I Tried Several Products In Selena Gomez's New Makeup Line, Rare Beauty — Here Is My Honest Review
Earlier this year, Selena Gomez launched her own beauty brand, Rare Beauty.
Her line includes everything from foundation to lipstick to brushes. As a fan, I immediately knew I wanted to try it out.
I wasn't completely sure where to begin, but I really liked this natural, everyday look that she put together in this "Get Ready With Me" video — so I decided to start there and mirror it.
But first, a little about me and my skin: My undertones can change (going from cool to slightly warm) depending on the season. My skin can also occasionally appear red due to acne scarring. Because of these two things, I sometimes have a difficult time finding the right shade of foundation.
At the moment I am also using clindamycin and tretinoin for acne, which can sometimes dry out my skin and cause issues for my foundation. But in order to fully test out Selena's line — and make it match the video — I decided to make foundation a part of my trial process.
Below is the rundown of everything I used from Rare Beauty to mirror Selena's look in her video. You'll also find my first impressions upon applying each product, and how everything held up after lunch and a full day of work.
The first thing I tried was the Pore Diffusing Primer — which was the first thing Selena applied in her video too.
I normally wouldn't apply primer with a brush. (Instead, I prefer using my hands to evenly distribute around my face). But for testing purposes, here we are. Right off the bat, I liked how the texture and how silky it made my face feel.
Next, Selena dotted the Liquid Touch Weightless Foundation all over the face. So I did the same, using shade 250W.
I could already tell I was going to need much more than shown here. And when I first dotted it on, I didn't like how thin the foundation felt. I was thinking that it likely wouldn't last throughout the day.
Then, I used Selena's foundation brush to blend everything in. The brush picked up a lot of the foundation, so I immediately knew I was going to have to add more product.
Here's round two of foundation application — for both Selena and myself.
I added some more around my nose, above my lip, cheeks, and forehead.
Still with me? Okay. Next stop, the Liquid Touch Brightening Concealer. I used the shade 320W.
Texture and consistency-wise, I really LOVED this one right away. (Also worth noting: I would normally add this in one swoop rather than dots, but I'm following Selena's lead here.)
Then it was on to the Soft Pinch Liquid Blush. And Selena was not kidding with the "soft pinch" part — because this blush was very pigmented.
As you can see, a little goes a long way. I used the shade Grace, a matte rose mauve.
A brush was key here — because, as a liquid, the blush goes on very boldly. The brush helped in letting me move the blush around evenly, and turn things from kind of intense to softly blended.
In Selena's video, she added bronzer next — but did not name the brand, and Rare Beauty does not offer a bronzer that I could find. (Still, I added some of my own bronzer for consistency.)
Now, on to the shiny stuff: Positive Light Liquid Luminizer Highlight. I used Mesmerize, which Selena says is her "signature shade."
I loved this shade and finish, though I would have preferred to apply it with my hands, or at least a smaller brush.
And we're halfway through!
For some reason, brows weren't mentioned in Selena's how-to, but I used Rare Beauty's Brow Harmony Pencil & Gel in the shade Cool Brown.
FWIW, my brows do whatever they want and do not sit still. With that in mind, I could already tell the pencil would be way too thick for my liking. For brow pencils, I prefer something thinner so that I can add more natural strokes but the thickness of the Rare Beauty pencil would not allow me to do so.
Finally, the last step: adding her Lip Soufflé Matte Cream Lipstick. I used the shade Ascend.
I really enjoyed this color — which is described on the packaging as a deep fuchsia. I love bright lip colors and the texture upon applying was not drying at all, despite it being matte.
And here is the final look! I added Selena's Perfect Strokes Universal Volumizing Mascara to complete the look, though it was not mentioned in her video.
The only thing that I did not follow up with is a setting powder or spray. The closest thing I could find offered by Rare Beauty was this set of a powder puff and blotting papers.
Here's all the makeup in natural cool light, shot on my phone. So far, I loved how natural and effortless the highlighter looked — but I do wish I would have added more foundation.
As the day went on, I paid the most attention to how coverage and wear were holding up. For example, after lunch, my lip color had quickly worn off — although it did leave a bit of a tint.
Despite most of the color wearing off, I did appreciate how the lipstick — although matte — did not leave my lips feeling dry. No crustiness here!
As for the makeup? Here is a bit more of an up-close look halfway through my day. The highlighter still held up, but I did notice some patches of my skin showing through the foundation.
And because we all love a good nose shot, here's one where you can see that any foundation, concealer, or highlighter that was previously on the tip of my nose was... not there anymore.
Although, for my skin, it's pretty normal for most makeup to be gone from my nose before the end of the day, so I wasn't too surprised.
By the evening, my face was getting slightly shinier.
Again, that's sometimes bound to happen anyway depending on the day. But I did notice, because I did not set my face, there was a clear amount of creasing underneath my eye from the buildup of concealer — which I did not like. Had I properly set things underneath my eyes, it may have stood longer.
You can see my face has an overall slight shine, but for a full day's worth, I should note that I'm impressed by the blush's longevity.
That's in contrast to the thin foundation which had mostly worn off by this point, especially underneath the nose and lip area.
As for the brows and mascara? Most of the product from my brows had disappeared, but the mascara lasted all day.
Underneath my eyes, you can see the difference between the concealer and my skin. As mentioned earlier, I am using acne medication — so it is possible that the overall dryness I am experiencing is due to that, and it's potentially causing more separation than usual.
Overall? There are many products that I did enjoy using, plus a few that just aren't for me at all. Here's a recap:
? Pore Diffusing Primer: 3/5 stars. I liked how it made my face feel (very silky!), but I don't think it necessarily helped any product look different.
? Liquid Touch Weightless Foundation: 2/5. An almost-perfect shade, but it separated, wore off, and left me oily.
? Liquid Touch Brightening Concealer: 4/5. Perfect for throwing something on real quick, but I would use a setting powder to set it and perhaps go a shade lighter.
? Soft Pinch Liquid Blush: 5/5. A little goes a long way and I loved that!
? Positive Light Liquid Luminizer Highlight- 5/5. Loved the shade, how seamless it felt, and that it lasted all day.
? Matte Cream Lipstick: 5/5. Love the shade and texture. Even though it didn't last, I really appreciate any lipstick that doesn't make my lips feel dry.
? Liquid Touch Foundation Brush: 4/5. While you can use any brush you already own, I did like how easily it blended out the blush.
? Brow Harmony Pencil & Gel: 1/5. Loved the shade, but the pencil was too thick and the gel was too heavy and smeared.
? Perfect Strokes Universal Volumizing Mascara: 5/5. Lasted all day long — and added volume.
And there ya have it! While there may have been products I did not like, there were quite a few that I will continue to use and work with — and I'll be on the lookout if Rare Beauty releases a bronzer in the future, given how much I liked their highlighter.
PS: For foundation, I highly recommend Too Faced Born This Way Foundation, as it NEVER fails me. Similarly, for brows, I will stick to my Kosas Defining Eyebrow Pencil as it gives me what my brows needs every time.