Well, this is an unusual post for me. Whilst, I’ve never written a beauty based post before (and this will probably be the only one I do write), I am in fact a tad obsessed with beauty products, specifically skincare products. However, after giving up my career, I have had to scale back on how much I spend on beauty products. So after several years of trial and error and my unhealthy obsession with finding the best cheap beauty products available, here’s a list of all the best affordable buys out there. I strongly believe you can find beauty products cheaply that are as effective as a more expensive product. Did you know the beauty industry deems anything under £25 as budget? I’m more of an under £10 kind of gal, but as everyone’s idea of “budget” varies, I’ve done three categories for each section, products £10 or under, products £20 or under and one pricier treat (because we all deserve a treat sometimes). Apart from a couple examples, I’ve still tried to make the pricier treats fairly affordable. All products can be bought in the UK and some can be bought in the USA too. For information, my skin type is normal to dry.
BEST CLEANSERS (I find hot cloth cleansing is the most effective way of getting your skin sparkling clean. Hot cloth cleansing is where you apply the cleansing product on dry skin and wash off with a face cloth- as hot as your skin can stand. Most of the below products come with cloths or you can just use any ole flannel, which is actually my preference)
£10 or under:
- Superdrug Vitamin E Hot Cloth Cleanser (£4.99)
- Superdrug Naturally Radiant Hot Cloth Cleanser (£5.99)
- Superfacialist Rose Hydrate Cleanser (£7.99)
- No.7 Hot Cloth Cleanser (Usually £10, but with the £5 voucher you often receive in store, this is only £5 and lasts forever)
£20 or under:
- Glossier Milky Jelly Cleanser (15)
- Balance Me Restore & Replenish (£18)
- Clarins Pure Melt Cleansing Gel (£20)
Pricier Treat
- Elemis Pro-Radiance Cream Cleanser (£29.50)
DAY SERUM
No.7 Lift & Luminate Serum
£10 or under:
- Superdrug Simply Pure Hydrating Serum (£2.99)
£20 or under:
- Body Shop Vitamin E Moisture Serum (£11)
- Vichy Aqualia Thermal Serum (£17.50)
- L’Oreal Revitalift Renew Hyaluronic Replumping Serum (19.99)
Pricier treat:
- No.7 Lift Luminate (£27)
NIGHT SERUM
£10 or under:
Superdrug Simply Pure Hydrating Night Serum
- Superdrug Simply Pure Hydrating Night serum (£3.99)
£20 or under:
- Body Shop Vitamin E Overnight serum-in-oil (£16.99)
Pricer treat:
- Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Synchronised Recovery Comlex II (£53- yeah I know)
DAY CREAM WITH SPF
£10 or under:
- Simple Regeneration Day Cream Age Resisting SPF15 (£5.99)
- Superdrug Naturally Radiant Brightening Day Cream SPF15 (£5.99)
£20 or under:
- Body Shop Vitamin C SPF30 (£13)
- Superdrug Optimum PhytoDeluxe Day Cream SPF15 (£14.99)
- Anew Reversalist Complete SPF25 (£16)
- Olay Total Effect SPF15 (£16.99)
Pricer Treat:
- Clarins Hydra Quench SPF15 (£34)
DAY CREAM WITHOUT SPF
£10 or under:
- The Ordinary Natural Moisturising Factors + HA (£4.90)
£20 or under:
- Body Shop Vitamin E Moisturiser (£13)
- Face Theory Regenerating Moisturiser (£13.99)
Pricier treat:
- Clinique Dramatically Different Lotion £30
NIGHT CREAM
£10 or under:
- Superdrug Naturally Radiant Renewing Night Cream (£5.99)
- My Trusty Sunflower Oil (£7.99)
- Superfacialist Rose Peaceful Skin (£9.99)
£20 or under:
M&S Formula Night Cream
- Body Shop Vitamin E (£13)
- Weleda Wild Rose Night Cream (£15)
- Anew Reversalist Renewal Night Cream (£16)
- Anew Reversalist Infinite Effects Night Treatment (£19.95)
Pricier treat:
- M&S Formula Absolute Ultimate Sleep Cream (£22)
EYE GEL/CREAM (at night I just use my night cream around my eyes and it’s absolutely fine. I do like to use a gel in the mornings though)
Boots Essentials Eye Gel
£10 or under:
- Boots Essentials Cucumber Gel (£1.52)
- Body Shop Elderflower Cooling Gel (£7)
Pricer treat:
- Clinique All About Eyes (£27)
EXFOLIATING TONER (forget normal toners, they’re the biggest waste of time and money. Just splash your face with cold water instead and use an exfoliating toner twice a week or so before serum)
£10 or under:
- Superdrug Naturally Radiant Glycolic Acid Toner (£5.99)
- Paula’s Choice Skin Perfecting BHS Liquid Exfolliant (£8)
- Derma E Refining Vit A Glycolic Toner (£9.60)
£20 or under:
Clarins Exfolliater Toner
- REN Clarimatte Clarifying Toner (£15)
- Pixi Glow Tonic (£18)
- Aveda Botanical Kinetics Exfolliant (£18)
- FAB Facial Radiance Pads (£20)
Pricer treat:
- Clarins Gentle Exfolliater Brightening (£25)
FACE MASKS
£10 or under:
- Simple Deep Cleansing (£4.39)
- Dr.Organic Rose Otto (£7.99)
Dr. Organic Rose Ottot Face Mask
- Body Shop Warming Mineral Mask (£10)
Pricer Treat:
- Origins Original Skin Retexturing Rose Clay Mask (£23)
BODY MOISTURISER
£10 or under:
- Garnier Hydralock Moisturing Milk (£5.65)
- Neutrogena Deep Moisturing Lotion (£7.65)
- Yes to Carrots C Smooth Body Moisturing Lotion (£8)
- Body Shop Almond Milk & Honey (£8.50)
No £20 or pricier treat suggestions for body lotions as the ones above are superior to any more expensive ones that I have ever tried.
HAND CREAM
Balance Me Hand Cream
£10 or under:
- Dr Organic Bioactive Skincare Manuka Honey (£5.69)
- L’Occitane Shea Butter Hand Cream (£8)
£20 or under:
- Liz Earle Hand Repair (£10.50)
- Balance Me Super Moisturising Hand Cream (£14.50)
Pricier treat:
- Aromatherapy Rose Hand Cream (£23)
LIP BALM
£10 or under:
- Vaseline Lip Therapy (£1.99)
Vaseline Limited Edition Lip Therapy
- Maybelline Baby Lips Lip Balm (£2.99)
£20 or under:
- Lanolips 101 Ointment (£10.99)
- Clinique Super Balm (£12)
- Clarins Hydra Quench Moisture Lip Balm (£19)
No pricier treat. I think £19 for a lip balm is pricey enough.
SHOWER GEL
£10 or under:
- Palmolive Naturals (£1.00)
- Dove Silk Body Wash (£2.55)
- Yes How to Carrots Nourishing Body Wash (£4.99)
- Body Shop Almond Milk & Honey (£5)
- Soaper Duper Vanilla Shea or Passion Fruit (£6.50)
- Mandala Spa Shower Cream Balti Santi (£7)
£20 or under:
- Clarins Tonic Bath & Shower Concentrate (£20)
No pricier treat for shower gels as I just cannot justify spending a lot of money on a shower gel.
BUBBLE BATH
£10 or under:
- Radox Original (£1.99)
- Waitress Ginger & Clementine (£1.99)
- Good Things Manuka Honey (£3.49)
- Body Shop Wild Aragon Oil (£8)
£20 or under:
- Body Shop Almond Milk & Honey (£12)
Pricier treat:
- Mio Liquid Yoga Restorative Bath Soak (£26)
Budget beauty tip: When your products start to feel empty, get your scissors out and cut that baby open. You’ll be surprised how much more product is there dwindling at the bottom of the bottle/tube. I never throw away a beauty product that feels empty without cutting it in half first. You’ll save plenty of pennies doing this.
Just Another Blog From a Woman 
I don’t think you can go too wrong with No7 in general. They usually have 3 for 2 and voucher money off deals on too. I haven’t tried the hot cloth cleanser yet but heard really good things. I’ve used the Boots essentials (green range) quite a bit and really like the eye gel. I’m using a No7 eye cream at the moment I got as part of a Christmas set which I really like. I love the Body Shop too their Vitamin E range is beautiful and if you can get it as part of a set it’s great value. Enjoyed this post a lot and quite different for you!
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Yes I know. It was one of the first blog posts I wrote and never got round to publishing it, so decided to update it and go for it! Yep No.7 is always so reliable. I never thought of buying the Body Shop Vit E range as a set to save money. I’ll look into that. Cheers!
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Really glad you did 🙂 It’s worth checking out their gift sets as they’re often really good value and you can try smaller versions to see how you get on with the range too.
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Great tip! X
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I LOVE this. I am a bit obsessed with products too but the prices are crazy. I’ll be working my way through this. Thanks
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Yay! Hope you find some stuff that you like, Jill.
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Ooh I’m going to try that Dr Organique face mask – I have their vitamin cream and it’s brilliant! Love this list!
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It’s absolutely brilliant. My skin is so soft & smooth afterwards. I thoroughly recommend it.
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I love this. I am having to find all new/different products here in Germany. My budget has shrunk considerably since quitting my job as a nurse! I also no longer have the benefit of getting all my beauty products at a discount (My oldest daughter works for Ulta).
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I’m guessing you might be missing Neutrogena too? Whilst we have quite a few of their products in the UK, the range is nothing compared to the US. Whenever, I visit America I stock up on Neutrogena products. Affordable, and so good. Hope you can find some of these products in Germany.
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I did really like Neutrogena.
I hope I can too. Luckily, many beauty products here are very reasonably priced. But, it is still a trial and error to find what I like. That and for all I know I am rubbing foot cream on my face since I can’t read the packaging very well…
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Haha. Nice.
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Love that last beauty tip! I have never done that.;)
Great choice of products too Haley. It’s not the price of the product that makes it any better or worse, the fact that we are basically cleaning and hydrating our skin is all that matters. Xx
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Absolutely. Cutting up tubes and bottles has saved me so much over the years.
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Nicely done! Doing some sharing stuff… oh, and…
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Thank yooooou. Nice Boy George GIF.
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Thanks in return, lovely lady. I’ve gotten a bit obsessed with the Giphy creator button… 😊
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I’d never heard of a hot cloth cleanser before. I thought it was a UK/USA difference. But no. I’m just not keeping up with the latest thing. What else is new. 🙂
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Ha yes think hot cleansing is popular in both the U.K. & US. Its so much better for your skin that harsh exfoliaters. It just gives your skin a gentle deep clean every day. I used to get dry patches of skin, but not any more since cleansing this way.
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I will have to check it out.
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Had to laugh at the “Yes to Carrots C” cream 🙂 I have always cut up tubes as there is always “stuff” for another dip or two!! The smell is so important to me. Loving Argan oil products at the moment Though have to stop myself to only a couple. Will check out a couple when we get to the UK. Come to Istanbul and you would have a ball with the selection!!
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I love the smell of Argan Oil too. Dr Organic do a whole range of Argan Oil products- might be worth checking out when you’re next over. You can buy it from Holland & Barrett. Oh and I’d love to go to Istanbul!
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Oh thanks Hayley, I will try and purchase a Dr Organic one. The call to Pray is just happening, he has the most incredible musical voice I have ever heard. It is an incredible city, not a pretty city though the people, the food, the mystery, the history and the smells are worth a visit to experience it all!! By the end of today when asked “Where do you come from?”, I answered “Mars”, I knew then it was time for us to head back to our accommodation 🙂
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Haha. It does sound like a fascinating city though.
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Have you tried Lidl’s own Cien range? It is very impressive. I’ve used Nivea’s Q10 range for years, and other stuff when I could afford it but now I am converted. £3 and I don’t know that I could tell the difference. Their hand cream is great, their bubble bath is very like Radox (but cheaper) and my boys prefer their shower gel to Original Source. I’m quids in!
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Excellent! No I haven’t. We don’t have a Lidl near us here, but if I pass one I’ll investigate. We’ve got an Aldi and I’ve tried their range, which lots of people rave about, but I don’t rate it at all.
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Thanks for these Hayley! I’m all about the budget; I can’t believe that under £25 is considered budget; I can’t afford to spend £25 on one product. I still get mild acne so I’m always on the lookout for new (and cheap!) products 🙂
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Body Shop’s Tea Tree range and Neutrogena’s Pink Grapefruit are the best affordable products for that. Plus hot cloth cleansing can work a treat too. Gets a bit worse for the first week or two then gets loads better x
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Thank you 🙂 xx
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Thank you for this post! My brand of beauty products just had a price increase so I’m on the look out for some new products. I’m bookmarking this post so I can go back and check them out when I run out again. 🙂
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Excellent. Hope it’s of use. Thanks Lisa.
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LOVE LOVE LOVE! First you rocked tunes from back in the day and now you are rocking beauty products! I am printing this baby out and taking it with me on my next ‘beauty shop’
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Yay! Hope you enjoy it all as much as me x
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You’re a girl after my own heart! I am such a budget-buyer! I agree that you don’t need to spend an arm and a leg on beauty products. I am going to Pin this for later as I’ll likely need to buy more beauty products once I’m in the U.K. this summer. I’m bringing tiny, travel-sized products to keep my luggage weight down 😬😬
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Oh yes you will. Get yourself to Superdrug- their own brand products are so affordable and so good/reliable. Also “Simple” is the other best, cheap brand.
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Ooooh! Gotta screenshot (screenshoot??) this to remember!!
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Hey,
I have recently followed your blog and am loving some of your posts, I wanted to invite you to join my Facebook Group! It is for all of us enthusiastic bloggers where we can all come together and help each other grow our blogs and give each other advice, also make some good connections! If you would like to join I will leave the link below. I would love to see you over there! This group is also private so it won’t show that you are in the group on your Facebook or profile!
Phoebe xo
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