Shopping tips: Get it for less

Every season comes with a multitude of possibilities, new creations and styles are released. While following these social-media influencers might lure you into buying clothes that seem to be sort of life-changing.  Do you really need to break the bank to get these? Whether it's makeup or clothes there's always a way to get the clothes for less or dupe them.

For example, this Réalisation's $195 dress worn per Margot Robbie has been praised per Harpers Bazar for being part of the "The Best Affordable Celebrity Style To Shop Now". 

Click here for the Forever21 link

From $195 (£138.65) to £17 there's a first massive saving of £121.65. Nevertheless, shops like Forever21 have floating sales year all year long. For example, you can sign up for their newsletter and get £5 of a £21 purchase. If you are a student you could simply use your UniDays and get 10% off.

 

There are countless other examples of clothes that can easily duped, or reproduced if you look at specialised blogs and youtube videos. If you have a particular model in mind, feel free to drop it on the comments and I'll find it for you.  

Otherwise, I would advise you to check Model Look For Less's Tumblr page for other outfits ideas.

However, clothes are the only dupeable items. If you have any really hyped makeup product in mind that you would like to purchase have a look on google. Just type the " name of your item + dupe " and a vast choice will be presented. While high-end products are really expensive because of the research and development but also the communication and promotion budgets, some brands take profit of their innovation after a while for sometimes a quarter of the price. 

For example, you could dupe the $25 Huda Beauty's mauve obsession palette with a S10 dupe from Bad Habit Beauty. This comparison has been found on The Brown Girls Swatches's blog, I would highly recommend you to check it out for other makeup and dupes reviews.

However, if you don't fancy spending time reading blogs, you could have just type "Makeup Dupes " on Pinterest and let the explorer section's magic happen. A picture says a thousand word, and you'll be able to get the whole idea through many pictograms. The cons are that you won't be able to to see the entire debates and pieces of advice people are giving to each other in the comment section.  

Otherwise, if you want the results while avoiding any effort you can always watch one of the countless Youtube Video's. Simplysona did a whole video of comparisons you could check on the link under the picture.

Symplysona's video

Minimalist closet: Buy cheap, buy twice

Bet on pieces that won't go out of fashion.

     Sometimes along the line, we get confused between cheap articles and bargains while shopping. How many of us ended up buying things we had little or no real interest in just because of a deal.  When something seems to good to be true, it usually is. As the economist, John Ruskin once said: “It's unwise to pay too much, but it's worse to pay too little".

Everybody has once faced his clothing stash and told himself(/herself) that he(/she) was definitely running out of clothes to wear or owned loads of clothes but ended up continually wearing the same old ones. So where did the problem came from and how would you avoid this situation?

1. Don't get distracted per miraculous sales and stuff you don't actually want. Pre-select the clothes you have a keen interest in. Chances are that they will be on sale soon enough. Some mobile applications like Wishupon even do the tracking for you.
2. Don't focus on the last lastest trend but on your own taste. This one of a kind trouser will probably run out of style in 1/2 years. If you don't buy it because of a genuine love, you won't get much wear of these.
3. Don't buy a price but a product. Did anybody actually ended up getting a real use of an incredibly cheap product? While an under £10 can be really appealing, wonder if you would have bought it for a full price. Skipping on some mediocre product could quickly enable you to save enough for the one you've been thinking about for a while now.
4. Don't judge per the price but the material. While a price tag can give you a preconceived idea about your product quality keep yourself from judging per this sole criteria. Instead, take a look at the tag, its composition and the way it's been conceived. Even a £5 shirt can't be considered as a bargain if it doesn't survive its first wash. On the other hand, a great shirt can easily survive hundreds of rolls. If you do the math a, following my idea, even a £50/100 price tag is more advantageous in the long term. 
5. While a red jumper, a blue perfecto, some grey wellies or even a pink handbag can be gorgeous pieces, put more emphasis on black/white/grey coulour and an intemporal pieces. This will save you so much time every morning and leaves you more satisfied. You'll be able to add a pop of colour will avoiding a situation where you'll have to mostly rely on extravagant sort of clothes.
6. Also, focusing on minimalist design and colours is a safe idea because we tend to be more in the mood for classic colours than bright one. You will, then, definitely get more wear of these.

If you have any opinion or advice towards this subject feel free to comment them. I'd be glad to hear from other persons ! :) 

Makeup declutter o/ Makeup your mind

Photo credit : @iloveandreea

       According to me, managing a budget doesn't have to be about reaching for the cheapest thing on the shelf. In fact, always going for the cheapest one will likely end up in a patchy/odd looking situation resulting in another product going in the bin or stay forever unused in your makeup stash "just in case". However the total sum quickly adds up. Makeup honestly isn't a mandatory thing, and you may not even care about it, but if you do, you might find the following article informative.

While some persons see their face as a blank canvas, they use to express themselves, others try to improve this blank canvas and make it, well, as blank as possible -bye bye anxiety spots-.

Question yourself, do you want to experiment with makeup, make your skin look more even or use it as a  sort of fig leaf. If you happen to fall into the last category, you may be better off ditching the foundation and putting more emphasis on skincare. You wouldn't put a marvelous paint on top on a crumbling down all before actually trying to fix it.

The first step in your makeup routine would be to recognise your skin type. You could have an oily, dry or combination skin. From there you will choose a primer - It has to be applied after moisturiser -. This step will maximise the benefits of your foundation. Do you have dehydrated skin, rednesses or are you dealing with dullness?

Photocredit: Make Up For Ever

While it can be tempting to buy the bargains exposed blindly and products raved about per the beauty gurus - Primark, Make Up Revolution ... - Keep in mind that what works for somebody else might not fit your skin. Moreover, while premium product cost around £20-30 keep in mind that they also often contain product that will improve your skin. However, if many persons are going against one product or if it has a massive sale there might be something fishy about it - e.g., a Stila foundation for £4.99 instead of £35 at T K Maxx - . 

Talking about sales, when shopping during sales period always wonder if you would have bought it for full price. If you'd fancy to know more about this, click on the following link to see LuciaTepperBeauty's Makeup Your Mind well-spoken videos series about this topic.

Grocery coupons shopping, discount apps

In-shops sales are not much a new phenomenon. Indeed, numerous items on the shelves are nearly always on sales. I'm looking at you Coca-cola, Pizza Express, and New Convent Garden's soups. 

Although while your regular Sainsbury, Tesco or Waitrose holds different temporary sales every week its possible to maximise the benefits you're getting from these brands through some supermarket cashback apps. These allow you to get some of your money back on your purchase once thanks to your receipt. While cashbacks used to be extremely time-consuming. Because of apps maximisation is nowadays just a few clicks away.

• Shopmium :

Recently launched in the UK market in 2016, Shopmium is a receipt based app. The reimbursement is usually made in one to two working days. More than a discount, most of the product available there are actually free.

The following steps need to be followed:

1. Buy a product from the discover part
2. Check this product on the shelf and make sure that it matches
3. Take a picture of your receipt through the app
4. Receive the reimbursement either through your PayPal or straight to your bank account.

PS: Use the following code for a FREE jar of Nutella: 5se4b

However, while Shopmium is the easiest to work with isn't the only application available on the market. Indeed there are many more applications you could use. The most famous ones for the moment are CheckoutSmart, Shopitize and GreenJinn Cashback. Using different apps at the same time will maximise your chances to find a deal over a product you wanted to repurchase or one you wanted to try.

Optimisation foundation: First step, money trackers

Optimisation comes in different shapes and forms. While it can just be about managing a restricted budget, sparing money in order to finance a trip or just to change your living room. Optimisation is a simple way to get the most of your money. 

While it seems to always be something that benefits you, looking for promotions in order to optimise your budget can lead to spending much more than planned on goods you don't even desire. To do so, it's important to be aware of our spending habits and the things we truly enjoy. The first step there would be to fully take the opportunity of the several applications available on IOS to detect how you're managing your budget. 

Free applications like Spendee enables you to figure out the way you're actually spending your money and on which sort of things. They are often really easy to navigate through, the interface helps you to keep track of your cash, credit and debit purchases. Everything there is just a few swipes away.