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It hasn't exactly been a summer full of things to look forward to, but Rihanna is here to change that. After more than a year of speculation about what would be next for the singer's growing beauty empire, Rih revealed earlier this month that Fenty Skin—a skin care spin-off of her now legendary makeup line, Fenty Beauty—would officially be coming by the end of the month.
My friends, that time is here.
Rihanna just revealed the first three products that'll be making their way from her brain to our top shelves: a creamy cleanser, a toner-serum hybrid (named Fat Water, because amazing), and a sustainable SPF moisturizer that goes on invisible. They're what she calls her “nonnegotiables” of skin care, but basics these are not. Each is designed to multitask to address a range of concerns and skin-care steps.
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“I'm a woman of color and I have a lot of sensitivities on a lot of areas of my face,” she said in a video posted to the Fenty Skin Instagram account. “So I get really picky with products and a lot of time I get scared and cautious. I wanted a product that just worked. More than anything that was most important to me. I wanted a product that worked for everyone. I wanted the best ingredients and it didn't want it to cost a lot.”
Sustainability is a big touchpoint in the line, along with clean ingredients. Everything is oil-free, vegan, and gluten-free, while the packaging uses twistable lock-top caps or refillable canisters to help cut back on the amount of plastic used. It's also affordable. While many clean skin-care lines can run high into double (or triple) digit prices, everything in Fenty Skin is under $35.
The other good news is that I've been using the full line for the past two weeks and can finally talk about it. I mean, really, it's a secret too good for even a Scorpio to keep. The line officially launches on fentyskin.com on Friday, July 31, but if you want a preview before you add everything to cart, read on for my unfiltered thoughts on Fenty Skin's starting trio, below.
Total Cleans’r Remove-It-All Cleanser
As a full-fledged fan of micellar water—and someone who really hates washing her face at night—it's hard to get me to care about a cleanser. But if anyone can do it, it's Rihanna. Let me start with smell, because oh my God. I don't quite know how to describe it other than it smells like a fancy blueberry scone: sweet but not cloying. Usually I find fragranced skin-care products too overpowering and irritating, so when I learned the entire line is made with clean fragrances (with synthetic scents making up less than 1% of the formula), it made sense.
Instead, this cleanser naturally gets its delightful smell from its ingredients—Barbados cherry (which is full of brightening vitamin C), green tea and fig (which are rich in antioxidants), and quince (a fruit that contains conditioning properties).
As for its most important quality—its ability to cleanse—it does exactly as promised. It gets tough makeup off without leaving your skin feeling tight and uncomfortable. I did find it a little much for both day and night given how sensitive my skin is, but that was easily fixed by sticking with micellar water in the morning and the cleanser at night.
Fat Water Pore-Refining Toner Serum
This is the star of the bunch to me, personally, and I feel validated knowing it's also Rihanna's favorite step in her routine. First let's address the obvious: this bottle! The purple packaging on the other products are cool—classic millennial bait with a solid pale pastel shade and a clean sans-serif font—but this is the kind of gorgeousness I expected from Rih. The encapsulated bubbles look like the skin-care version of a snow globe when you move it around in your hand. Also, like the cleanser, it has a twistable lock-top to help cut down on the amount of plastic that goes into making it.
Now for the formula: another genius idea from Rih. It's a hybrid toner-serum with the texture of a serum but the watery consistency of an essence once you rub it in. In other words, your skin drinks it right in, along with the ingredients in it—niacinamide (to help minimize dark spots and even skin tone), vitamin C (for brightening), Australian lemon myrtle and witch hazel water (to reduce oil and refine pores), as well as a handful of other hydrating and antioxidizing powerhouses.
It's not the kind of serum you're going to see an overnight result with. The first few times I used it, my skin looked fine the next day, but nothing to take selfies about. The real magic is in its consistent use—leading you to look in the mirror two weeks later and wonder if you've actually been sleeping eight hours a night. (You haven't. It's the serum.)
Hydra Vizor Invisible Moisturizer Broad Spectrum SPF30 Sunscreen
Finally! A sunscreen that doesn't smell like sunscreen. Similar to the cleanser, this SPF 30 moisturizer smells like an absolute dream of sweet, fruity deliciousness. Again, the fragrance is all-natural, and this one has a hint of watermelon in it, thanks to the Kalahari melon in the formula, which is rich in antioxidants. It's also got two other skin-care heavy hitters: niacinamide and hyaluronic acid. What that means on your skin is a hydrating, nonsticky cream that blends down to nothing, so the only thing left on your face is a soft, velvety feel and a diffused sheen that looks like a filter IRL—with no white cast in sight.
Even better, it's made without oxybenzone and octinoxate, two common sunscreen ingredients that are known to damage coral reefs. Call it a hunch, but it'll top the list of best sunscreens in no time.
Lindsay Schallon is the senior beauty editor at Glamour. Follow her on Instagram @lindsayschallon.
