5 Best Drugstore Products Under $15 Beauty Awards 2019
Budget Beauty Buyers, Listen Up: These Are the Products to Try If You Love a Good Deal
As POPSUGAR editors, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. If you buy a product we have recommended, we may receive affiliate commission, which in turn supports our work.
Movie tickets, your Starbucks order, guac that costs "extra" — most things you love that clock in at less than $15 can still feel like an indulgence, so why should your drugstore beauty products be an exception? If you know where to look (as in, not the toilet paper aisle at CVS, but close) you can find dozens of high-quality makeup, hair, and skincare items that belie the price point.
To make the hunt easy for you, and your wallet, we've asked our trusted team of editors to channel our inner Extreme Couponing and test the best new budget buys of the year. This list of winning products — from mascara and lipstick to scalp treatments and more — are the perfect excuse to spend your money elsewhere.
Don't forget to read up on the rest of our 2019 Power Your Pretty Awards winners – a curated list of beauty products tested by editors, chosen for YOU.
Essence Melted Chrome Eye Shadow
The pigment and branding might be dedicated to chrome, but this Essence Melted Chrome Eye Shadow ($5) formula has become the new gold standard in drugstore eye makeup. It's mega-pigmented, easy to blend, and will only set you back one Abraham Lincoln, but one editor's testimony said it best: "This is a wet, high-impact metallic that didn't crease in my eyelids. Dreams do come true."
Covergirl Exhibitionist Mascara
At first glance, the Covergirl Exhibitionist Mascara ($8) seems pretty no-frills. It's housed in a silver tube with an hourglass-shaped bristle brush and basic black writing etched across the packageing. But damn, it is good. Not only does the wand curve ever so slightly to hug every last lash, it also combs without clumping — making them look bigger, bolder, and more fluttery with every swipe. The best part comes after a full 12 hours of wear, when you realise your lashes looks just as good as they did this morning, with zero smudging or fallout. For $8? Talk about a ROI.
Kristin Ess Scalp Detoxifying Bubble Mask
Iced tea, baths, kitschy movies featuring a young Jake Gyllenhaal — some of the best things in life are made better with bubbles. No exception to the rule, the Kristin Ess Scalp Detoxifying Bubble Mask ($14) was perhaps the most fun product of all the awards submissions to test. It foamed up like an oxygen facial for your scalp, crackled like Pop Rocks, and made everything it touched tingle. Oh, and the formula itself actually worked — whisking away oil and product build-up for TV commercial-worthy hair.
E.l.f. Poreless Putty Primer
Love the Tatcha The Silk Canvas Primer, but can't bring yourself to spend 50 bucks on the stuff? Introducing your new favourite dupe: E.l.f. Poreless Putty Primer ($8). It glides on just as smooth, blurs pores even better, and keeps makeup in place all the same — at six-times less than the price of the former.
Maybelline Superstay Ink Crayon Lipstick
The Maybelline Superstay Ink Crayon Lipstick ($9) works double-duty as one-part lipstick, one-part lip liner — and something you 100 percent need in your makeup stash. It glides on comfortably and with the ease of other crayon formulas, but the difference is that this one will last from your first sip of coffee in the morning to your post-dinner dessert at night.
Don't forget to read up on the rest of our 2019 Power Your Pretty Awards winners – a curated list of beauty products tested by editors, chosen for YOU.
