I am an odd duck. Or at least, that's how I feel some days. I'm a total introvert and definitely need a lot of time to myself to charge up my emotional batteries, but I also LOVE meeting people and making new friends. There's something so fun about the process of getting to know a person and seeing your relationship change from being strangers to something more. It's the same with beauty. Every time I discover or am contacted by a brand I've never tried I feel that same fluttery excitement as I anticipate what our first encounter will be like.
Recently I was contacted by Glo Minerals and asked if I would be interested in trying a few of their newest product launches. At that point Glo was a brand I knew by name only, so I checked out their website to get a better understanding of what they're all about. As it turns out, Glo Minerals is the makeup line of Glo Professional, a brand designed for use by skincare professionals (dermatologists, estheticians, and the like). They're passionate about producing high-quality, cruelty-free cosmetics that will not only be safe and gentle for your skin, but also help protect it from UV and environmental damage. Their products are free of talc, non-comedogenic, and designed for use on sensitive skin.
As someone that totally nerds out over reading labels and likes to be conscious of the chemicals I'm putting on my face every day, I knew Glo Minerals was a brand that I would totally jive with. They ever so graciously sent me four of their newest product launches to play with, and I'm happy to report back and give you all the full scoop!
Now, I'm not going to lie. When it comes to my everyday makeup routine, primer is one of those steps I don't always make time for. It takes 15 seconds to apply, so I don't know why I'm being such a lazy girl, but in the rush of the morning it honestly doesn't always cross my mind. To me, primers were always about going above and beyond for special occasions where you want your skin to look its absolute best for as long as possible. But then I started using this primer, and now I don't want to go a day without it.
The Glo Minerals Mattifying Primer not only minimizes the appearance of pores and smooths out the look of your skin, but it also does a fantastic job of controlling oil. On its best days, my skin is combination, and on its worst I feel like a total grease ball. My main issue is that I have extremely enlarged pores around my nose, forehead, and chin that like to crank out oil all day long. A lot of primers do a fine job of filling in pores and making my skin look awesome for an hour or two, but most will do nothing to prevent my foundation from breaking up or my skin looking shiny by the end of the day.
This primer, though, has ingredients that actually absorb oil and keep your skin looking fresh all day long. The texture is a little strange at first, feeling almost wet and sticky. But it dries down to a completely smooth, comfortable matte finish. I just pat this over the areas of my face where I suffer from large pores before I apply my foundation and concealer, and it definitely has made a difference in how my makeup looks by the end of the work day. Another thing I also really like is that you can pat it on top of makeup for extra shine control without disturbing the product underneath if you're transitioning from work day into evening and don't want to redo your full face.
With a price tag $34 for 1 oz of product, this primer is definitely not what you might call "budget friendly". However, you need a very small amount of product per application, so one tube is going to last you for several months with regular use. And if you know what its like to be entirely frustrated by your skin looking incredibly shiny no matter what you do, it might be totally worth the investment for you.
Ingredients: Aqua (Water/Eau), Magnesium Aluminum Silicate, VP/VA Copolymer, Polymethylsilsesquioxane, Glycerin, Propylene Glycol, Kaolin, Phenoxyethanol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Capryl Glycol, Hexylene Glycol
Glo Minerals also recently released a new Shadow Primer ($20) to help you up your eye makeup game. This formula is designed to smooth the lid, intensify pigments, and prevent creasing. It's a semi-transluscent cream with a bit of a slippy feel that takes a while to dry down, similar in a lot of ways to the Too Faced Shadow Insurance or Urban Decay Primer Potion. I think if you're going in with any kind of a pressed pigment or metallic shadow it'll do a fantastic job of locking it into place because it stays a little tacky on the eyes for a while, but if you want to do a lot of blending you'll either want to wait for it to dry completely or set it down with a transluscent powder to keep things from looking patchy.
I do feel like this made the colors of my eyeshadow pop more and last longer than they would have without any primer, however I feel that way about most eye primers in general. If you aren't using any primer at all this will definitely make a huge difference in the look and wear time of your eyeshadow. But if you're already using a similar product I don't think you're going to find drastically different results by switching to this one.
Ingredients: Isododecane, Mica, Polybutene, Disteardimonium Hectorite, Synthetic Beeswax, Trimethylsiloxysilicate, Propylene Carbonate, Tribehenin, Stearalkonium Hectorite, Microcrystalline Wax, Trihydroxystearin, Phenoxyethanol, Silica, Ethylhexylglycerin, Methicone, (+/-): Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499)
While the Glo Minerals Lipstick ($20) is not a new product, they have released two new shades into their permanent collection. Both were originally seasonal colors for the holidays that were so well received Glo decided to make them available year round. The first is Organza (pictured above), which is a beautiful warm, peachy nude. I found the formula on this shade to be very creamy and easy to apply, and I loved the way it looked on my lips. This winter has been all about the deeper, cool-toned mauve-y nudes, so to me this shade is a refreshing change of pace for spring.
The second color (pictured below) is Fixation, which is described as a bright watermelon. This lipstick is definitely not for the faint of heart, but if you're willing to rock a bold shade I think you'll find it absolutely stunning. This kind of shade is what I like to think of as confidence in a tube. It's super fierce, yet still flirty and will totally wake up your whole face. It totally screams summer and bright cheery vibes to me, and I think would look especially gorgeous on those with deeper complexions. The one thing I will not about Fixation was that I felt the formula on this particular shade was a bit drier and more difficult to apply than Organza was. Maybe its a little more richly pigmented, but I felt that it skipped and tugged a bit more on the lips. Once it's on I didn't find it to be dry or uncomfortable feeling, it just required a bit more attention and finessing in application.
Ingredients: Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil, Octyldodecanol, Kaolin, Pentaerythrityl Tetraisostearate, Ozokerite Wax, Isononyl Isononanoate, Paraffin Wax, VP/Eicosene Copolymer, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Copernicia Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax, Microcrystalline Wax, Octyl Palmitate/ Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Silica, Vinyl Dimethicone/Methicone Silsesquioxane Crosspolymer, Dl-a-Tocopherol, Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E), Vanillin, Camellia Oleifera (Green Tea) Leaf Extract, Retinyl Palmitate (Vitamin A), Ascorbyl Palmitate (Vitamin C), 2-Phenoxyethanol, (+/-): Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Yellow 5 Lake (CI 19140), Yellow 6 Lake (CI 15985:1), Iron Oxides (CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499), Blue 1 Lake (CI 42090), Red 7 Lake (CI 15850), Red 28 Lake (CI 45410), Red 30 Lake (CI 73360)
So as far as new beauty friends go, I think Glo Minerals and I are getting along just swimmingly. They are definitely a little bit more of an investment cost-wise, but I think their price points are fair for the quality of the ingredients in their products and effectiveness of the formulas you're getting. Because Glo Minerals is not a brand that sells to commercial beauty retailers, you can either order online from the Glo Professional website, or through your local skincare professional (you can find a retailer near you here).
And of course, I want to give a big appreciative thank you to Glo Minerals for sending me these products to test and share with you all. I know they also have some really exciting spring launches on the way that I can't wait to get my hands on and experiment with! If you've ever used Glo Minerals products before I would love to hear about your favorite products from the brand and if there is anything I should try out next. Let me know in the comments down below!
Which Glo Minerals product would you be most excited to try?
*These products were sent to me complimentary for review purposes. All opinions expressed are my own. For more information regarding my affiliations and disclosures, click here.
