Artistry is a beauty brand that was founded in the 1950’s by a married couple who sought an alternative to chemically-based makeup and skin care.
TOP SKINCARE PICKS
Rank | Brand | Link | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Carrot & Stick | Review | |||||
2 | Formulyst | Review | |||||
3 | Skinceuticals | Review | |||||
- | Artistry |
Today, Artistry has an exclusive partnership with Amway and sells products in 108 countries and territories worldwide. In case you aren’t aware, Amway is a multi-level marketing (MLM) company. In fact, it was the largest MLM in the world in 2020!
Due to the nature of MLMs, it’s important to make sure you do your own research before purchasing a product from one of the brand’s consultants. Sound like too much work? Don’t worry, we’ve done the hard work for you. All you have to do is keep scrolling to read the details on the most popular Artistry skin care products.
We’ll review the product formulations through a scientific lens, meaning we’ll give you the research that supports (or doesn’t support) the ingredients that you’ll find in these products.
We’ll also share some Artistry skin care reviews so that you can get an idea of what customers really think of these products.
What Are The Top 10 Most Popular Artistry Skin Care Products?
Artistry offers consumers hundreds of different products, including cleansers, toners, moisturizers, treatment products, serums, masks, exfoliators, anti-acne, eye care, lip care, and men’s care. Here’s a breakdown of the top 10 most popular Artistry skin care products.
Artistry Intensive Skincare Advanced Vitamin C + HA Treatment
Just as the name suggests, vitamin C and hyaluronic acid are two key ingredients in this Artistry facial treatment. Both of these are excellent skin care ingredients. Vitamin C helps to brighten and firm your complexion, while hyaluronic acid hydrates and plumps.
One problem with this formula is the high concentration of denatured alcohol. On one hand, alcohol functions as a penetration enhancer by disturbing the skin barrier so that key ingredients can penetrate deeper into the skin. It also helps to remove excess oil and temporarily tighten skin.
On the other hand, alcohol-based products can cause excessive skin dryness and even skin damage (remember, alcohol disrupts the skin barrier). Over time, this can cause the sebaceous glands to compensate by producing even more oil, leading to clogged pores and acne.
While there are some benefits of denatured alcohol, we don’t believe the benefits outweigh the risks, which is why we don’t recommend this Artistry product.
Bottom Line: This Artistry facial treatment contains beneficial key ingredients like vitamin C and hyaluronic acid, but the high concentration of denatured alcohol prevents us from recommending this product.
ALTERNATIVES:
Our favorite Vitamin C serum is Carrot & Stick The Defence Serum. It contains 3 distinct types of Vitamin C that work together to help fight free radical damage.
Artistry Signature Select Brightening Amplifier and Base Serum
This Artistry product comes with a Base Serum and Brightening Amplifier, but both product formulations are quite basic. Although, they should help to plump and brighten skin — temporarily, that is.
The Base Serum mostly consists of water, humectants, and silicones. The rest of the ingredients used in this product formulation are present in very low concentrations (less than 1%).
You’ll likely notice smoother, plumper skin based on this combination of ingredients. That’s because silicones form a thin, invisible film on the surface of skin that helps to disguise lines and wrinkles, while humectants bind moisture on the skin. The extra hydration is extra volume, which effectively plumps out the skin and makes lines and wrinkles less noticeable.
However, keep in mind these effects are transient — as soon as the product is rinsed off, lines and wrinkles will return to normal size.
As for the Brightening Amplifier, this formula should help to brighten the appearance of skin thanks to mica and titanium dioxide.
Mica and titanium dioxide are minerals that add a shimmering effect and reflect light from the face, creating the illusion of a smoother, softer, and more radiant skin tone.
But this effect is more like makeup than skin care, and the effects will disappear once you wash off the product.
Another thing to keep in mind with this Artistry serum is that both formulations include parabens as preservatives.
Bottom Line: This Artistry product bundle comes with a Base Serum and Brightening Amplifier, which should help to temporarily plump, smooth, and brighten skin; but keep in mind that the formula contains parabens.
Artistry Exact Fit Beauty Balm Perfecting Primer
This Artistry primer is formulated to instantly improve the look of skin’s texture. It’s available in just one universal shade that’s said to work for all skin tones.
You can use it under your foundation for easier makeup application and blending, or alone for ultra-sheer coverage with SPF 35.
Most of the formula consists of silicones, which give this primer a silky texture that spreads onto skin easily. Silicones provide several additional benefits. For example, they form a thin, invisible film on the surface of skin that helps to lock in moisture while simultaneously blurring the look of lines and wrinkles.
Silicones also allow for easier makeup application. When used under foundation, makeup glides on more easily, blends effortlessly, and lasts longer.
Unfortunately, we noticed this is another Artistry product that contains parabens as preservatives.
Bottom Line: A silky primer that helps to improve the look of skin texture and allows for easier makeup application, but keep in mind that the formula includes parabens.
Artistry Ideal Radiance Illuminating Moisture Cream
This face moisturizer for normal to dry skin has a thick, creamy texture that melts into skin, quickly absorbing without leaving a greasy residue. The formula is said to even skin tone and treat visible dark spots — but is this true?
Looking at the ingredient list, the formula mostly consists of humectants, silicones, and emollients. All of these ingredients help to soften and hydrate skin.
As far as skin-brightening ingredients go, we noticed there’s low concentrations of vitamin C, licorice root extract, and antioxidants. These may help to brighten skin, but if you’re really trying to fade dark spots and discoloration, we’d recommend a vitamin C serum instead.
Unfortunately, there’s a few problems with this moisturizer. One is the use of parabens as preservatives. And the second problem is the synthetic fragrance blend.
Bottom Line: A thick, creamy moisturizer that will help to soften and hydrate skin, but the formula contains low concentrations of skin-brightening ingredients.
ALTERNATIVES: Carrot & Stick The Moisturizer. It’s overflowing with potent plant proteins, vitamins, peptides and amino-collagen.
Artistry Skin Nutrition Balancing Matte Gel Lotion
If you wear makeup, one decision you’ve probably faced is whether to create a matte or dewy finish. Products that are marketed to give you a “dewy glow” sound great in theory, but in reality they can leave your face looking like a greasy mess — especially if you already have oily skin.
If this predicament sounds familiar, you’ll want to choose skincare and makeup products that help mattify skin, like Artistry Skin Nutrition Balancing Matte Gel Lotion.
This weightless, quick-absorbing lotion instantly hydrates skin while also absorbing excess oil, leaving a soft matte look that’s healthy and balanced. A few of the ingredients that help to reduce excess oil include plant plankton, zinc PCA, and dimethicone.
Furthermore, the formula includes antioxidant-rich plant extracts, such as acerola cherry, Australian daisy, and blackberry in order to help prevent and delay the appearance of early visible signs of aging.
The formula is paraben-free, but there are fragrance ingredients, which have the potential to cause skin sensitivity reactions.
Bottom Line: A weightless, quick-absorbing lotion that hydrates and protects skin while simultaneously absorbing excess oil, leaving a soft matte look.
Artistry Studio Glow Boss Cleanser + Exfoliator
This is a cleanser and scrub in one that exfoliates as it cleans, sweeping away impurities and buildup so skin feels soft and smooth.
The formula includes silicon dioxide, also known as silica, a gentle abrasive that will help to exfoliate the top layers of skin.
The rest of the formula mostly consists of surfactants in order to remove makeup, excess oil, dirt, and other impurities that may have accumulated during the day.
There’s a few beneficial extracts in the formula, like aloe and willow bark, but they are present in very low concentrations (less than 1%).
Bottom Line: A basic cleanser that uses surfactants to clean the skin and silicon dioxide to gently exfoliate skin.
Artistry Studio Zen Daze Ahead Facial Oil + 300 mg CBD
CBD is known for its relaxing effects that can help you chill out after a stressful day. But did you know CBD can also benefit your skin?
In skin care, CBD is most well-known for its calming, anti-inflammatory, and restoring properties.
It penetrates deeply into the skin, triggering cellular communication that is responsible for numerous positive, physiological responses in the body, including potent highly anti-inflammatory properties.
Research has shown that CBD can help reduce redness and inflammation associated with acne breakouts. In addition, CBD has the potential to decrease excessive sebum (oil) production, as well as help reduce other triggers of acne.
CBD may also help to prevent signs of aging because of its antioxidant properties. Lastly, CBD is very soothing and can help with sensitivity and redness. Even if you don’t have visible signs of sensitivity, CBD can help combat the environmental stressors we face every day.
The rest of this Artistry face oil consists of botanical oils, such as sunflower, olive, grape seed, and marula oil.
Bottom Line: A facial oil with 300 mg full spectrum CBD that helps calm and restore skin while also providing anti-aging and anti-acne benefits.
Artistry Youth Xtend Enriching Cream
A nighttime facial moisturizer for those with normal to dry skin that promises to “flood your skin with overnight hydration and repair”.
The formula should help to improve skin hydration due to the combination of several different humectants with plenty of emollients, such as meadowfoam seed oil, squalane, petrolatum, and shea butter, just to name a few.
There’s also a few peptides in this formula that may provide anti-aging benefits.
For example,pentapeptide-34 trifluoroacetate is a bioengineered peptide that boosts the body’s production of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10). CoQ10 has a potent antioxidant action and may therefore reduce UV-induced oxidative stress that can lead to signs of aging.
There’s also dipeptide-4, a peptide that protects the skin from environmental stress and skin glycosylation, thus it helps maintain skin health and elasticity.
Lastly, we’d like to point out that this formula contains parabens and synthetic fragrance ingredients.
Bottom Line: A hydrating face cream for those with normal to dry skin that contains peptides to help prevent signs of aging, but keep in mind that the formula contains parabens and fragrance.
Artistry Supreme LX Regenerating Cream
At $304 for just a tiny 1.7 oz jar, Artistry Supreme LX Regenerating Cream is one of the brand’s most expensive products, which is surprising since the formula isn’t much different than other Artistry skin care products.
Most of the formula consists of humectants and emollients like petrolatum (aka Vaseline), as well as silicones. These ingredients are great for softening and hydrating the skin, but there’s nothing special about them.
There’s also high concentrations of both parabens and synthetic fragrance ingredients in this cream.
And there’s low concentrations of ingredients that would provide benefits, like vitamin C and peptides, which are present in concentrations of less than 1%. That means you’re getting more fragrance and preservatives than you’re getting of these beneficial ingredients. What a disappointing formula!
Bottom Line: An overpriced face cream that will help soften and hydrate skin, but we still wouldn’t recommend it due the parabens and fragrance in the formula.
ALTERNATIVE: If you are concerned about aging skin and looking for professional grade products that are also clean, Carrot & Stick The Repair Serum. It contains a peptide complex to target multiple signs of aging.
What Are The Key Ingredients in Artistry Skin Care Products?
Artistry is portrayed as a natural skin care brand, and while their products do contain natural ingredients, it’s worth noting that the product formulations consist of a number of synthetic ingredients.
Just because an ingredient is synthetic does not mean it is harmful; in fact, there’s many synthetic skin care ingredients that offer numerous benefits to the skin, such as silicones and peptides.
Unfortunately, Artistry skin care products include some synthetic ingredients that are problematic, one example being the synthetic fragrance ingredients that are used in nearly every product.
The use of synthetic fragrance ingredients can be a problem because the brand can use a proprietary blend of chemicals to create the fragrance. On average, this consists of 30 to 50 chemicals (but it can have as much as 200 components).
Want to know the worst part? The brand does not have to disclose which chemicals they use on the label. They are allowed to list this blend as “Fragrance (Parfum)” on the ingredient list.
Furthermore, a 2018 study by Women’s Voices for the Earth discovered that in over 3,000 chemicals reportedly used for fragrances, 1,242 were chemicals of concern – and that included at least 7 possible carcinogenic (cancer-causing) agents.
Fragrance ingredients also have the potential to cause skin irritation and sensitivity.
Then, there’s parabens in many Artistry skin care products. Parabens are preservatives used to extend the shelf life of a product by preventing microbial contamination.
The use of parabens in cosmetics and skin care products is controversial because there is conflicting research on the potential health consequences of long term exposure to parabens.
According to the EWG, parabens can act like the hormone estrogen in the body and disrupt the normal function of hormone systems affecting male and female reproductive system functioning, reproductive development, fertility, and birth outcomes.
Parabens are easily absorbed into the skin, which means that continuously using products that contain parabens could lead to elevated estrogen in the body.
How Much Do Artistry Skin Care Products Cost?
Artistry skin care products range from mid to high cost. For example, Artistry Intensive Skincare Advanced Vitamin C + HA Treatment costs $52 USD for 0.4 fl oz, while the Artistry Studio Zen Daze Ahead Facial Oil costs $38 for 1 fl oz.
One of the brand’s most expensive products is the Artistry Supreme LX Regenerating Cream, which costs $304 USD for 1.7 fl oz.
Where to Buy Artistry Skin Care Products?
Artistry skin care products are sold on the brand’s website, as well as through independent Amway consultants.
What is The Amway Return Policy?
The Amway return policy states, “If for any reason you are not completely satisfied with our products, you may return them within 180 days of purchase for an exchange or refund of the product price and applicable tax.”
Is Artistry Cruelty Free?
Artistry’s parent company, Amway, is not cruelty free because their products are sold in mainland China (where animal testing is required by law).
Is Artistry Vegan?
While some Artistry skin care products may be suitable for vegans, this is not a 100% vegan brand.
Our Verdict
Overall, we don’t recommend Artistry skin care products because the cons outweigh the pros with this brand.
Pros
- Many positive Artistry reviews
Cons
- Many Artistry skin care products contain parabens
- Many Artistry skin care products contain fragrance
- Some Artistry skin care products contain high concentrations of denatured alcohol
- Most Artistry skin care products include low concentrations of key ingredients
- Artistry is not cruelty free
What Are The Best Alternatives?
If you’re looking for skincare products to address the signs of aging, we recommend Carrot & Stick. Carrot & Stick maximizes the use of powerful ingredients and minimizes the use of superficial ones, resulting in advanced skincare solutions that help promote healthy, more youthful-looking skin. We recommend Carrot & Stick The Repair Serum followed by The Moisturizer.
References:
Clin Cosmet Investig Dermatol. 2019; 12: 533–544.
Women’s Voices for the Earth “Unpacking The Fragrance Industry” 2018
EWG “What Are Parabens, And Why Don’t They Belong in Cosmetics?” April 2019
Christina Original review: Nov 02, 2022.
I have been using and selling Artistry/Amway Products for not quite 5 years now. I find this overall review humourless and false in actual facts. First off Amway has been around for over 60 years with no share holders and no debt. Secondly, their products and money back guarantee is like no other company out there. Who lets you return something 180 days later most times no matter what. Now, the Artistry beauty line is amazing. I have very sensitive skin and always have had to use high quality products on my face, no options or I break out so badly. Artistry literally has changed my skin for the better and I don’t even have a temptation to buy other products because why. Artistry is anywhere from affordable to high end pricing and quality. I have used “high end” name brands that didn’t give me close to the results I have gotten with Artistry. Amway products across the board are pretty amazing and on top of it a person can make a business with it, if done properly.