Beauty Favorites - 2020

2020!!!! What a year ha? This was a challenging year for me, for many reasons. May be some day I will talk about it in detail! Just may be!

But today I am here with my MAKEUP FAVORITES for the year 2020! I have worn so much makeup this year! I worked from home for almost the entire year, thereby cutting down 2 hrs. of commute everyday, which in turn gave me a lot of time to play with makeup during the weekends. It was almost like a therapy for me - something to bring in a little bit of sanity to my mind throughout this incredibly crazy year. And because I love playing with color, you can see I have picked items that are so very colorful.

All of these products bring me so much joy, and that was my only criteria in selecting these product. Okay, here we go!

Let's talk about eye products first as this was the year I realized completely that I love playing with eyeshadows the most. So naturally I have a lot of eye stuff!

Laura Mercier Caviar Stick Eye Shadow in Plum: Hands down the most used eye pencil this year. I used it mainly to darken up my inner lash lines. It is so comfortable to use, no tugging or harsh application! It also stays put very nicely! And the color is so very pretty, it does the same function for which I will use a black eyeliner but it is a little bit less harsh. Also, you get so much product in this.

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Zodiac, Delirious, and Accuse (Full review here): As I mentioned, I wore a lot of colorful eyeshadow and I kept reaching for these 3 shades of eye pencils to have a coordinating color on my eye-looks. It almost immediately disappears from the very outer corner of my lower lash-line but other than that I did really enjoy these.

2020 was also the year where I wore so much glitter, so much glitter 😊

Urban Decay Heavy Metal Glitter Eyeliner in Midnight Cowboy (Full review here): I absolutely love this glitter. First, the antique gold type of shade is very compatible with all colors of eyeshadows I wore. I also learnt one or two new techniques to use it - so I was able to get more use out of it. Every time, I incorporated this glitter Ifelt like it added so much dimension to the look.

Milani in Lollapa-Blue-Za (Full review here): I picked up 3 shades from this line and while I love all 3, this is the one I used the most. The glitter particles are tiny but quite punchy. It also has a little bit of a duo-chrome sheen to it which just makes them extra fun. I find them easy to apply and quite long lasting. 

Make Up For Ever Star Lit Powder in #19 Ultramarine: This is the blue of my dreams! I am obsessed with this type of deep cobalt blue eyeshadows! And within the embarrassing amount of blue eye product I have, this is the most beautiful blue! This is a star powder; it is extremely refined and it has such a beautiful soft but impactful shine that looks gorgeous on the eyes! Its VERY messy but I don't even care!

DANESSA MYRICKS BEAUTY ColorFix 24-Hour Cream Color Matte in Primary Red: Probably one of the top few products that gave me the most joy this year. I am in love with this Colorfix. It's the red of my dreams! Fierce and unapologetic RED! It took me a minute to figure out the best application technique but I think I have gotten the hang of it. I have applied it as a sheer wash of colors couple of times. But I am mainly using it to create graphic liners and I love it. I wear it alone or mix it with other cream formulas to get custom colors. 

Stila Shimmer & Glow Liquid Eye Shadow in Twig: This is the first product I fell in love with in 2020. This is a stunning dark coppery brown shimmer shade that immediately makes me feel and look sultry! I apply it on one eye at a time! I pat it on & just blend it with my fingertips. There is a little bit of time to play with it but don't need to wait forever for the eyeshadow to set! It is fast, and easy but looks like I spent a lot of time & effort in creating the eye look . Also, tremendous staying power. I wore it almost every time I used Indian saree or mekhela sador this year and LOVED it!

Viseart Eyeshadow Palette  in Editorial Brights: I have longed for this palette for years and I finally got it this year. This palette makes me happy. All the colors show up as vibrant as they appear on the pan! Yellow, and purple shades are simply amazing. The blues are a bit finicky. I have created looks with all these shades; and everytime I have used this palette, I find myself being so happy and content. 

Viseart Eyeshadow Palette in Dark Edit (Full review here): This sneakily made it to the list - I am surprised actually! I got this palette last year and although I did love it, only this year I found my deep love for it. These colors are my type of colors; rich, vibrant and so very easy to work with. I did not pay much attention to the shimmers before but they are so goooood! Especially that gold is beautiful.

My single shadow love! This was the year that I finally caved and tried some indie brands! And oh my my, they are so very beautiful and they bring me so much joy! I tried to pick only a few shades from JD Glow and Devinah, but I couldn't. They are all are so versatile and happiness inducing.

JD Glow single shadows in Unexpected, Good Gawd, Lavendar, Anomaly, Prismatic, Lemonade and Volcano: I become speechless when I need to talk about these eyeshadows. They are so good! Apart from the Lemonade and Volcano, all other shades are galaxy shadows; they are chunky multidimensional glittery shades and there is a certain learning curve to using them but use any one shade - it will take your look to a different level.

Devinah single shadows in Salvatore, Blazed, Cleopatra, Rainbow Blossom, Confetti Kisses, Creampuff Cuddles, Kazookles: These shadows are breathtaking! These are much softer to touch than the JD Glow and are much more soft and comfortable on the eyes. Almost all the shades I have here have such gorgeous multichromes, I tried to see if I loved a few over the others but no, I love them all.

Makeup Geek single eyeshadows in Voltage and Steampunk: Steampunk is an old favorite, I absolutely love the duo-chrome in this and I often use it for my smoking out my lower lash-line. I got a lot of use out of the Voltage shade as an inner corner shade, it is so very sheeny and beige/cream shade is so flattering with so many colors as inner corners.

Urban Decay x Krsiten Leanne Leo+Brixton (full review here): This was a limited palette but I have been using and loving these two shades for inner corner highlight this year. 

Lets talk about the cheek products now!

Laura Mercier Face Illuminator in Indiscretion, Addiction, Devotion, Seduction (Full review here): This was a limited edition holiday palette from few years ago, and I have used this palette so much this year, especially in the first half of the year. I can use all the shades and I love the different tones in each of the shades. The darker shade I use to add some sheen to my bronzer. 

KEVYN AUCOIN Glass Glow Face in Prism Rose: This has to be the product that I have used the least out of this bunch. I picked up the full size in late summer after using up a foil sample packet early in the year. It is a very glass looking highlighter and it is exactly what I wanted. I don't think it is for everyone. But it is in this list simply because it makes me happy.

Rituel De Fille probably was my favorite brand discovery of  this year!

The Alchemist Highlighter Intensifier: Uuuuf, this product makes my heart sing! It makes me not care about the world and be the most "I-am-uniquely-me" version of myself. It has very sparkling, very visible but very classy looking glitters on a solid  oil base. I love wearing it on my eyes for adding an editorial edge to my looks. I also love wearing it on my cheeks. Yes, the glitters are very visible and yes, I am in my mid thirties and I don't care if I have glittery cheeks :-)

Rituel De Fille Color Nectar Pigment Balm in Bloodflower (Full review here): I absolutely love this blush. As you can see, I have already made a dent in the pan. I love the red shade, I love how easy it is to use, I love how easily it can be layered with other shades and I love the faint herbal smell it has. Overall, a very big fan of this.

Rituel De Fille Rare Light Crème Luminizer in Solaris: I used this shade so much during Fall and Winter, such a gorgeous burnt orange shade and it looks so very flattering on my skin-tone.  It is a bit of a stiff cream formula but once you warm it up it is very easy apply and modify. 

Becca Mineral Blushes in Lantana, Hyacinth and Songbird (Full review here): These are some of my older products in my collection but I am very happy I have them. This year I have learnt the art of layering blush. I typically use a cream blush and they once I apply my highlighter and bronzer I finish it off with applying one of these shades with a very fluffy brush for a very light application. It makes the whole look so seamless. Songbird is definitely the most used out of these 3!

Tower 28 Beauty Bronzino Illuminating Bronzer in Best Coast (Full review here): Definitely my most used bronzer. My Buriti Bronzer (that I finished this year - see review here) is still a tad bit more favorite than this one, but I definitely loved using Best Coast It has quite a red undertone and it has a shimmery finish but I really like the formula. It is so very easy apply as well. You can already probably see a dip going on.

Coverfx Custom Enhancer Drops in Candlelight (Full review here): Shout out to my beloved Custom Enhancer drops. It is an older product but it is still performing great. I exclusively use it by adding a tiny drop with my foundation, it gives such a beautiful sheen! I love it! 

The lip category made me sad coz typically I would have at least one bright bold shade. But given how this year turned out, I didn't really use bold shades for going out and about.

Kosas Kosasport LipFuel Hyaluronic Lip Balm in Pulse (Full review here): This is tinted lip balm and I am using it with a lot of different shades to manipulate other shades. And it is good for that purpose, along with being a decent lip balm. I think this product made it to the list based on how much I have used it. 

Bite Beauty Lip Pencil in 038: I have started to use Lip pencils quite consistently this year. It is a good formula and the shade is useable with a lot of different shade. Of course, Bite discontinued this formula. 

NAILS INC in Knightriders Street: A neon shade that flatters my skin-tone? Do you know how rare is that? Anyway this neon green is so opaque in two coats and on me it lasts 10+ days. I loved it throughout the entire summer. I really enjoyed it this year.

Tell me about your favorites 😍..did you play more or less with makeup this year?

Love,

~Arrru