Coola Face Mineral Sunscreen SPF 30 - Unscented Matte Tint

Sunscreens can exacerbate acne-prone or sensitive skin, but Coola has managed to tick all the boxes (broad spectrum, high SPF quotients, multiple formulations to satisfy any use case) with their lineup, sans the seemingly inevitable breakout.

That being said, this tube takes the cake: it releases a fluffy, mousse like cream that nearly evaporates when applied to the face. It's beyond lightweight, it's weightless and cushions the skin with a high powered SPF, leaving skin matte with a soft focus blurring effect.

If you're looking for a no-makeup look, consider this one. It's not meant to replace moisturizer, but it's lightly hydrating and combination skin types won't be experiencing parched cheeks by the afternoon. It's managed to keep my fussy skin happy during this hot (and smokey!) Washington summer, and I've already snapped up another tube for fear of running out and having to forage other sun protection. 

Gressa eye tints

In my opinion, the most natural, modern eyeshadows exist in a cream formula. But up to this point, none have stood up to the resilience test of a full workday, until Gressa launched these little pots of definition-bending eye shadows. 

Svetlana Sanchez, chemist and founder of Gressa, came out with her gorgeous serum foundation hybrid a few years ago and just about everyone in the beauty world collectively lost their minds. Now other companies are following suit in including broccoli seed oil in their formulas, but none of them quite have the same your-skin-but-better effect that her foundations gave.

And, thankfully, she's applied her progressive formula creating prowess to eye shadows. These are finger-friendly pigments ranging in coverage from sheer shimmer wash to full on eye-liner-worthy opacity. The texture is like no other, at once firm and blendable, it's flexible like a cream and hard to mess up, but it stays put. Her 2017 launch of three additional colors, pictured above, demonstrate this range. All three are lovely solo (the white, however, makes a great backdrop when you want to layer shadows and make the color really pop)  but blended together, they create the perfect dusky gray-green that looks amazing on anyone and offers enough color to make things interesting without veering into a full on statement. 

Also, I don't think Gressa's brushes have gotten the recognition they deserve. These have been my goto eye makeup brushes, the bristles are soft and maintain their shape, plus I have complete control out of the pigment placement even with a tight line. They've knocked my old MAC and Bobbi Brown brushes off of heavy rotation, and I hope Svetlana comes out with shorter, travel-friendly options. And, of course, more eye shadow colors.