All My Makeup Is Sticks Now

I was a little nervous to try Lancôme’s stick version of its Teint Idole foundation — I’ve tested the brand’s long-wearing liquid format before and found it too heavy-duty for everyday wear. I prefer a finish that’s more skinlike and breathable, and remarkably, the stick version of the foundation nailed it. I swipe it directly on my face, then blend it out with a foundation brush; it feels like I’m wearing nothing but still delivers a light veil of coverage while letting the natural texture of my skin peek through. The only downside is that the packaging is a little fragile — I dropped one on the ground, and the stick broke. But it’s still usable; I just have to be mindful when twisting the applicator up and down.

For any spots that need some extra coverage, I use this dual-ended concealer stick from DIBS Beauty. One side is a concealer, and the other is a brightener; the two can be combined to customize the coverage and help hide dark circles or tired under eyes, but I don’t tend to get dark shadows under my eyes, so I mostly use the concealer side. The cream format tends to highlight flakiness more than liquid concealer, so I wouldn’t use it on something like a healing zit. But for freckles and dark marks, it blends easily and covers them right up.

I first heard about Canadian beauty brand 19/99 through Amanda Dobbins, who’s a big fan of the brand’s highlight stick. Intrigued by her rave review, I asked the brand to send me its full range of beauty sticks for testing, and though the highlight and blush are both lovely, I’ve been using the contour stick the most. The lighter color, Tea, is just the right shade to give me a bronze-y glow without looking too stark. I draw a line below my cheekbones and around my jawline, plus a few dots around my hairline, then blend it out with an angled brush, though I’ve also used my fingers in a pinch. It seems somewhat sturdier than Lancome’s Shape Stick, too; it’s bounced around in my carry-on and emerged none the worse for wear.

This Patrick Ta stick is smaller and slimmer than the 19/99 stick, which makes it more precise for contouring smaller areas around my brows, nose bridge, and lips. I have two shades, Shape and Silhouette, and will rotate between them depending on how defined I want my contour to be. I’ve also used them as eye shadows in a pinch — they’re very creamy and easy to blend, so I can apply a bit on my finger to warm it up and then dab it onto the corners of my eyes to give them a bit more dimension. The sticks are also conveniently dual-ended — the other side is a brush you can use for blending. I personally find the attached brush to be a tad dense, so when I’m at home I use a fluffier brush, but I’ll forgo it when I’m traveling to save space in my makeup bag.

Milk recently overhauled its entire hero line, the Milk Sticks collection, just in time for the brand’s tenth anniversary. There’s a Lip + Cheek blush stick with both matte and satin finishes, a bronzer stick, a contour stick, a highlight stick, and a lip liner. The blush stick is my favorite. I’ve been using the shade Enigma, a rosy beige, and it’s one of the best multi-sticks I’ve ever tried. The formula is infused with skin-friendly ingredients like hyaluronic acid, ceramides, and jojoba oil, so it feels nice and hydrating on any flaky areas around my cheeks or lips. The product itself glides on smoothly, blends into a softly diffuse blur, and doesn’t feel waxy or tacky. When I apply it across my nose bridge, I look like I’ve just spent a day out in the sun, even if all I did was peck away at my laptop. If I’m doing my makeup in a rush, I’ll pop some on my eyes too for an easy monochromatic look.

Another blush stick I’ve been using a lot lately is this Haus Labs one. I have the shade Cinnamon, a peachy beige. While the Milk Makeup stick above has a natural satin finish, this one is more dewy, with a glassy gleam to it — texturally, it feels a little more “wet” than the Milk blush stick. It’s also quite pigmented, so a little goes a long way. In fact, I’ll often combine the two, just to give my blush look more dimension; I go in first with the Milk to create a nice dusky, peachy base, then add in the Haus Labs toward the center of my face and nose bridge to deepen the flush.

This Goop Beauty Highlight Stick is everything I wanted Glossier’s Haloscope to be. While I really had to squint to see whether anything even happened after applying Haloscope, I can immediately spot a radiant shimmer after applying Goop Beauty’s. I have the shade Aura, a pearlescent Champagne that has the chameleonic ability to enhance any blush color I pair it with. I dot it along my cheekbones, Cupid’s bow, and brow bone, and sometimes along my eyelids and inner-eye corner.