Charlotte Tilbury’s award winning Magic Cream is considered one of my absolute favorite moisturizers. 

The long-lasting face moisturizer is thought for hydrating, glowing, and plumping skin and just works wonders with my combination skin. Whether I’m doing “no makeup” makeup, or a full on beat, it makes my melanin glow. It’s also a relentless staple in almost every beauty YouTuber’s skincare routine, so once I initially heard about it, I needed to try it, and thankfully it has lived as much as the hype.

But here me out — I’ve found one other moisturizer that also works wonders, and for one fourth of the worth. It’s even been upgraded from my travel skincare bag (I are inclined to travel with budget-friendly products because I’ve experienced the horrors of getting to throw away products at TSA or when traveling internationally) to my at-home skincare routine. For those who know, you already know this can be a big deal.

The moisturizer in query: e.l.f. Cosmetics Holy Hydration Face Cream with SPF 30, which retails for $13 at Goal. And it’s seriously that girl.

With my skin type, I’m at all times on the lookout for moisturizers which can be lightweight and non-greasy, and the incontrovertible fact that this doubles as an SPF is an added bonus for me. Like my holy grail Magic Cream, this fragrance-free moisturizer nourishes and plumps my skin while delivering lasting hydration.

Full of ingredients like squalane, hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, and peptide complex, I used to be pleasantly surprised that after several weeks of using it, it noticeably helps brighten and even out my skin tone (which truthfully is considered one of the tougher feats for me), while locking in moisture. A staple in my makeup routine, it also helped reduce the looks of pores underneath my products.

One among the key swaps that I needed (even in a drugstore moisturizer) — that Charlotte’s Magic Cream helped me with — is that I actually have been in desperate need of plumper, youthful-looking skin as returning to “outside” (airplanes, joyful hours, events and travel) has impacted my texture and glow, so I figured now was the right time to finally give Charlotte’s Magic Cream a try.

Just a little goes a great distance with this face cream and feels so nice when applying. It’s an incredibly smooth and silky texture and offers me the SPF coverage I would like without leaving my skin with a white solid over it (which as a Black girl, everyone knows will be incredibly difficult to seek out products that completely seep into our skin).Not to say, it’s a clean beauty product that won’t break the bank. 

Have I nixed my other moisturizers completely? No. But overall, it’s an important drugstore cream at an unbeatable price and definitely price a buy for those who’re on the lookout for a budget-friendly alternative to Magic Cream, or your favorite high-end moisturizer.