Let’s face it—clean skincare can feel expensive. And while we’re all for investing in your skin, that doesn’t mean you need to drop a paycheck to have a healthy, glowing complexion. The key? Knowing which products are worth the splurge, and where you can confidently save without sacrificing results.

First, Understand Your Skin’s Priorities

Your skin changes with age, seasons, and stress. Before building a routine, ask yourself:

• Is my skin dry, oily, sensitive, or a combo?
• Am I targeting signs of aging, breakouts, or barrier repair?
• Do I wear makeup and/or SPF daily?

Understanding your skin’s needs helps guide smart purchases—especially when you’re watching your budget.

Embrace Skinimalism: Less Is More

Skinimalism is all about simplifying your routine to only what your skin truly needs. That means:

• Don’t use an eye cream or extra serum unless you really need one. If your regular serum is gentle enough, it can often double as your eye treatment. Be careful though, you don’t want to use a serum that has essential oils in it around you eye! It can damage your barrier and lead to contact dermititis.
• Stick to 3–5 core products. A cleanser, toner or tonic, serum, moisturizer, and sunscreen is plenty for most people. For those that have sort of “normal to dry” skin and are in their 20-30s. Often times, less is more. Creating a simple, effective routine with high quality ingredients can be a great way to help you save money on your routine!
• Use actives wisely. If you’re over 30, don’t skip on ingredients like hyaluronic acid, ceramides, or bakuchiol that support long-term skin health. As our bodies production of these essentials decline, you’ll want to seek out serums that have these ingredients to incorporate into your routine! Sometimes serums will contain many of these ingredients bundled into one. Those are high-performance serums and not only make your routine simpler, but more cost effective when you can find a serum that combines many of these high performance actives.
• If you’re in your teens, keep it super simple. Your skin is still adjusting and often doesn’t need much more than a gentle cleanse, light hydration, and the occasional exfoliation. (and SPF!!)
• Don’t double cleanse unless you wear makeup or SPF. For bare skin, one good cleanse is usually enough.

Choosing concentrated products with no fillers also means you use less, save money, and reduce waste.

Where to Splurge

1. Serums with Active Ingredients
This is where the magic happens. Serums often contain concentrated ingredients like hyaluronic acid, ceramides, bakuchiol, or coenzyme Q10 that support deep hydration, firmness, and skin repair. A good serum can transform your skin—and yes, it’s worth the investment.

2. Facial Oils
Cold-pressed, nutrient-rich oils like pomegranate seed, rosehip, and camellia oil feed your skin with antioxidants and essential fatty acids. Look for oils that are pure and organic to get the most benefit.

3. Eye Serums or Creams
The skin around your eyes is thinner and more delicate. A high-quality formula designed for this area (especially one with astaxanthin or bakuchiol) can reduce puffiness, fine lines, and dryness without irritation. Often times, your Eye serum or cream can double as a facial serum or cream too!

Where to Save

1. Cleansers
Cleansers don’t stay on your skin for long. You need them to be gentle, pH-balanced, and effective—but they don’t need to be expensive. A good foaming face wash or cleansing oil can do the job without the high price tag.

2. Toners & Mists
While lovely and refreshing, toners are mostly water-based. Look for ones with beneficial ingredients (like witch hazel, rose water, or gotu kola) but don’t overspend here.

3. Moisturizers
You can find deeply nourishing face creams made with shea butter, glycerin, and botanical extracts at an accessible price. What matters most is the ingredient list—not the brand name or luxury packaging.

Tips for Getting the Most Value

• Use less than you think. Most products are over-applied. A few drops of serum or a pea-sized dollop of cream goes a long way.
• Stick to essentials. You don’t need 10 products. Start with 3–5 that really work. Think cleanser, toner and moisturizer….but don’t skip the SPF!
• Look for multi-taskers. Products like a beauty balm or face oil that can double as a primer or nighttime moisturizer give you more bang for your buck.
• Buy refill sizes. If your favorite cleanser or toner comes in a larger bottle, grab it. You’ll save money (and reduce waste).
• Choose concentrated formulas. They last longer, perform better, and reduce the need for layering multiple products.
• Look for Kits! Often times, skincare kits will save you money by buying your routine all at once! Many times they will come with a free cosmetic bag too!

Affordable Can Still Be Amazing

Clean doesn’t have to mean costly. At Simple Body, we create skincare that delivers real results using ingredients from nature—and we do it without inflated pricing. Because we believe everyone deserves healthy skin they feel good in.

Smart skincare doesn’t mean buying more. It means buying better. And that starts with knowing where to spend and where to save.

Need help building a budget-friendly routine that works for your skin? We offer free consultations to help you get started—click HERE!

xoxo
Jewels