Our Best Tips for Saving Money in Your Beauty Routine
Madison is Adore Beauty's Videographer. When she's not directing and editing skincare, haircare and makeup videos for the Adore Beauty YouTube channel, you'll find her rocking a bold eyeshadow look, usually with matching statement earrings.
Wanting to save some $$ but don't want to give up your beauty routine? I got your back.
We filmed this video talking about saving money in your routine and in case you don't feel like watching the full thing, let me break it down into some easy steps for you.
Hold on to your travel minis
If you are trying something for the first time, it might be worth checking if it comes in a miniature or travel size first. Especially if you have reactive skin or specific concerns, you don't want to buy a big bottle and end up disliking it and wasting it.
Just keep in mind that miniature beauty products are usually more expensive per millilitre, so it is best to switch to full-sized products once you know you like it.
The next step (and this is my favourite part) is holding onto those minis for when you travel. Since minis are more expensive to buy in the long term, it's better to refill the mini with your big bottle. Or even better, wash it out and re-fill it with something completely different that doesn't have a mini.
Invest in refills and jumbo sizes
The next step is of course what we call the "big boys".
So many brands provide jumbo sizes of their most popular products, such as Bioderma Atoderm Ultra-Nourishing Cleansing Shower Oil 1L, The Ordinary Supersize Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% - 60ml or my personal favourite moisturiser: La Roche-Posay Cicaplast Baume B5+ 100ml.
A lot of haircare brands are also making big 500ml or 1L bottles for shampoo and conditioner, such as Pureology, Nak and Virtue.
And a lot of brands are doing refills now too which come out a little cheaper than buying the original bottle again. For example Dermalogica Special Cleansing Gel Refill 500ml , La Roche-Posay Effaclar Purifying Foaming Gel M Eco Refill 400ml and Laneige Water Bank Blue Hyaluronic Cream 50ml Refill just to name a few.
It's also better for the planet - which you can read more about here.
Save on bookend products and splurge on treatments
A "bookend" product would be something like a cleanser, moisturiser or sunscreen, and your treatments would be your serums, exfoliants or anything that targets your specific concerns.
Why do this? Because serums and treatments have the highest concentration of skin-loving ingredients in them.
You may not need a cleanser with exfoliation benefits or an SPF that is also a hydrating serum, you might find that you can get by with a really basic routine and just one really high performing serum in the middle.
This is specifically relevant for cleansers since they're only on your face for a short time before washing off. Although at Adore Beauty we have some really bougie, science backed cleansers (looking at you Dermalogica Special Cleansing Gel 250ml ) , you might find that you can make do with an affordable cleanser (like CeraVe Foaming Cleanser 236ml) so you can save that money for the really targeted stuff.
Shop for what works for you, not what's popular
Stop buying whatever your favourite influencers are recommending on Tiktok - focus on your personal skin and hair goals.
If you deduce what your personal skin type, hair type, concerns and goals are, you can focus on buying targeted products to fulfil those needs, and save money in other parts of your routine. (Like the cleanser and moisturiser point above). For example:
- For oily skin splurge on an exfoliant (e.g.Alpha-H Liquid Gold Exfoliating Treatment 100ml)
- For congested or acne-prone skin splurge on a niacinamide serum (e.g. asap super B complex 30ml)
- For dry skin splurge on an overnight mask (e.g. PCA SKIN Hyaluronic Acid Overnight Mask 51g)
- For pigmentation splurge on an antioxidant serum (e.g. Aspect Pigment Punch+ 30ml)
Of course you can get effective, affordable skincare from every category, but even more so when it comes to things like cleansers, essences, mists, sunscreens and moisturisers. There's some really fantastic ones on Adore that you can buy for a low cost so you can spend a little more on your targeted treatments.
The same concept applies to haircare:
- For oily hair focus on scalp exfoliation or a clarifying shampoo, save on conditioner
- For dry hair focus on a really nourishing hair mask, save on shampoo
- And if you have no specific hair concerns, consider do you actually need that expensive $50 shampoo? Probably not. (But of course if it brings you joy in this cold, cruel world, who am I to stop you!)
Mix your bougie and affordable makeup together
Both literally and metaphorically.
Got an Estee Lauder Double Wear Stay In Place Makeup Foundation or Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation that cost you an arm and a leg? Apply some in your hand with a more affordable foundation like Maybelline Fit Me Dewy + Smooth Liquid Foundation SPF 18 and mix them together to get the benefits of both!
It might take a bit of trial and error to find a combo you like but it can give you the benefits of your bougie makeup without using it all up quickly.
Now in the metaphorical sense, you don't need a full face of expensive makeup. You can have your fancy designer lip oil and your M.A.C blush with an e.l.f. eyeliner or brow pencil. There are no rules.
We're all about shopping high and low at Adore Beauty!
Bonus tip: Before you buy a new eyeshadow, check your existing makeup palettes to be sure you don't have similar colours already. (I know its pretty but do you need another brown eyeshadow? Probably not).
Finish your products, for real
Are you actually finishing your products all the way through?
Beauty has expiry dates, once open it's usually between 6 to 24 months (it should look like a little tub with a number and 'M' on the packaging).
So it's a big old waste of your hard earned money to half finish a product then switch to another and another - because by the time you come back to the OG, it probably needs to go in the bin.
Finish your products. The only excuse I'll allow is if it irritates your skin or gives you a reaction - in that case maybe give it to a friend or family member.
Cut your skincare open
Saving the silliest for last, cutting your skincare tubes open to scoop the last little bit out!
If you've ever done this with your toothpaste, whats stopping you from doing it with your beauty products?
Depending on the shape of the packaging you may find a few more applications out of reach, so cut open the tube and decant it into one of the minis you saved from earlier ;)
Obviously this only works for soft plastic packaging so it doesn't always apply but this is some real frugal queen behaviour.
We didn't even touch on affordable brands in this article so check out more below!
