Budget Beauty Purchase round up

My beauty purchases are fairly limited these days, budget cuts and all that, but I do still have to buy some things. I'm not going to do a review for each of these because they are just everyday things, and I'm not sure how widely available they are outside of Germany/Austria.

 

From left to right:

Alverde Clear Peelingmaske: Or exfoliating mask in English. Alverde is a range of natural skin and body care products from German drugstore company DM. I've had mixed results with their products, but this and the tube next to it are really good. This mask contains maize flour and clay to help clear impurities. The scrubby granules are small and smooth - no harsh scrubbing here! This reminds me a lot of The Body Shop's Blue Corn mask which was my favourite as a teenager, and I suspect the ingredients are similar, although this is yellow. Leave for 10 minutes, add water, rub around the face and rinse off. My skin always feels lovely and smooth and you can see the difference. 

Alverde Clear Anti-Pickel SOS-Serum: Anti spot rescue serum. I have up until now been using Simple's Spot Zapper Gel, which is very very good, but not available here in Austria (my awesome Mum sent me some when I asked a while back). I wanted to see if this would be as good so that I don't have to keep getting stuff sent from the UK. I am very impressed with it so far. It contains 'healing earth' - no idea what that actually means, but not only has it helped get rid of my spots quite quickly, regular application has helped them heal faster. It isn't drying at all, and does contain a smidge of oil, but it absorbs well into the skin. I think the active ingredient is something called Silbertraum, but I can't work out what the plant is in English. 

Labello Pure and Natural Mint and Minerals: I go through lipbalm like nobodys business. I have dry lips that chap very easily. I'm trying to take better care of them so lipstick looks better. But really heavy thick lip balms give me spots around my mouth (my Nivea Pure and Natural milk and honey one does this). The lighter formula of this one is moisturising but not over the top. And the mint isn't over powering either. 

Essence I <3 b="b" base:="base:" eyeshadow="eyeshadow" stage="stage">  I needed a new base for my eyeshadow and this looked interesting. And it was cheap. I actually love it, it does a really good job. I've not used a proper primer in a long time, and that was UDPP, which I didn't really like. I've tested it in the heat and it stands up to sweating and my constant watery eye. Although that seems to have stopped a bit, so I'm wondering whether it was the MAC Paint that was causing it in the first place. 

S-he False Lash Waterproof Mascara: Another DM brand, this time make up. Getting waterproof mascara seems to be really hard. I don't understand why. Luckily S-he have loads. I plumped for this one, thinking that if I didn't like it it wouldn't be too bad, it was only €2.49. On my first use I thought it was a bit dry and difficult to apply, but it has got better and goes on really well. Not clumpy at all and really does darken and thicken my lashes nicely. Can't speak for its waterproof properties as I haven't tested it in the pool (nor would I!) but it does hold up with the watery eye thing I have going on sometimes. And sweat doesn't seem to bother it. 

All these products were under €3 each. 

New shampoo!! Yet another DM bargain (I really do love the store). From left to right: shampoo, conditioner and intensive 2 minute conditioner. My hair was feeling a little strung out from all the swimming I'd been doing so I went to buy some intensive conditioner or a hair mask. I stumbled on this range and thought I'd try the lot. One of the great things about Austria (and I guess Germany as DM are a German company) is that there are lots of hair products available without silicones. The smell of these is properly coconutty without being sweet, although the shampoo is sweeter because of the tiare blossom. The lather is good, the conditioner is buttery and the intensive conditioner has restore my locks. Best bit? The shampoo and conditioner are €0.75 a bottle.

I love cost effective purchases!!