How to take care of your skin on a budget

Written by: Ryan O’Connell
Published on 26 September 2024

In the quest for radiant, healthy skin, you do not need to break the bank. Affordable skincare has evolved, offering high-quality products that cater to various skin types and concerns without compromising on effectiveness. With the rise of innovative formulations and increased competition in the beauty industry, budget-friendly skincare options now deliver remarkable results, making taking care of your skin accessible to everyone.

With the amount of skincare products available, it can be hard to work out how to get glowing skin on a budget. Whether you're dealing with acne, dryness, or signs of ageing, we'll guide you through the best cost-effective strategies to maintain a healthy complexion.

Defining your skincare goals

The beauty industry has taken over social media, with every second TikTok video or Instagram Reel trying to sell you the next big thing you need for clearer skin or better makeup. Influencers and brands will often have a new incredible product that promises to give you the perfect complexion.

However, as easy as it is to simply pick up all of your favourite TikTok personalities' favourite products, this is not effective for your skin or your wallet in the long run. Just because something is the best for someone else doesn’t mean it’s the best for you.

Defining your skincare goals is the first crucial step towards establishing an effective and personalised skincare routine that won’t break the bank. To get started, determine your skin type—whether it’s oily, dry, combination, or sensitive—as this will help you narrow down your goals and the types of products you should use.

Take a look at how your skin behaves and what you think it needs: do you experience frequent breakouts, dryness, redness, or uneven texture? Answering these questions will help you decide on the targets for your skincare routine. Some goals for your skincare routine could include:

• acne prevention

• anti-ageing

• skin hydration

• skin brightening

• reducing hyperpigmentation

Having these goals will cut down on the chances of you spending too much on unnecessary products.

Start small and build up

When you’re getting started with a skincare routine, it can be tempting to jump right in at the deep end and buy a lot of products. With more and more emphasis on skincare plans with 7 or 8 steps, there is a misconception that the more products you use, the faster your skin will improve. However, this isn’t the case at all.

Building up your skin’s routine steadily is crucial to ensuring the best results as your skin needs time to adjust to new products and ingredients. We recommend starting with the absolute basics: a gentle cleanser, a moisturiser, and sunscreen.

After this, you can slowly start to introduce one new product at a time, such as a serum or exfoliant, and allow at least two weeks to observe how your skin reacts. This gradual approach helps prevent irritation and makes it easier to identify any adverse reactions. It also helps make sure that you don’t splash out on products that don’t work for your skin or that you buy products that aren’t tailored to your goal.

Try picking up skincare samples

As you can see from the tip above, slow and steady wins the skincare race, and sample-size skincare can be a major help. Picking up samples of new skin products can be an effective way to save money while exploring new options for your routine.

Samples give you a chance to test just how effective and compatible new products will be with your skin before you take the leap to buying full-sized versions. It will also further minimise the risk of shelling out money on products that could cause irritation or simply not deliver the desired result for your skin. Many brands offer sample sizes or travel kits, often at a fraction of the cost of regular-sized products.

Ultimately, checking out samples will help you make informed decisions, which is always the key to optimising your budget.

Pick up products that cover multiple steps

Looking for a way to bring down your skincare spending and your routine time all at once? Opting for multi-functional skincare products is a cost-effective strategy that can simplify your routine.

Products that serve multiple purposes eliminate the need for separate items. Maybe it’s a moisturiser with SPF, such as the CeraVe AM Facial Moisturising Lotion SPF50 from LOOKFANTASTIC, or a serum that hydrates and brightens, such as the Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% Serum 30ml from The Ordinary.

By choosing these versatile items, you can maintain healthy, glowing skin without the expense of purchasing multiple single-use products. This approach not only saves money but also streamlines your skincare process, making it more efficient and less time-consuming.

Don’t dismiss drug-store skincare

One fatal mistake you can make when it comes to ensuring your skin’s success (and your wallet’s safety) is dismissing products from your local pharmacy or chemist. Pharmacy skincare can be just as effective and useful as more expensive brands on the market. Boots and Superdrug often have great products with similar ingredients to their more expensive alternatives, both in their own brand skincare, as well as in the other more affordable skincare brands they carry.

Simply check out their ingredient list and compare them to the more expensive upmarket products you want to emulate. You never know, you might just find the key to your skincare routine for a fraction of the price.

Try subscription boxes

Subscription boxes for skincare offer a convenient and cost-effective way to explore new products. Each month, you receive a curated selection of deluxe samples and full-sized items, allowing you to try various brands and formulations without commitment. This approach enhances your skincare routine with variety and value.

One of the most popular skincare subscription boxes in the UK, Glossybox offers a convenient and affordable way to discover new skincare products tailored to your needs. Each month, subscribers receive a curated box filled with five deluxe-sized beauty and skincare items from both well-known and emerging brands.

No matter what your skincare preferences, there are always tips and tricks to save on your skincare products including checking out our Health & Beauty discount codes.