How to Look Presentable for a Job Interview when on a Tight Budget

Sometimes beauty gets too expensive, whether you are caught in credit card debt, you lose job, or other financial crisis, and it is hard to cut back without looking ragged and a bit unkempt. While no one likes looking run down, it is especially bad if you are actively interviewing for a new job or seeking work, you still want to look your best, but on a budget. Here are some product and style options for the financially destitute beauty diva. This is an especially harrowing time for the woman who is competing against younger applicants in a field where younger is sometimes considered better.

A first tip for budgeting is to look at where your money is going each month and see what you can cut back on. The same goes for stretching your beauty bucks. What products can you do without and what is necessary to maintain your employable appearance? Is there salon treatments that you are getting that are not necessary or that you can extend the life of with some maintenance product instead? How many of these processes are necessary to look presentable for a job interview?

If you are getting your nails done in a salon, this is something you need to learn to do yourself. Limit yourself to before a job interview if you must, otherwise, keep your nails at a short, feminine length, soak your fingers & nails in warm olive oil, file and buff (only buff 10 times, going in one direction) and wear light colors that do not show chips as often. Consider Avon's instant manicure strips instead of a salon visit. You can keep your nails short for now and moisturize your hands to keep them looking as feminine as possible. When possible, invest in skin and hair and skimp on nails other than a protective nail polish. Likely on most job interviews, that your hands look clean, moisturized, and your nails are not distracting and your cuticles are not ragged is likely the most important. While getting your nails done is often a confidence booster, it rarely is a factor in an interview setting.

Do you buy expensive hair products and shampoos or pay for expensive hair colorings or highlights that fade when you wash frequently? Can you temporarily wear your hair in a style that requires less frequent hair trims or allows you to skip using an expensive hair styling product? Can you wear your hair up in a stick or hairdo dad or chignon or French twist to skip styling products when possible? Most gels and creams can be diluted with water a bit and rubbed between your palms before applying to style and they still work very well - most actually work better this way. This stretches your beauty dollar.

The need for hair coloring varies from person to person. If you are interviewing for a job, you will want to try to have your hair look healthy and cared for and clean, and for some that takes more processes and products than others. Your main concerns are not letting your hair ends look ragged and uneven and not allowing your roots to show if you color your hair. If you are interviewing and are especially concerned about the appearance of gray hair, some touch up products are made by Haircolor for Men (which also works for women) and Clairol to address gray roots. Usually you or a friend can do a simple trim to the ends of your hair, and try to condition your ends regularly with good overall conditioning oil, like jojoba. This works as an excellent conditioner for keeping your hair in shape. You can even use a bit at the ends of your hair for a styling tool. Jojoba will also be a good conditioner for your skin, although a regular cheap grapeseed oil goes a long way for conditioning arm and leg skin and keeping it soft. White rain products have some good body moisturizers at a cheap price so that you do not have to completely forgo carrying for the skin that likely will not show at an interview, and cocoa butter is a relatively cheap staple to keep skin soft.

If you do not know how to pluck your own eyebrows, you can probably tweeze a few strays here and there but for the relatively nominal cost of this service, usually about $8 to $10, you likely will want to allow the pro to continue to do this service. A good eyebrow waxing can reduce your need for as much eye makeup and make you look more alert and younger. A do it yourself for the first time waxing or tweezing can make you look uneven and even potentially be too distracting to your interviewer to concentrate on you while you speak.

Your beauty tools like eyelash curlers and brushes should not wear out in this timing, but you might run out of makeup you use daily, so add in some cheaper products to extend the life of your more expensive beauty favorites and scale down your use of the more expensive products if you are not going to work each day. If you are a fan of the $38 Lipfusion for instance, consider some cheaper alternatives for everyday wear. Lip gloss is lip gloss no matter who makes it other than some have a plumping property. Eyes Lips Face has some of the ingredients and features that normally only appear in more expensive brands like Philosophy and Stila but at Eyes Lips Face they are $1. Eyes Lips Face has also expanded into mineral powders for $5 and has a salicylic acid powder to help control your oil and breakouts on a day to day basis. Moisturizing and sunscreen is mandatory in this timing - Neutrogena radiant skin is a relatively low cost one that adds subtle color to the face, or Oil of Olay with SPF in it - regardless of your age this is a good light face cream. Rimmel makes some good makeup products and is frequently on sale. Another product to invest in is a Visine type of eye drop to remove any redness in the eye, even subtle amounts, will make you look more alert, younger, engaged in the conversation and even sometimes a whiter eye makes people perceive you as more honest. (Think of JFK and how trustworthy his eyes looked - it is based on this principle.)

Keep your interview clothes in good shape, do not eat or drink in them before or after the interview if possible to avoid stains, and try to keep them free of smoke smells whenever possible to limit the dry cleaning costs and wear and tear on your good suit or interview outfit. It is also important, when possible, to look as presentable as possible - meaning that your clothes are clean and pressed - even when you are running errands, in that you never know when you might run into a potential employer, client or contact, or you might see an impromptu job opportunity and you do not want to miss out because you ran out of the house in sweatpants.

If you can afford it, or still have dental/health coverage from your old job, try to schedule a teeth cleaning since white teeth make you look younger and generally more alert.