ILIA Beauty's skin-forward makeup will be everywhere this summer – here's why

Usually, I’m sceptical with foundation sticks; they tend to be too drying for my combination skin and seep into fine lines I didn’t even know I had. However, I’m pleased to report this did neither.

It’s definitely the mattest option from their complexion range, but the ceramide-peptide complex meant it still nourished my skin without making it greasy. It blends in one swipe and aims to keep your canvas intact for up to 12 hours.

My pores almost appeared non-existent, and it delivered the perfect amount of coverage; not too masking but enough to cover up my redness. It didn’t leave a tacky finish behind either while leaving my skin feeling softer. It’s going in my handbag, pronto.

An eyeshadow stick is the easiest way to sweep on a layer of colour. Taking zero time or skill, the ILIA Eye Stylus is the definition of swipe-n’-go.

The shade Adorn – a bronzed shimmer – is new to the collection, and it’s the perfect hue to introduce into your summer makeup bag. I love to layer it on top of my powder shadow, taking my look from day to night by giving it a delicate sparkle.

If I’m being honest, I usually opt for a mascara with a little more ‘oomph’ than ILIA’s Limitless Lash – but there are certain occasions where I opt for this. Coffee with friends; a pilates class; Sunday stroll in the park? Ilia is my go-to, especially in the new brown hue for a delicate result.

The plastic wand grabs onto each lash to lift and lengthen, but the pigment payoff is very delicate, so go for this if you want a natural lash and a pretty flutter.

Broken that skin barrier or gone overboard with retinol? Listen up, pls. ILIA’s Barrier Build Skin Protect Cream is formulated with all the right ingredients (read: colloidal oatmeal, shea butter, glycerin) to reinforce that barrier back to health. Beauty Writer, Lia Mappoura, is a big advocate: “Thanks to ILIA’s new Barrier Build Skin Protectant Cream, I’ve been able to minimise, and almost altogether, banish the face dandruff.”

Not your average liquid highlighter, this has impressive skin-boosting ingredients like hydrolyzed algae (aiming to keep oil under control) and marine actives (to help protect skin from free radical damage), so it’s not just a faux glow it’s creating.

This isn’t overly glittery and instead, leaves a glowy non-greasy sheen behind. You can either wear this on its own or mix it in with a foundation to provide a glowier base. It’s a key component to any ‘no makeup makeup’ look if you ask me.

Technically this is in the brand’s skincare range, but I’m adding it to this lineup because it’s an ace base for makeup. Think Rhode’s Glazing Milk but with a bit more of a hydrated oomph.

If you’re on the oilier side and find moisturisers make the skin too slick to apply makeup to, or you’re a dry girlie whose skin needs a pick-me-up, this blend of hyaluronic acid and microalgae extract (a prime anti-inflammatory ingredient) perfectly prepped my base for makeup. It leaves skin slightly tacky and looking luminous and juicy but not greasy. What’s not to love?

One swipe of these bullets and I totally understand where the name “colour block” came from – these do not mess around when it comes to pigmentation.

They weren’t the most hydrating lipsticks I’ve tried – nor do they claim to be – but they coated my lips in an opaque veil of colour with very minimal effort.

They stayed put through many sips of coffee but did need a touch-up after lunch, which is pretty standard with a bullet formula. I love dabbing these to create a diffused bold lip – think a ‘just bitten’ effect but better.

This is the concealer version of the brand’s foundation (more on that later) and comes in 20 shade options. The formula is super creamy and high coverage, managing to erase my post-spot scarring in one swipe. However, I did have to work it into my skin to avoid any streaks.

For something so hydrating, it was surprisingly long-wearing too. I’d recommend ditching the brushes and blending out with your fingers for this formula to get full and even coverage.

This blends avocado oil and shea butter to make for one hydrating stick. You can literally swipe and go with these to leave your cheeks with a glazed doughnut finish. Perfect for dry skin sufferers.

My one bugbear? The lighter shades of these dinky balms are so sheer, that the colour was almost undetectable even on my pale skin. I've seen swatches of the darker tones and videos that do look to be very buildable in colour, but just not the one I got. I'll be saving this for a subtle lip tint or as a topper to my blush for when my skin needs a pick-me-up.

As this is the only foundation in the range – rather than a skin tint – I expected this to be higher coverage than the other base option from the brand. However, because it is a serum foundation, I found it gave even lighter coverage.

This is another one that’s non-comedogenic and fragrance-free – so won’t upset those on the sensitive side – and comes in 30 shades. It contains niacinamide, aloe and allantoin (a top skin-soothing ingredient), all of which make for a silky, lightweight, hydrating base.

Although it didn’t cover up my pigmentation as much as well as the Super Serum Skin Tint above, I was impressed with its anti-redness powers that almost made up for the little coverage. It felt weightless on my skin and gave a ‘your skin but better’ glow, without being too greasy. If you’ve got oilier skin, I’d opt for this one over the skin tint.

I tried both the matte and shimmery versions of these eye tints and couldn’t get to grips with either formula. Sorry, ILIA. These apply wet but dry down so quickly that you have essentially no blending time. When I did try and buff out sharp edges, the paints simply flaked off.

If you’re looking for a statement cat eye that you can carve out using a cotton bud soaked in micellar water, these might be for you but for a sheered-out bronzed lid, these were not the ones.

The thick, balmy texture of these leaves your lips instantly feeling more nourished, while the berry tones provide a flattering flush.

It contains a hydrating trifecta of shea butter, sunflower seed oil and castor, leaving your skin looking glossier, without feeling heavy or greasy. The ultimate low-maintenance lip colour that won’t vanish after just one sip of coffee.

The tiny nib makes it easy to draw tiny individual hairs into any sparse patches in your brows. However, the formula itself is pretty dry, which means it would take a while to draw in a full bold brow.

As such, it’s not the most pigmented pencil I’ve ever used – it’s definitely on the subtler side – so if you're debating between two shades, I’d opt for the darker one.