What brand has impressed you the most this year (so far)?
Clionadh – their Stained Glass expansion was lovely.
— Christine
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Odens eye
absolutely this!, the sea talk palette captured my heart, and the jewel shine singles are out of this world pretty.
None. I’ve primarily bought what I’ve longed to get or nothing at all. All new releases are the same ol same ol. I’ve been primarily using much of my old favorites or what is tried & true
My feelings to a “T”. I’m not really excited about much at all. I don’t shop online so many brands just aren’t available to me and my makeup purchases have been more about replacing products I’m close to finishing up. I think the last things I was excited about were the Dior eyeshadow 5-pans from 2 or so years ago (and also the LE Holiday one from this past winter which wasn’t available in store anywhere near me).
Ditto! And I’ve tried hard by coming here to see Christine’s reviews or everyone else’s thoughts and mentions of new indie brands, yet NOTHING has appealed to me. Of course, not having the money I used to to spend on this also helps to calm the itch, but after a tad bit of reading here and other reviews, I have come to the same conclusion as you.
Hard for me to judge because I haven’t actually tried anything new myself (since, um…2021?!?), but Rare Beauty’s releases seem to be well-received, so I’m impressed by how consistent their offerings have been.
As for things I actually want to personally try the most…which aren’t necessarily actually *new* as of 2023, as opposed to me just hearing about it after coming out from under my rock (and admittedly, mostly based on what I’ve seen here on Temptalia over the past ~month of catching up through the archives)…maybe About-Face, Terra Moons, or Moira? They’ve each had some products that didn’t seem to perform as well as they should, but their hits are most interesting to me.
Oden’s Eye and Nomad Cosmetics for indie brands! Both are very pigmented, have excellent mattes in more unusual, unique tones, and gorgeous metallic, multichrome and duochrome shades that are also very different from mainstream shades!
Also, Hourglass. Because they finally stepped up when it came to doing the right thing regarding diversity. Hopefully, they’ll continue down that road, improving even more going forward
So far, apart from some SG singles that were beautiful (but I had dupes for them), no one brand has impressed me much this year. The Dior quints are woeful and all the other brands are offering the same kinds of matte and shimmer shades as they have done in the past.
CP’s Lux lipsticks have been my only real beauty purchases this year.
However, I do find something to like when it is your autumn season and there are often a few brands that bring out the colours/shades that I like.
About Face
Moira
Mob Beauty
Make Beauty
Rare Beauty
Need to add Danessa Myricks – her balms and Colorfix are 🔥
Maybe I’m over saturated with new or attempting to be new shades from most brands. Hourglass actually has a new palette I’d buy ‘Sea’ something, but it sold out within 4 minutes. Well boo boo for me because it looks wonderful :sigh:
Rare Beauty! The solid highlighter is worth the hype. Truly a high impact, wet look to them.
Danessa Myricks. I have loved everything I have tried. Great for POC.
Charlotte Tilbury impressed me with the Legedary Lashes Volume 2 mascara, which I believe isn’t new, but new to me. I don’t hear anyone talk about this mascara but it’s the best I’ve tried in years and I finally feel like I have found my holy grail! It keeps the curl despite not being waterproof, it lenghtens, no smearing or falling particles, yet easy to remove – and the tube has lasted me for 3,5 months now and does not show signs of drying! I usually have to replace my mascara every 3 months.
Chanel impressed me with the newly formulated nailpolish, I picked up the lilac shade 135 Immortelle and wow: opaque in two layers despite being a pastel, almost thick consistency but dried relatively fast, and it only chipped the tiniest bit on day 10 of wear (I have short finger nails and use base & topcoat). It remains to be seen whether this will dry fast in the bottle, and the price point for sure is salty.
Suqqu has continued to impress me with the products I’ve tried this year: their Sheer Loose Powder can be used even under eyes, and it does not emphasize my dark spots as I felt the Chanel loose powder did. The permanent eye shadow quad no. 12 Kurumizome is a dark horse: I use it for a beautyfying daytime make up but also for a green smoky for a night out although I thought it looked boring in the pan. The LE Pure color blush 139 Kafuu is so much more stunning in real life than photos, thanks to the subtle sheen.
I haven’t been super impressed with any brand so far this year. Not that everything is bad, but nothing has been terribly exciting.
I don’t know if I bought Vieve Ninetease palette this year or at the end of last, but it’s the only one of my newer makeup that I find impressed me. I do love all the greys in it, and the fact that it’s a cooler leaning palette. That said, I’ve not bought much the last year.
I was quite impressed by the two purple MAC eyeshadows I bought, #Humblebrag and Darkroom. I know I got them this year.