My mum recently treated herself and had her nails done professionally (I can’t remember the last time I paid for a manicure it’s too expensive for me). Anyway, earlier this week it got to the point where she had to have the gel polish removed. Now where I live, to have gel polish removed probably hovers around the $15-$20 mark. Just to have it taken off!!! Needless to say I was horrified, to me it seemed like such a waste of money when we had all the necessary items at home already.
What I did next? I offered to take it off for her. For those who are unfamiliar, gel polish cannot be removed like normal nail polish and requires ‘soaking’ off using special nail polish remover, makeup remover wipes and aluminium foil. It basically involves soaking a small square of a makeup remover pad in acetone based nail polish remover and covering each fingernail with the pad and foil for about 25 minutes (give or take).
The process for me ended up taking about an hour of my time. I’m sure there are now many reading this saying “an hour is worth $20!”. In my opinion, no it’s not. Whilst I was removing the gel polish, my mum and I spent the evening together chatting and watching a movie. It was lovely to spend quality time together AND saving money in the process. For those who are wondering, the financial cost of me taking her polish off for her would equate to only a few cents, particularly as I didn’t use very much of each item and nor did I have to buy anything new. This is a significant cost saving and based on the difference in cost, it was worth the time and effort.
In today’s society, the cost of beauty can be high. But it doesn’t have to be. Sometimes it’s a good idea to consider low cost options and alternatives as it’s amazing how easy it is to jump to the most convenient yet most expensive choice. Why should my mum have paid for something that I could do for her almost entirely for free?
I always paint my own nails and I also have an at home gel polish machine which has definitely paid for itself the number of times I’ve used it. I simply can’t justify $60-$100 having my nails done when I can do it on my own for practically nothing.
How do you save on beauty costs?
This is Minimalism 