Bargain Beauty Creams - Don't Pick Your Product Because of the Advertising

Do you know what the greatest expense is in well known skincare/makeup brands? THE ADVERTISING!! Yup. All those pretty pictures in the magazine and on the net, not to mention the luxurious packaging - all cost $$$. So, if you are careful and shop around for brands that are more bare bones and utilitarian or discounted - you can find pretty much the same quality for a lot LESS. I just read an article about Joan Collins spending, I believe it was $175 a jar for skin creme. Now, it probably has a nice smell and feel - but does it REALLY do that much better job than the bargain brand? Well, the articles I have read by scientists say NO. And it's proved the same in my experience, too.

I have found that I can even get really rock-bottom bargains at the dollar store! Of course, you have to be careful, but at least here in California there are so many boutique brands of skin care that go under or get rid of stock, that I can scoop up things like Vitamin C Serum and eye repair cream, and moisturizer with sunscreen and lip gloss for $.99. Trust me, when I see deals like that, I stock up for the next six months to a year, as I can afford it. Don't delay, because those deals quickly disappear from the store shelves....You can also find bargains at discount stores like Marshall's and the like, where among the clothes they sometimes have tiny skin care departments. I got lots of good deals on a trip back East...

When I can't find what I need in the $.99 Store - or I have run out - I can also turn to buymebeauty.com on the net, which has great deals in heavily discounted skin care and make up. (They even have Borghese, if you want to splurge.) I also am always looking for SAMPLES on the net. Oil of Olay is very generous in their samples - and so is Nivea and Eucerin - but I get as many samples as I can. Now, this practice has cemented my opinion of the lack of difference in brands - because I have sampled these sometimes expensive brands, and if I had found a miracle cream, trust me, I would spend the $. However, I really have never found anything THAT much better than what I normally use....

There are new items that come out first in the higher-priced brands. I used to have to pay a lot for eye cream - or anything with alpha-hydroxy - but after a while, I find that these items will slip down the price scale - even to the level of the dollar store!. I also have found how to boost my budget eye cream inexpensively, by putting a dab of witch hazel under my eyes to reduce puffiness before I apply the cream. (You will note that witch hazel is an ingredient in many higher-priced brands, but I can buy a bottle very inexpensively!)

I also use plain old petroleum jelly on my eyelids. I had an allergic reaction to eye shadow and for a long time, I had to protect my eyelids that way - but I have found it's a cheap habit to pat on some petroleum jelly on my eyelids a couple of times a day and at night. And no wrinkles on my eyelids yet! Another tip I have found useful is to LAYER your moisturizers when you encounter really dry skin. Put several layers of increasingly heavy cream, and even end up with petroleum jelly to lock it all in.

It's also seems good to me to switch around the creams/lotions you are using. I find that is especially true for my hands, and I often have to layer different creams from light to heavy to relieve the dryness. And my favorite everyday hand creme is from the dollar store! If you have any doubt, read the list of ingredients on the back of the bottle/box. I just got some pseudo Oil of Olay with sunscreen from the dollar store to tide me over - and It has almost the same ingredients as my last moisturizer with sunscreen - only lacking the alpha-hydroxy. Well, I have other creams with alpha-hydroxy and the Vitamin C serum - which I make sure I use when I am using this particular moisturizer to bolster the effect. I didn't like the scent of this stuff much, so I mixed it with remnants of my other moisturizer, which also had come with pumps(the cheap stuff didn't) ...and it was a great improvement.

Now, every once in a while you get a dud - but if it's inexpensive, it's no great loss, is it! And all along you will be developing your own sense of skin science. Nothing stays exactly the same, even your skin - so you have to be alert to changes in your skin care regime. This is a lot easy if you don't fall into a rut of using the same stuff all the time and everywhere. And because of the $ you are saving, you can afford to have a whole array of products for every need right at your fingertips, and take good care of whatever condition your skin is in. Of course, stay out of the sun, wear hat/sunscreen/sunglasses, and drink lots of water to hydrate yourself.... I am almost a senior citizen now and I have a great complexion and skin care that looks expensive. But between you and me, it's NOT