Celebrity Skincare Routines Duped: Lisa Rinna’s $2000 skincare routine made more affordable

The second of our series, Celebrity Skincare Routines - Duped, is here. This time, it’s all about the beauty secrets of the funny and fabulous Lisa Rinna who told Vogue regarding her own routine, “To look like I do at 57, takes a lot of work”. And after exploring her Vogue beauty routine in detail, we would definitely agree and add that not only does it take a lot of work, but it would also appear to require ALL your money. Lisa clearly did not get the memo that high-low skincare is really trending these days. Not a single cult drugstore product in sight. For Lisa: it’s all fancy, all the time. But you know us here at SKINSKOOL: we are die-hard high-low people and we’ve got some great more affordable beauty ideas for you to dupe this super luxurious routine.

This routine is not for busy people.

A warning for the time pressed people out there, this is not in any way a streamlined routine. In the Vogue piece, creating Lisa’s daily “base” takes 10 skincare steps alone. First step: she starts off with the all important cleansing stage. She doesn’t appear to double cleanse but that’s a good thing since her single cleanser is taking up the whole cleansing budget already. She loves the foaming action of the Dr. Barbara Sturm Cleanser $70 and we love the Ulta Skinsoak Foaming Cleanser $12 which according to Skincare Compare is a 40% Match Score comparable. Both are supposed to be gentle foaming and hydrating cleansers and at $12 with good reviews to boot, we’re game to switch the Sturm cleanser out for the Ulta in-house brand. Then comes Lisa’s first treatment step, hyaluronic acid serum where Lisa chooses the Dr. Barbara Sturm Hyaluronic Serum at $300. This one is easy, we’d switch it out for the Inkey List Hyaluronic Acid Serum $7.99 coming in at a 77% Match Score. That’s just the second of many more Barbara Sturm products to come. The next 3 steps are also Sturm products.

For the vitamin C step, Lisa chooses Dr. Barbara Sturm Glow Drops $145 which we would switch out for Image Skincare Vital C Deluxe Hydrating Anti-Aging Serum $72 at an 83% Match Score. Then to prevent environmental stressors damage, Lisa applies the Dr. Barbara Sturm Anti-Pollution Drops $145. As a dupe worthy alternative to save $100, we’d switch this out for Exuviance Anti-Pollution Protection Essence $45 at a 78% Match Score but unfortunately it was discontinued. So we'd now replace it with the Alo Radiance Serum at a 72% Match Score. Now the first but not the last “brightening” treatment, Lisa goes for the Dr. Barbara Sturm Brightening Serum $310 which has ginseng as a main claim ingredient and second on the ingredient list. We couldn’t find an affordable dupe using the full INCI compare but we found the Origins GinZing Into the Glow Brightening Serum $44 that is a much more affordable ginseng claim based serum.

Now onto serum number 5.

For more nourishment and skin preparation, Lisa then moves on to, you guessed it, more serums! Lisa loves Dr. Sebagh Rose de Vie Serum Delicat $180 and while this is likely an extremely lovely smelling choice, we’d switch this one out for Cocunat The Cure $73.95 at a 72% Match Score.

Moving towards more hydration after all the more targeted serums, Lisa throws something interesting into the mix: the Chicet Bone Marrow Cream $65. This looks like a very niche product containing “bone marrow oil” but it’s likely impossible to get your hands on where you live so we would go with the Acne.org Moisturizer instead for $21.34 at an 90% Match Score. It doesn’t have the bone marrow oil claims ingredient but they both have jojoba oil as the main emollient.

Nearing the end of her “base” routine (finally!), Lisa then treats her neck to some TLC using her favourite neck cream of all time, Renee Rouleau Intensive Firming Neck Crème $53.50. So for this product, instead of switching it out for something more affordable, we’d stick with her pick as its price is not exorbitant and the reviews are great. We were also tempted to keep Lisa’s favourite sunscreen, EltaMD UV Clear Tinted Broad-Spectrum SPF 46 $38, since it is a certified holy grail for many but the Drmtlgy Universal Tinted Moisturizer SPF 46 comes in at a 92% Match Score on Skincare Compare and is only $22. With this routine, we need to save every dollar we can!

It’s rare, but some things are just not dupe-able.

In Lisa’s skincare routine, one thing that is still definitely out of reach and not dupe-able is her personalized blood cream mixed by Dr. Barbara Sturm herself. From Into the Gloss: “The idea is that she funnels a client's blood through a special vial that stimulates the blood to react like you've been injured. It's those resulting, healing proteins that fuel the cream.” Sorry we have no suggestion for this. Some things are still only reserved for the very rich and famous.

Finally we’re drawing near the end of Lisa’s elaborate routine and we’ve got some good suggestions for the last few steps. Take Augustinus Bader The Rich Cream $265. We’d give June Jacobs Intensive Age Defying Hydrating Complex $120 at a 77% Match Score a go. It’s still expensive but to dupe Bader you’re going to want to have a similarly luxurious texture and this one with avocado oil, shea butter and anti-aging claims seems like a good comparable.

The last skin perfecting step for Lisa is Dr. Lancer’s Dani Glowing Skin Perfector $95. We would do a switch out here for Milk Makeup Vegan Milk Moisturizer $38 at a 72% Match Score. And finally as the last “preparation” step before Lisa’s even longer (!) makeup routine, Lisa chooses Kevin Aucoin The Sensual Skin Enhancer $45 to use as a concealer. We’ve got a great affordable dupe alternative for this one: Glossier’s Stretch Concealer $18.

How much did the dupes save you?

So there you have it! All in, Lisa’s uber luxe routine costs $1719.50. With our suggested Skincare Compare comparables, we’ve gotten it down to $474.28. Now we can’t promise that you’re going to end up looking like Lisa Rinna. But we did save you over $1200! We didn’t, however, have a dupe for that supposedly $1400 Barbara Sturm custom blood cream. So our disclaimer is, if you have lesser results, clearly the absence of the blood cream is to blame.

If you enjoyed finding more affordable dupes for all of Lisa Rinna’s skincare products, then you will love searching for your own more affordable alternatives to your favourite products on our website here.

We’ll save tackling duping Lisa’s even more extensive makeup routine for another day!