What entered my collection in 2025?

Despite the low buy, I made some damage to my wallet and got some new products this year. Some of them are amazing, quick holly grail status already as I am using them, others have not been great and may have left my collection already. Some of them have been used up during this year, but we will save that part for a next post I will write about soon.

Let’s do some numbers first. I tried out whooping 76 new products this year. Some of them were gifts with purchase or free samples, most of them bought at some discounts, but nevertheless I have spent money on these products. The retail value of them is whooping….plenty and more than I am willing to admit. However, I spent about 40% less of that retail value which is pretty OK, since I got to test out new products I was interested in, I got to use them and make them the permanent part of my collection. Actually, most of these new products are now the core of my make up collection and I love the fact that I have mainly fresh products as I have rolled out and used up the old ones in the past year.

So what’s new? I got Huda loose powder as a sample in Cherry blossom and I didn’t like it because it looked very dry on me. Once I used it up, I bought a new powder: Givenchy prisme libre powder in the color 02 Satin blanc and as bougie as it is, it is one of the best powders I have tried so far. It just works great for my skintone, including the undereyes and I don’t see myself needing to try anything else any time soon. I did however splurge on the Guerlain meteorite finishing pearls in the end of the year and they are lovely. I have repurchased Lisa Eldridge pinpoint concealer in the shade 4, as I was breaking out for a while and this concealer works great for covering spots. Actually, this year I bought two of them in shade 04 and one in the shade 03. The other new concealer was Armani from the time my luggage got lost, so I bought it as a first aid and got refunded by the airline company. I tried Surrat Beyond beige eyeshadow and luckily got a refund for my return.

I got a liquid bronzer from Makeup by Mario and Thrive Causmetics bronzer in the lightest shades Jan. I repurchased Lisa Eldridge Elevated glow highlighter in the shade Crystal nebula, as I wanted to have it again now that my make up collection is smaller.
I dabbled into some blushes because I wanted to find something very subtle and nude and understated for my skintone. Therefore I bought Merit Terracotta (love it), RMS cream blush in Spell, Nudestix blush in Barely Nude which are all cream blushes and then Jouer duo blush, Clinique Nude pop and Laura Mercier powder blush. I ended up loving some and decluttering others. I also bought the Haus labs in the shade Cinnamon on the trip which I ended up loving both for my cheeks and my lips. Nars had a sale in the end of the year and I wanted to try out this soft peach multitask stick (meant for lips, eys, and cheeks), so I thought it was a good time for to purchase it.

I tried some new mascaras. I planned on sticking to my favorite ones, especially in the tubing formula, but Lisa Eldridge launched Kitten lash mascara in Burnt umber (brown) shade so I was curious. Others mascaras were gift with purchases, so I got to try YSL and Victoria Beckham formulas (neither of those I really loved). I didn’t love the Tarte XL tubing mascara which was a gift from a friend, but formula didn’t work for me. I also got Tower 28 (for free again) on the trip and it is my favorite mascara to this day, especially in the brown version.

I bought Merit brow gel because I got tired of having a brow pencil and a brow gel. This combines both of those and reduces the numbers of products I need to have for my brows. I also bought Benefit tinted brow wax at this black Friday sale as a back up, because I have heard there is not that much product in Merit brow gel and you can run out of it very fast.

Lips are always the biggest category that I try out and use up in the year. I discovered the beautiful formula of Merit signature lightweight lipstick. I adore the shade Ginger that I got earlier this year so much that I got another shade in black Friday sale at the Merit site in the shade Slip. I got some freebies like Dior plumper sample (didn’t love it) or Tarte lip plumper as a gift, discovered the Baume embrace lip balms from Lisa Eldridge in the shades Meet Cute and Sweet Fig. I tried some lip oils: one from Merit in Au naturel and two shades from Gisou: Glazed plum and Sticky toffee. Loved Gisou ones. Victoria Beckham Canelle lip balm was expensive and small, but the shade was nice. I loved the shade of Ilia lipstick in Amberlight, but the formula got a bit dry and started to smell weird as the time passed by. (I live in hot and humid climate so that might have had an impact on the formula). I finally tried the Lisa Eldridge Rouge experience lipstick in the shade Lili. I actually have two of those, since the packaging is a bit weird on the component, so they sent me the new one for free. It is a nice muted chili paprika shade for me, but it is still more of a statement lipstick for me. I do like it a lot. I bought another of Rare beauty lip gloss in the shade Nearly Apricot, but was a bit let down by the color as it was not nude color as described, but warm pink. Spoiler alert, I used it up. I also got a new shade of lip oil from Ilia at the Black Friday sale in the shade Saint which was discounted by 40% and then they threw in a foundation stick for free. Now I have a new base product for the next year.

I also tried some new lip liners. One was from Persona in the shade Almond which was ok. I got EM cosmetics in the shade Fawn which is nice, but still not a perfect shade and then at Ulta fall sale I got About face lip liner in Raw kiss for 50% off. I do like it quite a bit.

I have been pretty good this year with not buying eyeshadow palettes. I have bought some replacement shadows in my Lisa Eldridge palette and you already heard about those 3 single shadows that are now part of my modified Lisa palette. I have only brought in one new little quad (until fall came around with the black Friday and seasonal discount) that was free since I had a Sepora gift card. I heard so many good things about this YSL eyeshadow quads, especially in 300 Kasbah spice that I used the majority of that gift card to make this palette free. I also got two single Colourpop shadows. One is the Tea Garden that I have decluttered earlier this year due to age and change in formula. They still make it so I got a fresh one. The other one is called Gnarly and it is a pretty warm beige shade which I assume I will get a lot of use out of. Armani had a nice 25% off sale in the fall, so I bought a single cream eye shadow in the shade 18M.

I got Hourglass quad which I have mentioned that I should not have bought. I will use it though since I paid pretty penny for it even with a discount.

As far as the Sephora fall vib sale is concerned, I have only brought in four lip products. I got Gisou lip oil in Sticky toffee color. I knew I love the formula since I used up one in the other shade I have mentioned. I also bought YSL lip shine oil, as I have had it in and out of my cart since the beginning of the year. I got it in the shade 204 Melted honey. I got Lancome lip balm in the shade 21 Throwing beige and Makeup by Mario lip liner in Dimity. No regrets and all lovely colors for me. Apart from the Sephora sale, one more lip product entered my collection, a sheer lipstick from Sisley which I also really like.

As a Christmas present to myself I bought a Tom Ford quad and two single shadows from Sisley, two from Chanel, two from Chantecalle and one from Dior. I was so good at not buying eyshadows all year long. Once the end of the season offers kicked in, the curiosity of trying out the new formulas got the best of me, so I made these purchases. I have noticed my collection was so brown based that I wanted to get some unique but wearable and one-and-done shades and try out brands I never tried before. Since I invested in the new eyeshadows, I have also invested in a new eyeliners, this time form Soshe beauty since I never tried it out and it looked like a color I would love and would suit me well. The other one was from Sweed beauty in the bronzey shade as it looked like a nice color and good quality. The final eye product was from Sisley, their eye crayons, so like a shadow and a liner product in the shade copper.

I have brought in some products that I have already decluttered during the year, so I will just quickly remind you of them here:

Root pretty paint hydrating cream multi use blush in the shade Miranda

Elf eyeshadow palette Keep it ethereal

Ilia balmy gloss tinted lip oil in the shade Tahiti

Merit signature sheer lip liner in Beverly Hills

Rituelle de fille Celesteal spere gelle eye gloss in the shade Serpens

Hourglass liquid blush sample in the shade Scene

Rms lip2cheek in the shade Spell

Hourglass strobe blush lighting blush in the shade Dim infusion

Jouer blush duo in Darling

Surrat eyeshadow in Beyond beige which I was able to return and get a refund

Victoria Beckham Satin Kajal liner in the shade Bronze

Merit solo matte shadow in Vachetta.

Phew. That was a lot! My photos are a bit all over the place, but you get the picture. Also, did you notice I didn’t buy new Make up my Mario palette? I decided that I don’t like it enough to justify the purchase, plus I don’t wear so much eyeshadow to bring in the 12 pan palette in my collection. Very proud of myself there. The reviews very actually very polarized with shimmers being on the subtle side, which would have been a plus for me, but ultimately decided I don’t like it enough to buy it.
You have already seen what I have decluttered this year, but stay tuned to see what I have used up this year. I think I did quite well and I have reduced my collection which was the main goal this year.  Also, the post after that will be the look into my makeup collection and I think this is the most curated it had been in years. I love the size of it, I love the formulas and the colors. Dare I say that it is my dream collection? I don’t have the urge to buy anything new or hurry up to finish anything and that is great!

What does your dream collection look like?

Hope you are having great holiday season and talk to you soon!

XOXO, Iva