Spend vs splurge beauty items

[Cerseirys]

What skin-care and makeup items do you think are worth spending a lot of money on? And what do you think are not?

For me, it’s important to have a good moisturiser and serum etc so I tend to spend money on that. At the moment I use a serum and moisturiser from Paula’s Choice, as well as a Vitamin C booster treatment. I like her products as they don’t have irritating ingredients and the packaging is also good. I don’t like jar packaging. Makeup-wise I think the more expensive ranges like Bobbi Brown and MAC have better shades of foundation, concealer and powder so I would always buy one from there over a cheaper brand.

What I don’t think is worth spending loads on is mascara as plenty of brands you can get at Superdrug or Boots, like L’Oreal or Maybelline, have excellent ones. I also used to use a very expensive Skinceuticals cleanser which suited my skin fine. But when it ran out I started using DP’s Simple cleanser because I can’t afford the expensive one anymore and guess what? It hasn’t made a jot of difference! My skin isn’t any better to how it was when I used Skinceuticals, but it certainly isn’t any worse.

Totally agree about the mascara. I love quite a few Max Factor and Maybelline ones. I also love Maybelline and Maxfactor cream eyeshadows (much prefer cream to powder), and I wouldn't bother buying a pricey one unless the colour was particularly unique.

I don't have that much high-end make up, but I have recently bought the Kevyn Aucoin Sensual Skin Enhancer and, to me, it's worth its weight in gold.

I am a nail polish addict, but I never buy the expensive brands as I don't think there's a difference in how long they last. Models Own has the best colour selection hands down, in my opinion, and I also love Barry M.

Generally most of my money goes on skin care. I love some of the expensive brands: Tata Harper, Peter Thomas Roth, Dr. Dennis Gross, MV Organics, and a bit of Sunday Riley, Sarah Chapman. I could go on! Having said that, there are some budget cleansers I love: Body Shop Camomile Butter, Una Brennan Vitamin C Oil, nSpa Melting Cleansing Gel.

I also really recommend SR Skincare for cheap but excellent products. They are so similar to some of the more expensive stuff, but they don't spend lots of money on advertising or packaging, and it does tend to feel a bit less luxe, but if you're on a budget the results are the same.

Definitely agree with you on the nail polish. And if you get yourself Sally Hansen’s InstaGrip base coat and MegaShine top coat then that makes even the cheapest of polishes stay on for a week!

good foundation imo is a must, if your base is good then thats the main thing
i alternated between cheaper range eye shadows for daytime (work) use and more expensive ones for going out

I'll give those a go when I've finished my current one. I'm using Sally Hansen No Chips top coat at the moment, but I'd like one that's a bit more glossy!

Which Paula's Choice serum and moisturiser are you using? I keep meaning to give her products a go.

chips just reminded me... although I use cheaper eyeshadows I do use the NARS eye primer, which obviously isn't cheap but it is fantastic on my oily lids. Eyeshadow used to disappear by lunchtime and now it stays put all day.

Nabootique I use her Resist Retinol Moisturiser (although mine is finished and I'm skint til payday so using a cheapo L'Oreal one atm!), the lightweight antioxidant serum (the regular one made me break out a bit) and the vitamin C booster in the morning and the daily AHA under the moisturiser at night. Unfortunately the booster isn't available in the EU so I get it in bulk when I'm in Australia. I also use the AHA liquid once a week. I tried the dark spot corrector but it didn't really do anything. I think you need her hydroquinone serums to really make a difference there, and they aren't available outside the US.

That serum sounds interesting. I'd like to try the 2% BHA treatment toner thing. I'm sure I remember seeing on the website that you can buy sample sizes so might give that a go.

Speaking of sample sizes, a couple of great sites to try out some luxe stuff are Being Content (they do a sample service for £3 where you pick, I think, 4 things that you want to try) and Naturisimo, where you can buy samples in addition to any purchase. I've tried out so many things using those two sites, found some great products, and avoided some potential expensive mistakes!

I just have a closest to the skin the best I can afford rule .so moisturiser and foundation etc and not so much on say mascara

I spend a fortune in spacenk, I love it all.
The only cheap stuff I buy is supermarket shampoo and e45 moisturiser.

Disagree about using cheap mascaras. I like long, fat lashes, so I swear by Lancome Hypnose which is about £20.

I'll splurge on:
A good hairdresser.
Sunscreen that doesn't irritate my skin (sensitive).
Bobbi Brown foundation as it gives me a good colour match and (again) doesn't irritate.

That's it.

I would buy expensive foundation.

I normally buy expensive everything but have recently had to cut back and have found the kate moss nails and lipsticks good from revlon.

MUA eyeshadow good and very cheap.

Mascara maybelline good.

Been shocked actually could have saved myself a fortune.

Blusher and highlighter struggling to find cheaper alternative though??

Well I didn't say cheap mascara as Maybelline and L'Oreal are still approaching a tenner but they, like Lancôme, are owned by L'Oreal so the mascaras often share the same formulations.

Did you want cream or powder ones, rosepepper? I have a few recommendations.

Nabootique, what's the skin enhancer like? Is it a foundation? Thanks

It does pretty much everything madmomma! You can mix it with an existing foundation to make it fuller coverage, mix with primer or moisturiser to create a tint, use it as a concealer, apply neat over redness. You only need a tiny bit as well. This morning I used a BB cream over my whole face then took the skin enhancer over my red bits (chin a bit, nose, sides of the nose) with a beauty blender, and then used a little brush and covered my spots with it.

Where did you buy the skin enhancer Nabootique? It sounds great! I can remember seeing Kevyn on Oprah years ago and reading his books - he truly was an artist and such a shame he died so young.

rosepepper I found Sleek's blushes to be good. Their Rose Gold is a dupe for Nars' Orgasm but at a fraction of the price!

I got mine from Space NK, but I know Cult Beauty have it as well. It's good to have a play to get a colour match though.

Yes, I looked him up on Wiki recently. Very sad He was revolutionary. He invented the nude eye!

I am the opposite of the op. I use aldi day cream which is excellent and cheap enough to allow me to really slap it on. I use blinc mascara as it stays put all day.

Oh, if anyone did want to order it (or any other concealer/foundation) online, I've recently discovered the foundation matrix on the Temptalia website. It is really, really good. I've tested it with all my foundations.

I splurge on Blinc mascara too - as a) it stays put, and b) it washes off with water. I have sensitive skin and not needing make-up remover to get it off is a big advantage.

I think Blinc mascara is fab and worth it
Ditto Chanel Vitalumiere foundation and Shu Umera primer

Expensive nail polish is a mug's game.

For me, mascaras are about the brush, so the Chanel Inimitable brush is the same as the yellow-tubed Rimmel one, and they're both as good as each other.

I will spend more on moisturiser and foundation since they're on my face all day.

I wouldn't buy cheap foundation after too many mistakes and prefer my Estee Lauder Double Wear. Cheap concealer is fine to me and the Collection one is great (have re-bought about 4 times now). I spend a bit more on bronzer (I use Bobbi Brown) and I use BB pot rouge blush too. I tried that Sleek rose gold blusher and found it too pigmented and ended up with an Aunt Sally look! For lipsticks, my go-to brands are Top Shop and Laura Mercier, always with Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Protectant over the top for gloss (unless the lippie is a matte finish of course). I don't really like wearing mascara so when I do, it tends to be Clinique's Naturally Glossy as it's quite natural looking. I've just bought the Laura Mercier Eye Basics which is like a primer and natural eyeshadow all in one - totally worth £21. I'm really not big on eye make-up so tend to keep it low key.

Totally agree about nail varnish - some of the worst ones I've got are Chanel and actually Essie. Much prefer Rimmel, Revlon and Jessica bought from a discount make up shop.

Skin care wise, I really rate Superdrug's own brand. I have the Simply Pure serum for day and the Clearly Youthful one for night. Both excellent. With moisturisers, I sway from Clarins to Vichy to Eucerin. Depends what's on offer really! And I've just got the Clinique Take the Day Off cleansing balm which is brilliant. Only a tenner off eBay.