A lot of affordable makeup is pretty fantastic, and I don’t spend enough time talking about it. So for May, I’m dedicating the entire month to posts about products under $20. I’ve tested a lot of $10–$20 beauty products from Sephora and Ulta, so I’m doing this as a tier list of the 22 I products I thought would be the most useful to review. I have four categories. Can’t live without means I would actually miss it if it disappeared from my routine and would rebuy it right away if I lost it/ran out. Routine staples means I use it all the time and would absolutely recommend it, even if it is not the first thing I’d replace. Good, but not essential means it works, but I either own things I like more or just don’t reach for it enough. And skip these means I wouldn’t buy it again, and I’m not sure you should buy it either. I decided not to include products that are only under $20 just by nature of them being mini sizes because that felt like cheating. Please leave a comment if I missed one of your $10-$20 Sephulta favorites!

In this post, all links are affiliate links (thank you for your support!), but all opinions are my own. Swatches are under a ring light to show true to color (photo #1) and then standard lighting to show the formula a little better (#2) for all the products. 

Can’t live without

about-face Beach Freak Bronzer Stick in Beach Goth – I’ve talked about this one before, but months later, it is still the under $20 product I would put at the very top of the tier list. The texture is sheer and gel-like, almost like the Makeup By Mario Skin Enhancer, so it blends fast and seamlessly. Beach Goth is also a fantastic color that actually bronzes without turning orange on my olive skin. I use this more than my more expensive bronzer sticks, and it’s also my go to for travel/care makeup because it’s just so easy to work with.

L.A. Girl On Cloud 9 Bouncy Blush & Bronzer in Misty Mauve – I’m sneaking this into the under $20 post even though it’s technically under $10, because I bought it too late for my under $10 Ulta post, and I’ve been using it every day. This is one of those blurring cream-to-powder formulas that feels the same as Rare Beauty, Sarah Creal, Moira Beauty, etc. As always, this is my favorite kind of formula for cheek products because it’s so easy to use, blends fast, and blurs without looking too dry. That all said, the bronzer is the reason I really need to tell y’all about this. Misty Mauve’s bronzer is the first affordable powder bronzer I’ve found that doesn’t go too orange on me or really very orange at all. I can see myself keeping this long term and traveling with it, which hasn’t happened with the other affordable bronzers I’ve tried. The blush side is also a pretty pinky peach and works well with the bronzer, but for my own preferences I would have rather had more mauve or purple blush. For a quick face though, this duo is great, and especially for $8, I’d totally get this just for the bronzer half. 

Morphe Cheek Thrills Multi-Finish Face Trio in Honeymoon Suite – This is something I keep reaching for more than I expected. It has, as Morphe describes it, a satin cream, luminous balm, and velvet powder. Basically a cream blush, a sparkly balm blush, and a powder blush that has a satin finish, although you can also use the products for other things like eyeshadow. The formula is super easy to work with, especially when I’m trying to throw something together fast, and never gets patchy or skippy. Honeymoon Suite is a cool toned mauve color story that looks really at home on my olive skin, and I use this all the time when I don’t know what will look right since this always does. 

fwee Mellow Dual Blush in MV01 No More Cupid and RS01 Rosy Talk – This is the other under $20 blush that surprised me the most. The larger pan is a softer base shade, and the smaller pan is a brighter point blush that adds depth and dimension. Together, they give me a super pretty ombré blush effect that blends smoothly into bronzer, concealer, and highlighter. I’ve been using these constantly, enough that I actually bought a second one even though I obviously don’t need any more blush. No More Cupid is the one I got first. It’s a soft mauve that gives me an easy, blurred, almost beige blush look. Rosy Talk is the one I bought next knowing it would warm up on me. It’s described more like a rosy pink/rose shade, but on my olive skin, I knew it would become more sunkissed and bronzy, which I’m loving for the warmer weather. Having both No More Cupid and Rosy Talk gives me a lot of flexibility, and the formula is easy, blendable, and softly blurring in the way I expect from fwee.

Milani Make It Last Dewy Setting Spray – This already won my setting spray showdown, and I still love it. It’s still the setting spray I use to finish my makeup every day (until I run out of it, and then I’m going to work through my giant setting spray stash). The finish is hydrated and glowy, but it still helps my makeup last all day. In my testing, my blush and bronzer held up better with this than with some much more expensive sprays, which is exactly why it ended up becoming a permanent part of my routine. The sprayer/packaging doesn’t feel luxurious, but for the price and the performance, I can live with it. 

NYX Professional Makeup Lip IV Hydrating Gloss Stain in Petal Pourin, Grape Gushin, Hydra Honey, and Mocha Me Wet – I have dozens of lip products, and because I buy so much K-beauty, J-beauty, and C-beauty, my lip stain standards are very high. I was shocked by how much I liked these. The formula feels hydrating, looks glossy and fresh when you first put it on, and then the stain actually lasts a very long time. These are especially good when I know I’m putting makeup on in the morning (read: 6am) and not touching it again (until I wash my makeup off hopefully around 10pm). Petal Pourin is a pretty neutral pink that does not go orange on me. Grape Gushin is the dark berry shade I wanted from this formula, and I love a dark berry with my high contrast and olive skin. Hydra Honey and Mocha Me Wet are my bronzy rosy-brown shades: Hydra Honey is lighter, Mocha Me Wet is deeper, and neither turns into Cheeto orange. I wear them all the time, and the price still shocks me.

Routine staples

SEPHORA COLLECTION Blur It Loose Setting Powder in 01 Brightening Pink and 04 Brightening Lilac – I am currently testing 25 different powders because I want powders that work for dry skin but still set, blur, and do all the things you want a good powder to do. As part of this project, I’m testing a bunch of pink, purple, blue, and green powders. The formula of the Sephora Collection powder really reminds me of some of the more expensive powders I’m testing. It’s smoothing and blurring, but not immediately dry-looking.Brightening Lilac is the one I use when blush pulls too orange or yellow, and I want to tone it down without losing the blushiness. Blue powder can neutralize orange into beige, but lilac helps pull out the rosy pink/lavender tones instead. Brightening Pink is the one I use under my eyes. It brightens without being too dark, too contrasty, or too pigmented. These are not can’t-live-without only because I have this giant pile of powders next to me, and there are a few I reach for more. If I wasn’t testing 25 powders at once, I would use these constantly.

Morphe ChromaPlus 6-Pan Eyeshadow Palette in Outer Spice – I have been so pleasantly surprised by this palette. I own a lot of eyeshadow palettes, and this is still one I keep reaching for because the formula is so easy to use and blend with a finger or brush and has very little fallout. For my undertones, I don’t really use it to make one full palette look because the color story doesn’t totally come together that way for me. I do use several of the shades as one and done shadows all the time. 

Cinnamon Twist is the shade I use the most. It’s a glittery bright pink that’s super shiny but not overly glittery. Sweet Talker is more of a metallic warm pink, and I love it alone or layered under Cinnamon Twist, even though it has a little bit of the orange edge I often get with my olive undertones. Dash of Cocoa is probably the most fun shade in the palette. It’s a matte neutral brown with sparkles (I know they’re hard to see in the swatches). It gives a blurred but sparkly effect that’s so pretty all over the lid but still works as an outer corner shade. Sugar & Spice is a very light lilac matte that I mostly use for blending. The other two I use less – Ginger Snapped is a pretty but orange matte that I only use for a specific summery bronzy look, and Gold Flavor is a warm gold that isn’t my favorite, but the pink flecks it has makes it more wearable for me.

The reason this is not in the top tier is that I really tend to only use four of the six shades. I don’t usually recommend buying a six-pan palette if only four shades work, but it’s affordable, I’m never going to hit pan anyway, and I’m really happy I bought it.

SACHEU Lip Glaze Elixir in Chai Macaron and Tanghulu Candy – I absolutely love this formula. It’s lightweight, not sticky, moisturizing, and makes my lips look hydrated without being a super glossy lip. Chai Macaron looks warmer in the swatch than it does on my lips. On me, it’s a perfect everyday “my lips but better” neutral brown that I can throw on without thinking. Tanghulu Candy is a sparkly, glittery gloss that I like putting on top of other lip products, or wearing when I just need my lips to look better quickly. It’s a more visible multicolored glitter than a subtle shimmer, so if you want something super refined and elegant, I probably wouldn’t get this one. These are routine staples because I use them all the time and would absolutely buy them again. They just didn’t blow me away the way the NYX Lip IV stains did, and there are a lot of great affordable glosses.

NYX Professional Makeup Lingerie Lip Liner Stain in Up To No Good – This is a really nice lip liner stain. On me, it creates the kind of defined lip line I can wear under other lip products, or even just with clear gloss, and it still looks pretty natural. I like that I can draw it on exactly where I want it, blur it a little, and then it really does stain and last all day. This makes me particularly happy because I’m really terrible with the peel-off lip liner stains. I totally get why people like those, but I’m so bad at using them and always end up with something super patchy and just not quite right. Up To No Good is a fantastic cool toned brown that doesn’t go orange and works with almost every lip product I use. This stain in routine staples because when I want a lip liner that is really going to last all day, this is the one I grab, but I still prefer classic lip liners for every day. 

Laka Fruity Glam Tint in Ash Nut, 123 and 130 – I originally bought Ash Nut because it looked like it was going to be such a cool, interesting, and nuanced shade, and then I tried it on, and it just turned orange. Not even orange in the warm, bronzy, summer shade way that sometimes I’m going for. Orange in the really annoying “why did you do this to me?” way. If you are olive and looking for that cool, nuanced brown we are all always trying to find, I would not recommend Ash Nut. The reason this is still in routine staples is that I honestly really liked the formula. It feels hydrating and nourishing, it’s easy to use, the stain lasts, and I love how it wears down. So I went to YesStyle, found the Laka minis, and tried a few more shades. I absolutely love shades 123 and 130, which are beautiful berry shades that look fantastic on me. I love them enough that I might actually finish them.

Good, but not essential

Experiment Softwear Lip Treatment in Void and Clear – I really love Experiment skincare, and I do like the Softwear Lip Treatment. I really wanted to try Void for the color, and I can confirm it’s a perfect cool-toned brown that does not go orange on me. It’s actually a little blackened brown plum, and I absolutely love this color, especially since something like this is so hard to find. It wears well and feels nourishing, just like the clear one, which I also have and really like. The reason these are in this section is that I only have one mouth and way, way too many lip balms. I personally like EADEM, Ole Henriksen, and a few newer K-beauty balms more, so I just don’t reach for Softwear as much. I would still absolutely recommend this if you want a nourishing cool brown balm under $20.

Unleashia Sunset Dazzle Gloss Balm in No. 5 Amalfi – This is another one where I really like the formula, but the shade is the reason it really stands out. Amalfi is an actual deep rosy brown that does not go Cheeto orange on me. A warm rosy brown can go wrong on my olive skin so quickly, and this one stays so pretty and wearable. The formula is really good, the packaging is great, and if you’ve been hunting for this kind of shade but don’t want to spend around $25 on a lip balm, I think this is a great option. It’s not an amazing breakthrough formula, but I’m happy I bought it and I would buy it again.

fwee Smoothie Tinted Lip Balm in GC03 Plum Mocha Glowy and BC03 Acai Blueberry Blur – I like these, but I don’t reach for them as much as I expected to. Plum Mocha Glowy is a sheer brownie-berry with a little purple, which sounds like exactly my kind of shade, and it’s really pretty. I just forget about it because the formula is so just okay. Acai Blueberry Blur is the one I’d recommend if you really want to try one of the fwee balms. I expected Blueberry Blur to be more purple, but on me it’s more of a pinky red, and it might actually be one of the better red (one me) lip products I own. The blurring formula is nice, it has more pigment than I expected, and it leaves a little bit of a stain. Even though I really like the blurring balm, and there’s nothing wrong with the glowy balm, these stay in good-not-essential because they are definitely not a run, don’t walk, type of product in the sea of lip products. 

SEPHORA COLLECTION Cloud Blurred Matte Lipstick in 01 Cloud Whisperer and 04 Blown Kiss – If you want to try the blurred matte lipstick trend without spending almost $30 on something like the Merit Lip Blush, these are a really good option. The formula is blurring, sheer without being too sheer, and builds up nicely. 01 Cloud Whisperer is the shade I like most. It’s an actual pinky mauve, and in a vacuum, it would absolutely be my everyday blurred matte lip product. 04 Blown Kiss is more of a bricky red that I think will be so pretty in summer. There is nothing wrong with these, and I really like them and would recommend them. But I have so many options for blurred lip products (especially Asian beauty ones), and they honestly don’t come to mind as products I really want to reach for constantly. 

about-face Shadow Fix Eye Primer, Smokestick in Stoke The Flames, and Fractal Glitter Eye Paints in Fracture and Smolder – I love about-face, but the eye products I’ve tried have been hit or miss. The one I’d skip is the Shadow Fix Eye Primer. It’s fine, but it didn’t replace my more expensive eyeshadow primers, it’s not that much cheaper at $15, and honestly, I’d rather use concealer at that point depending on what I’m doing. I don’t think it’s bad, but unless it’s super on sale and you’re already building a cart, I don’t think this is the about-face product I’d tell you to try.

The Smokestick in Stoke The Flames is the opposite problem. The formula is great, but the shade is totally wrong on me. I wanted something bricky, terracotta-y, and brown, but on me this is way too warm, which is why I test these things so you don’t have to. I would absolutely try another shade, because the stick side is easy to use and blurring, and I like the concept of having the powder shadow on the other end. The powder shadow is also blurring and super easy tow work with. On my eyes, this shows up closer to the second set of swatches below.

The Fractal Glitter Eye Paints I have mixed feelings about. I love the colors. Fracture is a perfect brown that doesn’t go too orange on me, and Smolder is a really pretty warm pink. But the wear depends a lot on your eyelids and your day. If you have dry eyelids and you’re mostly sitting at a desk, I think these are lovely. If you have oily eyelids, live somewhere humid, or need your makeup to survive a long sweaty day, I wouldn’t recommend them. My oily-eyelid friend tested these and they didn’t last well even after a couple hours, and I had the same issue when I wore them on a hot, active day. I still think about-face makes the best affordable liquid eyeshadows I’ve tried, and the Matte Fluid Eye Paints are really fantastic. I’m just starting to think shimmery liquid eyeshadow might be a category where I’d rather splurge. 

Skip these

SACHEU Eyeshadow STAY-N in 02 Espress Yo Self and 04 Shu-ggah – Speaking of affordable liquid shadows, I tried two of these: 02 Espress Yo Self, which is the matte formula, and 04 Shu-ggah, which is the metallic/shimmery formula. Espress Yo Self is patchy when you first apply it, and when I start blending it out, it gets even worse. It feels a little too watery, dries down unevenly, and just does not look good on the eyes. Shu-ggah is even more frustrating because the color is pretty, but the formula is so liquidy, patchy, and streaky. If I try to add more after putting it down, it lifts up on itself. Maybe I got bad batches, but I wouldn’t recommend these. 

Maybelline Shadow Drip Eye Tint Liquid Eye Shadow in Amethyst Drip – This one makes me mad because it is so pretty. It has a cool-toned brown base with reflective pink, blue, and lots of purple glitter. It’s shiny and sparkly and exactly the kind of shade I love. It doesn’t last at all. It creases and disappears quickly, even on me, and I have drier eyelids where most things stay pretty well. You can see it already started to basically disintegrate on my arm while I was swatching. I could maybe see using it as a fun topper, but even then, I don’t think it’s worth it. You could get a similar effect from a cream shadow or powder shadow with way fewer issues.

L’Oréal Hyaluron Tint Lip Stain Serum in 217 Smoky Mauve – This goes on really pretty at first, but then it turns orange, and the stain it leaves behind is also orange. Not a softened berry stain, not a pretty mauve stain, just orange. The formula also isn’t special enough for me to hunt down another shade. It’s a bit more drying than I wanted, and there are so many good affordable lip stains out there now that I don’t feel like I need to force this one.

SEPHORA COLLECTION Cheek & Lip Long-Lasting Gel Tint in 03 Berry Burst – This was sticky, drying, patchy, and looked terrible. I tried it on both lips and cheeks, and I could not get it to work well either way. There are so many better options for this kind of cheek-and-lip tint that I don’t think this one is worth fighting with. If you love this one, please let me know because maybe I got a bad batch, and I’d happily test it again if that’s the case.

What other products would you like me to review? Let me know if there’s anything else you’d like to see here, and thanks for reading! As always, some links may be affiliate links that support the blog and some products may have been gifted, but all reviews/opinions are completely my own and unsponsored.