Skincare on a small budget

[Poppadomstreet]

Hi,

I’ve really been neglecting my skincare for the last few years and it’s starting to show!

I’d like to restart a skincare routine but we are on a tight budget, so need to keep costs as low as possible.

My current routine is embarrassing - I wash my face in the shower first thing and use a baby wipe at night. That’s basically it. I am vigilant about using SPF from March/april-september-ish but other than that I don’t moisturise or anything. I wear make up 2-3 times a week.

I’m 31, have 2 young kids and haven’t slept more than 4/5 hours per night since 2020 and my skin is showing the affects of that, very tired looking and dull complexion. I don’t drink caffeine or alcohol, try to eat well
but could do with losing a bit of weight. I don’t have any major skin concerns, my skin can be a bit sensitive. I would say my skin type is normal/combination. Not
dry or oily.

Brands I have used and liked in past are Elemis, Liz Earle, Temple Spa, Lancôme - these are way out of budget currently.

I don’t love the idea of using harsh or unnecessary chemicals on my face.

Can anyone point me in the direction of
some suitable products? I used to be quite into skincare in my 20’s but feel like a newbie starting from scratch again!

I use The Ordinary Hyaluronic Acid and find it makes a big difference! I get on well with their daily moisturiser too. Then other than that I use simple cleanser, thick blue nivea at night and nivea factor 50 if I’m going to be outside long.

Just a simple budget tip (probably best for night) is removing make up/SPF at night with a couple cleanse using a simple oil of your choice. I've used olive oil from the kitchen when I've run out! Just massage it into your face and wipe off with a hot muslin cloth/flannel. Then you massage a few drops of the oil into your face as a moisturiser. You could use the Ordinary HA as above and some Aloe vera gel underneath if you wanted to amp it up. Almond works ok around the eyes on me. If you like Liz Earle, and had a bit of spare cash, a few drops of neroli oil mixed in for the aroma factor ... Rose water is a good toner too ...

Olive oil. It's about £8 a litre and will last at least two months. At night, smooth some all over your face and neck. Wring out a cloth in hot water and hold it against your face for a minute or so, then use it to wipe the oil off your face. If you need to, rinse out the cloth again and keep wiping until your cloth comes away clean.

It removes makeup and dirt, leaving your skin very soft. You probably won't need any moisturiser after this but, if you feel like you do, use a tiny bit of olive oil.

You can wash your face in your morning shower with another little bit of oil - just smooth it on and rinse it off.

If you'd rather use factory-made products, @PamelaShipman80's recommendations are good!

Ha, cross-posted with the olive oil!

Ha ha great minds @Garlicwest ! Your advice is better and more thorough though! :)

To tackle dullness I'd try a Vit C serum or cream. You can buy affordable ones in Boots or Superdrug.

Boots £10 Tuesday online offers often have decent skincare included. Before Xmas I bought some lovely brightening products from Lumene with that offer.

If you ever have the budget for something more pricey (or as a birthday gift) then Sunday Riley CEO range is very good.

AM
Bioderma micellar water
Cerave hydrating cleanser
Byoma gel moisturiser or La Roche Posay toleriane sensitive moisturiser
Hero force shield spf (mineral) or Beauty of Joseon rice spf (chemical)

PM
Bioderma micellar water
Cerave hydrating cleanser
Byoma gel moisturiser or La Roche Posay toleriane sensitive moisturiser
Beauty of joseon retinal eye cream (I use this all over my face)
Q&A superfood facial oil (in winter)

As and when
The Ordinary lactic acid 5%
Cos de Baha salicylic acid 2%
Hero pimple patches

Body
Bioderma shower oil (with flannel or salux cloth)
Mustela soothing lotion

I’ve tried expensive skincare and budget skincare and feel like I’ve settled on stuff I’m really happy with on the cheaper end of the scale!

if you wear spf most of the year then double cleansing is probably going to make the biggest difference for you, that’s usually cleansing in the evening with an oil and then a foam (or something you rinse off). I like superfacialist vitamin c cleansing oil, it’s between £7-10 depending on whether it’s on offer or not. For the second cleanse, the inkeylist do some decent cleansers, they range from £5 for smaller sizes to 10-12 for bigger ones. Or Aveeno do a nice oat cleanser, £5-8 again depending on where it’s on offer. I like the Aveeno oat toner which is about £8 but a toner isn’t critical, and you can get toners cheaper than that if you do like one!

for my morning cleanse, I like Lacura hot cloth cleanser, Superdrug do a good one too. Or q&a grapefruit is an oily creamy cleanser, which is about £8 full price but can often be found in tk maxx for a fiver. Byoma do a nice one (milky cleanser, I think it’s called) which is about £12

serums and the like will depend on what you like but generally I think the ordinary and the inkeylist do really good budget options.

my favourite moisturiser at the moment is the inkeylist peptide one which is about £20, but there are lots of cheaper options!

My skincare routine is rather cheap and minimalist, and I'm very happy with my skin.

Wash - Twice a day
That is quite simple: I just use a reusable microfibre pad with just warm water, whether I'm wearing make-up or not.
Mine are from Face Halo on Amazon. Had them for years.

Morning:

• Orange blossom water as a toner
• Niacinamide serum (The Ordinary)
• Hyaluronique Acid serum (The Ordinary)
• Garnier 50SPF moisturiser

Evening:

• Orange blossom water
• Retinal serum (The Ordinary)

Beauty of Joseon korean green plum glycerol hydrating cleanser 100ml/£9.59
Inkey vitamin B, C and E day cream moisturiser for a skin glow 50ml/£7.20
Heliocare non-oily invisible sunscreen 50ml/£14.99
Monderma tretinoin night cream for reducing wrinkles and size of pores 15ml/£5.99

£37.77 for a skincare routine covering all bases, lasting two months

Thanks all for the advice, will definitely be trying some of these products.

@FastFood this looks really simple, thank you. Hadn’t heard of orange blossom water before.

@stardust777 thank you for such a great list, using many of the same products morning and night will work well I think as I can’t be faffing about with hundreds of products.

@pinkhimalayan the costing on this is really helpful thank you, it’s always hard to know how long things will last.

I use an oil cleanser (at the moment, Caudalie) and Nivea Soft twice a day. Simple eye make up remover. That’s about it and my skin feels lovely.

Q&A skin care is a really nice and affordable brand. They have a advice on which products depending on your skin type

https://www.qandaskin.com

I love Dr Organics range from Holland and Barrett. Often come with 3 for 2 offers.

Cerave is very good, usually on a 3 for 2 offer somewhere -
the acids are very good £23 each
the face wash £18 (big size) I use in the shower in the morning (comes in a pump dispenser)
the moisturiser can be used everywhere, comes in a huge pot for £14 - 20% off in Boots at the moment

Superdrug's B range has a micellar water for £1.99 at the moment. Not over fond of micellar waters but wearing less make up at the moment and it does get rid of my no waterproof mascara and liner and seems nice!

I bought huge bottle of micellar water from boots to remove my mascara. When I'm not wearing makeup I use a reusable cloth. Morning I use a hyaluronic/aloe vera serum and either a day moisturiser or sunscreen. My current daycream is Cien which is thick but doesn't moisturise as well as I need, but I do have dry skin.

Night cleanse as am, serum as am, tret and Nivea night cream.

Lacura hot cloth cleanser from Aldi is excellent and lasts absolutely ages. I've had the same bottle going for months! Rub a small blob of it onto your face then wipe it off with a hot flannel. That sorts my cleansing for morning and evening. If you are wearing SPF then cleansing with a flannel and some actual cleanser rather than a baby wipe will make a massive difference.

For moisturiser I agree with others that olive oil is really economical if you want to use it. I also really rate the Simple range and the Superdrug vitamin E range.

In all honesty what I tend to do is go to TK Maxx and find the most interesting serum and moisturiser for under £7 an item that I can and then try that out.

Just get cleanser, toner and moisturiser from boots - no need for all the fancy stuff listed on this thread! Costs less than a fiver for all 3 things combined and does the job well. For SPF I just use any old factor 50 that's lying around, currently I'm on kids suncream! I also use a Superdrug face mask as a weekly treat but they're only £1 each. Job done!