Budget beauty: Drugstore haul

In this edition of budget beauty, I feature some of my drugstore purchases (Guardian, to be exact) that I've been using over the past few months.

 After reading Jessica Alba's The Honest Life, I went on a "all natural" shopping spree to replace some of the products I've used that contains harmful substances, as indicated in her book. This lip balm was one of it, after scrutinizing the ingredients of all the lip balms on the aisle, I went home with this because it is one of the few that contains the least chemicals and is paraben free. I also loved the cocoa scent that comes with it but that's from fragrance which is bad too but there were not many fragrance free lip-balm options at drugstores. At least its a step better from using Petroleum jelly or "colour changing" lip balms. God knows what chemicals they put in it for the colour to change on your lips.

Price: RM11.90 for a pack of two

A couple months ago, I have also been on a hair product spree because I bought a hair curling iron in an attempt to curl my hair. This is an activator that is supposed to hold the curls better and protect your hair from heat. I believe that it did do its job because my the curl does hold better when using this but unfortunately, I found out my hair texture is too fine and straight to hold curls for long so curly hair + me = fail. 

Price: RM12.90

In another attempt to achieve curly hair WITHOUT heat, I purchased this product which looks easy enough. You just pump a generous amount of this hair jelly and run it through your hair. Then you scrunch your hair as much as possible and to create wavy hair. This product does work especially when you wear your hair in a bun for an hour or two after using this. Upon releasing your bun, you should have some nice waves. This method works better for me instead of heat but it still doesn't hold the waves long enough because of my hair type *sad*

Price: RM15.90 

Similar to my lip balm hunt, I went on an anti-aluminium compound deodorant because aluminium plugs the pores to prevent sweating and apparently is linked to increased breast cancer risk. Although, there are no direct studies that links to this, I felt that it is best to avoid it where possible because after all, aluminium is a metal compound and to apply that on your body everyday seems kinda dodgy to me. So I managed to find one from Nivea which is the brand I have been using for years. My previous deos all contain aluminium in their ingredients but I didn't see any in this one (unless it is a hidden!). It works just fine and I think there's no harm avoiding aluminium if you can find a reasonably priced one without it like this one. Alternatively, there are crystal salts deodorants that is apparently all-natural which I have yet to try. Will definitely do an update if I decide to purchase that next.

Price: RM11

Another product that I purchased was sunblock for my face and I realised that 90% of drugstore sunblocks contain aluminium (again!). I finally found one from the Biore range that doesn’t have it in its ingredient but works pretty well! It kind of prevents you from sweating as much when you have this sun block on. It is also non-sticky and gives a matte finish which is a major plus point.

Price: RM23

Last but not least, is this matte top coat that I really wanted for the longest time. I finally found a reasonably priced one from Sally Hansen and it works pretty well. I actually have it on my nails now as I am typing this. Highly recommended!

Price: Around RM20