Skincare on a budget: low cost products for high-end skin From cleansers to serums and creams: everything under 25 euros

Let’s get one thing straight: skincare doesn’t have to cost as much as rent to work. All these luxury products and endless routines made up of ten steps between creams and serums have convinced us that good skin necessarily requires a serious budget, but the truth is that nothing could be further from reality. Today, even in the low-cost category, you can find well-formulated products and interesting ingredients that can help you build a complete, effective and essential routine. So we went looking for the products that let you do exactly that, spending less without compromising on quality.

Skincare on a budget: low-cost products for high-end skin

Affordable cleansers

Let’s start with the basics: cleanser. It only needs to do a few things, but they’re essential: remove impurities, sebum and makeup and SPF residue without leaving your skin feeling tight. You can go for classic double cleansing, starting with an oil cleanser followed by a foaming one, opt for a more milky formula or, more simply, use micellar water followed by a gel cleanser. Either way, all strictly within budget.

Serums

Next up are serums, keeping in mind that everyone’s skin has different needs, so you can choose different actives depending on what you want to achieve. From The Ordinary’s niacinamide with zinc, which can help regulate sebum and improve the appearance of blemishes, to vitamin C, perfect if what we’re after is more luminosity and a more even-looking complexion, like in CeraVe’s new offering. And then there’s PDRN, one of those ingredients that sounds like it automatically belongs to elite skincare, but that we can now also find in much more accessible versions, such as the new serum from L’Oréal Paris.

Targeted treatments

Then there are the more targeted treatments, which should only be added to your routine when you actually need them. An eye cream, like the one from Uriage, or a targeted treatment for blemishes, such as Mizon’s Pink Spot. During periods of increased redness and inflammation, you can instead turn to azelaic acid, such as the one from Paula’s Choice. Again, you don’t need to buy everything: just choose the right active for what you actually want to treat.

Moisturiser

Then comes moisturiser, whose “simple” job is to keep the skin hydrated and help support the skin barrier. Again, there’s no need to chase the most expensive formulas: just choose the right texture for your skin and a formula with simple but effective ingredients. This is where knowing how your skin reacts to different ingredients becomes essential, because it helps you avoid wasting money on products that clog your pores or trigger breakouts.

SPF

And finally, the last step: SPF. Daily sun protection is essential to protect the skin from UV rays and prevent dark spots and photoaging. Here too, there are plenty of great low-cost options: the important thing is to choose one with a comfortable, lightweight texture that works well with everything else we’ve applied and will apply to the face, helping to prevent products from pilling and creating that annoying pilling effect.