Launch List: The Best Makeup Launching in April

MAC Cosmetics Studio Fix Every-Wear All-Over Face Pen ($35)

Available in 33 shades, this liquid formula gives you the best of both worlds: foundation and concealer. You can click the pen halfway to dispense just enough to mask pesky pimples or dark circles, or you can get a full-face dose for allover color correction. The medium-to-full coverage has a natural matte finish, is buildable, transfer- and waterproof, and wears for 36 hours.

Thanks to vitamin E and hyaluronic acid, it blends in nicely, but always start with good skin care for an even application. It also contains caffeine to energize the skin as you wear it.

MERIT Shade Slick Gelée ($24)

A sheer version of the brand’s beloved Shade Slick Lip Oil, this new Gelée is made with blooming pigments that adjust based on the natural pH of your lips to create the perfect stain that’s essentially customized for you. It’s non-drying thanks to plant-derived squalane and quinoa seed oil that help improve moisturization in the lips over time.

It comes in four shades, and you can’t go wrong with any of them: Jeté (nude), Les Deux (pink), Maraschino (red), and Mapleton (mahogany).

Grande Cosmetics GrandeBROW-LAMINATE ($22)

The next innovation from Grande Cosmetics and beauty guru Alicia Grande, this styling gel lets you create the coveted laminated brow look at home. Dip the accompanying spoolie brush in the gel (a little goes a long way) and then brush it through clean brows in upward strokes to achieve that supermodel feathered look. The gel dries quickly and will lock in 12-hour hold without that fake look or stiff and sticky feel.

Plus, the gel also contains myristoyl pentapeptide-17, which provides conditioning benefits to the brow hairs so that they look better and feel softer over time.

Armani beauty Luminous Silk Glow Blush ($38)

If you haven’t yet seen Sydney Sweeney in the ad for this gorgeous new addition to the brand’s beloved Luminous Silk collection, you will soon (she’s wearing shade 51-Amore, a dusty rose). There are seven shades in the range—my favorite is 50-Euphoric, a peachy-pink—to suit all skin tones and provide a satin glow finish.

I love the silky texture, which is the result of a unique silk filler technology and ultra-fine milling of the powder. It blends so beautifully into the skin, and the addition of light-reflecting pigments give it a glowy, but not glittery, sheen.

Fenty Beauty Hella Thicc Volumizing Mascara ($19)

The name says it all with this one: It creates big, thick-looking lashes without the clumpy mess you can sometimes get with volumizing mascaras. The brush is precisely tapered so that it coats every lash, from the shortest and finest to the longest and most dense. It comes in one shade—Rihanna’s go-to black ‘Cuz I’m Black’—for that gorgeous matte black finish that makes a statement on everyone.

“Hella Thicc gives my lashes that buildable, voluptuous volume with every swipe, and the brush is so precise that you can get into every little lash to create different looks,” says founder Rihanna. “This formula was made to make any and every lash Thicc!”

Yolaine Paris Mousse De Rouge ($36)

“French Girl Beauty” is a having a big moment in the U.S. right now as influencers fill their suitcases with makeup and skin-care on their trips abroad and then reveal their hauls stateside on social. Brand-new to us is this beautiful brand Yolaine Paris, which is the brainchild of French writer, actress, model, and former beauty editor Camille Yolaine. I was captivated by the packaging (how feminine and sweet), but then quickly became hooked on this formula too.

The brand’s top-selling product, Mousse De Rouge, is super pigmented, has a rich, addictive texture (it was actually inspired by chocolate mousse), and is housed inside a chic tube influenced by French impressionists’ tubes of paint (did I mention Camille is also an artist?). You can apply it with a lip brush or your fingers, and don’t forget to try a little dab on your cheeks as well.

OLAPLEX LASHBOND Building Serum ($68)

We’re really excited to launch our first hair-adjacent product, which we’ve been working on for five years,” says the brand’s chief marketing officer Charlotte Watson. “It delivers a really unique combination of ingredient, including our new proprietary Peptide Complex Technology and our exclusive, patented Bond Building Technology. We blend those with hyaluronic acid and biotin for this truly innovative and safe formula.

Apply it to the lash line to support and sustain the natural lash cycle and retention for thicker, longer, stronger and healthier lashes. It’s prostaglandin-free, ophthalmologist-tested, and you can use it with contact lenses, mascara and lash extensions. In our clinical studies, we have some really competitive and compelling results against the leading lash serum brands that contain prostaglandin.”

UOMA Beauty Double Take Blush ($33)

This blush really speaks to me because it pairs both a satin matte finish and a luminous shimmer finish in one compact so you can personalize your look day to day, morning to night. The formula is super pigmented, so a little goes a long way, and I like to wear them both separately and together. Together, I put a little bit of the matte on the apples of my cheeks and then go in with the shimmer just above it, on the high point of my cheekbone, like a highlight. It’s so pretty!

It’s available in six shades, which are grouped according to what’s best for each skin tone (the brand calls the groups “Skin Kins”): White Pearl, Fair Lady, Honey Honey, Bronze Venus, Brown Sugar, and Black Pearl.

Stila Calligraphy Lip Stain ($25)

Lip stains are having a moment and will be big this summer. This new formula from Stila looks super pigmented when you put it on, but it slowly fades into a more natural wash of color for that more effortless, summertime effect. The marker-like, uniquely shaped applicator is fun to use, hence the name ‘calligraphy’ because the tip almost looks like a sharp blade that lets you precisely outline your lips, but also fill them in (just switch your pressure and the angle).

It comes in eight pretty shades—I love the “vivid rose” called Alexandria—that you’ll want on hand in both your purse and beach bag. It also doesn’t dry out my lips and it doesn’t transfer or feather.

Pat McGrath Labs Skin Fetish: Divine Bronzer ($39)

This new bronzer from makeup goddess Pat McGrath gives skin that coveted sun-kissed look without the UV damage, and with eight shades, there’s something for everyone. The formula has a micro-velvet finish that feels super soft and blendable on the skin, but stays where it’s supposed to all day and also helps absorb excess oil. (I personally can’t stand when I look in the mirror a couple hours after applying bronzer and it’s somehow disappeared.)

“This is my ultimate must-have for creating the look of sun-kissed beauty,” says McGrath. “Infused with glimmering luminosity, this luxuriously soft powder bronzer will leave you radiant from sunrise to sunset, and beyond. My curated colors, infused with touches of golden pearls, easily blend for customized warmth, luminosity and definition. Achieve divine skin architecture with effortless buffing and blurring for a flawless finish. Experience the ultimate in sun-sculpting technology for your very own goddess-worthy glow.”