural clear plumping glaze and the other is a gorgeous lip-enhancing color.





Next on my list of must have brands is Rimmel. Affordable and great quality makeup.

Among my faves is the new!
Recover - Anti Fatigue Concealer. It's made specifically for the area around your eyes and is made to combat bags, sags, circles and darkness.
And it works!



Another fantastic Rimmel product is the Hide the Blemish concealer. It's like a tube of lipstick but instead of making your pout perfect it erases, literally erases, blemishes, spots, discolorations.....just vanishes them.

To finish off the look I've become fond of Rimmel's Lasting Finish Mineral Powder Foundation. It's very light, yet provides great coverage and helps even out skin tone.

To finish off the look, I go to an old standby, Jane Cosmetics.

For a stubborn blemish or a persistent red patch:
Jane's BePure Mineral Correcting Concealer (in Green) is GREAT for minimizing blemishes or red spots.

My mascara:
I used to be a CoverGirl devotee...but then I found Jane's MaxLash2.
One side of the tube is a white eyelash primer, meant to condition, lengthen and moisturize lashes, the other side is a thickening eyelash mascara in five different colors, I use "Black".

Other great Eyeshadows: Along with all the Rimmel cream shadows I've also become a fan of Wet N'Wild's cream eyeshadow multipacks. Not only do you get FOUR radiant, shimmery shades of eyeshadow, but you also get one shade of Illuminator for use at brows on cheeks or wherever you need a boost of color and shine.

So those are my budget recommendations for beauty. I hope you can benefit from my experience!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I use the Suave line of hair smoothers. You'd think that using their special curl booster would be the way to go. But for some reason, I find using the straightening shampoo and conditioner manages my curls AND makes them look better, than if I use their curl boost, even after a quick blowdry to take away the gelled down look.

The cosmetics. . .well let's say I have the same face powder that I bought for my wedding 5 1/2 years ago.

Jessica said...

I use Suave everything pretty much! It's inexpensive and works just as well as the fancy salon stuff. Those commercials don't lie!

I do use Tresemme heat activated hair straightening gel, but only because it was on sale one day.

I hope you don't have the EXACT same powder that you did 5 years ago!! Time to toss it!

Everything at E.L.F. is $1 pretty much. I refreshed my entire makeup bag for about $20.

Kenna said...

I'm gonna give the E.L.F. products a try & the others...next time I'm out and about!

Thanks for the tips:)

Anonymous said...

Yes, the exact same one. I rarely ever use it. The drug store that was across from my office sold the ELF stuff. I could never find the right shade of powder. I did buy some of their clear mascara, I think because I decided by eyelashes were sticking together too much and I really just wanted to separate them.

Jessica said...

Oh Amy, you've got to throw that away! All that bacteria growing in there....shudder!

Jessica said...

Here is the guide to when to get rid of your old makeup and replace it.

I think the E.L.F. sizes are great because with regular use, they're not gonna last very long beyond the typical six month expiration date.

Anonymous said...

Eh, I haven't come down with anything yet.

Jessica said...

You rebel!

Bern said...

I love Suave shampoos and conditioners. And they smell so good too!