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The best Refy beauty products you need in your make-up bag, from lip liner to brow gel

Our beauty editor put the trendy TikTok brand to the test

Lauren Cunningham
Tuesday 13 February 2024 12:36 GMT
We tried everything from Refy, to find out which products are really worth your money
We tried everything from Refy, to find out which products are really worth your money (The Independent)
Our Top Picks

Thanks to social media platforms such as TikTok, a whole host of new beauty brands are seeing huge success, and Refy is currently sitting in the spotlight.

Founded by influencer Jess Hunt in 2020, the fledgling beauty brand boasts only a small selection of face (including lip and brow) and body products yet a number of them have been marked as must-haves already.

The brand’s face primer, for example, has had millions of views on TikTok, as has another fan-favourite, the Refy lip buff. So, clearly, the brand is getting a lot of attention, but are the products actually worthy of the love they’re receiving on social media? In true IndyBest fashion, our beauty editor put them to the test.

It is worth noting that, while the brand has a whole host of lip and brow products, it’s yet to create any sort of concealer or foundation. We’re hoping this will change very soon, though, and can’t wait to put them to the test when they hit the market, too.

Keep reading below to see which Refy pieces are really worth the money and which of the minimalist grey and cream packaged products now feature regularly in our make-up bags.

How we tested the best Refy products

Receiving a big bag of Refy beauty bits, our experts spent three weeks testing almost every product from the popular brand – primer, brow tint and lip buff all included. To make the most of each product, our reviewers swapped out their everyday favourite make-up bag bits, wearing only Refy, to see how it held up.

The best Refy products for 2024 are:

Refy cream bronzer

Refy cream bronzer
  • Best: Bronzer
  • Shade tested: Dune
  • Shades available: Dune, sand, tan, onyx
  • Suitable for: All skin types
  • Why we love it
    • Easy to blend
    • Natural finish

This cream bronzer was our beauty editor’s favourite Refy product, and it has certainly earned a spot in their everyday make-up bag. It’s soft, creamy and blends seamlessly into skin, delivering a sunkissed flush of colour that looks incredibly natural.

Athough the brand suggests using the duo brush to apply the product, our tester found it actually works best when warmed up with your fingers then blended out with a brush later. This ensures a more natural golden glow that can easily be layered, depending on your look. It’s available in four shades, from a lighter-hued dune to a deeper shade of onyx.

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Refy face primer

Refy face primer
  • Best: Primer
  • Shade tested: N/A
  • Shades available: N/A
  • Suitable for: All skin types, including sensitive
  • Why we love it
    • Innovative applicator
    • Impressive ingredients list

The Refy face primer has racked up a whole host of fans, with many taking to social media to rave about the product. But what makes it stand out among countless other similar items? Well, it’s all down to an innovative applicator.

Unlike your regular pump or pipette, the Refy primer goes on with a roller. This not only rids the need to touch your face with your fingers but also gives you a Gua Sha-like treatment, slightly sculpting the face to lift the muscles as it lacquers the skin with product. Although this isn’t quite as massaging as the social media videos make out – it’s more of a gentle stroke than a skin-pulling procedure – we did notice it helped to de-puff our face in the morning.

As for ingredients, it will flood the face with moisture and is suitable for sensitive skin. Niacinamide, glycerin and camellia seed oil are the three key ingredients, helping to reduce redness, hydrate the skin, and stimulate collagen production. So, not only will it help to make make-up last longer, it actually has a whole host of skincare benefits, and our tester really loved the dewy finish.

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Refy lip buff

Refy lip buff
  • Best: Lip buff
  • Shade tested: N/A
  • Shades available: N/A
  • Suitable for: All skin types
  • Why we love it
    • Exfoliating
  • Take note
    • Need to keep it clean

Now, this product has us torn. Unlike a regular lip balm or a sugary lip scrub, it uses a soft plastic bristled brush to apply the product, physically exfoliating in the process, for soft, supple lips. It doesn’t hurt in any way, nor does it tug or scratch, but we wouldn’t exactly call it a soothing sensation, either. That said, our lips have never been softer in such a short amount of time.

However, it doesn’t seem like the most sanitary of products, as, although it scrubs away dead skin from your lips, you can visibly see everything that was removed among the bristles. This, for some, will only make the product more popular but, for others, it can be a little strange. So, to combat this, you really need to keep it clean, and please don’t go sharing it with your friends.

Looking at the ingredients, a plumping agent helps to provide a fuller pout; amino acids help boost the skin barrier; and aloe vera helps to lock in more moisture.

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Refy skin finish

Refy skin finish
  • Best: Powder
  • Shade tested: 01
  • Shades available: 01, 02
  • Suitable for: All skin types
  • Why we love it
    • Non-chalky

Unlike most face powders, which soak up oil and stamp out shine, the Refy skin finish actually feels like it helps with hydration and leaves no chalky, matte or powdery finish. Interestingly, it’s water-based, with moisture-boosting glycerin and caprylyl glycol included as two core ingredients. This means it instantly blends into the skin for a very natural finish, instead of just sitting on top, and the result is a beautifully blurred, soft-focus face. Although, you will need a very fluffy brush to apply it evenly, as it can blend rather quickly. For yellow or warm undertones, opt for shade one, for pink and cool undertones, go for shade two.

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Refy brow tint

Refy brow tint
  • Best: Brow tint
  • Shade tested: Medium brown
  • Shades available: Soft brown, medium brown, deep brown, black
  • Suitable for: All skin types
  • Why we love it
    • Easy to apply
    • Tints and shapes

If you’re after thick, heavy-set eyebrows, you’re sure to be taken by Refy’s brow tint. Lasting around 12 hours or simply washing off when you wet your face, this product is perfect for creating both a more colourful brow and pulling hairs into place. The unique, round brush catches on to every hair, without touching the skin, unlike most longer-shaped applicators.

The water-based tint colours the brows while helping them to feel stronger and nourished, thanks to a blend of peptides and camellia japonica flower extract. It really does do a bit of everything in the brow department.

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Refy gloss highlighter

Refy gloss highlighter
  • Best: Highlighter
  • Shade tested: Topaz
  • Shades available: Topaz
  • Suitable for: All skin types, although, those with oily skin may find it greasy
  • Why we love it
    • Impressive ingredients list
  • Take note
    • Not the most impactful

Just like we loved the cream bronzer, we also think this Refy product is rather fabulous. In keeping with the brand’s creamy-based products, this one is made from a mix of oils, including sunflower, coconut, linseed and avocado, which lend it its high blendability while helping to hydrate and add a high shine to the skin.

Currently, only one shade is available, and, although we would love to see more, the soft golden glow is just gorgeous. However, it isn’t the most impactful, so you either need to layer it up quite generously or go in with a shimmer powder on top, if you’re after a high-impact look.

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Refy duo brush

Refy duo brush
  • Best: Brush
  • Shade tested: N/A
  • Shades available: N/A
  • Suitable for: All skin types
  • Why we love it
    • Vegan
    • Double-ended
  • Take note
    • Not great for powders

A good make-up brush is a must in any beauty buff’s arsenal, and this two-in-one style certainly does the trick. On one side, a small curved buffing brush picks product and gets into hard-to-reach areas. On the other, a white-tipped stippling bronzer brush helps disperse products across the face. This works incredibly well with the cream blush, bronzer and highlighter, although isn’t the best when used with powders. It’s completely vegan and washes up well in soap and water.

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Refy lip blush

Refy lip blush
  • Best: Lip blush
  • Shade tested: Orchid
  • Shades available: Bloom, amber, orchid, cinnamon, wine, canyon
  • Suitable for: All skin types
  • Why we love it
    • Hydrating

This creamy lip colour sits somewhere between a lipstick and a lip balm, with a beautiful shade payoff that truly nourishes the lips. Coconut emollient and tocopheryl acetate help to hydrate a nourish the skin, while a blurring technology reduces the appearance of fine lines, creating a fuller-looking pout.

It’s soft, creamy and delivers all the best bits of your favourite lip balm, as well as being in a chunky stick-like shape that’s easy to apply.

Six shades are available, offering a veil of colour that’s slightly more sheer than a lipstick, with a natural-looking finish. If wanting to make your make-up stretch even further, we also found it works pretty well on the cheeks.

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Refy cream blush

Refy cream blush
  • Best: Blush
  • Shade tested: Peach
  • Shades available: Rose, malaya, peach, citrine, cherry
  • Suitable for: All skin types
  • Why we love it
    • Easy to blend

Cream blush is a great product for adding dimension and a healthy flush to the face, and the Refy version is a fantastic find. Available in five shades, it stretches from a light-toned rose to a deep, dark cherry, although the orange-hued peach is probably our favourite.

Similar to the cream bronzer (£18, Refybeauty.com), synthetic beeswax lends it its texture, while ensuring all products are still vegan. As it’s so soft, it blends seamlessly into skin with just your fingers or a brush, and a little really does go a long way.

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Refy lip sculpt

Refy lip sculpt
  • Best: Lip liner
  • Shade tested: Rosewood
  • Shades available: Taupe, fawn, sepia, blush, rosewood, dusk, red
  • Suitable for: All skin types
  • Why we love it
    • Beautiful shades
  • Take note
    • Pilled a lot

Although most Refy products sit within the no make-up make-up look, lip sculpt is probably the most potent product of them all. This two-in-one lip liner and setting gel will, according to the brand, allow you to outline your lips with a crisp edge of colour while setting it for up to 10 hours.

Although we liked the liner, we found the setting gel actually pilled quite a lot before locking in the colour, so, sadly, it wasn’t our favourite product.

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Refy body glow

refy body glow.png
  • Best: Body glow
  • Shade tested: N/A
  • Shades available: N/A
  • Suitable for: All skin types
  • Why we love it
    • Impressive ingredients list
  • Take note
    • A lot of product needed

If you’ve used and loved the Refy highlighter, you may also be a fan of the brand’s body glow. We love that it’s fragrance free and leaves your skin looking like you’ve just come back from the beach, thanks to key ingredients such as argania spinosa kernel oil and tocopheryl acetate, which not only make your skin glisten but help to hydrate it, too.

We also found this product stays on your skin for a full day, so is the perfect finishing touch if you want an added glow before you head out. The one downside, however, is you need a good amount of product to achieve a pearlescent finish, as it is a lighter cream.

Alice Carter

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The verdict: Refy products

It’s safe to say Refy is more than just a social media-backed brand. Boasting a large number of fans, its products make for easier make-up application. Our favourite find was the Refy cream bronzer, which blended effortlessly into skin, for a beautiful sun-kissed finish. The Refy cream blush was also slightly similar in application. Although the Refy face primer is a social media star, we would say it’s a little overhyped. Meanwhile, the Refy gloss highlighter was probably our most surprising find, and comes in a gorgeous gold colour that will work with any skin tone.

Want more recommendations? Check out our guide to the best foundations to buy

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