These Affordable Moisturizers Give You Juicy Skin for $30 or Less (2024)

The best drugstore moisturizers prove that a well-hydrated face doesn't need to burn a hole in your wallet. When it comes to efficacy, these formulas with myriad benefits beyond just imparting moisture go neck and neck (or cheek and cheek) with lauded, pricey counterparts. That's not to say we can't get behind a splurgy cream, but don't rule out the drugstore shelves IRL and online when shopping for a moisturizer. Smoothing, soothing, redness-free, free-radical-protecting, and hydrating goodness awaits with the following editor-loved picks.

Our Top Picks

• Best Drugstore Moisturizer Overall: Neutrogena Hydro Boost Hyaluronic Acid Moisturizer, $23
• Best Drugstore Moisturizer for Combination Skin: Cosrx Advanced Snail 92% All in One Cream, $30
• Best Drugstore Moisturizer for Acne-Prone Skin: Peach Slices Acne Oil-Free Moisturizer, $12
• Best Drugstore Moisturizer for Oily Skin: Byoma Moisturizing Gel-Cream, $15
• Best Drugstore Moisturizer for Sensitive Skin: Etude SoonJung 2x Barrier Intensive Cream, $17
• Best Drugstore Moisturizer for Mature Skin: L'Oréal Paris Collagen Moisture Filler Day/Night Cream, $11
• Best Drugstore Moisturizer for Dry Skin: La Roche-Posay Toleriane Double Repair Facial Moisturizer, $24

Frequently Asked Questions

• Meet the experts
• How we test and review products
• Our staff and testers

Best Drugstore Moisturizer Overall: Neutrogena Hydro Boost Hyaluronic Acid Moisturizer

Why it's worth it: The Neutrogena Hydro Boost Moisturizer asks (and answers) what if water was skin care? This oil-free, non-comedogenic gel formula goes on cool and slick and absorbs quickly to impart serious moisture with the help of humectant hyaluronic acid. "Dry skin is characterized by fewer oil-producing glands on the face and body," Ross C. Radusky, MD, a board-certified dermatologist at SoHo Skin & Laser Dermatology previously told Allure. "Dehydrated skin, on the other hand, is a lack of water, not oil. So you can actually have oily skin but still have dehydrated skin." Hence, why the water part of this formula is so key. Go ahead and use this moisturizer in the morning and night, and wear it under makeup to light up your whole look.

Key ingredients: glycerin, hyaluronic acid | Fragrance-free: no | Who it's for: people who want a cooling sensation

Best Drugstore Moisturizer for Combination Skin: Cosrx Advanced Snail 92% All in One Cream

Why it's worth it: So you've tried escargot, but have you tried snail mucin? If not, allow us to introduce you to the Cosrx Snail Mucin 92% All in One Cream, a Korean skin-care classic enriched with all of the natural goodness in snail secretion—a lovely mélange glycoproteins that combine sugar, protein, and amino acid. "Snail mucin is a complex mix of peptides, glycosaminoglycans, hyaluronic acid, antioxidants, and metal ions (such as zinc, copper, iron, and manganese)," Sejal Shah, MD, a board-certified dermatologist based in New York City, previously told Allure. The result is less irritated, more nourished, even-toned, silkier, comfier skin. Instead of rubbing it in, tap the moisturizer into your skin to help absorption.

Key ingredients: snail mucin, hyaluronic acid | Fragrance-free: yes | Who it's for: combination skin, hyperpigmentation

Best Drugstore Moisturizer for Acne-Prone Skin: Peach Slices Acne Oil-Free Moisturizer

Why it's worth it: The Peach Slices Acne Oil-Free Moisturizer equips breakout-prone skin with all of the moisture and soothing solutions you know and love—we're talking niacinamide, salicylic acid, hyaluronic acid, and antioxidants. Even if you don't have acne, you can benefit from myriad perks, like reduced redness and a more even tone. Depending on how your skin tolerates salicylic acid, use this moisturizer as many as three times a day or as little as once every other day. Whatever floats your face-boat.

Key ingredients: allantoin, hyaluronic acid, salicylic acid, niacinamide | Fragrance-free: yes | Who it's for: people with acne-prone skin, oily skin combination skin

Best Drugstore Moisturizer for Oily Skin: Byoma Moisturizing Gel-Cream

Why it's worth it: As a kinda-gel-kinda-cream but definitely-hydrating formula, Byoma Moisturizing Gel-Cream has you covered. This skin-barrier boosting, fast-absorbing moisturizer uses a complex of ceramides, and cholesterol, fatty acids to support the skin's biome and decrease sensitivity over time. You'll also dig antioxidants from anti-inflammatory niacinamide and green tea—which can be a big help for acne.

Key ingredients: niacinamide, ceramides, green tea, lactic acid, green tea | Fragrance-free: yes | Who it's for: everyone

Best Drugstore Moisturizer for Sensitive Skin: Etude SoonJung 2x Barrier Intensive Cream

Why it's worth it: Another K-favorite, the Etude SoonJung 2x Barrier Intensive Cream, has a formula that focuses on (you guessed it) bolstering your ever-important skin barrier. Nourishing ingredients like the strengthening, soothing panthenol and the anti-inflammatory, anti-free-radical madecassoside team up with glycerin to leave you protected, hydrated, and fresh as hell. Plus, this cream is low pH, fragrance-free, and dye-free, so you don't need to sweat any artificial ickiness.

Key ingredients: panthenol, madecassoside, glycerin | Fragrance-free: yes | Who it's for: people with sensitive skin

Best Drugstore Moisturizer for Mature Skin: L'Oréal Paris Collagen Moisture Filler Day/Night Cream

Why it's worth it: You don't need to tell us twice that aging skin is beautiful, but we'd never fault you for wanting a little rejuvenating boost. Enter the L'Oréal Paris Collagen Moisture Filler Day/Night Cream. This collagen-forward formula plumps, smoothes, and gives the appearance of filled-in wrinkles. Pair it with Olay’s Revitalift Derm Intensives 1.5% Pure Hyaluronic Acid Serum for an even bouncier-looking complexion.

Key ingredients: collagen, glycerin, shea butter | Fragrance-free: no | Who it's for: people who want plumper-looking skin

Best Drugstore Moisturizer for Dry Skin: La Roche-Posay Toleriane Double Repair Facial Moisturizer

Why it's worth it: The kind of high-end drugstore vibe we're all about, La Roche-Posay's Double Repair Facial Moisturizer is jam-packed with dermatologist-loved ingredients that work together to keep skin quenched. Largely, this means strengthening the skin's barrier by supporting its microbiome. "By maintaining a healthy, diverse population of normal bacteria, the skin can function optimally," Joshua Zeichner, MD, a board-certified dermatologist based in New York City, previously told Allure. He added that protecting the skin's microbiome can be particularly helpful for people struggling with sensitive or allergy-prone skin types. So, shout out to the ceramides, niacinamide, and probiotic thermal water for doing the trick.

Key ingredients: ceramides, niacinamide, probiotic thermal water | Fragrance-free: yes | Who it's for: people with sensitive skin, dry skin

Best Retinol Moisturizer: Olay Regenerist Retinol24 + Peptide Night Moisturizer

Why it's worth it: Good things come in purple jars with silver lids. Among them? The Olay Regenerist Retinol24 Night Moisturizer. Peptide-rich and meant for nighttime, this lotion evens tone, manages the look of large pores, and employs retinol to soften fine lines and wrinkles. Even though it goes on at night, don't forget to wear your sunscreen with SPF 30 or more the next morning because lingering retinol can make your skin more susceptible to UV damage.

Key ingredients: niacinamide, retinol, peptides | Fragrance-free: yes | Who it's for: people with who want a dose of retinol

Best Pre-Makeup Drugstore Moisturizer: E.L.F. Holy Hydration! Face Cream

Why it's worth it: When you're craving lightweight, the E.L.F. Holy Hydration! Face Cream is your new best friend. Reliably hydrating and illuminating with peptides and hyaluronic acid, it can be used morning and night, and before makeup for moisture prep. The above is fragrance-free, but you can grab it in a lightly fragranced version if that's your cup of tea.

Key ingredients: hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, peptides, squalane | Fragrance-free: yes | Who it's for: people doing pre-makeup routines

Best Drugstore Moisturizer with SPF: Bioré UV Aqua Riche Weightless Moisturizer SPF 50

Why it's worth it: It's a sunscreen, it's a moisturizer, it's in our purse right now, it's the Bioré UV Aqua Rich Weightless Moisturizer SPF 50. this cast-free, hardworking moisturizer offers serious hydrating benefits and high-quality UV protection—none of that SPF 15 business. It goes easy on sensitive skin and doesn't clog pores. Because it's water-based and pretty thin, it blends right in under makeup. "The day Bioré's UV Aqua Rich launched in the U.S., I texted all my friends to get one. I'd discovered it during a trip to Japan, from which I'd come home with a packing cube full of them," senior editor Jesa Marie Calaor previously explained to Allure. "While the formulas are slightly different, both are so moisturizing (an essential for my extra-dry skin) and leave behind a glowy, silky finish on days I decide to skip my skin tint."

Key ingredients: avobenzone, hom*osalate, hyaluronic acid | Fragrance-free: yes | Who it's for: people who spend time in the sun

Best Drugstore Night Cream: Bubble Skincare Over Night Hydrating Sleep Mask

Why it's worth it: There's the outside of the Bubble Skincare Over Night Hydrating Sleep Mask (need), and then there's what's inside (extra need). This overnight moisturizing mask coats and soaks your skin in all sorts of goodies while you sleep—we're talking maple sap, mandelic acid, sodium PCA, and beyond. It goes on over your regular moisturizer, once or twice a week, for that elusive hydration boost you've been itching for. Just rinse it off in the morning and give your radiant self a little wink in the mirror.

Key ingredients: maple sap, mandelic acid, sodium PCA, arnica | Fragrance-free: yes | Who it's for: people who like overnight skin care

Best Lightweight Drugstore Moisturizer: Good Molecules Lightweight Daily Moisturizer

Why it's worth it: There are good molecules, and then there are Good Molecules. The brand's Lightweight Daily Moisturizer is cheap, cheerful, and a drink of cool, creamy water for your skin. It was recently reformulated to include higher volumes of hyaluronic acid and avocado oil, staying lightweight all the while. The formula also includes shea butter and a silicone alternative to plump, hydrate, and smooth. Wear it solo or before putting on makeup for all-day juiciness.

Key ingredients: shea butter, avocado oil, hyaluronic acid | Fragrance-free: yes | Who it's for: people who want to spend less than $15

Best Post-Pimple Drugstore Moisturizer: Hero Cosmetics Rescue Balm

Why it's worth it: To the tune of '80s anthem "Holding Out for a Hero," we're holding out for the Hero Cosmetics Rescue Balm. A fantasy come real for post-pimple distress, this formula repairs vulnerable skin with antioxidants and peptides. It's an ideal follow-up to the brand's Mighty Patch Pimple Patches, helping to reduce redness for recovering blemishes. It's totally non-irritating, so it will do no harm to even the most sensitive spots on your face.

Key ingredients: panthenol, beta-glucan, vitamin E | Fragrance-free: yes | Who it's for: people who have just removed their pimple patch

Best Drugstore Moisturizer for Eczema: Vanicream Moisturizing Cream

Why it's worth it: Another tried (and tried and tried) and always true face moisturizer, Vanicream Moisturizing Skin Cream is an Allure staple. Whether your skin is wind-chapped in the dead of winter, flaky and raw from a sunburn, or experiencing an eczema or psoriasis flare-up, we'd encourage you to grab this white and blue bottle. Britt Craiglow, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in Fairfield, CT, previously vouched for this Vanicream moisturizer for eczema patients because it "provides excellent barrier protection." She also pointed out that Vanicream lacks contact allergens that readily irritate people with sensitive skin. It's thick but fast absorbing, creamy but not greasy, and wonderfully inexpensive.

Key ingredients: butylated hydroxytoluene (an antioxidant), sorbitol, petroleum | Fragrance-free: yes | Who it's for: people with raw skin

Meet the experts

• Sejal Shah, MD, a board-certified dermatologist based in New York City
• Ross C. Radusky, MD, a board-certified dermatologist at SoHo Skin & Laser Dermatology
• Joshua Zeichner, MD, a board-certified dermatologist based in New York City
• Britt Craiglow, MD, a board-certified dermatologist in Fairfield, CT

How we test and review products

When Allure tests a product, our editors look at it from every angle in an effort to best serve you. We review ingredients, scrutinize brand claims, and, when necessary, examine peer-reviewed scientific and medical studies. In addition to testing each and every product that’s included in each and every review, we rely on experts who shape their fields, including dermatology, cosmetic chemistry, and medicine, to help us vet the ingredients and formulas.

For our list of the best drugstore moisturizers, we considered each product’s performance across five primary categories: product ingredients and efficacy, packaging, fragrance, texture, and product wear. Every product was determined to have excelled in each category by our editorial team, which is composed of in-house writers and editors as well as contributors—along with special consideration from editors and dermatologists. To learn more information on our reporting and testing processes, read our complete reviews process and methodology page.

Our staff and testers

A beauty product is a personal purchase. You might be searching for a face cream to address persistent dryness or a new nail product to add to your Sunday self-care routine; you may simply be browsing around for the latest launches to hit the hair market. No matter what you seek or your individual needs and concerns, Allure wants to ensure that you love anything we recommend in our stories. We believe that having a diverse team of writers and editors—in addition to the wide range of outside testers and industry experts we regularly call upon—is essential to reaching that goal.

After all, can we really say a skin-care product is the "best" for people over 50 if the only testers we’ve solicited opinions from folks who have yet to hit 30? Can we honestly deem a high-end diffuser worthy of your hard-earned cash if it’s never been tested on curls? We’re proud that our staff spans a wide range of ages, skin tones, hair textures, genders, and backgrounds, which means that we are able to fairly assess any beauty product that comes into the beauty closet.

Craving more hydration? Of course, you are—quench your skin with more of our favorites:

• 18 Best Face Exfoliators for Glowing Skin
• 17 Best SkinCeuticals Products Your Skin Will Thank You For
• 15 Best Lip Oils for a Hydrating Punch of Shine and Color

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