The drugstore is such a fantastic place to experiment with different products, especially if you’re not completely sure how a certain product might look on you.
For this list, we’ve decided to take a look at some of the best drugstore lip glosses. To be honest, lip glosses are not for everyone. In fact, on our end, it took us a while to warm up to the idea of this kind of product. But once we did, finding relatively inexpensive lip glosses with different formulas became a lot of fun, and we’re here to share the best ones with you.
So without further ado, here are nine of the best drugstore lip glosses:
Price: $8.49
We love the smoothness of this lip gloss formula from Revlon. The Super Lustrous™ Lip Gloss promises color, moisture and “multidimensional shine,” but it delivers the most on the shine. The color is nice, but nothing special, and it does feel nice and comfortable, but the way this makes lips glow is unrivalled. The formula of this lip gloss balances shimmeriness with glassy shine to create a unique, textured kind of shine that we just absolutely adore seeing.
Price: $5.90
As its name implies, the Colorlicious Lip Gloss from Covergirl aims to deliver a well-pigmented lip gloss experience, and thankfully, it really does. This product doesn’t go too heavy on shine, which does sort of set it apart from other products like it. Probably the best way to describe the kind of shine this product delivers is “velvety.” We really enjoy how rich the color of this product is, and how moisturizing it feels on the lips.
Price: $4.48
What we like most about Rimmel’s Stay Glossy Lip Gloss is its consistency. While it does provide an impressive level of lustrousness to the lips, we really liked that even after a while, it maintained a bit of a slip, and didn’t get tacky or sticky. Among the items on this list, this is probably the one that’s least sticky. But besides the texture, this product is actually pretty well-rounded delivering decently on other factors we considered such as pigmentation and general wearing comfort.
Price: $2.79
We have to be honest and say that we did have quite a few significant issues with Wet n Wild’s MegaSlicks Lip Gloss when we tried it the first time, but overall, we ended up really enjoying it. In terms of consistency, we found it a little too tacky for our taste, and we also noticed a bit of a chemical-like scent emitting from this product, but we found ourselves eventually looking the other way from these missteps because for the way it performs, it’s absolutely worth it, especially considering how small its price tag is.
Price: $2.00
e.l.f. Cosmetics is a brand we’ve really come to trust when we come looking for budget-friendly drugstore alternatives for different kinds of cosmetic products. Even despite the infrequent formulation issue, we always end up enjoying the quality (and the prices) of their products. We were not disappointed by their Lip Lacquer. While we did wish it lasted just a little bit longer on the lips, we generally really liked its performance. The pigmentation takes a few coats to build up properly, but once you have, the color looks stunning and luscious. And once the product inevitably begins to fade, it does leave you a parting gift in the form of a lovely stain of color on the lips.
Price: $5.00
The Butter Gloss is one of the more hyped products to come out of the NYX Cosmetics brand, and we’re happy that the hype got us to pick this one up. The vast shade range of this product rivals those of more expensive lip glosses, and the semi-unique formula is lovely, featuring strong color and a finish that’s not overly shiny or glassy. The fact that this product even leaves a light stain on the lips after it disappears is just the cherry on top of this product’s cake. Definitely one of the more impressive drugstore lip glosses that we had the pleasure of trying.
Price: $9.99
Drew Barrymore’s Flower Beauty brand has been making waves since it first came onto the drugstore scene because of the sheer effectiveness of the majority of their products. While the brand has had a few misses here and there, their Pop Fanatic Vinyl Lip is decidedly not a dud. The formula of this product is thick and creamy, enabling it both a strong level of pigmentation as well as a soft-intensity glassy shine that appears to make lips plumper.
Price: $2.83
The Baby Lips® Moisturizing Lip Gloss from Maybelline is probably one of the most sheerly colored entries on this lips—if not the most. But it’s not on this list because of its pigmentation level. This lip gloss made it onto this list because of how comfortable and great it feels on the lips. At first, it’s definitely not particularly pigmented, but once you build up the color with a few coats, you get a lovely in-between of sheerness and color (with a little bit of sparkle thrown into the mix) that makes lips look healthy and beautiful.
Price: $7.00
This lip gloss from ColourPop Cosmetics has to be undoubtedly our favorite drugstore lip gloss. While the So Juicy Plumping Lip Gloss might not necessarily be a drugstore product in the strictest sense (i.e., you won’t find it stocked on the shelves of your local drugstore), the price of this product definitely falls within the range of the drugstore—and in fact, it might even be cheaper than some of the entries on this list. We adore the formula of this lip gloss, featuring a discernible plumping effect (that’s not uncomfortable) and a glassy shine. Add a varied shade range on top, and you’ve got a fantastic lip gloss.
