Best drugstore dupes for high-end beauty products, including skincare, body care and fragrance. Why spent big bucks when you don’t have to?! (And everything is between 4 and 6€!)

Dupes are a tricky business. Most of the time, the internet calls a product a dupe that’s far from the same – and then, you’ll find yourself saddled with a product that’s just not as good, isn’t as pretty, and THEN (if you’re like me) you’ll buy the more expensive product you wanted to dupe anyway.

Also, the problem with all those TikTok dupes is that they’re not that much of a bargain anway – at least where I am. Why should I buy a Maybelline Lifter Gloss to dupe Fenty’s Gloss Bomb when the Maybelline one is nearly 10€ here, and the Fenty one only costs 6€ more?!

Drugstore dupes for high-end beauty products

drugstore dupes for high-end beauty

So, what I’m calling a ‘dupe’ here is different. It’ll be similar to a more expensive product, BUT! It’ll be an excellent product in their own right. On top of that, you’ll find products here that TikTok has never heard of, I guarantee you that.

OG: Shangpree Gold Hydrogel Eye Mask – dupe: balea Beauty Effect gel patches

best drugstore hydrogel eye mask

I’ve written about Shangpree before – I had a wonderful spa treatment at one of their places in Seoul, and I’ve bought some of their products afterwards. And they are wonderful. But – very, very pricey. In the case of their Gold Hydrogel Eye Mask, the balea Beauty Effect gel pads perform the same. They’re cooling, hydrating and calming, and that’s exactly the effect I’m after when using eye patches.

There’re pros and cons: the balea ones are packaged single application packages with extra plastic backing. That obviously means more waste, but then, I’m never fully comfortable with those tubs of sixty pieces that are hanging around in your bathroom cabinet and that you’ve never used up after their allocated 6 month. (balea – 1 piece is 0,74€, while Shangpree’s – if you get a deal! – might come at an astonishing 0,73€ per piece.)

OG: rituals foaming shower gel – dupe: Kneipp shower foam

best shower foam from the drugstore

I’m a big fan of some rituals fragrances, and really like their shower foams. But then, they’ve recently come under fire for cultural appropriation and didn’t really cope well with that. So, in comes Kneipp’s shower foam that smells like lemon balm. Kneipp was founded in 1891 and its founder Sebastian Kneipp was the 19. century Gwyneth Paltrow in Germany. You know: clean, green, woo-woo and out for maximum profit.

Sure, scent-wise it’s definitely not a dupe of my fave rituals’ tulip and yuzu, but its still nice and performs similarly. For when you’ve got the urge to just soak in some fragranced, silky foam under your morning shower. It’s not that much cheaper than rituals (4€ against rituals’ 8€), but in this case, I’ll take woo-woo instead of cultural appropriation.

OG: Paula’s Choice’s Clinical Ceramide-Enriched Firming Eye Cream – dupe: balea Men Lift Effect eye cream

best eye cream from the drugstore

Peptides. Some people love them (in capital letters), some people don’t understand what the fuss is about. For the people who want to try out a peptide eye cream to see where they fall in the spectrum, balea’s Men Lift Effect eye cream is an excellent option. I’ve written in length about it before, and here I can stress again: no need to splurge on Paula’s Choice’s Clinical Ceramide-Enriched Firming Eye Cream before you’ve tested if your skin likes peptides or not, right? (For peptides to do their thing, though, you need to give them about three months time, though.) Like I stressed in this post, balea’s simple cream has a similar caffeine/Vitamin C/ peptide combo for a fraction of the money. And it’s excellent.

OG: Tom Ford Neroli Portofino – dupe: 4711 Eau de Cologne

best Neroli Portofino dupe
drugstore dupes for high-end beauty and fragrance

Tom Ford’s Neroli Portofino is a great fragrance. It became instantly iconic when it launched in 2010. I own it. I love it during summer. But: even the most ardent Tom Ford enthusiast has to admit that the fragrance itself is pretty basic. It’s a nice orange blossom cologne, no more, no less, but it will cost you the big bucks. Now, if you want to turn to another iconic scent that won’t, I’ll suggest – yes, indeed – 4711 Eau de Cologne. Cologne, in this case, means ‘from Cologne’, the city in Germany, and yes, it’s one of the oldest fragrances still around. (It started its life in 1799.) The name stems from the original seat of the brand in Cologne – their house number was 4711.

I’ve fond memories of my grandma having always a bottle around (as a disinfectant, hand sanitizer, refresher during long trips in summer), and will bet you anything that most German grannies will have it, too. And yes, it’s a good orange blossom cologne. Try it. (TF Neroli Portofino is 114€ for 30ml, while the smallest size of 4711 is 25ml for around 8€.)

Please note that this post is not sponsored in any way. We buy products ourselves, with our own money, and don’t accept exchanging goods or money for reviews. We are completely independent, and our reviews reflect that.