#DamnGood Under $20 Budget Beauty Special! The “Wirkin” of Drugstore Shampoo, The Viral Lip Tint That Tiktok Demanded Come Back, CeraVe Launches Haircare and More

0:00The following podcast is a dear media production.

0:07Welcome to Breaking Beauty, the podcast all about the breakthrough people, products, and moments in beauty. We're your hosts, Jill Dunn and Carlene Higgins.

0:20Welcome back to Breaking Beauty podcast, everyone. I'm one of your co-hosts, Jill Dunn, and I'm here, as always, with Carlene Higgins. Hey, Carlene. Hey, Jill. How are you? Good. How are you? Good. Congratulations for making it through January. Yes. I'm very happy because it felt like a year. It honestly did. It did. It did. We're wearing our coziest, woziest sweaters because, of course, it is still February. Yes. But never fear, guys. We're going to give you all the warm feels today. That's what we're here to do every Wednesday. Of course, we are two beauty editors turned beauty podcasters delivering the breakthrough people, products and moments every single week in beauty.

0:57We certainly are. We're going to take a minute to pat ourselves on the back here because I wanted to share with our amazing audience that we were nominated for our first award ever with the iHeart Podcast Awards. The ceremony is going to be taking place in Austin during South by Southwest. I believe it is March 10th. And we're just so happy. I'm so happy. I mean, iHeartRadio, thank you for this nomination. We don't know how we got nominated. Yeah. But I've been hoping to get nominated. So, you know, we're going into our eighth year now. Yeah, we are. And I'm thrilled. It is an honor just to be nominated.

1:34It really is. And because we love our audience so much and we know that you're here listening every single Wednesday and we really appreciate your support. We certainly couldn't be here eight years later still doing the show if we didn't have people listening to it. And it really is. It was a real surprise and delight that we were nominated. Yeah, a little unexpected pick me up that I did not see on my horoscope bingo card, but I really appreciate it. And I'm very excited to go with you, Jill, to Austin. And we have some Dear Media fam based in Austin. So I think it's going to be a lot of fun.

2:09Maybe we'll get up and do some line dancing. I'm not sure. We'll have to see. But, you know, it never ceases to amaze me that we have these great guests on our show. We've had everyone from Hayley Bieber to Makeup by Mario, Dr. Shereen Idris. The list goes on. We had just had Ashley Tisdale in January. Everybody caught that episode. That was a lot of fun. But people love our damn goods episodes and they always I'm just going to say it. They rank the highest of when we look at our downloads. People really love to know what we kind of put our damn good stamp of approval on. And I will say we test a lot of products and we edit it down to just what we think is worth recommending.

2:54It's very important to us. And we never want to recommend something without genuinely having tested it, tried it, approve it, because we know you're in our DMs. We speak to you guys all the time and we never want to steer you wrong and waste your money. That's where our editing skills really shine, I think. I agree. And that's what we're up to today. And of all of the hashtag damn good episodes, the ones that really rank the highest are the ones where we slide in into your feeds with the budget fines that are really worth it. And that's what we're doing today. So this is our hashtag damn good drugstore fines episode.

3:33I think everything that we're talking about is less than 20 U.S. dollars for sure. And it's been kind of fun seeing this trend we saw all over TikTok, the work in. Oh, yeah. Walmart Birkin. Yes. So I don't know if this is kind of our loose spin on that idea. Well, there's definitely, I'm going to hit you guys with the work in of hair care. This is a whole new line that launched out of LA. I'm going to introduce you to it in just a moment. We're also going to be talking about dupes because you can't escape them. And some of them are very obvious. Some brands are really waving their dupe flag high these days, proudly.

4:11so you know we're gonna we're gonna cover those and also get into some trends like some product categories that we're just seeing explode everywhere we're gonna talk about the viral body lotion exactly a viral body lotion a viral lip product that i am absolutely obsessed with so all of that is coming up just ahead and of course as always we will link to every single product that we've mentioned in this episode over on our website at breakingbeautypodcast.com. And I think it's important that we showed out something new we've been doing in the last six months or so, which is our favorites newsletter.

4:48Oh, yeah. And so we send that out, I believe, the last Thursday or Friday of every single month. Please sign up. You can sign up on our website. The link is in our bio. We also link to it in our show notes. And that is something different than what we are talking about on the show. It's not just an episode recap. We are listing out our favorites, spa favorites, things that are inspiring us, fashion, beauty, style, lifestyle. And of course, please subscribe to our YouTube channel. Even if you don't necessarily have a YouTube channel of your own, all you need is a Gmail address and you can subscribe to any YouTube channel.

5:19So we are really growing a lot on there and I'm really happy about that. And I just want to share that with everyone today. Yeah, it's kind of fun to see, you know, see what we're talking about, especially when we have our fabulous guests. So without further ado, here we are, Jill and Carlene, again, after the jump.

5:42Medicaid is one of our show partners this week. Don't sleep on Medicaid, everyone. If you're not familiar, Medicaid is a clinically proven British skincare brand known for age-defying results. It's dermatologist recommended. And I fell in love with their liquid peptide serum last year. I also emptied two of their moisturizers. My skin just really likes this brand. And of course, we're always talking about innovation here at Breaking Beauty. And like me, you may have been hearing all about growth factors as the must-have anti-aging ingredient. But I just discovered the next big thing in skincare.

6:18And growth factors are naturally occurring proteins in the skin that support overall skin health and can help promote younger, healthier looking skin. However, growth factors applied topically are less likely to penetrate into the deeper layers of the skin until now. Meet Medicate's Liquid Peptides Advanced MP Face Serum. It's powered by growth factor mini protein, which mimics the function of natural growth factors. But unlike traditional growth factors, is able to penetrate deep into the skin to visibly improve the appearance of skin structure over time, meaning you get a visible reduction on deep set wrinkles.

6:59Say less. Am I right? So Medicaid's Liquid Peptides Advanced MP Face Serum is clinically proven to diminish the appearance of expression lines in just 10 minutes and deep set wrinkles in just eight weeks. I definitely need to try this. So we have a very special offer just for Breaking Beauty listeners. Medicaid's Liquid Peptides Advanced MP Face Serum is available online at Medicaid.us. that's spelled M-E-D-I-K and the number 8.us and use code BREAKING20 for 20 % off your order. We'll link to this offer in our show notes and on our website. Now back to the show. Welcome to Barely Filtered, hosted by me, Aurora Culpo, where my mess is my message, and I'm here to share it all with you.

7:51Let's optimize our lives together and I'll make the mistakes so you don't have to. Join me as I share TMI personal stories about navigating relationships, dating, and mental health, all while breaking stigmas around topics like ADHD, anxiety, and depression. From messy mistakes to moments of growth, I'm here to support you on your journey towards healing and self-discovery. Tune in every Wednesday for a mix of humor, vulnerability, and raw honesty as I explore the ups and downs of living in this meat suit. Follow Barely Filtered wherever you listen to podcasts.

8:31So, Carleen, this is really our first time together recording where we can send all of our love to our listeners based in Los Angeles. We've been watching from afar what's been happening there in the last month or so. And it is so devastating, but it's also incredibly inspiring to see how people are coming together and how brands are stepping up. I saw The Way, which is one of our show partners, that instead of sending the PR influencer mailer to their 250 people on their list, They're sending them to people in need and people who are part of the fire department. I just love that. There's so many heartwarming stories as well.

9:05If there's any silver lining to this. And so just know that we've supported, we donated to the Red Cross and we encourage all of you to do so if you are able. And also we want to share some love. I understand that you have a hot LA brand. Yes, absolutely. And I really wanted to talk about it out of the gate. This was kind of inspired by a Kelly Wurstler newsletter, speaking of newsletters that I subscribe to. And she was talking about a lot of people are saying, like, how can I support L.A.? And she was saying how one way that you can support L.A. is just by coming, just by going there and supporting the businesses, because I think probably the travel has taken a hit and small businesses like restaurants, that kind of thing, they are suffering or just taking Ubers or whatever.

9:56Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So I definitely wanted to highlight a brand new brand out of L.A. It's called Laura Poco Los Angeles. This is a hair care brand. And they just just launched exclusively at Target. This was on December 29th. And Jill, you know that I'm starting my own skincare brand this year. And, you know, things can come up and delay and you have big ideas about how you want to launch. And I just feel for this woman. I don't know her at all, but I feel for her because she launched in this moment where it's so, you know, I'm sure she wants to break through. It's hard to break through and celebrate.

10:32So we're going to take a minute to do that. And we absolutely should, because I'm showing this on the camera right now, the packaging, this is the work in of beauty right now. The work in of, I mean, there's nothing even really in luxury that kind of looks like that. It's kind of reminding me of Kevin Murphy. That's what I was It's a beautiful coral color with burgundy writing on it. So it's very kind of high design, but everything in this line is priced under$14. Available exclusively at Target. So that's amazing. Now, Laura is, of course, an LA-based celebrity hairstylist, and she really works with the it girls right now.

11:16She works with Alex Earl a lot, Charlie and Dixie D 'Amelio, Gigi Hadid, Haley Seinfeld. So she's really tapped in that way. And so she created this line. It's dermatology tested, color safe, you know, certified cruelty free. It's got that long no-no list that Californians love. You know, there's no sulfates, no phthalates, paraffins, dyes, etc. etc. And she's launching with four kind of systems. There's one for volume, one for repair, color and ultimate moisture, shampoos and conditioners. You'll find a hair mask and a leave-in. So I really liked the volume shampoo and conditioner. What I like about this one is that it leaves your hair with like this sort of softness and plumpness that I really only have experienced with higher, higher end brands, kind of like L 'Oreal Professional, I really like.

12:12It almost feels like this elastic-y feeling to your hair. I definitely clocked it. They have, it's called this trademarked like pro volutum plumping system, whatever it is. And apparently it's shown to plump a hair strand, like the volume of a hair strand by four times. So I thought that that was interesting that they're bringing this next level of like prowess to it. And the other thing to note, Jill, is that the brand apparently is co-founded by Jamie Lupton. I don't know if that name's ringing a bell. She's the founder of Monday Hair Care. Yeah. And I was like, wow, interesting that A, that Jamie Lupton, who is already a hair care founder, and that's an affordable line, would be co-founder of another affordable hair care line.

13:03Wouldn't you think that they're competitive in a way? So I thought that was interesting. And when I went to Jamie's Instagram, maybe it was LinkedIn or something, and it says that Jamie is building a cohort of future-focused brands based on modern consumers' values and desires. Okay, so the incubator isn't dead. Exactly, exactly. Leptin is hyper-focused on democratizing beauty by bringing premium offerings to accessible settings. So I have a feeling that we haven't seen the last of these types of new brands launching. When they get it right, they get it right. I've interviewed Laura before. She used to work a lot with T3 hair tools.

13:45She still might. But yeah, I definitely appreciate when a hairstylist does anything in this space. Yeah, so I'm excited to see where that goes. Yeah. I believe that I was sent the color shampoo of this and I have not. It's sitting outside of my shower. I have to bring it into my shower and give it a go. Give it a go. I do recommend it. I love the volume line. My hair felt thicker and I give it the thumbs up. All right, Jill. Now, I know you are always on top of the viral beauty trends, you know, these products that just fly off the shelves. So what is just like has all the TikTokers spinning right now?

14:21So this is from the brand EOS, Evolution of Smooth, EOS. Everybody knows their iconic lip balms that are like in the ball. And so they have really, they've come out with these body lotions that are really leaning into that trend that we've seen for the last year or so of like very scented and very nourishing. Like people want, some people want their body lotions to smell like cupcakes. And this is their foray. This is their entree into this space. So there's three of them. It's the Eos Shea Butter 24-Hour Moisture Body Lotion. They are$9.99 in the U.S. at Target and$16.99 in Canada. They just came to Canada.

15:07And there's three different scents. There's vanilla cashmere. That's the most viral. There's coconut water. And the other one is called Fresh and Cozy. Like I said, the most viral is vanilla cashmere. I want you to smell this live on the air. I am going to put it on my hands because currently the scales are standing at attention. So I actually have been eyeballing this over on your side for the past 20 minutes, just waiting to give it a go. Is it coming out? It's not. It's giving me air so far. Lots of air in there. I will say my feedback to the EOS team is the pumps need to be a little bit better.

15:46Wow. This is. Wow. Wow, this is very, very cupcake-y. I mean, it smelled like if their goal was to have it as realistic as possible, where they're actually duping some kind of a cupcake, they have succeeded in that. I agree. And like, I think that there are people who really love this idea. Sure, if you're 10. Well, I think there's a lot of my girlfriends love that. Really? Yeah, they're looking for the Bath and Body Works scent. I think that this is like the 2.0 of that, except this is like more hydrating. My personal favorite scent, everyone, of the ones I tried is the one called Coconut Waters.

16:25If you were the type of person when you put on a sun motion, when you're down south or on a beach, and you're like, I love how this smells, this smells like old school, like Hawaiian tropic. It's all just coming to me now. This is all trying to be like a cheaper Sol de Janeiro. That's what I was kind of getting at. in the pot, but it is trying to tap into that market at a cheaper price point. Yeah, absolutely. Because between the two, because as I kept smelling it, I was like, in terms of that intense gourmand, it's definitely giving Sol de Janeiro. And then when you started talking about the down south vibes, like you're on vacation.

17:04No, but smell this one that I'm. Oh, yeah. That's very Sol de Janeiro. This is the coconut one. The coconut water. Okay. That's very Sol de Janeiro. It's my favorite one of them. Bit of a dupe. Bit of a dupe. Well,$10. And it does have shea butter in there and shea oil, which now I've heard twice in the last two days as an ingredient. I've never heard of shea oil before. Yeah. Oh, interesting. And all of a sudden I've heard it twice. Okay. And so you're saying that this has popped off on TikTok. Is that right? Sold it everywhere. Oh, wow. Wow. No, like huge. Huge, huge, huge. Okay. So I gave it a go.

17:39Like I said, I like that. I think it is very moisturizing, very hydrating. But if you're someone who maybe has had an allergic reaction to something very fragranced, maybe you want to stay clear. Okay. Because it's, it's, it is, you're going to smell it. But if you like something that's like a little bit more grown up, I would say. Yeah. I love that. The other product that I tried that I really, really liked is from Dove. Okay. Dove is just killing it recently. It's their cream body serum. Ah. So it's a slightly, it's delivering the same like face care serum idea to your body. So the one that I liked is the Pro Ceramide and Repair.

18:18Okay. Let's have a look. And this one I find it's just like those really rough areas, like your elbows, your heels, very softening. It has natural moisturizing factors in there as well as niacinamide, ceramides. But the texture is more concentrated than a lotion. interesting it's interesting because it is rich but it has you can tell it has a water base in it because it feels cooling when you put it on very much so and I think that it's like a cream gel I guess fast absorbing because of that yeah so this is the one I would say when I'm properly in the dead of winter and I'm like I just need my rough elbows and rough patches to feel smoother and like I'm doing something for them.

19:04This is more what I've been reaching for. Right. And it was developed with dermatologists. So I appreciate that. So there's something out there for everyone as always. And I feel like a really good price point for that. What is it? Like$10? It is$16.99 in the U.S. and$17.99 in Canada. And there's, I believe, at least six different variants of it. And they're all very much like the stuff you would see in your face serum. You're seeing it in these body serums. Okay. Yeah. Great. Love it. Extra skincare ingredients put in there. That's definitely a trend. You know, the body care keeps popping off.

19:42Absolutely. Okay. Well, what I have stumbled upon, which has, you know, a great bit of lore to it and has gone completely viral on social media as well. This is the Revlon Super Lustrous Glass Shine Balm. It's$10.49 in the U.S.,$13.99 in Canada. It comes in 10 shades. I'm going to apply it for you right now, Jill. And I am putting on the shade Rum Raisin. I'm sure that sounds familiar to you. Yes, I used to wear that. Yeah, Rum Raisin is a classic shade of Revlon. And the story behind this, the lore, if you will, is that this product used to exist. It was called Revlon Super Lustrous Glass Shine Lipstick, and it launched in 2022.

20:32It went completely viral, but Revlon actually ended up discontinuing this whole line because it was in the height of the pandemic and nobody was wearing lipstick, really. They were wearing masks. But I guess what happened is that as they pulled it off the shelves, people pulled out this lipstick and started wearing it. And lo and behold, they were shocked to discover that it had been discontinued. Right. So everyone on TikTok had been applying it and saying how much they love it, but nobody could buy it. So this just added to the lore and it actually accumulated over 230 million views. Amazing.

21:15The shade that sold out was Rum Raisin. That's why I'm wearing it today. But you know Rum Raisin. Yes, I know it from the it's just existed in different formats. So it was I believe, was it a lipstick in the 90s? Yeah. Okay. So super lustrous lipstick. So this one is quite different because it's they actually changed the name. It's not even called Glass Shine Lipstick now. It's called Glass Shine Bomb. Feels like a tinted bomb. Yeah. And it really is more reflective of just where we're at with lip products today. So people are more interested in like tinted foundation, tinted lip balms, like as opposed to, you know, I think we know lipstick sales have kind of bombed, but lip as a category is actually the biggest driver in makeup right now.

22:06Like last year sales were up. I think even skincare, like I would say, I don't know anything, But I would say Summer Fridays only took off as a brand when they introduced those lip balms. Yeah. Really. Yeah. And you can see it now. They came out with lip oils. It's like every new iteration from the brand. So the other thing about it that I would say, I just want to describe it to you. When you put it on, it's not your typical tinted lip balm. It really kind of melts on contact, like almost like it smushes. it's a bit of a dupe for the Makeup by Mario Moisture Glow Plumping Lip Serum. Did you ever try that?

22:43Is it in a twist up and it's really melty? Yes, exactly. Yeah, I didn't love it. Yeah, but you know how you put it on your lips and it kind of melted and smushed? Who actually came out with that first was the ones I talked about was the MAC ones. It was the end of 2023. I don't want to MAC it. But it looks pretty. Your lips look like they They have lip gloss on them. Yeah, exactly. So it's that kind of hybrid. I believe that Tarte has a version of this as well. The Mara Juka something something. Yeah, but this one really reminds me of the Makeup by Mario. It doesn't tingle. I can't remember if Makeup by Mario tingled.

23:17So it gives you this sheer color. But I will say I am obsessed with this Rum Raisin. It kind of reminds me of a more wearable version of Clinique Black Honey. Yeah. Yeah. Also cheaper. Yes. Much cheaper. Because I find Clinique Black Honey to be a little bit too dark for my pale skin tone. But I think this would look amazing on all skin tones, like dark skin tones, middle, like tanned. And like I said, I'm quite pale and I actually really like it because you can build it up or just do one coat. It's so moisturizing and melty. By the way, if you are familiar with this product, when it originated, it was in a black tube.

23:58now it's in a white lipstick tube. So if you're looking for it, I will continue to use this. It's going to be in my bag at all times. I love it. Great. Yeah. Revlon for the win. They're the best. They're the best. 14 bucks in Canada. It's awesome. Okay. So if you're still wanting something more in the long lasting lip category, but that's not, that still has innovation, I am going to recommend to you the Maybelline Teddy Tints. Let me get the exact name for you. The Maybelline New York Superstay Teddy Tint. There's 10 shades. My favorite shade is called Skinny Dip number 15. And why this is interesting to me, Carlene, is it is a tinted version of a long wear lip product.

24:47Oh, okay. Interesting. Stick with me here. All right. So they have basically created this that you can customize your lip look. So with one swipe, it's a sheer tint but it lasts long oh interesting okay yeah step two it's more of a blurred effect on your lip it's still matte this is still matte but it's a tint a blur tint and then the third if you put on three coats it's much more of a full coverage effect but it is still a tint but it's transfer proof so if you want the look of a tint but you don't want it to go anywhere Now, Maybelline has a skin tint that does the same thing. They have a Superstay skin tint.

25:27So this is the version for your lips. Ah. And I love the colorways in this product. Okay, can you swatch it? Because I think, this is like a game show. I think I know what they're duping. Okay. I want to know. Well, for me, the finish of this reminds me a lot of the MAC Powder Kiss. But it's not, that product isn't a tint necessarily. Mm-hmm. um okay so I really love the colorways also the packaging is like how do we describe it it's like a little frosted tube that has a twist off top with a doe foot applicator but it just looks like it should cost four times as much like it is so chic and I have worn almost every color like I've tried it and been like yep I like that yeah I like that and because I think it is because some of the brighter colors are the more corals just do one swipe of that and I'm into it yeah it's$12.99 U.S.