The All-Time Best Rare Beauty Products, According to an Editor Who's Tried Them All

I figure it’s best to start off with the brand’s most popular item: The Soft Pinch Liquid Blush, particularly in the shade Happy. It really is as good as the TikTok-ers say it is—the pigment and staying power is impossible to compete with. Of course, there’s a learning curve; use a drop too much and you’ll resemble a clown. Through many trial and errors, I’ve concluded that placing the ittiest, bittiest dot on the Soft Pinch Blush Brush and ever-so-softly stippling product onto my cheek is the way to go. Once I’m happy-ish with the pigment level, I’ll diffuse it just a bit more with the warmth of my fingers, step back, and decide if I need any more color. Just a note: This doesn’t fade, so rest assured it will look exactly the same at eight a.m. as it will at eight p.m.

This is one of the brand’s newest launches, so I’ve only had it in my possession for around a month—but it hasn’t left my side. Eyeshadow sticks are genuinely hit or miss for me. They all look great at the get-go and are easy to apply, but many lose my interest over time. Their cream formulas either end up creasing on my lid or the annoyance of having to sharpen the pencil forces me to toss ‘em to the wayside. Not this one: It glides on like a dream, does not crease (like, ever), and is the perfect size to drag color along the lower lash line. The formulas are shimmery as opposed to sparkly, which makes them a great daytime option. I’m partial to shades Well-Being, Compassion, and Adventure, but you really can’t go wrong with any of them. 

My dark circles are villainous—there’s simply no other way to describe them. I’ve learned how to camouflage them with a curated concoction of color correctors and full-coverage concealers, but I came to accept a long time ago that I was doomed on no-makeup days. Cut to: My discovery or this particular product. For being so incredibly lightweight and only providing sheer to medium coverage, it does an other-worldly job of brightening without looking like cakey makeup. It’s truly the only product I need for a casual day spent at the beach or running errands. 

I’ll say it: This is the most underrated product from the Rare Beauty assortment. Sure, it has a cult following, but I need the entire world to get on-board with this magical blurring primer. A thin layer on the T-zone, especially for people with oily skin, makes makeup look airbrushed, pores look invisible, and skin look substantially less textured. Most pore-diffusing or gripping primers leave skin looking dehydrated and occasionally flaky by end of day, but because of this hyaluronic acid-infused formula, skin stays looking and feeling hydrated for hours. 

I’m a glowy makeup girl through and through. I want to look as shiny as humanly possible without crossing over into greasy territory. In execution of this makeup mission, I have hit bottom on approximately five of these highlighters. The iridescent formula looks like a mere extension of my skin as opposed to heavy makeup. There’s never any harsh lines—it diffuses seamlessly with just a few pats of my fingertips. One to two dots is sufficient, but if you like to *really* glow, take a page out of my playbook and do a generous swipe under your foundation—followed by a dot or two on top. 

One would think that clear brow gel would be a pretty easy beauty product to do right. Well let me be the one to break the news: It’s not. Most end up flaking, losing their hold, or doing absolutely nothing at all right from the start. My disappointment with the majority of the clear brow gels out there is largely why I’m so impressed by Selena’s. The brush is shorter than most, which actually gives the user greater control over the shape of the overall brow and positioning of each individual hair. It has a slightly waxy feel and genuinely stays adhered to the hair all day long. In all my months of using it, I’ve never seen a white flake or had a brow hair out of place. 

I know, I know—another blush. But hear me out: Rare Beauty just really does blush right. Unlike the Soft Pinch liquid formula, Stay Vulnerable is a cream. Warm it up enough though and it will glide onto the skin just as smoothly. I find it to be a tad easier to apply than Soft Pinch (it’s less likely you’ll go overboard) and is a bit more middle ground on the matte-to-dewy scale. Plus, the skin-friendly formula works great as a subtle eyeshadow or as a hint of color on the lips. 

The brand calls this a “lip mask in a gloss,” and I can confidently say that’s exactly what you’ll get. Formulated with a botanical blend of white lotus, gardenia, and white water lily, this lip balm is *deeply* hydrating. It’s glossy without being too reflective and provides a nice glide when you rub your lips together. My favorite part though, is that it’s available in the same five shades as the Stay Vulnerable cream blush and Liquid Eyeshadow, so I can easily achieve a monochromatic look. 

I stay out of the sun as much as I physically can (sun damage is not welcome), so I rely heavily on makeup to give a little bronze glow in the summer. My MVP, cannot-live-without, holy grail to get the tanning job done is none other than this stick, particularly in shade Bright Side. The shade selection was designed to work with specific undertones, so the formula won’t oxidize too yellow or orange. Instead, it provides a soft, just-left-the-beach glow. I personally like to go a little heavier on bronzer underneath my foundation. That way, the tan shines through and looks a bit more natural.