Looking after your skin, hair and nails is certainly important, but it can seem like a burden with the amount of products available, meaning the cost of taking care of yourself start to skyrocket. The best beauty remedies boast of their natural ingredients, so could it actually be easier to make them at home using the natural ingredients themselves?

Forget putting cucumbers on your eyes, you can get avocado, olive oil, honey and even eggs to work wonders for your hair, skin and nails, and save yourself a bit of money at the chemist at the same time. We've picked out the easiest remedies that you can make with the contents of your fridge.

Use olive oil as make up remover

This may sound counter-intuitive, as oil is known to be the natural enemy of skin, but olive oil actually counteracts greasy skin by naturally dissolving excess skin oil. It also gently removes make up, leaving you fresh faced.

Shop bought cost: £3.25 for 125ml of a bestselling make up remover

Homemade cost: £3 for a 500ml bottle of olive oil

Make a hand cream from coconut milk

If you keep coconut milk in the fridge for a few days, it will thicken and become the consistency of a hand cream. At which point you can then use it... as a soothing hand cream that works wonders on dry skin. It's that simple.

Shop bought cost: £2.33 for a 75ml tube of a leading brand's hand cream

Homemade cost: £0.89 for a 400g can of coconut milk

Create an exfoliator with honey and sugar

Sugar may be in the dieting bad books, but it's great for your skin, helping it to draw in moisture and replenish cells. Make a quick exfoliator by mixing brown sugar granules in honey and rub away dead skin in a moment.

Shop bought cost: £4.09 for a 150ml tube of a popular exfoliating facial scrub

Homemade cost: £1.78 for a 250g jar of honey and £0.99 for a bag of brown sugar

Cure split ends with chamomile tea

Chamomile is not only soothing to drink, but it can also calm your hair. Boil a cup of chamomile tea, let it cool and soak your hair with it before washing and conditioning to smooth down split ends.

Shop bought cost: £6 for a leading brand treatment mask

Homemade cost: £2.09 for a box of 25 chamomile tea bags

Strengthen your nails with beer

What? You heard us right. Simply mix equal amounts of beer, olive oil and cider vinegar to make an invigorating nail soak that will leave you with stronger nails after just fifteen minutes soaking.

Shop bought cost: average £8 for a nail soaking kit

Homemade cost: £4.50 for four 440ml cans of beer, £1.15 for a 500ml bottle of cider vinegar

Yogurt makes an excellent face mask

Y'know how adverts are always going on about good bacteria in yogurt? The same good bacteria can be as good for your skin as it can for your stomach - simply smear some on your face, as you would for any face mask, then wash off.

Shop bought cost: £1 per 10ml face mask sachet in chemists and supermarkets

Homemade cost: £1.10 for a 500g pot of Greek yogurt

Make your own shampoo from egg whites

Terrifying as this may sound, if you whip egg whites up to a meringue-like thickness, it actually makes a fantastic shampoo, sucking up grease and dirt. Apply to your hair and rinse off with cold water - don't use hot water or the egg will start to cook - and hey presto, clean hair.

Shop bought cost: £3.99 for a 400ml bottle of a popular brand shampoo

Homemade cost: £1.65 for six eggs

...and your own conditioner from avocados

Avocados are a superfood for more than one reason - as well as healthy, they're also multi-purpose, with nourishing benefits for your hair as well as your insides. Simply mix a mashed avocado with some mayonnaise in a food processor to create a homemade conditioner.

Shop bought cost: £3.99 for a 500ml bottle of a leading brand conditioner

Homemade cost: £1 per avocado, £1.50 for a 100ml bottle of mayonnaise

Cure cracked cuticles with honey

Mixing honey and olive oil makes a wonderful home cuticle cream. Apply it to your cuticles for five minutes twice a week for quick results thanks to the smooth oil and energising honey - and adding aloe vera will heal cracks and cuts quickly.

Shop bought cost: £4 for a bestselling cuticle cream

Homemade cost: £1.78 for a 250g jar of honey

Make hair dye from coffee

Granted, there's only one colour you can dye your hair using coffee, which soaks into your hair in the same way as many dyes, but it could save you a fortune at the hairdresser. Simply brew some ground coffee, filter it and let it cool, soak your hair in it and leave for 30 minutes, then rinse.

Shop bought cost: £5.69 for a popular brand dye box

Homemade cost: £3.85 for a pack of ground coffee

Words: Victoria Gray, Images: Rex Features