Skincare Diamonds From The Drugstore

These three less-expensive skincare products perform so well they’ve acquired legions of loyal fans.

CULT PRODUCTS ALERT | Getting gorgeous isn’t inexpensive, which is why we get excited when we find fabulous beauty and skincare products that get stellar reviews, have legions of satisfied users and don’t cost an arm and a leg. We’re lucky in Vancouver that drugstores like Shoppers Drug Mart have a beauty pipeline to Europe where dermatological skincare, products with strong science behind them, is thriving and more thoughtfully priced than a lot of cosmetic skincare lines.

Cult Skincare Products We Like

Cult Makeup Remover: Bioderma Sensibio H2O Make-Up Remover—It’s rare that a skincare product is universally loved, but Bioderma Crealine H2O and its Canadian equivalent Bioderma Sensibio H2O have no detractors. European catwalk models rave about it, and so do the artists who do their makeup. Celebrities adore it too. Gwyneth Paltrow, who can buy whatever beauty products she likes, recently proclaimed the French dermatological product to be “the BEST makeup remover ” on her blog, GOOP.

Bioderma Sensibio H20, $18.49, Shoppers Drug Mart (right now Bioderma is having a promotion, a great way to sample this product line)

Cult Beauty Serum: Boots No. 7 Protect & Perfect Intense Beauty Serum—“After four weeks deep lines and wrinkles are visibly reduced by up to 50 percent.” That’s the claim on the back of every bottle of Protect & Perfect. This product is the darling of women’s magazine editors everywhere, winning top product awards and receiving glowing comments like the one that appeared on Oprah.com in 2008 suggesting that No. 7 was so effective that one user “is no longer seeing her dermatologist for Botox quite so often.”

Oprah.com also suggests that after 30 women should consider using serum, while women 40-plus need to use it, for more radiant skin. No. 7 has ingredients found in the most expensive serums (peptides and antioxidants, etc.) and for the price is an excellent starter serum, though once your skin really begins to age (note to self), it might be better to move on to a stronger (and unavoidably more expensive) product.

Boots No. 7 Protect & Perfect Intense Beauty Serum, $29, Shoppers Drug Mart (through May 19, this product is 25 percent off)

Cult Self Tanner: Nivea Summer Touch—Last year our beauty columnist, Allison Emery, wrote an excellent piece on self-tanners (CLICK HERE for the story) in which she picked Clarins Delicious Self-Tanning Cream ($42, at the high end) as her ideal tanner for face and body—“It’s so user friendly; you cannot screw up”—and mentioned Nivea Summer Touch One in a footnote. This inexpensive product actually has legions of loyal users and is forgiving to self-tanning virgins the way Clarins is because the skin colouring process is gradual.—Annabel Lee

Nivea Summer Touch, under $12, London Drugs, Pharmasave, Rexall, Shoppers Drug Mart and Superstore

Photo: Bioderma