1/29/2022 0 Comments 2021 Best in Beauty: My Favorite Makeup, Skincare, and Nail Products from the Past Year
Hey, it's been a while, beauty people! Turns out I do indeed have a life outside of my small corner of the internet. Nonetheless, let's go on to my 2021 best in beauty: my makeup, skincare, and nail favorites from the last year!
Just as I did with last year's favorites, I won't be listing a product for every single category, and this won't be a "most used" list. Instead, I'll only be including the products that truly ~sparked joy~. As such, I'll be omitting many categories from this compilation, and some categories will have multiple products. For each product, I will be indicating what year I bought it and if it was a repeat favorite from 2020. I think this is always interesting to see when I read/watch other people's yearly favorites. The online beauty space -- consumers, brands, and our consumerist culture as a whole -- has a tendency to latch onto new releases and immediately discard older products: with what's considered "old" becoming younger and younger with each no release. I'm no minimalist by any stretch of the imagination, but I hope to combat that crow brain, "ooh new shiny thing" mentality just a little bit. Click here for my 2020 favorites All prices listed are in USD at the time of writing. They are not affiliate links, only for your own convenience, because I am but a common man. MakeupReflection on My Makeup Use in 2021
As such, I simply couldn't wear a lot of makeup. Previously, I wore makeup almost every day, but I didn't wear any makeup the majority of last semester. Most days, I was rushing out the door with no time to do makeup (especially when I was dating someone and would often spend the night -- so I wouldn't return back to my room and back to my makeup until right before I had to leave for class). When I did do makeup, I oftentimes just threw together a simple look using my project pan items: not only to get more use out of my project pan products, but also because I simply didn't have the time to think of or execute a more complicated, creative look.
I didn't really get to play with the full extent of my makeup collection, especially in the realm of blush and highlight. I've historically loved and owned a lot of blushes and highlighters, but I had a single blush and a single highlighter through the entirety of my project pan 2021, severely limiting my freedom of choice in those categories. In 2022, I hope to have more fun with my makeup. Not only does it feel like a physical waste because of my many neglected makeup products, but it also feels like a personal waste, as if I'm losing a piece of myself, to have this creative hobby of mine -- this part of me -- slip away. Eyeshadow
My favorite eyeshadows from 2021, left to right: Pur Cosmetics x RBK collab palette, Colourpop single shadow in Glass Bull, Terra Moons Cosmetics single shadow in Harvest, Adept Cosmetics Ninhydrin palette, ABH Subculture palette
Pür Cosmetics x RawBeautyKristi Double-Sided Pressed Pigment Palette (purchased 2020, repeat 2020 favorite)
This eyeshadow palette -- well, "pressed pigment palette" for legal reasons -- was released in summer 2020 as a collaboration between Pür Cosmetics and long-time makeup YouTuber RawBeautyKristi. I don't watch RBK, but I immediately fell in love with the (IMO, very well thought out) color story when I watched her palette reveal video. However, considering my already extensive eyeshadow collection, I didn't end up buying it until I perchance happened upon someone selling their extra palette. The palette comes with two sides: 1 neutral side and 1 colorful side. Each comes with 9 shadows (8 mattes, 1 shimmer) and a nice mirror. With its color story and compact nature, I had always thought it would be the perfect travel palette, and I actually did bring this palette with me on a 2-week vacation at the end of last year. Throughout the entirety of 2021, I continued to especially love the warm mustard column of the neutral side; with my golden undertones, it's my perfect everyday, "elevated neutral" look. I also enjoy the formula. It's quite soft and easily blended, though the softness can also lead to messiness in the form of kick-up in the palette -- which isn't really that big of a deal. Adept Cosmetics Ninhydrin Palette (purchased 2021) Another new-old secondhand purchase, this palette is incredibly unique within my collection. Adept Cosmetics is an indie brand but is probably one of the larger ones in the US makeup sphere and is known for its interesting sparkley eyeshadows. Ninhydrin is mainly composed of ~dimensional shifty sporkley~ shimmers. On school mornings in the fall 2021 semester when I didn't have time to do a complicated look, one of my go-to eyeshadow formulas was a neutral matte in the crease and a Ninhydrin shimmer (especially AC122, a bronze-to-green shimmer) swiped all over the lid with my finger. Even just 1 shade looks really beautiful and interesting on its own. AdeptCosmetics.com: $68 (currently out-of-stock; Adept tends to do pre-orders for their palettes -- to minimize waste, presumably? -- so follow their Instagram @adeptcosmetics for restock information) Anastasia Beverly Hills Subculture Palette (purchased 2019, repeat 2020 favorite) ABH is a brand I don't purchase from due to iffy ethical issues with the brand (poor treatment of influencers, toxic workplace), but Subculture is nonetheless a cherished item in my makeup collection. A very lucky TJ Maxx find, this is my default palette whenever I want to do a green eyeshadow look by combining Destiny (khaki green matte), Axis (deep teal matte), and Electric (sporkley spring green-yellow-red sheer shimmer). ABH Subculture is infamous for its inconsistent formula. Compared to the horror stories I've heard, mine is generally fine. Nonetheless, the non-neutral mattes are harder to blend than most other eyeshadows, and they have to be patted on the eye rather than swiped on to blend. As such, I didn't reach for this palette nearly as much in the fall 2021 semester because I usually just didn't have the time to really work with the formula in the morning.
Terra Moons Cosmetics single in Harvest (purchased 2020)
Again: 2021 was the year of fun shimmers!! Terra Moons Cosmetics is an indie makeup brand known for their ~shifty, sporkley~ shimmers, and Harvest is no exception. The brand describes this shade as a "duochrome orange, green, and yellow shimmer." In practice on the eye, it generally comes off as a warm bronze with a greeny shift. As such, it's a great "elevated neutral" shade for me. One of my most done, no-brainpower-necessary looks in 2021 was a warm neutral matte in the crease (usually the mustard column of the RBK palette) with Harvest all over the lid. As it's a magnetic single shadow, you'll need some sort of empty palette to store it. TerraMoonsCosmetics.com: $8 Brows
My favorite brow products in 2021: the NYX Micro Brow & Em Cosmetics Brow Cream
NYX Micro Brow Pencil in Black (first purchased 2020)
I'm currently on my second iteration of the NYX Micro Brow Pencil in Black, and I plan on repurchasing this brow pencil until the day I die (or NYX discontinues it, or I stop using brow pencils ... whichever happens to come first). I've been using this brow pencil for almost 2 years though I didn't include it in my favorites for 2020. While it was my favorite brow pencil in 2020, it was more out of utility than anything else. It wasn't until last year when I didn't have the time to wear as much fun makeup that doing my brows became more of a fun choice to spend in the 5 minutes before I had to leave for class rather than an obligation (which is good, because makeup ideally should never feel like an obligation). In addition, I got bangs in June 2021. Before my bangs, I did my brows (brow gel or brow pencil) pretty much every single day, even on days when I was wearing no other makeup, because of how wimpy they are. Now that my brows are mostly covered up by my bangs, I again don't feel as obligated to do my brows. First reason why I love it: it's only $10. Second reason: it is so easy to use and looks really natural on me. It's not overly pigmented that I end up with Sharpie brows, but it's not so waxy that I have to work hard to fill in my brows. It's a thin tip (not a triangle tip) to easily create those ~hair-like strokes~ that we tend to love. It comes with a spoolie on the other end to soften up any harshness, but it's not even necessary to use the spoolie every time because it applies well on its own. The Black shade is an incredible match for my warm black hair. After my extensive experience with this brow pencil, I only have 2 suggestions for NYX:
Ulta.com: $10
Cheeks
My favorite blush from the year
Juvia's Place Afrique Blush in Bella (purchased 2019)
Juvia's Place is a brand I don't support because of weird anti-Blackness -- weird in that it is a Black-owned brand and purports itself as a very pro-Black brand. Here's a small peek: Twitter thread from Black influencer Alissa Ashley. In addition, more recently, they came under fire for posting a video that used an anti-Asian racial slur (both the influencer and the brand posted apologies that have since been deleted for being lackluster). Even with iffy business practices, Juvia's Place is still known for well-formulated products -- pigmented products meant to work well with pigmented skin -- which does apply to the Afrique Blush in Bella. On me, Bella is a bright terracotta-brick red matte blush. I didn't really get to play around with blush much because of my project pan blush, but when I want a really heavily blooshed look, this is the blush I turn to. Despite how bright it is, it doesn't look clownish on my warm-toned skin (at least in my opinion lol) because of the shade's warm undertone. A reddish blush with a cool undertone is what would make me look like Ronald McDonald. Lips
Not in order: Colourpop Lux Velvet in Get Money & Colourpop Ultra Blotted Lips in Soda Pop, Vitamin Sea, Cherry on Top, Zuma, Halo Effect, Ojai There, Scenic Route, and Cypress Chill
Brushes
My favorite makeup brushes from 2021, left to right: Colourpop Tapered Blending Brush, e.l.f. Crease Brush, random flat liner brush, Colourpop Small Fluff Brush
Colourpop Tapered Blending Brush/E2 (purchased 2018, repeat 2020 favorite)
3 years later, this is still my favorite eyeshadow brush. The Colourpop Tapered Blending Brush is a medium-sized soft, fluffy tapered (duh) eyeshadow brush. For my eye size and shape, it makes blending mid-tone mattes into my crease absolutely effortless. With the variety of eyeshadow colors I will use nowadays, I mentally assign specific colors to specific eyeshadow brushes to avoid shadow ending up muddy on the eye. I only use this particular brush for warm, mid-toned neutral/yellow/orange mattes, which is the most common color family of mattes that I use -- so my favorite brush ends up being used the most. Perhaps I did that on purpose. Colourpop.com: $7 e.l.f. Cosmetics Crease Brush (purchased 2019, repeat 2020 favorite) The e.l.f. Crease Brush is essentially the smaller counterpart to the Colourpop Tapered Blending Brush. It's a fluffy tapered blush but smaller, so I use it for darkening up the outer corner. I use this brush with dark orange/brown mattes. Ulta.com: $4 Random flat liner brush (from early-to-mid 2010s) For those of you who don't know, I used to do dance and competitive figure skating which required me to wear stage makeup. Even before I got into makeup on my own as a hobby, I accumulated a lot of makeup from my mom that I used for performances and competitions. To be honest, a lot of that makeup was quite bad, but this particular brush has stood the test of time throughout approximately a decade of use. I have no idea what brand this is from, but this flat liner brush has been one of my most used this year. I use it all the time to do soft winged eyeliner using the black eyeshadow from my 2021 project pan. I love doing shadow liner in general, and because this brush isn't super stiff and precise, I can very quickly whip up slightly smokey liner with this brush. Colourpop Small Fluff Brush/E6 (purchased 2018, repeat 2020 favorite) I often see this type of soft, fluffy brush -- bigger than an eyeshadow brush, smaller than a cheek brush -- recommended as part of a basic brush collection. You can use it for concealer, foundation, face powder, blush/highlighter/bronzer, and more! Makeup YouTuber Shelbey Wilson even showed how to use this type of brush for an entire face of makeup. Personally, I use the Small Fluff Brush for concealer and face powder. In 2020, I had 4 different concealers in my project pan, so I was using it a LOT. In 2021, I only had 1 concealer and 1 powder in my project pan, so I didn't use it nearly as often as I did the year previous, but it was still a much-appreciated brush. Colourpop.com: $8 Skincare
My skincare favorites from 2021
Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask (purchased 2019, repeat 2020 favorite)
I have naturally very dry skin, including dry and textured lips; when I was little -- despite applying lip balm constantly throughout the day -- I would sometimes peel off the flakes of dry lip skin to the point of bleeding. In 2019 and most of 2020, I would only use the Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask as a ~special treat~. In 2020, I started using it every night, and it honestly was such a gamechanger. Before, I would reapply lip balm probably 7+ times on a regular day, even during the warm months. Now, depending on the weather, there are some days where I don't even need to apply lip balm at all during the day -- because the Laneige is moisturizing enough to last me throughout the entire day. A little goes a LONG way with this product. It's got a balmy texture, so I only need to scoop out a pea-sized amount per use. At the end of 2020, I still had about 2/3 of the container left. Now, after near-nightly use, I have about 1/8 of the container left, which'll still last me a while. Unfortunately, Laneige is not cruelty-free, so I won't be repurchasing this. However, I do have the minis from last year's Sephora birthday gift which will probably tide me over for the next several years. Cosrx Advanced Snail 96 Mucin Power Essence (first purchased 2018, repeat 2020 favorite) I'm currently on my 3rd bottle of what I lovingly dub the almighty "snail goo." I have dry skin, so I like to PACK ON the moisturizing and hydrating products. This is an essence, so it's a thinner texture than a typical gel serum (but still more viscous than a regular liquid). I use it every night as my first hydrating step -- after toner and before serums. I also use it sometimes in the morning before moisturizer for a little extra ~hydration~ boost. My dry skin is a big fan. Ulta.com: $25 Fourth Ray Beauty Avocado + Aloe Double Shot Face Serum (purchased 2021) While I have religiously used the Cosrx snail goo ever since I got into skincare in January 2018, I like to switch up my hydrating serum -- the product I use after the snail goo but before moisturizer -- just to really spice up my skincare routine in my ever-exciting life. I'm quite strict with my skincare routine, but I feel like I can afford to change this particular step because hydrating serums, in my experience, tend to all feel pretty much the same if they're not shit. I don't feel that way with this Fourth Ray Beauty Avocado + Aloe Double Shot Face Serum: a doozy of a name and a doozy of a product! As I've reiterated time and time again, I have dry skin. My dry skin likes this product. Because of the avocado oil, it's both hydrating and moisturizing. However, I'd caution against this if you have normal-to-oily skin. It's got a bit of a greasy texture, which is just pleasantly greasy enough for my skin type but could be problematic for others. Ulta.com: $16 Welly Face Saver Clear Spot Bandages (first tried 2020) In 2020, I asked to borrow some pimple patches from my fellow skincare-obsessed roommate/bestie, and she gave me some by Welly. In 2021, I bought a pack myself that I have been thoroughly enjoying. The Welly ones are just regular hydrocolloid bandages and are $8.99 for a pack of 36, which equates to a unit cost of $0.25/patch. In comparison, I also bought some ~fancy~ pimple patches with additional anti-acne ingredients (the Peach Slices Deep Blemish Microdarts): also $8.99 but for a pack of 9, which comes out to $1/patch. Unfortunately, that high price is pretty par for the course for most products that have cute packaging and are specifically marketed as pimple patches, so the Welly ones stand out as relatively inexpensive. Not only that, but the fancy ones didn't actually stick to my skin and didn't do anything for my pimples. The Welly ones do in fact stick to my skin and do actually help with my acne. It is so satisfying to be able to peel off the gunk at the day morning/night. Alternatively, you could just buy regular, non-skincare-targeted hydrocolloid bandages (which is what pimple patches are in actuality), cut them to the appropriate size, and save a lot of money. I haven't bothered doing that because it's just more convenient to specifically buy pimple patches, but buying regular hydrocolloid bandages is a more cost-effective strategy. Target.com: $8.99 Nails
My favorite nailcare products and nail polishes from 2021 (except for Cirque Colors Earthen)
NBM Cuticle Buddy in Strengthening w/ Ylang Ylang (purchased 2020, repeat 2020 favorite)
As I've said time and time again, I have -- you guessed it -- dry skin! Especially with indoor heating/cooling, handwashing, the cold outside, etc., my cuticles really take a beating. Whenever I'm slacking off on hand moisturization and cuticle oiling, you can see it. The NBM Cuticle Buddy has been my nighttime cuticle oil since the rollerball dispenses product a little more generously. I keep it by my bed to oil my cuticles right before I go to sleep. However, the absorption time is fine, so you could get away with using it throughout the day without your hands being annoyingly oily. In addition, it's quite cost-effective. It's not particularly expensive for 8 mL of product -- for a nice indie product, at least. I've been using this particular tube since May 2021 (I unfortunately lost my original in a hotel), and I'm prbably less than 1/5 of the way through. As a small note, the scent I have -- Strengthening w/ Ylang Ylang -- has since been slightly altered to be Strengthening w/ Lemongrass & Ylang Ylang. ShopNBM.com: $12 for 1 or $20 for 2 Different Dimension Cuticle Oil 2 mL Pen in PSL (purchased 2021) Different Dimension is a small indie nail polish brand based right here in the good ol' Midwest. I actually bought a cuticle oil pen in a different scent from them, but the brand included a bunch of freebies in my package: including a cuticle oil pen in the PSL scent, which I assume was a limited edition autumn release. The PSL scent has a bit of ~fall-time spice~ aroma to it, but what really stands out to me is the packaging and application experience. The twist-up pen has a flat brush to dispense the product, and it dispenses a very thin layer of oil: which makes this absolutely perfect to use throughout the day. There's essentially no rest time at all where your hands are out of commission due to being oily. The skinny packaging also makes it easy to carry around, so I keep this in my backpack at all times. Because of how overall convenient this pen applicator is, I'm actually oiling my cuticles multiple times throughout the day, which I never used to do! You can find this type of applicator from a lot of different indie polish brands, not just Different Dimension. DifferentDimensionPolish.bigcartel.com: $5
I hope this roundup was interesting to you. Let 2022 be a year filled with more beautiful things!
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about @glowyminoI have dry skin and very dry and textured lips. I also have a medium-light skintone (somewhere in the realm of NC25-30) with strong warm yellow/olive undertones. I have a tendency to prefer a glowy, lightweight base and color cosmetics in shades of a warm undertone. Read more about me in the about page! Archives
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