Hello darlings!

How are you? I’m doing quite well, because I just got back from Maui a couple days ago, and I am still basking in the afterglow of Hawaiian sunsets and snorkeling in the ocean and blended coconut cocktails and fresh grilled fish for dinner. How much mahi mahi is too much mahi mahi to eat in five days? I definitely tested the limits!

My husband Ross and I have my lovely in-laws to thank for this trip, which was beyond generous of them. We had a lot of fun hanging out with them. Of course, we did a lot of fabulous things like a sunset dinner cruise on a catamaran and going to a luau with traditional Hawaiian dancers, but honestly, one of my favorite afternoons was just hanging out with my mother-in-law on the beach and chatting while Ross and his dad were off golfing. I realize I really hit the in-law jackpot, and I am very grateful.

Now I’m back in Los Angeles, where it is chilly outside (50s and 60s), which means it’s freezing inside my apartment. Luckily, I have a snuggly cat to warm me up. I think she really missed us while we were gone.

Today marks the beginning of my Best of the Year series for 2024! Today is the Best of Beauty, next Friday, 12/13, will be the Best of Cooking, and the following Friday, 12/20, will be the Best of Everything Else, along with a resolution recap and my predictions for what will be in and out in 2025. I usually send these closer to the end of the year, but this year I finished writing them early, and figured, why hold onto them?

Also, I am going to have a full two weeks off of work for the holidays, and I thought it might be nice not to have to write a newsletter during that time, unless I feel like it, of course. Our friend from New York who we often spend the holidays with will be flying out to stay with us, and last time he was here was the great Covid surge of 2021, when we spent a lot of time inside playing Catan and watching movies. This time, it would be nice to go out and do some things in L.A. and not have to worry about my rigorous end-of-year posting schedule.

Well, enough housekeeping! Should we get into it?

Like You Know Whatever Presents: The Very Best BEAUTY of 2024

Here is my list of the very best BEAUTY things I tried in 2024. You can find last year’s list here, and all my best-of content for 2022-2024 here. I will try to star* the items that were released for the first time this year, in case that is of interest to you. I know that personally, I am still discovering great products that launched years ago that are new to me. 

A note on curation: I left out any repeat favorites that I already mentioned last year, as well as any products that were limited edition and are no longer in stock (looking at you, Oden’s Eye holiday palettes!!). I know it’s incredibly frustrating when someone recommends something you can no longer buy.

I’ve listed full retail prices at the time of writing this, but a lot of these items are actually cheaper than listed. Please shop responsibly. I bought most of these when they were discounted or on sale or I had a coupon code. If you can’t take advantage of year-end sales, President’s Day is around the corner for U.S. retailers. Also, please note that often, buying from individual beauty brands’ websites is cheaper than Sephora, especially around this time of year, when they have sales.

Amazon links are affiliated, meaning I earn a tiny commish at no cost to you. I really tried to avoid Amazon where I could, though.

Best Primer: First Aid Beauty Hello FAB Coconut Skin Smoothie Priming Moisturizer ($32) This is my favorite moisturizing primer for dry days, and it lasts for-freaking-ever.

Best Setting Spray: Urban Decay All Nighter Waterproof Makeup Setting Spray ($36, or $17 for the mini size) This was really the first year I started using setting spray, and it’s made such a difference in the longevity of my base makeup. All Nighter is a classic for a reason.

Best Concealer: Tower 28 Swipe All-Over Hydrating Serum Concealer ($22) I have mine in “3.0 CC.” I used to ride or die for Tarte Shape Tape, but as my undereyes have aged and gotten some fine lines (I turned 38 this year), it started to crease on me. What I love about the Tower 28 formula is it’s super thin, so it blends into my skin seamlessly. I also find I prefer a less full coverage concealer under my eyes now—I think it looks more natural.

Best Setting Powder for Undereyes: NYX Professional Makeup HD Finishing Pressed Powder ($10.99) I have mine in “Banana,” and I use it with a triangular powder puff to set my undereye area. It’s a really nice, brightening, thin formula, and it doesn’t crease on me.

Best Setting Powder for All-Over Face: e.l.f. Halo Glow Setting Powder ($8) I have mine in “Light,” and I love that this powder gets me looking matte but not flat.

Best Bronzer: Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Melting Bronzing & Sculpting Stick* ($35) I have mine in “Chocolate Mousse,” the lightest shade, and it’s so easy to use and blend out. Plus, it smells like a chocolate orange!

Best Orange Blush: e.l.f. Camo Liquid Blush* in “Gorg Orange” ($7) This stuff is so easy to use! I love the rich, deep, reddish orange color.

Best Warm/Coral Blush: Milani Baked Blush in “Luminoso 050” ($9.19) This shimmery baked formula is a longtime fave of the beauty community that I finally tried for the first time this year, and I’m in love. It gives a subtle but stunning glow.

Best New Blush Formula: NYX Professional Makeup Buttermelt Blush* ($9.99) I have mine in the light orange with shimmer shade, “Sooner The Butta,” but to be honest, it’s not my favorite color to work with. That said, I have been so incredibly impressed with this formula, which is highly pigmented but easy to work with and blend, OMG, the blendability!! I will definitely be trying other colors.

Best Blushlighter: Rare Beauty by Selena Gomez Soft Pinch Luminous Powder Blush* ($26) I have mine in “Joy,” and it is not for the faint of heart. This will make you SHINE, baby! I love it, but only for days when I really want to put a spotlight on my face.

Best Highlighter: L'Oreal Paris Infallible Longwear Up to 24HR Powder Highlighter* in “5 Icy Gold” ($14.59) I usually love a blinding highlighter, but I like this highlighter for more natural/subtle days, for a really beautiful, “hey there must be great lighting in here” glow. I also like how the component comes with a little mirror–I would probably never use that, but it’s cute.

Best Eyeshadow Palette: Tarte Tartelette Reflections Amazonian Clay Palette* ($54, but probably marked down) This Tarte 25th anniversary palette is large, but it’s a real workhorse in my collection. It has just about every neutral shade you could possibly want, with some pops of pink and purple. I constantly find myself dipping into this palette for an inner corner highlight or a crease shade or an outer corner “deepening up” shade. It just has everything! I’m so glad I was able to snag this one.

Best Eyeshadow Single: Urban Decay 24/7 Moondust Glittery Eyeshadow in “Solstice” ($24) The Moondust shadows are truly spectacular, featuring incredibly finely milled, scattered sparkles. “Solstice” has a reddish-burgundy base with a greenish aqua sparkle. (Note: see “Biggest Beauty Bargain” below for a sort-of dupe.)

Best Liquid Eyeliner: stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner ($24) After years of using e.l.f.’s liquid liner (which is still a very good option, especially at $7), I went back to my budgeproof fave. It is just so damn reliable, and intensely black. Sometimes the e.l.f. one would be less than opaque on me, and I wasn’t able to build it up at all. Stila’s is more pricey, but it lasts a long time.

Best Lip Oil: e.l.f. Glow Reviver Lip Oil ($8) As much as I enjoy my Dior lip oil (ridiculously overpriced at $40), the e.l.f. version is just as good, and ⅕ of the price. Amazing!

Best Lip Balm: LANEIGE Lip Glowy Balm ($19) This year really was the year of lip-balm-in-a-squeezy-tube. Just about every brand released one. I’m blaming all the children on TikTok buying makeup now. Anyway, of the ones I’ve tried, I’m a big fan of LANEIGE’s. It’s moisturizing without being sticky, and comes in some lovely scents (I have it in “Berry”).

Best Lip Mask: LANEIGE Lip Sleeping Mask Intense Hydration with Vitamin C in “Candy Cane Swirl”* ($25) I’ve been obsessed with the LANEIGE lip sleeping masks for months now, and then they went and released this adorable limited edition candy cane “flavor” for the holidays! It has a bit of a minty tingle and it’s so nice to put on after brushing my teeth before bed.

Best Lip Gloss: Half Magic Magic Drip Glitter Lipgloss* in “Magic Brownie” ($21) This gives lips the most gorgeous rosy brown sparkle. It’s like a perfectly updated version of the ‘90s brown lip.

Best Nail Polish: Olive & June Long Lasting Polish in “Hibiscus” ($9) The perfect bright pinky red, or is it a reddish pink?

Best Makeup Brushes: Slmissglam Beauty. I found this indie brand through Ipsy/Boxycharm—if you have access to their drop shop, it’s often on sale there. They make really beautiful, soft, synthetic brushes.

Best Makeup Sponges: AOA Studio Collection Paw Paw Wonder Blender (6 for $7.55) These little sponges are so good and so affordable, there’s absolutely no reason to ever spend $25 on a single beautyblender.

Best Makeup Collab: ColourPop x Stranger Things (items $12-28, or $99 for full collection) Look, was it weird timing for ColourPop to do a Stranger Things collab based on the first season of the show in a year when it was not releasing a new season? Totally! But this collection slapped. The eyeshadow palette ($26) is terrific quality, with a variety of different formulas, the black-to-pink cream blush ($14) is conceptually so cool, and they absolutely nailed the waffle lip mask ($12, it smells like maple syrup and butter). When ColourPop does a collab right, they really nail it.

Worst Makeup Collab: I thought the Hostess x Glamlite collection was very strange. I like a lot of Glamlite stuff, but they will literally do a collab with any brand.

Best Beauty YouTuber: Theresa Is Dead kept me laughing about makeup all year long.

Biggest Beauty Splurge: Hourglass Cosmetics Ambient Lighting Edit Unlocked Palette ($90) I got the evil eye artwork with color palette 1. It’s a beautiful palette, and was my first-paycheck-at-my-new-job gift to myself, but my goodness, was it a lot of money!

Biggest Beauty Bargain: e.l.f. Fine As Fleck Glitter Eyeshadow in “Straight Fire” ($6) For less than the cost of a burrito at Chipotle, your eyes can sparkle like an ethereal little fairy! “Straight Fire” is my favorite shade and a sort-of dupe for the Urban Decay Moondust shadow in “Solstice.”

Favorite Makeup Look of 2024: I really liked my makeup on my birthday this year! I used the above e.l.f. shadow and I thought it was a fun neutral look for my bar hang!

Biggest Beauty Disappointment: I was really underwhelmed by the ColourPop x Twilight collab. Not that I’m a big Twilight fan at all, but I loved the moody blue and green aesthetic inspired by the movie’s color tint and the Pacific Northwest. However, I found the eyeshadow palette ($24) to be pretty lackluster in person, and the lavender highlighter ($10) was way too glittery for my taste.

Biggest Beauty Pet Peeve(s): All my favorite lipsticks seem to be discontinued now. What’s up with that?

Most Used Beauty Item: Lip oil/lip balm/lip masks. I drink a lot of water, so I am always rehydrating my lips.

Least Used Beauty Item: Once again, fake eyelashes take the cake!

Weirdest Beauty Purchase: BOMO Beauty’s Presidential Palette ($46) Makeup is art and drag is political. I wanted this palette as a collector’s piece, and to support two incredible drag artists (BOMO Beauty is Bob and Monet Exchange’s brand together). I only regret that next year, there will be no new shades to add to it.

Beauty Resolutions Recap

Remember when I made beauty resolutions at the end of last year? Let’s check in on how I did!

1. “Invest in more neutrals, especially in eyeshadow. I find myself reaching for them more and more.” I did this! I’ve actually really been enjoying playing with neutrals. I will always love playing with color, but as I age, I’m realizing the color doesn’t have to always be on my eyelids, it can just be on my clothes.

2. “Wash my face and use skincare products five out of seven days a week.” LOL. I wish I could say I did this, but I have to be real with you. A lot of times I just use a makeup removing wipe and call it a night.

3. “Find new solutions to fight my hair’s greatest enemy: frizz.” Listennn, this was a tough year for my hair, considering I did not have a full-time job until the end of August and my unemployment checks ran out in February. I did learn some things about my hair this year (I realized I wasn’t fully washing out shampoo in the shower, and sometimes, I need to double cleanse), but nah, it’s still pretty frizzy up in this bitch.

4. “Do at least one major make-up and skincare declutter.” Yes! I did this! I moved this year, so it was a great time to declutter.

5. “Figure out a better storage solution for all my blush and highlighter singles. They’re currently in an opaque box that makes it hard to remember to reach for them.” I just recently got a bookshelf where I can store my makeup openly. I can look over right now and see all my blush and highlighter singles! Yay!

6. “Wear sunscreen every time I leave the house for more than 15 minutes.” I mean, I don’t have a 100% completion rate on this one, but probably like 85-90%? I’m giving myself the point.

7. “Wear fake lashes at least three times this year.” lol nah. Can’t be bothered.

8. “Girl: you do not need any more mostly black, grungy/goth eyeshadow palettes; you’re good.” Okay! Heard!

So, where does that leave me? Five out of eight resolutions completed! That’s more than half, or 62.5%, to be exact. I’ll take it!

Here are my…

Beauty Resolutions for 2025:

1. Use more of the eyeshadow I already own.

2. Pack more economically re: makeup when traveling.

3. Clean my makeup brushes and sponges more often! At least once a month!

4. Figure out how to get my hair as curly and fabulous looking as it looks when I get out of the ocean and do nothing to it.

5. Go to the eye doctor and get a new contact lens prescription, so I don’t have to hide my eye makeup behind my glasses.

Alright, friends, that’s it for now! I hope you enjoyed this! I’ll be back next Friday with the year’s best in cooking.

If you have a second, I’d love it if you’d like or comment on this post–just click this link to go to the post page. This post is public, so feel free to share it on social media, or forward it to a friend.

Until next time—stay beautiful.

Love,

Liz

XOXO