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

bollychic

I have oily skin and I find that Rimmel Clear Complexion Powder Transparent works wonders on my skin. It's £3.99 but I always buy it from Boots when it's on offer "3 for the price of 2 mix and match" and does last quite long.

Also I love Boots Expert Concentrated Hand and Nail Cream 50ml for £2.75 and Boots Skin Silk Protecting Hand Cream 75ml for £2.05. Both are currently on offer "3 for 2 mix and match"

flippin36

I don't know whether it has been mentioned before as the thread is quite long.....I bought Primark mascara last week and though its not quite as good as some top brands, it is still very good and effective for a £1. I have tried some £1 mascaras before (wilks, poundland) and they have been horribly watery and useless. The primark one was far superior and I would definitely buy another if money was tight.

thehappybutterfly

flippin36 wrote: »

I don't know whether it has been mentioned before as the thread is quite long.....I bought Primark mascara last week and though its not quite as good as some top brands, it is still very good and effective for a £1. I have tried some £1 mascaras before (wilks, poundland) and they have been horribly watery and useless. The primark one was far superior and I would definitely buy another if money was tight.

I tried this one but found it really flaky! I've never come across flaky mascara before until I tried this one. It is a really black mascara though and would probably be good if you already have a good set of lashes as you don't need so much. I have very fair short straight lashes so I need to pile on the products!

ZsaZsa

green1970 wrote: »

My new best friend is nipple cream (pure medical grade lanolin) as a lip balm - it's brilliant and my lips feel better than they've ever done. Don't know how expensive it is but you only need the tiniest amount and I tried one of the Lansinoh sachets that we had lying around at work. All of us there love the stuff, it's amazing!

I've got a tube of this that Im still using up as it lasts forever. You can usually get it reduced when the supermarkets have their baby events.

Armchair23

The Guardians beauty writer has a video & column on best buys under £10 (not trying hard enough girl - under a fiver more like it).
One range she recommended on the video is Superdrugs Simply Pure there's cleansers and moisturisers all at £2.59 . I bought the SPF 15 face cream, it's fragrance & paraben free.
Best for a combination/oily skin but very good value.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/fashion/2012/jun/08/sali-hughes-hero-products-under-10

LouLou

Apologies if I'm on the wrong thread (I realise it's been inactive for a few months).

From reading lots of blogs, I've caved in and bought myself an MUA Professional Undressed eyeshadow palette (apparently a knock-off of Urban Decay's Naked). The evidence: http://gottaloveatrier.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/mua-undressed-palette.html Currently £3 at the Superdrug site (free shipping right now).

Their eyeshadows and lipsticks have gathered a lot of praise for being highly-pigmented, long-wearing, and of course, good value.

Also, their "regular" range is £1..extends to single eyeshadows, liquid eyeliner, lipliner, lipsticks, blusher, pressed powder, lipgloss, eye dust, mascara.

The only real thumbs down I've read about were the MUA mascara and lipglosses, though your mileage may vary.

Here's some more MUA dupes (gathered from blogs):

MUA Shade 11 : MAC Hotscotch Lipstick
MUA 16 Nectar : MAC Ever Hip Lipstick
MUA Shade 6 : Clarins Petal Pink Lipstick
MUA Shade 10 : MAC's Frost Lipstick in O (similar)
MUA (Single) Eyeshadow Shade 12 : MAC Club Eyeshadow
MUA (Single) Eyeshadow Shade 9 : Accessorize Icon Eyeshadow 2 Ultra Violet

Edit: Another dupe:
MUA Love Hearts Lip Great Lips : Sleek Pout Paint Tinted Lip Conditioner Bare Minimum

*Thinks to self: wonder if it's anything like Eyeko's Fat Balm? Sorely missed by me..WHY did they stop making it?!*

Apparently Superdrug's MeMeMe does some good Benefit dupes but haven't found out which ones (yet).

Nail constellation (their version of nail caviar) looks amazing too! I put an order in last night and can't wait to play with it all!!

faithless

LouLou wrote: »

Apologies if I'm on the wrong thread (I realise it's been inactive for a few months).

From reading lots of blogs, I've caved in and bought myself an MUA Professional Undressed eyeshadow palette (apparently a knock-off of Urban Decay's Naked). The evidence: http://gottaloveatrier.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/mua-undressed-palette.html Currently £3 at the Superdrug site (free shipping right now).

Their eyeshadows and lipsticks have gathered a lot of praise for being highly-pigmented, long-wearing, and of course, good value.

Also, their "regular" range is £1..extends to single eyeshadows, liquid eyeliner, lipliner, lipsticks, blusher, loose powder, lipgloss, eye dust, mascara.

The only real thumbs down I've read about were the MUA mascara and lipglosses, though your mileage may vary.

Here's some more MUA dupes (gathered from blogs):

MUA Shade 11 : MAC Hopscotch Lipstick
MUA 16 Nectar : MAC Ever Hip Lipstick
MUA Shade 6 : Clarins Petal Pink Lipstick
MUA Shade 10 : MAC's Frost Lipstick in O (similar)
MUA Eyeshadow Shade 12 : MAC Club Eyeshadow
MUA Eyeshadow Shade 9 : Accessorize Icon Eyeshadow 2 Ultra Violet

Nail constellation (their version of nail caviar) looks amazing too! I put an order in last night and can't wait to play with it all!!

Ooh, I'll have to have another look at the MUA stuff. I tried a blusher by them when I just needed a replacement one quickly, but it had a weird sparkle to it, so I only used it once and binned it.

I saw people raving over the Naked palette online when it was released, but I didn't really understand what I was supposed to do with all the browns, lol!

faithless

Oh, and for those who like China Glaze nail varnish, some are reduced to clear and 342 at Sally Express atm, taken from Grabbit thread:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4255575


I got 6 for £9.87, some people bought 21 for £22.66! (P&P charge means the more you buy, the cheaper per item)
Limited colours, and I 'only' found 6 that I liked and weren't too similar to ones I already owned.

randm

boots no.7 foundation colour thingumyjig
I couldn't find a thread to put this in, so hopefully this is okay.
I had my boots no.7 colour thing done, ( sorry, can't remember what its called but it has been tv advertised), and i was thinking it would be great to come together and pool all the information, and save on wasting money buying a foundation in store that looks fine and then getting home and seeing its too orange.The larger boots stores are also doing a similar thing for a new maybelline foundation , and i also notice that they are also doing this for the new max factor foundation.

for example my shade is calico, so if anyone else is calico, they could come on here and tell us what colour they wear in a different brand ( hopefully cheaper) and i would know what to buy.
this could extend to a blusher that you wear that you love and suits that shade of skin perfectly.
wouldn't this save a lot of money

randm

faithless wrote: »

Ooh, I'll have to have another look at the MUA stuff. I tried a blusher by them when I just needed a replacement one quickly, but it had a weird sparkle to it, so I only used it once and binned it.

I saw people raving over the Naked palette online when it was released, but I didn't really understand what I was supposed to do with all the browns, lol!

i thought i'd try some of the lipsticks for that price, well i got the shades 2, 6 and 9, they all looked good tried on my hand/fingers, but when i tried them on my lips at home they all had an 'old fashioned' look to them. I can't explain what i mean - but maybe it was the finish - though i did make sure i didn't get any frosted ones.