Clinique vs Estee lauder and my final choice

Buying a moisturizer for me is such a difiicult thing. Really. I have compination skin, that turns dry in winter and goes to the oily side in summer. Probably this is normal, but for me is a very annoying situation. The main problem is that there are times that I can be totally crazy and in love with a moisturizer and after some days I can feel very bad wearing it, with a continuous feeling of wanting to get rid of it off my face! That's why I always try to take samples of moisturizers so to be sure! 

This winter, and because my fiance would go to an international trip and would stop to a duty free, I thought I should buy products of my favourite brand. The brands I had in mind were Clinique or Estee Lauder. I have used many brands the last years, high end brands or those of the drugstore, and from what I can remember my face looked at its great when I was using the Superdefense cream from Clinique and the Hydrationist of Estee Lauder. So, I had to chose between these two brands, and I have to admit I had dificult times! Clinique was more affordable (I wanted to buy many products, from cleanser to treatment) but with Estee Lauder my skin had better looks! But Superdefense was not bad at all, and it had an SPF 25, greater than Hydrationist's! But Hydrationist has this great cucumber scent that I cannot forget! Yes, but did you checked the ratings in  MakeUpAlley ? Superdefense has a better rating! 

I was thinking of all these, tiring my mind, looking for more information on the internet, trying to compare the products I wanted to buy.... untill I came to my hometown, and my mum mentioned a chemist that used to manufacture his own creams and beauty products the last 50 years, and that now his children have opened a store. That was it. I forgot about Clinique, Estee, Biotherm (yes.. I had started looking for Biotherm too!) and went straight to the store and bought so many products paying such little money! I paid 70 euros for 2 moisturizers, 1 facial tonic, 1 face mask, 1 hydrating vitamin serum, 1 vitamin C serum, and 4 bottles of argan oil, jojoba oil, castor oil and almond oil. With 70 euros I would buy just one, or maximum two jars of my favourite cream... 

I don't know if I did the right thing. I still have second thoughts and dream the cucumber scent of the EL moisturizer... But, it's the crisis, I am currently studying, so I don't have an income and have to be tight, and these products are ok on my face. What the heck, they are freshly made creams with vitamins and natural ingredients! How much worse can they be? And if you think that the  cheapest the product, the lower the quality ( i am that kind of a person), I have to say that probably they are so much cheaper because they come in plastic jars and dispencers that cost little and  don't have advertisement costs.

What do you think? What would have opted for? Have you tried any products like these?