Beautycounter Makeup Review

I’ve reviewed skincare offerings from Beautycounter before but ya know what? I’ve never reviewed their makeup offerings. Weird right? I had to change that so here we are.

Thanks to my friend Kelli Weber, I was able to try a whole slew of Beautycounter makeup for review. I’ll be giving you the scoop on what is solid and what is…soggy? I’ll be showing you a very natural, no-makeup makeup look I created with Beautycounter products as well.

If you’re not familiar with Beautycounter, it’s available through direct consultants as well as in some retail locations. Their whole mission is getting safer products into everyone’s hands, which includes skincare, cosmetics and baby care. They have an infamous “never list” which are ingredients they deem to be harmful and will not be found in any of their products.

Along with their founder, Gregg Renfrew, they lobby in Washington for more regulation in cosmetics and personal care. Beautycounter is also a member of the Counteract Coalition, an alliance of companies pushing for the Personal Care Products Safety Act. Other brands in the Coalition include Josie Maran, Vapour Organic Beauty and Vintner’s Daughter.

Beautycounter has quickly become the go-to, upscale natural brand via partnerships with Target, J.Crew and a pop up shop in Nantucket. I’ve reviewed the brand previously in these posts I’ve also mentioned it as an option in this post.

What I Tried

Dew Skin Tinted Moisturizer – #2
Tint Skin Foundation
Touch Up Skin Concealer Pen
Color Pinch Cream Blusher – Hibiscus
Color Contour Matte Bronzer
Volumizing Mascara
Lip Conditioner in Peppermint
Sheer Lipstick in Coral

What I Loved

I genuinely enjoy both Beautycounter options for complexion correction, Dew Skin Tinted Moisturizer – #2 and Tint Skin Foundation. I would always opt for foundation, as my skin isn’t good enough to get by with tinted moisturizer alone, but the sample of Dew Skin Tinted Moisturizer – #2 matched better than the Tint Skin Foundation sample. That’s what I’m wearing in the look below. I can recommend either of these, depending on your coverage preference.

I also liked the Touch Up Skin Concealer Pen. It offered more coverage than I expected, especially for under eye circles. It’s reminiscent of YSL Touche’ Eclat. It blends out nicely and doesn’t feel sticky or heavy.

The Sheer Lipstick in Coral was a magical color on me. I’m dumb and didn’t take a pic but take my word for it. For yellow undertones, this shade is wonderful. I’ve used the shade Twig on a client and it’s a beautiful nude, as is Terra.

The Color Contour Matte Bronzer is a cruelty free, cleaner version of Benefit’s Hoola. I am not a daily, or even weekly bronzer wearer. I really dig this though for a few reasons. It’s matte, first of all. Also, it’s not uber-pigmented, which actually makes it easy to build. I also like it for a transition color in the crease.

The Powder Blush Duos delivered a nice amount of color and surprisingly long staying power. I liked both Tawny/Whisper and Flamingo/Apricot. I swirled both shades together in each.

What I Didn’t Love

As you’ll see in the photos below, the Volumizing Mascara was just a little too natural for me. I had high hopes, because I really liked the brush style, but I want a little more oomph in the depth of pigment, especially.

I’m a big fan of cream blushes so I was really bummed and surprised that I didn’t love the Color Pinch Cream Blusher – Hibiscus. I have very dry skin though and this isn’t emollient enough for me. It would be better for oily skin types as it has no slip or creamy feel to it. I like it on lips as the texture is more fitting for that but it was difficult to blend on cheeks thanks to my dry skin. I did like it on my eyes too though!

My least favorite Beautycounter product was definitely the Color Shade Eye Duos. Simply put, they are very low pigment. They remind me of pretend eyeshadows for kids that aren’t real, almost as though they are made of paper. I did wet an angled liner brush and apply a black shadow as liner and it has a nice soft effect, as you’ll see in the photo below.

I know that the low pigment load is relevant to the lack of safe ingredients available to create pressed powder products but here’s the important thing. If it doesn’t perform, it doesn’t matter how safe it is because you’re going to get sick of working with it and go back to your chemical-laden options. In this instance, I’d rather you just skip eyeshadow all together as your $34 would be far better spent on their skincare.

I hope this is something they can improve upon. Beautycounter is launching a cream/liquid shadow soon and I think that has potential for sure.

While I loved the scent of the Lip Conditioner in Peppermint, it didn’t have the right viscosity to stay on my lips to retain moisture. I felt like I had to reapply so often because the oily consistency slipped off.

Beautycounter products are well suited to creating a quick, natural look. They have broken it down into what they call Flawless in Five.

My Uber Natural No Makeup Look

Dew Skin Tinted Moisturizer – #2
Touch Up Skin Concealer Pen
Color Pinch Cream Blusher – Hibiscus
Color Contour Matte Bronzer
Volumizing Mascara
Lip Conditioner in Peppermint

Overall Thoughts

While I still maintain that Beautycounter truly shines at skincare, the lip products, bronzer and complexion products are really great. The complexion products were the most impressive to me and I do recommend them as an effective and clean option for complexion correction.

I’m glad that brands like Beautycounter and questioning the safety of cosmetic and personal care products and calling attention to it with their efforts. We have a lot to learn and discover, and a long ways to go it seems. If you’re curious about these issues and want to know more, this page on EWG is a great place to start.

I’m interested to know if you’ve tried these products and what your experience has been with them. Thanks so much for reading.

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