At mamabella, we’re all about saving you time and money by recommending products and beauty hacks designed with busy lifestyles, and budgets in mind.
For those of us who barely have time to shower, let alone stick to a skincare or hair care routine, we recently revealed our favourite overnight hair masks, face masks and foot treatments that do the work while you sleep.
We’ve also started listing ways you can cheat your way to MUA-worth looks with our time-saving hacks.
For this article, we’re taking things a step further. We’ve rounded up the best one-palette wonders and makeup, skincare and haircare multitaskers that offer fantastic value for money; whether it’s a lipstick you can use as an eye cream, a cheek and lip stain, a cleanser that doubles up as a moisturiser, or a foundation with in-built skincare ingredients. We call these our mamabella miracles.
FURTHER READING: Skincare makeup: The best beauty products that are good for your complexion while saving you time and money
We’ll be adding to this article as we discover more multitasking makeup and if you have any recommendations of your own, let us know in the comments!
Each recommendation in this list saves money by combining multiple tasks and products into one price. Even those which are slightly on the expensive side are likely to be cheaper than buying individual products of the same quality separately. For example, the Charlotte Tilbury Instant Look palettes are at least £70 cheaper than buying all the items on their own.
They each save space on your dressing table and draws. Not to mention the baggage space you can save when taking these products on weekends away or on holidays – when we’re allowed out of the house again that is!
They can also save you time rooting around for different products in your collection or applying three skincare products when one will do the job.
£20.50 | Buy now
In a super easy-to-apply cream, Milk Makeup’s Lip & Cheek stick can be used on, you guessed it, your lips or cheeks, as well as on your eyes if you’re feeling adventurous.
Packed with avocado and castor seed oil, the tint also hydrates while providing colour.
The beauty of using the same product on your lips and cheeks is that the tone will always match.
We love the dusty rose shade ‘Werk’, but it comes in four other colours and like all Milk Makeup products, it’s 100% vegan and cruelty-free.
The Milk Makeup Lip & Cheek stick comes in:
FURTHER READING: Milk Makeup UK: The best products from the cult classic beauty brand
Buy now from Milk
£16 | Buy now
We have loved this product for years and it’s one of the original – and best – lines from Benefit Cosmetics.
You can read more about the brand and why we love it so much in our Spotlight on Benefit article.
Both a cheek and lip tint, Benetint can be used as a blusher or to provide lip colour that lasts hours.
It smells gorgeous, is easy to apply, and has been sold by Benefit since the 1970s. A tiny bit goes a long way, so although £16 is a lot for one small bottle, it really does last months and months.
There appears to be a shortage of Benetint as it’s out of stock from Benefit and Cult Beauty, but it’s still on sale at Boots so if you want it, be quick!
Buy now from Benefit
£26 | Buy now
This creamy Laura Mercer Caviar Stick eye colour doubles up as an eyeliner and eyeshadow.
You can quickly apply a wash of colour, or blend a single colour or a combination of shades to create a smudged smoky eye or add definition.
You can learn more in our how to apply eyeshadow guide.
Alternatively, it can be used as a simple tight-line shadow, bold block of eyeliner or a subtle feline flick.
If you’re opting for the latter, though, we recommend using a brush for a more precise application. There are 25 shades to choose from, from nude brown to bright berry and pink.
Buy now from Cult Beauty
£32 | Buy now
When it comes to multitasking facial products, you can’t get better than the Your Skin But Better CC+ Cream from IT Cosmetics.
Honestly, this little tube does almost everything – it combines the primer properties of a BB cream, the colour correction of CC cream, and the coverage of a foundation and concealer. We love it so much, it’s one the best foundations we’ve used.
It’s also buildable, so you can use it for a minimal makeup look, or dial it up when you’re going more glam. On top of that, this wonder cream has SPF 50, meaning you don’t have to apply a separate SPF or worry about the sun damaging your skin – which is the main cause of dreaded age spots and premature ageing.
And if that wasn’t enough, it’s absolutely packed full of hydrating skincare ingredients including hyaluronic acid, soy extract, firming collagen, and hydrolysed silk, along with grapefruit, orange, bergamot and lemon oils. At £32, this isn’t cheap but it can literally replace your primer, foundation, concealer, BB cream, CC cream and SPF moisturiser.
See our science of moisturiser article or our What is hyaluronic acid guide? for more info.
What’s the catch? This wonder cream is only available in 12 shades, which should still be enough to cover most skin tones but this is the only sacrifice you’ll need to make.
FURTHER READING: The truth about the acids in your skincare
Buy now from Cult Beauty
£45 | Buy now
Although Charlotte Tilbury made her name as a makeup artist, her brand has since pushed into skincare and the results are equally as impressive.
Her Magic Cream, for example, is one the best moisturisers we’ve used and she recently released a Magic Serum within the same range.
If you’re looking for a product that triples up as a cleanser, a mask and a moisturising balm, look no further.
We love Charlotte Tilbury’s Multi-Miracle Glow because it can be used daily as a cleanser, throughout the day as a balm, or as a mask when your skin is particularly dry or you want to give it a treat.
We recommend leaving it as a mask overnight for the best results. It smells great and you’ll wake up with skin feeling smooth and soft.
FURTHER READING: The best overnight face masks
Buy now from Charlotte Tilbury
£23 | Buy now
Both an oil and a serum, Glossier’s futuredew is designed to be used as the final stage of a skincare routine, providing instant hydration and glow.
According to Glossier, in a third-party clinical trial involving 31 people between the ages of 21 and 59, 93% of subjects saw an increase in radiance after 12 hours.
After four weeks, 96% of users said they saw an improvement in their skin’s texture.
It’s hard to argue with those numbers and in our experience, we’ve certainly seen similar.
We love it because it’s dispensed using a pump rather than a dropper, which can often make oils and serums messy to apply.
READ NEXT: Serum, moisturiser and facial oil: What’s the difference?
Buy now from Glossier
£11.99 | Buy now
When African Extracts calls this oil multi-purpose, it’s not exaggerating.
The light, non-greasy treatment oil is full of antioxidants including Bio-Active Rooibos extract, Vitamin E, soybean, and geranium botanical extracts in a blend of grapeseed and sweet almond oils.
What’s more, there are no colourants, preservatives or added fragrances, making this ideal for sensitive skin.
It can be used on:
That’s just to name a few.
We place a couple of drops in our bath, use it as a makeup remover, massage it into the dry skin on our heels. We’ve also found it helps soothe patches of eczema, too.
Buy now from African Extracts
£39.50 | Buy now
Olverum Bath Oil is a cult classic. It smells incredible – made from a blend of ten essential oils including lavandin, juniper, rosemary, lemon, lavender, and exotic verbena – with a highly concentrated formulation meaning you only need one or two drops in a full bath to feel the benefits.
It helps you relax and soothes aching muscles, relieves stress, and we’ve definitely been sleeping better since we’ve been using it.
It’s won many awards and it’s entirely vegan.
Although it’s designed for the bath, we often put a tiny amount on our rough cuticles and dry elbows.
We also put a drop on our feet before putting on Avon’s moisturising socks (see our guide to the best overnight treatments for more info on these socks) and this helps us chill.
And, we’ve occasionally used a small bowl of it in our front room of an evening. We can’t get enough of its smell!
Buy now from Sephora UK
£18 | Buy now
Face peels aren’t only perfect for brightening and clearing your complexion.
They can also do wonders for the dead skin on your feet.
It’s far from a catch-all treatment, but it helps shift the stubborn outer layers of dead and dry skin making it easier to target and moisturise the lower layers of skin.
Any peel will do but we are big fans of The Body Shop Drops of Light Liquid Peeling Solution.
It comes in at £18, which isn’t cheap, but you’re effectively getting two products for the price of one.
And if it finally helps you get rid of dry skin on your feet, then it’s more than worth the money!
Buy now from The Body Shop£10 | Buy now
Bad hair day? This is the only product you’ll need. Invented by celebrity hairstylist and author of Great Hair Days & How To Have Them, Luke Hersheson, the cream really does almost everything.
It can be used when you are fresh out of the shower as a conditioner, or on dry hair to help tame stray ends, tame frizz, and boost shine. Or put it on overnight as a hair mask. At only £10, this cream is a bargain.
Buy now from Hershesons
Abigail is a leading science journalist writing about space, sustainability, technology and culture. She is author of The Art of Urban Astronomy, a must-have guide to the night sky that guides you through the seasons and learn about the brightest stars and constellations, the myths and legends of astronomy and how to identify star clusters and galaxies.
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