To ask your "same but cheaper" hacks?

[Fishface77]

I've read that
Blue tin Nivea is a cheaper version of creme de la mer so I've bought 3 tins!

Please can Anyone recommend anything that is as good as the branded version but cheaper?

Great thread. I've just been to Superdrug and treated myself to bourgeois rose d'or blusher a star mentioned upthread. It's beautiful. Can't compare it to the Nars orgasm but it's nicer than benefit dandelion- which I've lost somewhere. Still on the hunt for the perfect wedding Lippy though!

Babynugget, I use Mac lipsticks, but recently when looking for something cheaper for work I came across L'Oréal's matte lipsticks - nice colour density, not drying on your lips and a third the price of Mac. I'm seriously impressed by them, and I'm usually a bit of a sucker for high end makeup!

Oh, and Sleek's Rose Gold blusher is a great dupe for Nars Orgasm. Much more so than Bourjois Rose d'Or, I'd say.

I got a shimmer brick style blusher from Next, I don't usually think their makeup is much to write home about but the rose shimmer brick is really good and much cheaper than the bobbi brown one it copies.

Thanks cynical I'll have a look at the L'Oréal lipstick. I went in to get the sleek rose gold but my Superdrug have got rid of their Sleek range for some reason - I'm sure that's where I used to get my stuff. I've never tried the Nars and was really looking for a replacement for dandelion sonpretty chuffed with bourgeois one but will have to look at the sleek one sometime too.

maggie boots seventeen do a great shimmer brick too which I've 'hit Pan' with. Don't know how it compares to Bobbi brown but I love it and it's lasted me ages. It was about £3 I think.

Babynugget Sleek has moved into some Boots stores now, because it has become so popular.

Being made at the same place or being owned owned by the same company (Tesco buyer talking about cider, Hugo Boss/H&M suits etc.) does not mean that the products are of the same quality. For example L'Oreal makes (amongst many others) Garnier, Lancôme and Shu Uemura. Not the same price range but certainly not the same active ingredients either -& quality of packaging. You def get what you pay for. Saying that, I am tight and choose to prefer Nivea -I just ignore the ingredients list and the crappy plastic pot.

We were reliably informed that Tesco own brand tonic is far superior to any other tonic available in the uk

Absolutely. The elderflower slimline tonic is far nicer than Fever-tree and costs about 1/4 of the price.

I would heartily disagree. Tesco own brand is rubbish compared to almost any other tonic.The non-slimline still has sweeteners and you can taste it.

BikeRunSki - really? My twins had C&G (ok 8 years ago now) - we tried them all. SMA made them constipated, Aptamil was like water and we went through too much to be able to afford it, so C&G it was.

Some things are a false economy. Fairy Liquid is more expensive but works much better than off brand stuff.

Shades toilet roll is the best stores own toilet roll - comparable to the Andrex my mum buys!

I find quite a lot of Value range stuff isn't too nice, but a step up is fine. Weetabix or the Tesco's own for example.

If you buy cotton wool, cotton buds etc at the supermarket they are cheaper in the baby isle than the make up/beauty aisle.

Foxes make biscuits for many supermarkets including M and S.

Primark and wilkinsons sell cotton wool pads for about 50-80p a pack. And primark also sell baby buds so much cheaper.

Felicia Which magazine rate Aldi Magnum much higher than ordinary Fairy (& it's just over half the price!)
Platinum Fairy is very slightly better apparently but not worth an extra 58p a bottle IMO

Sodium percarbonate (you can buy in bulk on eBay). It's the active ingredient in vanish (but without all the other fillers etc) and is great for stains, but also great for disinfecting sterilizing things, getting rid of bad smells and removing limescale - and it's safe for the environment.

For great alternatives to Jo Malone scented candles, take a look at www.glowhush.com
They are candles and wax melts which smell exactly like the JM fragrances for a fraction of her prices.

Ohhh I have issues with Weetabix - I used to buy own brand and my DCs were eating 3 as a portion... then I bought branded weetabix (on special offer) and 2 were enough. The non branded ones were not as dense...I guess they weigh less per 'biscuit' and as they are generally sold/priced per biscuit rather than by weight it is hard to judge which ones are good value. (Eating 3 per portion rather than 2 does not necessarily work out cheaper ....)
So I stick to Weetabix...but I do keep thinking I should do a weight comparison thing ...or even work out cost per branded biscuit x 1.5 biscuits of non branded - but I have never got round to it - and I also usually stock up when they are on special offer.
Branded stuff on special offer is sometimes misleading though - I always buy recycled loo roll - (I actually in bulk buy from a food coop now) but before I would buy the cheapest (which actually used to be Value...). I once ended up buying Nouvelle as the only available option. Next time I went to Tescos it was on special offer 12 or even 18 rolls for the price of 9 or something. So I stocked up. When I opened them I found that they had huge middles (I noticed because the ones I got before had tiny middles -promoting less packaging - and only just fit on the holder) - no way did one special offer loo roll contain as much paper as the ones I had had before .... I was really disappointed that a company that was supposed to be environmentally friendly was increasing packaging/transport etc. I would still buy that brand if it was the only recycled option but am less inclined to...

Actually branded is (or at least was) sometimes cheaper cos they are what the supermarkets use for price comparisons - once a Birds eye ready meal was cheaper than tesco own brand -I remember standing there checking weights and ingredients etc - thinking I was missing something...but I wasn't....

Tesco's own weetabix is fine, Lidl's is horrible.

super drug hot polish cleanser has the same ingredients as the liz earl one.... loreal infallible for ester lauder double wear.... lidl and aldi ketchup are great.

Milani's Luminoso baked blusher is a dupe of Nars Orgasm, and much better imho.

Sorry?!

Felicia this was first told to me by a colleague, a chemist, who had previously worked for Milupa (who make both). Initially, Aptamil was the first brand to have probiotics in, but as regulations, expectations and technology changed, the they all did. When DD was a few weeks old I spent hours scrutinising c&g and Aptamil boxes and websites and could find no differences.

HV also told me, completely independently.

Bought some Choc chip all butter shortbread rounds from Lidl today which tasted very similar to M&S - but half the price.

Another vote for the Next shimmer brick, I think it is just as good as Bobbi brown.

Topshop have some really good eyeshadows and lipsticks