Glossier Is Finally Selling Real Makeup

“I’m going to be using a full face worth of new beauty products, and I’ve partnered with one of the brands for this video. This is very unusual, but I can’t tell you the brand yet,” Jackie Aina, a YouTube beauty vlogger with over a million subscribers, said in a video back in early July.

It’s been something of a mystery since the video was posted, with speculations popping up all over Instagram and YouTube (though some beauty Reddit detectives put the pieces together immediately). Today we know with certainty that the brand Aina partnered with was Glossier.

This morning, the brand pulled out all of its charming social media stops to announce the launch of its newest product: Wowder ($22), a weightless finishing powder that’s available in three shades. Glossier promises that it won’t set cake-y or settle into fine lines like other traditional powders, but rather cut shine, blur the appearance of pores, and set your makeup. “It’s the airiest formula possible,” reads the on-site product description.

Much like Glossier’s Perfecting Skin Tint ($26), the three shades (light/medium, dark/deep, and rich) are ultra-sheer and adaptable, so you don’t need a perfect match for it to work.

You can also buy the new Wowder Brush ($20), a super dense brush developed for targeted application that comes with its own pouch. While you can get both individually, you’ll save some cash if you cop the Wowder Duo, available on the site right now for $35.

As Glossier loyalists freak out (one likened the news to Christmas morning in the Instagram comments), it’s worth mentioning that when six packages of Wowder arrived at the Racked office last week, we were all a bit confused. Since its launch in 2014, Glossier has sold the idea of no-makeup makeup, from its sheer-as-hell products to the full, bushy-browed models with already flawless skin featured in its campaigns. How does powder — something that adds actual coverage — fit into the dewy, makeup-less, cool-girl aesthetic?

The short answer is, it doesn’t. But between the “undo the dew” messaging on the Wowder landing page and the diverse mix of popular, full-face YouTubers the brand picked to roll out the product, we’re starting to think that’s the point.

The launch of Wowder also follows the debut of Milk Makeup’s first-ever full-coverage foundation, another indication that these inherently minimal, “come as you are” beauty brands have realized that their offerings exclude a whole lot of people willing to spend money. Who knew? People still want actual-makeup makeup.

[“Source-racked”]