Welcome to Top Shelf, Highsnobiety's monthly guide to the best new beauty products worth trying — and displaying in your bathroom.
After taking a two-week-long vacation that included ample time to mess around with new beauty launches, I'm pleased to return with your monthly report on WTF is actually worth buying.
While June was all about scorch-proof skincare (heatwave, anyone?), July brought the drama with bold, out-there colors and a healthy serving of bling. "No-makeup" makeup, no more.
Let's get into it.
ONE/SIZE - Fantasize Mascara
Patrick Starrr's latest creation curls like no other. As I've mentioned before, my Asian eyelashes are stick-straight and pretty unresponsive to most drugstore brands. Fantasize lifts, lengthens, and adds volume, the holy trinity when it comes to mascara.
Simihaze Beauty - Eye Play Angel Pack
DJ duo Simi and Haze Khadra created every festival-goer's new favorite face gems. Expanding their Eye Play range, a series of glitter and rhinestone stickers that zhuzh up any look, the Angel Pack is a set of baby pink and blue stones for the lid and brow area.
We all watched Euphoria, you're probably thinking. We know what face gems are. Here's where Simihaze's stickers differ from the rest: instead of uniformly chunky, they're small enough to create a more refined, delicate look, whether it's a sharp wing or an inner corner highlight.
Rare Beauty Kind Words Matte Lip Liner
You already know how I feel about Selena Gomez's Rare Beauty. Obviously, I'm a fan of her new lip liner, which features a built-in sharpener at the end. In 10 pinks and browns, the colors are ideal for accentuating the lips, sans lipstick. Recently, I've been lining my pout in the shade "Fun" and applying a sheer gloss on top.
Urban Decay - Vice Lip Bond
Just as Urban Decay's campaign promised, Vice Lip Bond is your E-ZPass to a Chloe Cherry-level pout. This stuff is super saturated and gorilla grips to the skin — meaning practice makes perfect, application-wise. I can't say it's totally transfer-proof, but it is a pain to remove.
Sunnies Face - Lip Treat
A moisturizing balm with a touch of color, Lip Treat is the kind of product you always want on hand. Easier to apply than lip liner and lipstick, the balm provides a quick flush of color and a shot of moisture for on-the-go glamour.
r.e.m. Beauty - Lunar Magic Primer
Ariana Grande's new primer is a godsend for oily T-zones. To smooth out pores and zap mid-day greasiness, I smooth a pea-sized amount — truly, a little goes a long way — over my nose and forehead before applying foundation. And unlike other blurring primers, Lunar Magic doesn't have that chalky, silicone-y feel.
Hourglass - Ambient Soft Glow Foundation
Julianne Moore is the face of Hourglass' new foundation, a fact that should be enough to convince you of its quality.
But if you need more to go off of than a campaign starring an iconic redhead, consider the following. Ambient Soft Glow is a medium-coverage, liquid foundation with a semi-matte, moisturizing finish. It's kind of a mid-way point between a skin tint and a full-coverage foundation, perfect for those days you don't want to go full throttle but still want something. I've been topping it off with Hourglass' Ambient Light Palette (another brand favorite) for a supernatural glow.
