Top 10 Beauty Picks Under $5

Hand cream from daiso- $2.80

Hands down (hahaha pun fully intended), my favorite hand cream of all time. It’s not fancy, not scented and doesn’t come in a pretty package but it makes my hands feel so good after using it that it could turn them purple and I wouldn’t care. The lack of scent is major selling point for me but if you prefer scented creams you could always very easily add some yourself. You only need a little bit to go a very long way and it takes very little effort to rub in. It’s absorbed into the skin very well and doesn’t leave that slimy hands feeling later. I have pretty much zero downsides to this other than it comes in a seriously unattractive bright orange bottle. Can’t say I care at that price though!

Ignore the big acrylic paint stain in the photo below, it just goes to show that I have it on hand so much that I gave it double duty as a palette for some nail art 😉

Eyeliner from Tokuya $3.50 or less if you get it during a sale

I had never been one for pencil eyeliners until now. I hated how hard they were to apply, how they never got in the right places and always just smudged off my face. On a whim I bought a black mechanical liner from Tokuya and it was one of the best make up purchases I’ve made to date. Completely opened up my eyes (so many stupid puns today!) to the world of waterlines and quicky applied smokey liner etc. You don’t get a huge amount of product for your money but considering everything else I still think it’s worth while. The fact that you can twist it to get more rather than needing a sharpener is great and the ability to twist it down and keep in your handbag is a plus too, in fact the size in general is a big plus because it weighs practically nothing. Available in a couple of colours I have tried the black and brown and love both. They apply smoothly but not so smooth as to end up in places you didn’t intend. For me, these last all day which is great, I can apply them and know they are still going to be there by the time I get home.

Eyebrow pencil from Tokuya $3.50 of less if you get on sale

Another Tokuya find, these eyebrow pencils come in a heap of colours including grey which I don’t see too often. As with the eyeliners the application is smooth but not too smooth, it is easily coaxed into place and lasts very well. The amount of product isn’t much but you pay for the portability and convinience. Definitely a big plus. It comes with a lid for travel (which I have already lost). I don’t like how long the plastic part is compared to the amount of product inside, I think it could be smaller but small negative in a lot of positives.

Priceline fragrant talc $2 English rose.

I think fragrant talc reminds a lot of girls of their grandmother’s scented draw liners, which in my eyes isn’t nessecarily a bad thing. At $2 this bottle has lasted me well over a year and I don’t even think I’m half way through. It’s versatile as a body powder, something to quickly add a little scent if you’re in a hurry, to absorb scent off dirty clothes if you’re desperately out of clean laundry and my all time favorite use: as a last resort dry shampoo. While it doesn’t exactly clean hair it does soak up oils and lightens dark roots temporarily. Just shake onto the hair, leave for a few minutes then brush out. It gives hair a thicker more grippy texture which can be useful when styling. Definitely not a replacement for actually cleaning your hair but in a pinch it will do and it smells lovely!

Lipgloss from Daiso $2.80

Berry pink lip gloss which is heavy on the shimmer? Hell yes. The packaging is very plain and scratches easily in my handbag but this is a fantastic everyday lip gloss which doesn’t break the budget. It’s a decent sized bottle and the formula is much less sticky than most cheap lip glosses. They had around 5 or so colours when I was there so a decent range.

The FaceShop and Missha glitter polishes. Between $3.50-4.95 depending on polish and store.

I love cheap nail polish. Cheap nail polishes mean I can buy more colours and make more designs 😀 As far as glitter polishes go, I think Missha and The Face Shop have the best ones. Missha’s glitters are super pigmented (review here) and give fantastic coverage while The Face Shop  has a big range of versatile colours.

The picture below is my all time favorite Face Shop polish, its a sheer pearlish colour with silver glitter. It layers beautifully over any number of colours and has a really beautiful forumla. The only think I hate is the bottle, it’s just hard to get much out of.

Those were the ones I had on hand to photograph but there are so many more that I love so…

Other awesome budget beauty picks:

BYS Shimmer Dust

I’ve posted about that here before including a video of the insane shimmer 😀 Love it! It’s around $4 and a little tub will last you forever

Ulta 3 Polishes

Now if you are looking for cheap polishes you can’t go past Ulta3, they have a huge range of colours and are usually between $2-3. I have it on good authority from my lovely friend You’ve Got Nail that they even have colours which are Chanel dupes. For $2!! I’ve reviewed them here, here and here.

Priceline Lucky Dip

Technically not an ongoing beauty buy (at least I don’t think so) but at the moment Priceline is doing charity lucky dips. They donate products and you give a gold coin donation and pick one. I’ve gotten some really awesome stuff over the last week from there (photos coming) and the money going to charity is an awesome bonus!