Beauty on a Budget: How Students can Do Skincare

Taking care of your skin is a necessity, but sometimes, the price of skincare makes it seem like a luxury. As a student your funds are low, and skincare takes a backseat on your list of priorities. Rightfully so. Read on to hear how we suggest doing skincare on a budget.

The Essentials:

There are 3 products that everyone, no matter what, should be using on a daily bases.  First, a good cleanser with slight exfoliating ingredients such as salicylic or lactic acid. A broad-spectrum SPF of 45 or higher because sun exposure it the number one cause of wrinkles. Lastly, a moisturizer. Keeping the skin hydrated helps keep oils under control (excessive oil causes acne) and keep it looking bright and plump. If you can't afford to get all the bells and whistles of skincare, stick to these 3 products. They're the most important.

Now, ideally, these 3 products would be medical grade strength. Not only because it will have higher concentrations of the ingredients that matter but it will also keep you away from ingredients that you don't want (like most drugstore products contain). While we understand medical-grade products are a bit pricier, you have to understand that since the ingredients are so potent, you can use less and have them last longer! For example, Revision Skincare's cleanser is $30 and last an average of 4 months. Our ZONA Med Spa Moisturizer is $45 and will last you a good 6 months. And Revision's Intellishade SPF is $75 and will keep you protected for around 5-6 months. So it may be a little sticker shock at first, but you won't have to re-up on product for a while!

How to Find Decent Products at the Drugstore:

If those recommendations are still a little out of our budget, don't fret! Decent drugstore skincare can be found. Best way to see if you're getting a good product is by checking the ingredients list. If alcohol is high up on the list, you don't want it. Fragrance? Stray away. For those of you who don’t know, the list I'm referring to is the ingredients list. They are listed in order of their concentrations. The first five ingredients or so are typically the bulk of the formula. The concentration of each ingredient gets smaller the further down the list they are. Therefore, you want the important ingredients on the top of the list! A lot of drugstore products will product a "charcoal mask" and charcoal will be the last ingredients on the list. So look out for that trick.

In general, just getting educated on a handful of good skincare ingredients can make a world's difference. Do your research to learn about some popular ingredients and what they do for your skin.  Click here for a list of 30 skincare ingredients you should know!

Quick Money-Saving Tricks:

• Consider dual-function products. With love Revision's Intellishade moisturizer with sunscreen and anti-aging ingredients.
• Get the most for your hard-earned money. When choosing anti-aging products, look for ingredients such as vitamin A and alpha hydroxy acid.
• Get the most from your body moisturizer. Apply moisturizer to damp skin as soon as you get out of the shower to lock in the moisture.
• Never use cotton balls for your toner or eye makeup remover.
  They’re thick and absorb too much liquid product, wasting the excess your skin can’t absorb. Instead, use a thin, cotton pad or just your fingers!
• Use only the appropriate amount of product.
  For cleansers, use a nickel size amount, for serums, a dime size, for eye cream, a rice grain size, and for sunscreen, a quarter size for the face and neck.

Download Honey:

Sounds weird but is actually really cool. Honey is a browser extension that that automatically finds and applies coupon codes at checkout with a single click.  Easy savings without even thinking about it!

Do you have any other beauty money-saving tricks that I didn't mention?

For More Information

For more information on medical grade or drugstore skincare please contact us at ZONA Med Spa. Or book a complimentary consultation online by clicking here.