Don’t let the shiny marketing fool you—a great beauty product doesn’t need to cost half your paycheck. Some of the most dependable things in my makeup bag are actually the affordable ones I’ve picked up over the years. Out of curiosity (and because I love a good bargain beauty moment), I reached out to a few makeup artist friends to see which under-$50 products they actually use and love.

There’s something comforting about hearing directly from the pros—they work on every skin tone, every texture, and in every type of lighting, so they’ve pretty much tried it all. When someone with that level of experience tells me a $15 mascara beats the pricier one or that a $40 prep product performs like something triple the cost, I’m listening.