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What beauty product would you invent if you could?


What beauty product would you invent if you could? No matter how far-fetched!

A cheap, effective skincare solution that worked for everyone! Trying to find the right products can be so difficult, and what works for your best friend may not work for you and vice versa, so it’s mostly trial and error, which is expensive and frustrating.

Thanks to reader Carolyn for today’s question idea Do you have a question idea? Submit yours here.

79 Comments

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Julie Simons Avatar

I would make a product that would give a long lasting natural poreless look to the skin. I have uneven texture and large pores and primers on the market do NOT cut it! Skin issues are such a self esteem killer for women and men alike.

Sylirael Avatar

Hmmm… possibly a lip product that generates its own little hair-repelling force field!

Either that or a lip product that is all of:

1. Glossy/creamy in finish
2. Absolutely hydrating and comfortable
3. *Absolutely* kiss-able and transfer-proof.

Many products have claimed to have two or three of these simultaneously, but I think it’s the last one that’s the trickiest!

Taylor Avatar

Have you tried NARS Smudgeproof eyeshadow base? It’s the only one that works for my oily lids. Everything sticks like glue, eyeliner included! Try it if you haven’t.

san Avatar

A lipstick that would automatically become the right mlbb or nude for that persons skintone.Ive wasted so much money hunting for nude lippies.:(

Ammara Avatar

I’d like to add to that and say the skincare product should also be something our skin can’t become used to, so the active ingredients are effective every time.

CeeBee Avatar

Adhesive or transfer gel eyeliner strips so both eyes are even and the wings are perfect every single time.

In black, obviously but colour, shimmer, metallics and glitter ones would be awesome too.

JoliementPauline Avatar

Sephora tried to do some but it was actually a big fail.. The stripe was too little and the wing was placed at 3/4 of the eye

Stacey Avatar

Mac has it right, for once to bring back old goodies from the past.
Don’t need to invent.
Eye makeup that doesn’t need makeup remover to get off….just a gentle cleanser
for the entire face that removes eye makeup also without raccoon eyes afterwards.

Wednesday Avatar

Prescriptives used to do this years ago: custom blend foundations. I would invent a system which would be able to scan and determine perfect foundation match and blend the product on the spot for immediate purchase. For people with inconsistent skintones, the client could select to optimize between areas eg: face, neck, and decolletage

Stelly Avatar

Sephora has the Color IQ system where they scan 3 parts of your skin to match you to a foundation if that’s kind of what you’re referring to

Wednesday Avatar

Yes, but then that scan regurgitates foundations that somewhat match, or are closest–and anal retentive me doesn’t always find that good enough. You know what I mean? Natural skin is so more nuanced than foundation in many cases. So I’m thinking, yes, we do have the technology already, I mean we can walk into a big box store and get a paint match, right? So take that technology and have the bases and pigments available for instant mix..exact match, not just ‘in the ballpark’. We can hope, right 😀

Stelly Avatar

Yes I agree with you. The Sephora Color IQ has 95% accuracy– so not every foundation you got matched with will match you perfectly. It has to scan on a clean, normal, non-sunscreened, non-caffeine consumed skin. It does make the job of finding the right shade easier though because there are a heck of a lot of brands, finishes, coverage, shade ranges in a foundation. And yep I work with the company;)

Toni Avatar

I like this idea! I am sometimes tempted to skip sunscreen products for that reason alone; the scent is not at all pleasant to me.

I would also like to have SPF lotions/moisturizers with a lighter, less oily consistency.

Andrew Avatar

YES! I’m still trying to find the best way to fight off the fine frown lines I’ve been developing. There are some days that they’re barely visible and I look like I’m 19-20. Other days I look every bit of 25. I know we can’t be young forever, but it never hurts to try to make it last as long as possible!

Carolyn Avatar

Yay! Thanks for selecting my question, Christine :). I have very oily skin, so I would love to invent a product that would allow my skin to stay almost completely oil-free and that would also completely lock in my makeup so it looked the same late at night as it does freshly applied in the morning. There are so many primers, mattifiers, and makeup finishing sprays out there, but none of them that I’ve tried have been able to withstand my oily skin!

Eileen Avatar

I’d invent a concealer suitable for older women and by that I mean women 60 and above. It’s ironic that at the stage in life where we really could use brightening and concealing in the eye area, that’s the time when good performance becomes so problematic. As the skin thins and looses elasticity, lines deepen and the overall texture becomes dry and crepey which makes it increasingly difficult to find a good emollient concealer that does the job without looking heavy or settling into all our nooks and cranies within a short space of time 🙁 I’m 70 and not new to makeup so I know all about building thin layers, using setting powder, etc. It’s not my technique that is lacking. It is the makeup companies. Companies! Listen up! Just because we’ve reached the sixth decade and beyond doesn’t mean we’ve given up on ourselves and our appearance.

Donna Avatar

YES! This is something that I believe is out there but the cost is at least $70 per product. (Clé de Peau Beauté Concealer). Something in a “decent” price range ($35?) Bobbi Brown makes something that is close. Their Tinted Eye Brightener but it does not cover as well as I’d like. Dior also makes Hydra Life BB Eye Crème which is what I use over Bobbi Brown’s corrector.

Izzie Avatar

I definitely agree with you there Christine! Skin can have a mind of its own sometimes, even once you think you’ve found the right products.

Have you seen The Fifth Element? There’s a makeup machine/box (with a Chanel logo no less!) in that movie that gives you instant flawless makeup. I’d like to see something like that invented, haha, but I won’t hold my breath that it happens in my lifetime.

erin olsen Avatar

An all in one shampoo/body wash/ conditioner type of product that is specially formulated for removing chlorine from hair and skin and leaving the hair and skin clean, soft, hydrated, and lightly smelling good. Made with good quality ingredients but not overly expensive.

Veronica Avatar

A procedure that could remove dark circles and/or a product that could cover them up completely. I’m pretty happy with my face, but if I had to pick the one thing I wish I could cut out of my DNA, it’s the raccoons I inherited from my mother.

MissJae1908 Avatar

A machine that would apply a perfect, super thin eyeliner on my eyes for me. And also instantly close up my huge pores. The cold water and/ice trick doesn’t work for these massive bad boys.

Nadine Avatar

I really love light colored lipsticks, but they are the bane of my existence! I have deep lip lines, and all light colored lipsticks settle on those lines in the most unflattering way — such that whenever I smile, the color seems to have been deposited only on the lip lines. Wish any company could invent the perfect consistency for light colored lipsticks!

Btw, does anyone have any suggestions for good light colored lipsticks?

eliyna24 Avatar

I shouldn’t tell you 😉
JK, I think I would invent one product for everything, based on electricity, you just buy the color to fill (every month for example) in the electronic device, that would do your face, eyes and lips makeup.

lourded Avatar

An spf setting/refreshing spray. I apply my makeup at 6 am and That’s when I put on sunscreen on my face. I work indoors and get out at 3:30 pm…. by them the spf I applied in the morning is no longer active. Would be nice to spritz my face with spf instead of caking on powder spf.

MarielaC Avatar

I’ve been trying lately Goldfaden’s Sun Visor sunscreen, which can be reapplied on top of your makeup without ruining it and I’m loving it. Give it a try!

kellly Avatar

SHINY eye GLOSS that isn’t sparkly an doesn’t goop up my makeup like Vaseline. It would be like a lip gloss (that shiny finish) but would stay put, not remove off mascara and liner but stay glossy and shiny.

keg Avatar

A special lotion that would dissolve fat on (my) double chin, while also obliterating lines and imperfections on the face. Imagine the millions one would make- and the joy such a product would bring to its users!!

Isabela Avatar

An amazing highlight product that wouldn’t only be limited edition or cost an arm and a leg!! Something similar to Heatwave.

WildDove Avatar

Tinted brow gels that dry shiny and smooth vs rough and matte, yet stay on well until you wash them off. More colors for tinted brow gels, something between the blondest shades and and next deeper color(s).

Donna Avatar

I want to invent a mask that goes over each ear and runs right below the eyes to catch all of the fall out from eye shadows, liner and mascara, then you take the mask off and all is right with the world. No fall out.

JoliementPauline Avatar

A product that really works on acne problems. A skincare that would make you skin be and look healthy, with no more acne, no more scars, no more redness and no more large pore.

Zia Avatar

Christine I couldn’t agree with you more! I find it so frustrating how difficult it is to figure out what routine will work for my skin and alleviate my acne in particular! In addition to what you said, I would add that an inexpensive sunscreen that did not cause breakouts for anyone would also be much appreciated!

Alicia Avatar

I’m with you Christine! Something you put on your face and all the acne, big pores, wrinkles, dark spots, dark circles, redness, oily, dry, and sagging skin and discoloration would go poof and be gone!

Lindsay Avatar

its so funny this is the question for today because my hubby asked me if there is a makeup deodorant that covers darkness in your underams, lol…so he said i should invent that, so that is my answer, i would invent water/sweat proof deodorant makeup for your underarms!! LOL

Toni Avatar

A concealer that would cover eye bags or an eye cream that would banish them. I’ve tried all the tricks but nothing works.

Mimi Avatar

I would invent a cream that you would put on once in a very thick layer, leave on for an hour while resting, and when you remove it, you will have the perfect, undamaged skin of a newborn. All the damage that the years have done will be gone and you will get to start over with skin like a pearl. You could put it all over your entire body and it would work the same as on your face. What a dream.

Laura Avatar

Just like the Jetsons! A machine of some type that would do my face makeup perfect in seconds. You can view the different looks that you want on screen, select it and boom..done.

doroffee Avatar

Some lightweight, nice-smelling hair product which would 100% prevent my hair from sweating in really hot and humid weather (unfortunately, I am really prone to perspiration, and my hair looks a greasy mess in hot weather even 1 hour after washing it)… that would be lovely. Also, dry shampoo which volumizes hair, gives hair a good shape for the entire day without looking too stiff and having no whitecast whatsoever.

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