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If you could only use one brand of makeup for the rest of your life, which would it be?
If you could only use one brand of makeup for the rest of your life, which would it be? Why?
That’s a tough one! It would probably be Urban Decay or Tom Ford, especially these days, Urban Decay’s range is really getting fleshed out (finally, blushes!) so you can really meet all your needs with them, but Tom Ford makes a lot of my holy grail-status products.
Thanks to Baby A. for today’s question! Do you have a question idea? Submit yours here.
NARS or Kat von D; I’m not big on lip products, so I’m sure I’d get by on what was available in either brand. The only downside to both brands is the lack of foundation formulas, although both have great shades for my skintone/coloring.
Not Mac?
I would say Urban Decay but they don’t have a purple lipstick, and I wear purple lipstick at least twice a week. Possibly Illamasqua.
probably MAC or NARS.
2nd. NARS is more fun and often higher quality, but MAC is so vast in terms of color and finish selection. Either one could follow you well as you aged. I guess it would be NARS for the face makeup quality, I really dislike MAC’s.
I would say Colour Pop because their shadows, lippies, and blushes are so awesome (high quality, great colors, products stay on my oily lids and teflon cheeks, unbelievably cheap but outperforms HE brands) but they haven’t come out with foundations or powders yet….
They would be my runner up, only not #1 because they don’t have stick eye liners or face powder. Such a fantastic brand!
Ooh that’s a tough one! It would have to be MAC – as much as I crib about the brand, it would easily meet my foundation, eyeliners, eyeshadow ,blush, lipstick and lipgloss needs 🙂
What a tough question! For me, skin (foundation and concealer) is most important. So I’d have to go with the Bare Minerals line or Estee Lauder. I would miss Urban decay though : (
It is a tough one! I hope I will never have to do that, love my choices, but if I did have to it would be one of the three, depending on my budget:
1. Lancôme for the high end. Skincare is great, makeup is wonderful, I don’t think I would feel I’m missing smth.
2. Who would have guessed? MAC for a cheaper alternative. Variety and quality of the makeup would satisfy anyone, I’m confident of that and skincare is quite good as well, so I would be OK with it for sure.
3. L’Oreal for the budget choice. Again, cause of the variety and quality for the price, a huge company that should be capable to keep their skincare effective and makeup presentable and easy to work with.
Lancome and Loreal are my choice too
Oooh that’s tough! I’d say my top 3 would be Tom ford, urban decay & kat Von D but if I had to choose one right now it would be tom ford bc of the quality of products.
Rules are meant to be broken? Is this just makeup? I don’t like this question! Lol! My needs will change as life goes on so how am I to gauge what would best serve me “forever ” … 🙂
Chanel! I just love their new eyeshadow formula so much.. and all of my favorite base products are Chanel as well.. too bad though my favorite lipstick of theirs got discontinued though 🙁
Reason why I stopped buying Chanel. You can’t count on being able to buy the same color even three months later. Too expensive to fall in love with a product to have the MUA push some new formula/color on you..
That’s akin to torture just thinking about it! So hard to pick just ONE. MAC has some of my most used stuff and a foundation shade that matches me perfectly, although I have yet to buy it because many say their foundation is NOT skin friendly. Urban Decay now has just about everything, but I don’t know about their foundation shades or concealer. Nars is more pricy, but they have everything covered, I believe, although not the eyeshadow singles options of MAC or UD. I. Just. Cannot. Choose. Or. My. Head. Will. Explode.
Ellis Faas! Such a gorgeous, interesting brand. Their foundation and lipsticks are HG products for me.
I want to see Ellis Faas in person so bad! Ugh! Or see them reviewed on Temptalia, perhaps? Hint, hint!
I bought some Ellis Faas foundation (and met Ellis herself for about five seconds)at a trade show in New York. Her foundation is amazing but it is so hard to buy foundation on line.
I have to fly 5 hours (from Ottawa to Vancouver) for hands-on access! No one sells it! Sephora did for a time, but discontinued it. I really wish more people carried it. It is a beautiful brand and I’ve had excellent results with everything that I’ve bought.
Oh man, they have it in Vancouver, I was just there last month! I’m in Seattle, I will for sure check it out next time. Thank you for mentioning that.
Because of my allergies and oily skin, BareMinerals. In fact for those two reasons, BareMinerals makeup was all I wore for 12 years or so (aside from Almay and Physician’s Formula mascaras). None of BareMinerals products has ever bothered my skin or eyes. Their range of products and colors gets better all the time. The quality is excellent, aside from a few products.
Of course, it is entirely possible for someone to be allergic to mineral makeup, or a certain mineral pigment. However, in the 17-18 years I’ve worn BareMinerals, I haven’t had any problems.
Giorgio Armani <3 100% perfection in all aspects for me 🙂
I think this is a pretty safe choice for me, as well – I love the Luminous Silk Foundation, love the Eyes to Kill eyeliner, eyeshadows, and mascara, the fluid sheers… I’d have to acquaint myself with their lipsticks since I’m not really that familiar, but I think I could survive on Armani!
It would have to be Kat Von D, if only for her Tattoo and Ink liners. Her eyeshadows and many of her lipsticks have become must-haves for me as well, although the foundation does not seem like it would play well with my skin; the concealers would have to do.
That’s really hard… Considering I would need both base products and shadows/lippies, I would say Dior. They have some good foundations, powders, mascaras, lipsticks and glosses. The eyeshadows are hit or miss but I could find enough that work.
I remember this question from a while ago and that I’d answered MUFE…but I have hated each and every mascara I’ve ever tried by them. Since that’s the one (boring, admittedly) single makeup product I can’t do without, this time I’m going to go with By Terry.
Have you tried the new one? Smoky Stretch? The first mascara made by MUFE that I actually like.
MUFE is probably my pick too–just bc MUFE Full Cover is my HG–and I can make things work with everything else. I sometimes go months without touching mascara so that won’t bother me too much I think–if their mascara is as horrible as you say I could just wear falsies when the mood strikes.
MAC
I’d have to go with Urban Decay as well. I’m already a fan–their range is good and the overall quality is good and they’re not prohibitively expensive.
Wow this is tough!
I was gonna say MAC because my most used face powder, blush, eyeshadow are all MAC, but I hate MAC foundations. They don’t make them pale enough, the only one that does match my skin tone (Studio Sculpt) breaks me out.
I’d have to say Bobbi Brown, she makes my favourite foundation, I love the cream blushes, the eyeshadows are pretty good especially because I only really wear neutrals, and the cream/gel eyeliner is one of my favourites (above the MAC one).
I’d maybe go for a brand like Max Factor or Maybelline if I had to choose a budget brand.
You could mix with MAC Face and Body in White.
MAC, because of the wide lange of lipsticks
TF all the way. I just purchased my 5th TF product– the pink glow palette for summer (after your great review) and I’m in love with it!
I am wearing the pink glow compact today! Best purchase ever!!
Make Up For Ever,I love many things from this brand and MUFE have everything that I need,foundations,powder,eyeshadows,brows,blushes,lipsticks,tools
I would have to.say Kat von D because I can not live without her foundation.
Tom Ford or Giorgio Armani. I know I can easily find products within their range that would work for me from base up.
these would be my top choices too
Ooooh, what a tough question! I think I’d have to go with Clinique — with their Chubby Sticks for Eyes, Cheek Pops, unscented lipglosses, and skin care, I think I’d make do.
Would be very interesting to try as an experiment, though, wouldn’t it? Go for a certain amount of time wearing just one brand? Sort of an exercise in restraint and minimalism — being a strict curator of what you put on your face. And if you could only buy from one brand, think of all the impulse purchases that would save, and how much more discretionary income you’d have!
I like the idea of the challenge, but I know I’d probably just impulse buy products from that brand. 🙂
I’d go w/ Clinique too; between their makeup, skincare and suncare products, they pretty much have all bases covered.
From my makeup experience I would choose guerlain! But Christine or anyone seeing this comment I would like to ask you what are your holy grail products from Tom Ford because it just came to my country and I am dying to try his products but I don’t know where to begin from! I don’t know if there is another post about it so I apologise for the irrelevancy of the question! Thank you
Probably Maybelline or Nars, I just wish Maybelline would add more colors to both their concealer lines. But both have products that I like that doing a full face or an everyday face would be possible. Also, both brands have more than one line of a certain product like blush or eyeshadow. So, if I don’t want to use the Nars dual intensity blushes, then I could just use their regular blushes.
It would have to be Armani. I don’t think Armani has a really neon pink lipstick so I would miss that but they have everything else I need and they might make a crazy pink lipstick if people suddenly were forced to chose only one brand per life.
I would probably pick Urban Decay. They seem to be getting to a point where they aren’t constantly discontinuing items.
It would be an easy pic for me. Definitely MUFE.
Their Artist Shadows are the best on the market. I love their HD line, which covers pretty much all the basics (primer, foundation, powder and blush).
Aqua eyes are awesome. I don’t love their mascara, but I’d make do.
I’d have to say NARS. Luminous Weightless Foundation and Orgasm blush are staples for me, they have awesome lipsticks, blush, and highlighter, and I’m sure I could make do with the other items in their range. 🙂
I’d probably have to go with MUFE. They have some good eye products (which I focus on) but more importantly, they have a foundation that matches my skin, so I can actually do a complete face!
Mac or Clinique.
Giorgio Armani. All their base products work best for me which is way more important than anything else. The rest of their products are also good so I won’t be lacking for anything.
It would probably be MAC for several reasons:
-Range of shades and formulas in lips, eyes and cheeks
-Foundation match, various formulas depending on desired coverage
-Availability in various markets and stores
-Price point w/ or w/o my Pro membership
TF, Guerlain, or Laura Mercier.
That is tough! Tom Ford. I really love the quality of many of the products, not the prices. But, this is one of the few brands I am finding to worth the prices as much as it hurts.
OMG. It’s very hard to choose only one. I would say between Makeup Forever or NARS. Love their foundations, and the rest of their products are very consistent.
Aah what a cruel question! Smashbox I think… Or maybe MUFE. Or MAC. Aaargh, I don’t know, this is too hard!
Same! UD or TF.
I think I would have to go with MAC core collection, because Chanel recently discontinued my HG foundation. I also choose MAC because my favorite lipsticks are Rebel, Spirit and Ruby Woo, I love prep n prime lip and ProLongwear concealer. I know their promotions are pretty bad, but I use their basics and am happy with them. There are many brands I buy from and love, but MAC carries the basics I would need.
Tom Ford! I know we were all in sticker shock when the line was first introduced several years ago, but TF has shown us consistently that his products are well worth the expenditure. I’ve never regretted a TF purchase and his products have become my favorites.
Armani or Burberry.
This!
I’d have to say MAC for the range of lipsticks, eye shadows, and blushes and I use MAC paint pots and fluidlines. My only real issue would be with foundation, MAC doesn’t make one that works for me, not pale enough and usually they’re too heavy.
Oh… I don’t really know actually. I have favorites from so many different brands since every brand has different strong sides! At first I thought Isadora but they don’t have any good concealer (super important!), and my second thought is actually Urban Decay even though I’ve never tried their products. They just seem to have high quality for most of their products!
MAC…hands down. My back up would be Lancome.
BOBBI BROWN!
I think I’d go with Chanel because I love their bases (Vitalumière Aqua & Velvet), I like their Les Beiges powder, cream & powder bronzers, powder blushes are some of my faves, eye shadow quads, the cream blushes are lovely & I’ve most recently fallen in love with Le Volume de Chanel waterproof mascara and Correcteur Perfection concealer (both worn on my wedding day)!
I have a soft spot for MAC by haven’t really used their foundations!
MAC. Even though UD is most represented with my eye shadows and eye liners, it’s their cream products that I couldn’t live without.
Even though I’m fairly new to the brand (and there’s other brands that I like much, much more in terms of quality and price), I’d have to go with MAC simply because of the breadth of products available. It’s not my favorite brand, but it does have all the products I would need. I am interested in the Naked Skin foundation and concealer from UD, and if I end up liking them, that’d probably become my top company since I adore the quality and range of their eyeshadows/liners and their new blushes look promising!
LOL this question made me think ! I always thought my favourite brand was NARS for Laguna and their blushes. But a brand that has everything I can work ith ? MAC or Laura Mercier I guess ! Back up would be Too Faced.
How far can you bend the rules to answer this? I’m thinking that if you answer L’Oreal, that would include Urban Decay, YSL, Lancome and of course L’Oreal to name of few of the brands that fall under the L’Oreal umbrella!
That’s a good answer, you found a loophole!
And as of, what, a year ago Nyx too! And they have one of the few waterproof pencil eyeliners that do NOT make my eyes tear like mad, I positively cannot use the ones by UD!
Nars has the most products I use all the time and love from blushes to foundation. Their formulas don’t irritate my skin, they are consistently good enough in quality, and their lipsticks are a dream to use. I could use them forever. Lol
ONLY ONE?! OH, Nooooo!
I want to pick my current favorite It Cosmetics for my foundation, concealer & brushes but I can’t live without my HG MAC Fix+, blushes & eyeshadows or my Benefit mascara or my CoverFx primer.
Oh the horror!….I can’t choose…..you are stressing me out…..I’m outta here!
I would have to say MAC for the best “all around” brand. NARS would be a close second because of the price. Honorable mention goes to Bare Minerals for the most “skin-friendly” brand.
I’d pick Bare Minerals. I’m pretty loyal to that brand since I started out on it and have so many favs and holy grails with them. I’ve had more misses from other brands. I’ve never tried any luxury brands except a dior quint and wasn’t impressed.
This is one of those “wake in a cold sweat from a nightmare” scenarios for me and I’m sure I’m not alone in this. Since it’s makeup and not skin-care, that makes it somewhat less difficult to answer. I’d have to choose either MUFE, MAC, Nars or UD. I’d be equally mollified with any of those 4 but I am so glad I live in a world where this is just a “what if”.
MAC
Urban Decay!
I’m only used to cheap makeup, so probably a drugstore one like Revlon.
Great question! That is such an easy one for me! IT COSMETICS! Love their cc cream. Haven’t found my HG foundation until I found this! To me- foundation is the most important product. I use lots of other brands (too faced better then sex mascara), Nars via Veneto or Laura mercier cake liner to tight line, tarte for blushes etc etc.
The majority of my makeup collection is comprised of Dior products (including base products), so I’ll have to say Dior ;).
I would have to go with MAC. I love there stuff, and always have it on hand. If I could add Kat Von D everlasting liquid lipstick I would be a very happy camper, but it’s not vital to my life.
That’s easy… MAC, MAC and more MAC!! IF I could only choose ONE…FOREVER!! Yikes…
I would use NYX! They have everything you could possibly need and at great prices. Not only that…you can find their products just about anywhere! <3!
THANK YOU for this question-I’m loving all the answers! My counter question to all the ladies-what’s your fav foundation? I’m in need of a change & need a suggestion. Need something dewey. I’d appreciate anyone’s suggestions!
Kevyn Aucoin <3 I can't imagine my life without the Sensual Skin Enhancer.
That’s on my wish list! 🙂 I have some bases I should get thru before buying though haha
I agree! I just discovered KA with the sculpting powder and SSE, and I am finding that it’s very high quality, classic without being dated, and the products are amazing. They do kind of skimp on the amount of product in the package. Ho-hum. Must have!
It use to be Chanel,Jane iredale, Laura Mercier but now it’s Marc Jacobs. This line is wonderful! Everything from lipstick, blushes ,eyeshadows and foundation stays on forverever! I’m in love !
I love Marc Jacobs Beauty too! The Genius Gel foundation & eye shadow palettes are some of my favourite makeup products!
Nars or LORAC or IT cometics
Aww man that’s a tough one! I love me some MAC but I haven’t tried a foundation of theirs that I like. I guess I would have to go with NARS. I use the tinted moisturizer often and lately I’ve been using the Radiant Creamy concealer and Light Reflecting Setting Powder like crazy. I also love his blushes and the Audacious lipsticks kick MAC’s butt any day.
Tarte, I love everything about their cosmetics!!
IT cosmetics!!!!
Hands down Tom Ford. The line has everything and the products are amazing.
Charlotte Tilbury
Definitely Urban Decay.
Frightening thought there but I would have to go with NARS. Love everything but I would miss MUG, BB, MAC and Too Faced mascara and omg my Marc Jacobs gel loners crying here Kat Von D’s new liquid brown eye liner. Lol not much to think about giving up.
Bobbi Brown! Bobbi Brown is one of the few brands I’ve found products I love in all categories, but then it’s not a very interesting brand. Second choice would be Nars or Urban Decay.
Hourglass has my fave primers and base products. The only thing I would love to see is more range in their eyeshadow colors.
2nd would be MUFE. Might be #1 for me but I have yet to test out their new primers.
In boat cases I like their brushes as well.
Shu Uemura — for the combination of colors and textures that could then be applied with their exquisite brushes.
Urban Decay or Bare Minerals. Probably Urban Decay if I was forced to choose…
High end would be Urban Decay. Drugstore would be Maybelline.
I’d have to choose on the basis of foundation or tinted moisturizer, since everything else needs much less precision for me. So I’d have to go with MAC or Bare Minerals.
Urban Decay, hands down.
I love their eyeshadows, eyeliner, mascara, BB Cream, lipsticks, nail polishes….I would be set head to toe with them lmao.
Maybe Hourglass 🙂
Ooh, interesting choice. They do have nice eyeshadow duos, primer, blushes, highlighters… If you’re into a glossy lip, shimmery or highlighted looks, I can see this brand working.
MAC no doubt about it. I wear their foundation, some eye shadows, blushes and a few lipsticks.
Lancome
I’m surprised how many people have answered Lancome! What are your favorites from the brand? I just realized, I haven’t tried ANYTHING from Lancome…
A tough question
High End – Guerlain
Mid Range – Urban Decay, bareMinerals – love their eye shadows
Budget – NYX or Maybelline
innisfree. I can’t live without their oil blotting powders. Their color range is limited, though. Pink/orange/red lip products, neutral shadows…. But thats my everyday makeup look anyway,;-)
Tough question..I would have to say MAC or Urban Decay. I actually only use MAC foundation bc it’s the only one that just really works for me and their studio sculpt mascara is one of my favorites ever. But then most of my eyeshadow and eyeliner comes from Urban Decay so it would be hard to picture not using the brand anymore.
100% MAC all the way due to the fact that I am a woman of color and extremely oily. My face produces enough oil for me to fry chicken with! MAC has enough awesome products for me to not have to make me feel like I wouldn’t be totally missing out If my only option ever became them. They have fabulous eye shadows and some of the worlds most iconic lipsticks. MAC may have its share of bullshit with it but there’s no denying that MAC is at the top of the cosmetic food chain for a reason!!!
Burberry! I love all of their products. I love make up and use different brands like Chanel, Nars, Guerlain, Tom Ford, UD, MUFE. Burberry is my all time go to.
I love Burberry’s eyeshadows so much, I feel like it would be hard to live without them. I just wish they had a better eyeliner and more blush shades (I can’t live without a good eyeliner, which is why I’m torn about Burberry and Armani!). I’d love a proper classic rouge or just something less… you know, dusty or pale in the permanent line!
I also wish that Siren Red was a proper lipstick. Add in a really good black eyeliner, some stronger blush colors and some richer lipstick colors (Even just the classics like a coral, a burgundy, a richer red like Siren Red, an uber rich vamp) and I’d absolutely say that Burberry would be my one rest-of-my-life brand, for sure.
Very hard question! I haven’t tried enough products of any one particular brand, but I would probably say Nyx. I haven’t had the chance to try many of their products like I’d like to, but so many people have raved about them.
Plus, they’re affordable!
Laura Mercier here. I love her foundations and can work with everything else in the line except I would miss my Stila liquid eyeliner and Trish McEvoy Eye Base Essential.
M.A.C.
The day we can only choose one brand would be a depressing day!!! I would choose NYX because I already know I like their foundation and blush, which is my main daily makeup and I know they have products for everything so I’d be able to get a full face done on a budget with them.
MAC, they have such a wide range of colours and I kind of like some of the foundations and concealers. I do love most of the products I have from them and quite often go all MAC 🙂
Sticking with my current makeup budget to go along with the “Only One Brand,” it would have to be a drug store brand. So I figure *nothing* looks good if goes on over a bad foundation, and the best drugstore foundation for me seems to be Fit-Me. So I’d have to go with Maybelline. But… well, Ouch! I’m not even going to think about this after hitting the “post comment” button. It’s too painful! LOL
For decorative – foundation, eyeshadows it’s be mineral cosmetics (Meow), for skincare korean, like Saem for all both decorative & skincare.
Even though I have never tried any of their liquid foundations I would say MAC, I guess. Because it’s the one brand I feel comfortable I could do a full face of makeup since I have tried many of their products. Also, it’s the brand that’s most readily available for me, even though it’s very expensive where I live.
I think I’d have to go with Bobbi Brown the line is geared for natural and neutral looks and I feel like it would take me through the seasons and ages.
Probably Kat Von D just because I love the shadow palettes (and can use some of the shadows to contour/highlight my face) and the liquid lipsticks, but I don’t like Lock-It Tattoo foundation, unfortunately.
For versatility and a much wider range of choices, I’d say MAC because they just have SO many lipsticks to choose from and I like Pro Longwear foundation enough that I’d use that.
of course, MAC!
Tom Ford or Bobbi Brown
I agree with Christine. I would also have to say Urban Decay. They have really expanded into blushes, great undereye concealers, primers, foundations, lipsticks, glosses, and of course, their spectacular shadows. I’m not a huge fan of most of Urban Decay mascaras, but I could live with them. I would really like to see Kat Von D expand her product selection. If she does, I could probably convert to her product line. That IS a great question!
probably Lancome. everything they make it great. possibly Estee Lauder also. MAC has a great color selection, but Lancome’s quality is higher, imo.
In a perfect world, if I wasn’t a broke college student and had lots of moolah, definitely Urban Decay. Realistically though, if I could only buy one brand with my current financial situation, NYX products all the way. 🙂
Make Up For Ever