Drugstore Beauty Buys Under $35 That Are Just As Good As The High-End Stuff

This looks like an eyeshadow palette at first sight, but it’s really a highlighter that you swipe on with a powder brush for a subtle glow. Very trippy and decent quality for its wallet-friendly price. Contrary to what we thought, it goes on sheer. You can detect a faint hint of the coloured pigments if you layer on enough product.

Available at selected Guardian and Watsons stores.

This American haircare brand is beloved by Hollywood’s celeb hairstylists, who use their products on hit movies and dramas such as La La Land, Baywatch, Stranger Things and Modern Family. We can see why; on top of interesting ranges like Charcoal with Citrus Oil and Chia Seed Oil, they also offer a new Hawaiian sea salt collection comprising shampoo, conditioner, dry shampoo and a texturising spray. We like that the products make our locks smell like we’ve been frolicking in the ocean. Spritz some of their texturising spray for tousled beach holiday hair.

Hawaii Sea Salt range available exclusively at Guardian stores.

You have heard of make-up removers like cleansing oils and micellar water, now meet this intriguing gel cleanser under the Kose Cosmeport umbrella, a popular affordable drugstore brand by the same folks behind Japanese beauty giant Kose, which recently arrived on our shores. Massage a dollop onto your face and feel the gel warm up pleasantly under your fingertips (don’t worry, it doesn’t get to a scarily ‘hot’ temperature). It’s good for removing light make-up, but we’d recommend their oil cleanser if you’ve a lot of eye make-up to slough off. The gel is also infused with artichoke extract, which is said to reduce the appearance of large pores.

Available at Welcia-BHG and selected Guardian, Watsons and Sasa stores.

This Korean derma-cosmetic skincare brand was previously only available online for folks who don’t live in K-land, but good news, you can get it here now. This soap bar specifically targets bacne (that’s back acne) as it contains treatment ingredients such as tea tree oil, avocado oil and shea butter to cleanse your skin, moisturise and control sebum production. We don’t have bacne so we couldn’t tell how effective this was at pimple-busting (sorry, don’t hate us), but it didn’t strip our skin of moisture like so many harsh bar soaps.

Available exclusively at selected Guardian stores.

This popular Korean brand landed in Singapore recently for the first time. It’s famous for its fabulous cushion compacts, but it also offers a Sun Cushion compact which lets you pat sunscreen on your face like foundation. We like that its formula is easy to blend with a sponge (unlike typical sunscreen which is thick and greasy). It also has a rather powdery finish so you won’t be left with a sticky face.

Available exclusively at selected Guardian stores.

Nope, these aren’t diaper wipes, but Japanese five-minute sheet masks that promise to give you a baby’s complexion. These drugstore masks sold in resealable bulk packets are from the Kose Cosmeport brand too. We slapped on a Lustrous sheet mask for dull skin (it also comes in two other formulas — Moisturising for dry skin and White for acne-prone skin) containing skin do-gooders like collagen and honey-infused glycerin. The short mask sesh plumped up and prepped our skin, which helps our foundation stay on better.

Available at Welcia-BHG and selected Guardian, Watsons and Sasa stores.

Don’t be fooled by the old-school packaging featuring an ancient Chinese beauty; this brand is actually, gasp, American. Their rice paper is always sold out in stores, ’cos it does more than the usual oil-blotter: one side of the sheet is coated with a fine powder that touches up make-up and further mattifies your face as you blot. It also comes in three skin-toned shades so you won’t have to look like a powdered geisha.

Available exclusively at selected Guardian stores.

You have probably heard of Korean brand Laneige’s in-demand ombré lipsticks. Think of this as the budget version made by a German cosmetic brand. But it’s not inferior despite the low price tag; the good quality lippie glides on well with a pigmented finish. Our only grouse is that the darker tone is designed to outline your lips like a ’90s Europop star, so we had to maneuver the lipstick to get the light-to-dark (like you've been eating a lollipop) effect that the Koreans favour.

Available exclusively at selected Guardian stores.

If you're lusting after Urban Decay's viral Naked Heat eyeshadow palette but don't want to fork out $83 for it, try this affordable alternative by a London make-up brand instead. We were surprised by how close it is to the real deal: the 10 warm-toned eyeshadows (Naked Heat has 12) are buttery, extremely pigmented and come in rich earthy shades as well as matte neutral colours. Doing an amber-hued smokey eye was a breeze; and our gal pals all thought we were using a much more expensive product. What can we say? We love cheap thrills.

Available exclusively at selected Guardian stores.