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Beauty buys for only $5!

11 January, 2015 - 10:11pm by - First Lady | 43 Comments

Article posted by BR Natalie

Remember when $5 would get you a lot?  Lollies. Lots of them.  Glitter hairspray.  2 or even 3 magazines.  What does $5 get you now?  A (small) bottle of Diet Coke.  A couple of chocolate bars.Half a glossy mag?  More of a pop than a bang for your buck.

So when Merilyn, Queen of BR, asked me to put my well honed shopping skills to use, I was excited.  And then came the 'uh' moment.  I had to find great beauty buys for under $5.  And that's $5 retail price, if it's on special, great, but the usual full price must also be under $5.

Never one to shy away from a challenge I set out to find great beauty buys by heading out to my local shops, pharmacies and even supermarkets. And surprisingly, I came back with quite a haul.  And I even left some bargains on the shelves for next time!

Here's my top finds!

Lip Care

Maybelline Baby Lips.  RRP: $4.29.

With 650 reviews and a 4/5 average rating this lip balm is a winner for under $5.  Cute packaging, a ridiculous number of flavours, scents and colours and the promise of baby soft lips for up to 8 hours.  And you can sneak it in your grocery shop.  Nothing better than a write-off beauty buy right?! 

Readily available in your local supermarket and pharmacy.

Skinfood Lip Balm.  RRP: $4.99

100% natural, NZ made, Vegetarian Society approved, free from animal testing, free from parabens, genetically modified ingredients, artificial colours and harsh detergents.  And you thought natural meant expensive!   

Readily available in your local supermarket.

Bath and Shower Care

Ecostore Lemongrass Soap.  RRP $2.50

You might be thinking a soap is a soap - but when it's consistently rating at 4.6/5, there's got to be something great about this particular bar of bubbles!    

Readily available in your local supermarket.

Orginal Source Shower Gel.  RRP $4.49

 Whatever flavour your buy will smell good enough to eat - if you resist licking your arm after you're a stronger woman than me!  I have a few on the go, for different needs.  Lime for a refreshing morning shower, Shea and Honey for a relaxing, comforting shower and Vanilla Milk and Raspberry to smell irresistable. But I just couldn't resist picking up a Mint and Tea Tree! 

Readily available in your local supermarket.

Hair Care

Pantene Pro V Hair Treatment 3 Minute Miracle.  RRP: $2.99

We found these on offer 2 for $5 - even more of a bargain!  3 Minute Miracle is an intensive treatment for severely damaged hair to help reduce split ends.  Find a salon that can beat that price for a treatment!  

Readily available in your local supermarket.

Hask Keratin Protein Hair Treatment.  RRP: $4.99

For just under 5 bux you can grab a treatment from your local pharmacy.  I picked up the Keratin Protein treatment, but you can also find Macadamia Oil and Argan Oil.  A great way to experiment and find your perfect oil. 

 Readily available in pharmacies.

Sunsilk Shampoo or Conditioner.  RRP: $4.00

Hair care.  We're constantly told we need to buy salon brands to acheive great hair.  Well at your local supermarket you can pick up a brand with consistently good reviews across it's range.  I like the look of the Longer and Stronger Shampoo and Conditioner - for under $5 each!   

Readily available in your local supermarket.

Clip-in Hair Extensions.  RRP: $2.00

Ok, these are probably not going to last a lifetime, or even a couple of months, but for $2 a pop you can experiment with bright colours for a bargain price.  Great for fancy dress! 

Scour your local 'two dollar' shops.

Skin Care

Montagne Jeunesse Face Mask.  RRP: $3.97

A facial and pamper session for not even $4?  You can't really go wrong can you?  And the range of masks is almost overwhelming - addressing almost any skin concern you can think of! 

Readily available in pharmacies.

Palmers Hand Cream Fast Absorbing Hand Cream.  RRP: $4.99

Hand cream is essential for smooth, hydrated and youthful hands.  After all they do for us surely we can treat them to a little bit of TLC, especially when it'll only cost us $5.  For a pretty good size tube!   

Readily available in your local supermarket.

Vaseline Dry Skin Cream.  RRP: $3.99

Ok this isn't exacty a huge bottle of moisturiser, but it's a brand we all know and love, and there's plenty in there for a few weeks, which makes it perfect for travelling! 

Available in your local supermarket.

  

Personal Care

Mitchum Roll On Deodorant.  RRP: $4.49

Lets be honest, we'd pay as much as we had to to avoid the embarassment of pit stains, which is why every girl needs to find a great deodorant.  And with 4.5/5 as an average rating, Mitchum Roll On is a great buy!   

Readily available in your local supermarket.


Schick Exacta 2 Colours 5 + 1 Free.  RRP: $4.29

So these might be the ultimate bargain buy.  They were on special for around $3.20 and you get a razor free!

Now these might not tackle a forrest, but are great to have in the bathroom cupboard for those 'I need a razor....now' emergencies, like an impromtu girls night or a random trip to the pool.

Cosmetics

Jordana.  RRP: $5.00 or less.

The range that's rivalling the big guns for a fraction of the price.  Take the lipstick range for example - an average score of 4.4/5.  MAC lipsticks are only a teeny bit ahead at 4.8/5!  Well worth a hunt around your local bargain stores for sure!

Scour the 'two dollar' stores for this range.

Miki.  RRP: $5.00 or 2 for $8.00

A budget range which is cute and fun.  I couldn't resist picking up 2 products and grabbed a super sparkly lip gloss, and in honour of Purple Week, I grabbed a gorgoues liquid eyeliner pen.   

Availble in Unichem Chemist and Postie Plus.

Health Basics Nail Polish Remover.  RRP: $4.59

Available with or without acetone this bathroom cabinet staple is a winner with Beauty Review members.  Almost 400 reviews and a 4.6/5 average, this is clearly a $5 buy that does what it says it will!   

Readily available in your local supermarket.

All in all I loved this challenge - my feet not so much.  You definitely have to hunt out great beauty buys under $5, but they are out there.  Now if my budget was $5.99 a product, let me tell you, this article would be a lot longer!

What's you best budget beauty buy under $5?  Do you find they compare well with more expensive items or is $5 just not enough for a decent buy?  Get chatting below!


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Comments

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27th February, 2015

Postie Plus is a good place to keep an eye out for under $5 make up bargains as they parallel import a lot of their stock.

28th January, 2015

It's good to see a range of items can be purchased for $5 and under. Especially well known products thanks BR for this review

27th January, 2015

Who knew?? These are amazing finds, thanks!

27th January, 2015

This has definitely helped me out a lot, I will be trying most of these products ASAP????

26th January, 2015

Want to try Jordana, Miki and the Nail polish remover! Really want to try the original source shower gel as well

25th January, 2015

Great list! I am going to have to try out these Jordana lipsticks now.

25th January, 2015

Great article- can't wait to try a few of these!

21st January, 2015

I use a few of these. If you have a kmart in your region you can also get LOL make up for $3 an item, which is great for buying lots of different coloured eyeliners :) KK lipsticks at the $2 shop also aren't too bad.

21st January, 2015

What a great list Merilyn - no excuse now not to look after ourselves.Thanks so much for your super sluthing.

18th January, 2015

Thanks for this. I'm definitely going to try the Orginal Source Shower Gel in Vanilla/Raspberry. Sounds so good. And what a good price!

17th January, 2015

Oh, this has made me want to add some of these things to my shopping list! there are some bargains here!

17th January, 2015

Love Miki, their lip balms are delicious as well as the nail polish shades. Still yet to try jordana lipsticks

15th January, 2015

Looovvveee maybelline baby lips, I do not go anywhere without mine! Actually it's a product im still yet to review. Original source shower gel I have also used and I didn't like it so much but I won't knock it cause the only thing I didn't like about it was the scent I had, other than that it was ok. :) cool to see some lippys $5 or less, being a newbie to lippys I'll be sure to check the Jordana range out.

15th January, 2015

Wow there are bargains out there if you look hard enough. I am going out to get the Pantene Hair treatment and will be trying the orginal source shower gel. It's great that we can have all this wonderful advise from the Beauty Review family. Thanks to all, if like me, do read a lot of the advise posted from everyone.

15th January, 2015

What a great idea for a post! So many things I didn't know about. Keen to try the Pantene and Hask Hair treatments. Already a fan of the Health Basics nail polish remover. Thanks, every dollar counts!

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