marissa belle ｡･:*˚:✧｡࿐

Makeup junkies unite!

I can’t wait to talk to you about the many makeup items that I’ve tried, tested and loved over the past year. It has truly been a time of change and experimentation as I found my makeup routine switching from a dramatic-eye look and thick foundation to a more natural eye look and lighter foundation.

It has also been the year where I started to prioritize spending money on skincare more than makeup.

Kinda crazy what a pandemic does to you! Alongside being on makeuptok which is a bad influence on me for sure.

Please note that all products linked are discounted specially for you and if you purchase any linked item, I will get a tiny bit of commission! If clicking links aren’t your thing, do use code MARISSA420 at checkout on YesStyle for discounts on all products storewide!

Let’s start off with the base product!

Innisfree has been a favourite brand of mine for ages and this No Sebum Blur Primer works the charm for my oily skin!

The primer itself is skin-coloured, but it doesn’t show when applied. It is very very mattifying, there will not be a single bit of glow left on your skin when you apply your foundation. This works perfectly for me because.. well, I’m super oily! It is very lightweight and almost feels like nothing.

One downside I can think of is that the product is very hard to squeeze out of the bottle. I’m not sure if its because of the balmy consistency of the primer or if it is because the tube is extremely small, but sometimes as I’m pressing on it to get some product out, I fear everything would explode at me.

Two primer recommendations? What?!

We all know and love the original elf Putty Primer and because I’m in need of some skin-mattifying, I chose the Matte Putty Primer over it! And I absolutely love this product.

It is lightweight, oil free and also doesn’t leave any sort of ‘white cast’ even though the putty itself is purely white in colour. It is also infused with kaolin clay and white charcoal, ingredients that have been known to ‘absorb oil’ – perfect for me!

I’m a matte bronzer girl 100%! I don’t like shimmery bronzers because I’m naturally shiny anyway, so matte bronzers have always been my thing.

I got a travel-sized version of Benefit’s Hoola Bronzer a couple of years ago and I fell in love. This bronzer is so easy to apply, not overly-pigmented so you end up having a crappy contour, and also the perfect shade for loads of light-medium skin tones. I absolutely love it and I have no issues with it!

Well, I do have 1 issue. I’m not a high-end makeup type of person and I would consider Benefit to be pretty high end as this bronzer was not cheap and also not the biggest. Not sure how long my full-sized one that I’ve just dug into will last me, but I’ll keep you updated!

My eye makeup has changed pretty drastically over the last year. I used to be a heavy eyeliner type of person, with Kat Von D’s tattoo liner being my holy grail for about 4 years, but now I’m much more into eyeliner pencils!

Essence’s Long Lasting Eye Pencil in the shade Hot Chocolate has been a favourite of mine for about 2 months now! We already know how great Essence products are, and I’m obsessed with this eye pencil that I just randomly decided to pick up from the drug store one day because it was so darn cheap.

It is definitely waterproof and I daresay, quite difficult to get off at the end of the day. I have very oily eyelids and this has still never failed me. The shade Hot Chocolate is a beautiful warm and pigmented dark brown. I’m definitely going to be re-purchasing this awesome little find!

I used to be the biggest stan of everyone’s holy grail Essence’s Last Princess mascara. I’m sure you know the one! It was plastered on every blog and every magazine article about mascaras. When I went to the drug store one day to find it out of stock, I decided to pick up Essence’s What The Fake mascara instead and let me just say.. wow.

I love this mascara SO MUCH! The main difference I found between this and Lash Princess is that Lash Princess turns out a lot more clumpy. What The Fake produces a more airy, wispy eyelash result, which looks natural but also looks like you’ve got a eyelash extensions on. One day when I went to try an old Lash Princess mascara of mine that was drying out, I realised how much I liked What The Fake more!

So.. I bought 3 of them to stock up.

It is truly an incredible mascara, doesn’t smudge and stain, and has a huge fat wand that can grasp at all my short Asian lash hairs. And it is SO affordable!

I only discovered this CC cream very late in the year, but elf’s Camo CC Cream has been a product I keep talking to people about!

It acts as a CC cream, has SPF in it, has extremely full coverage and has a huge shade range. It works as a foundation which is what I mainly use it for, and I hardly have to use any concealer after.

It isn’t oily, but also isn’t matte. I would say it has a demi-matte finish which I’m cool with, but I probably wouldn’t wear this on long days out. The next foundation would be my pick.

I used to be the biggest All Nighter foundation by Urban Decay stan, but after switching over to L’Oreal’s Infallible 24h Matte Cover foundation, I am forever a changed woman!

I love high coverage as I’ve got lots of acne scarring and hyperpigmentation from previous breakouts, and I find that the 24h matte cover foundation gave such a high coverage without the cakey-ness and thickness that came with the Urban Decay foundation. Better yet, it has SPF in it!

I use this foundation with both a brush and a damp beauty blender and I have to say, the beauty blender definitely works a lot better. I love it, I could even use it without concealer which is saying a lot. It has also been known to be ‘mask-proof’, and I can attest to that, as someone who wears a mask every day alongside this foundation.

I love Etude House’s packaging more than most brands, and this Cookie Blusher in the shade Tangerine Tart is so adorable. Love the little dome it comes in, and the blush itself is pretty damn good for a low price!

It comes with a tiny bit of sparkle in the pan but I don’t mind so much as it’s not really visible once it is on the skin. It is also not too crazily pigmented, which is great if you’re going for the more subtle everyday look.

No complaints, they even have a huge shade range!

This was a purchase that surprised me in a very good way. I’d been seeing lots of people review SHEGLAM makeup on TikTok and I had to try them for myself.

SHEGLAM’s Nine To Fine eyeshadow palette only cost me $6.75 which is approximately £3.70 – extremely affordable! I was worried about the colour payoff because it was so cheap but man, I was shooketh.

The 9 shades are all super pigmented and they suit my skintone (light warm) perfectly. I am obsessed with the orange shade, and I use it with a small blending brush. It blends out perfectly and I have NO complaints about this palette at all. I’m actually looking forward to trying more SHEGLAM products.

Now, this is another product that TikTok coerced me into buying. NO REGRETS EITHER! SHEGLAM has definitely outshone.

SHEGLAM’s All In One Volume & Length Mascara has treated me so well, costing only $7, which is approximately £3.90… this mascara performed amazingly. It is double-sided, buildable, waterproof and jet black which I love. One brush is to lift lashes and the other is to add volume, and I use them both.

I haven’t been too adventurous with trying new highlighters lately, so my favourite of 2021 is also a favourite from 2020.

The wet n wild Megaglow Highlighting Powder in the shade Golden Flower Crown is my favourite! Shimmery but not slick-oily looking, and also stays on all day. The champagne-like colour is great for a lighter, warmer skin tone like mine.

I also do like wet n wild’s Highlighting Gold Bar – it is a close second!

The final step of every makeup routine is a good setting spray. I love Urban Decay’s All Nighter setting spray but Milani’s Make It Last Matte Charcoal Setting Spray knocks it off the shelf with half the price!

I’ve never really tried Milani products but I’m glad this was a first for me. There was a sale on Shopee so I decided to give it a try, and I love it! It keeps my makeup on all day and only a bit of shine appears on my skin after 10 hours of wear which is good enough for me as I am aware my skin is oilier than most.

Would love to try more setting sprays in Milani’s range as I know they have about 5 different types of sprays!

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I hope you’ve enjoyed reading all my makeup favourites of the year as much as I’ve enjoyed writing this post and sharing my products with you. I’m sure there are many many more products in my collection that I’ve favoured but these have been the absolute top contenders!

If you wear makeup, what have you enjoyed and why? I’d love to see some of your recommendations!