Saving money - Beauty products

My economy drive is going rather well.  Even I'm surprised as I'm such a spendthrift and I've struggled to hang onto money my entire life.  I'll do a few posts this week on how it's going in various areas.  I'm having to face up to the amount of "stuff" I already have and accept I really don't need to buy anything.

Let's start with beauty products.  I'm very lucky that I get sent amazing creams to try from Dior.  I'm currently eeking out the last of their Capture Totale anti-ageing cream which is wonderful.  Holding back the years is a constant battle and I do love a moisturiser of any kind.  I avidly slap it on my face and body in the hope I'll keep wrinkles at bay for a bit longer.

I'm a sucker for a recommendation or a new advertising campaign.  I keep a bag by my bed with the current creams and serums I'm using (Dior, Boots No. 7 Protect and Perfect and Avon eye cream I was given at Christmas), I don't really look at the amount I've accumulated.  I've sort of become immune to it.  I open the cabinet to get my toothbrush out and never glance at anything else.  I was a bit  shocked when I looked at this lot.  Do bear in mind some of them have been in there for YEARS and probably should be on Antiques Roadshow.

Let's take a look at my bathroom cabinet.  Ok, it looks a lot, I could have cropped the photo but I'm too honest!  This is the larger one - there's another with a ton of half empty shampoos and bath products.  It looks organised because it was tidied during my "life laundry".  I wish my make-up looked like this too, but it doesn't.

This is body cream, face cream, face packs, miscellaneous skin products and scent.  There's a lot of Decléor in there.  A friend had boxes of it from her salon and I bought loads at a knock down price in 2009 then proceeded to give most of it away as Christmas presents.

I've tried them all and I'll give anything a go.  Some of these are unopened, I don't know how long they last and some of them are pretty elderly.  They're probably well past their sell by date but I figure they can't harm me too much with the amount of smoking and chemicals I've done  in my life.  Can they?  Maybe I'm slightly more aware of things like since I've given up smoking...  I'm not turning into a boring old anti-smoker thankfully.

I've been reading about all the chemicals in products even so called "natural" ones.  I'm sure my products are all full of parabens and the like.  I've been told to check out Tesco's Bnatural Skin Quenching Body Milk and Enriching Body Milk, they should be cheap too.  It shouldn't be hard to find as there's bloody Tesco's popping up everywhere.  There's at least five near me.  There's a site you can go to to check the ingredients in your products, I doubt anything I have will pass - www.safecosmetics.org

There's all sorts in there -  Dior, Eve Lom, Decleor, Boots No. 7, Oil of Olay, L'Oreal, Natura Bissé, Dermalogica, Strivectin, I Colonniali, Dove, Bio Oil, Neal's Yard, Bliss, Garnier, Body Shop, Shiseido. I've had a go at them all.  I plan to finish the opened ones first.  I shall start tonight with the face packs as I've not had a facial for as long as I can remember.  I hope they're not too dried up.

There are two products I'm addicted to which I'll find to give up.  The first is this Laura Mercier range, it smells fabulous.  The Actor buys it for me.  I don't want to use it too often anymore as it's expensive and I couldn't justify buying it myself.  I wish I could find a cheap product  that smelt this good.  The almond coconut milk and créme brulée honey are my favourites.  Anyone know of a cheap alternative?

I've been addicted to Eve Lom Kiss Mix since it came out.  I haven't managed to give this up either.  At £14 a pot it's expensive but trust me I've tried every single lip balm on the market and this is the best.  I've searched for a cheaper one and even found one at Peacocks which I tried for a while but it just wasn't the same.

I'm going to use up the make-up I have before buying anything else too.  The only thing I really run out of is mascara, foundation and face powder, the rest seems to last forever.  I won't bother showing you a picture of my make-up drawer at the moment as it's a tip.  Sorting that out is the next job.  It's full of broken blusher, blunt pencils and things with no lids on.

Are there any beauty products you'd find hard to give up? xxx