Welcome to First Looks Friday, a new weekly beauty series that will highlight the newest, coolest, must-see products that hit our desks this week. Even though we do our best to include and post about the latest and greatest in the world of beauty, we’re flooded with so many cool formulas that we’re physically unable to feature every single one within our scheduled lineup of stories. But now, we can change that! Consider this your one-stop-shop weekly beauty debriefing of everything cool happening in the product industry. Though we haven’t tested these products long-term, you’ll get a quick description of the labels that caught our eye and the formulas we can’t wait to stow in our bags and take home with us. Keep scrolling for this week’s newest beauty haul.
A trio of new skin-improving serums with three different goals: a vegan collagen booster for plumping, a B12 booster for hydration, and a caviar lime-spiked vitamin C booster for brightening. Plus, a luxe jade roller to de-puff and maximize absorption.
Our favorite clean bodycare line just launched a product that’s music to our pits—a multi-mineral, multi-acid treatment deodorant that controls odor with the help from strategic natural ingredients like silica, zinc, kaolin clay, and mandelic acid. It’s made its debut in the brand’s cult-loved Eucalyptus scent.
Chock-full of clean ingredients, Kosas’s newest launch is a medium-coverage concealer created for every skin type. Not only does it help camouflage shadows and pigmentation, but the formula also doubles as a long-term skin-improving treatment for your delicate eye area and errant, stubborn spots.
This product isn’t new new, but dermatologist-developed brand Perricone MD must have known we’re currently on the hunt for a powerhouse formula to sculpt, firm, tighten, and contour our jawline and neck.
We’re obsessed with The Inkey List, a mega budget-friendly skincare line hailing from the UK that’s exclusively available at Sephora. Think the buzziest ingredients nestled into innovative formulas clocking in at $15 or less. Its latest spread of newness ranges from an oat-infused cleansing balm to an oil-busting peel pimped out with apple cider vinegar.
Parisian haircare line Kérastase is known for its hairstylist- and celebrity-loved strand elixirs, and its newest product line entails six key staples (two shampoos—one for normal-to-oily strands and one for normal-to-dry—a conditioner, a treatment mask, a scalp serum, and a blow-dry primer) to help repair and fortify distressed tresses. Each product was designed to prevent brush-instigated hair loss and breakage using a fusion of potent ingredients.
Meet the newest additions to The Lip Bar’s fast face—four stunning eye quads and six sparking liquid shadows that are easy to layer, color-coordinated, and super-pigmented for the ultimate, photo-worthy payoff. Our favorite shades are below!
Farmacy makes some of the most decadent clean beauty products in the industry, and we’re personally very excited that the brand has extended its pot of honey into the dreamiest bodycare launches—a hydrating wash that’s already sold out (but which you can join a waiting list for!) and a whipped, triple-butter body cream winter-parched skin will instantly drink up.
I’m obsessed with all things Maya Chia—the natural brand makes the loveliest skin heroes that quite literally make your skin glimmer with healthy radiance and moisture. Its latest launch is a unique, extremely gentle retinol treatment that uses encapsulated retinol alongside two forms of botanical retinols (bakuchiol and moth bean extract) to target telltale signs of aging like fine lines and wrinkles whilst plumping, smoothing, and brightening your complexion.
Haven’t heard of 14-free polish brand Orosa? We’re here to make the introduction, and the brand’s vegan, cruelty-free Desert Garden Collection is the ultimate ice breaker bursting with creamy, opaque color. Meet Sky (a bright, periwinkle blue), Dune (a chocolate milk nude), and Wildflower (a vibrant red with hints of pink). Purchase the collection as a three-piece set or individually of one shade in particular strikes your fancy.
Verb’s hair products are so craveable that whenever the brand debuts a new product, it makes you join a waiting list in order to get first dibs. (This will be available March 17, by the way!) Full of great ingredients (like lush açaí extract, zinc, vitamins, protein, etc.) and none of the more questionable (like parabens, gluten, and sulfates) this brass-banishing mask is the hydrating and reparative antidote of my personal, bleach-blonde hair dreams. Suffice to say, I can’t wait to try it on my next scheduled masking day. I’ll keep you posted!
Fun fact: Essence is my favorite drugstore makeup brand. (Seriously, everything is a dupe for a product that’s 10 times more expensive!) But it’s not too well-known. I suggest starting your experimentation off with its three new face palettes—one for blush, one for highlight, and one for bronzing and contour.
My beauty editor PIC Courtney Higgs and I FTFO when we opened Oaui’s exciting new launch of texture-centric shampoos and conditioners. Choose from fine, medium, or thick. I reached for the former, she reached for the latter, and we will most definitely let you know our thoughts.
Kenra Professional is one of my favorite, salon-level haircare brands, and I couldn’t be more excited for this clear (yay, no staining!) multitasking hair oil. It has a unique, water-like consistency that sinks into dehydrated strands, doesn’t leave behind a greasy aftermath, and also blesses your head with a halo of shine, thermal protection, and all the other good stuff you want from a fabulous hair oil.
This reparative line isn’t new, but it’s fabulous, and the brand knows I’m obsessed. (Perhaps why it sent me this? Regardless, thank you, Davines!) Amid its wide array of amazing haircare lines, Davines’s Naturaltech features a six-piece program of products that target hair and scalp health while combining sustainable beauty practices with the most innovative, cutting-edge strand technology. The Nourishing line, in particular, is geared toward hydrating and restructuring, and the shampoo, conditioner, moisture mask, restructuring mask, keratin sealer, and remineralizing tonic treat a dry, damaged hair and scalp.
Nyx always has a steady stream of really exciting makeup launches, but this dual-ended lippie comes in especially vampy shades and has a unique setup I’m super stoked to try—a jumbo crayon on one and a soft lip brush on the other so you can blur and blend your pout to perfection.
In celebration of its newest launch, Revlon sent me an adorable package of the brand’s best brow products. The new star of the show? This goof-proof water-resistant pencil that promises 16 hours of wear. And folks, this isn’t your average eyebrow pencil. the pencil part is one-part matte brow color, one part glistening highlighter. Then, on the other end, is a super-soft miniature kabuki brush for super-precise blending. I can’t wait to try this one.
This is big news. The makeup brand behind your favorite palettes, brushes, and more just dipped its first toe into skincare. Wishful is a completely new brand developed by Huda Kattan, and Yo Glow Enzyme Scrub is the first formula to hit our desk. It’s a gentle yet potent exfoliating scrub brimming with tropical fares like pineapple and papaya enzymes to buff away dead skin and reveal a glowing complexion. It’s so in-demand that it already sold out on Sephora (you can sign up to be notified when it’s back in stock), or visit the Huda Beauty website and buy direct.
New in from Gaga: cream-to-matte lip crayons in 12 head-turning shades. “We created Le Monster Matte Lip Crayon for the lipstick lover who can’t get enough,” Gaga reveals in the Haus Laboratories press release. “It’s easy to apply and stays on, just like my monster makeup stays on during concerts. It’s reliable, irresistible, and sexy.”
An ingenious, patent-pending styling tool that instantly makes your ponytail look thicker, perkier, and more voluminous—no extensions required!
FYI: Loops is an exciting, brand-new lifestyle-inspired brand with a hero product array of compostable hydrogel face, eye, and lip masks. They’re made in Korea, and each formula has a unique prescription to be used during a certain time of day (e.g., before bed, pre–big night out, post-week detox, etc.). I recommend trying the variety pack, which features all five of the brand’s must-try formulas.
You truly haven’t lived until you’ve tested Bawdy’s OG Butt Masks (aptly titled Slap It, Bite It, Squeeze It, and Shake It), and the latest releases entail some magic sticks. (I’m sorry—had to.) In addition to a CBD Butt Balm Stick, the brand also sent this Clay Butt Mask in stick form with ingredients like kaolin, montmorillonite, willow bark, and hyaluronic acid to detoxify, purify, plump, and hydrate your money maker. And on that note, I think I’m done here.
