8 Cheap Beauty Buys @ Your Drugstore
Drugstore Finds: Brows, Eye Liners, Mascaras
This is reader feedback in action — a number of you wanted to know more about drugstore beauty products. My days of cruisin’ the drugstore aisle are definitely less than used to be for several reasons, but I’ll try to step up my game in this aspect to give you all better coverage as I can. To get you started, here are some Temptalia tried and true drugstore beauty standbys.
Almay Eye Makeup Remover Pads ($4.99) make quick work out of bold eye makeup. I used to use these to remove stubborn or heavy eye makeup–especially waterproof products, mascaras, and liner.
Ardell Brow Shaping Kit
($3.99) has a decent selection of powders designed for filling in brows. I tend to use powders to fill in my brows over pencils, liquid, or creams. I find it looks a little more natural with the powder (and a brush).
Ardell Sculpting Gel ($4.09) will help keep unruly brows well-tamed and in-place throughout the day. I find you need to use just a tiny lil’ bit, and then run it through your brows with a clean mascara wand. Too much product and your brows will feel (and look!) crunchy.
Revlon Fantasy Lengths False Eyelashes ($5.49) offers really fun and fancy false eyelashes. I have a few pairs, though I seldomly wear false eyelashes, just because they’re so pretty. I always love the ones with the crystals at the tips. If you’re a frequent falsie wearer, you might want to consider going drugstore to save yourself a bit of cash!
See four beauty bargain buys more…
CoverGirl Outlast Smoothwear ($6.29) is really creamy and smooth, which is a huge thing for me with eye liner. I hate when an eyeliner is hard or rough, especially since I’m using it on my eye area, so I don’t want to have to do a lot of tugging! I wish there were more colors, though.
Eco Tools Eye Liner Brush ($3.99) has synthetic Taklon bristles with a bamboo handle. This brush is part of Eco Tool’s cruelty-free brush line. I find that they’re pretty good for drugstore brushes, and the price is hard to beat.
Wet ‘n Wild H2O ($3.99) is a thick, opaque liquid liner. When I first started out with liquid liner, I bought a Wet ‘n Wild liquid liner in a teal color. I think I tossed it out last year, but it was fabulous in color, texture, and feel. I’d say the only issue was sometimes it felt a little thin, and the brush isn’t super easy to work with–but most liquid liner brushes aren’t (hello, MAC liquidlast?).
L’Oreal HIP Bright Duos ($7.00) is an easy way to get decent color for less. You get two coordinating shades of eyeshadows in a pot. I’ve found that a lot of HIP duos have decent pigmentation, though sometimes you’ll find one or two that are a bit on the chalky side.
This is a great post. I love cruising the Target beauty isles and picking up a few things.
What are some of your fave drugstore products?
My all time favorite drugstore buy is Physician’s Formula Shimmer Strips. They are AMAZING! I have two bronzers and a blush. I am seriously calling up my friends raving about them.
I have a few of those! 🙂 Or maybe it’s the eyeshadow strips…
Prestiege Liquid Eye Liners are my FAVE! The brush isn’t too flimsy and doesn’t get liquid in my eyelashes. I first fell in love with them while I was living in Italy, and nearly cried tears of joy when I found them at Ulta. I think they are about $3-4 and come in some good colors, too!
yep.. I left out the Prestige eyeliners.. I adore the blue one for waterline.. and the felt tip markers are fantastic too!
I haven’t tried them yet, unfortunately! Good to hear that they’re great, though 😀
The Ardell gel is the best! I could not find the right color for my eyebrows and hair now that the color is so different (used to be blonde — that was easy) so I took this gel and put some of my black mascara and some brown, mixed it in and this is THE perfect product for my eyebrows.. custom made color! The Milani and Physicians formula products are also great — I agree with Katherine that the Shimmer strips are equal to a Bobbi Brown at 1/4 the price…Milani lippies are great as are the new colorstay lines of Revlon.. in all, there are many DS lines which are just as good as some of the big name lines.
Ohh, very nice!! 🙂 Glad you were able to get your own custom mix going!
YAY! thank you
No prob, Susie!
I love styli style line + seal 24/7 pencil! It’s the only one that actually stays on my water line. HiP e/s’s are not bad they have a lot of bright colors, but I agree some are less pigmented than others.
I wish HIP was more consistent, if only because it’s hard for me to buy things sight unswatched!
thanks christine! ur a big help!
No prob, Celeste!
I have to agree that some drugstore stuff work just as well. Ex. a chanel dual ended long lasting lip for 20+ USD or a drugstore one for less than 12USD? In the end, it’s the same thing. I’m in love with NYX(esp their lip products), Milani(their eye products), and some others. I love Neutrogena Healthy Volume for natural lashes. Regarding the brushes, I don’t have a lot of money, so i buy cheap brushes. However, I’m impressed with ecotool ones-they work well and the synthetic brushes are firm and good for the Earth. (my second fave has to be Coastal scents’ brushes – yeah, animal hair brushes shed, but that’s a common thing with every animal hair brush out there.) thanks, Chrissy
Thanks for all the recs, Vivian! Sounds like you know your way around the beauty aisles 😉
Thanks for this post, Christine! It’s terrific. I always like hearing your suggestions for drugstore beauty products 🙂
No problem, Diana! Glad you liked it 🙂
Have to disagree with the almay pads.
they feel like i’m rubbing straight up oil on my eyes, don’t take off macarra, and burn.
Oh no! That’s terrible, Shannon. What’s your pick for makeup remover pads?
Did you pick up the oil-free ones or the ones with oil? Almay makes 2 versions. I have to use the oil-free ones, otherwise, like you said, it burns and feels like I’m just putting baby oil on my eyes. So check which version you used! The oil-free is in the white and pink packaging.
HTH!
Shannon – Have you tried the oil-free Almay makeup remover pads? I use those because I too hate that oily feel on my lids when all is said and done.
Yay Christine fun post! I’m personally loving my Revlon Colorstay softflex foundation right now. Keeps oilies at bay better than sff ever did.
Thanks, Leah! A good friend of mine swears by Revlon Colorstray, too!
Revlon Colorstay foundation is awesome. It’s great if you want heavy coverage and have lots of redness to cover. Stays on all day!
I love the HIP duos. They are my favorite drugstore eyeshadows. I like to wait for CVS or Walgreens to have Bogo sales on them!
That’s a really good idea 😀
THE BEST eyeliner that I have and have been using for about 5+ years now is the L
Thanks for the heads up, Clarisse 🙂 I’ll have to check it out!
Ladies,
I am telling you… I’ve searched high and low for the perfect mascara, I’ve tried them all and loved many including Dior Show but, the best combo ever is layering MAYBELLINE Volume express first and then MAYBELLINE Define-A-Lash. Volume express really increases volume and then Define-A-Lash separates. BOTH WATERPROOF of course. These will not flake and you will have gorgeous lashes. I use sephora’s waterproof eye make-up remover to get it off and it takes a while. YOU HAVE GOT TO TRY THIS COMBO!
Would the combo work if they weren’t waterproof? I don’t like waterproof mascara for everyday!
Maybelline extreme lipstick. Glide like a dream and still very pigmented. Wish they have more colors out. Oh, NYX jumbo eye pencil in black bean beats Mac sharkskin to a pulp.
Good to know, Pia! 🙂 I wish NYX was sold near me.
I like the Cover Girl Outlast (or is it outshine?) lip duos because why pay over $10 for a lipstick that’s just going to fade? And the staying power of these is AWESOME. Better than any high end line I’ve tried.
I second your Almay makeup remover recommendation. I use the liquid stuff in oil-free and it’s great.
I’ve been wanting to try L’oreal HIP duos, so I’ll add that to my list! Thanks!
I think they’re called Outlasts, LOL! But Outshine is probably a tagline!
to bad that they don’t sell these products in europe 🙁
Cover Girl Lash Blast mascara has to be one of THE top drugstore beauty finds. Target sells it for $6 or $10 for a double-pack which is a steal.
I also like to Maybelline Line Stylist eyeliner for when I just want a thin precise line on my lid. This pencil makes it so easy. For an eyeliner that doesn’t budge & sticks all day – try Revlon Colorstay eyeliner…Amazing!!
Regarding Loreal HIP products – they make a good cream shadow that doesn’t budge either. They have a small selection of colors but the ones they do have are great as eyeshadow bases. They remind me of Benefit’s cream shadows & actually won praise in Allure a couple months back.
Has anyone tried the HIP pigments? How do they compare to MAC? And can anyone reccommend a good oil-free drugstore foundation that stays put all day & keeps oil at bay? I know someone mentioned Revlon Softflex, but wasn’t sure if that’s oil-free or not. My skin cannot handle anymore oil.
Can’t say I’ve tried the HIP pigments myself. Every time I’m at a drugstore, I never seem to find good beauty deals. I’m not paying $8 for an eyeliner from Target. It just ain’t happening!
Wet ‘n’ Wild liquid liner is my FAVE. It lasts forever and the felt tip brush was pretty easy to work with for me.
HIP is pretty okay, some ARE more pigmented than others which is what I hate.
I recently bought NYX, and i’m going to try them out..hopefully i’m not disappointed.
Drugstore eyeshadow is just typically a big thumbs down to me. Haha. I rather buy $5 pigments offline from Heavenly natural than spend $7 on crap from the drugstore.
Queen Helene Mint Julep mask is my favorite drugstore product. I’ve used it since I was 13 years old.
Banana Boat Summer Color Airbrush Tanning Spray is the most gorgeous self tanner, dries fast, smells good and the color last for a week.
Drugstore skincare-L’Oreal owns Lancome so many of the products are similar but much cheaper, Olay’s skincare rocks and Target always seems to have it on sale.
I don’t buy makeup except for the occasional mascaras which I rarely like and end up tossing
I’ve never tried this, but I’ve heard many a good thing about it!
Oooh, I positively love EcoTools brushes! Have you tried the face ones? They’re friggin’ amazing. Softest brushes I’ve ever felt (and I love testing all the ones I see in Sephora and dept stors!). I haven’t been able to find that angled liner brush though! Grr.
I haven’t! I’ve only seen them a few times, ha! I like to have all the same type of brushes, so it’s MAC or bust for me these days 🙂
I love Loreal’s lipglosses! Especially the Watermelon Crush color
Awesome pick!