Fight back against over-priced cosmetics! Post your cheap but outstanding discoveries

Oh - almost forgot to add this!

Cosmetic Company Stores are Estee Lauder's oulet shops - I know there is one at the outlet shopping centres in Bicester,Portsmouth GunwharfQuay and Ellmere Post. They generally do Estee Lauder, Bobbi Borwn, Clinique, Mac, Stila and other brands of makeup at around 20 to 30% off.

I also realise a few people have commented about how some of the cosmetic brands are expensive so I hope this helps!
Also - MAC run a sceme called Back2Mac - take in 6 empty MAC containerws (I beleive they have to be primary packaging eg the empty eyeshadow or mascara tube, not boxes etc) and to reward you for recylcling they give you a free lipstick worth £11!!

For people who don't like cream cleansers, I can recommend Anne French Deep Cleansing Milk. It's around £3 for a 200ml bottle. Generally I use the Tesco BNatural cleanser (although waiting to try the new formula) but I use this a couple of times a week as well, because it's really deep cleaning. There's also a sensitive skin formula as well the original.

Also the ELF moisture care lip colour - it's not as sticky as a gloss, but not as heavy as a lip stick.

oooh excellent thread and a topic very close to my heart! I'm a make up artist by trade and people are always surprised when they see my kit as there's not a single expensive brand item in it!

Right, on to the recommendations....

Cleanser - for myself olive and castor oil, for my kit I use Simple cream cleanser
Toner - Rosewater
Moisturiser - I haven't found a cheap one that I like
Lipbalm - A pot of carmex can't be beaten! Gives a slight tingle for a plumping affect, it's the only one that works on my super dry lips and it has an exfoliating action too.

Foundation - Boots 17 Super Wear (for those who buy an expensive foundation because the range offers just the right colour STOP! Switch to a cheaper brand and mix two colours to get the right shade. I could spend £30 on a premium brand to find the right shade or just go to boots and buy two for less than £11 and last me twice as long as well as change with my skin throughout the seasons.)

Concealer - Most make up artists swear by their Dermacolor mini camouflage palettes which cost about £15 and gives you 16 different colours. It's only available in specialist stores or online so I recommend buying a mini palette to find the right colour for you. Once you've got the right colour you can buy the full size version for £2.40. It's a refill so it won't come in fancy packaging, but you can pick up a watercolour type palette to store it in for a couple of quid. It's a camouflage make up though so it's highly pigmented and will cover anything! If using under the eyes though you'll need to mix it with a bit of foundation as it's a very thick consistency. Forget all about Touche Eclat, as someone has already mentioned, it's NOT a concealer, it's an under eye brightener and not a very good one at that! To cover dark circles you want a concealer with a salmon pink tint to it (just like green concealer balances out red patches, salmon balances out dark circles).

Eyeshadow - Kryolan. Again it's a professional brand, so can only be found in specialist shops or online but it's worth it. The range has over 80 colours in matt or pearlescent finishes and it's highly pigmented so a little goes a very long way. A compact will cost you about £4.60 but again, if you can forget about the fancy packaging you can get refills for less than £3 which will fit into a palette. 1 MAC eyeshadow will cost you £10, but for £13 you can get a Kryolan Palette with 5 colours in it and once you run out you can refill it!

Eyeliner - Forget all about liquid eyeliners, buy yourself a cake eyeliner and a good brush. The initial outlay might be a little more expensive but it will last you a hell of a lot longer. Just put a couple of drops of water on to the eyeliner and use the brush to mix and apply it. Once again I use kryolan which costs about £4.60, but they're all pretty much the same. For eyeliner pencils there really isn't much to say. They all do the job just as well as each other so buy the cheapest you can find!

Mascara - Maybelline Define-A-Lash. Not their cheapest, but in my opinion their best. Great definition, length and curl without clumping although I think it's more down to the brush. Once mine has run out I'm going to keep the brush and try using it with their Great Lash as I'm sure the effect will be the same!

Lipliner - Boots 17 comes out tops again here! Good texture and good colours.

Lipstick - Hmmm this one is a little tougher as different people expect different things from a lipstick. The top and bottom of it is you can't have super long lasting and moisturising all in one package. The big brands try to tell us you can and tempt us in to buying the latest and greatest, but in reality they're always a big disappointment. So I always go for moisturising and colour the lips in with a matching lip pencil first. That way when the lipstick wears off you've still got some colour underneath. As for which brand it's really down to personal choice. But personally I think good all rounders are Boots 17 and Rimmel

They're my "can't live withouts" anyway. The rest of my kit is still full of cheap brands which work well, but I think I can find better so I haven't listed them. My biggest must have has to be the No17 foundation though. Good coverage, a good range of pink and yellow based colours for mixing the right shade, long lasting and a great consistency. Too many people write the brand off because it's trend led and aimed at teens, but I've been using it for at least 10 years and haven't found anything I'd rather use so far!

Has anyone found an oil-free moisturiser? I'm eking out my Clinique Moisture Surge, which my very badly behaved skin tolerates, but I would love to find a less expensive alternative.