Desi Diva

By Vidhya Ravi

Spend or Save? ABCDLady's Recession Beauty Guide

Retail therapy is a girl’s best friend, but knowing when to really spurge on your beauty regime can be tricky! After all, doesn’t every girl deserve to look her best every day? Yes! But looking your best doesn’t mean that every item in your makeup bag must be top shelf. In fact, knowing when to spend and when to save on beauty products comes in handy in any economic climate. Savvy spending means your budget will last longer—and that means you can afford to keep up with quick-moving trends in the fashion world.

So when do you shell out your hard-earned cash and when should you keep your pocket book closed? Let the following tips guide you through the department store, drug store and boutique aisles! You may even make it out with a few dollars left over for a food court treat!

Daily Cleanser: SAVE!
While all cleansers aren’t the same, finding one that works for you does not mean breaking the bank! Cleansers come in three main forms: foaming, non-foaming and abrasive scrubs. The purpose of a cleanser is to surround dirt, grime, oil and other leftover product particles on your face, loosen them and make them easy to remove. Non-foaming cleansers (usually cold creams and lotions) are the least harsh on your skin. If you are acne prone, look for cleansers with salicylic acid or benzyl peroxide, two ingredients known to combat acne effectively. Many different cleansers are available at the drug store and come highly recommended by dermatologists, so unless you are particularly fond of a high-end cleanser, this is a great place to SAVE a little in your beauty routine.

Moisturizer: SPEND!
Once upon a time, a moisturizer was nothing but a combination of water and wax that worked by keeping water close to the skin. But today there are all sorts of new, exciting and effective technologies for keeping your skin hydrated! Look for ingredients like hydroxyl acids to help with the exfoliation of dead skin cells, niacin-amide to help with natural oil production to combat sun spots or blotchiness and glycerol, which is effective in helping water and other ingredients in the moisturizer penetrate into the skin. Although we say SPEND, it is possible to SAVE by looking for these great ingredients in drugstore moisturizers. Some drugstore brands have conducted studies that show their products are just as effective—or sometimes, even more effective!—at providing hydration for thirsty skin. The best way to SAVE here is to look for some double action: let your moisturizer double as your sunscreen by finding one with SPF 30 or higher!

Foundation / Concealer / Powder: SPEND!
Your foundation and concealer have to match your skin exactly! You don’t want to be that girl in photos whose face is clearly a different color than the rest of her! At a department store or boutique, you can test different foundations, concealers and powders to see how they work with your skin tone. In the drug store, this is not always an option. It is possible to find the right shade at the drugstore, but the amount you’d spend on trial and error would probably be equivalent to what you would spend on finding your perfect match the first time with the help of department store product testers.

Eye shadow/ Eyeliner / Mascara: SAVE!
Eye makeup should be replaced every three months, and spending lots of money on makeup products with very short shelf life is rarely a good idea! Department store and boutique eye shadows are often more finely ground and can have more expensive ingredients, which is why they sometimes blend better or appear less chalky. But for trendy shades of eye shadow and eyeliner, it is definitely worth it to SAVE and pick up your favorite color of the moment from the local drug store. Old mascara can get clumpy and germy quickly. Replace your mascara every three months to keep it at its performance best! If you can’t shake the need to buy your eye makeup at the counter, try to stick to classic basics when you SPEND. Buy colors you love and wear regularly in individual pots, instead of investing in a palette that is more expensive. You’ll be paying for colors you won’t use or wear.

Lipstick / Lip gloss: SAVE!
Glosses and lipsticks don’t last more than three months, and color trends don’t have a lifespan much longer than that anyway. Do yourself a favor and SAVE by picking up your glosses and lipsticks at the drugstore. You can try out more colors, won’t suffer buyer’s remorse when this season’s color is just not right for you and can replace colors easily without guilt. If you must SPEND to beautify your lips, stick to the same tips as with eye makeup: buy classic colors that you wear regularly, and not something too trendy that you may only wear once or twice.

Blush: SPEND!
Surprise, surprise! Many ladies think that the easiest product to save on is blush but they are really missing the mark! The first rule of blush application is blend, blend and blend! More expensive blushes are more finely milled and, like powders and foundations, blend better with the skin. Department store lines also have a wider range of colors to choose from, so every skin tone can find the perfect blush.

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