There’s no shortage of “new” in the beauty industry. Every day, new products, brands, innovations, styles, and trends emerge, often making the heart of a beauty lover soar. It seems like every day a new celebrity is entering the beauty space or a new product is all over TikTok. But how are we supposed to know what to buy and what to skip? After some research (I love my job so much), I tested five new beauty brands and their products. Here’s what I loved (and what I didn’t):
1. Merit
The second I saw this brand on my Instagram feed, I needed to get in on it immediately. I’m a major fan of Katherine Power’s skincare line, Versed, so I had a feeling these products would wow me. The packaging caught my eye immediately; everything is minimal and luxurious-looking—with a decent price tag to match (how sad is it that I’m happy these products were all under $40? The beauty industry has burned me). To get a feel for the line, I tried two products that called to me: The Minimalist Perfecting Complexion Stick and Brow 1980 Volumizing Brow Pomade Gel.
The Minimalist Perfecting Complexion Foundation and Concealer Stick
I love a good product innovation, but I especially love when they work—and boy does this work. This isn’t a foundation or a concealer; it’s a complexion product that’s essentially used as neither and both at the same time. It’s for pinpointed coverage wherever you need it, which I typically find doesn’t work very well. But this blends into my skin so evenly and looks natural with only a little bit of product. I'm wearing this with the Auric highlighter below in the above photo, and you can tell it doesn't completely cover everything, but that's why I love it. It looks just like my real skin, but better. I know I’ll use this all spring and summer—and I’m already preparing to order another shade as I start self-tanning. This product gets a solid 10/10.
Volumizing Eyebrow Pomade Gel
This one wasn’t as much of a hit for me. Is it bad? Not at all. It actually is pretty great. But for how much product you get and the performance, it’s just more expensive than I’d typically spend. I despise the packaging ploy in which the cap is bigger than the actual product, and this does that, which annoyed me before I even tried it. If you want a lovely, clean brow gel, this is certainly your girl, it’ll just set you back a bit when you could just buy ELF’s Wow Brow for $6.
2. Anomaly
Priyanka Chopra’s newest venture is Anomaly Hair, a new line sold exclusively at Target featuring eight products all under $6. My shower is filled to the brim with shampoos and conditioners I won’t finish until 2025 at this rate, but I was in the market for a new dry shampoo after a recent stint of incorporating some harder workouts into my routine while simultaneously trying to sustain my hair color longer.
Dry Shampoo
Priyanka Chopra’s newest venture is Anomaly Hair, a new line sold exclusively at Target featuring eight products all under $6. My shower is filled to the brim with shampoos and conditioners I won’t finish until 2025 at this rate, but I was in the market for a new dry shampoo after a recent stint of incorporating some harder workouts into my routine while simultaneously trying to sustain my hair color longer.
3. LYS Beauty
LYS Beauty gets the stamp of Sephora’s first clean color cosmetics brand with a Black founder and owner, so when they first announced, I was ecstatic. Launching with six products ranging from complexion to cheeks to lips, LYS is already selling out left and right on Sephora’s website, so I had to try it all.
Triple Fix Serum Foundation
I have a love/hate relationship with this foundation. When my skin is peeling and flakey from overexfoliation and Retin-A use, it’s a major pass for me. A few times I wore this, and my skin looked worse than it ever had. But when my skin is in better shape and is moisturized and not so textured, it looks gorgeous, is so lightweight, and stays on all day. It’s kind of hit or miss with me and this foundation, but I definitely can see myself using it when my skin is more on the oily side this summer for a step up from a tinted moisturizer without a heavy product on my face.
Matte Bronzer
Of everything I tried, this is my favorite. Since it arrived in my mailbox, I haven’t used another bronzer. It blends effortlessly into my skin regardless of what foundation, powders, concealers, or other products I’m using. For my skin tone (which is sitting at a solid “light with perhaps a hint of medium” right now, and I have a neutral olive undertone), the “Light” shade matches me really well. I raved about Charlotte Tilbury’s Airbrush Flawless Bronzer last summer, and this is half the price and just as good if you ask me.
Satin Matte Cream Blush
Blush is slowly becoming my favorite product in my makeup collection (especially while working from home and spending so much time on Zoom calls that make my face look flat and one-dimensional), so I knew I had to try this new cream blush. The shades are so gorgeous, it was hard to choose! I love how these have a cream-to-powder finish; it’s moisturizing but stays put all day, which is something I often struggle with when it comes to other cream blushes. I apply this with a brush and blend it in with my fingers, and it blends flawlessly every time. This also has the perfect amount of pigmentation. If you hated the Rare Beauty blushes because of their high pigment, you’ll like this. It’s buildable without being too light, making each shade pretty versatile on a range of skin tones.
Glossy Lip Treatment Oil
This is a classic glossy lip balm, but I’ve been reaching for it constantly. I love the way it makes my lips feel, and I notice they’re more hydrated at the end of the day if I’ve applied this a few times. I’m obsessed with Kopari’s Lip Glossy, and this is a new product I’m adding to that rotation.
Triple Fix Setting Powder
I hated this the first few times I tried it because it clung to every dry patch on my face (which was a lot). However, when my skin is more balanced, I really do like this, and I love how it holds my makeup in place. I would suggest this mostly to those with normal-to-oily skin, but someone with a dry skin type who does lots of skin prep beforehand might like it still. When my skin is more oily in the summer, I’m sure I’ll use this a lot.
4. Auric
I am a major Samantha Ravndahl stan, like most people who watch beauty YouTube. Sam has taught me endless tricks over the years, and her makeup style is both achievable and editorial, which I love. So when she was launching a brand, I knew I had to try it ASAP. I ordered Glow Lust on launch day, and I have some thoughts.
Glow Lust
After watching Sam’s launch video, I ordered Pyrite, which she described as the perfect highlight shade for olive skin tones, and she was right. Highlighters are always either yellow-gold or an icy-pink on me—there is no inbetween. This shade emulates my actual skin tone, so it blends in and looks like my actual skin versus looking like a colored highlighter. If you’ve used Charlotte Tilbury’s Hollywood Flawless Filter, this is very similar concept: I use it as a primer under makeup, as a highlighter over makeup, or mixed in with my foundation. Glow Lust is just a little thicker, making it a bit easier to use as a standalone highlighter than Charlotte’s formula. I also find that it looks glowier on me, whereas HFF makes my skin look more moisturized. If I had to choose, I’ll keep buying Auric solely for the shade range and how gorgeous it looks on my cheekbones as a highlighter. I even use it over powders, and it blends seamlessly.
5. Nuele Hair
In my journey of researching new products, I wanted to make sure I was testing something from a small business too, and upon my first Google search, I knew I had to try Nuele Hair. This Black-owned brand developed an “ultra-clean” hair serum for those who wanted gorgeous, manageable hair without having to use chemical treatments or relaxers. Their ingredients come from local female farmers in Ghana and Morocco, so you can know your dollars are going to help women support their families and boost their local economies.
Hair Serum
This serum is made for all hair types, but with my straight, thin hair, I hack how I use it a little bit. When I first used it as a serum, I used one drop and mixed it into my Olaplex No. 6 leave-in, and it left my hair feeling a little greasy, which isn’t out of the ordinary for me. Oils and my hair typically don’t mesh well, unless it’s super lightweight and made for thin hair types. My hair was so soft and smooth, but it had a bit of an oily feel on my ends. After a few uses with this result, I started using it as a nighttime serum all over my hair. While I sleep, I lose a good deal of the oily residue, and I’m left with soft, manageable hair the serum promises. I can only speak to my hair type, but based on the texture, I’m sure this is a dream on thicker hair, especially coily and textured hair.
The post I Tested Products From 5 New Beauty Brands and Here Are My Thoughts appeared first on The Everygirl.
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