In the world of cosmetics, there’s always a handful of new beauty products to unearth. With reformulated classics, just-discovered ingredients, and high-tech tools released each month, understanding what to stock your vanity with can feel confusing. To help inform your buy, here, we take a look at the new beauty arrivals worth knowing—and shopping.
I knew complexion products were going to reign supreme in early 2024, when in place of the girly glam you’d expect on Sandy Liang’s bow-adorned, feminine collections, models walked seemingly barefaced on her fall/winter runway. Some makeup was involved, though: A veil of Supergoop!’s then not-launched Protec(tint) Daily SPF. I had a suspicion makeup would be moving in this direction a few weeks earlier; in Aspen, sitting across the table from Supergroup!’s Holly Thaggard at The Little Nell. We were having breakfast and she was giving me the scoop on the newness to come: her tinted sunscreen and how it could be the answer to complexion concerns across various skin types and tones.
Thaggard has long been someone I’ve admired for her commitment to skin—her approach is rooted in SPF. At Ilia, Fara Homidi, Saie, and Hourglass, their complexion products emphasize comfortable textures and nourishing ingredients—sans UV filters.
All to say, if there’s one takeaway I have this month, it’s that your favorite beauty brands are making the case for switching up your complexion routine this spring. Read on to learn which (and why!) are the ones worth trying.
Our Top Picks
Ilia Skin Rewind Complexion Stick
- Why We Love It: “Sometimes, when she’s falling asleep next to me, I look at my daughter’s skin and just marvel at how smooth and soft it is,” Ilia founder Sasha Plavsic says, explaining that the Skin Rewind Complexion Stick is her interpretation of that natural baby softness. What I find most compelling about this stick is the natural finish, or a matte of the future as Plavsic calls it. “It’s a breakthrough formula: weightless, dimensional, and blurs your skin in the most seamless way,” she says. “Your skin will still look like skin”—which allows for one’s glow to show through the product.
- What It Is: Not a foundation stick, but a complexion stick—Ilia’s Skin Rewind is formulated to melt into skin, delivering medium, buildable coverage.
- Editor’s Experience: There’s always been a sort of disconnect between me and foundation sticks—generally either too rough on the skin (which makes blending a pain or emphasizes skin texture), or too oil-based and emollient, which is a no-go for my normal-to-oily skin. Skin Rewind, however, goes on buttery smooth in a way that works well with my normal-to-oily skin, and pairs nicely with my pre-makeup skin prep (read: moisturizer, sunscreen, and oftentimes primer). With all the barriers to application gone, I’ve reached for it on mornings when I’m in a rush to getting ready or when I simply cannot be bothered with a liquid formula. These days, I travel with two shades—one to illuminate the under-eye and another that matches my skin tone. And with 42 shades to choose from across the entire range, you should have no trouble finding a few options for your regimen.
- Finish: Natural
- Shades: 42
- Key Ingredients: Ceramide-peptide complex, winged kelp extract, butterfly lavender extract, squalane
- Who It’s For: This is an easy substitute for your current foundation for all-over color. But, it’s also wildly versatile. Nowadays, I’m a huge proponent of using your products in multiple ways. Here, I’d recommend spot concealing (for quick coverage of rogue zits or beauty marks), actual concealer to the under-eye, or even contour using a shade or two darker than your skin tone. If that’s not enough, the formula is also packed with butterfly lavender, ceramides, and peptides which can help promote a plumper complexion.
Supergoop! Protec(tint) Daily SPF Tint SPF 50
- Why We Love It: I’ve found that there’s an ongoing debate about when exactly you need SPF. Though we can generally agree that UV protection is nonnegotiable for days spent in the sun, experts maintain that sunscreen is necessary daily—even if you’re only being exposed to LED or blue light. Supergoop! founder Holly Thaggard has been having these types of conversations with dermatologists for a while now, and tells me that the emerging science behind tinted SPF, and how the entire light spectrum (beyond the UV portion) can negatively impact the skin. So she knew a universally wearable tinted sunscreen with exceptional UV protection was necessary. And now, we have Protec(tint).
- What It Is: A lightweight tinted sunscreen composed of 83% skincare ingredients designed to even skin tone and improve skin texture with consistent use.
- Editor’s Experience: Tinted sunscreens can be hard to create. From what I’ve gathered from formulators and brand founders is that it’s difficult to pair powerful UV filters with skin care ingredients in a way that feels comfortable on the skin; especially across a wide range of skin tones. That’s why many existing tinted sunscreens offer lower SPF levels or feel drying, heavy, cakey, or greasy on the skin. All of this to say, my ears perked up when Thaggard explained how she was able to seemingly crack the code to debut a formula that boasts an SPF 50. A hybrid of physical and mineral UV filters (a blend of zinc oxide, homosalate, and octisalate), Protec(tint) provides enough protection to wear on its own in place of your go-to sunscreen—though it does layer well with the brand’s other bestsellers like Glowscreen or Unseen if you’d like to layer formulas. If you were to test this blind, you’d say it felt like a moisturizer on the skin. It’s light-to-midweight depending on how much you use, and blends seamlessly (without streaks!) with your fingers or a brush. The finish here is natural—not too matte, not too dewy—meaning its great for most skin types. Because this features a hyaluronic acid-infused clay meant to absorb excess sebum and balance skin’s moisture levels, it might not work well for very dry (or reactive) skin types.
- Finish: Natural
- Shades: 14
- Key Ingredients: Zinc Oxide, 13.58%, homosalate 7.0%, octisalate 5.0%, ectoin, hyaluronic acid-infused clay, morinda citrifolia extract
- Who It’s For: This is for someone who doesn’t want to sacrifice sun protection for a smooth, even complexion.
Saie Slip Tint Radiant All-Over Concealer
- Why We Love It: Anyone with sensitive, reactive, or blemish-prone skin understands the struggle of finding beauty products that work for them. Saie founder Laney Crowell gets it, and has debuted a new concealer with these skin concerns in mind, inspired by her own experiences. “I have always been acne-prone and struggled for a long time with finding a concealing product that I could wear all over and didn’t aggravate my skin, or crease and get cakey,” she says. So, she thought to formulate one herself. One packed with skin-loving ingredients and a good amount of coverage that can help improve the look of your skin over time. “This is the product I wish I grew up with,” Crowell says.
- What It Is: A clean, medium coverage concealer designed to veil redness, dark circles, and blemishes.
- Editor’s Experience: As a huge Saie fan, I was quite sad that its acclaimed Hydrabeam concealer didn’t work for me. So my ears perked up when I got word of another variant in the works. “Now’s my time to shine!,” I thought. While Hydrabeam works more like an illuminator, Slip Tint offers more corrective usages. And in my opinion, that’s what a concealer should be doing—concealing the bits you don’t want to show off on any given day. For me, those are blemishes and dark circles. When it comes to breakouts, I’ll add a dot of concealer directly atop the zit following tinted moisturizer. Slip Tint works well here because it’s creamy and really stays where you place it, meaning I can make a red, inflamed pimple vanish with some deft blending. (My tip: dab the product onto the skin with a sponge or brush— don’t swipe, which will spread the product around.) For dark circles, on the other hand, I like using taking a shade lighter than my complexion, with a golden under tone. Apply to the undereye and let sit for a minute or two (I like to do my brows while I wait!), then blend with a brush. Sometimes I’m in awe because the product looks undetectable; my skin still looks like skin but any darkness is gone. It’s quickly became my go-to everyday concealer; and if I’m in a rush, I know I could wear this on its own without foundation.
- Finish: Natural
- Shades: 25
- Key Ingredients: Hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, rice bran peptides, glycerin
- Who It’s For: While yes, this is excellent for anyone with reactive or blemish-prone skin (it’s vegan, non-comedogenic, and offers a host of potent ingredients), it’s also an excellent everyday concealer for any skin type. A little goes a long way, so start with just a dollop of product and work your way up to your desired coverage.
Fara Homidi Essential Face Compact
- Why We Love It: Fara Homidi wants to change the way you think about applying makeup. In place of foundation, concealer, and highlighter, she offers the new Essential Face Compact—a complexion system that allows you to customize your finish to your liking. Maybe one day you just want to spot conceal before heading out the door; and the next you need full glam for an evening soiree. In place of various formulas, you have all you need in one little kit.
- What It Is: A compact that pairs a creamy Smooth Veil Soft Matte complexion formula with Shine Baume—an illuminating gel-to-cream face balm. These can be applied separately or paired together to your liking.
- Editor’s Experience: One thing I love most about Homidi’s makeup looks is how delectable she makes skin appear. From magazine covers to runways, she manages to make anyone’s complexion supple, smooth, radiant and almost hyper-real. That said, I knew her brand’s complexion debut would be a delight to test and reimagine how I wear my makeup. In order to toy the line between dewy and matte, Homidi’s crimson pan with two textures utilizes what she calls “veil” technology, which “allows for a veil-like finish on desirable characteristics such as freckles (without covering them), yet is buildable and can provide full coverage to the specific areas you want it to.” Using the brand’s new Buffer Brush (that was created for use with the Essential Face Compact), I was able to sweep both textures along my skin with ease. Of the two, I loved Smooth Veil Soft Matte the most. It has a way of evening redness and hyperpigmentation for a blurred, filtered effect that I’m obsessed with. I know we tend to throw around the term “your skin-but-better” often, but this seriously just enhances your skin in the most natural way. This is what I’d use if I didn’t want someone to know I was wearing makeup at all. On the highlighter balm, I liked applying it to the high points of my face (read: bridge of my nose and cheekbones) for a subtle dewy sheen. The pigment here isn’t really shimmery or bronzey so the effect is like you’ve been in the sun all day versus wearing a high-octane highlighter. Honestly, I cannot wait to play with this all summer long.
- Shades: 15
- Finish: Dewy-to-matte
- Key Ingredients: Key ingredients of Smooth Veil Soft Matte are ginger root extract, Amazonian cupuaçu butter, kaolin clay, and rice power; while, the ingredients to note in the Shine Baume are phylcare hyacolor, sunflower seed oil, and reflective mica.
- Who It’s For: This is for anyone wishing to streamline their routine, or the person who thinks their makeup look should be barely detectable.
Hourglass Vanish Airbrush Pressed Powder
- Why We Love It: I don’t care how much social media tries to push the ultra-dewy, glowing makeup look my way. An airbrushed, filter-in-a-bottle look will always reign supreme in my book! One surefire way to achieve that is a face powder, and Hourglass’s latest is the modern formula to add to your beauty bag. It’s vegan, finely-milled, and buttery—meaning it sits well on the skin and locks your look in place for up to 12 hours.
- What It Is: A weightless, sheer, talc-free pressed powder designed to quell excess shine and impart an airbrushed glow.
- Editor’s Experience: If it’s not already apparent, I do love a face powder, and trust me—not all are created equal. The undertones and wearability have to be just right for me to reach for it again and again. (I’m so particular about face powders because they finish off a look. Imagine you’ve just completed your makeup to perfection, then put on a powder that ruins the look? The horror!) Luckily, Hourglass’s is incredible. The included powder puff is quite soft, and deposits just the right amount of powder onto the face without budging the makeup beneath it. Shade Translucent Tan is excellent for brightening my under-eye—smoothing out creases and puffiness in the process. The next shade, Translucent Deep, is too dark for me, so I’d use Translucent anywhere else on my face and would recommend the same to anyone in a similar predicament.
- Shades: 5
- Formulated Without: Talc, parabens, sulfates, phthalates, and synthetic fragrances
- Who It’s For: This is excellent for anyone who uses face powder; especially that person who takes powder on the go or simply has a penchant for an airbrushed look.
Want to learn about more new beauty products? Read last month’s picks below.
Rhode Pineapple Refresh The Daily Cleanser
- Why We Love It: Oh, Hailey Bieber, you’ve done it again. I’ve said this on numerous occasions, but Rhode seems to keep launching hit after hit. This time, it’s an expansion to its skin care range with a covetable cleanser. When I interviewed Bieber last summer for the Glazing Milk launch, she emphasized wanting to create “essentials you can keep coming back to,” so it’s honestly no surprise to learn that she’d been cooking up a cleanser you can use every day.
- What It Is: Described as a “balm-to-lather” daily cleanser, this is packed with nourishing, calming, and gentle exfoliant ingredients to wipe away impurities and leave skin feeling fresh.
- Editor’s Experience: In the growing world of celebrity beauty products, aside from efficacy, I think it’s Rhode’s approachability that makes people reach for its solutions again and again. The entry to the brand might just be Bieber, but once you try them, you’re likely to become hooked, which is basically what happened for me when I first tested a lab sample of the Pineapple Refresh. This cleanser works similar to a cleansing balm; it arrives out of the tube in a bright, golden balm that quickly lathers into a soft foam with water. I do not wash my face in the morning, so I focused my trial at night—oftentimes, after makeup wear. The balm texture helps lift all traces of dirt, excess oil, sunscreen, and makeup away in one go. But if you’ve done, say, a full glam, you might want to double cleanse. Pineapple Refresh is not the type of cleanser that leaves skin feeling taut once washed off, but that is a good thing. You want skin to always feel soft, smooth, and hydrated after each step—setting the stage for whatever is to follow.
- Key Ingredients: Polyglutamic acid (PGA), green tea extract, pineapple enzyme
- Who It’s For: This is an excellent daily cleanser for anyone. I’d especially recommend it to anyone with dry skin, as it does not strip away your skin’s natural oils, and it locks in moisture via the featured PGA (an ingredient great at keeping skin hydrated and plump).
Milk Makeup Cooling Water Jelly Tint Lip + Cheek Blush Stain
- Why We Love It: When I said earlier that 2024 was off to a fun start, I was really hinting to Milk Makeup’s latest launch, which is a fresh take on blush that’s already reached virality—in part, because it looks like you should eat it. (So much so that the brand has had to put a disclaimer on the site that reads: “This product is not edible. Do not eat.”) And no, while being buzzed about it does not make it worth adding to cart, this is actually really, really good at adding a vibrant pop of color to the cheeks or lips.
- What It Is: Described as a “sheer lip and cheek stain,” this Milk Makeup tint adds a yummy, just-bitten, fruit-like color wherever placed. There are four shades to choose from: Splash (a berry hue), Spritz (a coral hue), Chill (a cherry red hue), and Burst (a poppy pink hue). Each of which is deposited via 90% natural, jelly tube. Using it is as simple as gliding it wherever you’d like color.
- Editor’s Experience: I was first introduced to the tint at a dinner with the brand as Milk Makeup cofounder Zanna Roberts Rassi gave a room full of editors a preview. At first glance, I was in awe of it’s texture—I hadn’t seen anything like it. It literally looks like someone bottled Jell-O. I swatched the shade Burst across my hand and was surprised again—not just by its cooling sensation, but by how much pigment was delivered from a single swipe. (Especially as a Black woman, sometimes you need to layer on additional product for the full color to appear). The next day I decided to give them a proper try in my makeup routine. It’s best to apply the stain directly to the skin and then blend with a brush or sponge. I’d recommended working in sections, as the product dries down quickly. A major win for this tint is that, like a stain, the color does not budge for hours, so it’s great for longwear. My only callout is that, because it’s water-based, you likely won’t want to apply it on top of, say, your foundation and bronzer. That said, the underpainting technique worked best for me—applying the stain below my tinted moisturizer or foundation for a soft skin-like blush look.
- Key Ingredients: Collagen, aloe, seawater, glycerin, allantoin
- Who It’s For: This is for the blush lovers! I’ve been telling people that this tint is great for someone who wants an easy-to-use multipurpose blush that doubles as a lip product.
Ilia The Base Face Milk
- Why We Love It: The best face moisturizers are not the only way to create a hydrated and glowing complexion. Any skin expert will emphasize the importance of sandwiching conditioning salves in between cleanser and face cream. While your favorite hyaluronic acid can surely boost your skin’s water-retention abilities, you might still be craving a different solution. That’s why I highly recommend a hydrating toner or essence; specifically, the Ilia face milk.
- What It Is: Described as a sort of facial essence meets lightweight moisturizer, this is designed to quench thirsty skin without weighing it down. The formula boasts hydrating, soothing, and skin strengthening benefits, so it’s excellent for anyone interested in skin barrier repair.
- Editor’s Experience: Of all the launches I’ve tested this year, Ilia’s The Base Face Milk is the one I’ve used the most. What I find most compelling about this is its versatility. I am a toner and essence fanatic, so I try basically any of them that hit the beauty closet. This one toys the line between silky essence and serum-like moisturizer so perfectly that I’ve been able to use it on its own when my skin is on the oilier, dewier side (in lieu of face cream). When winter dryness (or dry office air) gets my skin down, I use this as a step between my hyaluronic acid and face cream. It sinks well into the skin (a little goes a long way), so I can trust it to layer well with other products. On most days I use it in my morning and nighttime regimes, leaving my skin feeling plump, smooth, and bouncy each time.
- Key Ingredients: Hyaluronic acid, microalgae extract, prickly pear flower extract, Ilia’s barrier renewal complex (a blend of lipids, fatty acids, and sterols)
- Who It’s For: I’d go as far as saying that this is for anyone; the aforementioned ingredients will do any skin type good. Plus, it’s clean and formulated to be incredibly soothing (one of its benefits is alleviating redness), so it’s also excellent for sensitive and reactive skin.
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