Monday 9 June 2008

Protecting the purse strings - beauty products

Summer wardrobe, check. Holiday booked, check. Bikini bought, check. Euros, a few...Money saved for A/W clothes, zero, zilch.

OK, that gives you June, July, August and September to put some pennies and pounds away. I always think that October is the perfect month to make ones purchases. It is easy to be beguiled by the new items filling the shops late August and in September, but if you can sit tight for one more month then some real gems appear from October 1st. You also get a real feel for which way the trends are going - embrace or reject as your views dictate.


One area you can make great savings is with beauty grooming products. It requires effort, a plan and determination. No salon treats!


Essential ingrediants are body scrub, body lotion and self tanning products. A razor, shaving gel, wax products and oil.


None of the above have to be expensive. Supermarkets and Pharmacies stock a great range often with special offers and two for one deals. If you go online to Veet you can get a free SATC beauty guide plus a 20% off token for Figleaves which is valid until 31st December 2008!

Use wax for bikini line and underarm. Use Aqueous cream to sooth skin after waxing and the same for after shaving legs. I prefer men's razor and shaving gel to get a great smooth finish. If you find your legs getting dry then rub in some olive or rapeseed oil.

If you're self tanning your legs or using products such as Johnson's, Doves or Nivea's body glow gradual tanning lotion, make sure you exfoliate before applying. Any body scrub will do - go for a cheap and cheerful one or make you own with Maldon sea salt and some olive oil, it's very easy just mix together.

If you do undertake a mega grooming session then just add a hair treatment product, again you can get sachets from £1.45. By the time you've finished your grooming you can rinse it off and have lovely soft hair to boot.

One other treat is a scrub and buff for your feet, particulalry needed if padding around in ballet pumps and/or flip flops. Use the scrub to invigorate the feet. Soak in hot water with lemon and then apply Scholl Footcare's deep moisturising cream. To get super soft feet apply oddles of the cream and put on a pair of socks for an hour or so.

One salon treatment for all these thing is about £110 verus an initial outlay of £25 - £30. Put the money you save towards your A/W clothes fund and don't forget practice makes perfect. My first bikini self wax was rubbish but now I could give myself a Brazilian at a push!

5 comments:

  1. I'm a little scared to do my own waxing, but you have lots of great ideas to save money. I use baking soda powder as exfoliant, and uncoated aspirin pills for acne. those are my best money-savers.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very useful and a great idea. I could do with making an effort to save money and this seems a good palce to start.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm so cheap, I never go to the salon for that stuff! :) They've got Veet here now, I'm going to try it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Veet strips are brilliant for bikini line.
    One item I forgot to mention was talcum powder - useful to apply a light dusting before waxing as it absorbs the skins moisture.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for commenting, much appreciated. Sorry about no longer offering anonymous comments but spamming had become a very annoying issue. xxx