We're Beauty Editors With Expensive Taste—Here's What We Buy on the Cheap

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(Image credit: @court_higgs @erin_jahns)

As much as we'd like to say we love affordable beauty products more than spendier finds from fancy brands and stores, ehhhh that would definitely be a lie. Unfortunately (for our wallets, at least), my fellow WWW beauty editor Courtney Higgs and I have rather expensive taste in beauty products. (Remember that time I realised my makeup routine totaled a whopping £345?!)

But, there is a but. Since it's part of the job, we've definitely tried our fair share of drugstore beauty products. Over the years, we've amassed a collection of budget-friendly finds we're actually more obsessed with than their luxe, investment-worthy counterparts. Sure, I might have a drawer of lovely mascaras from Chanel, Dior, Too Faced, Lancôme and more, but running short on my beloved neon-orange tube from Covergirl is what sends me into a cataclysmic panic (so I'm sorry that you can't get hold of this easily in the UK). And there's more where that came from!

Below, Courtney and I are sharing the best drugstore beauty products we use on a regular basis and mix with or sub for even the most spendy of beauty formulas. They're not necessarily new or particularly exciting, but they're the ones we truly can't live without and haven't felt the need to replace with higher-end options—even years later. Keep scrolling!

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Beauty Director

Erin has been writing a mix of beauty and wellness content forBest Knockoff Luxury Clothing for over four years. Prior to that, she spent two and half years writing for Byrdie. She now calls Santa Monica home but grew up in Minnetonka, Minnesota, and studied writing, rhetoric, and communication at University of Wisconsin, La Crosse. She studied abroad in Galway, Ireland, and spent a summer in L.A. interning with the Byrdie andBest Knockoff Luxury Clothing family. After graduating from UW, she spent one year in San Francisco, where she worked as a writer for Pottery Barn Kids and PBteen before moving down to L.A. to begin her career as a beauty editor. She considers her day-to-day beauty aesthetic very low-maintenance and relies on staples like clear brow serum (from Kimiko!), Lawless's Lip Plumping Mask in Cherry Vanilla, and an eyelash curler. For special occasions or days when she's taking more meetings or has an event, she'll wear anything and everything from Charlotte Tilbury (the foundations are game-changing), some shimmer on her lids (Stila and Róen do it best), and a few coats of the best mascara-type product on earth, Surratt's Noir Lash Tint.