After only being available in the States, the Rare Beauty UK range is now on sale at SpaceNK with some select products available on Sephora and Amazon
With packaging to die for and reviews that’ll have you emptying your bank account, Selena Gomez’s cosmetics line – Rare Beauty – has caused quite a stir.
It boasts one of the most impressive foundation and concealer shade ranges on the market, with 48 shades available.
Set up by the singer to “break down unrealistic standards of perfection”, the Selena Gomez makeup range has been made to “feel good in, without hiding what makes you unique — because Rare Beauty is not about being someone else, but being who you are.”
In fact, many of the brand’s mission statements align with how we feel about the beauty industry. Its vision is to create “a safe, welcoming space in beauty — and beyond — that supports mental wellbeing across age, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, cultural background, physical or mental ability, and perspective.”
What’s more, when Gomez launched Rare Beauty, she pledged to donate 1% of annual sales to mental health initiatives among other fundraising activities, which form part of her wider $100 million Rare Impact Fund. A fund that, in its first year, donated $1.2 million to mental health resources.
FURTHER READING: How to find your perfect foundation match
Rare Beauty is not available from the official site in the UK, but it is now available at SpaceNK! Below we’ve listed the best Rare Beauty products that we’ve tried and tested.
£26 | Buy now
The Liquid Touch Weightless Foundation was one of the first products to become available in the Rare Beauty UK and it’s one of the brand’s bestsellers.
Not only does it offer medium, buildable coverage with a soft finish, we’re big fans of this foundation because it leaves the skin looking radiant and fresh.
We bought a shade that is slightly too orange for our skin and because this foundation does oxidise ever so slightly, we recommend you opt for a slightly lighter shade than you need.
We recently put it head-to-head with Lady Gaga’s Haus Labs foundation in the first round of our Foundation Death Match on TikTok and it won that round! You can see the video here.
On our TikTok, we’ve also previously tested the hydration of this foundation and you can watch that video below. These videos form part of our wider hunt for the best foundation for all skin types, budgets, and needs. If you’re interested in seeing the top 10, go to our best foundation makeup page where you can also find the spreadsheet with the full ranking.
@victoria_woolly_web Replying to @victoria_woolly_web this feels like a bit of an anomaly because hydration-wise it dried it out but finish wise, it still looked dewy and radiant 🤷♀️ #fyp #fypシ #mamabella #foundationtest #hydration #hydrated #hydratedskin @Rare Beauty ♬ BREAK MY SOUL – Beyoncé
What’s more, when paired with the Liquid Touch Brightening Concealer (£18), this foundation covers imperfections without feeling too heavy. Even better – both products contain skincare ingredients to help nourish and soften your complexion.
This makes it a contender for the best foundation for mature skin, although it will also suit other skin types too.
£22 | Buy now
Rare Beauty Another of our favourite Rare Beauty products, and one that has a number of uses making it great value for money, is the Rare Beauty Soft Pinch Liquid Blush.
It’s available in 13 shades, ranging from pinks to mauves and deep berry colours, and you can buy it in either a dewy or matte finish.
What we love about this blush is that it’s highly pigmented, meaning you can dial up the colour if you want, or keep it subtle. The formula is lightweight and blends well, even over and underneath powder makeup, and it lasts for hours.
If you want to create a natural flush of colour, we recommend applying it under a medium-coverage foundation (like the Liquid Touch foundation) so that the colour and blush makes your complexion flush.
We currently have this blusher in Bliss (matte nude pink), Lucky (dewy hot pink) and Joy (dewy muted peach) and one of the great things about this blusher in any shade is that it can be used for eyeshadow, and even liquid lipstick. We know that £22 is a lot to spend on any makeup but if you maximise its use, it at least makes it good value.
Due to the fact it’s so pigmented you need to go a little gentle if you use it in this way but we get around this by applying it to the back of our hand before applying it to our eyes or lips using a brush. Or your finger.
This blusher is incredibly popular and different shades come in and out of stock. If you can’t get the one you’re looking for via SpaceNK, Rare Beauty does now offer UK shipping but you’ll need to wait longer and potentially pay custom fees.
£17 | Buy now
Rare’s Eye range is small but has some big hitters, including the Perfect Strokes Matte Liquid Liner offering a narrow felt-tip liner for perfect application.
It’s waterproof and will last all day, and its ophthalmologist-tested formula is suitable for sensitive eyes and contact lens wearers, so it won’t irritate.
£19 | Buy now
mamabella | mamabella The Lip Soufflé Matte Lip Cream comes in a range of shades, from soft nudes to bold reds. Its formula contains Vitamin E so you won’t get the dry feel that some matte liquid lipsticks cause, so is comfortable for day-to-day wear.
We love the classic red shade, ‘Inspire’, or if you’re in search of something more natural, ‘Brave’.
£20 | Buy now
Rare Beauty One of the newest entries in Selena Gomez’s Rare Beauty UK range is the new Tinted Lip Oil, released as part of the wider Soft Pinch blush range.
There are eight shades of lip oil to choose from, each one offering (as the name suggests) a soft pinch of colour, and each is designed to hydrate and nourish the lips using a gel-to-oil formula.
The brand promises that the oil is “never sticky” but adds a shine that leaves lips looking fuller and healthier. It’s also vegan and cruelty-free, like the rest of the Rare Beauty UK range.
The downside is that this new lip oil is proving popular and a lot of the shades have already sold out, so be quick if you want to get your hands on it!
£28 | Buy now
One of the latest launches from the Rare Beauty range is the Discovery Eyeshadow Palette. Released at the start of April, alongside the Always an Optimist Weightless Eye Primer (£17), the Discovery Eyeshadow Palette comes in a crescent moon-themed case and features seven crease-resistant shades.
According to the brand, the palette was “inspired by Selena’s journey of self-discovery and celebrates the ever-changing colors we reflect every day.”
These shades include:
Selena Gomez recently announced she is continuing to use her Rare Impact Fund to improve access to mental health services and education for young people.
Created in 2020, the Rare Impact Fund was set up with the goal of raising $100 million to address youth mental health. One percent of Rare Beauty’s annual sales are donated to the fund, and in its first year, more than $1.2 million was donated to mental health resources.
Today, the fund is announcing an additional $1.5 million in grant support to 12 organisations that are expanding access to mental health services and education for young people worldwide.
Five new organisations are also joining the Rare Impact Fund’s list of grantees, which increases accessibility for mental health resources through a variety of tactics including supporting a 24/7 hotline, increasing teacher knowledge of their own mental health to better understand their students, and distributing mental health resources to schools.
The Rare Impact Fund plans to work with these organisations, in addition to their ongoing partners, to “co-create and distribute mental health content to an engaged community of over 5 million young people in an effort to destigmatise mental health and foster community through Rare Beauty.”
Gomez has Bipolar Disorder and has been a mental health advocate since her diagnosis. When she launched Rare Beauty, she pledged to donate 1% of annual sales to mental health initiatives among other fundraising activities, which form part of her wider $100 million Rare Impact Fund.
The Mental Health 101 initiative coincided with May being Mental Health Awareness Month. It’s “dedicated to supporting mental health education and encouraging financial support for more mental health services in educational services,” according to her follow-up Instagram post.
Rare Beauty also launched the Rare Beauty Mental Health Council in the summer of 2020 designed to bring mental health experts from universities, organisations, and companies together to guide the company’s strategy.
Victoria is founder and editor-in-chief of mamabella, freelance journalist and Mum. She has a passion for empowering people to feel beautiful whatever their age, size, skin type and budget
