There’s no getting around it - high quality skincare is expensive! I know that it can be so overwhelming when you get a routine recommendation from your esthetician and the total price tag is hundreds of dollars. It seems insane right!? Well, in a perfect world I would have all my clients on a high-quality routine, because you only get one skin, and taking care of it is super important. However, there are times in life where we can’t always afford this type of high quality regimen. And that is ok!! There is no shame in wanting to cut your expenses where you can.
When you can’t afford to have a full routine of high quality products there are two things I recommend:
Cut your routine down to basics so you can afford high quality for every product
OR
Find ways that you can incorporate less expensive items so you can keep your routine complete and afford some more expensive items.
Note: if skincare is a priority for you, and you can work more pricey high-quality products into your routine then I absolutely recommend doing that. Of course, not all expensive products are ‘good’, so make sure to get a recommendation from your esthetician so you can make sure you are getting the best bang for your buck. I am happy to discuss skincare routines with you! Send me an email on my contact page and we can do a free consult :)
Ok, so let’s get into it.
Where should you always put in a few extra bucks?
Without a doubt, you should always spend a little extra to get high quality products that will make a true difference in your skin. I call these ‘skin changing products’. Examples of these are:
Serums: these are formulated with a small molecular structure, which means they can penetrate deeper into your skin to affect big change. The main groups of serums you will find are ones with vitamin C, antioxidants, acids, etc. Serums will have a thinner feeling texture to them.
Retinoids: this is an umbrella term to describe derivatives of Vitamin A. These products will speed up your cell turnover, which leads to faster skin regeneration and in turn will improve the look of fine lines, acne, pigmentation, plumpness, etc. Truly retinoids are the fountain of youth. When used properly and consistently they will provide huge benefit to the skin.
My favorite serums and retinoids:
Now that we know where to put our hard earned dollars, where should we choose less expensive products?
I always recommend to save your money and be conservative with products that aren’t on the skin for long and aren’t designed to affect big change on the skin. Examples of these are:
Cleansers: cleansers are only on your skin for a short time, and provided they aren’t chock full of drying and barrier damaging ingredients such as alcohols, they won’t be making any big changes in your skin.
Moisturizers: even though our moisturizers are designed to be left on the skin, they don’t necessarily need to be full of fancy ingredients like antioxidants, vitamin c, etc. If you are needing to cut down on your expenses, you can choose a less expensive moisturizer option. Of course, we need to make sure that your less expensive moisturizer option isn’t going to be damaging to your skin either.
There are two things I want to make super clear here:
Expensive does not equal quality! While high quality and well formulated products tend to be more pricey (due to the purity of ingredients, efficacy testing, and high amount of actives), there are a lot of products out there that are ultra expensive, but don’t necessarily have the best ingredients, formulations, etc. and therefor aren’t worth the price tag.
When choosing a less expensive or drugstore option for your cleanser or moisturizer you must be extremely choosey! This is not a pass to go buy whatever bright orange cleanser that you see for $3 at Target. I have only found very few drugstore products that I will say are ok to be used, and I will list these below.
My favorite less expensive cleanser & moisturizer:
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