The 4 Best Makeup Products I Tried, per an Obsessed Beauty Editor

This summer has been very kind to makeup lovers. Well, technically brands have been very kind with their summer launches. Whereas some months I try dozens of products most of which disappoint me—the last two months have been the opposite. But, it would be admittedly unhinged for me to give you a list of 18 products to go out and buy, so I’ve done the impossible and picked the four I love so much, they’re basically my children. 

Of the products I tried in June, the best of the best are Tarte’s new Creaseless Creamy Concealer, Clinique’s (limited edition) Black Honey Mascara, Huda Beauty’s Filter Soft Glow Liquid Blush, and One/Size’s Ultimate Blurring Setting Powder. 

Tarte Creaseless Creamy Concealer

Tarte’s Shape Tape has a reputation of mythological proportions to makeup connoisseurs. As a result, the brand is under a lot of pressure when it comes to a new release in that category. Its new Creaseless Creamy Concealer is far from being a sophomore (or whatever year) slump. It’s very pigmented, it is in fact creaseless, it blends seamlessly with skin and it’s very long-lasting. 

I can dab the tiniest bit on problem areas like a spot treatment, blend it, and it’s indistinguishable from my bare skin. But I can (and do) use it as an all-over foundation. It takes three small swipes of product to cover my entire face. 

Clinique Black Honey Mascara

I was decades late to the Clinique Black Honey hysteria, but I fully understand it now that I own the original Almost Lipstick. When I saw that extension products were going to be released, I had to try them and I am flabbergasted by the Black Honey Mascara. 

The color is not black, it’s not purple, it’s not brown—it’s some magical in-between that makes my dark brown eyes pop and look more awake. The mascara formula itself is lifting and subtle, which, as a person not particularly prone to the spider lashes thing, I appreciate. It’s like my lashes but more dense and fluttery. 

It’s also limited edition so you really shouldn’t sleep on it. 

Huda Beauty Filter Soft Glow Liquid Blush

This Huda Beauty blush is pigmented but the applicator is also small so you won’t end up with too much product on your face. It blends really easily and doesn’t move despite the heat advisory-level weather in New York. 

Pro tip: If you’re struggling with liquid blush application, I recommend this Glo Skin Beauty brush. I don’t know what the sorcery is but it’s the literal key (brush) to natural-looking and foolproof blush application. 

One/Size Ultimate Blurring Setting Powder

Until now, there was only one setting powder that I truly loved. My conspiracy theory is that most are made to make your skin look worse to bamboozle you into spending even more money on beauty products. One/Size’s Blurring Powder won’t do that to you! 

The trick is to only apply it on the areas that need it. For me this is my T-zone—it’s where my pores are the biggest and where my oily skin makes makeup weird as the day goes on. I dust a very small amount onto a loose bristled brush and dab, it does in fact disappear my pores and make my makeup immovable, even when I’m wearing my glasses.