Frugal beauty tips: Spend less on looking your best

When times are tight, your beauty regime doesn't need to suffer. Here are some ways to stretch your beauty budget.

Frugal Beauty Tips - General

• Drink water or tea instead of sodas and canned drinks. Water hydrates your skin from within and cleanses your body to help your skin look it's best. Tea has antioxidants that are good for your body and health. Soda and heavily sweetened drinks do nothing positive for your health and have a lot of empty calories. 
• Eat a balanced diet that includes lots of fruits and vegetables. When your body is healthy, it shows in your skin. 
• Exercise. When you exercise, your blood flows throughout your body bringing oxygen and nutrients to every organ, including your skin. If you exercise regularly, it will show up in healthy-looking skin and hair. 
• Give yourself a pedicure at home. Doing your own pedicure will save you anywhere from $20 to $40 and a trip to the salon. 
• Refresh your skin, hair and/or nails with these beauty spa treatments. All of them use simple, readily available items that you most likely have at home already! 
• Instead of using expensive products, try making some of your own homemade beauty products . You will be surprised at the common household products that can be used to pamper your skin and hair!

Frugal Beauty Tips - Make Up

• Don't buy the most expensive facial cleanser. Facial cleansers spend very little time on your skin and are designed to clean only. Those extra ingredients that boost the cost not only go right down the drain, they may irritate your skin. 
• No need to splurge on moisturizer/day cream, either. Dermatologists agree that the most important ingredient in a day cream is sunscreen. There are many inexpensive day creams that hydrate the skin and protect it from sun damage. There is no need to spend a lot on day cream unless you need special products for acne or anti-aging. If you do, read a Caudalie review as they have a lot of new anti-aging products.
• Use foundation sparingly. Wearing less gives you a more natural look and makes a bottle last much longer. Apply the minimum amount of foundation needed to even your skin tone and blend well into your skin. 
• Choose an inexpensive lip liner – The more expensive lip liners and eye liners tend to be softer and easier to use. This can be important in the delicate eye area, but not so much on lips. I use a $2. Rimmel lip liner and am completely happy with it. 
• Use a lip brush to apply your lipstick. When you use a lip brush you will use less because you apply a thinner layer of lipstick than if you were to put it on straight out of the tube. Also, using a brush allows you to get every last bit of lipstick out of the tube. 
• Try a less expensive mascara. There is very little difference in different brands of mascara, so there is no need to spend a lot. If you have an expensive one that you particularly like, try cleaning the brush when it is gone and using that same brush with a cheaper brand. Maybelline sells more mascara than anyone else. I have used Maybelline mascara for years and love it.

Frugal Beauty Tips - Hair

• Don't spend a lot on shampoo. Shampoos stay on the hair for a very short time, and any fancy ingredients in them will just go down the drain. As long as it leaves your hair clean it is doing its job. 
• Instead of using an expensive hair conditioner to make hair shine, mix a tablespoon of cider vinegar with water. After rinsing away the shampoo with ordinary water, pour this cider vinegar water over your hair as a final rinse. 
• Look into having your hair done at a beauty school. You will spend a lot less for the same services.

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