My Favorite Drugstore/High-end Matchups

It's been a few weeks since my last post, and I have been racking my brain trying to think of something to show you that we haven't really discussed much on this blog.. I've been in sort of a rut, doing nail art that I havent been super happy with and lots and lots of makeup looks that just left me feeling a bit uninspired. I didn't want to post those things just for the sake of having content so I have been writing ideas down and I think now is the time to start sharing those.

The first idea I had was to share a few of my favorite dupes for high end beauty products that EVERYONE should own. These are necessities that every girl should have in their makeup bag. Even if you can't afford the super expensive stuff, there are always products that match up to those highend products and i'm here to pass along my FAVES!!!


First up, I have Pore Reducers. The highend product here is POREfessional by BENEFIT, which retails for 30.00 at ulta. I have used this product and LOVED it. I used my teeny tiny sample sized bottle down to the very last drop. However, for LESS THAN THE COST of a sample bottle of the highend product, I can buy a FULL SIZE bottle of Maybelline's Baby Skin. Yeah, the name is totally creepy... But the stuff is SIX bucks and works just as well as the benefit product.

Next up, I have eyeshadow primers. If you aren't currently using an eye shadow base... PLEASE CHANGE THAT. I mean, I can not even remember wearing eye shadow with out some sort of primer. It was probably back when I used glittery goop from bon bons or lip smacker. But it SRSLY makes the shadow stick around a lot longer and also brings out the pigment in the shadow. ANYWAY, the high end version of shadow primer shown is probably one of the most popular ones. Its Urban Decay's Primer Potion, retailing at 20.00 bucks at ulta. I could have also shown Too Faced Shadow Insurance because I feel its just as popular as UD's but since I used the primer potion for LITERALLY YEARS I went with it. Now both of these are AMAZINGLY WONDERFUL and all that jazz... But I have also found that my drugstore match up is JUST AS GOOD. I chose NYX's HD eye shadow base as a dupe because it is EXACTLY like UD's primer. The only difference is the price. The NYX primer is a whopping 6.99. Once I discovered this little gem of a primer, I took it and ran..never looking back at my highend primer again.

Ah, now we have come to foundation primers. TBH I never used face primer until about two years ago. The first one I tried was a sample sized bottle of SMASHBOX Photo Finish primer. It is sosososo good, but its also 36.00 at ulta. This primer really is wonderful, but so is this $6.00 E.L.F primer from target. HOLLA. It is so moisturizing and does a great job at making the most of your foundation application.

My last high end matchup is one that I have just recently discovered. I fell in love with this Nars blush/bronzer duo. The blush is Orgasm and the Bronzer is Laguna. These are wonderful for contouring and look PERF on pale skin. However they def put a damper on your wallet. This comes in at $41.00 at Sephora. The low end counter-part is the E.L.F contouring palette, which is $3.00 at target. I honest-to-goodness use this product daily. If you are interested in a super pigmented blush/bronzer duo, I highly recommend the E.L.F duo. I have no idea what I will do if they ever discontinue this. Probably weep into my makeup bag. Lets pray this doesn't happen any time soon.

Do you have any high end/low end matchups that we didn't mention??? Share them with us in the comments section! Hopefully you guys will try some of these, if you aren't already!! Your pocketbooks will be thanking me!! xoxo Summer