Do you enjoy the increase in brands and products in the beauty space?

Overall, yes, I think so. Is it overwhelming sometimes? Yes. Does it feel like some products are released with little care/thought driving them? Yes. I do, however, feel like more brands are more accessible than ever before, which gives us a great range of types of products, shades, price points, ranges, and all that good stuff–more variety is better because greater choice means that, eventually, they’ll have to spend more time differentiating their products to keep our attention from wandering to another product/brand. It’s like I always say: I welcome great products regardless of whether there are already 100 great ones on the market but I have way less patience for subpar or total dud release!

— Christine

16 Comments

Comments that do not adhere to our comment policy may be removed. Discussion and debate are highly encouraged but we expect community members to participate respectfully. Please keep discussion on-topic, and if you have general feedback, a product review request, an off-topic question, or need technical support, please contact us!

Please help us streamline the comments' section and be more efficient: double-check the post above for more basic information like pricing, availability, and so on to make sure your question wasn't answered already. Comments alerting us to typos or small errors in the post are appreciated (!) but will typically be removed after errors are fixed (unless a response is needed).

We appreciate enthusiasm for new releases but ask readers to please hold questions regarding if/when a review will be posted as we can't commit to or guarantee product reviews. We don't want to set expectations and then disappoint readers as even products that are swatched don't always end up being reviewed due to time constraints and changes in priorities! Thank you for understanding!

Comments on this post are closed.
Beth Avatar

I love all the new upstart and independent brands. It keeps beauty interesting and prevents everyone offering the same mass marketed products. Plus, as a woman who started her own business, it makes me feel particularly happy to support other women starting their own business.

Delia Avatar

Yes and no. There are so many new launches and new brands, but I find there are less research and differentiation. Few products live up to the hype and even fewer manage to become cult products. It’s nice that we have more variety, but so many collections get on sale just 2 weeks after the launch and later they’ll finish at some landfill. Sadly the cosmetic industry is not environment-friendly at all. Personally I feel overwhelmed and I pay less attention to medium-low budget brands that keep launching products every week and I prefer to save money for fewer products but great quality, more expensive and inspiring – products that feel special. I also find that the whole experience matters more these days.
P.S. off-topic question: does anyone know if the Naked 2 is going to be discontinued because I’d like to get a back-up, it’s one of my favorite palettes… I noticed many retailers don’t have it anymore and on UD’S website it’s out of stock.

Nancy T Avatar

Delia – I hope Naked 2 isn’t being DC’d! Out of my 4 Naked series palettes, I really only enjoy using the brand new Honey and Naked 2, I’d be heartbroken if either were to go away. I do know that UD copywrited several names around a year ago (?), Naked Cherry, Naked Honey and Naked AF. We’ve already received 2 of the 3, so I now wonder if AF is a reboot of 1 or 2? Or BOTH?

Delia Avatar

I hope so Nancy! I really love my Naked 2, I think makes my brown eyes pop and I can create both day and night looks. It’s absolutely not the best choice for someone with darker skin tho – as well as the naked heat and the naked honey maybe a little too much sometimes for my pale skin. I hope they will let us know if the naked 2 is going to be discontinued, I would like to get a back-up. Maybe they will only redo the packaging…

I tried to love the Sultry palette as much as the Naked 2, but the fallout drives me crazy.

Kitty Avatar

Yes I do except if there isn’t access to the brands to try their products. I tolerate this to some degree if their website allows for returns (such as SG does) or the products are available at sites that allow returns (such as Sephora, Ulta or Nordstrom). That said, I tend to limit my returns so the more reviews and swatches I can find online, the better I can commit to buy the product. If there are no swatches or reviews and/or a stingy return policy, I will likely not buy the item.

As a side note/rant, I really hate how Ulta has all these new brands, but then all of a sudden discontinues those brands and/or product within those brands. I don’t have a long list of ongoing favorites because Ulta keeps getting rid of things I could buy there. Like the Almay liquid eye makeup removers–gone. (Yes, they were pricier than at Walmart but not during BOGO and they were always a safe thing to buy when I needed to spend a certain amount.) Some of the small or indie brands, they also do this (like my LashFood colored brow gel–gone.

Nancy T Avatar

To be perfectly honest, not especially thrilled about the ultra fast pace at which these new brands are launching. Too much, too fast, making it a veritable glut of products. However; some of these newer brands have quickly become some of my absolute favorite brands, too! Fenty, Huda, Natasha Denona and, of course, Pat McGrath, are ones I’ve been particularly glad to welcome into my stash. As a matter of fact, these have helped turn my stash into a well cultivated and fun one, although overwhelming at times. There are others that I’m still very interested in trying: Sydney Grace, Fyrinnae (okay, so NOT so new, but still!), and Lisa Eldridge’s lipsticks.

Deborah S. Avatar

Overall I am not a fan of the pace that brands put out products. I barely get to enjoy the product I just purchased before it is on to the next collection. So often, the bigger he brand the less thought and care seems to be put into the product. This is at the crux of my love/hate relationship with ColourPop. I could place an order every other day and still not get all the new stuff. In ColourPop’s case, I wonder if the sheer volume enables them to continue to offer their products at such a low price point. Recently I have purchased a couple of palette from Indie brands and paid as much as I would for many middle and prestige brands. I just picked up an 8 pan palette for $40 and that is not including shipping. It is hard to justify that much per shadow but I know they are making these shadows at home on the kitchen counter so it is going to cost them a little more to put out a shadow. I am a big fan of seasonal releases and wish that more companies would focus on a 4 x per year release and make the products stellar. The other issue for me is just being overwhelmed with trying to find products in the store. At the JC Penny’s Sephora, they don’t have a lot of space so things are crammed in there pretty tight. They frequently don’t put all the products from one brand in one place. They will take all the new lipsticks from a brand and put them on an endcap. I know they do this to force you to walk around and see everything that is there but if I am looking for a new release from Nars, I don’t want to go searching for it and I definitely don’t want to ask for help unless I can’t find it on my own.

Genevieve Avatar

Yes I do – because it means more choices for everyone at different price points. I like that quite a few brands do ship internationally so that everyone can pick what they like. The downside is that you have to trust your monitor for the shade selection….
I particularly like the increase in cruelty free makeup products and the brands that are not are becoming outnumbered.
Niche brands that focus on a particular beauty product eg eyeshadows or lipsticks vs the lot are becoming more successful, like SG. I think it shows that you don’t have to pay megabucks to get good quality products.

Vanessa Avatar

I love it. Sure, it’s chaotic. But, I feel much less compelled to buy a whole palette for that *one blue* shade that I love because, at this point, I know I’ll see the shade again. There’s so much variety, that I can get quality at low price points and don’t feel pressed by scarcity like I did a few years ago (feeling: I HAVE to get or I’ll never see it again).

Naomi Avatar

I am indifferent. I am noticing a lot of indie brands emerging with no distinction from one another. I am also noticing with those brands that they use heavy influencer marketing which always makes me wary of them. In terms of products from individual brands, I do not mind it as it gives more variety and if you don’t tend to buy everything from a brand than you get to pick what you want from those releases or you can skip them altogether.

Jill Avatar

I don’t enjoy the pace for a few reasons.

Firstly, all of the “noise” makes it hard to find what I want. There’s so much marketing and products being thrown in my face that I’m not finding the products that I want. Every store, influencer, blog, magazine (online and print), are all reviewing the same exact stuff that the real interesting products get little to no attention. And when they do there’s the danger of my next reason.

Because of the fast turnaround and competition to release release release, by the time I DO find what I’m looking for it’s been discontinued because there’s a gluttony of choices and nothing has any staying power unless you’re one of the big brands. But even they don’t seem to be safe anymore. But for indie brands if I sit around and wait for reviews the odds are those products will be gone by the time I start to see any, I have to just jump in myself — if I find them in time.

I don’t know, makeup is utilitarian for me with a side sprinkling of fun, it’s not a hobby for me and I’m not a collector so maybe my opinions don’t really count.

ShariP Avatar

It’s probably not a true beauty product, but the original scented Jergens lotion, cherry almond I think. My grandma always used it. Every time I’m in that section of the store I’ll stop and smell it. I found out my sister does it too. My niece caught both of us sniffing in a Wal-Mart. Thought we were crazy. We just laughed.

We try to approve comments within 24 hours (and reply to them within 72 hours) but can sometimes get behind and appreciate your patience! 🙂 If you have general feedback, product review requests, off-topic questions, or need technical support, please contact us directly. Thank you for your patience!