How to think about your skincare budget when everything feels expensive

I was adding some fresh testers to the shelves at Ayla (new Korean and British things!) the other day and chatted with a customer who hadn’t been in the shop for a while. When I gently asked her about her absence—I always want to know if we could be doing something better—she said, apologetically, “It’s just that everything feels so expensive these days. I started buying skincare products at Trader Joe’s. It’s definitely not the same, but it’s just…it’s money.”

Everything feels more expensive these days, and by and large, it is. Grocery prices have shot up almost 19% since 2022? I believe it: every time I shop for food, I feel myself turning into the Face with Peeking Eye emoji before I look at the total. And increases in energy, housing, education, healthcare, childcare, and travel costs also seem to be running far ahead of inflation in a race we’re all watching with morbid fascination.

Interestingly, the prices of skincare and other beauty products haven’t increased as much; still, I get it. Many of us are looking to cut back on spending wherever we can.

So, in case the idea of sweeping into a shop and scooping up everything on your wish list (mine would look something like the collection below) doesn’t feel quite as comfortable as it once did, I thought I’d share a few observations and a little guidance on the topic of budgets and skincare.

If you, like me, are one of those people who would like your skin to look good, and you prioritize your skincare routine in terms of attention and budget, I’d first like to assure you that you’re not bonkers for doing so.

There are plenty of perfectly well-intentioned, well-credentialed people out there insisting that a $5 sunscreen is all you need, and they’re right to an extent: you need to protect your skin from the sun, and if that’s all you’re willing to do, that’s fine.

But here’s the hill I’ll die on: if you pay more attention to your skin and use better products on it, your skin will look a LOT better than “fine.” A lot.

I noticed this the last time we threw a big party at Ayla and I saw a good number of our longtime (10+ years) customers all together, all at once: their skin looked phenomenal. If you saw them walking down the street, you’d notice it and think, “Wow, that’s great skin.” It was a real moment of pride, and I don’t let myself enjoy those all that often. Following advice like what you’ll find in Skincare 101 and beyond, and using products like the ones we have on the Ayla shelves, really and truly will make a difference.

On the other hand, you might be perfectly content with skin that looks fine. Or you might be an outlier with phenomenal skin just because you were born with it, like the model I met recently who told me her two skincare secrets were “scrubbing my arms with used coffee grounds and applying Vaseline!” Or you might share the perspective of the people I’ve met who have said, “I don’t want to bother with using moisturizers and all of that, because I’ll just get Botox or cosmetic procedures or a facelift to take care of it later.”

In all of these cases: easy! Skincare products don’t need to be much of a line item in your budget. (Although I am endlessly intrigued by the people in that last bucket, since the cosmetic-or-surgical-procedures-only superhighway has a dramatically higher toll than the country lane of quality skincare. I might dive into this in a future post because I find it wildly intriguing.)

First, you might find that your skin just needs fewer products during the summer months: a cleanser, a serum, and a sunscreen might be all you need during a heat wave. (Bonus?)

Also, know that you can certainly save money by bringing a high-low approach to your routine.

- You might find, for example, that you could swap out your cleanser for one from the drugstore. If you’re using a gel cleanser or a foaming cleanser, you’ll probably have the best luck with this. If you’re using a creamy cleanser, it won’t feel as luxurious (oils are expensive, and they make creamy cleansers like this Nourishing Cleanser from M Picaut feel lush), but it’s a pretty easy swap if you want to save some money this summer.

- You might also find that a drugstore sunscreen does the trick for workouts or larger areas of your body, so you can save your nice one (like this marvelous one from Luzern) for occasions when it’s going to be staying on your face all day long.

As I mentioned here, I’ve developed products you’ll find in a wide range of places—drugstores, supermarkets, spas, department stores, and boutiques—and there are very clear tradeoffs I’ve had to make in order to develop a formula with a significantly lower price target. If you’re hoping I’m going to tell you that, generally speaking, drugstore/supermarket skincare products are just as good as pricier ones, sorry: I’m not.

But I consider everything to be one big experiment, so I’ve done a fair amount of high/low testing on my own skin. Here are a few things I’ve noticed:

- I needed two generous layers of a lauded drugstore cream to come close to the effect of a hazelnut-sized dollop of a moisturizer like MyHavtorn’s Guldkorn Cream.

- A cheaper face oil I tried led to congested skin due to its heaviness, so I had to stop using it after a week, throw it into a product graveyard and go back to my tried and true from Marie Veronique.

- I had to double-cleanse with two cheaper ones, and use more of them, to get the same effect I get from my favorite VENN cleanser, which lasts forever.

Was I saving money in the end? Honestly, not much, and I was annoyed by that. (And don’t get me started with serums; those are the powerhouses in my routine, and I refuse to swap those out even in the name of experimentation. I also made mine—especially this one—to cover a lot of different bases, so in my mind, they’re an excellent value.)

So, especially during the summer, I think you can save a little money by making a painless swap or two…but it won’t be much. Doing the math, the amount you’ll save might cover the cost of a good desk salad and an afternoon matcha or, at most, a nice dinner out.

Whether that’s worth about three months of luxe little moments when you wash your face with your favorite cleanser or apply that slightly-nicer moisturizer is up to you…but I’d opt for cooking one of those meals at home any day.