Limelight: Glossier
The indie clean girl darling has gone big.
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Glossier is one of those “it girl” brands. Back when it was only available on their own website (only shipped within the US!) and their rare pop-up stores, it had an heir of exclusivity about it (and let’s face it, pompous mean girl energy). If someone was using Glossier, you would know. Their simple art supply style packaging paired with the quintessential “millennial pink” became iconic in itself.
But now that Glossier not only ships worldwide (with some exceptions, I assume) and is carried at Sephora both in stores and online, it’s anything but exclusive. Glossier is for everyone now! They’ve also managed to keep their prices down in spite of expanding, making them a more “Sephordable” (Sephora-affordable) brand. Their makeup range spans prices from around $18 for their lip gloss to $34 for their foundation. Some of the prices are definitely a bit higher than they were in 2018, but not by much. I was able to find some old blogs from 2017 that list the prices as generally being about $4 less than they are today, which tracks pretty well with other brands.
My first foray into the brand was at a pop-up shop in Chicago in 2018. They now have a permanent store in the city I have yet to visit! I remember waiting outside in the mid Autumn chill for a good while before being let in- and even then the store was a madhouse! Their system, which I believe is still their store system today, is akin to an Apple store. Product testers laid out on tables, and employees roaming about with phones and card swiper attachments. You make your purchase with them, naming the products and shades you desire, then wait in the back at some benches for pink-overall clad employees to yell your name holding your bag. A bit of a mess!
At the time I purchased the cloud paint ($22) in Storm - a beautiful, deep, muted rose toned liquid blush with a thin matte finish. And the generation g lipstick ($20) in Like - a soft, mauve pink with barely there pigment and a matte finish. I used nearly all of the lipstick up keeping it in my school bag for easy, throughout the day application. They’ve since updated the generation g’s with new packaging - a great thing because the previous ones were quite flimsy and entirely plastic - and a new formula. Apparently the new ones are more pigmented across the board, which doesn’t appeal to me much unfortunately. I loved the slight hint of color and balm texture of the original ones. While I generally heard good things about them when they were reformulated, I’ve not heard *anyone* discuss them since. Thats years now! Could be because shiny, balmy lips are in style but trend predictors think matte might be making a comeback this year (as someone with dry lips, I really hope not…)
I think I’m probably on record somewhere saying I don’t love cloud paint - which feels sacrilegious in the beauty community - but it’s true! I really just can’t get along with ANY liquid blush formula. I’ve tried several at this point (Flower Beauty and Rare Beauty!) and determined that delivery system for blush is simply not for me. The colors are gorgeous though so if you’re looking for a liquid blush I definitely liked it the most out of any I tried.
At the end of 2024, Glossier had a massive “warehouse sale” where most things were around half off. I decided to pick up a few things and now that it’s been a couple months I have some pretty solid thoughts on them!
The star of my purchase has been the futuredew solid ($26) which was a limited product for the holidays that they’ve now brought onto the permanent range. This is basically a serum in a stick format that melts like an oil on contact with the skin. It has very small and mostly imperceptible amount of pigments to it, like a small pink shimmer particle and a beige pigment, but on the skin mostly comes across as a dewy texture. I love to use a product like this (and this is my favorite of the ones I’ve tried!) as a skin enhancer - dabbed on with my finger over powders or anywhere on the face that appears dry or caked with powder. It really brings life back to the skin in a more targeted and concentrated way than a mist would. As a lover of highlighter, when my skin is dry they can look very thick or texture enhancing (in a bad way). This dabbed on top of a highlighter brings back that dewy skin texture finish while still keeping the effect of whatever you put underneath it.
The stretch concealer ($22) has been a long time favorite of mine. I used the shade G12 in their original line despite it being too dark and peach for me, but using it sparingly just on my under-eyes I was able to get a nice corrective effect for my dark circles. The formula is balmy and dewy in the pot but sets down to a very natural finish and plays well with powders. I like to apply it in small, thin layers then set it with a light amount of either my Kosas cloud set ($36) or the Hourglass veil loose powder ($26). Thankfully they revamped the shade range and I had been using very light 2 ever since, but found it wasn’t quite light enough for the paler edges of my face. At the sale I got very light 1, their fairest shade, and it’s been excellent on blemishes and covering up some light redness around my face. Neither are an exact shade match for me, I’m still more desaturated than either shade, but considering they aren’t full coverage and blend really easily into the skin I don’t feel like the color difference is very noticeable.
I picked up the perfecting skin tint ($28) in the shade G12 as I’ve had some more skin issues lately - especially in the colder months - and wanted just a bit more coverage than my usual only spot concealer method. This is extremely light coverage, it hardly even imparts the color so the less than perfect shade match is fine on me (although I wouldn’t use it on the edges of my face as it is slightly perceptible.) This has a silicone and glycerin formula making it hydrating and smoothing. I really feel like it blurs the appearance of pores and makes a great base for the concealer to go on top of. If you’re used to foundation, this may feel more like a primer. It claims to have a dewy finish but on my dry skin it just looks very natural. The packaging feels very art-supplies-esque with a liquid-watercolor-like bottle, really enjoy it!
I showcased my acne covering method using these products in my recent YouTube video (no skin filters!). Check it out!
An iconic Glossier product I avoided trying for years is their famous balm dotcom ($16) - a squeeze tube lip balm with a glossy finish and a range of pigments. It was recently re-reformulated back to its original, non vegan formula that was extremely popular. Each shade is named after its flavor, and many have a slight amount of pigment to match the theme. This is sort of a good thing and a bad thing as I love strawberry flavor but really don’t enjoy a red tint, so you sort of have to find your perfect one. Conversely, I would like one with a touch of shimmer, but hate birthday cake flavor. Can’t win! I picked up Lavender, which has a soft herbal flavor reminiscent of its namesake however was sweeter than I had been expecting. The purple tint is very mild but just enough to where I put it on my boyfriend he looked a little “makeup-y” like he was wearing a lip gloss or something cosmetic. They have a fragrance free and a mint where both are untinted so that’s nice.
I didn’t try this for a long time because it isn’t my favorite sort of lip balm. It’s primarily a vaseline base (petrolatum aka petroleum jelly) which does nothing for hydration and simply protects skin. The ingredients after are castor seed oil, beeswax, lanolin, and coconut oil. Seriously. That’s pretty much all this is. It isn’t really a great lip balm. Sorry! It is however a great occlusive layer to put on after applying lip balm to seal it in before bracing the chilly winter cold. It’s been great for snowy and windy walks this season and that’s primarily what I would suggest it for. Basically fancy vaseline.
With the different colored packagings for each flavor I can see how it can become a bit of a “collect em all” situation with these for some fans!
Glossier also has a serious merch section which I definitely fall victim to repeatedly. Their hoodie ($60) is actually so nice and cozy, and I have a lot of hoodies! It’s very thick and fleecy on the inside with a double layered hood. Very clearly a winter item, and feel free to size up despite their claim that it already is (perhaps mine shrunk in the wash? unsure). They come out with different color ways seasonally since the original iconic pink so there’s bound to be a version for everyone. Right now there’s a cream and a burgundy but I’m hoping they bring back the “sage” or something more green!
The makeup bag ($45) has become a huge staple item for me, I always use it when traveling now. It’s also unassumingly large, it fits in my Kanken backpack with plenty of room to spare (not the roomiest backpack, notably) but I managed to even fit the BlendBunny blends palette in its interior side pocket last time I travelled. The felt insert piece protects all of my products inside and the exterior pocket is great for tweezers or pencils. It’s really the quintessential makeup bag for me. They came out with a chrome ($55) one this holiday season and… resisting the temptation was tough but the price point has been enough to scare me away (although that doesn’t mean I still don’t lust after it haha). There’s also a mini ($35) now as well which I feel I need only because I love cute small things!
Weirdly at the sale I picked up the wavy tray ($20) which is a soap dish designed after their makeup holders at the stores. I seriously needed a new soap dish and was struggling to find one that drained water without getting moldy. It’s entirely cast resin and very smooth so easy to clean off and the troughs don’t spill water everywhere but still allow for proper drainage from the soap bar. The blush color goes perfectly in my bathroom with my dusty pink wall paint.
Glossier has a huge line of skincare as well that they are equally as known for as their makeup line, however that’s not really my thing and I only bought the mini of the after baume because the jar was really cute. So that’s my problem.
They also have a perfume range although I’ve only smelt their original You and it’s not really my thing. I’m rather picky about fragrances and enjoy natural smelling, white florals so if you’re curious about that you can check out my favorite perfumes here. My order came with a solid perfume for free and there’s something about this that smells better than the bottle version, I think sort of less sharp and intense, plus it’s encased in a super adorable pink coated metal pebble.
Well that’s everything Glossier for now! If it’s not clear yet, I do really like what I’ve tried from the brand. Although I don’t think I totally classify as a “brand fan.” The stretch concealer is definitely a massive staple in my collection and currently the only concealer I have so that product definitely gets my immortal and universal stamp of approval!
Next from the brand I would really like to see them do some sort of pressed powder, they do have a loose one but I’m unfamiliar with it (it’s not at Sephora for some reason). Also a revamp of their eyeshadows, the liquid ones are sort of passé formula wise and the powders are really blagh. I think they could do great cream eyeshadows and apparently they just came out with shadow sticks although the shades feel a little uninspired to me. They’re phasing out their lidstar liquid shadows (the original ones!) which had really pretty shades so it would be nice to see those colors replicated.
The haloscope highlighter is also for some reason not at Sephora but I found it way too sticky and goopy. People love their lip gloss as well but I find my Tower28 one works just fine for me at a lower price with nicer packaging.
Thank you for reading or just stopping by!