Best beauty buys under $10
By: Staff | Self
You can pamper yourself from head to toe with these drugstore steals, all for $10 or less.
-
Best Cleansing Wipes:
Burt’s Bees Facial Cleansing Towelettes With White Tea Extract, $6
Botanicals mop up dirt and makeup on the go; white tea shields skin against free radical damage. “These wipes have a great smell and give great results! What more could I want?” our tester asks.
-
Best Hydrating Cleanser:
Clean & Clear Morning Burst Fruit Infusions Hydrating Facial Cleanser, $6
This drugstore find has coconut and pineapple to hydrate “without causing breakouts,” one happy tester says. It’s like a piña colada for your face (with no hangover).
-
Best Acne Spot Treatment:
Yes to Tomatoes Clear Skin Spot Stick, $10
Think defusing a breakout is mission: impossible? Think again! After a quick roll of this zit zapper, our tester “noticed improvement right away,” she says. That’s because the corrector is rich in lycopene (an antioxidant from tomatoes that protects skin from pore cloggers) and tea tree oil, a natural bacteria killer. The savviest part: The soothing roller ball keeps dirt and oil from not-so-clean fingers away from already-clogged skin so the solution can do its job better.
-
Best Lip Gloss:
Ulta Beauty Brilliant Color Lip Gloss, $8
Can’t stand tacky shine? Neither could our tester—and she swears by this yummy, game-changing gloss: “I absolutely loved it! It wasn’t sticky, and even my boyfriend noticed how luscious my lips looked!” We’ll take one for every purse, please.
Get more bang for your buck: “The shadow was glitzy, with a mineral texture. It seems like a pricier brand than it is,” our reader says. Not that we’re surprised: This show stealer was everywhere during Spring Fashion Week.
-
Best Eye Pencil:
NYX Cosmetics Slide on Pencil, $8
This smudgeproof pencil lasts as long as a liquid version does, without requiring the magnifying mirror or the professional skill set. And the easy-glide formula won’t skip on lids. “It was effortless to apply,” our tester confirms.
Our tester was skeptical about this lash lifter at first, but it became a gotta-have as soon as she tried it. “The brush looks like a tiny football, which is weird, but the long and short bristles coat every lash without clumps. Amazing!” she says.
A high-tech resin in our tester’s new fave helps keep skin’s oils from causing raccoon-eye smudges. “I put it on in the morning, then curled my lashes before meeting friends that night. It looked like a fresh coat!” our tester says.
-
Best Highlighter:
Sonia Kashuk Super Sheer Shimmering Highlighter, $10
A drop of this extra-creamy highlighter on each cheekbone “lights up my whole face instantly,” a reader raves. Pretty!
It’s treatment on one end, concealer on the other. Our tester sums it up better than we can: “Love, love, love—I fell in love! The first thing my mother said when she saw me after using it was ‘Oh, my gosh, your skin looks so clear.'” Thanks, Mom!
Since it came out this year, shatter polish (you know, that funky top coat of color that looks like broken glass) has made a major impact on manis. This formula, which isn’t too thick or too thin, “adds a cool texture over any polish, so your color options are endless,” one tester says. Try turquoise over your favorite green polish for a subtle ocean vibe, or layer white crackle over metallic gold for snakeskins. Our fave? Channel a sunset with an orange base and red crackle.
-
Best Nail Polish:
Sally Hansen Smooth and Perfect Color + Care, $6
This pretty polish actually fills ridges and nicks; its formula’s color “looks professional,” our tester says. But it also allows more oxygen to come in contact with the nails than regular polish, so ridges are evened while you rock one of the eight spring-friendly hues.
-
Best Top Coat:
Essie No Chips Ahead Chip Free Top Coat, $8
When we heard this finishing touch could keep polish from chipping for 10 days, we didn’t buy it. But our testers proved us wrong: “I’ve never had a top coat work so well! For the first time ever, I changed my polish because I was bored, not because my mani was chipped. The top coat lasted longer than any other I’ve tried.” Impressive!
This new twist on the SELF fave now has SPF 20 sunscreen built in, so you can build color while you block UV rays. “It’s like I get rewarded for using sunscreen,” a previously pasty reader says.
-
Best All-Around Shampoo:
Güd Pearanormal Activity Natural Nourishing Shampoo, $7
These pear-scented suds strengthen strands with nettle leaf extract and leave hair “soft and silky,” our tester raves.
-
Best All-Around Conditioner:
Güd Pearanormal Activity Natural Softening Conditioner, $7
Jojoba proteins condition hair. “It smells great and gave my hair body without any residue,” our tester says.
-
Best Hair Oil:
Alaffia Shea Butter & Rosemary Shining Curl Oil for Wavy to Curly Hair, $9
Shea butter and rosemary leaf oil in this extra-natural winner turned a self-proclaimed “factory of frizz” into a “tame curly Sue,” she says.
-
Best Body Wash:
Caress Endless Kiss Silkening Body Wash, $4
Tiny beads of moisture soften skin as you lather. After using the wash, our tester says, “It smelled better than my perfume, and I could skip lotion. Total time (and money!) saver!”
-
Best Hand Cream:
Earth Therapeutics Intensive Hand Repair, $8
Get the hydrating benefits of creamy cocoa butter without leaving greasy prints behind: “My hands felt like baby skin all day!” one thrilled reader boasts.
-
Best Bar Soap:
Olay Soothing Cucumber Body Bar With Massaging Design, $4
Nubs on this body bar “help rub out achy muscles after a tough workout,” our Spin-savvy tester points out. Plus, the bar has avocado oil to moisturize.
Source: Yahoo!® Shopping
Cynthia Bujnicki
Cynthia Bujnicki is an avid reader with a Bachelors in Writing, Literature, and Publishing from Emerson College. She spends her time working on her own novels, publishing under the name Nia Dragin, while she reads and reviews at for her own enjoyment. SHe was the former Creative Director of the YA, Fantasy and Sci-Fi section on the online publication World Light Review. As a manager at her local movie theater she also enjoys free movies while she works on building her own publishing company. An avid cat lover, she has a kitten named Mr. J the Kitten Who Thinks He's Batman and another named Boo. She lives in too sunny South Florida with her husband.
