Keep Your Beauty C.L.E.A.N.
Review #16 - Saie ✨
Disclaimer: I know very little about makeup. Good thing you’re about to get my opinions on it!
Review #16 - Saie ✨
What Is It
Saie makes clean makeup products “formulated by experts, backed by industry secrets and made for beauty fans everywhere.” They’re also “on a mission to create positive change for people and the planet.” Same, I guess.
I’ve been known to throw Saie an Instagram story here and there, so it’s about time I give them a formal review. I’m talking about their new-ish Slip-Tint Radiant All Over Concealer, and because they tout an Effortless SaieGlow™️ with their line of essentials, I’ll give the Glowy Super Gel a spin, too. A bit of a mouthful on both fronts, but I’m ready.
Brand / Aesthetic
I like Saie’s branding; I prefer it aesthetically to the Kosas and Rare Beautys and Milk Makeups that line the Sephora shelves.
There is a hump you have to get over, though, and it’s the pronunciation. Most of us ethnocentric English speakers don’t know what to do with three vowels in a row like that, so instead of doing one of those dumb “it’s pronounced SAY-UH” things, they show instead of tell. Examples: “Saie la Vie”, “saie it with us”, and their website URL: saiehello.com. Cute, clever.
On that note, the way they style the brand name is one of my favorite parts. It sits at the intersection of playfulness and maturity, a really difficult balance to strike. When done right, like in Saie’s case, it positions the brand to comfortably attract a wider-than-average age range (Gen Z - the younger portion of Gen X). It’s sleek but not sterile, unique but not obnoxious.
It’s possible I’m giving font choice a lot of credit when there are some other confounding variables at play: intergenerational models (I love how commonplace this is becoming), the casual matter-of-factness of their voice. They know what they’re talking about, but they’re not so serious about it. This really comes through in their PDPs.
They have one of the most robust “product details” sections of any brand that I’ve come across, beauty or otherwise. It’ll get clunky if I put the user-friendliness into words, so I’ll let some screenshots do the talking.
This appeals to me, a person who is very curious, interested in ingredients, but barely makeup literate. I’ve already gone too far down a UX rabbit hole, so we’re moving on to something more visually appealing. Oof, not my best transition, sorry!
My praise for Plainsight Studio’s work (Rhode, Crown Affair, Nécessaire) is nothing if not predictable, but indulge me this one last time. (I make no promises).
Bold and chic with personality is clearly what I’m drawn to, and Plainsight does a great job of capturing it in imagery. This style is a micro-trend, and I absolutely buy into it, but I never claimed to be above judging books — or beauty products — by their covers.
At this point, it’s pretty impossible to be completely unique as a brand on the internet, similar to how I have to imagine none of my thoughts are original anymore, but now that I’ve done quite a few of these reviews, there are some specifics I’m starting to pick up on. Trademarking, food-related motifs, and water bottles as merch, come to mind.
Creativity is borrowed. Yeah, that sounds smart.
But for real, when you have similar people advising on similar products, you might end up with some similarities. Uniqueness isn’t necessarily more virtuous. Although, the elements of singularity in Saie’s marketing are my favorite parts. We’re getting there.
Marketing
Brand, marketing, these sections are all a blur. Fully-developed brands are easiest to market, which I’m instating as a corollary to my “good products market themselves” rule.
I think this overarching concept works best as a formula:
branding + marketing* + community = brand world
Branding being inclusive of tone of voice, ethos, etc. and marketing covering the campaigns, partnerships, anything more customer-acquisition oriented. Community encompasses IRL moments, influencers, and how the brand shows up in the world.
*Marketing in the creative sense, not the performance sense. I’m fluent, not native.
Like I said, the unique parts of Saie’s brand are the most interesting to me, and sorry to keep you hanging, but I need to just get the obligatory social talk out of the way first.
Their Instagram feed looks lovely, and their TikToks perform relatively well. I want to give credit where credit is due, and say that I think they do a wonderful job of remaining “on-brand” (it’s very difficult to say this term earnestly) while adapting to the tone of the platform. TikTok has a tendency to bring out the worst in brands, making them stoop to some I made my boss do X / office dance party shit, so when a brand can hold their own, follow trends as they see fit, but maintain their own personality + POV, a theme that’s top of mind for me lately, I find it admirable.
Their Instagram presence as a whole is nice (no stronger descriptors come to mind) and once again accomplishes what it needs to (brand awareness & maintenance, shows product use cases, communication with new and returning customers) but the most compelling content to me is this documentary-style interview series surrounding the launch of their Slip Tint All-Over Concealer.
Everything from the talent selection to the creative direction to the production and execution is fantastic. They’re towing the line between fun and purposeful, which is no easy feat, and probably the thesis of this analysis.
Saie’s best features are the ones present on socials but not confined to it. One that comes to mind is the shade match.
A note on the above: this is what social is for. It’s for demonstrating initiatives and announcing launches and disseminating information to your audience. It’s to communicate value without necessarily existing as the final destination! It’s to expand the conversations beyond the confines of your website and Sephora display!
Yes, a sprinkling of “vibes” (UGH, need a new word please — write in with suggestions (and aesthetic doesn’t count)) content is needed here and there. But the main point of social is to translate larger concepts into a digestible form that means potential customers where they already are. Just like with people, you can tell when someone spends all their time meticulously “curating their feed” and not living their life. You have to actually do things (no OV though) like make good products / host events / have thoughts in order to operate on the app successfully.
I don’t have to tell you all how difficult it is to get a hyper-specific product via ecomm. It’s the cause for 90% of my Sephora visits (if I could live in a world where I don’t have to smell the unholy concoction of fragrances that the store emanates, I would). So it’s in the brand’s best interest to bring you the information that allows you to make a smarter purchase, and they do so through a text hotline, their DMs, and everyone in the Buzzfeed generation’s favorite, an online quiz.
These days, every brand wants to get in your text messages, and so the real reason this is SO SMART is that if you go for the text option, you’re effectively opting in to their SMS list instead of them desperately begging you for your number when you enter the site. Plus, you’re getting great info, and if you just engaged in this whole thing for shits + giggles, you’re now even more likely to follow through with the purchase. Bravo.
More non-social initiatives that may or may not make an appearance on social. (A.K.A. Saie’s differentiating factors I was teasing earlier):
They were anti-merch before Sam Hine got to it — save for utilities like water bottles and makeup bags — so in an effort to reduce waste and be FTG (for the girls) they put their spin on branded t-shirts with embroidery on vintage pieces. Points for novelty, though the project seems a bit dormant these days. I’d be curious to hear my friend emily north’s take on this merch in-between after her beautiful defense of the category as a means for, say it with me now, fostering community.
Every Body Campaign (and their activism in general)
“The Every Body Campaign unites 60+ brands from across the beauty industry in support of reproductive justice for all.” Saie essentially created a coalition of brands that are supporting women’s rights — WOC in particular with their partner, SisterSong — via donations, resources, actually USEFUL information about HOW THE F TO VOTE (this is huge) and what the history and potential future of reproductive rights for marginalized folks entails.
Why must our government make things so difficult to a point that I need my makeup brand to post on Instagram to tell me what I need to know about this election. Just saying. Now THIS, people, is putting money where your mouth is. They hit me right in the My Body My Choice Bone.
IRL Events
Let me tell you a little story here. A few months ago, I moseyed into a local coffee shop with the goal of “scoping the scene” on this Instagrammable Café Saie situation. I’m a journalist, after all! I have been to quite a few of these “community gatherings” / “IRL activations” and let me tell you: Café Saie was the best one, hands down.
Not only did I walk away with a newfound appreciation for the brand and their creative, I also discovered that I like matcha on certain occasions. Huge. Everything from the seating area to the shade matching to the prints on the table were aligned, you could tell it was incredibly well thought out.
Attention to detail ✔️ Café Saie marked the peak of coffee-themed brand events. Now they’re even more prevalent, and well, tired. Ironic.
I loved what Jake Bell had to say about coffee and streetwear brands, and I can feel a ‘renaissance of coffee’ thinkpiece brewing inside me. LMK if that’s of interest.
Very impressive recycling program and transparency around their choices. They tell you how each product can be recycled and how to go about doing that. That is, of course, if don’t think recycling is a hoax.
Efficacy
Now for the products.
Slip-Tint Radiant All Over Concealer (shade 3): One of the activities at the aforementioned Café Saie event was shade matching by one of their professional MUAs (makeup artists! keep up!), so I already knew which one to get. One last time: I don’t know that much about makeup or how to use it. However, this is certainly the best concealer I’ve tried*. It doesn’t do that weird scaly thing under my eyes and it lasts a full day, unlike some other brands out there (not naming any names).
Glowy Super Gel (starglow): Truthfully, I don’t really know what this product is. It’s labeled as an “luminizer”, so I was pretty dubious because that means nothing to me. What I gathered is that both the name and the product uses are a choose-your-own-adventure situation:
I’ve been using this like a highlighter, a couple droplets on my hand that I tap into my cheekbones and nose and blend into my skin with a brush. (I’ve never watched a makeup tutorial, so this was all instinct.)**
I’ve been wearing this on-and-off for about a month now, and without fail, every single time I have this on my face, I receive at least one compliment that day. The most notable: I shared an elevator with my building’s super (hetero male, 65+) who told me, with total genuineness and a touch of awe, that I had “fantastic skin”. I’m not sure what other endorsement this product needs.
All I know how to do is concealer, mascara and, if I’m feeling adventurous, some top eyeliner. And while I certainly like to play makeup-dumb, I also like feeling pretty, so this Glowy Super Gel (the name is making me chuckle for some reason) is now my favorite makeup item. It takes less than 30 seconds to apply and I get 10X more compliments. That’s unofficial data, btw.
*I’ve tried approximately 3 concealers.
Overall Thoughts
I like Saie’s brand, I feel good giving them my money, and I think the products make me feel pretty. Not really sure what else I could ask for here.
If you also identify as a makeup novice but you still value your appearance (it’s tough to be us!) do yourself a favor and get the Glowy Super Gel.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
In Other News…
Molly Baz eats way too much mortadella for my comfort levels but the woman knows how to do an ad campaign, especially while pregnant.
Everyone’s favorite celebrity is making an entrance into haircare.
I love granola!
I’ve been in the market for a new exfoliating face mask, so this week’s launch from a favorite brand of mine might just do the trick.
That’s all for now. If there’s a product you want reviewed or just want to chat, reply to this email. :)
Just love your font rabbit holes. I'm like this girl knows her FONTS!
their attention to detail when it comes to events and community is impeccable, my go-to reference of putting your money where your mouth is