A home-grown clean beauty brand promises an effortless five-minute face with their multi-use products
(From left, anti-clockwise) Soft Blur, Pop Tint and Celestial Pop
In a stark move away from lengthy, multi-product routines are a new breed of make-up multitaskers — these products bear the allure of versatility, with added skincare benefits as a bonus. Leading the game on the home front is Ilana, an indie platform that describes itself as all-natural, transparent, and ethical. Their products are cruelty-free, come in sustainable packaging and bear the promise of de-cluttering your makeup cabinet. We took their most popular products for a spin.
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Base notes
We started out with Soft Blur (Rs 690) in the shades Beach Please (as a concealer/highlighter) and Pebble (as the base/foundation), which we used over primer. The products’ thick consistency necessitates warming them up well before application. While the makers suggest that the product can be used as both a base and concealer, we found that the texture makes it difficult to blend when used as foundation. Instead, we’d recommend using it as a concealer or as an eyeshadow primer.
The writer wearing a full face of Ilana products
However, the product’s coverage is quite light, and you will need to apply a few layers if you have dark under-eye circles. As a plus, we appreciated that the formula has SPF 50, doing away with the need for sunscreen. The Celestial Pop highlighter (Rs 720) was a let-down as the colour payoff is poor and wearing multiple layers can make you look ashy. We tried the shade Sun Pop, which proved to be too cool, toned for our complexion.
Hint of tint
Next, we tried out the Pop Tint (Rs 1,220) in the shade Vermilion, which contains pomegranate extract. The tint is quite runny, and we would recommend blending it out with a sponge for a more seamless finish. On the lips, the stain wears quite comfortably and is long-lasting. We were disappointed to find that the product leaked through the packaging and the roller stopped working after a couple of uses.
Final thoughts
While the platform’s products have a promising premise, we wish more attention had been paid to the actual formula and finish. Another sore point was the shade range, which is quite limited, especially for deeper skin tones.
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