End of the year 2025 make up balance

Quite the journey this year!

For someone on the low buy/mindful buy, I sure moved a lot of products in and out of my collection this year. I started the year with 76 products with the hope that I would use up a lot of it throughout the year (especially the items that were getting older) and further reduce my collection. The good news is that I am at currently owning 45 products (plus three backups). The other good news is that I have used up 48 products this year-maybe not to the last drop, but to the point I felt comfortable tossing the rest little bit of the product due to age or change in the formula. And the bad news is that I have decluttered 53 products that I have wrote about throughout the year (or am about to). You might ask yourself: how is that possible, as the math is not mathing…well, I shopped this year as well. I brought in 76 products (one way or the other) some of those I used up and some passed along.

Most of the new products are now part of my permanent collection and I am extremely happy with those additions. Some were meh, some I should not have bought-I wrote in the last blog post about them. Some of them I ended up not liking or using so out they went. I will write about my current make up collection the first thing in the 2026. You have already seen declutters from this year in the previous blogs and I have zero regrets letting those go. A lot of those were single shadows, so that’s why the number also looks high. Let’s focus on the used up products and those that were almost done, to the point that the product is not performing nicely anymore. In no particular order we have the overview of the things I will not be using, storing or traveling with anymore.

I had one mini primer from Elf that and I think it was breaking me out. It was one of those very tacky bases and I didn’t like it much. I stated before that I don’t need primers and will not be buying anymore primers and I haven’t brought any new ones in this year, so I was happy to see this go. I used to love the Natasha Denona hyglam concealer. N4 was a great shade both for my face and my undereyes, however I don’t like how it performed under my eyes anymore. I have found the Armani concealer that I like much better. Since Natasha Denona was over a year old with the recommended use of 12 months, I tossed the rest of it. I liked Tower 28 concealer, but again the shade DTLA was not tip top perfect for me, it got dry toward the end of the tube. Since I love Armani concealer now, I will not be repurchasing Tower 28. I used up two Lisa Eldridge pin point concealers. I loved the shade 4 and didn’t like shade 3. Shade 3 was much drier formula somehow and much more golden tone which looked weird on me. I did repurchased shade 4 already (and used up quite a bit by now).

I loved Rare beauty brow gel in clear and will repurchase it someday again. I used this in combination with Kosas pencil in taupe. I like it enough to use up the pencil, but it is so tiny that is was also brittle and I remember wasting bits and pieces here and there. The other brow pencil was from Ulta beauty. It was ok, I would not buy it again, as it was drier than expected and I have had other brow pencils that matched me better in color. I did like the fine point it had. I am using a tinted brow gel now and I like having just one brow product. It makes everything much more simple.

I don’t use a lot of powder and this Huda beauty sample lasted me a while. While color correction powders were all the craze this year, I didn’t like the overpowering scent of cherries and it looked a bit dry under my eyes, so I will not buy this again (not that I bought this one, since it was a free sample from Sephora). The other powder was a concealer from Bare minerals. It got super old and I wanted to use as much as possible this year. I didn’t really enjoy it so much since the color was a bit off, a tad too dark, but I powered through it with Tower 28 concealer which was a bit too bright for my undereye area. Together it is was manageable.

I tried some new mascaras this year. I didn’t like the Tarte XL tubing mascara one since it gave me the raccoon eyes a lot of times. It was overall very unreliable. There were days when it almost looked good, but most of the times it was smudging. Very unusual for a tubing formula. I do love Elf lash extendr which is tubing mascara and it does not smudge on me. I do have some doubts with Elf as a brand, but I will use up another mascara I have as a backup. I liked Lisa Eldridge’s Kitten lash mascara in Burnt umber. It is lovely, does not smudge on me, but it takes a bit of effort to take off in the end of the day. It is pricey, so I am not sure if I will be constantly using it. Maybe as an occasional treat. I did not like Victoria Beckham mascara (got a free sample). The wand was too big and it smudged on me. I preferred the YSL brown mascara, but that one also smudges. Since it was a brown mascara it looked a bit nicer even if it smudged, however I would not buy it myself (this was also a free sample from Sephora). I used up as much as I could of brown Fenty Flyliner. I think it is nice and still going strong, but I bought it in April 2023, but the sticker says 6M after the opening, so it is time to toss it. I am not best doing the wing with the liquid eyeliner, but I appreciate how fine the brush is and how it actually looks brown. I might get it again some day, to practice and get better at liquid eyeliner.

Wow, 5 blushes left my collection. Milani Luminoso turned 10 years old in my collection and it was time to retire the rest of the unused color. I don’t like such shimmery blushes anymore and this was a bit too bright for me. I am also declaring EM cosmetics blush in Pearl Tea done. The more I used it, the more I didn’t like the undertone of this blush. It looked like it would be nice for me as a blonzer, but something was always looking off when I was wearing it. Over time, I realized I didn’t like the formula either. It felt like it was sitting on my skin rather than melting into it. I bought Nudestix blush in Barely nude at Ulta sale this spring sale. I really didn’t like this formula. It was so weird. I know it is cream to powder, but so dry. And the shade was not what I have envisioned buying it. It is also tiny amount that you get so I used up the majority and I am tossing the rest since the recommended usage time is only 6 months! Everyone went bananas for the Saie blushes. I thought the formula was just ok. It is a mousey type of formula, but this shade Peachy was not good for me. It looked so chalky. I guess it has a lot of white in the base, so the peachy color looks very artificial and not great. I am tossing the rest of it since it is getting old. Maybe I would give some other shade a try in the future. The Rose inc blush was ok. I didn’t pick this Wisteria shade for myself, because it was a part of a Sephora bag that I bought. I think the formula is a bit heavy on me and I would probably pick a different shade for myself, but I don’t need it. I used up as much as I could and wanted, so the rest is being tossed.

I had much better luck with bronzers. I loved Make up by Mario cream bronzer, or skin enhancer as he calls it. I loved the formula and I almost repurchased it, but I ended up buying the serum version and love it even more. That serum bronzer is the best bronzer I have ever tried. The other one I have tried and used up this year was from Thrive causemetics stick bronzer in the shade Jen. It is very nice and very underrated. If you have the palest of the pale skin, you should try this shade. If I get this again, I will go a shade up as Jen might have been even too light for me. However, my holly grail is serum bronzer from Make up my Mario now, so I will stick to that one from now on.

I already wrote about the three shades that I have replaced from Lisa Eldridge shadow palettes, so here is just a photo of them. I used up Lisa Eldridge Silk shadow in Phoebe. I wish this shadow was a slightly bit lighter. It looked a bit too dark on me as a one and done shade. The shelf life is only 6 months after the opening, so I rushed to use as much as I can. I did the same with Daphne in the liquid lurex formula. I had it for over a year and a half and decided to retire it this year. I liked the shade, but didn’t utilize it so much in my day to day life. They are also quite expensive, so I would have to think about it, if I would buy it again. The Urban decay Space cowboy didn’t look great on me. It pulls cool toned despite having the beige base. I guess the silver specks were too dominant for my eyes and didn’t look good on me. Also, I had it for a while and since it became crumbly, I decided to throw away the rest of the shade. I also used up the eye liner from Lisa Eldridge in the shade Renaissance. It was really creamy, but the color of it was not so golden in real life, it pulled much darker on me. I prefer her shade in Burnt umber that I am currently using.

I used up an array of lip products. I will try to fly through these. Charlotte Tilbury Dancefloor princess: overrated. Color was OK, but it got more dry as the product got older and older (I had it for 2 and a half years). I don’t buy from Charlotte Tilbury brand any more. Lisa Eldridge has a nice formula, but I have yet to find a great shade for me in this formula. Je ne sais quoi was the right undertone, but too bright, so I used it as a blush most of the time. Kitten Mischief was a hair too dark for me to look great. Le Mepris was a bit too orangey and sometimes too light, like vintage looking on me. I think it has too much white in the base for me, so that’s why it looked a bit off. I learned that I much prefer her lip baume embrace balms. I had two shades: Meet Cute which was great and Sweet Fig which was a bit too cool toned despite the description, so I mixed it with her other products. I also used up her lip liner in 1W. Again, despite the description it was not really warm. It pulled a bit too brown and cool on me. I preferred the Persona lip liner in Almond, but neither that one is my perfect lip liner. I used up two Rare beauty lip glosses. One in the shade Nearly Petal which seems to be a permanent shade now, but it was limited edition last year when I bought it. It was nice, but it was smaller than comparable lip glosses so I flew through it. The other shade was Nearly Apricot and it was much more pink than described. At least it was a warm pink and I used it up as I love the formula, but the shade description was definitely not warm nude. Tarte maracuja lip plump in Honeysuckle was a gift. While the formula is very nice, a bit on a gloopy side, the shade was completely off for me. I think they are trying to dupe the Clinique nude honey lipstick color, but this was very cool toned pulling on me. I used it up nevertheless.

I liked Elf lip glow revival lip oil in the shade coral fixation. It was mostly clear on the lips despite the name. It is supposed to be a dupe for Dior lip oils. I didn’t try those, but I did have this little lip maximizer as a sample. I didn’t think it was anything special. I have just finished the lip balm from Victoria Beckham in the shade Canelle. Loved the shade, but the formula was a bit stiff. Also, it is the type of the packaging that you click only up, so without the warning you just run out of the product one day. It didn’t seem to hold a lot of product. Maybe I just expected more since her makeup is so expensive and hyped. I would not repurchase this again. I am declaring this Ilia lipstick in Amberlight done despite there still being some product. I LOVE this shade. It is very flattering on my skintone but the formula got so dry lately. I think that is the problem with the “clean” beauty brands. It smells different now too. I loved and used up the Gisou lip oil in the shade glazed plum. I loved everything about it and already repurchased the shade Sticky toffee. It also has a cute glass packaging. You get quite a bit product. I tracked the usage on this lip oil I got more of 100 uses. Worth it. Maybe I should track the usage for all my products next year? Anyways, Merit lip oil in Au naturel was nice, but it wore off so quickly from the lips. I wouldn’t repurchase it since it is not long lasting nor nourishing. I loved Hourglass balm in the shade Sense. It is quite expensive for the amount you get and if you have a smaller collection like me, you will fly through the product. I would buy it again though, especially during some sale. I also used up Kokie lip liner in the shade warm nude. It was fine, but I wouldn’t repurchase it as the shade is not quite my perfect shade nor is the formula special enough.

The last three items that I have decided to declutter with the end of this year are two eyeshadow palettes and a lip oil. Viseart eyeshadow palette in petite matte warm: as much as I loved it and still think it is a great formula, I am just not using this palette as much as my other ones. When I do use it, I reach into the same two, or three shades. I would rather pass it along while it is relatively new and have my collection be at the size that I want and use. The other one is Dasique Milk latte. I wanted something light, so I thought I would use all the shades, but the reality is that these are so light that shades look very similar and barely showing up on my eyelids. I don’t use the sparkly toppers, so I used two or three darkest shades when I reached into this palette. I have dupes in the other palettes, so instead of hoarding stuff I would rather pass this along while it is still good. Also, in the same spirit of only keeping what I love, use and suits me, I am passing along this Ilia lip oil in Saint as it ended up being very orange on me, more than I like.

That was a lot of product that I used up this year. I summed up the value of it (retail value) and it adds to more than 1180$ of used up products. Again, I always shop with some sort of discount, but if I was doing the reverse rouge challenge (using up a 1000$ worth of product) I would have succeeded this year. My goal is always to use more of what I own and spend less on makeup in general, while having the best products for my skintone.

I think I don’t have the exorbitant amount of items anymore and that next year will be less exciting with the product turnover. As I use up the products I will try not to replace them immediately if I have more than one item in that category. Especially if I use up a blush, the goal is not to run out and buy another one but to keep using the ones I have. I like the size of my makeup collection now. I will show you soon so you can be impressed with me. 🙂

What are your goals for the 2026, makeup wise and in general?

Wishing you a lot of love and health and kindness and talk to you soon!

XOXO, Iva