058. Kosas Cloud Set and HiBar Solid Shampoo
Thoughts on the Kosas powder and my foray into zero waste shampoo
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You’ll remember me dreaming about this powder in my most recent podcast episode (Newsletter 051). This was the product I was hinting at in Newsletter 056, where I reviewed the Kosas Air Brows. This was initially scheduled to go out in the same newsletter, except I hit a snafu.
It’s been a long time since I’ve used any Kosas complexion products, so I took their shade match quiz and was suggested the Kosas Cloud Set in Breezy. I purchased it and couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. First, let’s take a moment to enjoy the beauty of this compact. Its lovely lavender hue, soft-touch, slight translucence gives an ethereal quality fitting for its “Cloud Set” name.
Kosas Cloud Set ($34, 9g | .33oz, available in 10 shades)
For reference, my all-time favorite is the RMS Beauty “Un” Powder. I also like their tinted version, but that one is slightly more drying. The translucent one is so silky, never cakey, mattifies, and doesn’t feel like it’s sucking out all the moisture from my skin. The only downside is that it’s loose, and I’ve become just a tad too lazy to keep dealing with loose powders.
From reviews seen, heard, and read, the Kosas Cloud Set seemed to be the suitable alternative. It’s pressed, tinted, reduces shine without losing glow, blurring, and sets makeup. I also believe both the brand and reviewers boast that you don’t have to be too precise when choosing a shade since there’s no coverage. I’ve found some of these claims valid and some not-so-valid.
The pros are:
pressed powder for ease of use and storage
sets makeup
reduces shine (anywhere between 4–8 hours)
slightly blurring
adds a faint tint
The cons are:
some have a seal on top
doesn’t last a full day, and that’s for my normal-dry skin
can be very drying depending on how much powder you use
tint requires a correct shade match
This powder took some troubleshooting. In all fairness, I did have very high expectations and hoped it would be a pressed form of my beloved RMS Beauty “Un” Powder. Alas, that it is not. However, there’s still much to love.
The Cloud Set has an incredible 24-month PAO. Yes! You get a full two years to go through this more-than-adequately-sized pressed face powder! This contains almost the same amount as the RMS (.32oz, Kosas is .33oz), and that too has a 24-month PAO. Having used the same RMS jar for just over two years and only halfway* through, I appreciate that Kosas gives me at least the same amount of time to finish the Cloud Set. *To be fair, powder has only become part of my everyday routine since late last year. If I used it regularly, I should have been able to get through the entire jar in two years.
Then, of course, there’s the packaging that gives me great joy. I love the color and simplicity, and more so that it is pressed! That means less mess and less powder inhalation. But now, let’s talk about all its quirks.
The first would be the shades. This powder has more coverage than I anticipated. It by no means provides tons of coverage, just a slight tint, and it doesn’t look cakey. But if you have the wrong shade, the shade difference may be apparent. When I used the original shade I purchased, Breezy, I noticed my under-eyes looking darker than usual. The powder added coverage and was actually darkening rather than brightening my under-eyes, and that’s the number one area I powder. I tried it another day just to be sure it wasn’t strange lighting, and the same thing happened. I reached out to the brand, and they were so kind and let me exchange mine for Airy. Luckily, Airy is the right match!
The second would be the seal. With Airy,* I felt like no matter how much I stuck my brush into the powder, I was getting minimal to no powder. I ended up using a clean spoolie to scrape off a bit of the top to test if it made a difference, and it most certainly did. In the area where I broke the seal, I was able to get actual powder on the brush. Of course, this attributes to a less than stellar appearance on the surface, but at least it works now. *I didn’t feel like I had the same issue with Breezy. Not sure if it’s a difference between shades or batches.
This leads to my third point of performance. If you tend to powder generously and have a drier skin type, this will give you that instant feeling of skin tightening and all moisture being drawn out. Less is more when it comes to this powder. I find it reduces shine with a thin layer, but as claimed, it doesn’t remove glow! It looks like skin, feels relatively weightless, and has a very slight blurring effect. With the right amount, it looks beautiful on the skin.
However, it doesn’t last that way for long. On cooler days where I’m not moving a lot (in other words, a regular workday sitting in front of a computer), the powder lasts an entire workday. But if the temperature is hotter, I find my skin gets way too glowy for my liking halfway through the day. I can’t imagine how this would look on someone with a more oily skin type. The silver lining is that it’s effortless to reapply.
Having broken the seal, figured out how much to use, and getting the correct shade, I love this powder more and more each day. It just took a while to get here. Do I love it more than my RMS? That still remains to be seen, but it’s got a good chance. I’ll keep you updated!
I enjoy the ease of liquid shampoo. It’s also all I’ve ever known. However, when my favorite shampoo (Under Luna) was out of commission while they moved into a new warehouse, I had to find something else in the meantime. So it seemed like the perfect time to try solid shampoo! I love soap, and solid shampoos seem to have come a long way, so there must be a great one out there! I decided to try the brand at the top of my solid shampoo wishlist: HiBar.
HiBar Soothe Shampoo ($11.39–$13.95, 3.2z | 90g)
What I love most about HiBar is its accessibility. It’s available at a wide range of retailers, including Target! The prices do seem to jump around across these retailers, though.
By now, you know I have a finicky scalp. When I’m not using my beloved Under Luna shampoo (Warrior or the Under Luna x Wildcare Tulsi Bloom), my scalp is dry, itchy, and flaky. Naturally, I went for the HiBar Soothe Shampoo since it’s formulated “to help soothe itchy, flaky scalps.”
Upon opening, it’s a joy to look at. The water droplet-like shape is a pale yellow that reminds me of bananas or a wedge of durian fruit. It’s adorable! It comes wrapped in compostable wax-like paper, and the outer packaging is recyclable paper. What I enjoyed learning most is that one bar equals 16oz of liquid shampoo! I’ve been using 8oz shampoos for a while and loved that this sweet, tiny option provides shampoo for twice as long.
This lathers the same mild amount as my other natural shampoos, but it was surprising how few swipes did the trick! Dry, it has a faint citrus scent, but the scent is more prominent in the shower. The first time I used this, I skipped conditioner (I was still using up my Tulsi Bloom conditioner). I wanted to see how it made my hair feel on its own. The result was not good.
I have never tried a shampoo that turns my hair into straw. My strands felt so dry and brittle. My scalp felt fine until maybe an hour or two later, when it started feeling itchy. I chalked all this up to first-time shock for my hair. The next time, I went in with conditioner afterward, and it definitely helped my ends. Still, my scalp was feeling the same: dry, itchy, flaky. It also made my scalp extremely oily quickly. For reference, I wash my hair every other day. It would look good night of the shower, okay the following morning, then extremely oily on day two, which is abnormal for my scalp and hair.
Then there was all the hair I was losing. It was a shocking amount. Granted, I have very long hair, so when I find hair, it’s already eye-catching, but I was losing copious amounts of hair that made me very uncomfortable. I stuck it out for another week before reaching out to the brand, asking if there were tips on using it or if there was another one they could suggest to use instead. Their customer service was very understanding and deduced that my scalp was most likely reacting to the salicylic acid in Soothe along with maybe its essential oils for scent. I decided to go with their Moisturize Shampoo in the fragrance-free version for an exchange.
HiBar Moisturize Shampoo ($11.39–$13.95, 3.2z | 90g)
The same water droplet delivers, this time in a Robin egg blue. Immediately after the first use, this felt better. My scalp was less sensitive and angry, and my hair didn’t feel as dry and brittle. However, the oil issue continued. First-day hair was great, but the following day, it was heavy and slicked with oil.
In all honesty, using this has made me dread shower time. I don’t look forward to washing my hair anymore. I’m still using the fragrance-free Moisturize shampoo because I don’t want to waste it. And I keep telling myself maybe my scalp and hair will adjust to it. But I’m not feeling very confident. Either way, there will be an update in the future! And this hasn’t put me off the idea of solid shampoo, as there are plenty of others on my list I still want to try. This brand, unfortunately, just doesn’t seem like a fit.
Thanks so much for reading! I’m sorry there’s no film and tv section today. It’s Memorial Day Weekend, but I’m also working. Time is short this week! Have you tried the Kosas Cloud Set? Is there a shampoo bar you love?! I’d love to know! You can always leave a comment or reply directly to this email to chat one on one.
As always, I hope you have a great start to your week! I’ll see you next Sunday.
058. Kosas Cloud Set and HiBar Solid Shampoo
I was also intrigued hearing about the Kosas Cloud Set when it's just released, it does sound dreamy - not removing the glow while setting make-up?! sounds too good to be true. Cannot wait to hear how you have liked it as you progressed. I used one by Honest Beauty, I like it, it never dried me out. I used to use RMS Beauty one but it was drying on my skin no matter how little I used it unfortunately. I have a shampoo bar that I love and it is called the Balancer round shampoo bar and I buy it from Package Free Shop. I'm pleasantly surprised by it because most shampoo bar leaving my hair feeling like straws. That one however, is a good match - it has good soft lather, not drying (this unfortunately I experience often with natural shampoo), not too heavy either. They do have a few varieties of the round shampoo bar but the Balancer sounds the most basic and simple which my scalp and hair tends to love.