Saving vs. Splurging on beauty products is a topic I get asked about a lot. It's very overwhelming to navigate the beauty aisles at either your favourite drug store, or at a luxury beauty brand store. When you buy a beauty product sometimes you are buying it without trying it first (this is a reason I love Sephora, you can sample anything in the store), making it a bit of a gamble. Today, I am letting you in on which luxury beauty products have amazing drugstore twins for a fraction of the cost. FYI- The Essence products mentioned in this post can be found at Shoppers Drug Mart and Ulta ( I suggest you head there on your way home).
First up, is setting powder. I picked up the
Laura Mercier Loose Setting Powder ($46) a few months back, and I adore it. This powder sets my makeup without looking too cake-y, and I find it doesn't settle in any pores or lines. This powder gives my skin a gorgeous finish.
Just recently I discovered Essence has a comparable product,
the All About Matt fixing compact does the exact same thing as the Laura Mercier product. The Essence All About Matt comes in a pressed powder, and when used with a buffing brush the results are fantastic! I love this Matt compact, and it's $4 (US).
As I get older finding a great concealer is getting harder. I am presently using the
Makeup Forever Camouflage Palette ($46) and I love the options of colours it gives me. This product goes on fantastic and I love that it covers my under eye darkness. This palette offers many colour correcting choices and I like to mix two together so I get my perfect shade.
Essence (again!) has a great comparable product called the
Match 2 Cover. The packaging is extremely similar to the Makeup Forever packaging, but only has two colour shades. The formula goes on very smooth and gives decent coverage (not as good as the MakeUp Forever), I did need to use more product to cover the darkness under my eyes, but the
Match 2 Cover is only $4 (US) which is really unbelievable.
I am extremely picky about my mascaras, and I truly think there is no need to spend a lot of money on mascara. Both of the products below are fantastic and in this case I do like the drugstore dupe better.
Charlotte Tilbury's 5 Star Mascara does just what the name implies, it gives you 5 star lashes that are full and long. The wand is full and fluffy, and gives your lashes great lift. At $34, it is a hefty price considering this drugstore dupe is only $5 (US). Again, Essence has the comparable product! The
Lash Princess has a full brush wand, BUT the wand is shaped like a cone, almost coming to a point at the end of it. I love the shape of this wand and find it makes my lashes look better than Charlotte Tilbury's product.
Moving onto lips, I love a lip stain because of the staying power. The best two on the market are
Marc Jacobs Kiss Pop ($35) and
Maybelline Lip Studio Color Blur ($10). Both of these products have incredibly pigmented colours that go on smooth and easy. Each functions almost like a lip stain, but have some moisturizer (you may need more depending on your preference). The colour choices are fantastic in both lines.
Now I know comparing these two products is a bit of a reach since one does significantly more than the other, but just looking at the bronzer shade these products are similar. The
Kat Von D Shade and Light palette has the most gorgeous bronzer tones. The shade in the middle of the bottom row is my go-to for bronzing, and I have found a shade comparable. The
Essence Sun Club bronzer is a great option because it comes in a shade for blonde hair and brunette hair which is very helpful when shopping. Of course the Kat Von D palette has much more to offer but when comparing just bronzer shades Essence has a great option for $5 (US).
Brow pencils always seem to let me down. The shade isn't right, the pencil isn't thin enough, or it's way too thin. I do have two go-to brow pencils that I love,
Benefit's Instant Brow Pencil ($29) is the best I have ever used. The formula goes on so smooth, and my brows look very natural after using this pencil. The brown shade is perfect for me, and I know this is a product worth replacing. The comparable drug store product I use is the
L'Oreal Color Rich Le Brow ($10). This product does go on well (not as smooth as the Benefit product), but it is very easy to use. I love that each product needs to be sharpened because I can make the pencil as thin as I like it to be.
Eyeshadow palettes seem to be the new 'it' item in the beauty world and every line has one for you to choose from. The most popular of these palettes are the nude colours, the nude shades tend to suit almost all skin tones and you can easily create a subtle look or a sultry look. My absolute fave palette is the
Marc Jacobs Style Eye Con ($70), which contains seven different shades all in the same colour tones. The shadows are heavily pigmented, blend amazing, and you can mix and match colours seamlessly.
It was VERY hard to find a great comparison to the Marc Jacobs palette but
Essence how to make nude eyes is a great buy. The six shades included are gorgeous, the formula blends well (you need to use more product than the Marc Jacobs palette), without being 'chalky'. For a price of only $10 (US) it's hard to beat.
Last but not least, let's talk about blush (my fave beauty product), my absolute favourite blush (and trust me I have tried them all), is
Charlotte Tilbury's Cheek to Chic in love glow ($50). The colour is perfect, and I know it will look amazing on any skin tone. This blush lasts all day and goes on smooth and silky.
I found two comparable products to this blush,
Essence Silky Touch ($3) in Life's a Cherry is a heavily pigmented blush that just as the name states is silky and smooth. As a hint- use sparingly and then build up the blush as you need it.
Maybelline Face Studio MasterGlaze blush stick is a fantastic product that I tend to carry with me when I am on the go. It's small, has great pigment and is cream based, so I tend to apply it with my fingers. For $13 this is a great blush buy.
So which of these products will you try? Let me know!
