Sometimes I get so bored with my makeup. I’m tired of seeing all the same best selling products circulating. Yes, I know the L’Oreal Lash Paradise mascara is amazing. I’ve tried the Makeup Revolution concealer and it’s great. Of course Morphe eyeshadows are life changing. But what about everything else?! I need some affordable and underrated face makeup hidden gems to get me excited about trying new products.
There have to be killer knock-your-socks-off products out there that no one is talking about. I’m craving some hidden gems to liven up my everyday routine so I started scouring online to see what I could find. And giiiirl, I found so many highly reviewed products I’ve never heard of that I decided to break the products up into Face, Eyes, and Lips categories. There were too many to fit in just one post. So first up is face. I’m so excited to talk about these affordable and underrated face makeup hidden gems.
I went onto Ulta’s website and used the filtering features to my advantage so I could narrow in on price and highly reviewed. I filtered out all the things I’ve heard about a million times and searched for products I’d never heard of. The products didn’t have to have hundreds or thousands of reviews (even better if they didn’t). All the more hidden gem-y. But I just wanted to see the products people were raving about but might not be as widely known. There were a few products that I have tried but most of them were new to me so I’m excited to test some out!
I will further categorize these face products into groups like highlighters, primers, etc. and will note any personal experience I’ve had with the products or tips on who the product might work best for.
PRIMERS
// Catrice Prime & Fine Hydrating Face Primer
I actually love this primer and think it’s great! It has a lovely non-silicon-y moisturizing formula which I prefer. It sinks into my skin and helps give me a hydrated base for foundation. Is it that much different than a regular moisturizer…not sure? But I would repurchase. It’s very similar to the Maybelline Hydrating Primer but a few dollars cheaper 🙂
//Makeup Revolution Pore Blur Primer (online only)
This looks very similar to the Benefit POREfessional primer and has similar claims of smoothing and pore filling. If you don’t like a silky or slippery texture to your skin, you may not like this. But if you love the Benefit primer but hate the price tag, give this a shot!
//Milani Prep+Brighten Rose Face Oil (online only)
You could use this as a primer, mixed in with your foundation or just by itself on no makeup days.
// Covergirl Simply Ageless Anti-Aging Foundation Primer
The formula contains Olay moisturizer which will boast plenty of skincare properties. This will work best with normal or dry skin types and can be worn as a primer, by itself, or mixed in with foundation similar to the Milani Rose Oil
FOUNDATION
// Ulta Adjustable Coverage Foundation
Innovative formula that you can use wet or dry to build coverage. Applying dry will give you lighter coverage and applying with a wet sponge will give you more coverage.
CONCEALER
// Ulta Full Coverage Liquid Concealer
This concealer really is full coverage and rivals high end formulas like Tarte Shape Tape. I also included this in my Top Ten Affordable Concealers post.
BLUSH
// Essence Satin Touch Blush
This blush is $2.99!!! The only bummer is that they only have 2 shades. I would love to see them come out with more.
// Morphe Blushing Babe Blush Trios
I love blush trios because they give you so much versatility. These trios offer 3 different shades or you can mix and match them to create even more shade variations. I don’t always reach for the same blush shade day in and day out depending on my makeup look so sometimes I want options.
// Pacifica Cherry Bomb Cherry Cheek Powders
Pacifica is a brand that I just forget about and don’t really know what to try? Anybody else? If you have a favorite Pacifica product, leave me a comment! But this palette looks beautiful and is highly rated.
HIGHLIGHTER
// Sleek Makeup Cleopatra’s Kiss Highlighting Palette
This palette circulated in popularity maybe a year or two ago and I don’t really hear people talking about it anymore. Again, a palette can give you options. And these highlighters will be intense!
// Sleek Makeup Highlighting Elixir Illuminating Drops (online only)
If you are more into cream and liquid highlighter vs a powder, this would be a great option! With a liquid formula, you can use it alone or mix it with another liquid product like foundation or moisturizer.
// Milani Stellar Lights Highlighter Palette (online only)
Milani has a really great highlighter formula so this palette will definitely pack a punch! Note that there are 2 shade options to choose from.
// Makeup Revolution Incandescent Face Quad Highlighting Palette
Ideal for light to medium skin tones. Makeup Revolution also makes another version for medium to deeper skin tones called the Ignite Face Quad
// Catrice 3D Glow Highlighter
Yet another intense highlighter that will give you major glow! Random observation – the Warm Embrace shade looks like golden grams on the top ha!
// Wet n Wild MegaGlo Loose Highlighting Powder
Last but not least of the intense highlighters is a slightly different formula. If you are curious and want to play around with a loose highlighter formula, you can’t go wrong with these for $7.50!
PALETTES
// Catrice California In A Box Bronzer and Blush Palette
This is a perfect example of a hidden gem for me because when I think of Catrice, I probably wouldn’t reach for a face palette (even though their face products are amazing). This palette just wouldn’t stand out to me. Buuuuut apparently it’s worth checking out. They have a few other palettes like this with different names but those don’t have near the great reviews that this one has!
These 16 products round out my affordable and underrated face makeup hidden gems. Were any of these hidden gems to you? Did you discover something new you’re excited to try? Stay tuned for my next two posts which will be eye hidden gems and lip hidden gems.
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