Help me switch to cheaper make up brands

[Mrsbigroundbottom]

I will soon be leaving my well paid job and taking quite a big paycut in order to get a bit of a work/life balance.. I'm fine with adjusting my spending in all areas apart from make up! I've always bought expensive brands and I'm panicking now as my masacara is about to run out - I can't justify spending £30 on a new one... maybe more like £5-8!

Is this possible? Can anyone reccomend any REALLY good, cheaper products?

I currently use:
Laura Mercier Cream foundation
Diorshow mascara
Guerlain kohl eyeliner
Chanel liquid eyeliner
Dior blusher
MAC lipstick
Various 100s of MAC and Chanel eyeshadows

Also if any of you can wean me off of my Clarins skincare habit I'd be greatful!

Thanks, I don't want to revisit the cakey, smudgey, fading days of my youth

Poundland sells lots of branded makeup. I have had Revlon, L'Oreal, Maybelline, Max Factor etc etc. I've had nail polish, eyeliners, lip glides, gel eyeliner, little mineral pots of eyeshadow. best buy was a 3 pack of Revlon Colourstay Overtime Lipstain for a quid! Definitely worth a look.

I am currently also using a foundation from in there called Chit Chat - not sure if that is their own brand or what but I was pleasantly surprised, the texture of it is really nice and good coverage too.

Rimmell 'Exaggerate' Liquid Eyeliner is AMAZING! Better than the Chanel I thought!
(Topshop one is rubbish - avoid)

Bare Minerals is a bit cheaper on eBay if you search for 'cadigg' - her shop looks reasonable. It's a lot cheaper in the US apparently if you know someone heading there.

I am now positively excited about scrimping on make up... and also slightly ashamed at the amount of money I have spent over the last few years

Collection 2000 long lasting concealer is a thing of wonder, often featuring on expert youtube videos. I had a similar change of lifestyle and found that I used less make up in general and saved the big guns makeup for when I was going out (my skin improved massively). I also did my best to finish the make up I already own (a friend and I tried to "hit pan" on products, completely finish them before we could buy anything else).

I am a bit of a make up snob but lately tried Maybelline The Falsies mascara- purple tube and it compares v well to lancome Hypnose.

Ditto Rimmel lipsticks- using a No 3 Kate Moss which is a great nude.

Cleansers- I swear by L'Oreal Age perfect £4 ish, or Boots no. 7.

I think you get what you pay for with foundation and I never skimp on that.

Maybelline is good. Great Lash mascara works better for me than some more pricey ones I've tried. It's their "basic" mascara.

Feel Unique ( .com or .co.uk, can't remember sorry) is good for when you really can't resist luxury make up...or for Bare Minerals which lasts forever so it counts as cheap (or so I tell myself). As well as Chanel and Bourgois being the same, Une make up is also owned by the same company. I'm another fan of their lipstick. Lovely natural colours!

Chanel and Bourjois are not the same! they are owned by the same company, the same as Estee Lauder own Clinique, Bobbi Brown and loads of other companies. the products are not the same but in different packaging.

Bourjois touche eclat
Rimmed Mascara
Body shop eye shadow
Clinique lipstick new via eBay

Amelia - I agree, owned by the same company means that things like technology, formulations, etc do trickle down. I think of it a bit like Bourjois being the Chanel 'value' range. Still good, very good for the price, but not identical.

Rimmel obvs

Kiko Cosmetics (Eyeshadows) are just as good as MAC.

I was all off to buy my replacement no.103 of touche eclat when a friend tipped me off about this Garnier under eye thing here - a fiver and it is FANTASTIC.

Also boujois fan, do like a chanl foundation though.
Aldi creams are very good! The wrinkle stop is very nice. A good cream should come in a glass pot though (worked in pharmacy) the best ingredients need glass for some reason i can't quite remember ( was a boring meeting)

I've been inspired to buy a Tesco mascara, basic black waterproof one, black tube with a blue ring around it.

Will report back at the end of the day as to how it lasts and comes off, but it went on nicely, no clumping or fibrous bits [hate that!] and the brush was very good actually, I usually have to use the pointy end to catch the wee lashes at the corner but this got hold of them :)

Try looking at www.lisaeldridge.com as she has a video dedicated to high street beauty products which she thinks are up there with the luxury products. She also regularly uses a mix of high end and high street/budget.

For nail polishes (nail polish addict) try the small mavala polishes (about £4) technically not budget as they are so small, but i never finish a nail polish and often the colour goes out of fashion, also the models own nail polish which I find lasts ages on your nails.

My best replacement for an expensive product is the Bourjois Healthy Mix, I would choose it over Chanel/bobbi brown/Estée Lauder etc - I've tried them all! It's brilliant.

I think don't skimp on skincare, good products that make the best of your skin that last a long time - but I have horrid skin if I don't look after it!

This is a really great thread.

After reading it yesterday and finding myself passing a Body Shop I went in and bought two eye pencils on special offer - £12 total.

They are very good, I thought - and a lot cheaper than a Benefit splurge I had costing (a lot) more just before Xmas.

I was about to mention NYX [blush} which I have done shamelessly since discovering it, but I'm glad someone else did so I don't have to .
Cheap but very pigmented, and some of their products are duplicates of much more expensive ones.
I have a NYX cream blusher which is a duplicate of the famous Nars Orgasm.

great thread but it has led me into the potentially ruinous timewaster territory of beauty blogs!

www.lisaeldridge.com/video/16253/some-high-streetdrugstore-make-up-favourites/

This is the link to the Lisa Eldridge film someone mentioned earlier in the thread.