As the iconic country music star Dolly Parton famously says, “It costs a lot of money to look this cheap,” many people think all good makeup is expensive that is advertised by the beauty industry. The truth is the beauty industry is growing to include more affordable budget beauty brands that offer quality makeup without the high price tags.
e.l.f.
This beauty brand might remind you of the cute Christmas elf on a shelf but is actually an acronym for eyes, lips, and face as they offer a full range of beauty products for a full-face collection. The quality of products by e.l.f. speak for themselves and they have the reviews and following to prove it.
Nearly every YouTube beauty guru has reviewed e.l.f. products and the company is also known for offering a wide variety of shades for all skin tones. All of their products are cruelty-free, paraben-free, and 100% vegan with all of their affordable products available online and in-store at Target, Walgreens, CVS, and Walmart.
NYX
This budget beauty brand has a long-standing reputation for being one of the best budget beauty brands being a subsidiary company of the makeup giant L’Oréal. NYX Professional Makeup is an American beauty brand founded by visionary Toni Koi in Los Angeles in 1999 and the name is inspired by the Greek goddess of the night.
NYX is a great beauty brand that is affordable and accessible through a variety of retailers including Target, Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, and more. NYX offers affordable and ethical cosmetics that is truly cruelty-free with no testing on animals, and they don’t sell their products where animal testing is required. The NYX collection offers a range of cosmetics for a full-face look at a bargain, and they even offer a ‘Vegan’ section featuring their best-selling vegan products.
Colourpop
Don’t let the spelling of ‘colour’ fool you as many think this brand was founded in the U.K. as they spell color using a ‘u,’ but this beauty brand was founded in 2014 by a brother-sister team with all the cosmetics made in Los Angeles, California. The family team behind the Colourpop brand wanted to redefine the luxury beauty industry offering quality products at more affordable prices compared to competitors.
The company was founded starting with 31 shades of eyeshadow with a low price of $5 per shadow and the American cosmetics brand has transformed to feature a full beauty line with cosmetics, skincare, and body products at affordable prices. Colourpop can maintain an affordable cosmetics collection by keeping all the formulators on their cosmetics campus, designing all their components, producing products, assembling products, and manufacturing all under one roof. They also maintain prices by selling directly to consumers, so they ensure good prices going forward.
Morphe
The makeup brand Morphe started out as a simple cosmetics brand and has transformed into a beauty behemoth through its collaborations with famous YouTube beauty gurus including Jaclyn Hills, Nikita Dragun, Maddie Zeigler, and more. Morphe has also paid homage to iconic brands through collaboration collections with 90s art icon Lisa Frank and the timeless American soda brand Coca-Cola.
Morphe offers fun collaboration collections with luxury cosmetic products including makeup, tools, makeup brushes, skincare, haircare, body care, and more at bargain prices. Morphe offers a wide range of colors to compliment any skin tone so their cosmetics are available for everyone.
