If you follow some accounts dedicated to beauty or makeup on Snapchat or Instagram, I’m sure you’ve already come across the brand Girlactik Beauty!
I also heard about Girlactik Beauty on social media, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence because the brand regularly collaborates with “influencers” by sending its products and giving them affiliate discount codes. The idea, basically, is that if the code given by the influencer is used to buy the products, he or she will receive a small commission on the sales. If you read my blog regularly, you already know my thoughts about that. I don’t see how you could remain impartial with the brand if you basically work for them. Anyway… Moving on! wink
Yet Girlactick Beauty is not really what you might call an Instabrand. (An Instabrand is basically only available online and its communication is only on social media, mainly Instagram) Or at least it’s not only that. The brand has existed for fifteen years and it can also be found in some beauty stores accross the United States.
I came across the brand in New York, in a physical store and I was really surprised because I was convinced that it was only available online.
It was a great surprise because I could take my time to choose my products and the shades I like the best. Which was great, because I think if I hadn’t been able to properly see the products, I would have probably foolishly ordered those that everybody talks about (the Matte Lip Paint in the shade Demure for example, which was in fact way too dark on my skin, or the Face Glow in the shade Natural) (well OK, this one, I should have picked it, it’s a great shade).
So I bought 3 Girlactik Beauty products:
– the famous Matte Bronzer in the shade Cabo, which is supposed to be perfect match for people with fair skin and who want a bronzer/ contouring product 2 in 1,
– the Face Glow in the shade Lustre, a very pretty intense pinkish highlighter,
– and finally, I had to try one of the best-sellers of the brand: the liquid lipstick Matte Lip Paint in the shade Divine. (Can you guess what kind of color it is?) (Don’t bother, it’s obviously a mauve pink shade) (I know, I know, I’m full of surprises! tongue )
Girlactick Beauty, presentation:
The founder of Girlactik Beauty, Galit Strugano, a makeup artist from Los Angeles, started in the makeup industry because she wanted to create a glitter glue and some glitter that sticks to the eyelids. Indeed, in the 2000s, glitter was already super trendy but it was a real challenge for the makeup artists because when they wanted to use it, they knew it was going to be everywhere: on the face, hair, clothes. The kind of detail that can totally ruin a photo shoot.
Galit Strugano launched Girlactik Beauty with only $1,800 in the bank, and she found the chemist who manufactured its first products in the yellow pages! (Luckily for her, in California, the cosmetics industry is quite present wink ).
Her glitter were a success with her clients and other makeup artists and over the years, the brand became bigger and it now offers a complete range that goes from lipsticks, to blushes and even makeup brushes!
The packaging is very girly while being quite luxurious. I would describe Girlactik Beauty as a middle/ high-end brand to give you an idea.
A little useful detail: the brand is 100% cruelty-free. smile
The Matte Bronzer in the shade Cabo:
This is a matte bronzer, perfect to warm up very subtly the complexion (the color has zero orange pigments) and you can also use it for a super light contouring. I would describe Cabo as a sculpting bronzer.
The packaging is quite classic, a compact with a mirror. It has a high end feel to it, I like the detail of the chandeliers designs on top, it’s kind of cute and feminine.
The texture is super nice, creamy but not thick, subtle without being too powdery and it blends easily with a brush. Depending if I want a more diffuse effect or a more sculpting one, I use either my fluffy MAC 135 brush (for the natural effect) or my Morphe E4, more precise to sculpt my cheekbones.
It’s a matte finish, very natural but not too powdery or “dusty” as some bronzers can be.
The pigmentation is good but not too excessive. No risk of ending up with a blotchy face!
The shade is perfect for medium to light skin colors. It will probably easily suit a lot of skin tones as it’s fairly neutral, not too orange or too gray (like some contouring powders for light skin). It’s just a tiny bit darker than my absolute reference for very fair complexions, the Too Faced Bronzer Milk Chocolate, which is my favorite bronzer for winter when I’m really pale.
In the range of the Girlactik Matte Bronzers, there is also a darker shade, Casablanca for medium to darker skin tones.
The lasting power is pretty good, it lasts between 6 and 8 hours on my skin.
In short, I totally understand the hype about this product. The color and texture are great and it’s super easy to use!
The Matte Bronzer in the shade Cabo retails for $26 on the Girlactik Beauty website.
The Face Glow in the shade Lustre:
The Face Glow in the shade Lustre is a rather intense highlighter, with a metallic finish and a light pink champagne undertone, which I find ideal for a light complexion (or if you want a quite visible highlighting effect).
The packaging is exactly the same as the bronzer (luckily I don’t put one next to the other in my makeup drawer lol).
The texture is quite creamy and blends easily with a brush. However, as I said before, it’s quite intense so it’s better to have a light hand when you apply it, and use a very soft brush that won’t apply too much product, otherwise you look like a disco ball. I generally use my Sigma F35 brush or my Smashbox 22 fan brush.
It’s a very metallic, almost pearlescent finish.
The pigmentation is very good, it blends easily, and the color is perfect for my light complexion. There is a pink undertone which is the kind of shade I love at the moment. In fact, it reminds me a lot of the highlighter from the Victoria Beckham collection that I swatched when I was in New York in September, the Modern Mercury (yes, the one that is sold out everywhere and that is so expensive).
The other colors in the range are also very pretty. I hesitated a lot with Natural, which is the most famous of the Girlactik Face Glow. This one is a golden beige and is much less metallic than Lustre, very easy to wear on an everyday basis. But apparently, when I was doing my Girlactik shopping, I was looking for a more intense highlighter! wink
The lasting power is the same as the Matte Bronzer, between 6 and 8 hours on my skin.
In short, I love this Face Glow, and I really like that it’s pink, it’s such a nice change! wink
The Face Glow in the shade Lustre is available in the Girlactik Beauty website and retails for $25.
The Matte Lip Paint in the shade Divine:
The matte liquid lipsticks Matte Lip Paint by Girlactik Beauty are clearly the brand’s best-sellers since they launched, 2 years ago. So I was quite curious to try them. But once I was in front of the display, I struggled a little to find a shade that caught my eyes. With my current collection of liquid lipsticks, finding a color that is different from what I already have is quite difficult… So well, I embraced it and I chose another pinky mauve shade: Divine. Because apparently, I’m a little obsessed with this kind of shades at the moment! wink
I was thinking about getting the shade Demure, which is the most famous and I’ve seen it a lot on Instagram. But once I swatched it on my hand, I found it super dark and pretty dull, to be honest. Ah, if only we could walk around with super powerful spotlights focused on the face like the Instafamous girls! (ah ah, it wouldn’t be really ideal in real life but keep that in mind when you choose a color you saw on Instagram: most of the time, there are a lot of filters that completely transform the colors!)
Divine is a more flattering color, on me anyway.
The packaging is classic and beautiful: it’s a plastic bottle with a brown iridescent metallized cap, with the same colors as the other packaging from the brand.
The formula is quite creamy at first, a bit like a mousse, but it dries in seconds to become completely matte.
It’s also a formula without transfer, it won’t leave any traces on your mugs or your boyfriend / girlfriend when you kiss them. wink
The scent of this Matte Lip Paint is quite sweet, like a kind of chemical vanilla, but luckily enough, it evaporates quickly.
The pigmentation is excellent, and also the opacity on the lips. The formula applies evenly on the lips. However, the color is slightly darker than what we see in the bottle, it dries slightly darker.
The color range is quite classic: some nudes, mauves, pinks, reds. Not a lot of crazy colors (not that it’s my thing, I obviously prefer pinky mauves lol)
The application is quite easy thanks to the small foam applicator, precise and angled. It distributes the right amount of product on the lips and can draw pretty sharp contours without smudging.
I read and heard a lot that the Girlactik Beauty Matte Lip Paint were very comfortable on the lips and I was pretty disappointed with the shade Divine. I don’t know if it’s just this color in particular, but I found it quite drying. It’s not at all sticky on the lips, it completely dries and that’s perhaps the reason I find it dry on my lips. Let’s say it’s all right for a couple of hours, but after a while, it feels quite uncomfortable… uneasy
The lasting power is pretty good on the other hand. It lasts about 6 to 8 hours on me, although I have to do a little touch-up in the center of the lips after a meal. It doesn’t crumble during the day, it just fades quite nicely.
It’s a rather nice value for money, even if I found the formula too drying for me. I noticed that the quantity in the bottle was quite huge: there is 7.5 ml of product in the bottle for $23 (in comparison, the liquid lipsticks from Anastasia Beverly Hills are only 3.25 ml for $18).
The Girlactik Beauty Matte Lip Paint are available for $23 on Girlactik Beauty website.
Finally, here are the products on me:
In summary:
I was expecting to fall in love with the Matte Lip Paint and finally I really prefer the two face powders! Besides, I spotted a lovely blush, Bora Bora, and I feel like ordering it very soon! wink
And you, do you know the brand Girlactick Beauty? Which products from the brand are your must-haves?
Photo credit: bonnie-garner.com