Inspired by Connie’s post, I thought I’d share some of my products which I almost never splurge on. Sure, there’s the economy downturn, and we’re all looking at areas to trim our spending, and that’s a wise move. Regardless, these are some of the items that I do not think is necessary to spend a lot of money on.

SKINCARE

Facial cleanser & scrub
I’m a firm believer that anything that is washed off my skin within 30 seconds of application, it’s not worth splurging on. Of course, that does not mean I get any old bars of soap I can get my hands on. I use Cetaphil, which is cheap as chips. As a scrub, I use Biore’s Detoxify Daily Scrub. These are gentle on the skin, and do the job well.

Facial mask
I tend to use higher end clay or microdermabrasion masks, but when it comes to cloth masks, I just get mine from drugstores or beauty specialist stores like Sasa.

Sunscreen
The first sunscreen I used was Clinique, but that doesn’t count as a splurge item, because my mum gave me one of her half-used tubes 😛 I used Shiseido Anessa for the next couple of years, but only found it to be so-so. After that I only used sunscreens by L’oreal, Paula’s Choice and until a week ago, Neutrogena. I found these to fare much better on my skin. Thank goodness for that, because ka-ching! Money saved.

MAKEUP

Lipsticks
Maybelline produces great lipsticks, and to date, I still think that the Watershine lipstick range is my absolute favourite of lipsticks.

Lipbalms
I remember splurging almost RM300 for a lipbalm from Kanebo years ago (ouch), when afer a while, I realised that it was just bloody Vaseline, just slightly runnier. Dammit. My favourite lipbalms are from Softlips, Khiel’s and C.O Bigelow. I toss a Softlips lipbalm in almost every bag and drawer in the house, just in case I need to use one.

Mascaras
I’ve tried expensive mascaras from Dior, Clinique, etc, and honestly, I didn’t find them to be more superior than drugstore ones. I simply adore my mascara from Majolica Majorca, and it doesn’t cost much.

Eyeliners
For some reason, I’ve never been able to fork out a lot of money for pencils and ink. The Loreal HIP cream eyeliners are fantastic, and so are the ones by Bloop. I recently fell in love with Bloom Shadow Liners, and I’ve since purchased three of them.

HAIRCARE PRODUCTS
Many years ago, I thought it would be better for my coarse, dry and damaged hair if I were to use salon products. For a while, I used Senscience, TiGi and Schwarzkopf haircare products. It was only until about a couple of years ago that I realised drugstore brands like Sunsilk and Pantene did a better job with caring for my hair than the other products did. Even the el-cheapo leave-in conditioner by Sunsilk is great stuff.

BODYCARE PRODUCTS
Once in a while, I’d splurge on a luxury body wash item. I would only use it once every week or two, especially when I’m feeling low and need a pick-me-up. Most of the time, Johnson’s body wash works just fine (smells mmmmm too). As for body lotion and creams, I only buy ONE luxury tub of body moisturiser a year, which would last me all winter. The rest of the time, I use either Cetaphil or St Ives body lotions. I use drugstore sunscreens too, e.g. Cancer Council Australia, and recently found and love, Neutrogena.

So there you go, just some items I save money on. There are items which I just don’t go cheap on, e.g. serum, moisturiser, foundation, etc, but for the rest, drugstore brands more than suffice. There’s a reason why I rake up so much Priceline points in a quarter, y’know 😉