Hello everyone! I know I’m a little bit late with this annual beauty favourites..but at least you’ve finally caught up on everyone else’s and you’re ready for the final one on your feed..am I right?! hehe. I didn’t get exactly 15 products, but these are the items that I found myself reaching for over and over throughout the year. I have a feeling this is going to be a fairly long post, so lets begin..
The base
1. Currently my all time favourite foundation for when I want skin that looks great, as well as something that lasts a good amount of time is by far the NARS Sheer Glow (£31.00). I purchased it late in 2014 and its been my go-to whenever I need my skin to look real good, without a lot of effort. Its pretty yellow toned and photographs really well. Personally its a little heavier than I gravitate towards on a daily basis, but anytime I’m going to an event or my skin is playing up, a dollop of this with my trusty beauty blender has me covered. A thorough review will certainly be coming up soon!
2. My absolute favourite daily base is the Make Up For Ever Face & Body (£27.00) which definitely took a while to figure out, but its the most natural, glowy, long-lasting base I own. I love how buildable the coverage is, without looking cakey in the slightest. It’s also super easy to apply and blend with my fingers and it takes me under a minute to have it applied and good to go, which is perfect for busy mornings. It’s got a unique gel-like formula and is a cross between satin and dewy. I wish it were a little more yellow in tone but aside from that I am loving it!
3. The most expensive, yet most revolutionary addition to my makeup collection in 2015 was by far the Kevyn Aucoin Sensual Skin Enhancer (£36.50). This stuff is insanely pigmented and has many uses, with my favourite being as a highlighter and concealer. You really need to stick to the rule ‘a little goes a long way’ as you only need a tiny bit to achieve a flawless under-eye! I have two shades, SX08 which is a good match to my skintone and SX06 which is a couple of shades lighter, so mixed with SX08 its perfection for everyday. The formula is luxuriously creamy and it has seriously changed my makeup game for the better. My favourite way to blend this out is with this mini beauty blender dupe and I really cannot be without these!
**Honorary mention: the Rimmel Lasting Finish concealer in 3 (£5.49) which I have mentioned a couple of times on my blog! It is the only drugstore concealer which actually brightens and corrects my under-eyes pretty well. So many times I have used just this and a tinted moisturiser and I have been good to go, its a great 3-minute makeup essential of mine, but it also works well under other concealers too!**
The Powders
4. After a great experience at the Harrods Charlotte Tilbury counter this summer, I picked up the Air-Brush Flawless Finish Skin-Perfecting Micro-Powder (£33.00) because the MUA used it on my under-eyes and I was in awe at how smooth and literally flawless they looked! Recently my skintype has shifted from normal/dry to normal/combo and sometimes I find my T-zone getting a little bit oily throughout the day. Although this is a finishing powder, I find a light dusting instantly removes shine without removing glow. It is finely milled, has a light coverage and doesn’t look cakey at all. Also this powder beautifully erases the signs of my visible pores around my nose, which is why it is literally the key to success - and I don’t use that phrase lightly! Pricy? yes, but 1000% worth it and I will be repurchasing when I hit pan ^_^
5. The Laura Geller Baked Gelato Swirl Illuminator (£21.00) is one of the most gorgeous golden highlighters I have ever seen. Despite the disappointing packaging for a high-end product, the product really makes up for it. With a fan brush I get a light application and that works well for everyday. With a more dense brush, such as the Sigma Tapered Highlight brush or the Real Techniques Setting Brush I can achieve the perfect highlighted look, with cheekbones glowing like no other. I love that it has no sparkly bits in it and the fact that its a true golden shade means it compliments my olive skin-tone perfectly. I have my top 3 golden highlights post coming soon, so keep an eye out!
6. Blush wise I really struggled not to include NARS Deep Throat because I’ve used it so often this year too, but I went for the NARS Blush in Torrid (£23.00) instead. This is a shade that looks so gorgeous against my olive skintone and I love how its not a flat matte blush. The subtle gold shimmer looks so beautiful on the apples on my cheeks and the hybrid colour of pink/peach is perfect all year around. The formula of NARS blushers tick all the boxes for me, super long lasting, easy to blend and you only need a little each time - loooove them!
The Palettes
7. Picking out an eyeshadow favourite was kind of tough, because my palette collection grew even more in 2015, but if I had to talk to you about my most reached for palette its the Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette (£39.00). I got this for my 20th birthday and it was heart-eyed emojis everywhere! The salted caramel shade is one I reach for at least four times a week and I love the range of browns too. To be totally honest I’m a bit disappointed with the large matte cream shade because I just expected it to be more pigmented. Aside from that though its a stunning neutrals palette and IT SMELLS LIKE CHOCOLATE NOM NOM NOM
8. The Kat Von D Shade & Light Contour Kit ($46 - £30) is THE BEST CONTOUR KIT EVER. Especially for medium skintones, because we finally have a contour kit which has 6 shades that are all useable and they have such a beautifully creamy formula. Pigmented? check. Easily blendable? check. Long lasting on the skin? Check. I mean what else could I ask for?? Well..okay if I’m being super picky, I wish the yellow shade was larger, but regardless I’m going to be repurchasing the shade and light this summer because I genuinely have never fallen so hard for a palette! It’s also SO multitask-able! I could literally take a concealer (Kevyn Aucoin OFC) and an eyeliner and this one palette away with me for a trip and I’d be sorted..its THAT good.
9. Finally the most glorious face palette from any of the holiday picks of 2015, the NARS One Shocking Moment Cheek Studio Palette (£45) is absolutely *struggles to find the right words here* AH-MAAAZING. Four gorgeous NARS blushes (and you already know how I feel about those!), a large sized Laguna and a pretty neat contour and highlight duo. I love all the blush shades and I adore mixing and matching them up. The laguna bronzer in this has a bit of a more shimmer on the skin, which I didn’t pick up at first and to be honest it’s a bit annoying, but it’s only really noticeable when you’re really close to me face - so all is not lost! Again I reviewed it in full, which I’ll link below, but this is limited edition so I suggest you pick it up sooner rather than risking it for later because this is a STEAL.
& the other stuff
10. Benefit’s They’re Real Mascara (£19.50) has been my absolute favourite throughout 2015, because it really does everything I want a mascara to do. I do always use another mascara first, but this is like the amplifier of any mascara and whenever I do two layers of this (seldom, but still) I always get questions on what I’m mascara I’m using and that has to be a good sign! I also feel like this mascara doesn’t dry out too quickly AND I don’t have to wait for it to not be dry enough either.
**Honorary mention: Essence I heart extreme volume mascara (£2.80) is so great at adding volume with very little effort. I normally use this stuff as the base for They’re Real and of course I will be repurchasing, which is something I rarely say when it comes to mascara**
11. Colourpop Super Shock Shadow in Get Lucky ($5.00) is one of my most used shadows EVER. Its a one swipe wonder type of deal, because I love me some gold shadow and used lightly it works so well for everyday. I also adore the fact that you can pack it on for a more intense look AND also how it applies so beautifully with my fingers - no brush required! Although shipping prices are ridiculous from colourpop to the UK, I will simply have to place another order this summer for some more of these types of shades that aren’t matte because the formula is GORGEOUS. I want coppers, bronzes and different shades of golds (oh and OFC those liquid lipsticks!).
12. The Anastasia Beverly Hills Dip Brow in Chocolate (£15.00) is actually a repeat product from last year, which says it all to be honest! I have been trying different brow kits, brow pencils etc. but I always come back to this pot of good stuff. Now I have a matching brush duo I feel like I can achieve great looking brows with very little effort. Also I just want to point out that this is the exact same pot that I purchased in 2014, so it is incredible value for money! I’m shocked mine hasn’t dried out (but I’m always careful when it comes to closing the lid tightly and ASAP..so maybe that’s why??).#
13. My bronzer of the year, although Ihave so many that I love, is the Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Bronzer in medium/deep (£25.00) which I gave the HG status to! Not only does it smell amazing, but its fantastic for both contouring and warming up the face and THAT is hard to find in bronzers! It lasts a long time on the skin, blends so smoothly, you get a decent amount of product and the packaging is so pretty! I adore Laguna and Hoola, but if I only had to pick one from these three it’s going to be the chocolate soleil one for sure.
14. The Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector in Opal mini size (£34.00) has been in my makeup collection since summer of 2014 (from a wonderful Space NK goodybag), but I only actually opened it in the last three months and I am obsessed! It is THE MOST gorgeous liquid highlighter I have ever used, better than mememe and better than benefit. A tiny bit goes a long way and it literally gives you that lit from within look. I’ve worn it under makeup, over makeup and mixed with bases and I’ve loved each way I tried it. Its a light, peachy tone but still very highlighting and it works well with my medium skintone. I don’t think I’ll be needing to actually purchase the full size of opal anytime soon, but I want to swatch moonstone because it looks more golden and we all know that’s right up my street! I will definitely be doing an indepth review on this soon.
15. My favourite lip product has by far been the NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in Bahama (£19.00) which has such an amazing formula, matte but not drying and super easy to apply and go. I love everything about this, from the packaging to the colour which works well for me for everyday! Read more on this in my review (linked below).
16. Finally, the lipliners of the year for me were by far the Make Up For Ever Aqua Lipliners in 2C and 3C (£13.00) long lasting, beautiful shades and the BEST formula of lip liners ever. The people at MUFE HQ hit the nail on the head by creating a lip pencil which is just firm enough to actually define the lips, but creamy enough to fill them in without drying them out! It’s also the only formula that really lets me get away with slightly over lining my lips and it looking totally legit, what is not to love? ^_^
LINKS FOR REVIEWS:
Also I just wanted to address the fact that the majority of my favourites were high end this year..which came as a bit of a surprise to me when I was editing the photos to be honest! The way I picked these products was literally thinking..hmm which *insert type of product* really stood out to me? and whichever it was, I then put into my yearly favourites list. That is not to say that I haven’t loved high-street products, as my monthly favourites will show you - but I added a lot of high end products to my collection this year and they have really stood out to me. You may notice a theme in these favourites, a lot of these things I’ve praised for being long-lasting and that is a huge reason why I’ll really love a product, if it lasts well without much effort I’m happy!
So with that being said I hope that this collection of favourites can help you to decide on if you want to treat yourself, or add any of these items to a wishlist ^_^ be sure to check out the reviews, linked above as you’ll get a lot more information of each thing there.
Also I didn’t want to add more than one of each thing, because this post would have been stupidly long, but if any of you do want me to do a specific drugstore favourites of the year, let me know and I’ll have one up for you!
Please let me know if you’ve written one of these posts, with a link to your blog - I’m getting behind on blog reading but I want to take out a whole evening and catchup, whilst making notes! ^_^
Thank-you for reading ♥
