 Today we are going over what I think to be the elite of the drugstore and affordable makeup market. If you're new here, I mostly cover luxury and high-end makeup on my channel. However, I do love to try a lot of drugstore makeup as well, so that way I can really compare items to tell you what is really worth it, at what price point. And all of these items, I'm telling you, they work just as good and in some cases better as some of my favorite high-end and luxury makeup. So these are ones that are not going to break the bank and are still really great. But let's be honest now, even drugstore makeup nowadays is like kind of pricey, so I wanted to make sure I gave you products that were really, really good. I will have all of the items that I'm talking about today linked down below for you to shop. Let's get into it. We're going to start off with face primers. So Melania is a brand that does an amazing job with their face primers. Many of their hydrating or glowy skin primers are just as good as the high-end ones on the market. Now, I do have dry skin, so I'm more partial to their glowy ones. They do have fragrance though, so if you're not into that, just keep that in mind. So the Peach Skin Glass Primer, I believe this is the one that I use today. I love this one. It adds a nice glassy, but not too glassy look to the skin, and it's pretty hydrating. Also the Supercharged Dewy Primer, these kind of work the same. They just have different scents. If you get a primer in a squeezy tube from Melania that's either hydrating, dewy, glass skin, any of that, you're going to love it. Melania does a great job with their face primers. The next primer that I find myself consistently reaching for over my high-ended luxury products, this one is better than its luxury counterpart. This is the Elf Poreless Putty Primer. I love this. I think this does a decent job with oil control, and it still is pretty hydrating on my dry skin, and it just smooths over the skin to make it a really nice, smooth base before makeup. The counterpart to this, this was inspired by the Tatcha Silk Canvas, and I actually like this better. So this to me is a better version. It's not like really hydrating or glowy or anything, it just kind of softens the skin and makeup sits really pretty on top of it, only a few bucks. I use this one all the time, definitely one of my favorite primers from the drug store. Foundations. I am a true believer of luxury foundations. Luxury foundations, I feel like work the best of the best of the best, but this one gives them a run for their money. This is the L'Oreal Infallible Freshwear. This is one of my favorite everyday medium coverage foundations. Something about it just makes the skin look absolutely smooth and poreless. It does this in a way that a lot of the high-ended luxury foundations can't do right now. One thing that's very trendy in complexion is skin care benefits being added into the foundations, but I find that those types of foundations end up making my skin look very porous and shiny and they're not that flattering for long-term wear. This is just a good old true foundation, it has a dewy-er finish, but it is extremely smoothing to the face and it wears beautifully. This is definitely my all-time favorite affordable foundation and it beats out so many of my high-ended luxury ones. Concealer. I have talked about this one for years, but I think the Milani Concealer Imperfect is a dupe for so many of my favorite luxury concealers. I often find myself just reaching for this one. It applies so smoothly to the skin, it spreads out like butter, I just feel like it takes seconds to work this out. It gives a nice medium coverage and I find it wears really well. Now if you don't set it, it will crease. If you do set it with a very good powder, your skin is going to look flawless with this concealer. I just find it super-duper easy to use so I'm more inclined to reach for it. It makes the under-eyes look really soft. Powders. This is my number one favorite powder. This is the best powder you can buy. It's a plus that it's the price that it is and I would pay more for it. That is the Maybelline Fit Me Loose Finishing Powder. If Maybelline ever decided to discontinue this powder, I do not know what I would do. This is the most skin-smoothing powder I have ever used. There is not another powder that blurs better than this. I typically like to use this with a damp sponge. Press it in here and then press it on my under-eyes and you'll be able to see in the demo exactly what this does to the skin. It is literal magic. Seriously. It will make you look 10 years younger. It smooths over everything. I don't know what is in this. It's a great dupe for the Huda Beauty Pound Cake Loose Setting Powder. I love that one as well but this one has a little bit more viscosity to it. I don't even know if that works correct. But it has a little bit more oomph to it to where it really smooths it even more than the Huda. Let's get into cream contour products. I do think when it comes to cream products, it is worthwhile to spend a little bit more money because cream products from the affordable makeup market I find do not last. But these ones are really, really good. So this one is from Wet N Wild. This is the Microglo Makeup Stick Contour. They have a couple shades. This one is really warm. They also have a cooler one. This melts in like butter. If you're looking for a really good cheap cream contour that is going to blend in nice and easy, super emollient and doesn't disappear within seconds, Wet N Wild in my opinion didn't even get enough attention for this product. It is super duper good. The packaging is super duper cheap. But packaging aside, I would pay a lot more for this. Another really great cream contour product is this from Elf again. If this was in different packaging, I would buy this for $30. It is so good. This is the Elf Cream Contour Palette. I use it today to contour my nose just to show you how it works. These last a long time. They're not the most emollient, but that helps with longevity especially if you're oily. But they still blend so easily. So you can feel by the consistency that it's not greasy, it's not oily, so it is going to last. But it still is quite easy to blend out as well. I love the colors in here. You have a lot of options. I don't know how Elf keeps it at the price that it's at. It is so much better than a lot of other high-end cream contours that I've used. Especially with it being in a palette form. A lot of times these dry out really quickly, but this one is still holding out very strong. My favorite powder bronzer from the drugstore is something that I just discovered in the last few months. Incredible. This is the Flower Beauty Heat Wave Luminous Bronzer. This is so stunning. It blends out like a luxury bronzer. It has the perfect tone and it has a very pretty luminosity that looks quite luxurious on the skin. Everything about the application of this product is extremely luxurious. I can't believe the price of this, the tone, everything. Everything about this is perfect. I can't believe this is from Flower Beauty, but it is incredible. Moving on to blushes. We'll start off with cream blushes. Again, I don't tend to like affordable cream cheek options because they don't last, but one that is really good. This has been popular for a while. It's no hidden secret. But the Flower Beauty blush bombs are super, duper, duper, duper good. I love the colors that they have. They blend out really easily. They'll dry down to have a long-lasting finish. So today I used the shade Cinnamon, which is a little bit deeper. It works really great with a bronzy, warm kind of looks. I also really love Pinched for something a little bit more wearable, but yeah, these are very, very easy to use. You can get a lot of pigment with them if you want, but they still do blend out to be a little bit more natural as well. It reminds me of the Rare Beauty liquid blushes, a little bit less pigment, but similar kind of way that they work. Powder blushes, I will say. The drugstore is not short for amazing powder blushes. I love luxury and high-end blushes, but I also think that the drugstore has some really amazing powder blushes. So we'll start off with the one that I am currently wearing. This is from Milani. These have been around for years for good reason. This is the Rose Powder Blushes. I have mine in the shade Romantic Rose. So just look for their formula that has the rose imprint. These are a really beautiful, easy to blend matte blush formulation. They also have extremely wearable colors as well. I feel like it is hard to mess up a powder blush, okay? As long as it blends out and it's not too pigmented, I will like it. I love blush, but something about this looks really soft and blurring on the skin as well, so can't go wrong with these. This one is probably the one that I recommend the most if you're looking into powder blushes at the drugstore, the Almay Healthy Hue blushes. This is the quality of a luxury blush right here. It has a glowy finish. It applies so smooth to the skin for it being glowy. It doesn't emphasize the texture too much. Great color selection as well. A lot of times the affordable market can mess up a glowy blush, you know? Just the way that it emphasizes the texture on the skin, it's not cute. This is one that does amazing. I love this one so much. Highly recommend it. And then the last blush that I have to recommend to you, I know I went a little overboard on the blushes, but I had to mention all of these. You needed to know the Colourpop Press Powder blushes in the heart shape. Make sure they are the heart-shaped ones. I love Colourpop blushes in general. You can't go wrong with them, but there really is something about the formulation in these heart ones. They have a very great pigment to them. They are super-duper blendable. They look really soft on the cheek. They don't emphasize pores or anything like that. They just blur them. So they also have really phenomenal colors of these. And it's just a fun experience because of the packaging. I'm going to include that I love the packaging on these. So you can't go wrong with the heart-shaped ones. They always sell out and for good reason. Highlights. I did pick one highlight from the drugstore, though the drugstore does a pretty good job with highlights. But my favorite one is the Revlon Skin Lights Prismatic Highlighter. I feel like this is such a luxurious finish. So I have this on my cheeks today. It's really great because you can get a very natural highlight with this if you just use a little bit, but you can also get something extremely beaming. So it's versatile in that way. It glides over the skin very easily. It doesn't not emphasize texture, but it doesn't emphasize texture. If you know what I'm saying, it's just a really easy, smooth application. You wouldn't be able to tell that it was drugstore if it was in a different compact. And then the last item that I have for complexion is a setting spray. This beats out so many of my high-end setting sprays. This is the Catrice Prime and Fine Dewy Glow Fixing Spray. I used to not be a believer in setting sprays and I really didn't believe that they could make your skin glowy until I came across this one. I love this spray on this and I love how this makes my makeup look. It gives a nice, even spray. It's a little intense, but I don't even care and I just feel like it brings my face to life. If my skin is looking dry or anything like that, this just cures that dusty, kind of dry, creepy look. This is amazing. Okay, let's move on to the eyeballs here. We're gonna start off a little bit above with eyebrows. So if you are looking for a great quality eyebrow pencil, Dirt Cheap Elf has some of the best. Oftentimes I reach for these over my high-end ones. There are two different kinds that I like. I love the Instant Lip Brow Pencil. This one is a little bit more powdery and drier. If you will, but it still works beautifully through the brow. This is great if you aren't doing anything precise and you just wanna run through some color. So this one works really well. If I'm looking for more precision, I also enjoy the ultra-precise brow pencil. I use this one today. I mean, you honestly cannot tell a difference between this and the Benefit Eyebrow Pencil. I'm telling you, so, so good. Maybe there's like a subtle difference. This is slightly creamier than the Benefit and I don't necessarily prefer that, but I mean, the difference is so minuscule if we compare the prices here. So Elf has a really phenomenal brow pencil formulation. You can't go wrong with either of these. Brow Gels, I feel like, is either hit or miss with brands. The one that I'm mentioning today is so much better than a lot of the other high-end brow gels that I've tried. So this is from Ulta Beauty. This is the Ulta Beauty brand. It's only a few bucks, the Clear Brow Gel. So one reason why I love this is the spoolie. I feel like this spoolie really does separate the brow hairs and makes your eyebrows look more thick and fluffy just because of the way that they brush them out. But the hold on this is really, really nice. It is not too intense to where, you know, your eyebrows feel crunchy, but where you tell the brow hairs to go, they go. If I want my brows to be like this, they will stay like this. I do not want them to stay like this, hold on. This brow gel is like a strict mother to my brow hairs. And my brow hairs, they listen. Ugh, I love the way that my brows look every time I use this brow gel. Undurated. Okay, let's talk eyeshadows. There is a single shadow that honestly gives the look of a high-end product. And these are the good old ColourPop Super Shock shadows. Now, not all of these are perfect. There are some that are better quality than others, but these are products that I need to reach for more often because they really can finish off a look or be a one-and-done shadow. Today, I am wearing the shade in Axis all over my lid. I used a ColourPop eyeshadow palette today, and I just wasn't liking what the shimmers in that palette was giving me. So when I put the ColourPop Super Shock on top, it gave me what it needed to give me. Super easy to use. They have some shades that are super-duper dimensional. They also have some metallic satin. Every finish, they have in the Super Shock formula, and I find it very simple, quick, and easy to use. Can't go wrong with it. Now, if there's one category that I'm a snob in, it's eyeshadows. I honestly find a good luxury and high-end palette to be worth the price. Once we hit the affordable and drugstore market, I don't really like the quality. Total snob about it. But if you really wanted to get the best of the best formula at an affordable price, I'm going to recommend BH Cosmetics to you now. We know they have a lot behind closed doors. It's happening right now, so I don't know if their formula is ever going to change, and I hope not. So my suggestion for you are to get the palettes that are on sale, like at TJ Maxx or on Clearance on the BH Cosmetics website, because those are going to be the ones that are a great formula. These traveling ones, amazing. I'm going to show you a few of my favorites. I lost in Los Angeles. Great pastel spring tones here. Love this one. My all-time favorite has always been summer in St. Tropez. I feel like the looks that you can get with this are all so different. The mattes are super easy to blend. The shimmers in here are extremely dimensional and creamy. Honestly, this does work like a high-end palette. It's incredible. Avocado toast is a really fun one for green tones and all of that. Not luxury quality, but definitely high-end quality for a dirt cheap price. Mamosa is not my favorite. I feel like a lot of the shades look similar to one another with this one, but still really the best of the best for what you can get at the price points. I also wanted to talk about ColourPop. ColourPop is hit or miss though. They have a lot of palettes that you can tell are the price that they are, but they do have some very competitive palettes where I'm like, you know what, if you don't want to spend $50 on an eyeshadow palette, you don't have to. Right now, I am currently wearing Apricot Me Not. This is a new one that I'm testing this month. I don't like it. I don't recommend this one. This is an example of I test these palettes for you because they are hit or miss. Apricot Me Not is not high-end quality, but some newer ones that they've come out with that I found were the Winnie the Pooh palette, ColourPop collaboration. Really gorgeous for the summer. I found the quality to be awesome. My favorite palette recently that ColourPop has come out with for the summer is the In the Limelight palette. The quality on this, I don't know why this one has such good quality compared to a lot of their other palettes right now, but the shimmers are great. The mattes are great. The color story in here is so fun. I recommend that one. The ColourPop Star Wars palette, this one isn't my favorite palette from them, color story-wise, but the quality on this one is really good. And then some Trident Trues from the brand that if you want to get a really great value with good quality, the Bare Necessities is a great neutral one as well as Stone Cold Fox. This one is a little bit more cool-toned. So if you get any of these, you're definitely getting the best bang for your buck in terms of the quality eyeshadows, but I'm the kind of person where you can splurge on an eyeshadow palette, it's worth it. I don't like really what the affordable market has to bring, if I'm being honest. Same with eyeliner, don't even have an eyeliner to talk about. High-end luxury does it better for me. Now mascara though, that is a different story. So I have two that I love so much. I favor one over the other, but I wanted to give options just in case you've tried one and you didn't like it. So my all-time favorite, if you must know, is the Essence Lash Princess Mascara, the green one. So I have it on this eye. You can see my eyelashes are separated and long and beautiful. I don't have much to work with. So the fact that you can visibly see them, I do have falsies on, so don't pay attention to that, but the fact that you can visibly see my lower lashes is a win for me. And I feel like nothing separates and lengthens as much as this Essence one. So highly recommend this one. But one that I also do enjoy that's worth trying, because everybody's eyelashes are so different. The Maybelline Falsies Lash Lift is also incredible. I have it on this eye. You can see this one gave me a little bit more length than the Essence. Maybe like a little less separating, but it gave me more length. So yeah, these are my two all-time favorites from the drugstore. They are incredible and better than a lot of other high-end ones that I've tried. And then finally for eyes, we're finishing off with eyelashes. Anything from the Ardell Naked Lash Line, it should have this kind of nude packaging you can't go wrong with. 424 is the style I'm wearing today. These literally look like lash extensions. So natural and so pretty. They have more voluminous options as well. These are strictly the only lashes that I use in my bridal kit when I do bridal makeup, because they are the most natural looking. You can get so many uses out of them. I love a good lily lash. $30 for a lash, I don't care. I will spend it. Ardell is the best value for sure. And I love them just as much as my lily lashes and sometimes even more. All right, guys and gals, let's talk lips. I have some life-changing products for you here, okay? Lip liners. I am a believer in spending a little bit of money on a lip liner, but the ColourPop Lippy Pencils work just as good as a lot of them. So this one isn't as long-lasting as, say, my Pamagrath or Charlotte Tilbury, but it's right below them. And they're super duper cheap. The packaging of them is a little cheap. They'll break like this in order for me to use it. I have to do that. But the lip liners themselves are really creamy. They have the best colors. You're gonna find a color for whatever look that you need. Really easy to apply. And they still last a really long time. They're still a really great base to a lip product. And they're so comfortable. You can literally wear them as lipstick. For, I think they're what, $6? Come on now. They're awesome, awesome lip liners, better than some that I've tried at three, four times the price. Okay, this, hands down, is the best liquid lipstick ever. In terms of longevity, this is my number one favorite. I have some liquid lipsticks that I prefer more than this for comfort. But if I want as much proof all day wear liquid lipstick, this is the best that you can get, period. Better than any price point. These are the Maybelline Super Stay Matte Inks. These will not budge. Off camera, I put on the shade Fighter right now for my look today. This is gonna stay on my lips looking like this all day. It doesn't, like when you eat, leave a stain either. They don't feel crunchy or flaky or anything if you reapply them as well. So these are just phenomenal. They do feel a little dry. So, you know, prep your lips. But it's worth it for how gracefully these wear, but they don't even wear. They just look the same at the end of the day. Incredible long jeopardy with these. Now, if you want a lipstick that feels like high end at a fraction of the price, these went viral. These are the Milani Little Bullet Lipsticks. They look like this incredible. My two favorite shades right now. Peony is a gorgeous pink. And then I showed you teas in the demo. It's a little too cool, so I took it off. But it's a really great cooler tones nude. You cannot tell they are from the drugstore. I'm telling you right now, these are better than so many other lipsticks that I've tried at a much larger price point. I'm telling you, they are smooth. They are creamy. They give the most even coverage. Great level of opacity. These are better, baby. They are one of my favorite lipstick formulations. And I'm picky. I'm a luxury lipstick only kind of girl. I just think luxury lipsticks are worth it. But the Milani hangs out with them. Do I like Charlotte Tilbury better? Yeah, but Milani and Charlotte can be friends. Okay, and then lip glosses. I have two formulations that are super duper nice. If you put them in a high end component, you wouldn't even be able to tell. So these, everybody knows at this point, the Maybelline Lifter glosses, these are super, super great. I'm gonna put one on because I want a little bit of hydration right now. This is a shade, Brass. I would say the formula on these is comparable to Fenty. Fenty is a little bit thicker, but I mean, this works better than a lot of high end ones, especially for the price point. I even really like the packaging. I think it looks really neutral and sleek. So these are really great. And then I do have a second formulation because I think that these are also phenomenal. The Morphe lip glosses, okay? These are creamy. They have a good level of pigmentation. They are not sticky at all. They last a really good time. You would not be able to tell that this was the price point that it was. This has high end quality written all over it. I even like the packaging as well. Seriously, a hidden gem for Morphe. Truly a phenomenal lip gloss formulation, competitive with other glosses and a much higher price point. And there we have it, you guys. Those are all of the drugstore and affordable products that I tend to reach for over my high end and luxury items. All the time, the performance is just impeccable. I always am testing affordable makeup, but you know, my time is limited. I only have one face and it's been a while since I've done a big drugstore haul recently. So let me know down below if there's any newer items to the affordable market that I need to try out because I do plan on placing an order in the next month or so to just kind of refresh and try some more new affordable items because a lot of these have been my favorites for a long time. So I want to give a turnaround for the next time I do this video. Anyways, thank you guys so much for watching this video. I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know your affordable favorites down below and I will catch you in tomorrow's video. Bye guys, have a good one.