What a four-step skincare routine costs you in a year

Build the year from the dose, not the shelf

Each product gives 100 applications on these doses, which makes the arithmetic unusually clean. A 200 mL cleanser at 2 mL gives 100 uses; a 30 mL serum at 0.3 mL gives 100; a 50 mL moisturiser at 0.5 mL gives 100; a 30 mL night treatment at 0.3 mL gives 100.

What differs is how fast you get through them. Twice a day is 730 uses a year, so 7.3 packs. Once a day is 365 uses, so 3.65 packs. Three times a week is 156 uses, so 1.56 packs. Those three multipliers do all the work in the table below.

The result is that frequency matters more than pack size. The night treatment is the most expensive product per millilitre in the premium column and the cheapest line in it, because it is used 156 times a year rather than 730.

Where the money actually sits

The moisturiser is $1,022 of the $2,112 premium total, which is 48%. The serum is $548, or 26%. The cleanser is $402, or 19%. The night treatment is $140, or 7%. Anyone trying to reduce the total should start at the top of that list rather than at the product that feels most expensive per bottle.

That ordering surprises people because it inverts the per-millilitre ranking. The $90 night treatment is $3.00 per millilitre; the $55 cleanser is $0.275 per millilitre. Yet the cleanser costs nearly three times as much a year, because it is used 730 times rather than 156.

Moving the moisturiser alone from the premium column to the supermarket one takes the annual total from $2,112 to $1,382, a reduction of $730 with three of the four steps untouched. That single substitution is 49% of the entire gap between the two columns.

• Moisturiser: $1,022 a year, 48% of the premium total
• Serum: $548 a year, 26% of the total
• Cleanser: $402 a year, 19% of the total
• Night treatment: $140 a year, 7% of the total
• Swapping only the moisturiser saves $730 a year, which is 49% of the full gap between the columns

GST, imports and the price you are comparing against

Consumer prices in Australia are advertised GST inclusive, so the $140 moisturiser already contains about $12.73 of GST and the $2,112 annual routine contains exactly $192. An overseas listing quoted before tax is not comparable until the 10% is added back.

For goods bought from overseas sellers, business.gov.au states that GST applies to most retail sales of low value physical goods imported by Australian consumers, affecting goods valued at A$1,000 or less, and that the A$1,000 threshold is based on the customs value so that transport and insurance costs are excluded. Skincare orders almost always fall under that threshold, so a registered overseas seller collects the 10% at checkout.

Freight is the line that decides whether the import is worth it. A $140 jar bought overseas at $95 plus $9.50 GST is $104.50 before shipping; a $30 shipping charge takes it to $134.50, a saving of $5.50 on a single jar and $40.15 across the 7.3 jars a year. The landed-cost calculator on this site adds freight and GST so the two can be compared on the same basis.

Cutting the total without cutting steps

Three levers reduce the annual figure without removing a step. The first is dose discipline: drifting from 0.5 mL to 0.7 mL on the premium moisturiser adds $416 a year, so measuring once and learning what 0.5 mL looks like is worth more than most substitutions.

The second is frequency. Moving the premium serum from once a day to five days a week takes it from 365 uses to 260, which is 2.6 packs and $390 a year instead of $548. The third is finishing what is open: half a $140 jar discarded costs $2.80 for every application actually made, against $1.40 for a jar used to the end.

Apply all three and the premium column falls from $2,112 to roughly $1,560 without changing a single product. That is more than the difference between most premium and mid-range substitutions, and it costs nothing.

1. Write down the pack size, dose and weekly frequency for every step you use
2. Convert each to packs per year: 7.3 for twice daily, 3.65 for once daily, 1.56 for three a week
3. Multiply by the price to get an annual figure per step
4. Rank the steps by annual cost, not by price per millilitre
5. Substitute at the top of that ranking first
6. Measure your real dose once so the whole table stops being an assumption

Before you buy

• List every step you currently use with its pack size and price
• Measure your real dose for each one rather than assuming it
• Convert frequency to packs per year: 7.3, 3.65 or 1.56 for the three common patterns
• Calculate an annual figure for each step and rank them
• Substitute or reduce the largest annual line first
• Add 10% GST and freight before treating an overseas price as cheaper
• Finish open packs before buying replacements

Questions readers ask

Why is the cleanser more expensive per year than the night treatment?

Frequency. The cleanser is used 730 times a year and the night treatment 156. At $55 for 100 uses the cleanser costs $402 a year; at $90 for 100 uses the night treatment costs $140. Per millilitre the night treatment is more than ten times dearer, and it is still the smallest line in the budget.

What is the single cheapest change to the annual total?

Measuring the dose. Drifting from 0.5 mL to 0.7 mL on the premium moisturiser costs $416 a year and happens without any decision being made. Learning what 0.5 mL looks like on your fingertips costs one kitchen scale and about 5 minutes, and it protects every jar you buy afterwards.

Is importing skincare worth the freight?

On these figures the break-even is $35.50 of freight per jar. At $30 a jar you save $40.15 a year across 7.3 jars; above $35.50 you lose money. Consolidating several jars into one consignment usually settles it, as long as the customs value stays at or under A$1,000 so GST is collected at checkout.

Does dropping a step save more than substituting one?

It depends which step, and the ranking answers it. Dropping the night treatment saves $140 a year; substituting the moisturiser saves $730, which is more than five times as much. Rank every step by its annual cost rather than by its shelf price, then act on the largest line first rather than the smallest one.

How much GST is in the annual figure?

Exactly $192 on the premium column, because $2,112 divided by 11 is $192. On the supermarket column it is $57.64. GST is extracted from a tax-inclusive Australian price by dividing by 11, which is the figure to add back when comparing against any overseas price quoted before tax.

Sources

1. business.gov.au — International tax: GST on low value imported goods and the A$1,000 customs value threshold — checked 2026-11-03
2. Australian Bureau of Statistics — Consumer Price Index, Australia, September 2026 (annual CPI 4.3%) — checked 2026-11-03
3. Consumer Affairs Victoria — consumer guarantees that apply automatically to products bought from a business trading in Australia — checked 2026-11-03