How I save money on my beauty routine - The frugal girls guide to looking and feeling good for less.

 My hair

When it comes to dying your hair try and keep it close to your normal colour. If you are on a budget bleaching your hair every few weeks just isnt practical and adds ££ to your bill every month.

I only dye my hair to keep away greys and sort out any colour fading.

My roots are a dark brown and I like to keep my hair a dark chocolate. This means I can go months without dying my hair. Not only does that save me money and time each month, but also my hair is the healthiest its ever been! Which in turn means less expensive hair products need to be bought.

When I feel like my hair needs a bit of a shine or smoothing boost, I use a few drops of pure argon oil on the lengths. Cheaper than any product "containing traces of argon oil" and works just as well if not better. one tiny bottle lasts me over a year.

I dont like using heat on my hair too much, so I heat style my hair many once or twice a week on low setting. Not only is this saving me so much time, its also keep my hair healthier and less dry. Which for me means less hair dresser trips, less electric used and less products to try and fix frazzled hair.

My bath and body

I love having luxurious feeling baths, but in all honesty, I cannot justify spending £20 a month on luxury bath treatmeants like oatmeal bath scrubs and shea butter drops. So I make my own. I buy a small batch of refined pure cocoa butter, heat it up over a pan of hot water until its liquid, then i pop it in icecube moulds to set. These normally last about half a year and cost around £2 to make.

I pop one in the bath and you wouldnt believe how good your skin feels afterwards. Better than any in bath (or after bath!) moisturiser I have ever used. Non sticky and its smells liek milky chocolate.

I also make Goats milk, honey and oat scrub bars and shea butter drops.

Ebay sells all this stuff very cheaply and its all 100% natural.

My skin

I always use cleanser & toner on my skin. I use just an asda young own brand for this. It lasts ages and cost me £1. Ive tried loads of different ones and this is just as good as any of them.

To exfoliate I use a 100% organic cotton washcloth i made myself (crochet) with a body shop exfoliating salt scrub. I got the scrub on sale for about 1.50 and it lasts ages.

As a facewash I normally use any of the simple brands (i buy the mini ones as they work out far better value for money! £1 each and last ages!) or my body shop foaming tea tree facewash. this was £5 from the body shop and it great for tired skin or spotty skin.It comes in a big bottle and where it foams you need only use a tiny bit each time. It will last me the year easily. My hubby uses it to. I use the matching clearing lotion for breakouts (which dont happen often but where I am now on artifical hormones due to cancer I have to be careful as they do come along now and again)

Moisturiser I just use a mini simple, or tesco own brand day and night cream. I also have a huge olay. I have to use quite a lot of lotion as I do have very dry skin.
I only tend to buy things if I know they will last me a fairly long time and are suitable for my skin type, which saves me so much money in the long run. Most products last me a good 6-12 months.

My nails

I dont get my nails "done" if you like very often at all, last time I had them done was 2 years ago. I keep them short and clean. I use mostly clear gloss protecting varnish or maybe a peach now and again. I keep it simple and it costs me pennies. I use a good handcream, always have a soap and glory or berts bees on the go for when I need it.

My brows

I went through a bit of a phase getting my brows threaded every few weeks but I think I am going to stop that for a while now. It was £15 a month for somthing I can do myself really (well, pluscking anyway!) I just liked the convience of it.

My feet

I may be weird here, I am 23 and have never had to exfoliate or use a pumice stone on my feet. They have never been dry or hard looking really but I think I will start anyway. I like to use foot cooling lotion by the bodyshop on them after a nice foot spa at home. Pennies a year and nice soft tootsies.

Hair removal.

I shave, I used to use Nair but it burnt me and I wont use it again now. I dont get on with wax. Wax = pain. No thanks. I shave using disposables at the mo, go through aboout one razor a week. pack costs me £1 (bic lady) and lasts about 2 months per packet. 

Tanning

I use the St Moriz tanning mouse. Its a dupe of the St Tropez tanning mouse. It works perfectly with a tanning mitten. No streaks, no smell, no fuss. I go through a few bottles a year and its £3 a time. Cant argue at that.