Budget beauty products seem to be everywhere at the moment and with the credit crunch it couldn't come at a better time.

Mascara for a pound and lip gloss for under a fiver seems perfect but how good does it actually work? Are cheaper products just as good as their more expensive counterparts or is some stuff just worth splashing out on?

Female First hit the make up counters to find out how products up and down the price scale compare.

Today we look at bronzers.

W7's Multi Colour Bronzer, £4.95, uses a combination of different colours to create a great shade, the only problem is it takes a while to build up the colour as it is quite faint at first. There is a bit of shimmer but it is not too glittery that you look like a Christmas fairy.

Prestige's Sun Play Bronzing Powder, £7.99, is the perfect bronzer. It goes on easily, just a couple of sweeps is needed, and lasts all day. It is a good shade of brown, dark enough to give you a tan but not too dark you look like Danielle Lloyd. We loved it!

Pure's Loose Powder in Iridescent Chocolate, £12.50, is a strong brown colour, perhaps a little too strong depending on your colouring, fair girls should avoid it like the plague. As a bronzer it is fine but its packaging really lets it down. The powder goes everywhere when you open it and the applicator sponge is too flimsy to cope with it. It was saturated in powder after one use, apply with fingers instead.

Clinique True Bronze Bronzing Gel For Face, £15, is great for those who just want a hint of colour. It doesn't give you the strongest colour but the gel blends into your skin to give a lovely natural bronze which lasts absolutely ages. Only the tiniest amount is needed too so the bottle will last a long time too.

When it comes to tanning, Fake Bake knows its stuff so you would expect their bronzer to deliver, and that it does. Fake Bake's Pressed Powder Bronzer, £16, gives you a nice natural colour which lasts all day. It goes on easily, with just a couple of sweeps needed.

Although the bronzers all put up tough competition with Prestige and Fake Bake's bronzers really impressing us but it's Prestige which wins it, at half the price of its rival.

Come back tomorrow to see how nail varnishes compared.

Female First - Jessica Watson