Your bargain cheap skincare & cosmetic products that ARE better than expensive posh products

[Chicinwellies]

and with that I dont mean something on promotion at the moment, I mean something cheap/high st that really for you is worth its weight in gold.

For me it is Sainsburys own Honey Shampoo & Conditioner, I wouldnt be without it. Beats Kerastase hands down.

Thanks for the bicarb scrub tip - tried it last night and it did feel like I'd just had microdermabrasion. It's really brightened my skin up.

My personal faves are T Zone gel face wash (£1.79 from my local Savers/Bodycare) and Tesco Skin Wisdom face moisturiser (about £3). The face wash cleans make up right off but isn't too harsh and the moisturiser is light, slightly mattifying and not too heavily scented - doesn't clog my skin up at all. Often on 3-4-2.

I've given up spending money on shampoo and now buy the cheapest supermarket one I can find. Herbal essences or Aussie miracle conditioner are both excellent (but I'm still sulking at the herbal essences 'makeover' of a few years ago - it was even better before...)

For DIY recipes, sweet almond oil with some lime essential oil (just a few drops) and granulated sugar makes a delicious body scrub.

Just bought Superdrug Vitamin E hot cloth cleanser. Feels as good as Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish and smells gorgeous at a third of the price!!

A mix of 1 ripe avocado, 2-3 spoons of oil and an egg if you fancy it. Mix it all up and apply to your hair, wrap hair in a warm towel for 30 mins and then wash out with shampoo and conditioner. I do this every week or so and it keeps my hair lovely and smooth and soft. It was a frizzy nightmare before I started doing it!

I love this thread and am happy to spend the money on the prestige brands if they work and btw Annette Vitalumiere was shit

Aussie "Take the heat" has been very good for my hair.

I like the Garnier bb cream.

Avon Glimmersticks are fking marvellous

No.7 Exquisite Curl mascara doesn't clump and stays on.

Macademia Nut oil for makeup removal and as a moisturiser

Vaseline Intensive Care Repair and Relief Balm when my skin is stressed but tbh sonce I started using the Macademia Nut oil it hasn't been

Argan Oil for hair

Have just started using avocado oil and hot cloth to cleanse before bed. Skin is looking nice in the mornings since I,ve started using it.

i have facial skin like sandpaper. over the years i have used several brands including - creme de la mer, oxypeel, most high street brands, serums, etc. what i have found works best is simple's - kind to skin replenishing rich moisturiser.

Love this thread!

Boots Botanics Ultra Calm Skin Calming Day Cream is wonderful, much better than any of the expensive skin care I used to buy. No greasiness, just perfect skin. I love it and buy tons whenever its on a 2 for 1.

www.boots.com/en/Botanics-Ultra-Calm-Skin-Claming-Day-Cream-SPF15-50ml_1261981/

Actually, scotch that. Apparently bloody Boots have changed the formula and added perfume, which is going to make my skin angry. Last pot of the old formula... sigh back to the drawing board...

Boots' curl creme.., the pink one WAS brilliant, but they seem to have discontinued it :(

YY to cheapest possible shampoo and invest in conditioner (Aussie 3 minute miracle is a miracle

YY to old fashioned blue nivea..it's kind and brilliant

boots organic / botanics face scrub is lovely and makes my skin smooth and glowy

I really can't see the point in spending £££ on mascara.
You can bend the brush yourself.

Bio oil on face is good.

Body scrub; maldon salt and oil.

to all the people who mix up their own scrubs, I tried this with olive oil/brown sugar, and my shower overflowed as the drain clogged up within seconds..!

Cleanser - Olay Regenerist and Aveeno both do good exfoliating face washes. Both are as good as Origins although not quite as good as Clarins.

Blusher - Max Factor creme blush or Boots Natural Collection powder blush suit me better than Nars (although really my heart belongs to Benetint and the cheap versions of that are rubbish).

Nail varnish - Revlon excellent.

Handcream - Clarins and Aveda are the best but Garnier Hydralock or Flexitol are both v good.

Body lotion - I like Aveeno better than any of the high end ones I've tried.

Vaseline and Carmex the best for lips.

Lipstick - Une ones excellent at about 8 pounds each. MUA from Superdrug rubbish - even a pound felt like I'd been ripped off!

Mascara - Max Factor 2000 calorie is better than Lancome Hypnose but not as good as Lancome Definicils.

Foundation - I'm actually really liking the Garnier anti-aging BB cream lately and I like the Garnier undereye thing too.

Eyeliners - have to be Urban Decay or Lancome: hate everything else

Eyeshadow - nothing comes close to Mac or Urban Decay

Bayliss and Harding handwash is just as good as Molton Brown and only 2 pounds.

Bump

Cetraben emollient cream. It's about ten pound for a 500g pump dispenser, it's designed for irritable eczema I think, but it makes my skin feel beautiful. Better than clarins body lotion, which is about five times the price.

I love Nivea Q10. It's always on offer either in Boots or Superdrug or supermarket so never spend more than £6 on a pot that lasts a month. It is silky and smooth and smells divine and makes my skin look five years younger instantly. Nothing beats it.

The only cream that works for dry hands ( DH has them and has tried everything over the years) is divine Palmer's cocoa butter. DC love the smell too.

Be careful with those coffee grounds going down the plug hole... they can block up your pipes!

I really like the natural radiance range in superdrug. The hot cloth cleanser is lovely on offer at £2.99 at the minute. Such a bargain!!

My MIL deliberately puts coffee grounds down her sink to clear her pipes. I have no idea which one of you is right.

I guess it depends on your pipes... they're quite heavy and don't break down so can build up in bends and get caught up and block the pipes... as a friend found out to her expense... I especially wouldn't put them down our shower as its such a short drop iyswim?

Starbucks is your friend. I like to pick up a couple of sachets of brown sugar each time I'm in, one sachet is perfect for an olive oil hand scrub.

I've got dry skin, but MUA raves about Starbucks serviettes used as blotting paper!

Best face wash of all time is the garnier daily scrub stuff in the blue tube. It's always on offer, a couple of quid or just over. My skin doesn't feel clean with anything else, been using it for years.

Maybelline creme eyeshadow in taupe is a good neutral and doesn't crease. Maybelline gel eyeliner in black is just as good as Bobbi Brown, and it comes with its own wee brush that is actually pretty good.

Revlon lippies and their new eyeshadow quads are good too.