It’s the final day of the year, which means it is time for my yearly favorites. 2015 was a great year for beauty for me, and this post will feature all products I discovered this year and boy was there a lot to try and discover. I visited England and the US this year, which meant lots of beauty shopping in both countries. You can see the resulting hauls from those trips by clicking here and here. And then I was also gifted a ton of products in the form of a goodie bag. With so many new products to try, I have found many new favorites. Sit back, relax, grab a cuppa and let’s have a look at my 2015 make up & beauty favorites!
A selection of my 2015 make up & beauty favorites, click more to see the whole lot!
To try and keep this blog post from getting too cluttered, I have divided up the post into different categories. I am featuring at least one product per category and sometimes more if I had more favorites or if there are a budget and a high end version. I have many more favorites then this, but I didn’t want to repeat anything. I have listed all of my previous favorite blog posts at the end of this blog post. So click those links below if you want to see some of my holy grail products. I also linked to reviews or previous articles wherever possible.
Base products
NARS Radiant creamy concealer in Custard
Catrice Liquid Camouflage concealer in 020 Light Beige
Catrice Even Skin Tone Beautifying Foundation 010 Even Vanilla
Too Faced Primed & Pored Pressed Powder Skin Smoothing Priming Powder & Finishing VeilCatrice Nude Illusion Loose Powder Transparent Matt
For my base I’ve been loving using Catrice products. However, I did find a new holy grail in the NARS radiant creamy concealer. That concealer is simply the best. One way to tell a product is your favorite? When you’ve nearly run out of it in a matter of months. This goes for both of the face powders you see here. I hit pan on my Too Faced Primed & Poreless and the Nude Illusion Loose Powder by Catrice only has a thin layer of product left. The foundation I need to get back into using as it looked great on, but was a tad too light for me at the end of summer when I got this.
Face products
Too Faced Milk Chocolate Soleil light/ medium matte bronzer
Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder Radiant Light
The Balm Mary-Lou Manizer
Milani Tea Rose blush
Benefit Coralista blush
For my face I totally changed up my routine. 2015 was the year I got into contouring, bronzer and highlight in a much more serious way. For a bit of bronze glow, I apply the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder pretty much all over. To chisel out my cheeks I use the Too Faced bronzer now it is winter, but I used NARS Laguna in the summer time. My favorite highlight this year was The Balm’s Mary-Lou Manizer. For blush I have a drugstore and high end favorite. The Benefit blush is a holy grail blush and I used it so much this year that it couldn’t be left out. The Milani blush is brand new and all I wear since I got it.
Brows, mascara & eyeliner
Maybelline Brow Drama Sculpting Brow Mascara in Dark Blond
Soap & Glory Archery Brow Pencil 2-in-1 brow filling pencil & brush in Blondeshell
Maybelline Master Precise liquid eyeliner in black and forest brown
NYX HD High Definition Eye Shadow Base in ESB04
For my brows I found a new favorite brow gel. The eyebrow pencil is a holy grail for me and I am currently using the brow tint version, but once this runs out I will be going back to my brow pencil with a spooly on the end. The eyeliners are not a current favorite, but during the first half of 2015 I developed a thing for liquid liner with these being my favorites. They don’t dry out as quickly and I love the long bendy tip of these. The NYX eyeshadow primer was my savior after I finally ran out of my favorite Too Faced base after years of using it.
Eye shadow
Urban Decay Naked Basics 1 & 2
A more recent favorite are the Urban Decay Naked Basics eye shadow palettes. Not just 1 or 2, but both of them. I love pulling these in whenever I use other palettes. I love the matte shades as transition colors, wear the matte highlights from this a ton and use the black as a liner. These are so versatile to have lying about and since they are small they are also perfect for travel. I do usually pull out both, but Naked Basics 2 has been getting the most love.
Kat Von D Monarch eye shadow palette
Lorac Pro 2 Shimmer & Matte eye shadow palette
Anastasia Beverly Hills Shadow Couture World Traveler eye shadow palette
You knew this was coming right? I of course had to feature some of the eye shadow palettes I purchased while I was in the US of A. It was difficult to pick my ultimate favorites, but I think these are the ones I was most excited about getting and also the ones that I enjoy using most. They haven’t been used all that much as I have been trying out so many other things lately, but I do grab all of these at least once every two weeks to make a look. Love it!
Lips
High end:
MAC Matte lipstick in Mehr
NARS Audacious lipstick in Bette
Estee Lauder Pure Color Envy lipstick in Impulsive
I decided to divide my lipstick favorites into high end and drugstore favorites. As you can see, these have been much loved. Mehr is one of my favorite purchases of the year and it got me back on the MAC lipstick train. The Estee Lauder lipstick is my favorite nude, but not too nude lipstick, if you know what I mean. NARS Bette is a great deep dark red that looks great on and stays put very very nicely. I bought it last spring though so I didn’t get round to wearing this until fall/ winter when a shade like this is much more appropriate.
Milani Color Statement Moisture Matte lipstick 74 Matte Darling, 64 Matte Orchid, 70 Matte Fearless
HEMA Soft Matt lip balm in 02, 03, 06, 07, 10
From the drugstore I have been loving my Milani matte lipsticks which I bought in Miami. Matte Darling and Matte Fearless are my favorite, but Matte Orchid is a great bright fuchsia shade that I think will be great for spring. A drugstore lipstick I wore loads this year are the HEMA Soft Matt lip balm. They are cheap, widely available in The Netherlands, and a received a lot of rave in the Dutch beauty community. And I have to say I love these too. They are creamy, have a good lasting power and the colors are amazing. I wore 02 mostly and for brighter shades it was a toss between 06 and 07 this spring. I only just recently got 10 but that is another amazing shade.
Tools
Up & Up powder brush
ELF small stipple brush
Sonia Kashuk no. 203
Real Techniques make up sponge
For tools I mostly love using a few of the brushes I bought at Target in Seattle. I was given the sponge in the goody bag and I love that one. I feel it makes my foundation last so much longer when I use this sponge to apply it. It is a pain to clean though. The powder brush I use with the Hourglass powder. The stipple brush for my contour and the 203 brush by Sonia Kashuk is THE. BEST. BROW. BONE. BRUSH. EVER.
Hair care
L’Oreal Texturizing spray
Bumble & Bumble Don’t Blow It (h)air Styler
For hair care I haven’t changed up my routine. You will still see me using the John Frieda Go Blonder spray, the Gliss Kur leave-in conditioner and I change up my shampoo too much to really get a new favorite. What I have been loving now that my hair is a fair bit shorter (thought it really needs a cut by now) is the L’Oreal texturizing spray, which I had in one of my other favorites posts I saw when I was setting up this one. The Bumble & Bumble cream is the best product ever. It doesn’t weigh my hair down, yet it maintains the waves in my hair. I have already been doing my research on where to buy a back up of this.
Cleanser
Garnier Micellar water
The Body Shop Vitamin C Microdermabrasion
When it comes to holy grail products I hadn’t featured on here before, the Garnier Micellar water would make a good candidate. I started using this right after I used up my Bioderma (with the blue cap) that I loved. I have been going through bottle after bottle ever since. This has replaced the TBS Aloe Vera toner I used for years and still love. The Microdermabrasion is a very new product, but I can already tell it makes a difference. It smells nice and it leaves my skin feeling smooth and more radiant. Only downside is the package which has completely been wrecked by now.
Skin care
Olay Total Effects Moisturizing cream for sensitive skin
De Tuinen Aloe Vera Hydrating Eye Serum
For skincare I didn’t change up my routine too much. When I am using a cream I like, I like using it up to the last drop. So that is what I did with my Olay moisturizing cream. Love that stuff. I have two back ups waiting to be used. The eye serum was a very unexpected but great beauty find for me. It is cheap and very moisturizing for the eye area.
Miscellaneous
NUXE Reve de Miel lip balm
Sally Hansen cuticle oil
Finally a few miscellaneous items that I feel still fall in the beauty category. Ever since I started using it, the NUXE lip balm has been a favorite. When it ran out last fall, I went a few weeks without it and my lips felt dry and chapped almost instantly. So I placed an order with Feelunique just to get it again. The Sally Hansen cuticle oil is a lot easier to find thankfully, but that is another holy grail. I randomly picked it up in Vancouver last summer, after dropping my mini bottle of argan oil that I had been using in a hotel earlier on my trip. And I have really noticed a difference when I use this on my cuticles every night. The one I bought in Canada is nearly gone, so this is new and fresh bottle I bought the other day.
- 2014 make up favorites
- 2014 beauty favorites
- 2013 make up favorites
- 2013 beauty favorites
- 2012 make up & beauty favorites
What are your 2015 favorites?
2 responses to “2015 make up & beauty favorites”
[…] they were an instant hit in my make up collection. In fact, one of these blushes even made it into my 2015 favorites. So it is no surprise that I really wanted to review these for you. So please read on to find out […]
[…] I decided to buy the large shader brush. And what a gamechanger that has been. I even put it in my 2015 favorites and it defeated my trusty, but old and tired fluffy HEMA brush. Finally I found a worthy successor! […]