Thankfully, we live in an age when the quality of beauty products need not be sacrificed for a cheaper price tag. Kendall Jenner recently incited huge commotion when she declared her favourite shampoo to be by a budget brand called Finesse.
It retails at $3.69 (you can find it on Amazon at the moment for around £12). More expensive does not necessarily mean better, and almost every sort of product you could want can be found in a good pharmacy for a reasonable price.
Excellent colour products - lipstick, eyeshadow, liners and their ilk - are easiest to find on a budget. Because pharmacy brands tend to focus on making shades that will sell in higher numbers (you will almost never find a budget foundation available in a really wide or inclusive shade range, with very light and very dark skins being the first to be neglected), good budget foundations and concealers require a little more work to find, but they are out there.
The ten products included here are just a few examples of the sterling budget beauty buys to be had at the moment, but there are so many more.
1. Garnier Miracle Sleeping Cream (€16.99)
If you're looking for a comforting overnight product to seal in your other skincare underneath, acting almost as cotton gloves worn on moisturised hands overnight, consider Garnier Miracle Sleeping Cream (€16.99), which is rich, pleasingly viscous, but not congesting.
You will awake to shockingly softened skin. Do apply it atop other skincare, however. If an overnight mask seems like too much work, opt for a good oil. Many people are horrified by the idea of putting oil on their skin. Far from increasing oil production or causing spots, it will help to regulate your skin’s own oil levels and nourish skin intensively.
2. Superfacialist Rose Miracle Makeover Facial Oil (€13.99)
This is a delectable option, and currently on offer from Boots. It usually costs €20.99 and is still a very worthy buy even at that price. The rose fragrance is hard to resist.
3. Rimmel London Match Perfection Foundation (€10.49)
This is not at all new, but it is difficult to top. I’ve been wearing it for years, even as my skin has changed from that of a late teen to decidedly not that of a late teen. It is a dead ringer for YSL’s sadly now reformulated Touche éclat Foundation, which is still lovely (I wear it regularly), but it is less thrillingly excellent in my opinion than it was in its original formulation. Match Perfection is a blissfully radiant bottle of candlelit skin, and has an uncommonly wide shade range for a budget base. If I were ever to hear a whisper of its being discontinued, I would likely bankrupt myself buying in bulk and storing it in the utility room the way a prepper stores dried meats ‘in case of apocalypse’. It will work on all but the oiliest skins, provided those prone to shine are not averse to a dusting of powder in the centre of the face.
4. Luxe Studio 9X Oval Face Brush (€21.99)
I have taken to applying this and all other foundations which pair well with brushes with my Luxe Studio 9X Oval Face Brush (€21.99 from Boots.ie). I took a chance on this during an expeditionary mission to Boots in London where I got it for £16.99. They are available here from Boots online, and are a relatively new addition to their roster, given that the brand launched into the store last March. You may recognise them as being frighteningly similar to the brushes of luxury brand Artís. The Artís equivalent of this brush will set you back between €74 and €84 from Net-A-Porter. Of course, the two are not identical, but I'm mightily pleased with my Luxe Studio Brush – it gives an airbrushed finish and takes the wristwork out of blending.
5. Maybelline Fit Me Concealer (€8.99)
Of course, there’s only so much any foundation or brush can do in the face of blemishes or dark circles. Maybelline Fit Me Concealer (€8.99) has a whole corner of Reddit devoted to its worship. Nourishing and providing excellent coverage without light reflection or a capacity to highlight blemishes, it is the ideal budget concealer. Sadly, the shade range is very limited but if you can find a match, you won’t be disappointed.
6. L’Oréal Brow Expert Paris Xpert Pencil (€7.99)
Sometimes anticipating disappointment can blinker you against trying a product. L’Oréal Brow Expert Paris Xpert Pencil (€7.99) is a recent find that I was more than ready to take agin’, in the words of Marian Keyes and The Artful Dodger. Budget brow products can be terribly unpredictable, as anyone who has ever bought a brown or blonde product and come out with ginger eyebrows will know. Not that there is anything at all wrong with ginger brows, but they look more in union with the general theme of one’s head if your hair is also red. This range mimics the iconic TOM FORD brow pencil with its flattened triangular head and easy, natural application. A little bit will give a very natural result and it does come in both cool blonde and cool brown tones.
7. NYX Professional Makeup Baked Eyeshadow (€7.00)
High quality budget eyeshadows are very easy to find, but I love a single shadow with an interesting texture to compensate when I can’t be bothered to apply more than one shade. There is as much chance of a good Irish summer as there is of the average busy woman faffing about with several different eyeshadows on a weekday morning. NYX Professional Makeup Baked Eyeshadow (€7.00) comes in a huge range of shades and gives a light-reflective finish that looks ‘done’ without any effort. I’ll whack on a nude shade with a flat brush or my finger, apply some mascara and run out the door.
8. L’Oréal Paris Miss Baby Roll Mascara (€10.49)
While I have no implicit bias around most budget eye products, I’m conscious that I can be a mascara snob. YSL False Lash Effect is my all-time favourite, but at €32.50, I can almost never permit myself to buy it. When I do, I buy it at the airport while clenching my jaw to hold the scream within and prevent myself from terrifying the cashier. L’Oréal Paris Miss Baby Roll Mascara (€10.49) is a new one to me and may have the most ridiculous name of any product I have seen in over a decade of researching and writing about beauty products. However, if you can get past the weird name (for some reason it evoked mental images of that pleasing fold of plump squish at a baby’s wrist) it is a truly sensational mascara. Not for the faint of heart (or lash), it is black as a priest’s socks and volumising in every sense of the word. Like a decidedly overstated boob job for the eyes, no one will believe they’re real in their gravity-defying girth, but some people will be jealous.
9. Catrice Mineral Glow Highlighter (€5.50)
The L’Oréal mascara is a product that is capabele of producing only one – albeit excellent – finish, and that is full-on. A budget product that is a multitasker and buildable from subtle to kick-in-the-face is rarer. Catrice Mineral Glow Highlighter (€5.50) is one such product. I would choose it – and have chosen it – over MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Powder, which is a makeup artist staple and a highlighter of queenly stature within the industry. This Catrice offering is buildable from a whisper of light reflection to fully glossy skin, and is nothing short of sumptuous.
10. Garnier Ambre Solaire Sensitive Advanced Protecting and Hydrating Face Mist SPF50 (€7.50)
Top it with a liberal spritz of Garnier Ambre Solaire Sensitive Advanced Protecting and Hydrating Face Mist SPF50 (€7.50) if you haven’t applied SPF before makeup in the morning. A gentle aerosol spritz with a very high protection factor, it is a handbag staple and genuine bargain. It also doesn’t upset makeup when applied over the top, so none of us have any excuse to skip SPF this summer.
