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Tower 28 Beauty
As consumers grow increasingly concerned with the ingredients they put on their skin, clean beauty brands have increased in popularity.
Enter Tower 28. This "nontoxic" beauty brand makes products with a luxurious feel, sans the luxury price tag. Every item from the brand is under $30 — most are under $20.
After trying the range, I appreciate the natural look of the products and the many ways in which each can be used for a classic, natural look without irritating my sensitive skin.
After working in the beauty industry for 15 years at L'Oréal, Smashbox, Kate Somerville, and Josie Maran, Amy Liu had yet to find natural-looking makeup that was gentle enough on her sensitive, eczematous skin.
As entrepreneurs are wont to do, she set out to develop it herself. Enter Tower 28 Beauty: a collection of three vegan, cruelty-free products ranging from a facial spray, lip glosses, and lip/cheek balms, all featuring ingredients that do double duty to support skin health. Liu gave me a chance to try out the entire collection.
Below you'll find my review of the full collection, but I'll preface with this: One of the key ingredients across the board is hypochlorous acid, an ingredient Liu attributes to completely transforming her own skin. While I don't have eczema on my face, I do have large pores that get easily clogged with New York City pollution, and my skin more often than not has a new pimple on it by the end of the day. Dr. Joshua Zeichner, a New York dermatologist, attributes this to hypochlorous acid's anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial benefits. "It has been shown to disinfect, reduce itch, and even improve acne. We know that hypochlorus acid may be beneficial to reducing breakouts in people who are acne-prone," Dr. Zeichner said.
Though I only use this on my face, Liu says she even uses it on her legs to keep her eczema at bay. I personally have eczema on my back, but my face is its greasy foil — I can practically feel my large pores filling with oil the second I walk out my door every morning. Adding any irritating ingredients tends to turn that grease into acne.
That said, as a beauty junkie, I'll try anything new, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous to try a product that helped someone neutralize their extra-dry skin (this was before I spoke to Dr. Zeichner about hypochlorous acid's antimicrobial benefits).
I first tried this out when I threw it in my gym bag to use in between a sweaty yoga session and brunch with a girlfriend of mine. I washed my face with water and spritzed it on generously. A couple of hours later, when I came home, my skin was far less oily than it normally would have been. For the first time in a while, I didn't come home looking like I just ran my face through a car wash.
Given the fact that I live in Manhattan, I walk a lot, and often end the day with my face feeling like it has a thin layer of dirt on it. When I wear this, I don't feel that way at all. While I think I could wear this over makeup, I use it almost like a moisturizer. After washing my face in the morning, I put on a serum and eye cream, then spritz this over my face and neck generously. Without fail, I end my day with less oil on my skin and less dirt in my pores.
The ingredient list on these lip glosses is one of the most impressive I've seen on any lip product ever, including the hydrating lip balms I swear by. Every time I open the tube, I'm reminded of the fruity candies I used to enjoy as a child, and it's no wonder — the gloss is made of nurturing apricot kernel oil, raspberry seed oil which naturally protects from sun damage, and rosehip oil which promotes cell regeneration.
As an Indian woman, I'm predisposed to my lips getting darker when I'm out in the sun a lot, summer or winter. I almost exclusively prime my lipstick with lip balms that have SPF in them, so I appreciate the natural protection from the raspberry seed oil and hydration from castor oil.
The gloss comes in four colors: clear, purple, pink, and orange. Honestly, my first reaction to these was that I would never wear the ones with hues. The colors in the tubes were extremely bright, which is not my style. I own about a hundred nude glosses and lipsticks, and I like it that way. But when I tried them out, I loved that the pigmentation was extremely light.
On my tan skin, the orange hue "Fire" is perfect to bring out the pink in my lips and balance out the brown in them. I typically wear this gloss on its own, but when I put it over a nude pink lipstick, it adds just a small bit of orange without looking too bright or aggressive. Because of the clean ingredients, it doesn't go on tacky or sticky. Rather, it gives my lips a slick, thin coating that makes them feel hydrated — and tasting like candy.
I saved the best for last. The balms come in four colors: clear, coral pink, burnt orange, and dusty rose. Though the coral and dusty rose aren't the best on my skin tone, the burnt orange and clear balms have become a daily staple for me.
I'm usually a bit skeptical of products that have multiple purposes. My thought is that it's important to master one product. If it works really well on my lips, it can't be that good on my cheeks. I chalked it up to a sales gimmick, but the burnt orange color dubbed "Golden Hour" is ideal for my skin tone. I get compliments every single time I put it on my lips, and I also keep this as a staple in my gym bag to dot a bit on my cheeks and eyelids for a little bit of color without looking like I'm actually wearing makeup.
As a darker-skinned woman, I don't really blush, but I imagine this is what I would look like if I did. When I dot this on and blend it into my cheeks and lips, I look like I got a full night's sleep (though I usually don't). It appears really natural on my cheeks and lids, but it comes off as opaque on my lips.
The clear balm is the ideal shimmer-free highlight for a natural, dewy glow. I put it on regularly under a matte foundation, just on my cheekbones, and it almost acts like a dewy primer. The balmy consistency isn't thick or tacky like a lot of balms can be, likely due to the aloe vera and shea butter in it. According to Dr. Zeichner, the green tea in it is great for oily skin, as well. "Green tea has anti-inflammatory benefits to soothe the skin. Aloe vera is ultra hydrating and may give moisturizing benefits," he said.
All in all, you can tell by looking at the products and using them that the line was founded by someone who worked in the beauty industry for a long time, and that every ingredient was carefully curated to have a purpose that isn't just beautiful makeup, but skin-loving and soothing — let the unused pack of oil-blotting sheets in my purse be the proof.