Beauty on a Budget: 5 Tips for When Money Is Tight

You don’t want to skip out on your entire beauty routine to save money. So, how can you maintain your love of makeup, skincare, haircare and all things beauty without breaking the bank? Read ahead to find out.

A Rough Year for Finances

This year has been financially stressful for people across the country. A recent survey found that 9 in 10 Americans are anxious about money because of the pandemic, and they’re concerned about their financial outlook.

What can you do if you’re in this position? You can start by looking up tips for creating a financial plan that can help you with everything, including putting together an emergency fund, using a secured line of credit and paying down outstanding debts. In the meantime, you might feel better cutting some non-essential costs from your budget and collecting more savings than usual.

Here are 5 ways that you can trim down your beauty costs this year:

1. Try DIY

You can save money by skipping certain beauty services in favor of DIY. Do you want to go to a professional hairdresser just to get bangs? You can follow a tutorial on how to cut your bangs without having to spend a dime. Do you want to go to a salon to get a manicure? You can do intricate nail art at home.

You can do just about any beauty treatment on your own. The internet is full of tutorials that will show you how to do everything from shaping your brows to waxing your legs like the pros. Follow them and save yourself lots of money.

2. Simplify Your Skincare

You don’t need to get expensive serums, oils, eye creams, face masks, peels, muds and scrubs for your face. For healthy, glowing skin, your cabinet needs to have these three items inside of it: cleanser, moisturizer and sunscreen.

3. Extend the Life of Your Products

You can cut costs by increasing the lifespan of your favorite makeup products. You can use household essentials to fix broken eye-shadow palettes and revive dry tubes of mascara instead of shopping for replacements.

4. Skip High-End Stores

High-end stores like Sephora and MAC are going to have high-end prices. If you want to save money, you should only go to these locations when there is a major sale. Don’t be afraid to scour the aisles of department stores like Target and QVC for cosmetics and other beauty products. You will find plenty of incredible and inexpensive items there.

5. Go Online

And if nothing at the store catches your eye, you should explore your options online. There are lots of websites that cater to makeup-lovers who are on a strict budget. Always arrange your product searches by price from lowest to highest to get the most affordable finds right away.

If you’re really looking for a deal, go to websites like Glambot, where you can purchase gently used products. You can also sell your own gently used products to make some extra cash.

What else can you do to save while shopping online?

• Take advantage of Voyager promo codes and coupons.

• Follow Reddit threads like r/MUAontheCheap or r/frugalbeauty for news about affordable deals.

• Look out for “flash sales.” Most companies announce them on their social media accounts.

You don’t have to scrap your whole makeup routine or avoid skincare in order to save money. Following these easy tips will make sure that you and your personal finances always look great.