NYX Cosmetics: Where to Buy Online and In Store
NYX Professional Makeup is an affordable color cosmetics brand founded in Los Angeles in 1999 by Toni Ko and acquired by L’Oreal in 2014. Before you buy NYX cosmetics, the channel matters more than most shoppers expect. The brand’s own site, Ulta, Target and the pharmacy chains each carry a different slice of the catalog, and the resale market carries risks the authorized sellers do not. This guide covers who stocks what, what the low price tier actually gets you, and where the counterfeit problem shows up.
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What NYX Professional Makeup Is and Who Needs It
NYX Professional Makeup is a mass-market cosmetics line covering eyes, lips and face, sold at budget prices through beauty specialty chains, mass retail, pharmacy chains and the brand’s own website. L’Oreal, the French consumer-goods group that also owns Maybelline and Lancome, has owned the label since 2014 and markets it under a “Proud Artistry” platform.
Who it suits: anyone assembling a full routine on a small budget, people who want to try a bold shade without a $30 commitment, and shoppers who need a range wider than a typical pharmacy endcap offers. That accessible price point is the whole proposition.
Who it does not suit: buyers looking for a clinical or dermatological benefit. This is color cosmetics, not skincare, and nothing here should be treated as a remedy for a skin condition.
What to Look For: Features and Buying Criteria
Check the shade range in the specific category you are shopping first, because that is the clearest place this brand separates itself from other budget lines. Five things are worth weighing.
Shade breadth in the category you need. Complexion and lip ranges run deeper here than at most brands in the same price bracket. That matters because a near-match forces you to blend two items together, and blending eats the savings.
Finish, read off the package. Most lines are sold in more than one finish. Matte, satin and gloss versions of the same shade land completely differently, and the finish is rarely obvious from a swatch photo, so read the front of the box.
Price band per category. Individual items generally run about $5 to $16, with lip gloss at the low end and complexion items at the top. Knowing the band tells you instantly when a marketplace listing is priced strangely.
Cruelty-free and vegan labelling. The brand publicly positions itself as cruelty-free. Vegan status is decided item by item rather than line-wide, so read the individual package or the brand’s own product page instead of assuming, since formulations and labelling change over time.
Packaging condition and date code. Cosmetics carry a period-after-opening symbol, the small open-jar icon with a number of months printed inside. Check it when the parcel arrives. This matters more for a heavily resold brand than for a prestige one, because old inventory circulates for years.
What to Avoid When Buying NYX Professional Makeup
The mistake with the highest cost is treating every seller as equivalent. A widely resold, low-priced brand attracts grey-market listings, and the discount you think you found is often inventory that has been sitting in a warehouse.
Marketplace listings from unfamiliar sellers. Third-party sellers sometimes list expired or counterfeit cosmetics. Buy from Ulta, Target, the pharmacy chains or the official site when authenticity matters, and read the seller name on any Amazon or Walmart.com listing.
Assuming a shade name carries across product lines. A shade name used on a gloss formula does not describe the same color on a complexion formula. Pull up the color chart on the brand’s own product page before ordering a face item unseen.
Bundle lots with no visible packaging. Large mixed lots priced well under the normal band are the classic sign of liquidated or aged inventory. If the listing will not show the actual packaging, skip it.
Expecting the shelf to match the website. The catalog online is larger than what any physical shelf holds, and shoppers hunting one specific item regularly waste a trip on this.
Where to Buy NYX Cosmetics In Store
Five national chains stock the brand in physical retail: Ulta Beauty, Target, CVS, Walgreens and Macy’s. Shopping in person is worth the trip for complexion items, where swatching beats guessing from a screen.
Ulta Beauty
Ulta, the US cosmetics specialty chain, gives the brand a dedicated bay rather than a shared pharmacy endcap, so its shelf assortment is usually the widest of the physical options. Ulta also runs a rewards program and regular promotions, which is where the real savings on an already cheap brand come from.
Target
Target stocks the line in the makeup aisle alongside other mass-market labels. Assortment differs between locations, so check yours on the Target site or app before driving over. Order pickup is available on items held locally.
CVS
CVS, the pharmacy chain, carries a curated subset in its beauty department. Treat it as a restock stop for items you already know rather than a place to browse the range.
Walgreens
Walgreens is the other pharmacy chain carrying the label, and its shelf holds a fraction of the catalog. Check the Walgreens site for your location first.
Macy’s
Macy’s lists the brand in its cosmetics department. Availability varies by location, so confirm on the Macy’s site before going.
Call ahead if you need one specific item. Shelf-level assortment is the main variable here, not price.
Where to Buy NYX Cosmetics Online
Four online channels matter: the brand’s own site, Amazon, Walmart.com and eBay. The brand site is the only one that reliably lists the full current catalog, including shades the retail assortments skip.
The official brand site
The brand’s official online shop at nyxcosmetics.com lists the complete current range, new launches and online-only shades. If a shade is not turning up anywhere else, look here. Buying direct also removes the seller-authenticity question entirely. Shipping thresholds change, so check the cart at checkout rather than assuming.
Amazon
Amazon #ad carries the label through an official brand page and through independent sellers. That distinction is the whole point: check the “sold by” line before ordering, because the brand page and an unfamiliar marketplace seller are not the same purchase.
Walmart.com
Walmart.com lists a broad selection, some fulfilled by Walmart itself and some by marketplace sellers. Same rule as Amazon: read the seller name. Pickup is available on locally held items.
eBay
eBay is where retired and hard-to-find shades resurface, which is genuinely useful if you are chasing something the brand stopped making. It is also where aged inventory and fakes are most likely.
Before ordering from any marketplace seller, work through four checks:
- Read the “sold by” line. Platform-fulfilled and third-party listings look nearly identical until you look for it.
- Compare the price against the $5 to $16 band. A price far below it usually signals aged or fake goods.
- Look for a real packaging photo. Stock images hide the batch code and the period-after-opening symbol.
- Check feedback on cosmetics specifically. A high overall rating built on unrelated categories tells you very little.
Comparing budget beauty labels at the same retailers? Our Milani Cosmetics guide and the Jordana Cosmetics buying guide cover two direct alternatives, and the MAC Makeup guide covers the prestige tier above.
How Much Should You Pay for NYX Professional Makeup
As of July 2026, individual items generally run about $5 to $16 at authorized sellers. Three tiers make the range easier to think about.
Under $8. Lip gloss, single eye items and basic pencils. At this tier, buying two shades instead of one costs almost nothing.
$8 to $12. Longwear liquid formulas, liners and setting items. Most of the brand’s best-known launches land in this band.
$12 to $16. Foundation, concealer and multi-pan palettes.
Where paying more is not worth it: the large palette bought to “get more shades” usually is not, because most buyers reach for two or three pans and the per-pan advantage never materializes. Buy the single you will actually finish.
Timing is the bigger lever. Ulta and Target both run makeup promotions on a regular calendar, and pairing a promotion with a rewards account does more for the final price than choosing between retailers ever will.
Top Picks
These five are the most consistently stocked and most widely reviewed items across the retailers above, chosen for range coverage rather than any single test.
Best overall: NYX Butter Gloss. The brand’s best-known lip gloss, sold in a wide shade range and carried at nearly every retailer listed here. Around $5 to $6. Check price on Amazon
Best matte lip: NYX Lip Lingerie XXL Liquid Lipstick. A liquid lipstick the brand markets on longwear rather than shine. Around $9 to $10. Check price on Amazon
Best eye liner: NYX Epic Ink Liner. A felt-tip liquid eye liner and one of the brand’s most widely carried liner formats. Around $8 to $9. Check price on Amazon
Best budget: NYX HD Photogenic Concealer Wand. A concealer that sits at the bottom of the complexion price band rather than the top. Under $6. Check price on Amazon
Best newer launch: NYX Buttermelt Bronzer. A cream bronzer from the brand’s Buttermelt family. Around $10 to $12. Check price on Amazon
For adjacent categories, see our OPI Nail Polish guide and the Lush guide for bath and body.
Start on the brand’s own site to pin down the exact shade name you want, then check Ulta or Target for that item near you, since in-person swatching is the only real certainty on complexion products. If the shade has been retired, eBay is the fallback, but check seller feedback and the packaging photo first. Buying NYX cosmetics well is less about hunting the lowest sticker price than about buying from a seller whose inventory you can trust.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happened to NYX Cosmetics?
The brand is still operating and widely sold. L’Oreal acquired it in 2014, and it now trades as NYX Professional Makeup rather than under its original name. What did end were the standalone US shops the company ran in malls, so a company-run locator is not a live way to buy today. Ulta, Target, CVS, Walgreens and Macy’s are the physical channels now.
Is NYX a USA brand?
It was founded in Los Angeles in 1999 and is still run out of Southern California, but its parent company is French. L’Oreal, headquartered in Clichy just outside Paris, has owned it since 2014. Manufacturing is spread across several countries, so the country printed on a given package will not always read United States.
Does Sephora carry NYX Professional Makeup?
Sephora does not list the label among its stocked brands. Ulta Beauty is the closest substitute if what you want is the testers-and-shade-matching experience, since it carries the line in a dedicated bay. Target, CVS, Walgreens, Macy’s, Amazon and Walmart round out the US retail options.
Is NYX Professional Makeup cruelty-free and vegan?
The brand publicly states a cruelty-free position, and that claim is worth reading on the brand’s own site rather than through a third party, because certification scope and status change. Vegan is a separate question decided item by item: some are labelled vegan and some are not, so check the individual package or product page before buying.
Reviewed by the wheretobuyguides.com editorial team. Prices and retailer availability verified July 2026.