Beauty gifts under $25 that stand in for luxury ones
Each gift here costs under $25 on Amazon and does the job of a luxury product people ask for by name: Kayali Vanilla 28, Glossier You, Sol de Janeiro's Bum Bum Cream, Dior's Lip Glow Oil, the L'Occitane hand cream. The original is named next to each one, so you can pick the stand-in for the product your person already loves, and every comparison says what the cheaper one does differently, a plainer bottle, a lighter scent or a smaller tube, before you wrap it.
What are good beauty gifts under $25 that feel like a luxury brand?
MIX:BAR Vanilla Bourbon Eau de Parfum, about $19.97 ($11.81 / fl oz), against the $118 KAYALI Vanilla | 28 Eau de Parfum — 83% less. Warm vanilla bean with jasmine and amber, the three notes Vanilla 28 is worn for, and the same size bottle. It goes woody where Kayali goes sugary: bourbon, sandalwood and apple blossom instead of brown sugar and tonka, so it smells drier and less like dessert. $19.97 for 50ml against $118 for 50ml.
1. MIX:BAR Vanilla Bourbon Eau de Parfum
for KAYALI Vanilla | 28 Eau de Parfum
$19.97 against $118, 83% less per ounce ($11.81 / fl oz versus $69.79 / fl oz). Both list Jasmine and Amber.
Warm vanilla bean with jasmine and amber, the three notes Vanilla 28 is worn for, and the same size bottle.
What it does worse: It goes woody where Kayali goes sugary: bourbon, sandalwood and apple blossom instead of brown sugar and tonka, so it smells drier and less like dessert.
2. MIX:BAR Cloud Musk Eau de Parfum
for Glossier You Eau de Parfum XL
$19.97 against $116, 66% less per ounce ($11.81 / fl oz versus $34.31 / fl oz). Both list Iris.
Same skin-scent idea: a soft musk with iris at its heart that sits close and warms up on the body.
What it does worse: Cloud Musk trades You's pink pepper and ambrox for cardamom, jasmine and tonka, so it reads sweeter.
3. NOW Solutions Sweet Almond Oil
for L'Occitane Almond Supple Skin Oil
$3.50 against $53, 94% less per ounce ($0.88 / fl oz versus $15.67 / fl oz). Both list Sweet almond oil.
The main ingredient is the same: L'Occitane's first ingredient is sweet almond oil, and NOW's bottle holds nothing else.
What it does worse: L'Occitane blends it with caprylic/capric triglyceride, camelina, rosehip and sea buckthorn oils and a bergamot fragrance, so NOW is unscented, a little heavier and without the extra oils.
4. Tree Hut Coco Colada Whipped Body Butter
for Sol de Janeiro Brazilian Bum Bum Cream
$8.94 against $48, 81% less per ounce ($1.06 / oz versus $5.91 / fl oz). Both list Coconut oil.
Same coconut-and-vanilla gourmand scent trail and the same whipped, fast-absorbing body cream texture.
What it does worse: No guaraná caffeine and no cupuaçu butter, so it moisturizes without the firming claim, and the scent sits closer to the skin.
5. Neutrogena Body Oil Light Sesame Formula
for NUXE Huile Prodigieuse
$15.99 against $45, 86% less per ounce ($1.89 / fl oz versus $13.31 / fl oz).
Same idea of a light oil: a fast-absorbing ester (isopropyl myristate here, coco-caprylate/caprate and dicaprylyl ether in Nuxe) thins a plant oil so it spreads and sinks in instead of sitting on the skin.
What it does worse: Nuxe blends eight plant oils and is made for face and hair as well, while Neutrogena is sesame oil alone, sold for the body and as a massage oil.
6. NYX Professional Makeup Fat Oil Lip Drip
for Dior Addict Lip Glow Oil
$10 against $42, 70% less per ounce ($61.61 / fl oz versus $207.01 / fl oz).
Same high-shine, non-sticky oil finish with a big applicator.
What it does worse: Tints are sheerer and don't shift color on the lips.
7. e.l.f. Cosmetics Glow Reviver Lip Oil – Pink Quartz
for Dior Addict Lip Glow Oil
$9 against $42, 83% less per ounce ($35.02 / fl oz versus $207.01 / fl oz).
Same sheer, high-shine tinted oil worn alone or over lipstick, on a base of apricot, avocado, jojoba and pomegranate oils.
What it does worse: It has a minty scent and cooling tingle Dior's cherry-oil formula does not, and the color stays as it goes on rather than shifting with lip chemistry.
8. Cake Beauty The Finishing Touch Mist – Pistachio & Salted Caramel
for Sol de Janeiro Cheirosa '62 Hair & Body Perfume Mist
$11.49 against $39, 65% less per ounce ($1.70 / fl oz versus $4.81 / fl oz). Both list Almond and Jasmine and Vanilla and Salted caramel.
Almost the same pyramid note for note: pistachio cream and almond on top, jasmine petals in the heart, vanilla and salted caramel in the base.
What it does worse: Cake trades Cheirosa's heliotrope and sandalwood for white peach, tiger lily and freesia, so it leans fruitier and more floral and has none of the creamy wood underneath.
9. NIVEA Cocoa Butter Body Lotion
for Kiehl's Creme de Corps Body Lotion
$6.73 against $39, 91% less per ounce ($0.40 / fl oz versus $4.61 / fl oz). Both list Cocoa butter.
Same kind of lotion: glycerin, shea butter, cocoa butter and dimethicone in a light emulsion that sinks in without a greasy film.
What it does worse: Kiehl's leads with squalane and adds sesame oil, while NIVEA builds its slip from mineral oil and isohexadecane and adds coconut oil.
10. e.l.f. Cosmetics O Face Satin Lipstick – Dirty Talk
for Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution Lipstick – Pillow Talk
$10 against $37, 75% less per ounce ($74.60 / oz versus $299.69 / oz). Both list Vitamin E.
A beige pink on the same nude-pink note as Pillow Talk; swatched side by side, the two read as one shade.
What it does worse: The finish is where they part: satin, with a soft sheen where Pillow Talk dries down to a soft matte. Squalane and jojoba esters keep it comfortable, and the bullet holds 3.8 g to Pillow Talk's 3.5 g.
11. Maybelline Lifter Gloss
for Charlotte Tilbury Collagen Lip Bath
$9.96 against $37, 61% less per ounce ($54.55 / fl oz versus $138.51 / fl oz).
Close to the same gloss: polybutene, diisostearyl malate, pentaerythrityl tetraisostearate, bis-diglyceryl polyacyladipate-2 and C18-36 acid triglyceride make up the base of both, for the same cushiony, non-sticky shine.
What it does worse: Charlotte Tilbury adds menthol and peppermint oil for a cooling tingle plus marula and coconut oils, while Maybelline adds hyaluronic acid and no tingle.
12. Palmer's Shea Formula Hand Cream
for L'Occitane Shea Butter Hand Cream
$5.16 against $34, 76% less per ounce ($1.52 / oz versus $6.70 / fl oz). Both list Shea butter and Glycerin.
Built on the same three things: water, shea butter and glycerin, thickened with cetearyl alcohol, glyceryl stearate and PEG-100 stearate.
What it does worse: L'Occitane puts shea second, at 20%, and adds argan and coconut oils, while Palmer's lists glycerin before shea and adds soybean, grape seed and marula oils with dimethicone for slip.
