Kosas started in 2015 in Los Angeles at a kitchen table, with Sheena Yaitanes, a chemist and artist, mixing the products herself. She studied chemistry at UC Irvine and apprenticed with a painter to learn color, which explains a brand that behaves like a lab and looks like a paint box. The name comes from koshas, the five interconnected layers of the body in yoga philosophy. The first launch was four lipsticks in square matte black packaging, so it is only natural that the lip group opens this edit. Kosas makes its formulas in-house, never from stock formulas, and she was working with a clean philosophy before the word was even defined. The Impressionist Multistick comes as a cream blush stick and lip color, a good example of how one product can work on lips and cheeks. The Wet Lip Oil plumping treatment gloss, the Lip Pulse glassy lip plumper and the mini Lip Pulse trio cover the shine side. The Wet Stick moisturizing shiny sheer lipstick with ceramides is the lipstick for people who prefer a sheer finish, and the Hotliner hyaluronic acid plumping lip liner and the Unbuttoned lip trio finish the group. If you are building a pink lip, a guide to balms, oils and sheer tints and a peptide lip gloss story are good company.

Kosas is often described as skincare-powered makeup, and this second group is where that is clearest. The Revealer skin improving foundation SPF 25, the BB Burst tinted gel cream and the BB Burst tinted moisturizer gel cream with copper peptides sit on the base side, and the DreamBeam comfy smooth sunscreen SPF 40 and its mini SPF 30 do the daytime work. The Plump + Juicy line adds a gel cleanser, a cushiony calm botanical cleansing oil, a mini vegan collagen and probiotic spray-on serum and a buttery lip booster. For eyes, the Soulgazer lengthening mascara with lash serum is made for sensitive eyes, the GrowPotion fluffy lash and brow boosting serum is the lash and brow booster, and the Air Brow clear lifting gel and tinted volumizing gel handle the brows. The Cloud Set airy setting and smoothing mist, the Chemistry AHA serum deodorant and the Good Body exfoliating body wash widen the range. What I would skip is layering a tinted gel cream and a full-coverage foundation on the same day, since the tint already evens things out and the second product only adds weight. For a base that works with SPF, see tinted sunscreens.

Blush Is Life is a baked dimensional and brightening blush, and the mini versions make it easy to try, including the Euphoria and Butterflies ornament minis. The Cloud Set powders come baked, as a talc-free vegan powder, and loose, as a translucent setting and blurring powder or a brightening one. Revealer is the concealer that grew into a family: the super creamy brightening concealer with caffeine and hyaluronic acid, the extra bright color corrector and the dual-ended makeup blender. The Sun Show glowy warmth baked bronzer and the Shiny Objects wet glisten powder highlighter add warmth and light. The Revealer concealer came to the line in February 2020, which is still recent enough to remember. Read an everyday makeup look for how these steps work together, and the blur range of a concealer for a comparison.

The final group is a mix of small helpers. The Soulgazer intensifying gel eyeliner and the Soulgazer eye-intensifying mascara and eyeliner gift set show off the eye products, and the Brow Pop nano ultra-fine detailing and feathering pencil and the Brow Pop dual-action defining pencil handle brows. The Brighten & Blur set pairs a color corrector with a loose setting powder, the Glow I.V. vitamin-infused skin enhancer adds glow, the Wet Stick moisture lip shine finishes lips, and there is a fragrance-free Chemistry AHA serum deodorant. For gifting, the mascara and eyeliner set is the tidy one, since it pairs two eye products in one box. The Brighten & Blur set is the one for people who already own a concealer and want to learn what a color corrector does under it. A sensible pairing test for the brow pencils is to match your natural brow in daylight by the window, then choose the dual-action pencil if you want to define and the fine pencil if you want hair-like strokes.

My Kosas routine would be a Revealer concealer, a touch of Blush Is Life and a sheer Wet Stick lip, and then I would stop. Sheena Yaitanes built the brand from a kitchen table with chemistry and an artist's eye. Picture her on a quiet morning with a short list and a clean, glowy face, running a little late and not minding. That is the Kosas idea, makeup that behaves like part of the routine.

For more in the same spirit, take a look at Sisley Paris Skincare and Makeup and Rare Beauty Makeup and Fragrance.