What I Save in a Week: 'Replacing five beauty products for one saved me $300 a month'

Like many teenagers, Kate* was insecure about her skin.

With an oily complexion prone to breakouts, eczema and psoriasis around her nose, she used a number of things to "cover it up".

"I used to plough about six different foundations, concealers, bronzers — whatever covered the redness — onto it every day," Kate tells 9Honey.

"From about 16, I was spending up to $400 a month trying to make my skin look 'perfect'."

Kate isn't alone in her spending habits.

According to research by Catch.com.au, the average Australian woman spends over $3,600 on beauty products each year — averaging out to $300 a month, $70 per week or $9.80 per day.

Another study conducted this year by OnePoll for Groupon revealed women spend $313 per month or a whopping $225,360 over a lifetime.

Now, 25, the Sydney woman quickly learnt that while she was able to 'cover up' her flaws, she was making them worse.

On top of it all, she was avoiding one important step to improving her skin: sunscreen.

"On a trip to Greece, I realised what I was doing to look good actually made the situation worse," Kate explains.

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"I was 21 at the time, and the marks I had were taking longer to fade between breakouts."

Walking through a market one day, Kate stopped by a stall where a number of local women were selling what they called a "miracle cream".

"I mean, when you're that insecure about your skin, 'miracle' definitely catches your eye," Kate laughs.

The then 21-year-old purchased the cream and began incorporating it into her multi-step skin routine, only to realise that it was an SPF40 sunscreen.

"I was so embarrassed that I barely used sunscreen before that moment, even though I was so conscious of my skin," Kate explains.

Upon returning home to Melbourne, Kate vowed to stop buying two foundations, concealer, a pore refiner and primer, and swapped solely to sunscreen.

"My skin got better, but it took a while," Kate admits.

"But I noticed a change in my spending immediately."

Kate admits her prior spending habit on beauty products cost her upwards of hundreds a month, averaging out to about $100 a week.

"It wasn't sustainable, for my face or my bank account," she shares.

Now, the skin-conscious consumer spends $30 a month on a large tube of SPF40+ and $20 on a concealer that she "mixes in" with it for special occasions.

"Mixing the two ingredients pretty much does everything I was doing before, but with way less harmful results," she warns.

"Now I get full coverage that's also sun safe, moisturising and helps get rid of my oiliness and redness."

With more money saved, Kate also noticed a massive uptick in her confidence.

"Part of spending all that time and money on 'covering up' was such a mental game," she shares, adding, "I would tell myself the whole morning I'd be getting ready that I was putting on a 'mask' or 'covering up the most disgusting parts of my face."

"Now I don't care, I'm healthier and glowing more naturally," she laughs.