Drugstore dupes for high-end makeup that match the finish
Shade matching is the easy half.
Which drugstore dupes for high-end makeup actually match the finish?
NYX Professional Makeup Epic Wear Liquid Liner, about $10.77 ($91 / fl oz), against the $27 Too Faced Better Than Sex Easy Glide Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner, 93% less.
1. NYX Professional Makeup Epic Wear Liquid Liner
for Too Faced Better Than Sex Easy Glide Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner
$10.77 $12vs $27−93% per oz
#35 in Eye Liners on Amazon
Both are waterproof liquid liners with a fine, flexible brush and an intense matte black that holds a sharp wing all day without smudging or flaking.
What it does worse: Too Faced's dual-fiber brush gives a little more control on a thin line, while NYX's formula is also sold for graphic face and body looks and comes in many colors.
2. L'Oréal Paris True Match Radiant Serum Concealer
for Yves Saint Laurent Touche Éclat Radiant Touch
$13.97 $16.99vs $45−92% per oz
#40 in Concealers & Neutralizing Makeup on Amazon
Both brighten the under-eye with light-reflecting pigment rather than heavy coverage, and both come out of L'Oréal, which owns YSL Beauté.
What it does worse: This one is also a real concealer (1.5% hyaluronic acid, caffeine and enough pigment to cover), which is why it can crease on dry skin where the sheerer pen does not.
3. wet n wild MegaLast Matte Lip Color – Stoplight Red
for MAC Cosmetics Retro Matte Lipstick – Ruby Woo
$2.28 $3.29vs $24−91% per oz
#12 in Lipstick on Amazon
Same cool-toned blue red in a flat, high-pigment matte that photographs the way Ruby Woo does.
What it does worse: Softer bullet and a semi-matte set, so it feels less drying but transfers more and needs a liner to hold its edge.
4. Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Eraser Concealer
for Yves Saint Laurent Touche Éclat Radiant Touch
$9.98 $12.99vs $45−91% per oz
#2 in Concealers & Neutralizing Makeup on Amazon
Built like Touche Éclat, a water-in-silicone fluid: water and cyclopentasiloxane lead both labels, with glycerin, dimethicone, a PEG-9 polydimethylsiloxyethyl dimethicone emulsifier, nylon-12 and disteardimonium hectorite in both.
What it does worse: Maybelline's is a fuller-coverage concealer on a sponge tip, with isododecane, goji berry extract and peptides, where YSL's is a sheerer brightening pen with talc, mineral oil and a fluorescent brightener.
5. Almay Color & Care Tint Stick
for Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk Lip And Cheek Glow
$10.39vs $40−90% per oz
Built on the same glossy ester, diisostearyl malate, first on both labels, with hydrogenated polyisobutene, beeswax, polyethylene, caprylic/capric triglyceride and mica: a water-free balm for lips and cheeks in both.
What it does worse: Almay's is a twist-up stick where Charlotte Tilbury's is a pressed compact; it adds polybutene and lighter esters and is fragrance-free, without the vanilla scent and raspberry leaf extract.
6. Maybelline Lifter Glaze Oil Balm – Pink Drip
for Hourglass Phantom Volumizing Glossy Balm
$6.97 $8.99vs $38−89% per oz
#22 in Lip Balms & Moisturizers on Amazon
Both are glossy, sheer-tinted balm bullets on the same kind of base, polyglyceryl-2 triisostearate with a phytosteryl dimer dilinoleate, softened with shea butter and kept with vitamin E.
What it does worse: Phantom cools with menthyl lactate for its plumped look and adds diisostearyl malate, mango seed butter and argan and avocado oils; Lifter Glaze has no plumping agent and carries squalane, jojoba butter, hyaluronic acid and acerola extract instead.
7. wet n wild Bare Focus Skin Tint
for Milk Makeup Hydro Grip Hydrating Gel Skin Tint
$3.79 $8.99vs $38−89% per oz
A silicone-free water-in-oil tint in both, held by polyglyceryl emulsifiers (polyglyceryl-3 diisostearate in each), with glycerin, propanediol, niacinamide, hyaluronic acid, squalane and lecithin.
What it does worse: wet n wild's oils are light hydrocarbons, C13-14 alkane and hydrogenated polydecene, where Milk's are esters, and silica and glass beads leave it a little more satin than Milk's dewy finish; Milk adds agave for grip.
8. COVERGIRL Clean Fresh Tinted Lip Balm
for Clinique Black Honey Almost Lipstick
$5.88 $7.99vs $25−88% per oz
#48 in Lip Balms & Moisturizers on Amazon
Same sheer berry-plum wash that shifts with your own lip tone, and the same balm-weight comfort rather than a lipstick set.
What it does worse: Less pigment per pass, so it takes two or three, and it fades faster over a meal.
9. Maybelline Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser Primer
for Benefit Cosmetics The POREfessional Pore Primer
$3.91 $6.99vs $36−88% per oz
#15 in Foundation Primers on Amazon
Same silicone blur: dimethicone leads both lists, and dimethicone crosspolymer and silica (silica silylate in Maybelline's) fill in pores and take the shine off.
What it does worse: POREfessional thins its silicones with isododecane and two light alkanes that evaporate, so it spreads thinner and sets faster, and it adds vitamin E and fragrance. Baby Skin has no evaporating solvent, so it stays a thicker, pinkish balm, and it lists no fragrance.
10. e.l.f. Cosmetics Soft Glam Satin Foundation
for Giorgio Armani Beauty Luminous Silk Foundation
$8vs $69−88% per oz
#7 in Foundation Makeup on Amazon
Built the same way: a water-in-silicone emulsion of water, dimethicone, isododecane and glycerin, held by the same emulsifier (cetyl PEG/PPG-10/1 dimethicone), clay thickener and magnesium sulfate, for a satin glow at medium, buildable coverage.
What it does worse: Armani adds alcohol, sorbitol, niacinamide and fragrance and makes 44 shades, while e.l.f. adds emollient esters, boron nitride for slip and a 1% hibiscus complex, leaves out fragrance and makes 36.
11. COVERGIRL Clean Fresh Yummy Gloss
for Dior Addict Lip Glow Oil
$8.98 $11.99vs $42−87% per oz
#31 in Lip Gloss on Amazon
Built on the same base: hydrogenated polyisobutene leads both lists, and both carry polybutene, tridecyl trimellitate and the two styrene copolymers that thicken the oils into a cushiony shine, five of Dior's first nine ingredients.
What it does worse: COVERGIRL's wears a touch thicker and adds castor and sunflower oils and a food scent for each shade, where Dior uses cherry oil and its own fragrance, and its shades are sheer washes rather than Dior's color-reviving tints.
12. Mario Badescu Facial Spray with Aloe, Herbs and Rosewater
for MAC Cosmetics Prep + Prime Fix+ Original
$9.80 $14vs $33−87% per oz
#10 in Face Mists on Amazon
The same kind of mist: water, a glycol humectant and plant extracts with no film former, so both hydrate and melt powder into the skin and neither locks makeup in place.
What it does worse: MAC's extracts are cucumber, chamomile and green tea, with caffeine, panthenol and vitamin E in glycerin and butylene glycol, while Mario Badescu's are aloe, rose, thyme, bladderwrack and gardenia in propylene glycol, with fragrance and two dyes.
How this list was made
These pairs match on finish and texture too (the same satin, the same soft-focus blur, the same flat matte), which is what makes a swap survive a full day rather than the first photo. Where the dupe's texture behaves differently, the comparison says so before you buy.
