Emmie’s Beauty Life: Best In Beauty 2018 – Part 1 – Makeup

Hello and welcome to my first ever end of year favourite! Over the next week, I’ll be doing a deep dive into all of the products that I loved in 2018. Today, I’ll be touching on my makeup favourites. And on Friday, I’ll be talking about skincare.

Now, seeing as this is the first time I have done this, I’m just going to quickly touch on how I’ve decided my winners. These are the products that I have consistently loved throughout the year and would repurchase at the first opportunity. I haven’t specifically restricted myself to 2018 releases (though having said that, quite a few of the winners are). And finally, there might be a category or two where I have multiple winners. Because these are my awards. So, I think the only thing left to do is get stuck into it! And grab a snack. This will be long.

BEST IN BEAUTY WINNERS – FACE
Starting with Primer, the FACE BY R PORE PERFECTING FACE PRIMER has pretty much been the only primer I have used since I got it. It’s a pore filling primer, but unlike others I have tried, it doesn’t feel heavy on the skin and it smooths out my lines and pore effortlessly. Next up is foundation and I have two winners here. The first is the RIMMEL LASTING FINISH BREATHABLE FOUNDATION. I loved this foundation this year. It’s a thinner consistency than I usually use, but it builds up to a solid medium coverage. It leaves a beautiful natural finish and I can wear it all day without it breaking down or sinking into my lines and pores. The other winner is actually a CC Cream. More specifically, the IT COSMETICS CC+ CREAM OIL FREE MATTE. I just did a full review of this so I won’t spend too much time talking, but if you have oily skin, you need this in your life yesterday.

Next up, concealer. And it’s one that I loved so much this year, I have almost used it up! The TOO FACED BORN THIS WAY CONCEALER. This concealer blends out beautifully and it lasts on my face all day without creasing under my eyes or fading. For pressed powder, I have to go with the RIMMEL STAY MATTE PRESSED POWDER which sets my base without caking my skin up. And for loose powder, Rimmel takes it out as well. With the RIMMEL TRANSPARENT LOOSE POWDER being my favourite. It’s super finely milled and great for baking under the eyes. Though I will give an honourable mention to the COLOURPOP NO FILTER LOOSE POWDER. I used that one quite a bit too.

Lastly for base is setting spray. And it has to be the URBAN DECAY ALL NIGHTER SETTING SPRAY. If you live in a hot climate, or frankly anywhere on this planet, and you are a makeup wearer, this stuff is essential. You spray it on you face and your makeup doesn’t budge at all. This was quietly the MVP product for me and I’m yet to find anything better.

BEST IN BEAUTY WINNERS – EYES
2018 was the year that I actually began to care about my brows and I found a couple of products that quickly became favourites. The BENEFIT GOOF PROOF BROW PENCIL and the ESSENCE MAKE ME BROW became staples in my beauty routine and I love them both for their simplicity. For eyeliner, I fell in love with the MAX FACTOR EXCESS INTENSITY LONGWEAR EYE PENCIL in Gold. I often used this in place of a nude eyeliner because it gives the same brightening effect, but it adds a little something special to the overall look.

My mascara of the year was tough because I used a lot of great mascaras in 2018. But by a lash, I have to give it to the HOURGLASS CAUTION EXTREME LASH MASCARA. I love the way it makes my lashes look and it doesn’t budge or flake at all. Even in the extreme heat. Honourable mentions go to the EYEKO LASH ALERT MASCARA (an excellent tubing mascara) and the L’OREAL PARADISE EXTATIC MASCARA (my favourite drugstore mascara of the year)

Now, the biggie. My favourite eyeshadow palette of the year. And this was really hard because I bought and used more palettes in 2018 than I ever had before. In the end, I managed to narrow it down to two high end palettes and one from the drugstore. So let’s start with the drugstore winner, the AUSTRALIS METAL MATTE PALETTE. I have adored this palette this year and I have recommended it to everyone who is on a budget. Next up is the SMASHBOX COVER SHOT EYESHADOW PALETTE in Petal Metal. Initially, I was bummed that this palette was limited edition (it was part of the VladaMUA collab) because I loved this palette so much. Thankfully though, Smashbox wisely made the decision to add it to their permanent Cover Shot line. Finally the ANASTASIA BEVERLY HILLS SOFT GLAM PALETTE. If you have been following my Instagram, this will be no surprise because I probably used this palette more than any other.

BEST IN BEAUTY WINNERS – CHEEKS
I can keep this category short because I only have a couple of products to mention here. There were two bronzers that really stood out to me last year. The TOO FACED CHOCOLATE SOLEIL MATTE BRONZER and the RIMMEL KATE SCULPTING KIT BRONZE PALETTE. The Too Faced bronzer has been my go to for the warmer months and the Rimmel was my bronzer of choice for winter. I’m skipping blush because I’m not a huge blush person and none of the ones I own really stood out to me as favourites. As for highlighter, there was only one. The ANASTASIA BEVERLY HILLS X AMREZY HIGHLIGHTER. I know that I haven’t owned it for very long, but it has blown every other highlighter I own out of the water. I know that this has been in all of the favourites videos and posts, but the hype is real. If you still don’t own it, you need to. It’s that good

BEST IN BEAUTY WINNERS – LIPS
The other big award for me. And to be totally honest, none of these should be surprises to you either as I have beaten many of these products to death with how much I’ve spoken about them in 2018. I have two lip balms that I loved. The FACE BY R VITAMIN C TREATMENT for during the day and the MECCA COSMETICA LIP DE LUSCIOUS for right before bed as a lip mask.

This was the year for glossy lips for me and once again, I have two stand outs. The FENTY BEAUTY GLOSS BOMB UNIVERSAL LIP LUMINIZER in Fenty Glow (which for some reason is missing) and the DOSE OF COLORS LIP GLOSS in Over The Top. Both of these have been in constant rotation throughout the year and have popped up in my favourites in the past.

Finally, lipsticks. Once again, I have two winners. Both are liquid lipsticks and neither of these will be surprises to my regular readers. First, the MAYBELLINE SUPERSTAY MATTE INK. One of the most comfortable, budgeproof liquid lipsticks I have ever used! The other, the AUSTRALIS GRLBOSS DEMI MATTE LIQUID LIPSTICKS. Holy moly, these are great! They go on glossy, but they settle into a comfort matte finish and they last a really long time on the lips.

And those are the winners of my 2018 best in beauty! Whew, this was longer than I thought it would be! Let me know below what your favourite beauty products from 2018 were. And stay tuned for Friday, where I’ll be talking about my skincare favourites.

Cheers and love
Emmie xo