Cezanne

Cezanne launched in 1964 under Japan's Ida Group and has spent six decades proving that low price and high quality are not opposites. Almost every product in the range sits under ¥1,000, and the brand keeps it there by stripping out what it considers non-essential: elaborate packaging, heavy marketing, synthetic fragrance. What is left is a tightly edited line of base products, powders and lip colour that Japanese shoppers buy again and again.

Despite the price, Cezanne is a repeat winner at the @cosme Best Cosme awards, competing directly with brands several times its cost. Its Lasting Gloss Lip uses an oil that reacts with the moisture on your lips to form a clingy gel film, and the UV Ultra Fit Base has become a staple primer for oily skin in humid Japanese summers. Every non-nail product is patch tested and fragrance free, which is a large part of why the brand reads as trustworthy rather than merely cheap.