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- Skin care is sometimes confusing and expensive, but it shouldn’t be. Not every effective ingredient is costly to formulate.
- There are plenty of affordable skin-care lines to buy from in 2019 that compete with luxury products.
- Below are 12 brands you should know about, and what to buy from each.
Skin care, with its ever-evolving technology and the subterfuge of insidious marketing campaigns, can become a confusing and expensive category. Without insider knowledge or the time and funds to do the field-testing on your own, it’s sometimes easier to spend an uncomfortable amount for the tacit understanding that, hey, if it’s this expensive, it must be pretty good.
But that’s not necessarily the case. There are plenty of affordable skin-care brands that are dead ringers for luxury products, at a fraction of the cost. It’s no great secret that certain clinical heavy-hitters work, or that products sold for $30 can be made by the same cosmetics teams that work on $300 tubs of cream. And while sometimes it’s worth it to splurge on beauty products, it doesn’t automatically mean you’re buying a better product.
Thankfully, most of what the Insider Picks team does is test new products to see which ones are worth the money and which ones you should skip.
If you’re looking for a handful of affordable skin-care brands off the cuff, find 12 we trust below:
Below are 12 affordable skin-care brands you should know about in 2019:
The Ordinary
The Ordinary Facebook
Price range: $10-$21
Where to buy it: Amazon
What to buy: Glycolic Acid 7% Toning Solution, $22.99
The Ordinary is a well-loved, affordable skin-care brand known for "clinical formulations with integrity." In other words, for using familiar, effective clinical technologies with transparent communication and pricing. The Ordinary’s Glycolic Acid 7% Toning Solution is one of its most popular products for its gentle exfoliation for better skin brightness and clarity.
Read more:
Panacea
Panacea
Price range: $24-$36
Where to buy it: Panacea
What to buy: Essentials Kit, $74
"Panacea" is another word for a cure-all, and that’s what this minimalist Korean brand with its three unisex products aims to be. Contrary to the idea that the more products you use the better your skin will be, Panacea’s ethos champions efficient simplicity.
It focuses on the contents, rather than the quantity of the skin-care products, and uses cruelty-, paraben-, and sulfate-free ingredients to achieve natural, healthy results. The simple, gender-neutral products streamline your skin-care routine.
Read more:
- A new Korean skin-care company borne from a battle with cystic acne believes you only need 3 products to achieve clear skin
- 17 cheap and effective skin-care products under $25 we swear by in our everyday lives
- We test tons of skin-care brands at work — but these are the 16 we keep coming back to in our everyday lives
- 12 skin-care products we use in our daily lives to treat and combat adult acne
Maelove
Maelove
Price range: $18-28
Where to buy it: Maelove
What to buy: Glow Maker, $27.95
Maelove is a relatively new skin-care line priced entirely under $30 that was founded by MIT graduates. Eschewing the marketing schemes that make luxury $300 lotions the norm and skin care confusing and expensive, Maelove makes simple, effective skin-care products for all skin types in the same high-end cosmetics labs that luxury brands use.
Their cult-favorite $28 vitamin c serum (which consumers have pointed out is very similar to SkinCeuticals’ $166 version) put the company on the map, and is prone to frequent sellouts.
Right now, get 10% off any purchase of two products or more with the discount code "TEN" at checkout.
Read more:
- This $28 vitamin C serum that was developed by MIT scientists makes my skin glow — and it’s available for preorder after selling out 4 times
- Every product in this skin-care line by MIT grads is under $30 — and they all work better than the luxury options I’ve tried
- This $28 cream hydrates skin without clogging pores — it worked wonders on my sensitive skin
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
See Also:
- 15 of the best-selling face masks at major beauty and skin-care stores like Ulta and Sephora — and why people love them
- 24 tech gadgets that are trending on Amazon right now
- Save up to 50% at Patagonia, Brooks Brothers, and Madewell — and more of today’s best deals from around the web
Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Mara Leighton)