Hi friends!

How are you?? If you are in the U.S., I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday. And if you are not in the U.S., I hope you had a nice week anyway. I did not have any turkey, I made a baked ziti with garlic bread and a trashy iceberg lettuce salad with Italian dressing and it was fabulous. Later in the weekend, my husband Ross and I did our annual tradition of ordering Chinese food, putting on a Christmas movie, and decorating our Christmas tree. Then our tuxedo cat Zadie did her annual tradition of attacking the Christmas tree. This time she started smacking an ornament that, ironically, features a hand-painted portrait of herself. Maybe she didn’t like how the artist depicted her? I think she looks quite cute, but hey, there’s no accounting for taste.

We watched Home Alone 2: Lost in New York that particular night (I have a lame new annual tradition of booing Trump’s cameo), but in general, we have been watching a LOT of bad made-for-TV Christmas movies. Some of these movies have the most insane plots. One particularly half-baked movie we watched was called No Sleep ‘Til Christmas and was about a guy and a gal who were both insomniacs but, despite being complete strangers, somehow figured out that they could sleep soundly around each other—and only each other. So, the gal started paying the guy to sleep with her… just sleep. Because she was planning a wedding for New Year’s Eve and needed to be sharp! Sheryl Lee Ralph played her future mother-in-law, who everyone around her kept acting like was a nightmare, but she seemed fine? Anyway, logic pretty much didn’t exist in that universe. I can’t say I recommend the movie, except if you want to make fun of it. Which, to be fair, sometimes is the whole point of watching a made-for-TV Christmas movie.

In contrast to heartwarming Christmas content, I’ve also been listening to a LOT of investigative true crime podcasts lately. If you have any recs, please let me know! I will listen to anything, apparently. I even started listening to one about alleged doping in the free diving community, a subject with extremely low stakes that’s honestly been quite dry so far (pun intended I guess since I left it in).

The thing about the more murder-y true crime podcasts I’ve been consuming? They have absolutely no audio transition between horrible murder content and upbeat ads about the stupidest bullshit. It will be literally like, “and then they found a human foot… Don’t you just hate holiday shopping? Check out Quince.com!” I need there to be some kind of transition between those thoughts!! You can’t go from finding human remains straight to shopping!!

I know I’m like a million years late to it, but the podcast that got me into this recent binge was Sweet Bobby, which is a wild story about a catfish. I’m proud to say I guessed who the catfisher was fairly early on, but it was still a fascinating ride. I have a lot of sympathy for the victims of these kinds of scams, but I don’t know if it’s necessarily true that this kind of thing could happen to anyone. I don’t think I would have the patience to put up with “dating” someone who refused to see me in person or even hop on a video call for eight years. Would you?

Anyway, let’s get into what you’re all here for! Today kicks off the start of my Best of the Year series for 2025! I have been doing this series since 2022, and you can read all the previous years’ content here.

What can I say about the year 2025? It was a challenging year for me, personally. It started off with the terrifying L.A. fires and just never really got a whole lot better, I’m sorry to say. The political situation in my country has weighed a lot on me this year, and my mental health has not been awesome. It’s just all felt so very dark. I don’t know, I just didn’t like this year very much at all. I can say that, right? I know that years are a construct, but I will be glad to see the back of this one. What did you think of 2025? Shitty? Not shitty?

Of course, there was the occasional reprieve from sadness and darkness, and I found some of that joy in playing with makeup. (Flawless segue!!!) If you, too, think you might need some retail therapy, who am I to deprive you? Let’s get into:

Like You Know Whatever Presents: The Very Best BEAUTY of 2025

Here is my list of my favorite BEAUTY things I tried in 2025. You can find last year’s list here, and all my best-of content for 2022-2025 here. A note on curation: These things are not necessarily new to the market as of 2025, they’re just what I’ve been using this year. I left out any repeat favorites that I already mentioned in previous years and am still using, because trust me, it would’ve gotten SUPER repetitive.

I’ve listed prices at the time of writing this (12/7), but they may fluctuate. 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.

Sephora is actually currently having a sale until 12/14 for their Beauty Insiders (it’s free to join) where you can get 20% off of one order with the code SAVEGIFTS. But again, don’t feel obligated! None of this is a necessity!!

Best Exfoliating Cleanser: Arencia Fresh Green Rice Mochi Cleanser ($18.40). The gritty yet bouncy mochi texture of this cleanser is like nothing I’ve tried before, and I love it.

Best Winter Moisturizer: Saturday Skin Waterfall Glacier Water Cream ($25 - $49). A very effective moisturizer that doesn’t feel heavy and almost has a cooling, refreshing feeling on the skin.

Best Post-Tattoo Moisturizer: First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream ($16 - $48). When I got my pizza tattoo this year, I used this moisturizer to minimize peeling, and it healed really nicely.

Best Sunscreen: Bioré UV Aqua Rich Watery Essence SPF50+ ($10.19). Japanese sunscreen is so much better than American sunscreen when it comes to not leaving a sticky white cast.

Best Primer: Revolution Beauty Jelly Juice Hydrating Primer ($4.50). I bought this on a whim when I was trying out their jelly blush ($8), and I ended up using this product way more. It’s a nice, affordable hydrating primer, and it smells like candy.

Best Setting Powder for All-Over Face: Kosas Cloud Set Baked Setting Powder ($38). Such a good, skin-like, matte setting powder.

Best Pink Blush: Merit Flush Balm Cream Blush in “Le BonBon” ($30). I bought a mini gift set ($39) of these little Flush Balms, and they’re so lovely and blendable, I’ve become obsessed!

Best Warm/Coral Blush: Glossier Cloud Paint Plush Blush in “Gale” ($26). I’m loving this new bouncy powder formula!

Best Highlighter: NYX Buttermelt Highlighter in “Butta Mint” ($12). As an olive-skinned girlie, I love the novelty of this green hued highlighter, but I can confidently say the formula is amazing no matter what shade you go with.

Best Eyeshadow Palette: Cosmic Beauty The Lovers Palette ($39). Such a well thought-out palette with a beautiful color story and excellent quality.

Best Eyeshadow Single: ColourPop Super Shock Shadow in “Ritz” ($7). A sparkly, not-at-all basic nude.

Best Multichrome Single: Clionadh Cosmetics Electric Multichrome Eyeshadow in “Mural” ($16.94). An insanely shifty green. Clionadh is the queen of multichromes.

Best Mascara: Benefit Cosmetics BADgal BANG! Volumizing Mascara ($16 - $29). When I want volume, boy, does this mascara deliver!

Best Eyebrow Pencil: Moira Beauty Precision Brow Pencil in “010 Ebony” ($7). I’ve been using mine for two years and it’s the perfect soft black for my dark brows.

Best Lip Oil: Dior Lip Glow Oil ($42). I ran out of my e.l.f. lip oil and have turned to this much more expensive option, which is just as well, since we’re now boycotting e.l.f. over their stupid Matt Rife campaign.

Best Lip Mask: LANEIGE Lip Sleeping Mask in “Watermelon Pop” ($24). This lip mask comes in a variety of different scents, but my favorite this year was the watermelon bubblegum version with a cute green cap.

Best Nail Polish: Mooncat Nail Polish in “Root of All Evil” ($17). I was obsessed with this burgundy shimmer with an aqua flip this year.

Best Body Spray: Phlur Heavy Cream Body and Hair Fragrance Mist ($25 - $38). Smells like the inside of an ice cream shop!

Best Fragrance: Phlur Cherry Stem Eau de Parfum ($32 - $99). A juicy cherry scent that dries down to a sexy floral. Phlur killed it this year!

Best Makeup Brushes: I’ve actually been really impressed with the quality and durability of my Wet ‘n Wild brushes ($1.29 - $4.29). Affordability, too!

Best Makeup Collab: The ColourPop x Shrek collab (items $10 - $36) was really well done! I love the eyeshadow palette I got. (It’s currently out of stock, but if you select “notify me,” I could see them restocking it soon.)

Worst Makeup Collab: Lethal Cosmetics x The Conjuring (items $15 - $135, or $268 for the full collection) was a really odd one to me. I thought the color story of the palette was strange, and everything seemed overpriced to me.

Biggest Beauty Splurge: I spent $42 on this stupid lip balm from Valentino because it was highly recommended by a beauty YouTuber I watch. It’s cool packaging, but the balm itself is a big nothing burger. That’ll teach me to be influenced!

Biggest Beauty Bargain: When I was in New York over the summer, we stopped at a Five Below, and I got a massive three-pack of these Danielle Creations facial wipes for like $5! That was in June, and I’m still working my way through them!

Favorite Makeup Look of 2025: I think the red eye look I did on Halloween was pretty cute. In the past I’ve struggled with red eyeshadow—if I’m not careful with it, it can make me look like I have an eye infection.

Biggest Beauty Disappointment: Herbivore seems to be selling off their inventory and not restocking. 😢 I used to love their Jasmine Green Tea Oil Control Toner.

Biggest Beauty Pet Peeve: The cycle of Sephora sale haul → Sephora regrets → makeup declutter on beauty YouTube. Just feels extra gross this year given the economic climate.

Biggest Beauty Fail: I accidentally ordered two of the same Charlotte Tilbury lip liner ($26) during the fall Sephora sale. 😖 There’s no way I’ll ever use both of these up before they go off.

Biggest Beauty Triumph: I actually wore eyeshadow a lot this year!

Most Used Beauty Item: I use my Tower 28 SOS Daily Rescue Facial Spray ($12 - $28) and Glow Recipe Watermelon Pink Juice Moisturizer ($21 - $40) nearly every day.

Least Used Beauty Item: I don’t use colorful eyeliner very often, if at all.

Beauty Resolution Recap

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

1. “Use more of the eyeshadow I already own.” I definitely did this! I wore a lot of eyeshadow this year, and I only purchased a couple of new eyeshadow palettes, they were:

Cosmic Beauty The Lovers Palette ($39)
ColourPop Shrek Beware Ogre Eyeshadow Palette ($25)
Urban Decay Moondust Quad ($39)
Nomad Cosmetics Christkindlmarkt Palette ($49)

2. “Pack more economically re: makeup when traveling.” I did this, too! In general, I traveled with more eyeshadow singles than choosing to bring big palettes with me, and I pared down everything else.

3. “Clean my makeup brushes and sponges more often! At least once a month!” Well. I’m unfortunately now at the place where I own so many brushes and sponges that I don’t need to wash them once a month in order to use clean ones. This was a fail.

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.” I tried! I really did! I tried sea salt spray, drying my hair, not drying my hair. Unfortunately, the only thing that worked was not doing anything to my hair when I get out of the shower, not even combing it, but then it’s a bit of a mess. The quest continues…

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.” I haven’t done this yet, but I’m really hoping to get this done before the end of the year.

So where does this leave me? If I count the last one, that’s 3 out of 5! Not bad!

I’m not going to make beauty resolutions for next year… In the words of Mariah Carey, I think I’ve done enough.

And that brings us to the end of this year’s Best in Beauty! Coming up next, on Friday: the Best Recipes of the Year & the Year in Cooking! I hope you’re hungry!

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—you look gorgeous!

Love,

Liz

XOXO