Budget Beauty Buys

Here’s one for the ladies…

By Jackie Cular

Staying beautiful in these trying times is often difficult. With tiny jars of La Mer face cream for $200 and palates of Dior eye shadow for $50, many women may be discouraged to even try to leave the house. Plain-faced females can instead embrace some low budget beauty purchases.

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Techniques and tips:

Free beauty tips, tricks, and styles can be found abundantly on the Internet. YouTube is really a treasure-trove of how-to videos in a quick search. Learn how to make a smoky eye, precise winged eyeliner, paint the perfect French manicure, and much more. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ff3X555hzaY is an excellent example of the step-by-step process. Make-up brands such as Maybelline, L’Oreal, and Cover Girl have websites that feature instructional tips as well as valuable coupons. Visiting make-up counters in department stores is a great way to get free make-up lessons, as well as score some free samples, but beware of pushy salespeople; they will often try to get testers to make a purchase—it’s their job to do so. Almost all specialty make-up brands will give visitors free lessons on application, even Target stores have visiting beauty experts on the weekends. Target and Walmart can be great places to find products for pennies.

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Name-brand products:

Walmart and Target stores carry e.l.f. brand beauty products, which stands for “eyes, lips, and face.” The majority of these handy-sized products can be purchased for just $1, with foundation costing just $5. E.l.f. has created product packages for the holiday season, which are great for gift-giving. Once found at mid-priced beauty boutique, Sephora, Hard Candy beauty products can now be found at Walmart for around $5 each. The line covers colorful eyeliners, mascaras, shadows, nail polishes, and lip sticks. Hard Candy’s packaging has been revamped to include tattoo-inspired stars, anchors, and more. The ribbon-tipped packaging and products are easy to handle, cute to look at, and easy to afford.

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Generic products:

Bargain giants Walmart and Target are also havens for store brand or generic versions of a multitude of products. From shampoos to face moisturizers to soap, both mega-stores carry their own line of low-cost products. Target carries two lines, Target and Up & Up brands. Up & Up makes a wide variety of personal and food products. Each item costs $1-$3 dollars less than the major-label companion. Olay Definity’s moist, make-up removing toilettes cost about $8.79 at Target, while their Up & Up brand goes for $5. 79. Walmart carries the Great Value line of products, which range from toothpicks to floor cleaners to facial wipes.

With a little price checking savvy, shoppers can save major beauty bucks on a regular basis.