Great Cosmetics Cost Cutting Hunt

marsha8

I like to use L'Oreal night cream & in Boots I would expect to pay at least £9.00 where as in Savers it would be only about £6.00. Wilkinsons would also be cheaper. On a good day I can get it even cheaper on eBay. It's always worth having a look on eBay - you name it & it will be there.

matildarosepink

Hi, for anyone out there who like to keep their bathroom clutter to a minimum, have a very limited budget and are interested in avoiding piling on unnecessary chemicals, I can highly recommend the new Janey Lee Grace book, "Imperfectly Natural Woman". I found this a highly inspirational read (I paid about £10 for it, inc pandp) and it covers not only cosmetics but also hair colours, household cleaning stuff, etc. I loved her ideas about using multifunctional products, and she never recommends things she hasn't tried herself (or her friends). This is a great thread, I've been glued to it for half an hour now!! Thanks.

gillycat

Instead of buying face wipes (which I never found were very good), Dunelm Mill sell a microfibre cloth for £1 that you simply use with hot water. They are re-usable and can be washed (don't use fabric conditioner with them). They even take off mascara with no problem.

Since I've been using them I have noticed a big improvement in my skin through not using so many chemicals & I've saved a fortune in cleansers

gillycat

Instead of buying face wipes (which I never found got all my make up off anyway), Dunelm Mill sell a microfibre cloth for £1 which you simply use with hot water. These are completely re-usable and are washable (don't use fabric conditioner). They even take off mascara.

Since I have been using these cloths, I have found that my skin is much better because all my make up is gone and I'm not using so many chemicals. Much better both for my bank balance and the environment.

Penny-Wise_4

Not sure if this has been covered before as I haven't read the whole thread yet:

Instead of using blackhead strips like biore I use leaf gelatin, (£1.25 from Tesco). You get about 8 sheets in a packet. I snap them into nose/chin-sized pieces (maybe 5 per sheet so 40 strips).

While I am in the bath I hold the strip under the water & when it starts to go soft stick it on my nose wait for it to dry then peel it off.

Gets out as many as Biore does - at a fraction of the price - and its a natural product too - no nasty chemicals.

I suppose veggies could try using veggie gelatin alternative - but i've never tried this.

wendym

I don't think anyone has yet posted this lovely site:

http://www.magicmakeup.co.uk/

If you spend £5, you can go to the special offers section. They have a lot of big names, and are very helpful and reliable.

vellum

Had dated a top LA dermatologist for 2 years, and as a beauty addict, I certainly tried my best to get all the tips, advices, and free samples from him (maybe that’s why he dumped me… haha). Cannot include all the things he taught me but can share the most important ones:

So, according to his professional knowledge, he adviced:

1. almost all the anti-wrinkle products are marketing gimmick, they don’t work. The only way to get rid of wrinkles is plastic surgery. (this really broke my heart because I spent a fortune on these products for years.)

2. however, for those who are too young to go under the knife, and desperate to delay the ageing process, he recommended Retin-A. it is the only scientifically proven medicine that works. It is a prescribed cream that used for acne and age spots, removing wrinkle was a side effect discovered accidentally. Himself and many dermotologists colleagues have been using it for 15-20 years and swear by it. Yes, they don’t look wrinkle to me. But their wives hate it, I think it works better for men than women, maybe men have thicker skin?? Anyway, I tried it and hated it initially, skin turned red, flaky… absolutely horrible. So he recommended me to use a milder time release version, Retin-A Micro, and only use it 2 – 3 times a week. Mix a little with normal night cream, use it on face, neck, chest, undereyes, but not uppereyes. It does not go well with sunlight, so avoid use in day, night time only. I got mine from US, need doctor prescription, not sure if they sell it in UK. If u r going to the Far East or have a friend over there, u can get it in any pharmacy in Hong Kong, no prescription need, not even behind counter, just on ordinary shelves. Well, they seem to sell anything everything over there and tax free, the whole city is sale tax free. The cream comes with different strength, start from the mildest one. A tube can last for years so no need to stock up.
i have been using it for 9 years and it works well, still have no wrinkle, touchwood.

3. White petroleum jelly is the most effective moisturizer, but only for body, smooth on after shower/ bath when still wet, then pat dry with towel, don’t rub.

4. Colon irrigation, many celebrities and sport stars do it regularly and just before big events. A friend did it recently for the first time, his eyes turned so clear and bright, like that of a teenager, and he lost 2 inches around the waist. I know I know, it took me years to decide this, just don’t have the courage, but friends own a salon and they have half price promotion recently, so I booked my very first session next weeks… I don’t even want to think about it… in case I got freak out… ok yes yes I shall keep you inform how it goes… please forgive if u don’t want to know about this.. I won’t go too graphical…

Hope these help.

Lady_K

Retin A thins the skin, my daughter was prescribed it when she changed her pill and had acne problems for the first time in her life. The dermatologist said she needed it to help open up the pores that were blocked. She used it very thinly at night before bed and only on the needed areas. I found out as much as I could about this product at the time and found that a lot of plastic surgeons used it ibn the USA as pre op treatment and women in the USA used it regular to try and get rid of wrinkles. I found out that although it works in the short term, in the longer term it actually excellerates premature aging because it does thin out the skin and this is not reversable.

During my investigation I wrote to a person that I thought was a medical doctor in USA but it turned out he was actually a plastic surgeon, he was very helpful. He said he had used Retin A as a pre op treatment for many years but had stopped using it 6 years ago (would be 9 now) because he found it actually it aged the skin. He wrote more than that but I can't remember it. If I still have the email by any chance I will post it here.

I was glad I found him by accident though as by knowing that my daughter got off the Retin A as fast as she could, in fact she may have used it for maybe 4-6 weeks just as long as it took open up the blocked pores. If she hadn't have known that she may have used it longer. We still have the tube in fact, it's in my drawer.

So I'd say don't get any ideas about using Retin A as a beauty treatment as you could well be doing the opposite

Cat72

Hi
A sad update & warning on my earlier posts. Some people had posted on here about buying from abroad.I then oredered from Essential Spa in Canada & first order went great.HOWEVER I recantily reordered and put myorder at £80 to get free delivery. I then got letter from parcel force saying I had been charged customs VAT of £18 PLUS parcel forces charge for processing overseas vat of £13. !!The order had been marked " a gift "
I phoned cusoms & they told me that any item marked as a gift over £35 is charged VAT PLUS parcel force take a big wack for " paperwork".Any item over £18 not marked gift will be charged custom vat- they also warned me on the severity of knowing an item was a purchase and marking at as a gift.

I contacted Essential spa and they sent this-

We try our best and on our customs declaration form we mark the package as gift so it won't incur duty charges, unfortunately UK is tougher at its border and Customs opens many packages for inspection. Although we take the step to save you duty and VAT charges, there is nothing else we can do. I believe that that every package valued over £60 is subject to duty and VAT charges of UK Government.
Last summer, we had over 150 parcels returned to ourselves by UK Customs/Royal Mail

I dont want anyone to be in a similar situation as myself as I now have a bill of £32 to pay to get my parcel which I ordered to make a saving on. This is not just one companys problem but from what I have been gathering a big problem with all items arriving from USA & CANADA.Some they do check but they do check- and if it is yours you could have a big bill- or even worse consequences for trying to defraud customs.

Lady_K

Yes I think it's the same for strawberry.net

Thankyou so much for telling us this and sorry that you have to pay that extra money I was actually going to order from essentaildayspa but it seems it's not worth the risk

Can you refuse the parcel and get a refund?