I consider Glossier to be one of those brands that cater to both Millennials and Gen Z, but they have this minimalist cool and youthful social media-loving aesthetic that feels unapproachable to me. The marketing just isn’t my vibe, yet I’m fascinated by it all the same.
I’ve discussed the Cloud Paints and Solar Paints before, but this time I have one of the two newest full-size Cloud Paints to feature, plus the exclusive mini 2023 Holiday set, as well as the other Glossier products in my collection that haven’t been reviewed here until now. I’ve wanted to do a brand overview for years, but it’s taken so long to acquire enough products that suit my makeup preferences. So, here we go in 2024!

Cloud Paints

My collection of full-size ones I currently own are shown above. I am decluttering Spark, Beam, and my older tube of Storm because I’ve had them all for too long. The other three were purchased late last year.

I was so excited for the shade Rise because reddish brown/terracotta type of shades are my favorites for a natural looking flush of color on my cheeks. The minis that came in the holiday set are significantly smaller, which I don’t mind because you don’t need a lot of product. The downside is that the opening is the same size as the full-size, and the pressure needed to squeeze product from the base of the tube makes too much product come out every time, which then wastes what is already so little product. Even when I’m being super careful, I sometimes run into the issue of blush still squirting out forcefully.

Puff doesn’t really show on my cheeks, but it makes for an interesting mixer shade, the way I used to use Beam and am now using Dusk. These types of shades alter the undertone, making them more to my liking or tones down the vibrancy.

Two weeks ago, the brand distinguished between Cloud Paint Blushes and their newly launched Cloud Paint Bronzers. I would be interested in trying them in the future because my only issue with the Solar Paints was the intense shimmer present. If the Cloud Paint Bronzers are identical to that formula (but shimmer-free), I’d like them. If they are slightly sheer like the blushes, I’m not as sure. However, I wonder if they could potentially mix well with the blushes in order to turn them into toned down nude or more neutral leaning colors.

As for Soar, I literally forgot I reviewed this before HERE, but here we go again! I have a few more mixing examples over there.

After using Soar, Puff, and Rise, I can confirm what I said in my original review about Storm (newest at the time) compared to the older shades: the new shades continue to be less pigmented. These colors are vibrant, but the ratio of gel to pigment of the newer shades makes it easier to have an even more natural look to the skin while not being overly natural to the point of having a watercolor serum-like effect. When I want lighter coverage or something to wear on low-makeup days, I reach for these. When I want something with a bit more pigment, I reach for the Rare Beauty ones, but even RB’s newer shades are less pigmented too.

Glossier offers free samples with orders and this time I got the shade Eve which is a much deeper version of Storm. If I use it super sparingly, it can look quite pretty, but this type of hue on my skintone can also look a bit like a bruise. So, this isn’t a color I would buy, but figured I could show it anyway for anyone curious about that color.

If these were the only liquid blushes in my collection, I’d have way more of the shades to be able to mix and match them. It’s one of my top two favorite liquid blush formulas because of the ease of blending, longevity on the skin, and how it dries down fully without a dewy or sticky feeling left on the skin. Because these aren’t the only liquid blushes in my collection, I didn’t go overboard on the shade repurchases. However, if I ever use up my tube of Rise, the chances are high that I would eventually buy it again.

Futuredew Oil Serum Hybrid

Glossier’s Futuredew is one of those hero products I’ve heard everyone talk about before, so I was excited to finally try it. It has an interesting herbal scent. Up close I can see the tiny sparkles or “light-reflecting minerals” within the pearly light-pink liquid, so I was hopeful. However, it doesn’t do much for the look of my skin or makeup if used in a normal amount. Perhaps my skin is just too dry because within a minute of being rubbed in, it’s practically all absorbed by my skin (as seen in my hand photo above) without leaving much of a dewy look behind. It can make ashy skin look normal, but it never makes me look dewy unless I slather enough layers of it on my skin. For daily use, I use the maximum amount that feels comfortable for me to tolerate because in large amounts (which is needed for the dewy look) it feels greasy and a bit heavy. While it’s true that I can load it up, it’s not practical for me to do that on a regular basis. However, I’m willing to do that for special occasions, and it was admittedly super helpful for my wedding, but more on that later.

I wasn’t about to take the whole heavy thick glass bottle with me in my luggage, as shiny and pretty as it is, so I put some in a tiny container to bring with me to keep testing. I tried prepping my skin well and applying the Futuredew and the results on my bare face were the same. A difference is only made by layering it up, so I don’t bother to use this for skin prep.

When trying to utilize this as a makeup primer, it doesn’t improve the longevity of my makeup. The results are normal. In addition, the tiniest bit of sheen that lingers visibly is completely hidden the moment I put on foundation. No luminosity shows through underneath unless I apply an ultra generous amount of product. Considering how my dry skin is behaving in German winter, where my natural oils still don’t come out even at the end of the day, loading up the product has been the answer to getting my foundations to at least have a natural look to it rather than matte. Under foundation, it was still impossible to look dewy, especially when I needed to lock-in my makeup with setting powders and sprays to prevent transfer and keep my face looking as fresh as possible in photos, but my foundation would have looked displeasing without it. As unimpressed as I was with how much product I needed to use to achieve the look I wanted (and technically still could not achieve fully), the Futuredew still ended up being helpful to me and saved the day.

I should note that the brand says using this product will cause the skin to be brighter and more glowy over time, but I’m not sure that I believe those claims. I will continue using the amount I brought with me and if I notice any improvement, I’ll update this post.

Milky Jelly Cleanser (Travel Size)

This is another product I was excited to try because it was hyped up for years as this luxurious type of cleanser, especially by popular influencers. I’m planning to include this in a cleanser post in the future, but my full thoughts on this product is that I don’t like it. It’s not milky or jelly-like in texture, only in looks. The “conditioning” part of the label better explains how it feels, which is like I’m rubbing lotion or hair conditioner on my face. I don’t know if there’s a term for it, but I’ve always been the type that gets unnerved by having anything oily feeling on my fingers and palms. I can tolerate putting on lotion if it’s the fast absorbing type that doesn’t leave a film or slippery layer on my body that I will continue feeling when skin touches skin for an extended period of time. I don’t mind those in-shower body lotions because they go on my body, but rubbing this milky jelly cleanser on my face just feels wrong because of my quirky sensory issue.
This might have been a feeling I could get used to over time, but this is advertised as being able to dissolve makeup even though it doesn’t! Or at least, my makeup is apparently too heavy duty for this cleanser to remove properly. Even on lighter makeup days, my skin never feels clean enough after washing my face with it, and it doesn’t pass the white towel test. If I wear heavier skincare like other facial oils, a thicker heavier face cream, and/or sunscreen, even those I don’t feel properly get removed from my face. If the brand wants to market this as a face conditioner, fine, but it’s not a good cleanser at all. A cleanser should be able to do the bare minimum and actually clean the face. There are better gentle cleansers out there.

Monochromes Essential Eyeshadow Trio Palette in Prairie

Oh, how I’ve waited so long for this to go on sale so I could justify buying it! I’ve certainly paid more for three eyeshadows, and even a single eyeshadow, but I wasn’t confident that I would like these, so I didn’t want to pay full price. The reviews were certainly mixed.

I am happy to report that I’m satisfied with the completed look. I got more pigment than I was expecting, which is a good thing in this situation. The matte blended nicely. The satin may as well have been a matte on my eyelids because there wasn’t much of a sheen. It looks very bland. The metallic didn’t have as much shine to it as I prefer, even after wetting my brush, but having it saved the look for me considering how much more I liked it instead of the satin. Also, I’m not sure why they call it a metallic when it’s more like a low impact shimmer. Then again, that description, though more accurate, probably wouldn’t help with sales.

The concept of this is certainly interesting for single shadow lovers to be able to have a potential favorite color in three different finishes all in one compact. That’s not me, so I was never going to be the target customer for this product. I was just curious about the quality, which is better than I expected, but the format just doesn’t suit my needs. It could be useful for me if each individual pan was customizable, so I could put a different color in place of that useless satin (for instance the Clay Matte, Teak Matte, Heather Metallic, or Rosin Metallic). Being stuck with a single trio that is only replaceable with another premade trio (and honestly wasted space that could have fit 4 eyeshadows if the logo wasn’t there) is very limiting.

For those that like minimal makeup and nothing too sparkly, I guess I could say this would be nice. However, it’s just so far removed from the type of makeup I like that I can’t help but feel there are so many other brands that do single eyeshadows better, trios, and quads and all for the same price or cheaper. I’d even recommend a little Natasha Denona mini 5 pan over this. ND’s quality is better. The closest equivalent I can think of is the Huda Beauty/GloWish Micro Mini Eyeshadow Palettes. Those are similar quality mattes (perhaps even slightly better) with soft shimmers that are only a little more impactful than the Glossier metallics, and in shades that can create a slightly more nuanced monochromatic look, all for $21 instead of $27 (or $22 for just the refill alone). Plus, I’ve seen the GloWish ones go on sale for half off (a better discount than I’ve ever seen from Glossier). The pan sizes are different, but the GloWish quad has 4.05 total grams (0.14 oz) of product versus Glossier’s 3.9 grams (0.12 oz).

Glossier Samples/First Impressions

Perfecting Skin Tint G1-G6 (Sample)

There wasn’t enough of the sample to do an actual wear test, so I wanted to just show off the shade range in swatches. G4 is my closest match, but it’s a half shade off. I would need to mix it with G3 to get something that matched my whole face and not just the lightest spots.

Stretch Concealer G1-G6 (Sample)

There was enough of the sample to do a wear test. This concealer is too creamy. As much as I would like a creamy concealer because my under eye area can be so dry sometimes, my eye area shape and lines require me to have a concealer that is flexible enough to stay put through movement (like Givenchy Prisme Libre) or to solidly lock into place (like Tarte Shape Tape). Creamy concealers move too much and crease on me horribly. That was unfortunately the situation with this one, which is a shame because I liked the coverage.

Stretch Foundation (Sample)

I can only guess that my shade would fall somewhere in the MD3 range. I did my best to mix the two closest ones in the sample card to create a custom shade for me. However, the mixture turned slightly grey from the two shades being too far apart in depth. I have a slightly grey tinge where I wore it in the photo below. It doesn’t look as bad in the photo, but it was quite obvious in person. So, I can’t really say how I liked this foundation in terms of looks. In terms of performance, that side of my face looked greasy at the end of the day. I like a little dew, but not that much. It felt nice on the skin, but it transfers more than the amount that’s acceptable to me. Perhaps powdering it would have changed things. I can’t say if I would recommend it or not based on the first impression. At the foundation’s price though, I’d rather spend a little more for my tried and true foundations instead. So, I won’t be buying this one.

Body Hero Oil Wash (Sample)

I mentioned in the cleanser section that I don’t mind in-shower body lotions. The ones I’ve used before don’t trigger my sensory issue. The same goes for this. I like how it instantly gets frothy and creamy when it hits water and gets rubbed onto the skin. It washes off easily and leaves my skin feeling clean and moisturized without a residue layer lingering on the skin. If I wasn’t such a Lush stan, I would consider buying a full-size bottle one day. It also has a nice light scent which makes for a great experience in the shower, though it doesn’t linger on my skin once I’m out. I should note that the scent of nearly all body washes don’t cling to my skin after I’ve dried off.

Another thing I noticed is that I was unable to see this product on the Glossier website until I changed my country settings to the US. I checked reddit and found out that as of at least 3 months ago, this product has been unavailable to those in the EU. I’m not sure why.

Anyway, that’s everything for today!

I continue to be intrigued by Glossier and its products. Thus far, the only ones that I can really stand behind are the Cloud Paints and Solar Paints (I admittedly decluttered my Solar Paint though), but I think I’ve given the brand a decent try and I will continue to keep my eye out for anything else they release in the hopes to find another gem like the Cloud Paints.

Thank you for checking out this review!

-Lili ❤