It's a new year and we're already a month down. Where the heck is the time going? I started off the year with some great finds and some major letdowns, including from a brand I've heard great things about and finally got around to trying. There's a lot to cover, so let's get to it.
Made the Cut
DAISO Corduroy Fanny Pack
The fanny pack continues to enjoy its moment of resurgence in popularity, and DAISO is currently carrying this really cute corduroy one in a few different colors. This muted coral is definitely my favorite shade, but they also have it in a cornflower blue, black, and taupe/brown. They're only a few bucks (I think around five) and there are a few different corduroy accessories to match, like pouches and purses.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find an online listing on their site to link to, so if you don't have a DAISO near you this may be unavailable to you. (Unless someone is selling it on a site like Poshmark or Mercari.) But if you're in the Bay Area or places where there's DAISO, check out your local stores to see what they have in stock. I'm able to fit my wallet, keys, and a small mirror and lipstick in mine (there's no interior pocket, though).
Boy Smells Marble Fruit Eau de Parfum
I've got a major weakness for perfume. I think I've had it since childhood. My mom likes to tell the story of how she was cleaning the house one day when I was pretty small and caught me staring at her perfume tray, hands behind my back; she asked me what I was doing and I said, "I'm just looking, mom." She told me to "just look" somewhere else, not trusting I wasn't going to try and grab something. She came back and found my nose inches from the bottles and sent me on my way.
Perfume has always been a major part of my life. Pleasures by Estée Lauder is my mom's signature scent, but she also had a beautiful, tiny bottle of what I think was called Parfum Tea Rose. My Grandma Angela wore White Diamonds and Chanel No. 5. I'm drawn to a lot of different scents, but mostly clean, fresh, floral, fruity (but not sickeningly sweet), or unusual and hard for me to describe. I don't need more perfume; I've currently got Le Labo (Gaiac, An0ther, Musc, Santal), BYREDO (Mojave Ghost), Chloé, D.S. & DURGA (Radio Bombay), Madewell (Chambray, Canyon, Indigo, Sedona), L'Eau de Sézane, You by Glossier, and Jo Malone (Blackberry & Bay) on my perfume tray and cycle through a different scent daily.
But need is different than want, and when I was in Sephora at the end of January I came across the brand Boy Smells and fell in love with a couple of scents, including Flor de La Virgen and in particular Marble Fruit ($98). If you like fresh, fruity scents that don't smell juvenile or cloying, this is for you. It fades beautifully and lasts a decent amount of time. Click the link I shared for all the notes and more info on the smell. My only complaint is that the lid for this bottle is ridiculous, unnecessarily tall, and obtrusive, but I can live with it.
MERIT Flush Balm | Fox + Persimmon
I ordered two of MERIT's new shades of Flush Balm ($28), Fox and Persimmon, the day they launched and they managed to get delivered just in time to squeeze into this month's edition of The Cut.
Both Fox and Persimmon are gorgeous colors that would also be well suited as new shades of Signature Lip, but I digress. They're the same creamy, sheer-but-buildable formula they've always been. I own the shade Terracotta, which is a warm neutral and is very nice, but Fox shows up just a little better on my skin tone. Persimmon will be nice in the warmer months with the Cabo Signature Lip for a summer monochromatic look, though anytime of year is the right time for red-orange, in my opinion.
Didn't Make the Cut
Covergirl Clean Fresh All Over Dewy Tint
Boy, this product was a letdown. The Covergirl Clean Fresh line has been hit or miss for me, with the very best product being the Clean Fresh Mascara (which of course looks like it may be discontinued, because of course it is, because I love it and that's what happens to everything I love). I found the Fresh All Over Dewy Tint at ULTA this month and decided to try the shade Toasty Nude.
This product doesn't do anything.
Seriously, it reminded me of Colourpop's God awful Cheek Dew Serum Blush that I hated back in 2021. The same incredibly sheer formula that puts on a disappearing act as soon as you start to blend it out and doesn't really want to layer or build. It was barely visible on my cheeks after carefully tapping on layer after layer to try to get it to show up (and it wasn't that the color was too light for my skin tone, it's that this formula is just bad). The only thing it was sort of good for was the lips, but this is supposed to be a multiuse product for eyes, lips, and cheeks and I'm not seeing what sort of pigment anyone's supposed to get from this or how long lasting it could possibly be. Skip this product.
Summer Fridays Sheer Skin Tint with Hyaluronic Acid + Squalane
Summer Fridays is one of those brands that has great marketing, great packaging, and a cult following that swears by everything they do and every product they release. Yesterday, I came across their Sheer Skin Tint in Sephora and was intrigued by the formula (which reminds me of The Ordinary's Serum Foundation, which I love) and the fact that they had a shade that matched my skin tone exactly: Shade 4 — Light-Medium with Neutral Olive Undertones. I never thought I'd find a face product with that exact description, but lo, Summer Fridays has it.
I wasn't impressed with the price tag of $42 for 1 fl oz., but I gave it a try thinking that it could be worth it if it worked and was my exact shade.
This product absolutely sucks. I was actually angry putting this stuff on, wondering how some product testing teams don't just tell the product team to go back to the lab and try again. I tried applying with a damp beauty sponge, a brush, and my fingers. I tried on bare skin and on top of a primer. No matter how I applied, this tint refused to show up on my face until I was layering it on to the point where it undermined the concept of being a tint. No, I didn't expect this to be full or even medium coverage. My everyday makeup look is no-makeup makeup and I know what a tint is.
But even tints are supposed to make somewhat of a difference, and this just looked like I had literally nothing on my face, which I can achieve for free by, you know, not wearing makeup. And I don't mean "your skin but better," I mean truly nothing, no difference, couldn't even tell I had anything on but in a bad way, not a flattering way. Totally, utterly useless. I expect anything I buy to work but especially at this price point, and given the small amount of product and the amount needed for this to make even the tiniest amount of difference, I'd be running through a bottle in no time.
This is not worth it and is an awful product I can't recommend, not to mention a terrible first impression of this brand. I returned it today. Hard pass.
Be sure to check back next month for another round of products that made the cut and didn't, and thanks for reading my monthly series, The Cut.
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