A foot massage, sitting on your ass for an hour, a hot and bubbly foot spa, not having to fuss over messing up your entire manicure when your top coat goes awry … no wonder so many of us love going to the nail salon. Granted, there is the small chance of contracting fungus, plantar warts, bacterial infections or herpes. But hey! What’s life without risk?

All kidding aside – you can save a few bucks when you hit your favorite (and hopefully sanitary) nail salon if you ask for a polish change instead of a manicure.

Polish changes are cheaper because they’re an abbreviated version of a regular manicure. They’ll cost you about 30-40% less than a regular mani (for example $6 for a polish change vs. $10 for a manicure, $8 for a polish change vs. $12 for a manicure).
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derma e Jojoba and E Skin Oil – A Versatile Product and Your New Best Friend

I’m right handed, so I hold brushes in my right hand and use the back of my left hand as a palette. I put cream or liquid products like MAC Paint, tinted moisturizer, concealer, etc. on the back of my hand before applying with a makeup sponge or brush. I also use the back of my hand to get rid of excess color. Instead of blowing on a brush to remove excess eyeshadow, blush or powder, I’ll swipe the brush head against the back of my hand.

This leaves me with all sorts of makeup on the back of my hand, which can take a long time to remove with bar soap or liquid hand wash. To get rid of makeup quickly and easily I keep a bottle of derma e Jojoba and E Skin Oil in my medicine cabinet. I drop the smallest drop on the leftover makeup on the back of my hand and then give it a quick rub and voila – it’s all gone. I’ll rinse with water and then just rub the leftover Jojoba oil in for some quick moisture.

Jojoba and E Skin Oil is one my favorite workhorse products because I use it for so many different things. When my hair feels dry, I put a rub a few drops between my palms and then work the oil through the ends to condition it. After a shower, I use it as a body moisturizer. You can also use it as a massage oil as well. It’s $9.50 for a 2 fl oz bottle, and a little bit of the product goes a long way. Derma e products aren’t tested on animals, have no parabens and are 100% vegetarian, too. Yay for your skin, and yay for the bunnies.

As most of you know, I’m a big fan of making my dollar go as far as it can when it comes to beauty, makeup and skin products. One way that I stretch out my dollars is by keeping a pair of scissors in my medicine cabinet. I use it to cut disposable products, like Oil of Olay Daily Facials Express Wet Cleansing Cloths. A box of 30 cleansing cloths is about $5.50, and if you use one cleansing cloth every day that’s $5.50 per month or $66.00 per year. You can make those Olay Cleansing Cloths last even longer by cutting them into two pieces, or sometimes four (which is what I do when I only have to remove tough eye makeup or just need a quick refresher.) If you cut them into half, you can easily make that box last two months, and save $33.00 per year.

I cut or divide stuff in half when I can – I’ve done this with cotton balls (just tear them apart, you don’t need the scissors), makeup remover cloths and benzoyl peroxide pads.

For non-disposable products that aren’t easily “divisible” – like expensive face treatments and creams – I just use less to make them last longer. For example, I’m currently using a pricier product for acne treatment, DDF Benzoyl Peroxide Gel 5% With Tea Tree Oil, which costs $24.00 for a tube (ouch). But because I only use a pea-sized amount over my entire face, I can stretch out the use of the product for at least 8 months. That’s $3.00 of DDF product usage per month, which my wallet can totally get behind!