Primers, face mists, pore strips, lip scrubs, tinted moisturizers—all “controversial” beauty products labeled (by some) as the most despisable or undeserving of your hard-earned paychecks. Some beauty editors, skin experts, and makeup artists flaunt their obsession for the formulas I’ve listed above, and some practically condemn them as ineffective industry propaganda. In retrospect, this just proves that everyone is different, everyone likes different things, and you should really just try and buy any beauty product you dang well please. 

In a previous life—a life I’ll dub BTM, before tinted moisturizer—I stubbornly maintained I just wasn’t a fan of tinted moisturizers. They pilled, they didn’t match my skin, and they never provided me with the pretty wash of lightweight subtle coverage they promised. Eventually, after some peer pressure from a friend and fellow beauty editor, I tried a new formula I was convinced I’d hate but, miraculously, became head-over-heels obsessed with. Turns out, as with literally any product in our saturated beauty universe, it requires some elbow grease to find your perfect formula. Even if the first (or fifth) option might be a fail, it doesn’t mean there isn’t a glowing new find to be discovered just around the river bend.