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10 Beauty Products That Are Better At The DRUGSTORE

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The $60 serum and the $14 dupe sitting three aisles apart are made by the same company.

TheThings Celebrity’s rundown “10 Beauty Products That Are Better At The DRUGSTORE” makes a simple argument: the gap between a Sephora counter and a CVS aisle is smaller than the price tags suggest. The video walks through ten mass-market picks that go toe-to-toe with prestige staples in foundation, mascara, skincare and bronzer. The reason it works isn’t a fluke — it’s corporate ownership.

• L’Oréal runs Lancôme and Urban Decay through its Luxe Division while producing Maybelline through its Consumer Products Division — same parent company, two very different price tiers.
• Shared labs and patented delivery systems mean drugstore lines routinely release direct dupes of prestige bestsellers in categories like setting sprays, mascaras and base products.
• The countdown names ten specific swaps, from Maybelline Great Lash Mascara and L’Oreal Paris True Match Foundation to Olay Regenerist Micro-Sculpting Cream and Physicians Formula Butter Bronzer.

The Corporate Math Behind the Price Gap

The video’s central point isn’t opinion — it’s ownership structure. L’Oréal doesn’t just make Maybelline; the same conglomerate manages Lancôme and Urban Decay under its Luxe Division. That overlap means formulation research, pigment technology and packaging engineering developed for a $52 Lancôme mascara can trickle straight down to a $7 Maybelline tube on a Walgreens shelf.

That’s why so many “dupes” aren’t imitations at all — they’re siblings. Setting sprays, mascaras and base makeup are the categories where this shows up most, since the underlying chemistry doesn’t change just because the label costs more.

L’Oréal’s Luxe Division sells Lancôme and Urban Decay; its Consumer Products Division sells Maybelline — same parent company, wildly different price tags.

The Everyday Staples Worth Swapping

The video leans hardest on categories people buy repeatedly — mascara, foundation, lip color, brow product — because that’s where drugstore brands invest the most competitive R&D. Maybelline Great Lash Mascara has stuck around for decades on a reputation for clump-free, long-lasting wear. L’Oreal Paris True Match Foundation gets singled out for buildable coverage and a wide shade range that rivals higher-end base makeup without the department-store markup.

Lip and brow products round out the everyday list. NYX Professional Makeup Soft Matte Lip Cream delivers a pigmented, long-wearing matte finish, while e.l.f. Cosmetics Instant Lift Brow Pencil comes bundled with a spoolie for blending — a feature usually reserved for pricier brow kits. Milani Baked Blush adds a shimmer finish that blends easily, another case where the formula does the heavy lifting instead of the packaging.

Skincare and Finishing Products That Hold Their Own

Skincare gets its own share of the list. Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser is a dermatologist-recommended staple for sensitive and acne-prone skin, and Garnier Micellar Water strips off waterproof mascara without leaving an oily residue. Neutrogena Hydro Boost Water Gel is cited for hydrating oily and acne-prone skin without the greasy feel some heavier creams leave behind, and Olay Regenerist Micro-Sculpting Cream gets credit for improving skin elasticity and softening fine lines at a fraction of what prestige anti-aging creams cost.

Physicians Formula Butter Bronzer closes out the countdown, built with murumuru, cupuacu and tucuma butters for a bronzer that’s as much a skin treatment as a color product.

Allocation of Additional Funding

If the formulas are this close, what justifies the prestige price? The video points to weighted glass packaging, elaborate ad campaigns and celebrity endorsements — costs baked into the retail price that have nothing to do with what’s inside the tube or jar. It’s the same reason a name attached to a product can move units regardless of formula, a dynamic that shows up constantly across celebrity-driven marketing far beyond the beauty aisle.

Strip away the packaging and the marketing budget, and what’s left is often the same lab, the same delivery system, and a formula that costs the company roughly the same to produce whether it ships to Sephora or Target.

None of this means every prestige product is a rip-off — some categories genuinely justify the premium. But for the ten items this countdown singles out, the drugstore version isn’t the compromise pick. It’s the smarter one, and the shelf right next to the register proves it every time someone checks the ingredient list before the price tag.