3 Potential More Affordable Sunday Riley Alternatives Based on Ingredients

Published on May 30, 2022

By Stella

These Sunday Riley oils have similar comparables with a price advantage

It’s no wonder that U.S.-based luxury skincare brand Sunday Riley has continued to dazzle beauty lovers domestically and internationally: its award-winning product line and its commitment to ethical and sustainable manufacturing practices are great selling points. But does clean beauty have to be breath-takingly expensive? We don’t think so! There are many ways to start your search for alternatives you might like. A logical starting point is SKINSKOOL's ingredient-list similarity tracker. Here are three possible alternatives for your favorite Sunday Riley products, with very similar official ingredient lists but at a fraction of the price tag. We found them, you try them! Like Sunday Riley, these brands pride themselves on being cruelty-free and environmentally conscious. They also claim to avoid using harmful and irritating ingredients in their formulas.

Number 1: Love the Sunday Riley Juno Face Oil? Check out this madebySUNDAY boss oil with a very similar ingredient list

The madebySunday boss oil is a very promising potential alternatives and has been assigned an INCI Match Score as against Sunday Riley Juno Oil of 94 pts — and upon closer examination, these ingredient lists are practically identical! The Sunday Riley face oil will set you back $72 for 35mL, versus boss oil’s more affordable price of $42 for 50mL. Remember, we don't know ingredient concentrations, quality or processing and these factors might impact price and efficacy of a product. We focus on the ingredient lists alone so take this as a starting point for your research.

Let’s take a look at their claims.

These face oils are both made with potent cold-pressed antioxidants to provide the skin with much-needed nutrition. Why use antioxidants? As anti-aging miracle workers, they restore and rejuvenate by brightening, firming, and calming the skin. Antioxidants are essential for city dwellers because they help protect the skin from pollution. The more variety in your choice of antioxidants, the better—which is why these products, with oils from nine superfoods, cover a lot of your antioxidant bases.

The claims? Healthier, stronger, and softer skin in the short term; younger-looking, brighter skin in the long term. An antioxidant face oil is definitely something we try to incorporate into our beauty regimen.

Now about the product with a very similar ingredient list. Sunday Riley’s Juno and madebySUNDAY’s boss oil share a whopping eight out of nine total ingredients: broccoli, blackberry, black cumin, carrot, cranberry, grape, meadowfoam, and red raspberry. The only difference is, where Juno has blueberry seed oil, boss oil has pomegranate. You’d be hard-pressed (haha, get it? cold-pressed, hard-pressed…you got it) to find a more perfect alternative if you're looking at the ingredient list alone. If you're looking for a product that has an ingredient very similar to Juno oil, then this is the closest match out of 39,000+ products in our database.

madebySUNDAY is a U.K.-based company that creates unique but functional skincare and makeup products. Everything is made locally, with as few ingredients (all of them plant-based!) as possible. The brand’s first product was its microfiber blending sponge, made to absorb 70% less makeup than other sponges, and now a continued best seller.

A few more nice to knows about madebySUNDAY: The website. Is. Amazing. The product descriptions are funny (actually funny!) and the “want to know more?” section walks you through every ingredient in the product and why it’s beneficial. Did I mention the best part? We were so excited to find this product but not so thrilled about international shipping so they kindly passed the code SKINSKOOL40 to get free international shipping on orders over $42!

Number 2: Love the Luna Sleeping Oil? The Awake Power After Hour 2% Retinol Complex Sleep Oil has many of the same ingredients

We’re giving it a SKINSKOOL 83 pts INCI Match Score and they’re giving you a huge price difference. Luna is $105 for 35mL, but Power After Hour is only $27.30 for 30mL. Two retinol oils, both seemingly alike in overall INCI lists.

These oils boast anti-aging benefits from retinol; they also have moisturizing properties from a variety of essential oils. A derivative of vitamin A, retinol is a much-beloved antioxidant used to reduce wrinkles, improve skin tone, and clear pores. When retinol is combined with plumping, soothing essential oils, an anti-aging elixir is formed! Luna and Power After Hour both promise to deliver soft, youthful-looking skin with reduced redness.

Power After Hour has twenty-four ingredients, half of which are listed the same as in the Luna(!). Both use the same type of retinol, Hydroxypinacolone Retinoate, and the same eleven moisturizing, antioxidizing oils. The differences between the two products are confined to ingredients at the bottom of the list in possibly very small concentrations, we don't know. We don't know anything about ingredient concentrations, quality or processing so our reason for bringing this product to your attention is based on the ingredient list alone. If you're looking for a product with many of the same Luna ingredients, then the Power After Hour by Awake is definitely a potential alternative to the Luna sleeping oil for almost a quarter of the price!

The sister to the popular brand Tarte, Awake is a cruelty-free line inspired by Japanese beauty philosophy. Its products give you that “eight hours of sleep” look by brightening the skin. It’s no wonder Awake’s catchphrase is “Beauty Sleep in a Bottle!” Another reason to love this brand? All products are under $40!
Here’s a fun fact about another Awake product: if you enter the 10+ Super Juice Refreshing Mist into our ingredient-list similarity tracker, the product with the most number of Super Juice ingredients is none other than the Sunday Riley Pink Drink Firming Resurfacing Essence! Interesting indeed.

Number 3: Love the C.E.O. Glow Vitamin C and Turmeric Face Oil? Check out Derma E Vitamin C Glow Face Oil which has the same star ingredients

Doing a little bit a deeper dive into our database, beyond just the full INCI, SKINSKOOL has assigned the title of Top Choice alternative based on ingredient list for the CEO Glow Face Oil to Derma E’s Vitamin C Glow face oil. It’s $19.95 for 38mL, while C.E.O. is $40 for 35mL. Keep in mind there could be many reasons for a price difference between products that is beyond our scope but we do think that if you're looking for the presence of star ingredients alone, this is a product to check out.

Don’t be fooled by Sunday Riley’s long list of ingredients. The star is the same in both products: tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate, a form of vitamin C which tends to penetrate more deeply into the skin. Another advantage to tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate is that it is claimed to remain stable for a longer time than other derivatives of vitamin C. It has the same beneficial qualities as other antioxidants: it keeps the skin healthy, protects it from pollution, and makes it look brighter and firmer.

In addition to vitamin C, these face oils contain lots of our other favorite antioxidants. Derma E Glow Face Oil has six of the eight principal ingredients used in C.E.O.: red raspberry, cranberry, sea buckthorn, ginger root, jojoba oil, and especially turmeric, to make the complexion even brighter. This combination appears to lead both products to claim essentially the same things: effective as moisturizers, radiance boosters, and skin soothers! The major difference? Derma E costs half as much.

Founded in 1984, Derma E is a pioneer of clean beauty. In addition to being vegan and cruelty-free, this brand was one of the first to implement the now popular concept of a “Refuse to Use” list of 2,700 ingredients that you won’t find in its products. Beyond the Vitamin C oil, rumour has it that their entire vitamin C line is quite popular and made up of multiple bestsellers.

There you have it, SKINSKOOL with your INCI list alternatives you won't find anywhere else. Don't buy another product without checking in with SKINSKOOL first, you just never know what you'll find. New products added daily!

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Stella

Beauty enthusiast and data junkie obsessed with affordable and effective skincare.