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

treliac

Dinky little nail polishes by George at Asda. Only £1.50 per pot, in lovely vibrant colours. I put on 'Hot Pink' last night, went on smoothly and quick drying. It's lasted through today's shopping, pressie wrapping and mince pie making. Looks good as new :xmassmile

Happy Christmas everyone and best wishes for 2009. :santa2:

suki1964

Just to add the eyeliner brush is better then the smashbox one - much finer and stiffer bristles, which if you are as blind as a bat like me without glasses on you need.

The freebie mineral shadow is wonderfully rich - will use it as a liner

The lip glosses all look pretty good but as they are pressies I cant comment on the quality

snogalicious

:eek: this is my first time(virgin!!!!) so i hope i dont make a complete twit of myself!!!!!!!!!! aldis equivelent of touche aclat is superb! wish i had found it earlier then i would have had more cash for shoes!!!!! note to self.... try to resist buying more shoes/boots as youngest grandson has learnt to count and told oh how many prs i have!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jillinoz

Some of my own personal favourites include:

Cetaphil non irritating cleanser by Galderma - I first got to know about this in the US and it is, apparently, the number one cleanser recommended by plastic surgeons to post-surgery patients. Not that I've had any plastic surgery, of course! You can't buy it on the shelves, but I have ordered it mail-order via the internet before (sorry don't have any links at the mo', but will go a-googling shortly) or my local pharmacy will order it for me. The price is about £6 for 200ml which lasts forever as it's incredibly emollient and a little bit goes a long way.

Lloyds Pharmacy - the entire Your Organics skin and bodycare range, which are all priced around the £3.99 mark, and average about 99% ingredients from natural origin.. They're free from mineral oils, parabens, lanolin, artificial colours and harsh detergents. I love the regenerating face mask with organic shea butter (isn't that the main ingredient in Liz Earle's C&P?)

Waitrose Baby Bottom Butter (yes, really). This is a bargainous £2.99 (if you can get hold of it, as it's like gold dust) and although obviously designed to pamper, well, a baby's bottom, it is luxuriously moisturising for big babies, too. It contains olive oil and chamomile and smells of delicious vanilla. I find it superb as an all over body moisturiser but it's also ideal for adding a comforting gloss to lips and seems to strengthen my nails while lending them a lovely shine. I really can't recommend this highly enough.

I'm off to have a rummage in my bathroom storage now to see if I can find any more holy grail products.

Jillinoz

missbargain

Organic Jojoba oil

A miracle for dry, damaged hair (so called straw). Pour several drops in your palms and massage into your scalp and hair a couple of hours before washing your hair. Don't worry, it washes off really easily, it is the lightest oil, not heavy at all. This will work for dry, flaky scalp as well. Just massage into your scalp with the tips of your fingers, and the flakes just dislodge like a dream. Wash your hair as usual and after the hair is so lovely, shiny and healthy looking and scalp moisturized and clean.

Also, excellent to massage a few drops into your hands and cuticles and then apply your regular hand cream on top. If you do this before bed, you will wake up with the silkiest skin ever. Massage it into the cuticles every other day for lovely, groomed, cuticles and nails.

Put a few drops in your regular body moisturizer and shake well. It makes the skin super moisturized, smooth and soft, but not greasy at all.

If your hair is very fizzy and dry, only one-two drops on the palms, rub and lightly smooth over the hair shaft. It will eliminate the frizz and make hair shiny, but not oily. Of course, don't put too much, one-two drops is plenty for this.

This oil has the closest resemblance to human sebum (oil produced by our bodies), so is the best absorbed of all oils by our skin, and very moisturizing, nourishing and soothing.

One small bottle lasts forever (buy the best you can, desert essence organic is excellent), and is almost a miracle worker. I would not be without it in my bathroom cupboard.

faithless

I wanted some sort of concealer-thingy to go under my eyes to hide dark circles, I've been using my normal concealer but you have to lather it on to start to cover them. I read that you're supposed to use a pink-y concealer to hide dark circles, as opposed to a yellow-y concealer to hide redness, but the one they picked out was Bobbi Brown, and was quite expensive. Anyone know of a cheaper pink-based one?

TIA

JELLYBABY_2

faithless wrote: »

I wanted some sort of concealer-thingy to go under my eyes to hide dark circles, I've been using my normal concealer but you have to lather it on to start to cover them. I read that you're supposed to use a pink-y concealer to hide dark circles, as opposed to a yellow-y concealer to hide redness, but the one they picked out was Bobbi Brown, and was quite expensive. Anyone know of a cheaper pink-based one?

TIA

I know this thread is about cheaper options but just thought I'd share that I've started to use Maybelline Dream Mousse concealer, they recommend to use a pinky shade like you say, their Rose Beige is perfect, followed by a lighter shade. It really does work well. However, I don't think they are very cheap...but if you check out the Boots thread there are usually ways of boosting your Advantage card points with special offers, which could be a solution of sorts, as you could then use points to buy them.

hannoja

I've taken a shine to Asda's Glossing Serum

It's meant for hair, but I use it as a hand moisturiser too!

I don't bother with conditioner anymore. I just use the kids' shampoo, then 'stroke' a little of the serum through my hair when it's nearly/dry, and it detangles and shines.

I took a liking to Tesco's 'make-up' 'Helping Hands' after using a bit of a friend's, but it's £6 (for 100ml?). Having bought it on a 3 for 2 offer, I decided it's nice, but not as good as I thought, and not worth £6. I prefer Asda's cheapie serum, which is £1.97 for 50ml which lasts quite a while, as you only need to use a tiny bit at a time.

It comes in a little spray-type bottle (it's not a spray, but it's the best term I can think of for describing the bottle), which only dispenses a little at a time and saves mess. It was called 'Shine Serum' and in a little clear bottle when I first bought it, but they've changed the name and it's now in a purple tube-shaped bottle, which I think is more attractive.

Just found a link to it here.

reniannen

I thought I'd share this discovery, especially in the current weather.

I recently picked up a tube of Inecto Pure Cocunut Oil intensely moisturising hand and nail cream for 99p in TJ Hughes, Glasgow.

I thought it would be pretty rubbish and probably really greasy, but I was pleasantly surprised. It absorbs quickly, and leaves your hands instantly soft. It has a nice light coconut smell too. I actually think it's almost as good as the £3 Garnier Cocoon stuff which was my favourite before.

You could probably pick this up in most places that sell cheap cosmetics. TJ Hughes, Watt Brothers, Semi-Chem, Bodycare etc.

This is it here

hannoja

reniannen wrote: »

I recently picked up a tube of Inecto Pure Cocunut Oil intensely moisturising hand and nail cream for 99p in TJ Hughes, Glasgow.

This is it here

Thanks, I just finished a bottle of their glossing spray which I quite liked; and I've just finished a bnatural sleep time hand cream, which is marvellous, but I'm not a huge lavendar fan (I know there is another 'flavour' which I'll seek out sometime). Also, I've only seen it packaged with other stuff I don't particularly want lately. I keep meaning to make my own, but haven't got around to it yet... (ingredients like cocoa/shea butter/jojoba oil/etc. aren't cheap either). So this'll do nicely for now.