Glossier | Is it Worth the Hype?

If you’re on social media, then there’s no doubt you’ve heard of the juggernaut of the beauty world, Glossier. Reasonably priced products that promise exceptional results, but is their reputation deserved?

Glossier is an American skincare and beauty company promising California cool-girl skin and effortlessly chic, glowing makeup looks to its customers. “Glowing, dewy skin is our thing”, they proudly declare on their site. Their skincare products have been designed to maximise your skin’s luminosity in order to provide a perfect canvas for makeup.

The aim is to ensure you don’t need to wear as much makeup, allowing you to rock those natural looks often sported by models on beach shoots – only minus the dreamy weather because, let’s face it, we’re in England.

My first experience of Glossier came about when I saw an Instagram post promising brows of Cara Delevingne’s calibre. Boy Brow (£14) is one of their bestsellers and it’s pretty darn easy to see why. It has fast become one of my all-time beauty favourites. It can’t work miracles – my brows definitely aren’t in the same league as Delevingne’s (whose are?!), but it does make them look thicker, fuller and stronger in colour. I use the shade Brown to maximise my brows’ depth – even back when I was blonde as I found the blonde edition a little mousy. I’d strongly recommend adding this little gem to your makeup bag!

Their Generation G (£14) lipsticks were created to offer a different kind of lip colour. Aiming for a casual, “just-blotted” shade only “without the blot”, it promises a sheer, matte colour that “allows your natural lip colour to shine through”. I’ve used a few of these, but I do find them a little lacking. The colours don’t last long enough on my lips, so even though the shades do as they say on the tin, you’re having to reapply them a lot throughout the day, which takes away that casual, breezy vibe Glossier are after.

Another makeup product I found quite disappointing was Lash Slick (£14), their mascara. The formula is great in that it doesn’t tend to smudge or flake – except when the tube is almost empty and needs replacing, but all mascaras tend to get like that in my opinion. It just takes quite a while to build the length of my lashes the way it claims to. They’ve dubbed it “the perfect everyday mascara”, but as someone who often struggles to sleep and snoozes their alarm an embarrassing amount of times, it’s one I can only use when I have the time to devote to going over and over my lashes to create my desired look. That isn’t often, folks.

They also offer highlighters, skin tints, face powder and concealers. Concealer is one of my absolute must-have products, but I haven’t risked buying one from their site just yet as there doesn’t look to be one pale enough for ghost girls like me. My under-eye shadows are devastatingly dark, so I need a powerful opponent to defeat them. I’m hoping Glossier products will be stocked more frequently throughout England so there’s the chance to try their concealer out in person. It’s £15, which I think is a reasonable price for a decent concealer – it’s just a shame I haven’t managed to try yet!

Their skincare line is wonderfully eclectic. From masks, to serums, to rich moisturisers and their iconic Balm Dotcom skin salves, there’s definitely something to suit all. I would strongly recommend their Priming Moisturizer (£18) which has fast become one of my skincare heroes. It’s rich, without clogging your pores (the dream), and buildable, so on days where your skin is feeling a little dry and needs some TLC, this moisturiser swoops in to save the day.

A fairly recent addition to their line is the wondrous Milky Oil. It’s a brilliantly effective waterproof makeup remover, made up of micellar water and “weightless oil” to dissolve makeup without the need for excess rubbing and pulling at your delicate face. It also doesn’t leave your skin feeling gross and greasy, like many oil-based products do. They say it’s designed to accompany their Milky Jelly Cleanser, and it seems like a much needed partner to me – I found Milky Jelly rather ineffective at removing makeup solo. It’s a gorgeous face wash for when you’re first starting your day, but I felt it didn’t remove my makeup properly on its own. With Milky Oil, however, they become somewhat of a dream team! If you’re only after one of them, definitely go for Milky Oil and you’ll have zero regrets.

For body care, I haven’t fallen in love with Glossier’s offerings. They only have two products, the Body Hero Daily Oil Wash (£15) and the Body Hero Daily Perfecting Cream (£18); you can get the duo as a set for £28 like yours truly – ever the slave to a multi-buy saving. It’s not that they were bad products, I just found them extremely expensive for what they actually do. The body wash is oil based, so it doesn’t froth up like a regular shower gel, and claims not to strip and disrupt your skin’s pH like soapy body washes can. I didn’t notice any difference in my skin’s texture, nor did it feel any cleaner, whilst using this product. I also felt like I had to use a lot of the wash to feel truly cleansed, which meant it didn’t last long and at £15 a pop, that was pretty damning for me. I wouldn’t buy it again. The Body Hero Cream, however, is a much stronger product and definitely left my skin feeling soft, supple and looking dewy – but so do many other body moisturisers that are significantly cheaper. This product is something I may ask for as a birthday present, but not something I’d necessarily want to purchase for myself. It’s just a tad too pricey for the results.

Glossier have some truly amazing products in their catalogue, but they also have some pretty average ones too. That could be down to personal preference, or it could be the case for everyone – it’s simply not possible to please all of us! Their prices are sometimes a little high, but then they do offer saver kits and sets so you can get more products for less. For me, this is a brand that’ll give you some products you won’t ever want to be without (Boy Brow, I’m looking at you, boo) and some you’ll likely forget (Body Hero shower gel, anyone?). They do seem to listen to their customers and update their formulas fairly regularly to improve their effects. I believe this is a brand that truly cares about their customers, which can be pretty rare these days.

I think we’ll see a lot more from Glossier and frankly, I can’t wait to see what they come up with next! Have you ever tried Glossier? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below! Thanks for reading, it really does mean a lot.

Much love,

INSTAGRAM: @honestlyjessa_

TWITTER: @honestlyjessa_

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