Australia really gets the short end of the stick when it comes to cosmetic prices; New Zealand has it even worse. Typical “Drustore” products that retail for under $10 in the USA are ridiculously inflated by 2, 3 or 4+ times the cost. If most “Drugstore” products are easily hitting the $20 mark, it doesn’t leave much hope with the affordability of higher end products.

So when I come along a product that is a potential dupe for a higher end product, I jump on that shiz.

Miss K and I recently went to the USA and hauled back with us an incredible amount of cosmetics (I’m talking 200+ Nail polishes here people) and that included a number of products we just could not justify the cost of back here.

Imagine my surprise when I found a dupe for a product that was not only cheaper, but an Australian product.

As is evident by the title of this post, I’m talking about Benefit High Beam, and its striking resemblance to Face of Australia’s Face and Body Illuminator in the shade “Angel Mist”

I actually owned High Beam first, and picked up Angel Mist on a whim because it was hugely marked down. Here we have them side by side; the most evident difference is the size. Angel Mist is a whopping 50ml whereas High Beam comes in at a scanty 13mL

High Beam retails for $45AUD ($3.46 per mL), whereas Angel Mist is only $14.95 ( ~$0.30 per mL). I picked up my Angel Mist for $5 ($0.10 per mL). So Angel mist comes out miles ahead as far as affordability; you don’t really even need 50mL of the stuff, split the cost with up to 5 friends, and you all get roughly the equivalent amount of some High Beam for a teeny tiny $3 a piece.

I might be a tiny bit biased already on cost factor, so how do they shape up appearance wise? My apologies for the awful picture on the left, did not realise until I had packed everything up for the day!

If you look closer you can see that High Beam looks a wee bit pinker

The other big difference is the containers, Highbeam has a brush applicator, Angel Mist is in a tube. I don’t personally use the High Beam brush for application, but the Angel Mist tube has the tendency to expel way more product than I want, so no winner for packaging here.

Now on my skin! Illuminator is a tricky bugger to photograph!

On the right we have Angel Mist, on the left is High Beam firstly in sunlight, unblended, as you can see again, High Beam appears pinker

Texture wise, Angel Mist is slightly runnier

Here I have lightly blended, first in sunlight, then in artificial light

The variation here is due to the angle at which I am holding my arm, the intensity of both colour changes with the angle of the light (I have no idea how to photograph this accurately!!!),at first, I thought high beam was pinker, then I thought angel mist was pinker.

Long story short, on my skin I can’t tell the difference.

They both glow like anything under artificial light, look lovely in sunlight, and do what they are supposed to.

Here are the ingredients lists for your own comparison 🙂 and fyi, both products are cruelty free.

High Beam Ingredients: Water (Aqua), Caprylic/Capric/Succinic Triglyceride, Mica, Pentylene Glycol, Polymethyl Methacrylate, Dimethicone, Limnanthes Alba (Meadowfoam) Seed Oil, Hydroxyethyl Acrylate/ Sodium Acryloyldimethyl Taurate Copolymer, Dimethicone Peg-7 Phosphate, Trimethylsiloxysilicate, Phenoxyethanol, Steareth-21, Squalane, Caprylyl Glycol, Steareth-2, Tocopheryl Acetate, Polysorbate 60, Sodium Stearoyl Glutamate, Butylene Glycol, Sodium Hydroxide. [+/-: Aluminum Hydroxide (Ci 77002), Bismuth Oxychloride (Ci 77163), Iron Oxides (Ci 77491, Ci 77492, Ci 77499), Titanium Dioxide (Ci 77891)].

Angel Mist Ingredients: Water (Aqua), Isopropyl Palmitate, Neopentyl Glycol Diheptanoate, Squalane Stearic Acid, Glyceryl Stearate, Triethanolamine, Lecithin, Propylene Glycol, Magnesium Aluminium Silicate, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Dimethicone, Polysorbate 60, Cellulose Gum, Tocopheryl Acetate, Sodium Ascorbyl Phosphate, Phenoxyethanol, Caprylyl Glycol. May Contain: Mica, Titanium Dioxide, Iron Oxides.

For my money, I know what I am buying. Face of Australia is regularly on sale, but with a full sized high beam and my tube of Angel Mist, I have enough Illuminator to impersonate a Twilight Vampire (bletch) on the reg, so I am set for now.

Have you you found any dupes recently? Let me know in the comments!

-Miss A