Back in 2012, Melissa Butler launched The Lip Bar as a side project in the comfort of her kitchen while still working on Wall Street. From there, she and her co-founder went on Shark Tank to bring the idea to a larger platform. Since then, Butler has expanded the brand greatly, landing the products in Target, creating a flagship store in Detroit, and launching its first non-lip product, Fresh Glow, this past July. And now, there's a whole new non-lip collection, called Fast Face.
I've been a fan of this Black-owned beauty brand for a couple of years now. I love the pigment and moisture in The Lip Bar's glosses and the vibrant lipsticks that come in a variety of colors that are flattering on so many skin tones. When it dropped its first non-lip product, Fresh Glow, a bronzer/blush duo, I was excited to see a bronzer that was dark enough and a blush pigmented enough to work for deep, dark skin tones. And with the Fast Face collection, The Lip Bar is expanding its non-lip products even further with a foundation, face palette, mascara, eyeliner, and brow gel/pencil combo.
The Fast Face collection was made especially for the people on the run who want to be able to use beauty products in an efficient and quick manner but may not have the skill or time to spend an hour or more makeup. This is for the person who does their makeup while they are on the train to work or the busy parent who lost sleep the night before. With Fast Face Skin Serum Foundation, the Minute Finish 4in1 Face Palette, Quick Draw 2in1 Brow Gel & Pen, Lash Flash Strengthening Mascara, and Straight Line Eyeliner — plus The Lip Bar's lip products — you're able to easily create a full face.
Unlike other foundation lines, which can be 40 shades or more, this shade line is only 26 shades. While that may be shocking to some, Butler wanted to avoid what can sometimes seem gimmicky with large foundation lines. "What was important for me was just making sure that we had a wide range of complexions to really serve our customers," Butler tells Allure. "We think about color from Anne Hathaway all the way to Lupita and Nyma Tang. We're covering the spectrum, and we don't have to have 100 shades to need that." It's a medium-coverage foundation formulated with moisturizing hyaluronic acid and Irish sea moss to give your skin coverage without stripping it of moisture.
The Minute Finish 4in1 Face Palette features four different powders: setting powder, blush, highlighter, and contour. Available in six different shades, this palette is made for all skin tones. After you finish your face, use the Quick Draw 2in1 Brow Gel & Pen in one of the three shades to shape and seal your brows in place, and then, use the Straight Line Eyeliner, which comes in two shades, and the Lash Flash Strengthening Mascara to define your eyes. The mascara contains green tea extract to help your lashes grow and stay strong.
While I'm not that person who needs a quick and easy way to do makeup, (listen, I've spent almost three hours beating this face), The Lip Bar's Fast Face collection is still great for me when I need to rush from work to an event or just need a quick face to feel alive again. I had the opportunity to put all five of these products to the test to see if they held up for a self-proclaimed makeup maestro. Here's what I happened.
Though I was a bit wary of the built-in foundation brush, it wound up being a lot easier to use than I expected. The foundation blended out smoothly with no issues and gave me the perfect dewy finish. Though the Skin Serum Foundation is a foundation, it can also be used as a concealer and contour. To complete my base, I used the shade 5.01 all over, shades 4.04 and 4.06 as for concealer, and the shade 5.05 as a contour.
With the Minute Finish 4in1 Face Palette, I had everything I needed to finish off my base. The Stuntin palette had the perfect all-over and contour powders for my face. It also works great as an eye shadow palette. I blended the contour shade "Flossin" with the blush shade "Bling Bling" to get this reddish smokey eye — perfect for fall.
To complete my eyes, I finished off with the Quick Draw 2in1 Brow Gel & Pen and the Lash Flash Strengthening Mascara. I loved having the brow gel and pencil all in one because it's definitely something I can use on the go. I applied the pencil, brushed out my brows, and applied the gel, and my brows were done. For bronzer, I used my Fresh Glow Bronzer & Blush Duo in Double Date. I mixed the blush from Double Date with the highlighter from the Stuntin palette for the perfect blinding highlight. With a little bit of the Bling Bling Blush from the face palette, my face was fully beat and finished.
The Lip Bar is definitely snatching a few wigs with this new collection. I'm excited to see what more the brand has to bless us with in 2020. The collection is available now on thelipbar.com and in the flagship store in Detroit.
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