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I maybe had them on my skin for five minutes and I sat down in front of my mirror, and I took them off, and I'm telling you that, like, I was shook. I looked at my face, and I was like, "Okay, wait. Like, where did my under eye bags go?"
Hey guys, welcome back to How It's Really Going at 50 with Shaina, and today we're gonna talk about skincare at 50, whether to buy high-end products, low-end products, and everything in between. And I've been experimenting with some new products from the Dollar Tree of all places, so I also wanna share that.
And I did a video on TikTok about my skincare routine. One, one video was about my budget routine that I, you know, drugstore products that I use on my skin, and that one went, you know, fairly viral. It's over 50,000 views. And then I did another video about some skincare products that I got from the Dollar Tree and my experience with them, and that video also went viral.
And so people are interested in this, and [00:01:00] I actually have been really enjoying the process of learning about these products and what... You know, does it matter if a product is expensive or not? So let... And, you know, Botox, all of those things. So let's, like, just dive into it. first let's talk about the Botox thing, and I'm not somebody who's against Botox. I don't personally get it. I don't get filler or Botox in my skin. Um, I've had Botox before, and when I got it, I don't know, my eyes just kind of went up funny and my husband was like, "You look weird." And I didn't love the feeling of it.
There was just a lot of things that just didn't work for me, so I just never got it again. Um, I don't think it's bad. I think if, you know, you do you. If you like it, great. If you don't, that's fine. But if you don't like it and you still wanna have, you know, the best skin that you can as you, head towards the second half of your life, um, that there are other options out there.
And I think the other thing to it is that it's so easy to get duped into thinking we need these things, and that's also bullshit. I, I [00:02:00] love my lines, my wrinkles. I love just aging naturally. Like, at this point I'm happy with the way that my skin is, you know.
If you're not and you wanna do something to it or change it or whatever, like, again, everybody, you do you. But, for me personally, I'm just trying to maintain and keep my skin as healthy and glowy as possible with the products that I can afford and that I feel work for me. I'm not somebody who feels like products need to be expensive.
I'm happy just to use whatever's working, no matter what the price point. And as somebody who spent over 10 years with a network marketing company that sold high-end skincare that was Swiss-based, had all these ingredients, was, was quite expensive to purchase, um, and I, I was the one who was, you know, at parties telling people they needed to have these products, that they were g- superior to anything at the drugstore.
I'm somebody who would never have thought of using [00:03:00] drugstore or dollar store products at all during that time. Like, I was convinced that these products were far superior, and they were worth every penny, and yada, yada, yada. I said all of those things. I have since realized that is not all true. And I will say, when I was in th- that time, those products were great for my skin.
They, they... My skin did seriously change using that product line. But one caveat to that. Prior to starting those products, I was barely washing my face at night. I don't even know what I was doing with my skin, to be honest. Probably washing it in the shower with some sort of cleanser, maybe a moisturizer.
Like, I was not doing a multi-step system by any means. I was just, I don't know, using whatever And like I said, I, I don't even know that I washed my face at night. Like, I, I really didn't. I had young kids, you know, life was busy. I, I probably didn't. So the reason I [00:04:00] share that is because part of the reason why my skin improved is that, yes, I started a multi-step skincare line, which I do think multi-steps, there's lots of different ingredients and stuff like that that do work for your skin, and they have to go on in a certain order and that kind of stuff.
But also, I started washing my face at night. Like, just washing your face at night before you go to bed, adding some moisturizer can do a world of, good and, and make a huge difference on how your skin looks. So was it the products? Was it that I was washing my face at night now? Was it a combination?
Most likely it was a combination of things. I'm not saying those products were bad. I'm saying that I just ... Prior to using that system, I wasn't doing that much for my skin. So to see a dramatic difference like I did in my skin was not just the products. It was the change in routine and the change in habits.
That's just the truth. In the time, in that moment, my perspective was it was the products. These things are amazing. I need to share these with the [00:05:00] world, and I built a business around it . But my perspective has since changed. So I haven't been using those products for, for many years now, and when I stopped using those products, when I stopped really selling for that company, it felt so freeing to be able to go into a drugstore or a Sephora or whatever and just, like, buy whatever products I wanted. Like, I was just like a kid in the candy store. I just, like, wanted to try everything and, and buy it all.
And I have a 22-year-old daughter who, you know, she's on all the, the TikToks and all the things, looking at all the skincare products and knows what's what. She can maneuver a Sephora blindfolded and find everything that's amazing for your skin and whatnot. So for a while, I kinda got into the Sephora stuff and, and the more expensive stuff And using, you know, whatever product she recommended.
And, that was fine, and again, there was lots of great products that worked. And then I just kinda got tired of spending so much money on that kinda stuff when I was seeing online as well lots of videos [00:06:00] about people using drugstore brands of skincare and getting great results. I started dabbling in products in Shoppers Drug Mart, where I was getting CeraVe cleansers, and I was trying, uh, e.l.f.
e.l.f. is another brand that I use a lot of, where I was using their serums and their eye creams and, and, and some of their products, and just realizing, like, my skin still looks great even though I'm using the drugstore brands. And that is, that was, like, you know, a big thing for me. And I've, I've had people comment on my skin, like, recently, and say how my skin looks good, and I'm telling you right now, I'm using all drugstore products.
There's not one super expensive product in my regimen. I'm not gonna go through everything I'm using here. If you wanna see what I'm using, you can absolutely go to my TikTok and see the video. It's pinned to the top. It shows you the whole routine. Plus, I'm gonna put all of the products that I use in the show notes so that you can see.
But it's a mix [00:07:00] of, like, CeraVe, like I said, e.l.f., I can't even remember off the top of my head. Some Ordinary, uh, which is in there. All priced under, I would say, under $20 for a product, which has been great. And my skin feels good, and it's happy, and I'm, I'm just happy.
I'm happy with it at this stage of the game, and this is what I'm doing. And so I started with the drugstore stuff a few years ago. Been really super happy with that. Uh, it just makes it easy. I'm using some, um... What was the other thing I'm using? I just thought of another one. Not Oil of Olay. Uh, L'Oréal.
I'm using some L'Oréal products as well. Those ones are a little bit higher on the price point, um, but, m- you know, they, they work well, and, and I like them, and they're nice, and so on and so forth. Now I have since been introduced to products from the Dollar Tree.
So these were videos that I've seen on TikTok of people talking about these products at the Dollar Tree, and one of them was from a makeup artist. Her [00:08:00] name's Erica Taylor. And so I follow her on Instagram as well, and she's a makeup artist. She's, she's great.
But she was talking about these serums that she got from the Dollar Tree and how to do makeup and skincare on a budget, and I was floored by the products that she was sharing. And she was talking about how great the ingredients were 'Cause my first thought was, like, Dollar Tree, it's probably got really bad ingredients in it, and it gives you cancer, and all that kind of stuff.
All of those things went through my mind. But she was like, "No, these, I've looked..." She put them through some app, and I can't remember what it was, but they came out, like, really highly rated. So then, of course, I have to get in my car and drive to every Dollar Tree that I can find in my city to try and find these products.
Now, I didn't find them all because the Dollar Tree in the States has, uh, products that the Dollar Tree in Canada doesn't seem to have, but we did have some of them. So I went on a little s- little hunt, and I found a vitamin C serum. I found, they, they have this other one called the Power Serum, I think [00:09:00] it's called.
It's for nighttime. Um, great ingredients. And I found some eye creams. I found some makeup products that I really like that she sho- showed us and, and put them on her face, and I found those and grabbed those. And to be honest, out of everything I got at the Dollar Tree, first of all, I've probably bought 25 things from the Dollar Tree.
I have, I haven't even broken $100. Like, it's been maybe $50 that I've spent total on Dollar Tree skincare products. And everything minus maybe one thing I haven't... There was one lip mask that I just didn't really like, but everything else has been absolutely fantastic, including these eye masks that I got.
So w- I did, I put these o- there's these caffeine eye masks. If you get to a Dollar Tree and you see them, make sure you grab a couple boxes, 'cause they're $1.75 a box. Like, every product, not every product, but the base price at the Dollar Tree for products is $1.75. And then there were some other [00:10:00] skincare products that I got today that were $4 apiece.
I'll talk about those in a sec. But, um, these eye masks, they come in a container. I don't even know how many are in there. There's probably 50 eye masks, sets of eye masks in it, and they were $1.75, and they're caffeine eye masks. So I put those on one day. I was getting ready, and I thought, "Oh, I'll do these eye masks to see," so I put them on, and I was getting ready.
I maybe had them on my skin for five minutes and I sat down in front of my mirror, and I took them off, and I'm telling you that, like, I was shook. I looked at my face, and I was like, "Okay, wait. Like, where did my under eye bags go?" Like, 'cause I have, you know, some dark circles under my eyes and a little bit of puffiness.
It was gone. Like, gone. So I was like, "Okay," and I did my makeup and whatever, and I thought, "Okay, I'm gonna do this again, but I'm gonna do this on video, and I'm gonna put it on TikTok and see if everybody else sees what I see when I do these eye masks So sure enough, I did it [00:11:00] again. Very clearly showed my under eye bags and all that, put the eye masks on.
Um, you know, got ready. They were on for about five minutes or so. I sped up that part in the middle, and then I took them off on camera so that people could see the difference. And everybody's like, "Oh my gosh, the difference in your eyes is insane." And I'm like, "Okay, so it's not just me? Like, I'm s- this is actually, like, de-puffing and taking the darkness out of my eyes?"
And sure enough, I've done them since... a couple times since then, and every time I do it, m- it, it works, like, brilliant. They're so good, and they were $1.75, okay? From the Dollar Tree. So
it doesn't... And w- and, and the whole point of doing this is that to have good skin and to take care of your skin doesn't require you to have expensive products. You can have those if you want. I'm sure those expensive products are great, and they probably do a great job on your skin, and you can also try budget-friendly skincare stuff from the drugstore and the Dollar Tree [00:12:00] and still get great results.
Like, the serums that I'm using, they're great. The makeup, some of the makeup stuff, this little bronzer stick, it's so a- like, it's... I really love it 'cause it's like a pencil, so you can kinda get in and get into fine spaces to do some, um, bronzing. And there's a highlighter stick that I got that's like a cooling stick, but it's like this rose shimmer.
It's so pretty, and I use that on my face, and it gives it this, like, beautiful glow. Like, it's, it's crazy. Now, I can't give you links to the Dollar Tree stuff because it, th- it, they don't exist. You can watch my videos on TikTok on the Dollar Tree haul stuff that I've done Um, and see the products that I've got there.
But, um, any of the drugstore stuff or stuff that I've gotten on Amazon is absolutely in the show notes, and I have links for those things. But, uh, yeah, I have been just super happy with these products. And, and now I'm like, in my head I'm like, when I see people do TikTok videos on Dollar Tree finds and they show something that I haven't seen yet or that I haven't tried yet, [00:13:00] now I'm like, "Oh my gosh, I need to get my ass to a Dollar Tree 'cause I need to find this product."
Um, it's kind of a, become a bit of an obsession. Like, I was just there today because there's a brand that you can get at the... I think it's at the drugstore, but it's also at Sephora. I've seen it at Sephora. It's called Byoma, and it is a, a skincare line, and they have different products for different things.
And so I went... They have a, a dupe of that line. The bottles look the same and everything. It's crazy. Um, and there's a brightening one, a moisture one, and there was another one. I can't remember what it was. But I picked up the products for the brightening line, 'cause, like, who doesn't want brighter skin? So I got a toner, a moisturizer, an eye cream, and a serum.
They were each $4. It was $16 for those four products. And I would've gotten the cleanser, but they didn't have the cleanser in that brand. So at the most, it would've been 20 bucks for four full-sized products, or for five full-sized products. And I haven't tried [00:14:00] those ones yet. I just got them today. So if you are following me on TikTok, I am...
I do show the products, but I'm gonna do a video of me trying out those products. Uh, I just haven't done it yet, but Like, it just is crazy. So I don't know. I'm just saying, I'm sharing this because I think this is useful information, and I feel like if you are somebody who does like to have more of a budget-friendly, uh, product line when it comes to your skincare, body care...
They have, like the Dollar Tree has all the body care and stuff too, right? That's like a whole line of stuff they have. I mean, some of it I like, some of it I didn't like when it came to the body care stuff. They have like the dupes for the Sol de Janeiro or whatever it's called. Um, they were okay. I wouldn't, like I wouldn't buy- rebuy those pieces.
Um, but they have like body scrubs. They have face masks. They have... You, you name it. If you e- even go onto TikTok and type in Dollar Tree, you'll find all the products that everybody recommends [00:15:00] that they love. Now, if you are in the States, you have more options. And if you are in the States, the one thing I'm looking for, if I ever find it in Canada, oh my gosh, I'm gonna freak out, it is the one that Erica absolutely loved the most, the makeup artist, and it's a serum that's like an oil.
It's got squalene oil in it, and it's like blue and green, and you've gotta like shake it and mix it together. And I want that, but I have not been able to find it in Canada, so we must not have it here for whatever reason. Hopefully, we get it, or I mean, I'm not going to the States anytime soon, but if I were, I would definitely make a trip to the Dollar Tree to find that 'cause that one was like rated like 10 out of 10 on this, uh, whatever healthy skincare thing.
But... And I don't know what it is. I'm sorry. I wish I could tell you what she put these products in that gave them a rating, but this one came out like super high, and I can't find it in Canada. So if you find it, please message me and let me know, um, 'cause I will drive to get it 'cause it sounds amazing.
But, [00:16:00] you know, at the end of the day, like, I, I- it just goes to show you... A- and I'm not comparing ingredient to, like, you know, apples to apples here. I'm not, like, taking these products and, and how much vitamin C is in this one and how much vitamin C is in this one. Like, but I, I can say the skincare company I used to work for had a vitamin C serum that was $100.
I got a vitamin C serum from the Dollar Tree for $1.75. Now, are those identical vitamin C creams? I don't know, 'cause I can't compare. It just, it shows the ingredients, but how much vitamin C and, you know, the percentages, I don't know. But is it working for me, and do I like the way my skin feels, and do I like the way my skin looks after I'm done using it?
Yeah, I do. So I don't know what makes one better than the other. Is it what's actually inside or is it the experience you have with the product? I, I don't know. I, I... For me, I'm enjoying the experience that I'm having with these products and the way that my skin looks and feels, the way my makeup is going on.
Um, 'cause that's the other thing, I've gotten some [00:17:00] primers, really good primers from the Dollar Tree. Um, and then also, you know, when I'm talking about products, like, I also get a lot of, uh, makeup and skincare from the brand e.l.f., which is also a super inexpensive drugstore brand. That and Essence. Essence is another one.
My favorite mascara right now is from Essence. It is $5.99, and it goes on amazing. I love the brush. It's called Bye Bye Panda Eyes. It doesn't fall onto your face. It's wonderful, and it's $5.99 from Shoppers Drug Mart. So, like, I used to use a YSL mascara that was, like, I don't know, 45 bucks maybe, if not more.
Like, why? Why? Why do I do that? Why do I need that? My lashes look just as great with the $5.99 mascara from Essence, you know? And so- If you're like me and you don't really care where your products come from, you just want products that work for you, [00:18:00] that's my advice, my tips. Check out Shoppers or whichever drugstore.
It could be Walmart, it could be Shoppers, it could be Amazon, wherever you buy s- drugstore brands, um, or f- Rexall or Pharma Plus or whatever they're called. They all carry e.l.f., Essence, those kinds of things. Um, and then if you do have access to a Dollar Tree and you wanna just take a trip around there and try out some things, um, uh, check out my video, check out other videos on TikTok.
You can see some of the products people recommend. But for $1.75 or even $4, it's absolutely worth giving it a shot. So that is my story, and I'm sticking to it. I will post as many links to things as I can below. Maybe I'll even post some links to the videos that I was talking about so that you can check those out.
Uh, so those will be there as well. But, um, let me know. Send me a message. I started a new Instagram account, you guys, for this, um, podcast and some of the other things that I'm working on behind the scenes. Um, [00:19:00] so my new Instagram is down below. Please come over and give it a follow. You know how it's hard it is starting a brand-new Instagram account.
It's like slowly turning the wheel to try and get something going. Um, so if you are inclined and you wanna check it out, please do. I'm just... Right now I'm just re-sharing some of my TikTok stuff over there, but eventually I'll start sharing some original content there. I'm just trying to get it all to fit in.
So working on some fun things behind the scenes, but it's called howitsreallygoing50, and that's where I'm going to be sharing this podcast, where I'm gonna be sharing some other stuff, some... Just anything and everything that talks about how it's really going in, at midlife is gonna be over there, so I would love to have you join me.
All right, everyone, that's it for me. Look for the links in my bio, and I hope you're all doing well, and we'll talk to you soon. Bye for now.
