My personal favorite beauty products (all very affordable & valuable to know)

These are my favorite beauty products for both performance and price. The fact that they are easier to get and afford is a bonus. I have now abandoned all of my favorite makeup because of plastic ingredients. The only ones for which I do not have replacements are mascara and this concealer.

If you want to look at my article about plastic free makeup…

Anti-aging beauty creams

Andalou Naturals Goji Peptide Perfecting Cream

I love this face cream so much! It has so many great ingredients and no plastic ingredients at all. It has a very slight fruity scent. Within hours of using this cream, my skin is rosey and healthier looking although I cannot feel this. I highly recommend this beauty cream.

This cream has 2 peptides:

Palmitoyl Tripeptide-1(PAL GHK- synthetic peptide containing 3 amino acids of glycine, histidine, and lysine), Palmitoyl Tripeptide-3 (AHK – copper peptide). 2 fruit stem cell ingredients (Malus Domestica Apple, Solar Vitis Grape), Resveratrol, Panthenol, Vitamin C (Magnesium ascorbyl phosphate), Vitamin E (Tocopherol), Hyaluronic acid (Sodium Hyaluronate), Aloe and cucumber extract and many, many antioxidant ingredients.

If you want to learn about these ingredients, I have an article about peptides and other anti-aging ingredients.

4.6 out of 5 stars for over 900 reviews

Radha Beauty Miracle Retinol Moisturizer cream

I love Miracle vitamin A cream! This beauty cream is fine for use on both the face and the eyelid area. It is the top seller at Amazon. Since it has 2.5% retinol, hyaluronic acid, vitamin B5 & E, aloe, green tea, jojoba oil, shea Butter, and many antioxidants… it has huge benefits.

4.3 out of 5 stars for over 10,100 reviews

This is my article on vitamin A (Retinoid) creams…

Facial Oil

My favorite oil moisturizers are lotus oil, grape seed oil, and sweet almond oil. I have a whole blog devoted to skin oils (Post treatment moisturizer) that are great moisturizers specialized for particular purposes. Feel free to go there and research further…

I like using oils, because I can choose my ingredients. These are the ingredients used in most skin creams without any additional ones you don’t want. When you use oils, you can blend the ingredients you choose and even pay less for them. I stabilize them with vitamin E cream (also very inexpensive).

Mad Hippie Antioxidant Facial Oil

This particular oil has so many of my favorite oils in this blend. It absorbs and smells great. I feel like my skin looks beautiful and healthy after using this. Usually, I use this after skin treatments to sooth and moisturize. No parabens or synthetic ingredients here. You can add to your beauty cream, or use in place of it as you like.

It has Argan Oil, Pomegranate Seed Oil, Sunflower Seed Oil, Cranberry Fruit Extract, Pomegranate Extract, Blueberry Extact, Strawberry Fruit Extract, Kiwi Extract, Watermelon Fruit Extract, Grape Seed Extract, Raspberry Seed Extract, Camu Camu Fruit Extract, Acai Fruit Extract.

This has a wonderful light fruity scent…don’t let that fantastic ingredient list worry you about a strong aroma.
4.7 out of 5 stars for over 1,200 reviews

Aloe Vera Gel

This is an astringent to tighten pores and a moisturizer that also soothes the skin. I searched through these aloe vera gels and once again learned about chemical ingredients that I did not want in my skin care. Many of them claim to be 100% aloe vera… I guess if it is less than 1% other chemicals, they are allowed to do that. I saw many cases of this. Often these good preservatives for aloe vera gels are citric and ascorbic acid, potassium sorbate.

Sometimes they contain alcohol, Xanthan, Carbomer, and Tetrasodium EDTA. Carbomer is a silicone plastic and Tetrasodium EDTA is toxic for humans, but deemed OK because it does not absorb easily.

This aloe vera gel that I list below is good enough to drink…which I didn’t need. Instead of any chemical thickeners, it contains seaweed, which to me is a bonus. This one is also from a small family-owned and operated company with great customer service. They clearly care very much about what they are doing. I consider aloe vera to be an important beauty product, but it is also important for calming inflamed or irritated skin.

4.5 out of 5 stars for over 8,100 reviews

 

Lip balms & Lip stains

This is the best combination for not showing wrinkles like lipstick often can. I would say that it feels more comfortable and natural as well (a bonus). It even lasts longer on your lips.

Lip stain

These are highly rated and extremely popular. I love lip stains because they color your lips, but do not accentuate wrinkles or migrate or smear. A combination of stain and balm benefits and flatters all of us. This is beauty that seems natural and wears naturally too…

L’oreal is 4.2 out of 5 stars for over 3,300 reviews

Revlon is 4.3 out of 5 stars for over 7,300 reviews

Lip balm

This balm contains Beeswax, Shea Butter and soothing Vitamin E… plus vanilla flavor.
4.8 out of 5 stars for over 4,100 reviews

SPF 15
Main ingredients: Theobroma cacao (cocoa) extract, Mineral Oil (paraffinum liquidum), Microcrystalline Wax (Cera Microcristallina), Theobroma cacao (cocoa) Seed Butter
4.7 out of 5 stars for over 2,100 reviews

Concealer

Maybelline Nouveau Instant Age Rewind Eraser Dark Circle Treatment Concealer

I cannot stress enough how great this concealer works! Having tried many concealers, I can say this one is the best performer by far! The only drawback to this concealer is that it is so very hard to get to start dispensing through the sponge tip. Please start on this before you need it. The sponge tip really spreads it beautifully.

It blends and becomes natural looking so easily. The beauty of this concealer is that it does a smooth, evening of skin tone and does not emphasize lines. I no longer like the ones that come in a stick. Those are far more difficult to use and give poor quality results as well.
When you need a high performance, natural-looking concealer… this is it.

MANY colors to choose from
4.4 out of 5 stars for over 158,000 reviews

For acne issues…

The key here is that sulphur, but it also has kaolin clay, vitamin E, vitamin F complex, tea tree oil, geranium, and lemon grass… is very effective in taking care of acne. If you want to use more natural solutions…beat up an egg and use it as a mask. It provides nutritional benefits to your skin and heals up the problems fast…not as fast as my favorite mask, but really does compete on effectiveness and less than a day behind. If you aren’t familiar with this mask, it used to be called Proactive refining mask.

I love this for spot treatment and prevention. It works extremely fast. This is a big quantity here… 3 ounces size.
4.7 out of 5 stars with over 2,300 reviews

 

Cuticle oil

Cuticle oil is unbeatable at keeping your cuticles healthy and in good shape. When you start getting hang nails, you know that this is the stuff that can fix that fast. You would be surprise how fast they improve! Not patient enough to let it completely absorb? Just massage it into the skin of your hands… it is good for them too.

I love cuticle oil… I have had my current one for a long time…
My favorite ones have been roll on dispensers and these are! The first one is argan oil and the second is cotton seed oil. Both types of oil are wonderful.

This comes in Lavender, Almond, Pomegranate & Fig, Milk & Honey scents. Each has cotton seed oil and vitamin E. The Lavender also has chamomile, the Almond and the Milk & Honey also have sunflower oil.

This one has a beautiful fragrance too…which can certainly make taking care of your nails even more pleasant. The fragrance is a big hit. It is a mixture of many beneficial oils, additional Vitamin E ingredients, and extract of milk and honey. There is an eyedropper type dispenser built into the lid.

4.7 our of 5 stars for over 110,000 reviews

You will love having these convenient hair beauty products

I have these and I love them! All you have to do is wash your hair, wind it around these and then snap the ends together. Perfectly comfortable to sleep in…they are padded fabric tubes. The next day you can just brush your hair and go.

Comfortable curlers!

This includes 2 sets of rollers… one is regular size and the other is large size rollers. 40 regular size.

4.2 out of 5 stars for over 8,200 reviews

These work by the same principle. They don’t even need the snap. You can just bend them into a loop…no snap needed.
4.3 out of 5 stars for over 39,000 reviews

Easy hair fastener!

These go by the name Magic Hair Comb or variations on that. They can be hard to find when you KNOW about them. I love them! You place the hair comb in one side, loop the bands around the hair to contain, and place the comb on the other end in place. They are easy, fast, and work just great on any length hair. These are actually attractive, where my early models are very utilitarian.

The new designs are much better than my early model… about 11 years old now. I use mine almost daily. Handy for when I exercise and when I wash my face. This video shows many creative hair styles that can be easily done with this tool…

 

Casual Fashion: Set of 6, 5 out of 5 for only 1 review, but I think these are the prettiest.

4.4 out of 5 stars for over 700 reviews

MY-HAIRDO Magic hair combs. Choice of 6 styles that are all very attractive.

4.5 out of 5 stars for over 290 review

 

My favorite hair color that is easy to DIY at home

I love both of these hair color systems. They are beauty products that are easy to use and do a great job. The color is beautiful and vibrant. It lasts very well. If anything, they give me more tools than I really need. You can use them for a full color or touch up.

The full color time is 30 minutes for both types, but the breakdown of new hair and touch up hair are different. I like the Excellence brand best because it is thick and stays in place well. This makes it far easier to avoid any mess while using it. The Preference brand has a conditioner that just smells SO wonderful. They are so good that you cannot go wrong choosing these.

Touch ups and the colors shared…

I do use these for touch up color. Here is why…the specialized touch up kits are very close to the price of these color kits. Why not just use the ones I love and I know are a good match? This will color the new hair and restore the old hair to life in the proper color.

I am listing my favorite colors I use, but I will also have the page for them so that you can choose whatever color you are longing to use. For your reference, my natural hair color is dark chocolate brown.

Excellence Creme

This was the first color I have used…and the first time was for my wedding! It is a gorgeous natural looking red head color. This is a shiny, coppery reddish brown. The highlight colors that this brings out are wonderful.

Beforehand I did research, asking questions of the red heads that I knew. Having redheaded friends, I knew the beautiful natural color is a little towards orange. I stayed with this color for many, many years. I like the true coppery red, not the artificial burgundy red.
The Red Penny (7R) is that favorite of all colors and it is often sold out…

These are other colors I have used and love…Light Reddish Brown, Medium Golden Brown. There are also 5 shades in colors of red…

There are the other choices in Excellence Creme… just click on one of my links above and look for the color that is YOUR favorite

Superior Preference

There is one has the copper highlights to it, but is far more red than the Excellence color I have listed. It doesn’t have the brown element to it. RR07 Intense Red Copper. I list it if it is in stock…

This is another color I have used and loved… Medium Copper Brown. It is found here as well as others… 22 colors to choose from here…

There are the other choices in Preference Creme… just click on one of my links above and look for the color that is YOUR favorite

You will not believe how easy it is to cut your own hair beautifully…with the right tools!

A layered hair cut is so easy to do with the curved hair guide! I like to do the cut along the guide like shown below… Simple and fast straight to a soft blended layering. Usually a beautician will cut the layered cut, then do some interesting techniques to add this softness to the transitions of the straight line. The first time is maybe a little stressful using this handy beauty hair cutting tool, but it will become easy and fun.

 

 

The tools cost so little, and the results are just wonderful. It is so easy to do this. You will become faster and more confident with time. The great thing about the demonstration video is that it shows someone with long hair doing this task. It is so much easier to get the gist of the process and you can then cut to whatever length you like. I have found that it is easiest if you cut the length in the back first. If you want short hair, you may need help with that.

The full hair cutting set, both guides (straight edge and curved) and the scissors (hair cutting and thinning) too

Hair cutting guide set

4.2 out of 5 stars with over 5,700 reviews

Hair cutting scissor sets

6.5” scissors
4.6 out of 5 stars with over 1,700 reviews

This is the deodarant/anti-antiperspirant category

I feel that getting away from aluminum is important. Studies show us that aluminum absorption and presence in the brain contributes strongly to the occurrence of Alzheimer’s disease. Another troubling issue that studies show is that it’s introduction to ocean water causes the death of coral who inadvertently consume it.

I use Milk of Magnesia for anti-antiperspirant. It takes a little patience to dry, but it works. In fact, this works well for me, when I am getting sweaty exercising. It washes out of clothing much easier than the standard anti-antiperspirants too and is even kinder to your clothing. My bottle of Milk of Magnesia seems like it will last for me for many years, which also makes it cost effective too.

There is the new item on my “wish list”. It is an odor neutralizer that is all natural and has wonderful ingredients like organic shea butter, coconut oil, arrowroot powder, and others. They are all very highly rated. They are currently sold out though…. There is a choice of Lavender, coconut-lime, and orange. I will watch for them to come back…
Lavender in jar, Lavender in sticks, Coconut-lime stick, Orange sticks

Retractable makeup brush

I love these because they are easy to travel with you. They retract and close up inside a case with a cap where you can keep them clean no matter where they are in a purse, drawer, or overnight bag. There is no fuss with trying to put this beauty product tool away, just shake it out or clean it and retract into the case, then cap it like you would with lipstick or lip balm.

Retractable Kabuki brush

4.6 out of 5 stars with over 6,300 reviews

Angled bronzer/blush brush

4.5 out of 5 stars for over 190 reviews