Personally recommended beauty products are always a mood – I’m way happier to pick something spenno up from Mecca/Sephora if I’ve had a mate wax lyrical about it right into my earhole 100 times, because it’s more likely to actually be good.
But personal rec’s that also cost under a 20 buck note? That’s the gold right there – cheap beauty recs are the stuff you’re happy to spend your hard-earned on because there’s low risk. If the product doesn’t work for you, no worries! You didn’t fork out the big cash on it. BUT, you’ve still got a strong chance that it is as good as your best mate says it is, you feel?
Here’s a bunch our office consider ride-or-dies.
I recently discovered this little gem and I’m obsessed. It’s a thick, almost ointment-like cream and one of those multi-talented prods you can literally use anywhere. At the moment thanks to the cold winter air I’ve had some random dry spots on my face, and putting this on morning and night has completely fixed them. It’s also a nice little dewy cheekbone highlighter for when you want an off-duty, low-key look. It’s also completely organic so good for sensitive skin. – Josie
Forget ageing, this concealer is SO good for making your under-eye area look bright and fresh. I put it down to the fuzzy rounded applicator – it’s so easy to get the right amount on and to blend out. – Mel
A solid bar (no plastics!) that exfoliates and hydrates your skin while you’re in the shower or the tub. As someone with dry skin that gets painfully bad in winter, moisturising in the shower was like a whole new world opening up and it’s the best place for me to do that now – I get to keep warm and my skin gets a much-needed drink. All my pores are nice and open from the steam and heat of the shower, so getting moisturiser happening then is really helpful – it feels like it actually gets locked in rather than just sitting on my skin. The Buffy bar exfoliates as well as moisturising, so I’m getting a good scrub as well as hydration. Legit everyone should moisturise in the shower if they find their skin dries out really easily. It changed my life. – Courtney
This eyeliner is soooo good! Like Kat Von D good. Only downside is that it’s quite small, so if you use it a lot it runs out quite fast. But it’s like $4-$5 is Priceline… so I’m not mad at that.- Georgia
I use this as a cleanser and/or moisturiser, I find it’s really good for minimising the appearance of pimple marks and scars. – Melissa
A little tub of inoffensive balm that’s great for all dry spots, chapped lips, and moisturising my stretched earlobes before I put my stone plugs in every morning. It’s literally just jojoba oil (closest oil to our natural sebum), candelilia wax and rose wax – super simple but helps my (very dry) skin from freaking out in winter. – Courtney
The hype is real – this mousse blends easily, the colour is super natural (it’s dark but it’s not like “hi I marinated in a bath of fake tan” dark) and it dries in seconds. – Mel
I got this for my tattoo when it was healing because it’s non-scented and super moisturising, but it’s so good on very dry skin, it seems to lock in moisture and you still feel like you’re fresh-moisturised hours later. My fave is slathering it on and then jumping in my winter PJs and getting in bed, and then the next morning I feel like I don’t need to moisturise again. – Courtney
This is my forever mascara. It separates lashes, adds colour, makes them longer and more voluminous and it’s just CONSISTENT. It’s the one I use daily, saving those crazy 40000x more volume kinds for nights out. – Mel