My Top Ten Favorite CHEAP beauty products!

Pssst...the necklace I'm wearing is part of my next DIY blog post!

My Top Ten Favorite CHEAP beauty products!

I LOVE beauty products. Hair, nails, makeup…you name it! Like most women out there—I appreciate quality. Yet, as many of my readers know, I’M CHEAP! OH!

How to balance this pesky parsimonious penny pinching point?

Luckily, my need for performance meets my desire for low price in my top ten CHEAP beauty products, and I’m sharing them with you, today! I’m only reviewing items you can buy for under ten dollars!

ONWARD WE MARCH!

1. L’Oreal Paris Voluminous Million Lashes It’s the mascara I’m applying above! (Why MUST we apply mascara with our mouth wide open? Does anyone apply it with their mouth CLOSED?) I used to be a huge fan of just the L’oreal standard Voluminous mascara in the darkest black shade available, and I still am, but the Million Lashes variety won me over with the soft, spiny rubber brush they have.  Now, I understand there are many great mascaras out there. MAC comes to mind as a favorite. However, for the price, which is about $9 per tube, I have yet to find another mascara as plumping and enduring. I LOVE this product, and I’ve been faithful to it for many years.

2. E.L.F Bronzing Powder I’ve talked about E.L.F beauty products in my blog before, and it is probably my number one favorite “dollar” store cosmetic company, though their products range in price and are sold at many different stores and online. Out of all of their products, their bronzing powder is my absolute favorite! I have it in two shades; one for highlighting in winter months and one for enhancing color in summer months.  I prefer it to several MUCH more expensive brands I have, including Mary Kay and Este Lauder! And for the price ($3 for the last compact I bought), you really can not compete with this product! One caveat: do not buy this product online, it is twice as much! Amazon has compacts listed for as high as almost seven dollars, and that is a gigantic markup compared to the prices I find at dollar stores, super stores, and cosmetic counters.

3. NYX Cosmetics Cake Powder Eyebrow Kit This has been the best eyebrow kit I’ve ever had. For a few reasons! I order it in taupe/ash. I am SO very ashen haired and neutral that it is very hard for me to find my correct palette when it comes to eyebrow colors; they are ALWAYS too orange-y, too dark, etc. I was so pleased when I first ordered this kit from Amazon.com and the color match was perfect! Though I do use my own brush kit, the exacto brush that comes with the kit is great for travel and works very well! Also, the brow wax included in a little pot within the compact is not too greasy, but holds the brow shape well. The only unfortunate thing about this product is that, recently, Amazon modified it to be an “add on” product, meaning that it must be purchased in addition, or as an add on, to a pre-existing order of $25 or less. Say what? Not cool, guys. Luckily I found it for a dollar cheaper (at about $5) WITH more reasonable shipping, here.

4. LA Colors Nail Polish My nail polish cupboard is FULL of this stuff! As far as staying power goes, it performs reasonably. In my opinion, the nail art products are even better! (Same price). Longer, skinnier bottles hold fine brushes for painting designs and patterns. Though I have seen some reviews that say the brushes are too thick, they have worked well for me. No, I am not a nail polish connoisseur, but I do dabble in the fancy nails from time to time. I appreciate all of their color variety, and the silver chunk glitter in the regular polish has been one of my faves, as well as the solid colors in the nail art deco line they have. I see LA Colors at many locations I shop at, but I know I can always find them at Family Dollar stores as well as Dollar Tree stores. $1 goes a long way with this product!

5. Africare Cocoa Butter Sticks Another dollar store product purchased for one dollar, My Africare Cocoa butter sticks last forever and work SO well! I originally got hooked on these the year that my Aunt Mary put one in a Christmas stocking for me (thanks Aunty Mim!) As the name insinuates, I’m sure this product is marketed for African-American skin (it was among other similar products at the store as well), but it’s really great for everyone. How I love to use this product: on any chapped or burned area of the skin. It is fantastic to use on delicate skin after shaving. In fact, I bought a second stick to use exclusively for the bikini area because it was so great in moisturizing/soothing my sensitive skin after shaving! It also makes a pretty effective eyebrow wax in a pinch, and moisturizes lips well. The stick is interesting because it doesn’t really melt or absorb into skin until friction from rubbing causes warmth, so it isn’t messy to keep/work with.

6. Rimmel London Hide the Blemish Stick Concealer It’s honestly priced a little more than I like to pay for a blemish stick at around $7 (I’m notoriously prudent, remember?), but I think the formula stands up to the test and also, I like the color options Rimmel has available. Because my skin is very light yet has yellow undertones, concealers in ivory or nude shades that have pink undertones (which is many of them!) are often a bad match for my complexion and leave blemishes or under eye circles looking worse. This was a newer choice for me this year, and I was satisfied with my purchase.

7. Jhirmack Silver Plus Shampoo Do you have blonde hair that is either color treated or susceptible to elements in your water that add unwanted brassiness or warmth to your locks?  Though my hair is naturally a medium to light ash, I do like to get highlights and lowlights on occasion. Sometimes, my blonde highlights can become slightly brassy. Worse yet, this year I received a bad coloring (THE HORROR!) right before my vacation to Tennessee! Luckily, I was able to correct and tone the issue at home myself, but the rusty colored red/brown that was added to my hair instead of my usual dark ash brown (what a nightmare) tried to ruin the party for a while.  I used Jhirmack to help control that issue and it worked well for me. There are many “bluing” shampoos out there that will help you control brassiness, and they all work in the same way, adding cool tones to your hair through their application, which is usually recommended as a treatment of washing, leaving in for a few moments, and rinsing. Almost all shampoos of this variety are somewhat drying to your hair—it’s just a typical side effect. The benefits outweigh the drying outcome and you can condition as you normally would after the treatment. Overall, if you’re looking to wash your hair occasionally with a product that will reduce brassiness, this is going to be your most frugal bet, at around $5 per bottle.

8. Burt’s Bees Apricot Baby Oil I’m not sure exactly why, but the smell of Burt’s Bees Apricot Baby Oil might be one of my favorite scents. EVER. It’s such a delicate and lightly absorbing oil that it works well FOR EVERYTHING! When my son was an infant, I used it to treat his cradle cap, and added it to his baths when he suffered from eczema. It was so light that it was the perfect moisturizer for any time on his delicate skin. I was glad for this, because the idea of heavy or excessive (and chemical laden) moisturizers or products made me nervous. In fact, I avoided treating his skin with any products, if I could manage it. I found that his skin naturally maintained moisture and really didn’t NEED all of the products that I, as a new mom, was bombarded with advertising for. And then, my little baby grew up…and I still had apricot oil left. I began to use it on myself as a moisturizer, an after-shave lotion for my legs, in the bath, and my favorite—as an eye and lip application at night. The benefits of this cold pressed oil are numerous! And just because it is all natural doesn’t make it an ineffective beauty remedy. Also, I dare you not to love the smell of it. Double dog. It’s completely worth the $9.99 (as my most expensive product reviewed here) and the 4 oz bottle lasts forever!

9. Jordana Fabuliner (in black, of course!)I bought this liquid pen eyeliner at Walgreens for around $3. It is one of the best liquid eyeliner pens I have purchased to date for the price. I tend to HOARD liquid eyeliner, and I have brands that range from more expensive (Mary Kay) to the generally cheaper (E.L.F), in tubes, pens and pots. If you consider the E.L.F. pen liner can be purchased for one dollar and does quite a nice job of a fine line, that is one heck of a deal! However the Jordana eyeliner pen is thick, precise, and BLACK. It is my favorite by far, and my go-to liner to produce a thick, laser-straight cat eye.  I’ve found that the pen begins to dry out a little after about 3 months, and I don’t feel guilty at that point about buying a new one to achieve that dark black I love so much. That said, I recently displaced my newer pen and dug around in my makeup drawer for an older one, which performed very reasonably. ;)

10. Wet 'N Wild Color Icon Collection Eyeshadow Compact First things first--I really liked this product, because the eyeshadow was very high pigment, and lasted a long time! Also, I think the palette shades are put together nicely, and I like that the compact includes not only shimmery shades but also a matte contouring powder as well. And let me say, the black contouring powder in these collections does not mess around! It is seriously high coverage and heavily pigmented. I purchased the "Blue Had Me At Hello 737" compact, and though I typically use my huge multi-color palettes (like the BH Cosmetics 88 color palette I never go anywhere without)  I really enjoyed using this product.


There you have it! My top ten! What are YOUR favorite beauty products under ten dollars? Comment below!