A £3.50 lip liner and a £7.49 shadow — my best budget buys!

OVeR the decade we will have been together come January, my boyfriend has learnt to accommodate the fact that I live for a beauty bargain.

On our recent jaunt to Italy, he was forced to stand outside Kiko Milano in Bologna, Mantua then Verona, not once, but daily. (He’s not allowed in: his beady eye removes the joy.)

For years, Kiko Milano was one of the things I looked forward to about travel, as I did French pharmacies and American drugstores. These days, the brand has 25 stores dotted across the UK and this Thursday the Covent Garden boutique will relaunch to include a swanky VIP basement.

My Kiko crushes are legion. I have to have a Precision eyebrow Pencil (£10.49, kikocosmetics. com) and a Pearly eye Base (£ 8.49) with me or I can’t function (there’s also a neutral lid primer).

And, as I wrote last week, I use the brand’s High Pigment eyeshadow in 38, Metallic Light Silver (£7.49, kikocosmetics.com) as lid colour and highlighter. Your equivalent might be Metallic Metallic Light Taupe, Metallic Gold or Metallic Copper.

The eye and lip ranges are fantastically extensive, both in terms of colour and texture.

KIKO is what I think of as a less affluent woman’s MAC — a great place to compare tones and undertones, and dip a toe with trends (the current blue eye- colour and blackberry lips obsessions, for example).

The other venue I love to shop for a bargain is Superdrug, typically the Victoria or Sheffield station branches. Although, I’m told that Oxford Street’s vast Marble Arch emporium is the fan favourite.

I admire the brand’s engagement with the cost- of- living crisis, such as its decision to cut the price of its own-brand oral care and sun protection by 20 per cent, as these products are deemed a cosmetic and still carry VAT. As for slap, I adore wandering about the aisles, losing myself in NYX, e. l. f. Cosmetics, Morphe 2, 3INA, I Heart Revolution, Missguided, Lime Crime, Milani, Urban Decay and Avon. And I was one of the many women who were absolutely thrilled when Superdrug brought Bourjois back to our shores in 2022.

If some of these brands sound frighteningly young and fashionable, that’s the point. Young and fashionable is where cosmetic innovation lies — and it’s dazzling. Take Superdrug’s in-house offering, Studio London, which has exceeded all expectations since its launch in November 2022 to become the company’s fastest growing range. The majority of products are £5 and under and brilliant stuff. I particularly cherish Studio London Flaunt Flawless Blusher (£6, superdrug. com). The pretty, plumpness it imparts is outstanding.

The Power Pout 12H Precision Lip Liners (£3.50) are an utter must-have.

A Studio London U-Dew-U Setting Mist (£6) sells every 60 seconds, while its award-winning Bronzing Drops (£6) are the tanned types’ obsession.

As for the Playtime Palette Curated by Ateh Jewel (£5 for nine shades), this is absolutely the gem with which to be thinking pink for spring.