Beauty

It seems that almost every day there is a new beauty product hitting the market: new eyeshadow palettes, a new lipstick formula, and foundations galore. The beauty industry is constantly churning out products that we, the beauty-obsessed, eat up with glee. As the industry becomes more saturated with products, companies are looking for new ways to appeal to customers, and the best way to do that is to release products we’ve never seen before. Innovation is always a good thing, and as more companies fight for our attention, producing new products with different benefits, delivery, and packaging is important. 
Being the beauty junkie I am, I’m always looking for the most interesting new item on the market and how it compares to the products we already know and love. I’ve rounded up the five best beauty innovations we saw in 2020 so you can try something new and exciting too! 

Fresh Beauty
Rose Deep Hydration Oil-Infused Serum

When this addition to the Fresh Rose skincare line came onto the scene this past spring, I was intrigued. A liquid serum infused with oil? How did it work and what did it do? This is a serum that you drop into your hands (it has a water consistency) and press into your skin. The serum delivers 24 hours of hydration to give you dewy and plumped skin. The water/oil formula is interesting because you have two phases mixing to hydrate. You can also use it morning or night, so it’s the perfect addition to your skincare routine, no matter the time of day. 

Corrale Hair Straightener

If you haven’t heard, Dyson isn’t your mom’s vacuum brand anymore –they’re making our new favorite hair tools now! You know about the blow dryer and the Air Wrap but in 2020, Dyson released a cordless hair straightener… yes, cordless. Have you ever wanted to straighten your hair while on a no camera Zoom call? Now you can! The straightener has a flexing copper plate to help you remain in control of the styling while also using less heat. The iron is made to reduce frizz, which we can all use a little help with. A cordless straightener that reduces frizz and breakage and still *actually* straightens hair? Innovation at its finest… 
Plus, we love how easy it is to curl with this straightener because of it’s curved shape. This video made all of our editors’ jaws drop. 

C-Lash Lash Naturals Replacement

This is an innovation that shouldn’t have taken until 2020 to develop, but better late than never. The London-based brand, Eylure released C-Lash, which is specifically made for those who have lost their eyelash hair to cancer treatments or other medical conditions. These lashes are made with a thicker-yet-softer and more flexible band to help adhere to the eye better and easier than other lashes. The story of how they came about is beautiful; C-Lash founder, Codilla Gapare was diagnosed with breast cancer, and after losing her eyelashes, she realized that regular fake lashes do not cut it for a lash replacement. Enter C-Lash. They partnered with Eylure to bring these false lashes to market, and the rest is history. 

Megababe Le Tush Butt Mask

A butt mask? Stay with me here… We have masks for everything else: our face, hands, feet, eyes, lips, hair… why not your tushy? Megababe is the beauty brand of our bodies–thank you, Katie Sturino–so why shouldn’t they be the ones to save our butts? The Le Tush Butt Mask is a three-minute clarifying mask that is formulated with glycolic, malic, and azelaic acid along with environmentally-friendly exfoliating beads to deep clean. There is also witch hazel to clarify and squalane and kelp to moisturize. It will leave your behind healthy, glowing, and ready for bathing suit weather (regardless of what time of year it is).

Fenty Skin
Fat Water Pore Refining Toner Serum

A toner and serum, this product defies the rules that a toner has to be drying and that a good skincare routine includes a dozen steps. This thick serum is unlike any other skincare product we’ve ever tried. It’s truly the hybrid of a toner and serum, as its texture is thick like a serum but spreads and feels like a toner on your skin. (How many times can I say “toner” and “serum” in just a few sentences?) Our editors tested this product, along with the whole Fenty Skin line–here was our review.

Benefit Cosmetics
Brow Microfilling Pen

Microblading has been all the rage over the past few years, but now, our favorite brow beauty brand has marketed that look for everyone. This “microfilling pen” has an ink-like formula to adhere to your brows and skin, mimicing the look of actual hair. If you follow the instructions on the Benefit website, you’ll look as if you came straight from the salon. This was especially necessary for 2020 since, ya know, we couldn’t get our brows done.  More

A byproduct of my Scandivian heritage? Very light colored eyebrows and eyelashes, the latter of which I’ve been darkening with
The post I Tried the Famous $5 Amazon Mascara, and Here’s the Verdict appeared first on The Everygirl. More

I’ve always had a bit of what we’ll call “commitment issues” with my beauty products. In this career, I try so many products and consume so much information about products that it makes it feel hard to really stick with anything; even if something really wows me, it’s easy to convince myself that something else will be better and keep looking for it even if it doesn’t really exist.All of that counts for everything except for one, single product; one that has made a visible change so much that I’ve shelled out the cash to purchase it four times (four!) and have gotten just about every woman in my life to buy: Grande Cosmetic’s GrandeLASH Lash Enhancing Serum.

About My Lashes
My eyelashes have always been somewhere around exactly average. I never had a huge problem with them—they’ve always been semi-long but pretty sparse—but they were mediocre enough to the point that when I saw the lash serum on a one-day deal back a few months ago, I decided to give it a shot.

About the Serum

With 2.6K reviews and 4.5 stars on Sephora, this serum has a bit of a cult following. It uses vitamins, antioxidants, and amino acids to help your lashes appear thicker and longer over time. It’s good for damaged or thinning lashes, but also for anyone who just wants to enhance the appearance of their lashes. It also is ophthalmologist-tested and approved and cruelty-free.

Application: 10/10
I’m all about the instant gratification of a product, and this doesn’t even begin show results for 4-6 weeks, and you don’t get the full results until after three months. Knowing I’d need to apply it every night for weeks before I noticed a difference made me think it was going to probably be more effort than it was worth for me. 
I applied it every night at the end of my skincare routine. To use it, you apply the serum just above your lash line—much like you would a liquid eyeliner. As far as product usage goes, this one is about as quick and easy to maintain as possible. I kept it in the section of my medicine cabinet that my nighttime skincare lives, and it made it easy to use consistently. I also make sure all of my eye makeup is completely off before I apply it, and that my lashes are dry as well.
I’m honestly unsure of if people generally use this on their bottom lash line too, but I stuck exclusively to the top. I consider myself to have pretty sensitive eyes, and I’ve never noticed any issues at all with irritation. 
When I used up my first tube, I was curious to see how long my lashes would maintain their newfound beauty. I took a break from it, and after maybe about a month, noticed that they were looking ever so slightly more sparse. I ordered another tube and used it consistently every night until I was out of it; but now, I keep one more for maintenance than anything else. I use it about every other night just to keep them looking great, not to try to get them to grow longer. Eyelashes obviously fall out and grow like our hair on our heads do, so the results of this aren’t going to make your lashes look amazing for the rest of your life; but with the right use, you can keep them looking at their prime without using the serum every single night.

Results: 9/10
Luckily, this was last March, at the beginning of quarantine, a time I had nothing to do but apply a serum to my lash line every night and hope for the best. I was consistent with it, and after about eight weeks, I suddenly noticed a difference I can’t even put into words. My lashes not only probably doubled in length, but were suddenly thicker, curlier, and darker. 

I felt, frankly, like a new woman. In my no-makeup mess of a work-from-home situation, I couldn’t believe the difference my new lashes made me feel: more awake and somehow put-together without makeup every day. At this point in time, my boyfriend said, “Can you please stop using that lash serum? Your eyelashes look like spider legs, and it’s freaking me out,” and if that isn’t a testament to it, I don’t know what is. (Just this weekend, my mom also told me “I look creepy” because my eyelashes are so long, which was another lovely piece of evidence that this stuff really works).

I love how they look on their own, but obviously, the results are really amplified with mascara. I love to use a volumizing mascara since, to be honest, if I use a lengthening one, they actually probably look a little too long. It takes no effort to make them look great—usually I just use one coat of mascara now, and sometimes even forego curling them.

Price: 5/10
The big caveat of this product to me is the price. For a completely unnecessary step it’s obviously expensive, at $65 for their regular-sized, 12-week supply. It definitely is what held me up from purchasing it sooner, despite all the hype I saw it consistently getting.
If you want to try it out without fully committing, they also have a six-week supply for $34, which allows you enough time to start seeing results and decide if you want to continue. Or if you’re addicted to it like me, they just released a jumbo size, which is a 24-week supply for a whopping $120 (which to be fair, will last six months). There are definitely more expensive lash serums on the market, but this one is not cheap by any means.

Since then, I’ve repurchased it every time I ran out so I can use it consistently, and it’s kept my lashes in tip-top shape. I recently got a pack of both the serum and their lash conditioner, and while I didn’t notice a difference from the conditioner, consistent use of the serum has made my lashes stay long and full. I hesitated to buy this product for so long for fear of shelling out a decent amount of cash on something that wasn’t going to work, but I now can’t imagine a time I won’t use this stuff. It’s an automatic repurchase in my book, which is something I can’t really say about any other product. Trust me: you won’t be disappointed by this. More