When Glossier launched their Futuredew oil-serum hybrid, I was skeptical, though I accepted their offer of sending a press sample for me to try. It felt somewhat new, yes – a skincare product that behaves like makeup that looks like skincare. However, Glossier is far from the only brand to blur the lines between makeup and skincare.

This summer, I attended an event launching a beauty brand called Make the Make, and this was described to us as “makeup-infused skincare”. I would have thought it was the other way around, but they were really pushing the product as skincare first and makeup second (sound familiar?). Claims of various active ingredients were attached to the products, like a bronzer with vitamin C or a highlighter with hyaluronic acid.

Similarly, sunscreen brand Supergoop launched “Shimmershade” cream eyeshadows with spf30. To me, adding sunscreen to makeup is the most logical skincare inclusion – it’s been done with foundations for years, but why not other products? Linda Hallberg famously formulates her multi-use Fantastick lipsticks with spf15, which makes the brand another frontrunner in the skincare-makeup hybrid category. And sure, it’s not uncommon to market makeup with nourishing ingredients, but it’s rare to see an actual skincare claim, or to have a product truly blur the lines between product categories.

Futuredew is one of those products that really does this successfully – it’s literally supposed to act like makeup and look like skincare, freshly applied, making your face look like it does at the end of a skincare routine. And it does! It’s not something I’d normally go for, personally – having oily skin means I supply my own dew, and it’s rarely flattering – but futuredew did kind of work for me. It’s weird, but not necessarily in a bad way.

I just wonder if this is a passing fad or if we’ll be seeing more – if the actual look of a skincare routine will become even more aestheticized and marketed in this way. It’s a dizzying idea in a way – the artificial masquerading as natural, in a way even more extreme than regular old “no makeup-makeup”. I suppose we can only wait and see.