It’s finally time!
Welcome back to my eighth annual Best In Beauty series. Over the next two and a half weeks, I’ll be sharing all of my beauty standouts from 2025. This is the series I look forward to the most every single year and I can’t wait to share the products that I’ve loved throughout this admittedly miserable prick of a year.
Now, if you’ve looked at the title, you may have seen that I’m doing things a little bit different this year. While I’ve always done my beauty disappointments first, I’ve decided this year to incorporate them into the series proper as opposed to it being it’s own thing. I guess my theory is that I should include the spice with the sweet.
Truth be told, this is going to be a longer post than even I intended. While 2025 was a very good year for beauty launches, there were more than a couple of standout duds that I wanted to talk about. I have some makeup, some body care, and even a fragrance in the disappointment pile this time around. Some of these are products that I’ve mentioned before (I’ll link reviews wherever possible). And there is a surprise to two in the mix as well. So, the only thing left to do is stop the preamble and dive on in!
We’ll kick this off with the RIMMEL LONDON MULTI TASKER SETTING SPARY – $22.95 (review here). I do stand by the fact that the product itself is decent. But the packaging is awful. The mister is just so aggressive and distributes so much product. The end result being that my makeup is running down my face faster than Ilya’s feelings for Shane (yes, I’m still in the Heated Rivalry prison, got a problem with that?). I am seriously tempted to just decant this into another bottle eventually. Then I can really make up my mind on it. But my plea to Rimmel is to change the packaging.
Next on my chopping block is the URBAN DECAY 24/7 GLIDE ON SHADOWS – $62.00. First of all, $62 for the amount of product you get is crazy. But my issue with this is that it goes on very patchy. Yes, I know it’s a glitter based shadow. But it looks so uneven on the lid. And once it’s on the lids, the end result is that I have a wet, sticky, heavy feeling shadow that doesn’t dry down properly and is creasing up a storm. Save your money and get the Moondust singles.
Ahh, the MILANI HIGHLY RATED LASH EXTENSIONS MASCARA – $26.99 (review here). 2025 was a mixed bag for mascaras overall. But I held onto this for an entire calendar year just so I can state how much I didn’t like this. Wet, gloopy, yet somehow flaky, irritating ass formula. I can say with a lot of confidence that this is my least favourite drugstore mascara. And considering how many mascara’s I’ve tried in my 36 years of life, that’s saying something.
Leaving the drugstore to the most expensive foundation I’ve tried in a while, the PRADA REVEAL FOUNDATION – $135.00 (review here). This foundation screwed up my skin for weeks after I used it. I was breaking out all over the place and in places where in I don’t normally break out. Add in the fact that it was a difficult formula to work with and you have a spot on the list.
The MERIT BEAUTY BRONZE BALM – $48.00. This is the rare case of me changing my mind after my initial review. I think I was mostly excited to finally have my hands on some Merit products after years of waiting. But the more I used this throughout 2025, the more I didn’t like it. First of all, the shade I have, Clay, pulls so yellow on me. It’s like my cheeks have jaundice. Ultimately, though, it was the formula that does this one in. It’s so waxy and slippery. I was even noticing it lifting my foundation whenever I went to blend it out. The strange part is that the blush formula is so different and so good. I have no idea why they aren’t the same.
You know 2025 was a generally bad year when I discover a fragrance that I didn’t like. And that honour goes to COMMODITY MILK EXPRESSIVE – $49.00 for 10ml. Full disclosure, it was between this and Replica’s Afternoon Delight all year long. Because both Afternoon Delight and Milk open with that sour note right off the bat. What got Milk on the list though is that after 4-6 hours of wear, Afternoon Delight does eventually deliver on the promise of sweet vanilla goodness. Milk disappears into nothing on me. I may as well turn in my Fragrance Baddie card after this one.
Finally, we have my least favourite product from 2025. And this is going to be a legitimate surprise. Because it’s a product that I never got around to mentioning on here. But as soon as I used it for the first time, it immediately went onto the list. And that is the SUNDAE LET’S GET TROPICAL WHIPPED SPF 50 SUNSCREEN – $34.99 (TGA Declaration: purchased myself). We all know by now how important wearing sunscreen every day is. And I do love the idea of a lightweight, foam textured sunscreen. But the experience still has to be enjoyable. And this was not enjoyable. The overpowering tropical scent of this is so strong, it makes my stomach churn. Worst of all, it’s a scent that lingers on everything it touches. I tried to stomach it. But after the third day, I couldn’t do it anymore and immediately picked up another bottle of my Nivea body sunscreen (it has never steered me wrong). I can see why it was in the clearance section of my Woolworths. Genuinely horrible.
And that is a wrap on the disappointments of 2025. Special shout out to ELF Cosmetics as well (fuck you, Matt Rife). But now that I have the bile out of my system, I can now focus on the good. Next week, the Best Of series truly begins.
Cheers and love
Emily xo