I’m continuing on with this series and talking about some products that I don’t hear mentioned much anymore, but they still manage to make it on the brand’s bestsellers list. I have already done a best sellers post on MAC, NARS, Bobbi Brown, and Laura Mercier if you’d like to check those out. . Today I’m revisiting some Clinique products. If you like shopping directly from the brand’s website, there are some Valentine’s Day markdowns. It is 25% off select items and that ends on 15 February 2022.

I have used some pictures from my old blog (sensitive beauty blog) for a couple of the products I don’t own at the moment. So you may notice the watermark in the Stay Matte Foundation image or that I’ve lost weight since the swatches for that and the Morning Java eyeshadow quad was taken. So anyway, let’s get to it.

Clinique Beyond Perfecting Foundation Plus Concealer, $34.00 (WN 82 Latte)

I have mentioned this foundation before in my fall makeup edit from 2020 (check that out here) if you want more information. Long story short, this is one of my favorite full coverage foundations for my dry skin. It does transfer some, but it is a trade-off that I deal with because it looks so nice on me.

Update March 4, 2022: I posted more swatches of this foundation in the shades WN76 Toasted Wheat, CN90 Sand, WN98 Cream Caramel, WN114 Golden, and WN 125 Mahogany. You can check that out by clicking here.

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Clinique Stay Matte Oil Free Makeup, $31.00 (24 Golden)

This is a very pretty foundation but it didn’t work well with my dry skin. I obviously know trying matte foundations is a gamble with dry skin, but I prefer the longevity and skin-smoothing finish that matte foundations provide. The Clinique Stay Matte Foundation gives slightly more than light coverage on the initial application but it is easily buildable to medium coverage. As promised by the brand, it was very lightweight and always felt like I wasn’t wearing anything. The formula does not dry very fast like some matte foundations can, so there is plenty of time to blend.

This was another confusing foundation for me, much like the MAC Studio Fix Fluid Foundation (check out that review here). It did look dry on my problem areas, no matter the application method, but then oddly enough I found myself needing to blot my T-zone by mid-day (especially in summer). This is strange for my dry skin as you can probably imagine. It could be that the foundation was so mattifying that my skin was producing oil to compensate. Regardless of the reason, this just didn’t work out for me.

The 24 Golden shade is too dark for my Estee Lauder 4W4 skin tone; cream caramel was a better color match for me in the Clinique Stay Matte Foundation.

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Clinique Cheek Pop Blush, $26.50 (Fig Pop and Black Honey Pop)

I don’t think anyone is surprised to hear that this blush formula is on Clinique’s bestseller list, so I won’t bore you with the details. However, if you are interested in the swatches and my full review, you can find that by clicking here.

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Clinique All About Shadow Quad, $35.00 (Morning Java)

The All About Shadow Quad in Morning Java takes it way back for me. I think it was maybe 2014 or 2015 the first time I purchased this and although I repurchased it once, that too had to be thrown away sometime last year. When I first started getting into eyeshadow, it was one of the first products I really enjoyed. This was back before I paid so much attention to how an eyeshadow was pressed lol. This formula is looser than I tend to prefer these days, but I still love it anyway. Maybe it is part nostalgia, but that’s fine by me. I might need to buy this quad again 😆.

I mostly used the two colors in the middle, but the deepest shade worked nicely as well. I never got any use out of the lightest pale pink shade for my skin tone, but there are a lot of people who wouldn’t have that issue. This is just an easy-to-use formula, even when I didn’t know what I was doing yet, I felt like I was able to make these shadows look nice. I would advise tapping off the excess powder before applying them to your eyes to prevent fall out.

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To me, Clinique makeup is of great quality at a great price. It just strikes me as being easy to use. I never feel like there is any learning curve or need to do several experiments to figure it out. It either works for you or you can clearly tell it doesn’t work for you. I like that about the brand. If you buy direct from the Clinique website, they do have a rewards program as well as frequent 25% off sales. They are a great value for money, there is a reason a lot of teens get taken to the Clinique counter as an entrance to department store makeup.

A big thing that I want from Clinique is for them to work on their overall shade range. They really need better options across the board for bronzer, highlight, blush, setting powder, and powder foundation on the deeper end of the range. As for foundation, although the range could certainly be worse there are a lot of holes in both shade and undertone in between the shades they have now. Their newer foundation releases seem to be getting better in range. The newest line, Even Better Clinical Serum offers 56 shades, and the Beyond Perfecting, Even Better SPF15, and Even Better Refresh all offer 40 shades. Some of the older foundations barely have any shades available, so I wonder how much longer they will be around. It would also be nice if all of the shades were available at every retailer. The shade I use in Beyond Perfecting (WN 82 Latte) isn’t available everywhere Clinique is sold. And although there are a total of 40 shades in the Beyond Perfecting range other retailers only have between 32 and 38 of the shades.

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Are you a Clinique Fan? Do you have any favorites you would recommend?

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If you enjoyed this post, please consider sticking around. You can check out my Brands A-Z index if you want to know what products I have posted about in the past.

Disclaimer:  I purchased all products featured with my own money.  For my full disclosure policy, click here.