Makeup with skin-care benefits is a category we've been fascinated with for a while now. Who doesn't want one product to do it all for them? That's the whole basis of the great BB-cream boom of 2012. But, while countless products claim to give you the best of both worlds, the reality is that they usually excel at one or the other — or do both kind of half-assedly. Finding a product that can give you skin-care results with makeup levels of coverage is a bit like finding a unicorn in a haystack.
Well, color me surprised because I think I just stumbled over that unicorn. Launching today is Onomie — a new brand that combines makeup and skin care flawlessly and effectively. It currently features two products — the A, C, E Illuminating Eye Treatment and the Bright Concealing Elixir — and is the brainchild of a product formulator with a dedication to science and a serial entrepreneur with an amazing track record of finding the next big thing.
According to the brand, the Bright Concealing Elixir works instantly to cover up dark circles, and over time to gradually reduce those same circles. Now, I know what you're thinking: Yep, heard that before and been burned by that before. I thought the exact same thing. Then, I tried the product — and little tiny cherubs started singing Beyoncé from on high. It covered up my dark circles like no other concealer I've tried, providing beautiful coverage, seamless shade matching, and superior blendability.
That alone would have had me putting in a lifetime-supply order. But then, after a few weeks of use, things got even better. My dark circles legit started to look less apparent. Granted, it's a tiny improvement, but it's an improvement. I'll take two lifetimes' supply, please.
What makes Onomie different comes down to the science and testing. While many companies claim rigorous studies and trials to back up their claims, they're doing consumer, rather than clinical, testing: "85% of respondents saw a 48% improvement in fine lines!" and the like. Those are just consumers telling the researchers their perceptions of improvement — "I tried this product and thought my skin looked better."
Real, rigorous clinical testing results are harder to find. Cofounders Lauren Hoffman and Kal Vepuri (an investor in Warby Parker, Harry's, and Reformation, among others — someone clearly has an eye for innovative indies) were adamant that Onomie's products be thoroughly scientifically tested to validate those dark-circle-reduction claims. As a former skin-care developer, it was important to Hoffman that Onomie's offerings be clinically tested, even if it's something most consumers aren't aware of. So, that "77% improvement in dark circles and 62% improvement in redness after 56 days" stat is not messing around.
"Onomie clinically tests its product to validate for our customers that this is not a 'sprinkling' of skin-care ingredients," Hoffman explains. "Our formulas are designed to work like skin care, despite also looking and performing like makeup. Most companies don’t clinically test their products, because they are selling a story or concept that sounds credible, but wouldn’t hold up if they clinically tested the performance. Skin-care-infused makeup is a story that has been told before, but they don’t show you how and to what extent the product improves skin."
The concealer is available in 10 shades — that's another anomaly; a makeup brand that understands skin tones come in more than Light and Tan — named after badass women in science. The formula boasts a potent blend of active botanicals including alfalfa, Egyptian white lupine, Brazilian ginseng, caffeine, and the aptly named night-sleeper extract.
The $30 price point is also pretty sweet, but what I really like is that the brand is all about the sampling. For those who have been burned before, or those who have a hard time finding their perfect shade, Onomie offers a try-at-home program that, for $5, send you a one-week supply of concealer and highlighter to test out at home. If you wind up purchasing the full size of either product, that $5 is credited to your account.
Fair warning: After just one use, I dumped my current go-to undereye concealer immediately and replaced it with the Bright Concealing Elixir. Science and makeup working synergistically is a beautiful thing.
Onomie Bright Concealing Elixir, $30, available at Onomie.
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