In times when your part-time job cuts your hours, you have tuition fees to pay off and you just really don't have much spare change to use for yourself, one of the first things people cut out is their beauty essentials. Sometimes they just cut back by buying lesser quality products and other times they cut them out entirely, but either way, without their beauty products, the world becomes a little less happy. There are many products out there that offer multiple functions for a reasonable price or there are those few beauty musthaves that can spruce up your look for a low cost.

As mentioned in previous articles, Lise Watier offers a product called Portfolio that is a wheel of concealers at a price of $30 at Shoppers Drug Mart. While this may seem expensive to some, you can use this product for almost anything that has to do with your complexion. You can use it as your foundation (mixing the skin tone colours with a moisturizer), a concealer, colour corrector and of course for contouring and highlighting. This product can be the only one that you buy when money is tight, and you will still maintain that healthy-looking skin.

There is a theory called the "lipstick effect" that indicates when there is a shortage of money, women will always indulge in a premium lipstick. This may not ring as true with the younger generation, but you should try just wearing lipstick for a day and see how much colour and life it brings to your face. Pick a velvety lipstick by MAC or Make Up For Ever in a shade that you will feel comfortable in and watch it work its magic.

Another idea that will help you save money but still make you look beautiful is buying a palette of eye shadows. If you pick a palette with a decent array of colours, you can use it not only to bring colour to the eyelids, you can use the lighter, opalescent shades for highlighting the cheek bones and brow bones. If there is a darker brown (matte) shade of eye shadow, you can use it for contouring as well as bronzing, as long as it isn't too dark. Lastly, you can take the darkest shades (brown, black, navy) and use them for lining the eyes to give them depth and dimension.

If you really have an incredibly minimal amount of money to spend, then it may be worth just buying a loose powder (fairly inexpensive) and a lip gloss. The loose powder will help even out the skin tone without having to spend more money on a foundation.

In times when money is tight, don't completely cut out your beauty essentials and never settle for a lower quality product just because it is cheaper; you will end up just wasting your money on a product that you won't be fully happy with. Look for products that have multiple uses or an individual product that will help keep you looking gorgeous for a reasonable price.