i can't suggest much about skincare since i'm just buying any i think looks good.. brand doesnt seem to matter much. you should go to beauty forum boards like
http://forums.vogue.com.au/ (i live in australia thus .au XDD). i got a lot of advice there including which moisturising cream works, which salon is the cheapest to get hair straightened etc, etc...
i've had my hair thermal rebonded 3 times (straightened) and all at chinese salons. western salons charge twice as much and besides, they know less about asian girls' hair textures,tastes. now i have a hair straightener- remington wet2straight. it was good when i first used it but now my hair's gotten used to it so it's not as effective as before. i've heard good feedback about GHD .. might wanna give that a try.
as for facial masks, i do use them but of cheaper brands. i bought 'honey and oat facial scrub' from body shop and another scrub from missha.