If you follow any beauty influencers on Instagram, chances are you’ve seen the teeny tiny fridges that the skincare world is a bit obsessed with right now. Beauty fridge, skincare fridge, teeny tiny adorable fridge… whatever you want to call them, these miniature cooling devices are having a beauty moment right now. But what are they for (other than looking aesthetically pleasing in your ‘gram feed)? And will having one really make a difference? I decided to find out just for you, dear readers (certainly not because I desperately needed one on my bedside table to keep all my eye creams and potions within arms reach).
So after a bunch of research on these little babies, I settled on Aussie company The Beauty Fridge because they were the very first company to launch the product Down Under. And what I found was the skincare saviour I never knew I needed.
The Beauty Fridge or TBF have three aesthetically pleasing options: a gorgeous peachy pink, a super cool mint green and a crisp clean white. The fridge has a 10L storage capacity, tempered glass door, side handles for portability and energy-efficient cooling mechanism.
Now I KNOW I possess a fridge already; you know, the one in the kitchen with all my food in it. But that’s ALL THE WAY over in my kitchen. And it has food in it that may or may not sometimes get left in there a little longer than it should. I don’t love the idea of my beauty creams next to old spaghetti bolognese leftovers. Yes, it’s a first-world solution to a first world problem but girl, once you’ve experienced cooled skincare, you will get it I promise.
So other than the super cuteness, why does anyone actually need a beauty fridge? Why has the skincare world suddenly gone crazy for cold beauty products? Well, my pretties, let me enlighten you.
Although it seems like cooling your serums and potions is a new thing Down Under, the practice has its roots in Japanese and Korean skincare and has been a part of routines for decades. And lord knows everyone has jumped well onboard the J and K-Beauty trains in the western world lately.
Chilling skincare products have been said to have myriad benefits: it can extend the shelf life of (often expensive) products; it’s said to help products absorb better into the skin; and my personal fave, it does all this while calming and soothing the skin. So that’s what it says it does, but does it live up to the hype?
When I receive The Beauty Fridge, I am more than a little excited. It’s so aesthetically pleasing that I almost don’t care if it works or not; I’m just thinking of how cute it will look on my vanity. But then I snap out of it (come on Elizabeth, be professional) and get myself into review mode.
The first thing that surprises me is that the storage capacity in this micro fridge way exceeds what I’ve estimated. I had all these creams and serums lined up ready to put in the fridge, and they only fill half the space. Bonus! I raid my beauty cupboard for more, more, more and stack in.
When I plug it in, there’s a small fan noise but not much else, so it’s quiet enough for fussy old me to use nearby my sleeping quarters aka the boudoir. I leave my precious potions to chill and do their thing and look forward to using them at night.
Now, this season has been pretty crap for sickness and I found myself struck down by the dreaded lurgy and let me tell you, having chilled face creams is SO BLOODY SOOTHING. Pop on the creams, then use my freshly cooled stone roller to roll all my sinus pain away. Utter bliss. The cool surface of the stone helps with lymphatic drainage, and goodbye puffiness! This is like the old wives tale of putting cool teaspoons on your eyes to reduce bags, but taken up to eleven. Cool stuff also boosts blood flow, so like, that’s good. Hello glowing skin.
And OMG the sheet masks! For the love of all that is good and pure, put your sheet masks in this little fridge. The feeling of zen and calm I got from putting a chilled mask on my face was heavenly. Good for refreshing, tightening the skin and brightening it all up.
Now for the creams. The biggest benefit I saw from keeping my day cream in there was the depuffing properties. You know that bleary-eyed puffiness that greets you when you look in the mirror upon waking? Turns out a cold cream is really beneficial for nixing that.
Incidentally, I also can’t wait to use my face mists after storage in The Beauty Fridge in the middle of our Brisbane summer.
In terms of natural skincare, products with a shorter shelf life 100 per cent benefit from being in this little fridge. I buy a lot of face masks and products from LUSH and they have always recommended they be kept chilled. And now I have the perfect little place for them that isn’t next to some questionable cheese (that I will probably still cut the mould off and eat).
And guys, NAIL POLISH! People have always recommended keeping my polish collection in the fridge and while the review period wasn’t long enough to see if it extended the shelf life of these yet, I am super optimistic and they fit on the top shelf nicely.
In the interest of documenting the results, I reviewed The Beauty Fridge for almost two weeks. I really wanted to take notice of how my products fared, and whether it really did help them sink in better (and find out if soothing cool creams feel as good when I’m not sick).
All in all, I am impressed. I do think my products absorbed better over the trial, and they definitely felt more soothing. I had lots of comments over how glowing I looked and I think a lot of that can be put down to the magic depuffing benefits of cool creams.
If you’re a beauty aficionado who loves having all the go-to gadgets then this is for you. If you are a skincare lover, this is for you. If you want to have beauty prettiness to pepper your Insta feed with then this is for you. No it’s not a necessity, but it’s so much more convenient for me to have my products near all my other products in The Beauty Fridge and still get the chilling benefits without having to traipse to the kitchen and back.
And you haven’t LIVED until you’ve used a chilled sheet mask. Promise.
For more information, visit The Beauty Fridge.
In her spare time, she likes long walks down the makeup aisle and performing in Brisbane theatre. You can follow her adventures on Instagram and TikTok @thebeautypalate.
