The best affordable skincare brands that actually work

Three bottles of affordable skincare brands lined up - best affordable skincare brands

published 21 July 2022

Good skin doesn't have to cost the earth

During the pandemic (and the numerous lockdowns that came with it) we all put down our make-up brushes and focused more on perfecting our skincare routines. We had to, we didn't have access to facials and treatments and we spent the majority of our days staring at our own reflections on Zoom calls. We were forced to take matters into our own hands. The thing is skincare can get pretty expensive (some brands are even famous for their outrageously high prices) however, we are here to tell you that skincare doesn't have to cost a small fortune. These are the best affordable skincare brands that will solve all of your skincare woes.

1. The Ordinary

Possibly the most iconic affordable skincare range out there?! Even though it wasn't the first-ever beauty brand to offer skincare at low prices, it was one of the first to deliver high-performance, ingredient-driven, and targeted treatments at super affordable prices.

Marie Claire-approved products:

2. The Inkey List

The Inkey List's aim is to take the confusion out of skincare and put the power back into the hands of the customer by educating them about specific ingredients. Which is exactly what it does and at incredibly low prices.

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3. CeraVe

One of the best things to come out of the United States since Britney Spears. CeraVe is a skincare brand developed with the help of dermatologists and it's driven by three essential ceramides to help care for your skin barrier.

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4. Beauty Pie

Once you know the concept behind Beauty Pie, you will fall in love with Beauty Pie. The subscription service offers members luxury beauty products at affordable factory prices, by removing any mark-ups. The products come directly from some of the world's leading and most respected third-party labs. So customers get incredible formulations, ingredients, and textures for less.

Marie Claire-approved products:

5 . La Roche-Posay

La Roche-Posay is the brand that we recommend to friends and family whose skin is in slight disarray. It's the brand that takes things back to basics. It's efficacious and it doesn't cost crazy amounts of money.

Marie Claire-approved products:

6. Simple

We all know Simple. It's the brand that most of us start our skincare journeys using. Our parents took us to the aisles of Boots to pick out our first cleanser, our first toner, and our first moisturiser.

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7. B. Skin by Superdrug

B. Skin by Superdrug has made creating a skincare routine really, really easy. There are five ranges within the collection - Cleanse, Glow, Hydrate, Oil Control, and Age Define - which makes finding the right products for your needs super simple.

Marie Claire-approved products:

8. Bioderma

French pharmacy brands are the hero brands that beauty editors rely on. And whilst you'd assume they'd be on the more pricey side, they are in fact really affordable. And Bioderma is one of the best. You probably already use its micellar water, it's legendary.

Marie Claire-approved products:

Katie Thomas is the Senior Beauty Editor at Marie Claire UK. With over 10 years of experience on women's luxury lifestyle titles, she covers everything from the best beauty looks from the red carpet and stand out trends from the catwalk, to colonic irrigation and to the best mascaras on the market. She started her career on fashion desks across the industry - from The Telegraph to Brides - but found her calling in the Tatler beauty department. From there she moved to Instyle, before joining the Marie Claire digital team in 2018. She’s made it her own personal mission to find the best concealer in the world to cover her tenacious dark circles. She’s obsessed with skincare that makes her skin bouncy and glowy, low-maintenance hair that doesn’t require brushing and a cracking good manicure. Oh and she wears more jewellery than the Queen.