I’m a Beauty Editor, Here Are My Top Under $100 Picks From the New Adore Beauty Store
Sarah Tarca is a beauty journalist, writer and co-founder of Australia’s first dedicated beauty newsletter, gloss etc. Her skills involve applying lipstick without a mirror, bullying people to wear sunscreen and procrastinating washing her hair. She loves her kids, skincare and potatoes in equal measure — almost as much as she loves SkinCeuticals CE Ferulic. Almost. Find her on socials @tarca
I test beauty products for a living (and have for the last 15 years!), and I also write regular column for Adore Beauty so I was pretty certain that I had tried every product Adore Beauty had to offer.
But, then I attended the opening of the first ever Adore Beauty store in Melbourne’s Westfield Southland, and I was shook.
There, in the shiny white lights were many new-to-me products I had yet to get across my face/hair/body.
I was humbled, but then I immediately got to trialling — and this edit is my incomplete list of current favourites from the store — from brands you may not have tried, but will definitely become favourites.
Basics by B Drama Mascara, $40.
I am painfully fussy with mascara.
I like volume — the fatter the lashes the better — but I have oily eyelids, so if it transfers it gets immediately, brutally dumped.
But this one passed the test with flying colours; and that tracks, I’ve tried a few things by this Aussie-makeup-artist-founded brand, and have always been impressed.
It’s a tubing formula, which means no transfer, and this usually also means no volume, but this is not the case here!
This somehow builds wearable volume, while also lengthening and separating, which is kind of amazing.
My only (minor) gripe is that your need to wipe down the brush once a week so it doesn’t get product build up.
COSRX Acne Pimple Master Patch, $7.90.
I’m yet to meet a COSRX product I haven’t loved.
But despite trying many products from this K-Beauty brand (most famous for their snail mucin products), I was yet to try anything from their acne range — mostly on account of the fact that I don’t suffer from acne.
Well now, my skin obviously heard me being smug about that and has recently served me some hormonal acne, which is sad news for my face, but great news for trialling.
They use hydrocolloid, which they use as a dressing for wounds, and it draws out all the gross stuff (pus, dirt, oil) overnight — and they turn a satisfying (disgusting?) white when they’ve done the job.
They also help to resist the urge to pick (yes, even beauty editors want to squeeze).
Mediheal Madecassoside Blemish Pad, $49.
I know, for someone without acne I’ve really been trialling a lot of acne products lately… but despite being marketed for blemishes, these act like a toner, and actually have a lot of great calming, brightening and ingredients like centella asiatica (cica), niacinamide and rosemary leaf so I enjoyed a quick wipe-over a few times a week when it felt like my skin needed a little boost.
Plus, it has the added benefit of helping with the post-pimple pigmentation that seems to go hand-in-hand with spots these days.
AB LAB by Adore Beauty Dewy-C SPF50+ Facial Sun Milk, $44.
Annoyingly, regulations in Australia (the Therapeutic Goods Administration) means I can’t share too much of my actual personal experience of using this, but suffice to say, that if it made this list you know it must be good.
What I can say is that an Adore Beauty customer called Su said this: “This is the perfect moisturiser/sunscreen combo. Light, moisturising, good under makeup,” and I think she’s 100% on the money.
The other thing I will say is that this is not an ordinary sunscreen, it’s a sunscreen with skincare benefits, which is why we have some awesome ingredients repping here: vitamin C, resveratrol, hyaluronic acid and glycerin.
So yeah, it’s a win-win for your skin.
iKOU Baobab & Neroli Calming Face Oil, $68.
I love this organic Australian brand which comes from the Blue Mountains in NSW.
They don’t use any heat in their botanical extraction methods which means they can preserve the integrity of the plant actives.
I also love that their whole philosophy is based on bringing spa rituals to the home, and this oil is exactly that.
A luxe, vitamin-rich blend of jojoba, rosehip , neroli, baobab and camelia oil, it’s full of fatty acids to nourish and protect the skin, smells gorgeous, and just leaves the skin with a dewy just-had-a-facial glow.
I love to press this into my face before I use a gua sha tool as the last step in my routine, it really just is the perfect kiss goodnight.
I could go on, naturally, but I’ve got to make a trip back to Southland to stock up on the next lot of things I haven’t tried ( I will not sleep until I have an opinion about everything in the store!).
So, stay tuned for that instalment…
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