Oh ladies, this one’s for you. We’re all busy, we all want to save time right? Saving money isn’t a bad thing either – more money to redirect to Net-A-Porter wish lists. Or travel or you know, actual savings – whatever keeps you motivated through the work week. With these beauty practices you’ll have both! Forget the endless appointments eating up your weekend and keep yourself primped independently.
Tint Your Eye Hair
By eye hair I mean eyebrows and eyelashes, obviously. This is the best for time saving on mascara and eyebrow colouring in, especially if you are running late, don’t want to wear makeup, are going to the gym or what not! Do one better and tint your brows yourself! I buy this 1000 Hour kit which costs $25, gives you at least 10 applications and takes roughly 12 minutes. I use the dark brown colour, leave it on for only 5 minutes and my eyebrows come out a nice dark blondish colour. Start with that and if you like it darker, leave it on longer next time!
Whiten Your Teeth at Home
Oral B Whitening Strips plus their whitening toothpaste are by the far best at home whitening products I have found yet! They are quite cost effective too! Hurrah! You pop the strips on at least once a week for half an hour and use the toothpaste daily. I found with other whitening toothpaste gave me sensitive gums but not with these bad boys, thanks Oral B.
Use Baby Wipes Instead of Make Up Wipes
Okay this doesn’t save you time but it certainly saves you money. You can buy 250 for less than $5 and the wipes are just as good, if not better for your skin – they are used for babies bottoms after all! I also find they are larger and far more…moist than make up remover wipes. Yeah I said moist and I meant it, baby wipes are the goods.
Buy Tea Tree Oil Instead of Pimple Cream
An all natural, multi-purpose product that you probably already own, is far cheaper than pimple cream and does an amazing job? Why would you waste your time with anything else? Use a few drops on a cotton pad and dab it on that pesky pimple twice a day – goodbye imperfection!
Shellac Your Own Nails
Oh I know but going to the salon is such a treat! It’s so great when the therapist talks about you in foreign languages to their staff, love it!! Or you can do those nails at home whilst watching TV, working or whatever – I do mine as I blog and multi task saving myself time and money! I picked up a Sally Hansen kit from Priceline – for the kit including lamp, base, top coat and one colour it was approximately $60! They often have them on sale too. I was honestly shocked how easy it was to do myself and wished I invested sooner. Don’t bother buying all the fancy nail prep pads or nail wipes and the like once they run out. You can actually use alcohol wipes to remove oil before applying the polish and use them once you’re finished to get rid of the tackiness of the shellac. When it comes to my toes I usually alternate between at home and salon pedicures because I do enjoy the massage chair and they clean your feet up quite nicely! So good! So easy! So time and money savvy!
Use a Cleansing Oil and Only Wash Your Face Once
Only wash your face once? How many times are you meant to wash it you ask?! You should be washing twice if using a normal cleanser – once to remove makeup, dirt etc and a second time for the cleanser to do its job. So if you haven’t been doing this start immediately. If you have – buy an oil cleanser and go back to just washing it once. The oil cleansers are super hydrating too and they get rid of makeup in a single wash. You can use without water or add a little bit if you find the cleanser isn’t moving around your face well. My favourite products are Glamglow Powercleanse Daily Dual Cleanser $58 or Dr Lewinn’s 4 Fusion Oil Cleanser $32.99.
Only Use Water to Wash Your Face in the Morning
I got this handy tip from the lovely ladies at Mecca Cosmetica. You don’t need to cleanse your face in the morning – What have you really done between washing at night and waking up? I don’t know about your schedule but for me not a whole lot. Save yourself some time and money (less product use) and just splash with cold water. Refreshed.
Use a Hair Treatment Instead of Conditioner
You can actually eliminate the need to do both conditioning plus treating and save yourself time. My fabulous hairdresser gave me this trick and I haven’t bought conditioner for years and never looked back! If I have extra time I hop out of the shower after shampooing my hair, towel dry it a bit and then comb through a treatment and sit around for 5-10 minutes. So soft and nourishing. Be sure to pick the right treatment for your hair whether that’s damaged, blonde, frizzy etc. Right now I’m loving L’oreal Elvive Extraordinary Oil Treatment, it is divine on my thick locks!
Seperate Your Products
Thats your daily products from your going out and semi-regular products, separate skin care, makeup and hair products too
I am a little OCD with the old ‘everything in its place’ but I find being this way makes me super time efficient. I have one bag for daily make up and another (very large) bag for all my other makeup. One draw for skin care and a separate draw for hair care plus a cabinet of body lotions and self-tan products. Okay, okay I like beauty stuff, caught red handed. Sorting through bags or draws of products will waste time, precious time. You’ll probably end up with unused, expired items shoved in the back of places too. Organise your equipment and you’re guaranteed to save time searching.
Fake Tan Yourself at Home
I love a good spray tan from the salon but over time they can get expensive and they are quite time consuming when you factor in a trip to the salon, sitting around your house smelling like a coconut and then waiting to wash it all off. Save yourself some time, buy a good mousse, a mitt and do it yourself at home. Sleep in it overnight and wake up like a golden goddess. My absolute favourite mousse is the Modelco One Hour Tan in Dark Bronze. Other great options are Bondi Sands or J Bronze Mousse though so find which brand suits your skin tone and stick to that. Live by yourself and can’t possibly fathom self-tanning at home, worry your back will be left sparse? Well Model Co has a back applicator, genius! Check it out below and you can buy it here. The self-tan remover wipes below are also fantastic! A+ Model Co!
Check For Duplicates, Thanks Google!
A lot of expensive makeup products are made with very similar ingredients in the same factories as your more expensive brands. Super sleuth your favourite product for duplicates and buy the cheaper version if you’re saving your pennies! I found that Maybelline Falsies Mascara is an excellent dupe of the Benefit They’re Real Mascara and it’s half the price! Delightful dupes, get amongst it!
Make Your Own Scrubs
You know all those girls clogging Instagram lathered in body scrub? For a small tub the price of looking like a tea sipping Insta-famous woman can be expensive. Plus you have to wait for postage and that does nothing for the impatient among us. Why not make it at home? 1 cup ground coffee, 1 cup sugar, ½ cup coconut or olive oil is all it takes. Add some honey if you want an additional scent and some extra hydration. This scrub exfoliates with excellence and it’s an all natural product that you probably have at home already. Use it on your dry lips too. Resist the urge to lick it off!
Image sources: Bettereyelashes.com, DentalguideAustralia.com.au, Iherb.com, MirrorMirrorDumfries.co.uk, LondonBeautyQueen.com, ModelCo Cosmetics
