9 Cheap Makeup Brands That Are Seriously Underrated

When we talk about the virtues of drugstore makeup the obvious champions are affordability and accessibility — being able to run into the CVS/Duane Reade/Walgreens on the corner and grab a new...whatever you need in a clutch. Having it same-day without having to pay shipping is a revelation when you really need it. I suppose "affordable" means something different for everyone, but "drugstore beauty" definitely means the same thing to all of us: a price point around but not surpassing $10, right? If something enters the two-digit range, it had better be worth it. To me, anything over $15 defeats the purpose of drugstore shopping. At that point, I'll just go to Ulta. Have you seen these $20 drugstore eyeshadow palettes? These guys have missed the point. Here's the thing — it's 2017: There are many beauty brands that are either only sold directly online or have a less omnipresent in-store placement than the typical drugstore brand — BUT they may be even better than our drugstore favorites, often for just as much or even less money. Some of these brands are starting to get drugstore distribution, too. Some brands on this list, like Wet N Wild, have always been drugstore standouts, while others, like NYX, are recently starting to make the move to Target and CVS. Okay and here's the real gag. Many of the drugstore big guys are not cruelty-free. LAME. Many drugstore-adjacent brands are certified cruelty-free! All of them on this list certainly are. So you get all the benefits of the drugstore prices, with even better formulas (yea, I said it,) with no animal testing and more wide-ranging shades than the drugstore foundations which never seem to go deep enough (many of the foundations shown below are the deepest or second deepest available in the respective product line). So I think it's time that we kill the idea of "drugstore beauty" altogether and take it a step back to affordable beauty. Or something even sexier, tbd...

November 20, 2017