The Beauty of Product Reviews - MakeupAlley.com

Many drugstores and beauty product retailers offer no-questions-asked color guarantees on cosmetics, to prevent customers from being wary of trying out products. The problem is: these kind of return trips soak up time and energy, and those are often more valuable than money!

Take heart, and head over to MakeupAlley.com. This is an independent site where thousands upon thousands of members submit reviews for their latest cosmetic and toiletries endeavors. It covers almost every product on the market - from Wet'n'Wild all the way up to Dior and other high-end cosmetics. Membership is totally free, and I have never, ever gotten spam of any kind. The cosmetic reviews database is vast and very informative - as members are listed by their age, skin type, skin color, eye color, and hair color. This way you can find reviews written by people with your characteristics who have already tried products that you've been wanting to try.

A big bonus is that I've discovered some low-priced drugstore gems via this site.

One is Queen Helene's Mint Julep Masque (review here), which I never would have found or tried on my own. It got 4/5 lippies (equivalent of stars) from more than 2,200 people, and 80% said that they would buy it again. This was enough to prompt me to read some reviews and, curious, try it out for myself.

It's a minty-smelling clay mask that you apply, let dry for 15 minutes or so, then rinse. A great way to do this is to wash your face (to get inital makeup layers off), put on the mask and let it set while you do other tasks like brushing your teeth, then hop in the shower once it's dry. Your face feels very refreshed and deeply cleansed - like you just spent a day at the spa, but for pennies!

Queen Helene's Mint Julep Masque goes a loooong way; if you did your whole face once weekly, a tube (which is very large) would probably last you several months. If you have some spare ECBs, you can snag some at CVS, where it's priced at $4 - haven't seen any coupons for it, unfortunately! ;)

Another highly-rated beauty item is an aspirin mask. No joke! 1610 people gave it 4.2/5 lippies, and 86% said they'd repeat the experience. There are variations on this recipe posted in the reviews, but the general idea is: wet some plain old aspirin tablets (don't soak), then crush them a little until a wettish paste-like consistency, and gently rub into your skin and let sit for a few minutes. Most people use water, some people crush the aspirins into their regular face wash like Cetaphil. One reviewer I saw compared the wondrous results to that of a chemical peel. Now I'm wondering how to work a small bottle of aspirin into a CVS ECB deal to try this out.

The price of aspirin being what it is (around a penny per tablet in big bottles), this could be the ultimate in frugal home beauty treatments! Has anybody out there actually tried this? We would love to hear reviews if anybody has/does!

What frugal beauty tricks are up your sleeves? Any home treatment recipes or other tips to share?

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