This is actually the category of favorites that I’m most excited to talk about this year. I think I mentioned this already, but there were several months this year where I didn’t wear makeup at all. Then when I did start wearing makeup again, I wasn’t so much about trying all the new things as I normally am. I was very into using what made me happy. Now as I’m writing my favorites posts, I have a much more clear idea of what I truly loved this last year. So without further ado, let’s look at some face products!

Favorite face powder: Diorskin Nude Air Loose Powder

I’ve never been huge on foundation. I just don’t like the way it feels or the way it settles into fine lines. I always feel foundation ages me quite a bit. However, I do love a good powder. I don’t wear powder every day because sometimes I kind of dig looking dewy-bordering on greasy. But when I want to soften up the shine of freshly applied skin care products I love this powder. It’s very light coverage and still maintains a dewy finish. I never have problems with this settling into lines or looking cakey. It’s just a gorgeous finish. Now this is a high end product so it’s embarrassingly expensive. $58.00 expensive. I know. On the plus side, this jar is enormous so it does last a long time. This is my second jar (the first was before they changed the packaging and you got about half the amount of powder and it lasted me a few years).

2014 – Face Powder – Rimmel Stay Matte Face Powder

Undereye setting powder – elf Tone Correcting Powder in Cool

I have a few other undereye setting powders but this one is just the best. It doesn’t look cakey, it doesn’t make my undereyes look dry, it’s brightening, it’s mattefying, I like using it on my whole t-zone, it’s just perfect. Also, it’s actually affordable! $4.00! How much more perfect can you get?

New category with no previous favorites!

Favorite blush: NARS Dolce Vita

This was my “out of town blush” from the shopping trip I mentioned in my lip product post. This is a gorgeous shade. It’s probably pretty dupeable but I haven’t compared it to anything in my collection yet. On my skin tone it gives a very natural flushed from the cold kind of look. It’s gorgeous and makes me look alive and healthy. That’s kind of what you want from a blush right? It’s $30.00 which again, is silly expensive. But there you have it. This was the year of splurging on cosmetics for me apparently.

2016 – My Pretty Zombie MDMA

2015 – MAC Melba

2014 – Maybelline Coral Burst

Favorite highlighter – Milk Makeup Holographic Stick in Mars

For most of the makeup world, 2017 has been The Year of the Highlight. Specifically holographic/duochrome highlight. I have about a million duochrome/odd shades of highlight now and I’m digging the trend still. This one though. This is my favorite. It’s a peachy golden highlight with a slight pink/purple shift. You can apply it fairly lightly and it gives a very dewy natural (but still special) highlight. Or you can build it up and get more of the duochrome effect. Either way it’s amazing. This was literally the only highlight I used until about a month ago and it was a struggle to start using other products. This is just gorgeous. If there’s one thing in this particular post that I think you should go swatch it’s this. You can get the mini size for $14.00 (I have the full size but you’ll literally never use that much of this product unless you start highlighting your whole body…which I fully support).

2016 – Colour Pop “Monster”

2015 – Josie Maran Argan Illuminator

2014 – Josie Maran Argan Illuminator

Favorite concealer – L’Oreal Magic Lumi Highlighting Pen

My main goals with a concealer are to lighten up the dark circles under my eyes and not accentuate the fine lines and puffy skin in my undereye area. This concealer achieves that. It doesn’t crease, it has sheer-medium coverage, it has a slight luminous quality so it isn’t too matte and you can use it to brighten other areas of your face. It’s a winner all around for me. You can get this for $8.19 which is not half bad!

2016 – L’Oreal Magic Lumi Highlighter

2015 – L’Oreal Magic Lumi Highlighter

2014 – L’Oreal Magic Lumi Highlighter

Favorite bronzer: Becca Sunlit Bronzer in Maui Nights

Since a large portion of my year was spent with fairly simple makeup, I often went for a flushed, fresh out of the sun look and this bronzer was perfection. It’s a red based bronzer that lends itself towards creating a slightly sunburned look. I love it! It is pigmented so you have to be careful not to go too crazy with it, but it really is beautiful. I actually got a lot of comments about how tan I looked and how I must be spending a lot of time on the beach. I can never tell if those are “mean girl” comments where the person is internally screaming “good god someone take away this girl’s bronzer!” or if they’re sincere. I’m going to go with sincere because that makes me happier. This is $38.00 so it’s not cheap. But again, this should last me the rest of my life.

I’ve never had a favorite bronzer before!

There were a few categories that I’ve included in previous years that I skipped this year. I still like the products I talked about in those posts but I just didn’t use them this year. Here’s a list, because who doesn’t love a good list?

Favorite Base – I did still like the Dr. Jart BB cream but I only used it a handful of times this year.

Favorite Contour – Again, I still like Camp Cosmetics Mahogany but I didn’t contour my face even once all year.

Have you tried any of these products? What are some of your favorite face products? Do you find that you go through fazes of using more high end products and more drugstore products? Are you loyal to one or the other?