Beauty Product Reviews

Can be fickle, but also great once figured out!

The first couple times I tried this, I wasn't super enthused. I was applying it after washing face, my usual serum and moisturizer, then Ilia Super Serum Skin Tint. I found that kind of roll-patting it on with my fingers or a sponge didn't really work it into my skin/makeup, and it would kind of hang on any little dry flakes and pores, looking a little wonky until I spritzed my whole face with a setting spray. Meh.

BUT THEN, the other day I had a few errands (the kind where you don't want to look like you just slopped out of bed but also *no way* are you doing a full face of slap - you know) and did not even wash my face, just grabbed my dense flat kabuki brush and really buffed this in with it? OK THIS IS GOOD. A little coverage, a little mattifying, stayed in place at least eight hours on my oily AF skin. I'm a solid fan now, esp for that "no-makeup day (okay maybe a little mascara and blush and lip tint)" kinda deal. The only thing I'd change : I got shade 1, since I did want some pigment and I'm usually the second-lightest foundation shade. But #1 is just a smidge too light (it can show up in my pores as lighter dots if I don't blend well), the next shades up are much more strongly golden, and I am very, verrrry pink. So I'd love to see an expanded shade range with some cooler tones, but even without, I'll still likely repurchase this for easy light coverage without the chalkiness of plain pressed powder bc I'm 50 and that ish is not my friend anymore.

TLDR : If you've bought this and are frustrated with it, experiment! Over moisturizer or no, over foundation/CC/BB or no, sponge/fingers/brush.

Instant favorite.

Bought #38 Grenat Fume, liked it so much I got #11 Nude Cendre too. #11 unfortunately reads a little more grey-taupe and less mauve-violet on my rather light and very pink skin, but I still dig it (I am invariably SO attracted to this color genre, and they are invariably SO unflattering on me, when will I learn). #38 is absolutely a favorite now, tho -- it's deep and rich without being too extreme even on lighter skin, and is a nicely unusual dusky shade of prune/red plum. Comfy to wear, doesn't feel drying to me, pretty easy to get a clean line with sans brush or liner pencil, typical (very light) Givenchy floral perfumey scent. It even adheres to my inner lip area better than most matte bullets. And the case is, obvs, spectacular. Waiting for #42 Violet Velours or #51 Rose Fusain to be in stock...

YES.

REALLY like this. "A Fine Romance" is a super nice berry shade, not too cool, not too warm. Surprisingly, I actually do like it as both a cheek and lip product, but for me it's better as a blush -- even though I'm quite fair, this is so smooth and blendable-sheer that it's def not too deep for me, and whenever possible I prefer to get the same result with less product rather than building something up. Would LOVE to see this in a [non-shimmery] jammy plum purple and a cool true deep cherry red!

Love it!

First got Balos ST3, was worried it would be too dark (I'm fair and quite pink, and usually one of the lightest shades in any given foundation) -- it's actually TOO light! But I loved the finish and I hate returning makeup knowing it'll likely be thrown away, so I overcorrected and went all the way up to Kai ST6.5 -- the two mixed together are perrrfect. (The shades in between those two are all "warm" or "neutral" so this combo is actually probably the best possible match?)

Turning 50 this year (hfs) and am seeing weird texture issues and other unpleasant changes in my skin, one result of which is "lol your favorite foundation now makes ur skin look like crap." When you're also still fighting breakouts and absolutely cannot use anything with cyclomethicones, foundation options are limited. But this stuff, over well-moisturized skin (I find it goes on best when I wash, apply niacinamide serum, a slug of moisturizer, and rub this in while it's still very damp) gives a fantastic light/medium-coverage result that still looks like my skin. It's not as transfer proof as the more matte bases I'm used to, so now I'm hunting for a setting spray to help it along, but the wear seems good even without powder, which is apparently now my mortal enemy. Only complaints : I'd prefer a mid-light/cool shade I didn't have to mix, and I'm not wild about the dropper -- an airless pump would be so much better.

BTW #1 : I'm not sensitive to fragrances, but I am v picky about them, and I didn't even notice a scent to this. BTW #2 : The blush here is Ilia's Multi Stick in "A Fine Romance," which is also ACES.

So good.

Love the mini I got so much I came back for the big bottle. First couple of uses were when my med-long hair had four or so inches of root growth (giving it a break from the bleach, for once) which was The Big Test. And yep, this definitely added volume and texture to my fine flat silky hair, without making it crunchy or stiff like a hairspray or styling gel would, and more importantly without making it feel filthy (why do so many "thickening" products make your hair feel like it's coated in a mixture of powder and lard? bleh). Feels clean and dry, no stickiness or crispiness, and is GREAT for speeding along a voluminous partial or total updo. Now that my hair is bleached and silverized again, I'm still using it -- extra volume with no downsides, and my hair still feels normal/brushable/manageable on day two. If I ever go back to virgin hair (lol nope), I may even stack it with the Dallas shampoo and conditioner. But for now, I love getting the volumizing benefit whilst being able to focus my shampoo and conditioner on color preservation and intensive moisturizing. A+, absolutely a staple now.

WHOA.

Love at first use. Each pump of the bottle puts out a relatively tiny amount -- like what you'd use for a facial serum -- so I used four little squirts for a roughly nickel-sized amount. Turns out I probably didn't even need that much, even on my below-shoulder-length TRIPLE-PROCESSED (bleached, bleached again, permanent color with developer) hair, which is so battered it does that thing where it goes into smushy clumps when you're trying to rinse shampoo out of it [if you know, you know]. Duuuuude it is silky-soft now, and despite probably using more than necessary it didn't weigh my hair down or impede my styling or make my curls go flaccid. AMAZE. I've been seriously abusing my hair for over a decade now, so the list of leave-in conditioners I've tried is long -- Aveda Damage Remedy, a Sacha Juan, Queen Helene, John Masters, spendies and cheapos, soooo many. This one's top of the heap, no contest, and an HG for sure.

Love it.

This is one of the VERY few effective primers on the market that doesn't contain a load of silicone -- in fact, it doesn't have any. Silicone primers are excellent at creating a super ultra smooth look (nice if you have acne or scarring), but if you're sensitive to them they can also cause breakouts (not so nice if you have acne). I'm breakout-prone with oily skin, and the two times I tried a silicone-based primer -- a Smashbox and a Laura Mercier -- I got the most horrific cystic face-freakouts of my entire life. Absolutely no pimples incurred from this one, and I've been using it (sporadically, because I'm lazy) for a couple years.

Will this give you that perfect airbrushed look you get from heavy-duty primers? No. But it DOES blur large pores and fine lines to some degree, and it definitely helps mattify the skin, and it definitely stays in place. I've used it under a few foundations -- Clinique Even Better, Guerlain Lingerie de Peau, and Algenist's tinted moisturizer -- with no pilling or other problems with any of them, as long as I pat it on rather than rubbing it, and let it set a minute before applying foundation.

Better than expected!

I've gotten into monochrome purple/plum lip and cheek makeup lately, and relevant blushes and highlighters are hard to find. This bitsy little compact in #100 (SO CUTE) is the best I've found so far. Twirl your small blush/powder brush through all the shades and sweep over cheekbones and down on top of a purple-toned blush to cool it off further, and it's just the effect I was looking for. I'm fair-skinned and very pink, so those with darker and/or warmer skin tones may have different results, and I don't doubt that it might read chalky on very dark skin. But for my purposes, it works quite well, and the staying power is actually not bad! I also appreciate that most of the sparkle is confined to the central/lightest shade, and that it isn't uber-glittery throughout.

If only the product were as great as its packaging.

The case on these is SPECTACULAR (though it seems too fragile to let it rattle around in my makeup bag), but the lipstick itself is pretty disappointing. "Fresh Pink" is rather closer to plasticky Barbie territory than I was hoping for, and the staying power is absolutely negligible. I really reaaaaaally wish Anna Sui would upgrade her formulas -- she's got some of the greatest packaging on the market, but the products often (usually) disappoint. This feels like play makeup for tweens and lasts maybe an hour if you don't eat (or drink, or speak) and at thirty bucks each that's just not okay.

PERFECTION.

Gorgeous compact (though rather heavy, if that's an issue for you), and magnificent product. I particularly like that you can purchase refills separately -- less waste, less expensive.

The highlighter itself is creamy and very easy to apply with fingertips, but it does dry down and set. Doesn't migrate, lasts all day with ease. The "base" color doesn't really show up on me, as it's pretty much the same color as my skin. The shimmer is a silvery white (hooray, no gold!), and it is VERY sparkly. I'd characterize the look as an extremely concentrated version of the sparkle in Guerlain Meteorites -- tiny individual shimmer bits, rather than a more uniform metallic effect like Becca Shimmering Skin Perfectors. Absolutely catches the light, absolutely does not emphasize lines or pores, and didn't incur any problems for my breakout-prone skin.

This is definitely my favorite, most dramatic, and longest-lasting highlighter (out of Becca pressed in Moonstone and poured in Pearl, Chantecaille Petales de Rose, Smashbox Soft Lights, and RMS Living Luminizer).