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. 

Art of Organics

A really good subscription box makes the day of its arrival feel like your birthday. And Art of Organics accomplishes this by doing a beautiful job of curating clean beauty products into monthly boxes. Culled around a certain concept (fresh, detox, etc...) which is pulled into a bespoke print or illustration used on the packaging and enclosed note to elaborate on the products chosen.

I really didn't think I needed another subscription box, but after following them on Instagram for several months, I found myself observing wistfully all the boxes released that I didn't have. And since signing up, I've had no regrets. Not one box has darkened my doorstep that left me thinking "well, this month's a dud -- let's see how the next one turns out."

I've discovered new holy grail items (like the Birch Rose & Co. mask pictured above that both restores my dehydrated skin and quells breakouts). Claire, the founder, has an innate sense of what her clientele are after and has somehow managed the tall order of satisfying everyone while keeping things exciting. 

A box of staples that satisfy a hole you didn't realize you had at $39 a pop (complimentary shipping!) -- I cannot recommend it enough.