I Found a Dupe for the Drunk Elephant Sunshine Drops

After a gray New York winter, my typically olive skin is looking pale. So I’ve been on the hunt for something that can get me through spring until my natural warmth returns with summer. Traditional bronzers and self-tanners are out, because I want this to look effortless — not orangey or streaky — so I felt like it was time to try Drunk Elephant’s D-Bronzi Sunshine Drops.

This serum has been on the market since 2018, but it reached peak virality last year, with hundreds of people adding a few drops of the tint into their moisturizer or foundation for a bronzed, radiant finish. I remember watching those TikToks and being impressed by how easy and convincing the results were, but I always wanted to find a dupe since it’s almost $40 for an ounce. I tried a couple, but none gave me that natural-looking glow I got with Drunk Elephant. They were either too cakey or too glittery for my liking.

Luckily, I learned about Versed Mood Lighting Luminizing Glow Drops. I’ve known about the brand for years as an affordable lineup of sensitive-skin-friendly products that actually work. Its glow drops seemed to promise the exact same benefits as the Sunshine Drops — luminous sheen and added skin-care benefits — for $18, about half the price. So, I decided to test the two out side by side to see if Versed was a real dupe.

Because I like to switch up my makeup routine depending on what I have planned for the day, I tested out the bronzing drops a couple of different ways: mixed into my moisturizer for no-makeup-makeup days and mixed into my foundation for more coverage. My criteria for the two was ease of use, texture, pigment, and longevity.

I started with the Drunk Elephant drops mixed with my moisturizer on the left half of my face. I put about half an inch of my Rhode Barrier Restore Cream and one drop of the Sunshine Drops on the back of my hand and swirled them together with my finger. The two products mixed easily without any weird separating. I was initially afraid the color would look unnatural because it seemed to have a slight orange hue to it, but it didn’t. After rubbing it in a bit with my fingers, it instead gave me a more neutral-bronze color with a subtle shine. I especially noticed the shine on my cheekbone, which looked like I had applied a dusting of highlighter. And importantly, there wasn’t any glitter or shimmer, which had always been a thing I didn’t like about other bronzing liquids I’d tried (like Kosas Glow Shimmer and NYX’s now-discontinued Away We Glow Drops). My skin also didn’t feel any different than if I had just put on my moisturizer — not cakey or oily — because the drops were very lightweight.

I washed my hands and repeated the same steps with my moisturizer and the Versed drops on the other side of my face. One thing to note is that it was a bit harder to control the amount of product coming out of the Versed bottle compared to Drunk Elephant’s. I chalk this up to the packaging and the consistency of the Glow Drops, which off the bat were more watery and almost slippery. Instead of worrying about the color of this product, I was more concerned about the shimmeriness. The drops had a slight graininess to them that almost looked like glitter — but once I mixed them in with the moisturizer, the pigments spread out evenly for a more muted bronze and no glitter. There wasn’t any pilling or separating between the moisturizer and drops.

Application and blending was easier with Versed than with Drunk Elephant. I didn’t have to tap it in as much for a seamless look. Because of this and Versed’s thinner consistency, I was expecting my Versed side to look more sheer, but I still had a hint of bronze that was on par with the Drunk Elephant side. I turned on my ring-light mirror to compare how the light reflected off my cheekbones. This also seemed virtually the same. Up close, I looked to see if one side was more pigmented than the other, or more shimmery, or if there was any difference at all. I spotted none. I looked like I had applied one product all over.

Throughout my workday, I’d check my mirror to see how they were holding up. Even on a pretty dreary day without much natural sunlight, I had a nice glowiness to my complexion. Later that evening, I met up with a friend for dinner and she asked if I got lots of sun when I was in Texas — a trip that I went on a month and a half prior. I took this as a sign that my fake tan was convincing.

The next day, I did the same experiment, but I swapped out my moisturizer for my go-to Glossier Stretch Fluid Foundation. Both blended into the foundation easily, and the biggest difference from my experience with moisturizer was the finish. My face was less shiny overall with this method, but there was still the right amount of a glow on my cheekbones and on the tip of my nose that I didn’t feel the need to apply highlighter. By the end of the day, I did notice that the Drunk Elephant side had slightly more shine on it compared to Versed, but that was something I only noticed when I used my ring-light mirror to check my cheekbones. On my phone’s camera and in my bathroom mirror with subpar lighting, it looked about the same.

There was one surprising benefit I clocked right before washing off my makeup that night, too. Usually after a day of wearing foundation for hours, my skin is on the drier side and ready for a rich night cream. Instead, my cheeks felt plump and hydrated, even on a patch of rough skin that’s always been an issue for me. My guess is that the added peptides in both formulas were working to keep my skin nice and moisturized throughout the day. (Drunk Elephant lists a Matrixyl 3000 peptide blend while Versed includes the peptide polyglutamic acid. In terms of actual skin-care benefits, both should boost and retain skin moisture.) It seemed like icing on the cake.

Overall, I found very few differences between Drunk Elephant and Versed. Both gave me a soft, sun-kissed complexion without any streakiness or patchiness. And, they were as easy as adding in a drop or two to my usual skin-care or makeup routine. If I had to pick between the two, I’d go with the Versed formula, though. It’s virtually the same as the Sunshine Drops and half the price. I was happy that I had found a way to bring warmth back to my face without having to book a plane ticket (or spend $40). 

Are there other products that you want our intrepid team of beauty writers to test, or trends that you want them to fact-check? Send us an email at strategistbeautybrief@nymag.com with your thoughts and questions.