Top student accounts, beauty freebies, flash currency sale, 2for1 London Eye and £1 posh make-up. These are Martin Lewis' Real Deals

The nature of deals is they move fast – prices, terms and stock levels can change rapidly, even while Martin’s on the programme (9 August), as so many people are checking them out. So go quickly, always double-check before spending or making a special trip, and check the terms and conditions.

Plus, while we hope these are cracking deals and save you cash; as Martin always says, if a specific deal involves spending and you can’t afford it, don’t need it, or won’t use it, please don’t do it.

Remember, deals can change quickly...

 Magazine beauty freebies

As always with cover freebies, the key is if the magazine costs less than the freebie, and you’d have bought the freebie anyway, it's worth it (even if you don’t read the mag). Current freebies include…

Jemma Kidd eyeliner (RRP £14) which is stuck to the cover of September's Elle magazine (costs £3.90). There are three colours available.

You can get a 45ml Murad cleanser (£10) on September's Marie Claire (£3.70) front cover and a 2ml Lancome mascara (£6.50) on September's Tatler (£4.10) front cover.

Top 2012/13 student accounts

Banks salivate over new students, desperate to bag custom for life. The new academic year packages are now out, in time for this week's Scottish Higher and next week's A-level results.

Sadly, most students need an overdraft. For safety, the biggest & longest 0% overdraft wins. Some banks such as Halifax promise up to £3,000 but usually give far less. It's the 'guaranteed' overdraft – how much you’ll definitely get if accepted - that's key.

It's close between the Co-op Bank (which guarantees those accepted a 0%, £1,400 first year overdraft, £1,700 in year two and £2,000 year three) and Santander (which gives £50 cash, a guaranteed £1,500 overdraft in all years and 1% in-credit interest on up to £500).

Some key points:

  • A UCAS offer letter's enough to open an account.
  • Existing students can often switch.
  • Never forget an overdraft is a loan, it needs repaying on graduation.
  • Never bust the agreed overdraft limit. It costs up to £25 a pop and can cripple your finances.
  • Forget loyalty. At graduation, switch to the best deal again
  • Don’t consider an overdraft part of your income (unlike a student loan, grant or cash from work). It's there to help you with short term cash-flow, not money to live off. Be careful.

Quick Deals

Flash currency sale.

Currency giant Travelex is running two 2-hr flash sales. Between 11am and 1pm today it is boosting rates on all major currencies bar the euro. If you want euros, it will boost rates between the same times tomorrow. The key to this is it allows airport pick-up as well as delivery – good as buy-at-airport rates are usually dire. Past sales rates have been strong, but to be sure, compare it with other bureaux. Don’t just assume it's cheapest.

London Eye 2for1.

Register with National Rail's Days Out Guide and you can get a 2for1 voucher - something that's not around often for the Eye. Yet you'll need to buy a single or return National Rail ticket, with London as the final destination, for the same day as your visit. If you're not travelling by train, as the ticket's £19, it's worth popping by to buy cheap rail ticket anyway just for the discount.

£1 Stila bargains.

There’s big heat online for a range of posh Stila make-up items, which can cost up to £26, at Poundland for, unsurprisingly, £1.There’s a range of different items, but it’s a case of suck it and see if any individual store has them. It is a discontinued range, but similar products are being sold on the high street for £10-£20.

Double Tesco points on frozen food.

Tesco's launched its Summer Exchange which lets you swap each £5 voucher for £10 to spend in-store or online on selected departments. For the first time this includes all frozen food. There’s also clothing, stationery, small appliances and electricals, baby and  toddler, skincare, cosmetics and perfume, home, furniture, pet food, phones and accessories as well as opticians.

Before you plump for this, check if you can QUADRUPLE rewards. Tesco's Rewards brochure lists the days out, restaurants, jewellery & other non-Tesco store deals where you can get 3x or 4x points value which could work better for you.