I had promised myself that I wouldn’t fall for the hype.
I managed to stay away from Kylie Jenner’s collections, and as someone who is not a Rihanna fan, I was pretty confident I wouldn’t give in and buy anything from her collection either. But curiosity got the better of me, and a post dinner stroll past a Sephora on Friday (the day the brand launched) led me to invest in a few products from her new collection.
Let me explain.
My search for a foundation that is an exact match, covers all my acne scars and doesn’t look cakey, has been unsuccessful thus far. Despite having tried multiple brands, I have never found one that ticked all the boxes.
Since the Fenty Beauty range has 40 foundation shades, I hoped there was one for me. And there was. The make-up artist at Sephora first applied the smoothing Pro Filt'r Retouch Primer (Dh150) and then buffed in the tiniest bit of foundation on half of my face, and it was love at first sight.
The formula of the Pro Filt’r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation (Dh170) is incredibly light, offers medium to high coverage, has a matte finish, and according to the description on the Fenty website, sets itself, so you do not need any setting powder.
The foundation creates the impression of flawless skin, and who doesn’t want that?
But then it was like I had opened Pandora’s box. Like a kid in a candy store (which is what Sephora is, anyway, for beauty junkies), I started to peruse. The Match Stix seemed a little too dry for my liking, and I found the whole magnetised aspect a bit gimmicky – basically encouraging you to buy more.
The yellow gold Killawatt Freestyle Highlighter in Trophy Wife, which seems to be the most popular product on social media, was a little too bright and glittery for my liking. What caught my attention, though, was the Fenty Beauty Free Style Highlighter Duo in Ginger Binge/Moscow Mule (Dh160) – a gorgeous rose gold duo. I felt the shades were more flattering for my olive skin tone, and I could use the duo as a highlighter, eye shadow, and even on top of my lipstick on a night out.
The tools, while pretty, were nothing out of the ordinary, and there are similar ones with a cheaper price point from Sephora’s own range.
The Gloss Bomb Universal Lip Luminizer (Dh95) was my last purchase of the night – a little bit sticky, but with decent weartime, the brown lip gloss is supposed to suit all lip tones, and I liked the way the shimmery specks add the right amount of drama.
I have to admit, I am impressed with the Fenty Beauty range. It is also a smart move on the company’s part to not release a full range of products in one go, and keep some, like eyeshadows and lipsticks, for the future, to keep beauty junkies like me coming back for more.
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