Budget-Friendly & Simple Skincare Routine for Healthy Skin (5 Products Only!)

I used to go through lots of different products in nice flashy packaging with big marketing campaigns, somehow feeling that they would make my life better and more abundant.

But eventually, after years of constantly overthinking what to put on my face, I got tired of it, and longed for something simple. Something that doesn’t take away mental resources – something I don’t need to think about a lot.

Over the past two years I have come up with a minimal skincare routine with just 5 products that I like, and can repurchase from a pharmacy any time they are on sale. Without wandering on Sephora website and being bombarded by marketing messages.

Why the Beauty Industry Wants You to Keep Buying

Before we begin, I want to address an issue.

It’s mindblowing and infuriating how aggressively corporations and other business try to sell us their stuff.

As I was writing this post, I decided to open the Sephora website. What did I found there?

“Earn extra 500 points.”

“Major summer deals.”

“Only at Sephora.”

“Must have.”

“Up to 50% off.”

“Bestselling summer scents.”

All this in tandem with colourful images and fancy-looking bottles – creating what might seem like an appealing, but in reality is a very aggressive messaging.

Their primary goal is to get as much money as possible from you. Not to make you feel good.

And it’s beneficial for the social system when we want things and buy things. It’s even better when people are in debt. Debt might seem like a norm, but in reality it’s a modern form of slavery.

When I was broke, with a credit card debt, I would go to fancy stores and look at the expensive bottles. I would dream about the day when I would have money to fill my bathroom shelves with serums, shampoos for $40 a bottle, creams, toners, and all that stuff.

I thought one day these bottles would make me feel special. Like I would finally belong to people who live better lives than mine. Who live worry-free, stress-free, and have nothing to worry about. Like all the pretty girls with perfect Instagram feeds.

Did this make me feel good? No. I felt miserable.

After a couple of years, I could eventually afford to buy that stuff without any noticeable sacrifice. And I did.

I did feel special at first, for a week or so after I spent 600 EUR on high-end makeup (NARS, MAC, Lancôme and stuff.

I could finally afford nice things with a hefty price tag. But then the joy faded. Did all that makeup make me happy, or at least feel better about myself? Not really.

Did people see me as a better human? I don’t think anybody realised I was using NARS blush and MAC lipstick. And I’m pretty sure nobody cared anyways. I didn’t have an Instagram to show off either.

I found no true lasting joy, or happiness, or fulfilment in owning and using these heavily-marketed high-end products. So I just stopped caring. I let go.

By the way, do you know what the Lancôme‘s motto is?

Lancôme: House of Happiness Since 1935.

Umm… In what way will spending $100 on a bottle of overpriced serum bring me happiness? And what about people who go into credit card debt for Sephora hauls? Really, this is just absurd.

Don’t get me wrong – I still do enjoy my Chanel perfume whenever I use it. But now I use it once every two months at best. Because it has just lost its importance.

My priorities have shifted. My lifestyle has changed drastically. From a digital nomad in her mid-20s travelling throughout Europe, and living in cities, to a person who is now into baking sourdough bread, growing herbs, and cooking from scratch?

I can have everything I need for my skincare for a much lower price, without being influenced by marketers, and social media influencers trying to sell stuff.

Again, as Dave Ramsey says, our most powerful wealth-building tool is our income. And I’d rather have it work for me than for somebody else’s wealth.

Thoughts on Aging

I turned 29 a couple of weeks ago. Thinking about this number is weird.

Seems like just yesterday I was a teenager. And now thinking I’m almost 30… it just cannot be true.

When I was 15, I thought that our 30 year-old high school teachers were… well, old.

Now I think that people who are in their 50s are quite young, and maybe even in their best years – with life accomplishments, wealth, and more freedom.

10 years ago I would really freak out about aging. I used to research ways of what I needed to do so that I could still look 20 when I’m 30. Take collagen, sleep on your back, load on Vitamin C, never eat sugar… There’s so much advice for those who are craving to find a solution to keep their youth for as long as possible.

But aging is not only about the plumpness and texture of the skin.

It’s about the life experience that shows in our eyes, hopefully with some wisdom of years gone by.

I don’t freak out as much about having wrinkles. I do have them and I will never look 20, and I don’t want to.

My life now is so much better than it was when I was 20. Hopefully at 39 I will think the same about having been 29.

I just want to age naturally, hopefully with as little stress as possible. I want to be in a good mental and physical health, live a simple, quiet, and slow life. I want to prioritise my financial wellbeing too, and build my own health and wealth (without letting other people take advantage of my money).

What is Truly Important in Skincare

We all have different priorities and values, different skin types, different lives, so our skincare routines will be different.

Before you build one, think and evaluate how you want your skincare routine work for your goals and values.

Here’s what I want my skincare routine to be like:

Clean ingredients

I don’t want questionable ingredients or origin. I want a simple list of ingredients I understand and accept.

A good example? Sunscreens.

Normally I don’t use sunscreens on my face that have chemical UV filters – only on a very rare occasion like backpacking where I want strong protection and simple application.

For daily use, if it’s a sunscreen with octocrylene, or ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate – I’m not interested. And seems like about 97% of SPFs on the market are exactly that – with chemical filters.

Clean sunscreens with physical filters without nanoparticles are rare to find. Even more rare – mineral sunscreens that are easy to apply and don’t make me look white like a ghost.

Luckily, I’ve found a sunscreen that is 100% mineral, tinted, easy to apply, and works not only like a sunscreen, but a natural foundation as well. More on that below.

Ingredients that actually work

When I buy a jar of something that I am going to put onto my face as skincare, I’d rather it be effective.

Unfortunately, there are many products on the market that don’t have much to offer. And I’m not talking only about cheap stuff. Even some higher-end products or pharmacy skincare products have a weak list of ingredients but quite a heavy price tag.

If a moisturiser doesn’t have much to offer except glycerin – why would I spend $20-30 on a tiny little tube? If I scan the list of ingredients and see vitamin C, urea, oils, squalane, then I’m interested. And I’ve found such a product that doesn’t cost much at all.

Moisturising and nourishing

I have dry skin. It’s more prone to wrinkles and it can feel tight, dehydrated, irritated.

So the more moisturising components (like urea or squalane) and oils I can get onto it, the better. And I avoid drying ingredients, e.g. alcohol or surfactants like sodium lauryl sulfate.

I like the look of slightly oily skin – it’s a healthy glow and makes the skin look so much youthful.

Frugal

I want a budget-friendly skincare routine without sacrificing on quality. I don’t want high-end brands that invest more in their packaging and marketing than in quality ingredients.

I want my skincare routine to work for me and not for the wealth of beauty corporation owners.

I’ve found my staples from less known brands, so I’m not looking to buy anything else. And I aim to buy 2-3 bottles at once when they are on sale, so that they can last me a year or even more.

Vegan: I do not eat meat. And although I consume some animal-derived products like dairy and eggs, and I feed my dog with meat-based dog food, I do not want to put anything that is made of animals on my skin.

If I can avoid it, I will. I see a big trend in the homesteading community to use tallow for skincare. But for me it’s out of question.

Simple

I want a skincare routine that doesn’t feel like a chore and takes a minimal time – one minute in the morning and one minute in the evening. Especially in the evening when the thing I want the most is just to be in bed.

That’s why I only use two products in the morning and three products in the evening. I feel confident about them and I simply repurchase them again and again without trying to find and test something new.

Why I Use Body Lotion on My Face

Almost two years ago when I moved to Georgia, I discovered an unknown German skincare brand called numis med (not sponsored). It has an unimpressive website, unimpressive packaging, but quite an impressive list of ingredients for a very good price.

A 300 ml bottle of urea-containing lotion costs me $6 when I buy it on sale (50% off). So it’s about $12 full price for 300 ml.

Buying something similar but in a face cream form would cost me way more.

Sure, maybe the concentrations of ingredients are different in body and facial products, but I’ve been using this body lotion on my face and it works better than any overpriced facial moisturiser.

Plus, I’m a fan of urea. It works awesome on any part of the body skin – from the face till cracked feet. It’s a synthetic compound, but it’s also excreted by our bodies with sweat and moisturises our skin naturally.

My 5-Product Skincare Routine

Morning skincare routine

I wash my face with water. The temperature ranges from chilly to lukewarm. If I crave a little refreshment in the morning, I wash my face with cold water. If I’m not ready for that – lukewarm water is fine. I never wash my face with hot water. It’s just a no-no.
I gently dab my face with a towel.
Then I apply my 5% urea body lotion from numis med. It’s lightweight, but very moisturising and not greasy at all – which is good when I want to wear makeup and look put together throughout the day. It also contains Ascorbyl Palmitate which is a form of Vitamin C with antioxidant and anti-aging benefits.
After the moisturiser has soaked in a little bit, in a couple of minutes I apply a tinted mineral spf from SVR. Having a good tint to it, it also works as a foundation, smoothing out the skin.

On weekdays I also apply a minimal makeup – blush, concealer, brow pencil, mascara. I work from home and need to be on video during meetings, so I like making myself presentable.

On weekends, I don’t care. The tinted SPF does the job.

Evening skincare routine

To fully remove the SPF and makeup, I apply a cleansing oil on dry skin, and rub it in so that it dissolves all the makeup. Then I rinse my face with warm water. I don’t have a strong product preference here. I used to buy Nuxe Very Rose cleansing oil, but then switched to the one from Byphasse as it’s a lot cheaper.
For a double cleanse, I use CeraVe Hydrating Cleanser. It takes off the remains of cleansing oil and makeup.
Then I dab my face with a towel.
To moisturise in the evening, I apply numis med body milk with 10% urea. It has a thick oily consistency due to sunflower oil. My skin does look very shiny and greasy after that, but in the night I don’t care. It does give a super rich nourishing and moisturising effect.

Sometimes my skincare routine does seem to minimalistic to me. There are definitely some things that could be added back (I did have them in my routine):

Toner (Uriage Eau Thermale Glow Up Water Essence – worked really well for me, giving a smooth moisturising feeling).
Retinol – to help age better. But it makes the skin sensitive to the sun, so it should be used with caution – only in the evening and the skin needs to be extra protected from the sun when using retinol.

And I don’t see much value in these additional skincare steps, so I don’t care about ever adding them into my routine:

Serums
Masks
Eye creams

Another thing for graceful aging and overall skin health is sun protection. This is probably even more important than proper moisturising. So apart from applying sunscreen every day, I am to stay out of the sun as much as possible, and wear sunglasses and a wide-brim hat if I really need be outside in sunny weather.

My skincare routine helps me focus on building my own health and wealth.

It is simple, quick, and effective. And by shopping smartly I make it also budget-friendly.

I protect my skin from UV rays, cleanse it thoroughly but gently, without excessively stripping its natural protection, and moisturise it with simple and proven ingredients.

If you want to build your own healthy and simple skincare routine, think of what is truly important to you, instead of being dictated by marketers what you should buy.

Do your own research about components that will help you achieve what you want, and buy the least marketed and least aggressively sold version of what will work for you – to build your own wealth, and not someone else’s.

Make your skincare truly about your self-care.