My Drugstore Makeup Dupes

There is an art to make up and I love experimenting and testing products to create new looks. As Beyoncé once said, a simple change of the color of your lips or doing your eyeliner differently can change your whole attitude. Amen sister!

Of course, high end cosmetics are amazing and what I absolutely adore, but they can get so pricey. I have always had a passion for falling for a designer product and then trying to find a drug store brand that is almost identical. Yeah, it’s some work, but it’s fun for me and hopefully helpful to you!

Have you ever lost your make-up bag? What a terrible gut wrenching feeling to know that all of your favorite products are in one location and the fear that you may have to start all over again is tragic! Thankfully, I have so much make-up now that if I lost my go to bag I could get by, but let’s be honest our favorite products are essential to our daily make-up game! So, after having that fear actually happen several times in my life, I learned a serious lesson that I now live by: only my drug store dupes leave the house with me…except for my Chanel lipstick. It’s always within arms reach! My go to shade for the summer is 426 Roussy.

Here are my favorite drugstore dupes that I use in my routine every single day and that call my make-up bag home. You can also check out some more of my fav products from Sephora on my Sydewalk page by clicking here.

1) Revlon Colorstay Whipped Foundation – I have tried SO many foundations, including the mecca of all  foundations Dior Nude Air, which I love, love, love and is so worth the $50 in my opinion. However, for a drugstore foundation, Colorstay Whipped at a mere $13 bucks, I just can’t get enough of this creamy goodness. It is full and flawless coverage and I don’t even need concealer. Take it from a girl who has been prone to acne her whole life; this does not pore clogs and I have even been known to sleep in it a time or two!!!! YUCK! I use 320 Warm Golden.

2) Maybelline Define-A-Brow Eyebrow Pencil – Don’t forget to do your brows ladies because it will completely change your look! This pencil ROCKS and will make you want to fill those babies in every day! It is the best pencil I have ever tried, aside from the Dior Brow Styler. I use Medium Brown.

3) Wet n Wild Coloricon Bronzer – There are SO many great bronzers on the market, but I just adore this one in Ticket for Brazil for its matte finish and ability to contour cheekbones and your nose. It seems to be a very close match to the color in the Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit (which I just started using and absolutely LOVE!). A lighter shade for those of you that are just looking for a tint of color on your face get Reserve Your Cabana.

4) Wet N Wild MegaLiner Liquid Eyeliner – Stop the press, ya’ll. Are you listening???!!! This is my absolute favorite drugstore product ever. Period. First off, how hard is liquid eyeliner to apply anyway? I mean the moment you pick it up I swear it senses your fear and knows it will win the battle. It took me years to learn how to perfect eyeliner application, but when I did I never looked back. It’s crazy how a black line on your eye can change the way you feel! I used to use Lancôme Artliner, but found this and have been using it for years. With every eyeliner I tried, I always ended up with serious black eyes when I went swimming or had a crying sesh. And ladies, trust me in this department, because I have swam and cried many a rivers in this eyeliner and it always looks like it’s freshly applied! I love the color gray in Smoky 883, but the only place I can find it is Walgreens, so I am also a dedicated fan of the Ultra Black 881 and ALWAYS buy Waterproof!

5) L’Oreal Carbon Black Voluminous Mascara – I have tried a zillion mascaras and it’s probably the one thing I have tried the most in my lifetime if you don’t count eye shadows!!! I used Dior Show for some time and this is such a match to it at a steal of the price. There is something about Loreal mascaras, because I also just love Million Dollar Lashes. I even like to layer the two, because Million Dollar adds some serious volume on top of Voluminous! I always use the blackest black in my mascara and I ALWAYS use Waterproof. Some girls don’t like it, but if you just use Neutrogena Makeup Remover Wipes it comes off so easy. 6) Milani Powder Foundation – I have been obsessed with MAC Studio Fix for decades and I can honestly say that nothing can hold a candle to it…until I met Milani. I still LOVE my MAC, but if you are looking for a close second this is it!!! I use color 03 Natural.

7) Hard Candy Glamoflauge Concealer – This is the most amazing concealer and can cover any blemish and is an almost dead ringer for Kat Von D’s Lock-It Tattoo Concealer that can even cover tattoos. I use the shade Medium.

8) ELF Blush – For anyone who doesn’t know, E.L.F. stands for Eyes Lips Face and pretty much every product is under $3. From a previous post that you can read here, I doted on E.L.F and I mentioned my love for their HD blush. Although, I do love it, for a mom that’s always late and trying to throw make-up on quickly, I also love their powder blushes. I love anything pink, so naturally Fuchsia Fusion is my fav and is a close match to NARS Angelika. A few other matches are Pink Passion = NARS Desire, Candid Coral = NARS Deep Throat and Blushing Rose = NARS Dolce Vita. Also, E.L.F.’s St. Lucia Blush & Bronzer duo is not an exact dupe to NARS Orgasm & Laguna palette, but close enough to perfect for me! What are your favorite drugstore make-up products and dupes? Let me know so I can try them out, too and if you don’t know a dupe to your favorite high end product, let me know and maybe I can find one for you!