2022 was my first full year as a working adult and regular Sephora shopper. I was strategic in waiting for sales while also taking the plunge and dropping my dollars at the familiar white counter I spent five years behind.
This year’s favorites post is a combination of makeup and skincare with a loose categorization. I hope you will enjoy and stay for more in 2023!
Skincare has always been a top priority to me and 2022 was a turning point in coming to terms with turning another year older. I credit how my skin looks to my extensive skincare routine, but in September I chose to get Botox for the first time. I was so pleased with the result, I plan to keep it going forward in conjunction with my thorough skincare routine.
Cleansers are still my favorite product but I didn’t have any that stood out in 2022. Instead I have a handful of moisturizers I fell in love with and would use again in a heartbeat.
With my favorites of 2022, my daytime moisturizer favorites are mostly gel-based, lightweight, and sit well under all the various foundations I wear. Bubble’s Level Up, Tarte's Drink of H2O, and Glossier's Priming Moisturizer Balance all earned an A+ from me this past year.
My star eye creams for the year were Kiehl’s Creamy Avocado Eye Treatment and Biossance Marine Algae eye cream. Biossance continues to be a lifetime favorite of mine with how hydrating, smoothing, and brightening it is. I plan to keep using it along with others I may try in 2023!
In terms of serums, I habitually use a vitamin c serum every morning. My favorite this year was from Go-To Skincare. I fell in love with their vitamin c serum for how I felt it worked on the overall appearance of my skin and the price point as well. I always alternate my serums in my nighttime routine between a retinol and an acid-based serum. This year Drunk Elephant’s TLC Night Serum stood out as my favorite.
In terms of masking, Caudalie’s Instant Detox mask is still a lifetime favorite, and was even before the TikTok hype. Peach & Lily’s Super Reboot, Tatcha Violet-C, and Fresh Vitamin Nectar are all runners up in their own ways.
Summer Fridays’ Jet Lag Mask sits in its own category because of how unique it is. I finished two of them in 2022. I’m well on my way to finishing a third at the beginning of the new year. I use it mostly as a sleeping mask either worn alone or layered over my nighttime serum and moisturizer. It’s an amazing product to hydrate, brighten, and renew the skin by morning. It’s a must have in my collection.
In makeup land, I continued to have so much enjoyment in doing my makeup daily. I maintained my discipline in using one product before opening another. I invested in more makeup during the Sephora sales and tried new products in this category more than any others.
I finished more bottles of the Dior Backstage and Lancome Teint Idole foundations. They’re still my go-to’s for all day wear, undetectable coverage, with a skin-like finish from both. Clinique’s Even Better concealer is my favorite of the year in terms of concealing under the eyes and on the face. My favorite primers to use during the year were Hourglass’ Mineral Veil and Fenty Instant Retouch. These two remain the best in smoothing the skin, maintaining oil, and providing that extra longwear I’m always after. I’m willing to predict all of these products will remain in my collection going forward.
This year for setting my makeup, one power and one setting spray were my favorites. Influenced by Allana, I ordered and ultimately fell in love with the brightening, smoothing, and setting power of the Givenchy loose setting powder in 3 Voile Rose. It’s worth every penny for those types of results. Another Allana favorite is my favorite as well… Benefit’s The Porefessional Setting Spray continues to be one of the best that I’ll keep buying next year.
Jumping to the other parts of my makeup routine, Glossier’s Cloud Paint in Dusk and Huda Beauty’s Tantour in Fair were two of my favorite products I wore a lot in 2022, to the point where they’ll need to be replaced sooner rather than later! Benefit’s Roller Liner liquid eyeliner and Rare Beauty’s liquid liner were two liquid liners I thoroughly enjoyed this year. Although Rare Beauty was the eyeliner of the year after six months of daily use.
I use too many different eyeshadows, palettes, and cream eyeshadows to narrow down my favorites but the Too Faced Shadow Insurance primer is still my favorite primer to keep all my eye looks fresh for hours. Mascara is my favorite product to try more than any other category. In 2022, Rare Beauty’s Perfect Strokes was my favorite for my top lashes and for my bottom lashes I enjoyed Item Beauty’s Lash Snack mascara. So much so, I bought a second one that I’m still using.
In terms of body care, my Necessaire body wash lasted almost a year, justifying the investment in another bottle down the road. For body lotion, I finished three very well loved bottles of Summer Friday’s Summer Skin lotion. The subtle scent of soft vanilla, the formulation, and how well it works with my favorite Isle of Paradise tanning drops are why I kept going back to this lotion.
This past year I started regularly curling my hair. I found the best heat protectant for me was Ouai’s Heat Protectant. The best in dry shampoos continue to be Drybar’s Detox and Sol de Janeiro’s (which I can't find online anymore?!?). For shampoo, Dae’s Signature Shampoo was my shampoo of the year before I switched back to Ouai’s Medium Hair shampoo. I plan to continue using these two into 2023 along with anything new I may come across.
My lip products for the year revolved mostly around a light wash of color combined with maximum hydration. Since I spend most of my days staring at a computer, a tinted lip balm is more than enough color these days. My favorites that lived on my work desk were the Merit Lip Oil in Taupe, various Glossier Balm Dot Coms (I even bought one exclusively for my desk), and various mini Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balms.
Although these products were late additions this year, I felt the need to share how much I’ve already fallen in love with the Rhode Peptide Lip Treatment, Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balm, and Moon Juice Cosmic Cream Moisturizer. I’ve only owned my Rhode and Summer Fridays lip balms for a couple months but I can already tell they’re going to stick around in the new year. The Moon Juice moisturizer was my last one to open during the final weeks of December but I’ve noticed how well my skin looks in the morning. I can only attribute the results to this moisturizer.
That’s all for this year! I’ve used plenty of products and plan to keep exploring what the beauty world as to offer in 2023. I hope you’ll stay around for more fun and reviews!
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