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@erin_jahnsNestled alongside my collection of Chanel, Charlotte Tilbury, Nars, Westman Atelier, and Dior, you'll find a
The former two are must-have formulas I discovered back in high school and college when I was too broke to eat anything but peanut butter sandwiches for lunch and dinner, but the latter was actually a more recent product discovery thanks to my fabulous 71-year-old mom. Even more bizarre? My mom has extremely expensive taste in beauty products with a regimen consisting of Tatcha, La Prairie, Dr. Barbara Sturm, Charlotte Tilbury, Natasha Denona eye shadow palettes (yes, really), and more. So the fact that she loves a $4 highlighter you can snag at the drugstore is pretty miraculous. Of course, what's even more miraculous is that Wet n Wild's affordable little tube is the best highlighter I've ever put on my face. In fact, my mom even taught me a super-stealthy application tip that raises your cheekbone game about five octaves—more on that in a second.
After discovering the magic a $4 drugstore highlighter could wield, I was intrigued, and I began dabbling here and there in other affordable highlighters you can find at budget-friendly retailers like Amazon, Walmart, Ulta, the like. I was pleasantly surprised. In addition to talking a bit more about the best drugstore highlighter there is (and how my mom and I love to apply it), I'm also sharing nine more standout highlighter dupes comparable to way more expensive formulas you maybe don't need to be spending your money on. Don't get me wrong; I love highlighters from Becca, Glossier, and Dior, but having some extra padding in my bank account is the ultimate high. Keep scrolling!