Is Saie Beauty Staple-Worthy? We Review
Summary: After testing Saie Beauty’s suite of clean, luxurious, you-but-better makeup staples, I can tell you that the brand does a fantastic job with formulations, packaging, and sustainability. Some products are more worth the splurge than others, though, so it’ll all come down to your budget and your preferences on how natural you like your makeup to look.
Pros
- All of Saie’s makeup products prioritize skin health with nourishing, non-toxic ingredients.
- They have some impressive certifications, like Climate Neutral, Plastic Negative, and 1% for the Planet.
- Their price points are reasonable for the quality, coming out to around the same as or less than other mid-range cosmetic brands — even ones without the same eco-friendly certifications.
- Saie’s Mascara 101 is a holy grail mascara for me. Read on for my full review.
- Branding! Not to be shallow, but a product’s packaging and branding is so important to me. Saie’s stuff is just begging to be displayed on a vanity.
Cons
- Saie really does specialize in the natural look, so if you like iridescent highlighters, full coverage foundation or concealer, or volumizing mascaras, these might not be the picks for you.
- Compared to drugstore picks, their prices aren’t negligible — not everyone has close to $40 for a single makeup product, and that’s ok! You can definitely find similar, solid products for much cheaper, though you’ll be sacrificing those high-quality ingredients and luxurious applications.
I love watching makeup tutorials as much as the next person — beautiful people making themselves even more beautiful through the meticulous application of various creams, pencils, and powders has always mesmerized me. But I’m far from a big makeup wearer myself. I dabble, but I’ve always been much more interested in skincare. I love natural looks, low-effort morning routines, and makeup products that double as skincare.
“The brand is known for high-quality formulations that look and feel luxurious, while relying on eco-conscious ingredients.”
So I was eager to try Saie Beauty’s lineup of streamlined, easy-to-use makeup products. The brand is known for high-quality formulations that look and feel luxurious, while relying on eco-conscious ingredients. Saie is Climate Neutral, Leaping Bunny, and Plastic Negative certified. They partner with 1% for the Planet and are transparent about their commitment to sourcing clean ingredients and using packaging that’s as sustainable as possible.
And said packaging, with their signature branding, is so beautiful — blocky serif fonts and lilac accents? Say less.
Saie has racked up press and accolades like Allure Best of Beauty awards since its launch in late 2019, and you can even find them at Sephora. It’s all pretty impressive for a brand that just turned four years old. So is the hype worth it? That’s what I set out to discover. 👀
My first impressions
To me, Saie feels like Glossier but for adults. They have a skin-first approach which their formulations reflect, featuring skin-loving ingredients like jojoba oil, glycerin, shea butter, and squalane. Their packaging is elegant and vanity-ready, and their price points are moderate, ranging from around $22–$40.
My shipment arrived packaged sustainably, as promised. The box was padded with paper and a package of cotton balls made of organic cotton — fully reusable packaging! Each product came in nothing but a cardboard box, with no plastic covering.
Products
Slip Tint | $36
One of the brand’s flagship products, this creamy tinted moisturizer really does “slip” over the skin. While it pumps out feeling thick, it blends down to give a really sheer coverage that looks like your skin but better. I found that buffing it out with a damp makeup sponge gave me a much better finish much quicker than applying it with my fingers — but fingers would do in a pinch.
It contains zinc oxide to give it SPF 35 protection, along with hyaluronic acid and glycerin to deeply hydrate. I loved the super dewy finish it gave my skin, and I’m all about an SPF product that’ll help me cut down my routine in the morning. While perfect for my dry winter skin, this tint might leave me a bit too dewy for humid summer days (I have combination, acne-prone skin). My perfect shade was “three,” and the accuracy impressed me — note that they have a helpful shade finder tool on their website.
Hydrabeam | $26
A far cry from cakey drugstore concealers, Hydrabeam is a hydrating concealer with a velvety feel and a skin-like finish. It has a soft doe foot applicator which I used to dab it underneath my eyes and on a few spots of post-blemish hyperpigmentation, and it worked well at hiding that slight discoloration. I loved how easy it was to buff out with my fingers — the heat from which probably helped it blend in better than using a sponge, anyway. “One” was my shade here, since I like to go a tick lighter with my concealers, while “One + Half” might be the ticket in the summer.
Dew Blush | $25
A little goes a looong way with this product, so it’ll last me pretty much forever. Another hydrating creamy product that melts into your skin (noticing a pattern here?), the blush claims to give a “ lit-from-within” wash of color, and it’s not wrong. The blush has a chunky doe foot applicator for depositing the right amount of color — just a couple tiny dots on each cheek were more than enough for me. Make sure to blend it out with your fingers right away to avoid any splotches. The shade I’m wearing here is “Rosy,” which came out more pigmented than I thought it would. The subtler “Peachy” will probably be my wintertime go-to.
Sun Melt | $32
Full disclosure: I think this is the first bronzer I’ve ever owned. So, in my extremely inexperienced opinion, I thought the product was great for people like me — bronzer newbies who want to add a touch of subtle warmth without a full contour. Its creamy texture and pan packaging make it pretty difficult to mess up, since it deposits little by little. While I blended it with my finger, a blending brush would’ve been helpful here for a smooth and even application. I tested the shade “Fair Bronze” which was quite light for me — the next shade up applied with a light hand would’ve worked just as well. The product had the tiniest touch of shimmer for a little glow, which I thought worked so well.
Glowy Super Gel | $28
A sort of multi-use primer/highlighter, the gel has a liquid consistency that glides easily over the skin. I dabbed it onto my cheekbones and nose for a subtle daytime highlight (similar vibes to the bronzer!) but I think its water-based texture makes it better all over as a primer, mixed into foundation, or just on its own. It comes in two sheer tints, of which I used the lighter one: “Starglow.”
Mascara 101 | $26
Honestly, this is a holy grail mascara for me. I used to be a firm believer in drugstore superiority when it came to mascaras, but I’ll happily shell out an extra ten or fifteen bucks for this in the future. It somehow leaves my lashes both extra long yet natural looking, with zero clumps ever. Like all Saie products, it leaves more of a natural finish — it’s not a volumizing mascara, yet I think it makes my lashes stand out even more than they do with heavier, thicker products because of the definition it provides. The small brush works best for me, helping me coat those tiny lashes in the corners. The product’s beeswax means it won’t get dry and crumbly at the end of the day, and it even has nourishing ingredients to help encourage lash strengthening and growth.
Is Saie worth it?
So overall, is Saie worth it? In general, I’d say yes — the formulation quality and elevated packaging made me pleasantly surprised at the fairly reasonable price points. I’m more than happy to spend around $25 on a concealer or blush that I love and that’ll last me a long time. And same with mascara. (Honestly, I’d pay a tiny bit more for Saie’s mascara — that’s how much I love it.) And the $36 price point for Slip Tint felt on par, too, since it’s one of the nicest tinted moisturizers I’ve tried and just one pump gave me the perfect amount of sheer coverage.
If you’re into a more vibrant makeup look, you’ll probably only find success with Saie’s blush. But for everyday, no-makeup makeup looks, I think Saie is one of the brands that’s knocking it out of the park. They offer 50% back when you return opened products, along with 25% off your replacement product. And remember you can find them at Sephora, too!
Natalie Gale is a Boston-based freelance journalist. When she’s not writing about art, food, or sustainability, you can find her biking to the farmers’ market, baking, sewing, or planning her next Halloween costume. Say hi on Instagram!
