The Best Drugstore Beauty Brands to Keep in Your Makeup Bag

Walgreens founded its newest beauty brainchild last fall, and it’s already made waves. The extensive line contains over 160 products—all under eight bucks—that can be mixed, matched and applied in a multitude of ways (hence the acronym: Create Your Own). Our favorite? The three-in-one mascara, eyeliner and shadow wand that can be easily stashed in a clutch for an on-the-go smoky eye. Now that’s genius.

Created for Boots (the UK version of Walgreens), this line’s been around since the 1930s but didn’t grab our attention until more recently when Target began selling its products. Although we hear the mascara is bonkers good, the Lift and Illuminate Triple Action Serum for $25 (much less than that other anti-aging cream you’re using, yeah?) is what has us stocking up at the red bull's-eye time and time again.

Loved by professional makeup artists and beauty bloggers alike, NYX (pronounced “niks”) was founded back in the late 1990s to copycat department store brands on a drugstore budget. It’s since grown to include hundreds of products sold at Ulta and Target, but our suggestion is to start simple with the perfect $6 matte red lipstick. 

Remember when everyone was obsessed with Kylie lip kits? (OK, that was us, too.) The same company behind the celeb’s makeup products is also churning out ColourPop. (Yep, it’s exactly the same at a fraction of the cost.) Even though it’s been sold in Sephora since November, it’s still sticking to its budget-friendly prices (like $6 for those liquid lipsticks we mentioned…).

Don’t be fooled by the cute mint-green-and pink packaging—Pixi by Petra Strand is a heavyweight in the skin-care and makeup aisle of Target, with the most expensive product ringing up at $38. The cult favorite toner, Pixi Glow Tonic, gained a serious following among beauty bloggers last year for its exfoliating and revitalizing properties. 

This cruelty-free, feel-good brand has been a success since hitting shelves at Ulta and Target, and for good reason. The Lash Princess False Lash Effect mascara ($5) hit beauty Reddit channels with rave reviews, while the Butter Stick Glossy Love lip crayon ($4), which goes on soft, then transforms lips to hydrated perfection, has been a hit since debuting the website last month.