Inexpensive Beauty Secrets From Models and Make-up Artists

Looking like a supermodel doesn’t have to cost you a fortune. As a matter of fact, most fashion models spend pennies on the dollar to stay looking fresh and picture worthy. Here are a few beauty secrets plucked directly from models and make-up artists that will leave you looking Vogue worthy without breaking the bank.

1. The cheapest and best beauty secret which is absolutely FREE is to drink water and lots of it. To keep your skin hydrated, fresh and plumped it is essential to get a minimum of 6-8 glasses of water in you a day and more if you are in particularly hot weather or dehydrating conditions (i.e. plane flights, late nights, sunbathing, alchohol & caffeine consumption). Drinking plenty of water will also help you shed pounds and detoxify your body. It flows freely from every tap around you, so drink to your beauty!

2. Vaseline is a darling of the modeling community. It is one of the cheapest products available at your local drugstore and its uses are unlimited. Models and make-up artists alike use Vaseline (aka petroleum jelly) to soothe dry and cracked cuticles, as a night time moisturizing treatment for around the eyes, as a lip gloss, to highlight cheekbones & browbones for a subtle, ethereal glow (dab a small amount on your fingertips and swipe across your cheekbones and browbones). Vaseline can also be used to tame fly away frizzies and split ends, simply use a small amount and rub into your palms then soothe over your hair. It is an excellent eye make-up remover and you can also use it to extend the life of an old tube of lipstick by adding some to the last remnants of color and mixing it together…this concoction can be applied using a lip brush. For ultimate hand and foot moisturization, slather Vaseline onto your feet and hands at night then cover them with a pair of cotton socks or gloves and leave on over night. For under two dollars a jar of this stuff will cover a lot of your beauty bases.

3. Rather than shell out $20-30 for a tooth whitening kit, try rubbing pure baking soda onto your teeth with a piece of cheesecloth. Rub in a gentle (as it is abrasive) circular motion before brushing twice a day and after a week your pearlies will be gleaming without the use of expensive chemicals.

4. Baby wipes. Baby wipes. Baby wipes. You can buy them in bulk at any major retailer such as Target, Walgreens, Wal-Mart, Costco, Babies R Us for cheap and they make excellent make-up removers. Why pay tons of money for a small package of so-called “make-up remover towelettes” when you can get the same exact product complete with Vitamin E and aloe for pennies on the dollar. $15 for one package, or $15 for a box containing 8 packages….you do the math.

5. Visine. It gets the red out, and not just from your eyes but from those angry red pimples that seem to enjoy popping up at random well after puberty. Keep a bottle in the fridge and when you see one of those unsightly red visitors starting to show up, grab a Q-tip, dab with the cold Visine and hold the wet tip on your zit for a few seconds. The redness and swelling will go down as if by magic.

6. Puffy eyes? Here are two unconventional, but very tried and true options: Preparation H and frozen spoons. While you won’t be using the cream and the spoons together per se, they both in their own right make excellent eye de-puffers. Keep a pair of tablespoons in your freezer and when you wake up one morning with bags under your eyes large enough to carry your lunch in, just place the spoons over your eyes until they warm up. The cold of the metal will help lower the swelling significantly. Preparation H is, as we all know, a cream meant for swelling on other areas of your body, but its anti inflammatory properties get rid of your baggy eyes as quickly as you can say “hemorrhoids. Just dab a small amount under your eyes and say goodbye to your bags.

7. If you are haunted by recurrent cold sores and are out of your more expensive creams (i.e Abreva) try dabbing some Pepto Bismol on it as soon as you start to feel one coming on. This is hailed as a miracle by make-up artists who shun the sores as much as the models who may sport them.

8. Hand lotion is a cheap and convenient alternative to using hair defrizzers. When you use lotion on your hands, run the leftovers from your fingers through your hair. It will condition and soften stray hairs.

9. Rather than purchase disposable (and therefore expensive) nail files, try buying a pair of metal ones which will last you forever and can be used as a mini screwdriver in a pinch!

10. Avoid spending top dollar on trendy sugar or bath salts. Simply take raw sugar or sea salt (both available at your local supermarket) mix in some olive oil or sweet almond oil to your desired consistency and exfoliate all those dead skin cells away. Exfoliating your body and face once a week will leave your skin glowing and healthy. It will also aid in the application and longevity of self tanners.

11. Model pick for best self tanner is L’Oreal’s Sublime Bronze. It’s inexpensive, realistic looking and devoid of the traditional self tanner stink.

12. Maybelline Great Lash Mascara is the best and most used mascara in the industry. Everyone runs around thinking that they need to buy Chanel’s latest eyelash enhancer, when in reality pretty much every model you see in a magazine or runway show is wearing Maybelline’s Great Lash. It lasts, defines and is virtually clump free. Best part about it is that it is one of the cheapest mascaras on the market.

13. Vitamin E capsules are little skin miracles that come hundreds to the bottle and are easy to transport and keep on hand. Dabbing a little vitamin E on your cuticles or around the eyes works wonders for tired, dry skin. Dabbing some of the oil on an old dried out pimple helps you avoid residual redness and scarring as well. Cheaper than a laser treatment by far!

14. Q-tips are also a model/make-up artist staple. They can be used for everything from applying & smudging eyeshadow to correcting nail polish mistakes.

Looking great does not have to cost a fortune. Implementing some of these inexpensive beauty tips will leave your wallet fuller and your reflection in the mirror fabulous. Models and make-up artists around the world use these tips and tricks, now it’s our turn to reap the benefits!