The Best Glow Recipe Dupes

The best-known Glow Recipe dupe is e.l.f. SKIN Holy Hydration! Thirst Burst Drops for Watermelon Glow Niacinamide Dew Drops: both are niacinamide gel serums with hyaluronic acid that double as a primer, and e.l.f.’s costs about $12, though the price changes often, to Glow Recipe’s $36. For the Watermelon Glow PHA + BHA Pore-Tight Toner, the dupe is The INKEY List PHA Toner, with the same 3% PHA and no BHA. The Ordinary Salicylic Acid 2% Solution stands in for Strawberry Smooth. A dupe gets you the product type, the main ingredients and the job. It doesn’t get you Glow Recipe’s fruit extracts, its scents or its exact textures, and in a few pairs the original has an active the dupe leaves out.

The six at a glance

1. Glow Recipe Dew Drops dupe: e.l.f. Holy Hydration! Thirst Burst Drops

Watermelon Glow Niacinamide Dew Drops is a pink gel serum with 2% niacinamide, hyaluronic acid and watermelon extract. Glow Recipe sells it three ways at once: a serum, a primer that grips makeup, and a highlighter with no mica or glitter.

e.l.f. SKIN Holy Hydration! Thirst Burst Drops is a gel serum too, with 5% niacinamide, hyaluronic acid and a hibiscus complex where Glow Recipe uses watermelon. e.l.f. says to wear it alone, under makeup or mixed into foundation. Fragrance is on Glow Recipe’s ingredient list and not on e.l.f.’s. The e.l.f. list does have two colorants Dew Drops skips, titanium dioxide and Red 40. It’s a third of the price for a slightly smaller bottle, 30 ml to 40. This is the dupe our Dew Drops review names, and that review’s reservation stands: less of the glassy shine, and no watermelon scent.

2. Glow Recipe Watermelon Toner dupe: The INKEY List PHA Toner

Glow Recipe puts numbers on Watermelon Glow PHA + BHA Pore-Tight Toner: 3% PHA and 2% BHA, in a base that’s 62% watermelon extract and cactus water with 16% glycerin. The PHA is gluconolactone. The BHA on the list is betaine salicylate.

The INKEY List PHA Toner matches the first number, 3% of the same PHA, then adds 3% niacinamide and aloe. It’s fragrance-free. There’s no BHA in it, so the pore-clearing half of Glow Recipe’s formula is the part you give up. INKEY’s directions are more careful as well: start once or twice a week, build up, and don’t layer it with other acids, retinol or vitamin C. The bottle is 100 ml to Glow Recipe’s 150, so half the price works out to about a quarter less per ounce. Our Watermelon Toner review picks the same dupe, and our guide to PHA, AHA and BHA explains what each acid does. Wear sunscreen in the morning with either one.

3. Glow Recipe Strawberry Smooth dupe: The Ordinary Salicylic Acid 2% Solution

Strawberry Smooth BHA + AHA Salicylic Serum is built around what Glow Recipe calls a 10% Clarity Acid Complex: 2% salicylic acid with mandelic, azelaic and succinic acids. Hyaluronic acid and allantoin sit alongside, and the list includes niacinamide and fragrance. Glow Recipe says it’s gentle enough for morning and night.

The Ordinary Salicylic Acid 2% Solution has the same 2% salicylic acid and nothing else in the way of acids. It’s labeled as an acne treatment, with salicylic acid as the active ingredient and eleven inactive ones, and it’s oil-free and silicone-free. The label says to apply a thin layer one to three times a day, starting with once, and to cut back if your skin gets dry or peels. It also warns that irritation is more likely if you use another topical acne medication at the same time. Same 30 ml, about a sixth of the price. For acne that isn’t budging, see a dermatologist.

4. Glow Recipe Papaya Sorbet dupe: e.l.f. Holy Hydration! Makeup Melting Cleansing Balm

Papaya Sorbet Enzyme Cleansing Balm is a balm you massage onto dry skin with dry hands, then emulsify with water and rinse. The list opens with cetyl ethylhexanoate, then apricot kernel, camellia and papaya seed oils, with papain, the papaya enzyme Glow Recipe describes as a gentle exfoliant. Glow Recipe says it’s PEG-free, and fragrance isn’t on the list.

e.l.f. SKIN Holy Hydration! Makeup Melting Cleansing Balm starts with the same first ingredient and follows the same routine: dry skin, damp fingertips, rinse. e.l.f. describes a solid balm that melts into an oil and then turns milky. Where Glow Recipe leans on fruit oils and an enzyme, e.l.f. adds hyaluronic acid, ceramides and two peptides. It does use PEG emulsifiers, and it’s fragranced. The jar is smaller, 2 ounces to Papaya Sorbet’s 3.38, so it’s about a third less per ounce. Our double cleansing guide covers the step after a balm.

5. Glow Recipe Guava eye cream dupe: BYOMA De-Puff + Brighten Eye Gel

Guava Vitamin C Bright-Eye Gel Cream packs a lot into 15 ml. Glow Recipe lists a 10% encapsulated vitamin C complex with five forms of vitamin C, a 3% niacinamide blend, caffeine and two peptides. It’s fragrance-free.

BYOMA De-Puff + Brighten Eye Gel is a fragrance-free eye gel as well, and its one form of vitamin C, 3-O-ethyl ascorbic acid, is among Guava’s five. Around it BYOMA puts three forms of hyaluronic acid, its ceramide complex and a few cooling agents. There’s no niacinamide, no caffeine and no peptides. You get 20 ml for about a quarter of the price. If dark circles are the reason you’re shopping, our piece on how to get rid of dark circles is honest about how much any eye cream can do. Stinging or redness around the eyes means stop and check with a dermatologist.

6. Glow Recipe Pink Juice dupe: Neutrogena Hydro Boost Water Gel

Watermelon Glow Pink Juice Moisturizer is a lightweight gel that Glow Recipe calls oil-free and non-comedogenic. Watermelon extract and licorice root lead the list, with hyaluronic acid and glycerin for moisture. The bottle is refillable.

Neutrogena Hydro Boost Water Gel is the same kind of product: an oil-free gel with hyaluronic acid and glycerin, made for normal, oily and combination skin. The two lists even share a pair of emulsifiers, cetearyl olivate and sorbitan olivate. The base is where they part. Neutrogena’s second ingredient is dimethicone, a silicone, and Pink Juice’s list has none. Neutrogena’s also has fragrance and a blue dye. It’s the same size, 1.7 ounces, at half the price. This is the loosest match here, a swap of type more than formula. Our guide to choosing a moisturizer can help you decide whether a gel is what your skin wants.

When the expensive one is still worth it

When the original has an active the dupe doesn’t. That’s the BHA in the Watermelon Toner, the mandelic and azelaic acids in Strawberry Smooth, and the caffeine, niacinamide and peptides in the Guava eye cream. If that ingredient is why you bought it, the dupe is a different product.

When the finish is the point. Dew Drops is bought for its shine, and our review says the e.l.f. version gives less of it.

And when you avoid silicones. Pink Juice has none on its list. Hydro Boost Water Gel has several.

Fragrance cuts both ways. Dew Drops and Strawberry Smooth both list it, and their dupes don’t, so for a fragrance-sensitive face the cheaper bottle may be the better one. With the cleansing balm and the gel moisturizer it’s the reverse.

If I Were You

• If fragrance bothers your skin, I’d take the e.l.f. drops, The Ordinary’s salicylic acid, the INKEY toner and the BYOMA eye gel, and skip the e.l.f. balm and the Neutrogena gel.
• If clogged pores are the reason you use the Watermelon Toner, I’d keep it. The BHA is the part INKEY leaves out.
• If you’re treating breakouts, I’d buy The Ordinary’s salicylic acid, follow the label, and not stack it with another acne product. Ask a dermatologist about acne that’s painful or persistent.
• If you wear Dew Drops as a highlighter over makeup, I’d stay with it. As a primer under foundation, the e.l.f. drops are enough.

Bottom line

Glow Recipe prints its percentages, and that makes its products easy to match on the numbers. Dupe the salicylic serum and the cleansing balm without much thought. Dupe the toner if you don’t need the BHA, and Dew Drops if you don’t need the shine. Keep the eye cream if you want everything that’s in it, and keep Pink Juice if silicone is a dealbreaker.