I had trouble deciding how to wrap things up for 2023. It has been a crazy year for me and that definitely caused me to rely very heavily on old reliable products most of the year. I did test some new products but then I often found myself going back to old staples with a few exceptions. I truly believe that most products on the market these days tend to work well. A certain product may not work for a certain skin type, color, or style preference but that doesn’t make the product bad. However, thinking back on the new things that I tried this year, everything strikes me as either being just fine or not right for my dry skin. I’m not overly excited about anything in particular. Makeup in general is still exciting for me but I guess this year it served as more of a utility for me. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing bad about makeup being seen in this way, I am just typically more excited to experiment than I have been this year. So for my 2023 year in review, I’ll start with a couple new makeup products that I did end up incorporating more regularly (“best”), a few “worst” of 2023 products, and then highlight my old reliable products that were in heavy rotation. 

2023 Best Makeup Products

PAT MCGRATH DIVINE ROSE III BLUSH

If you are unfamiliar with the Pat McGrath Divine Blush formula I have done a full review of Paradise Venus (here) and a comparison of Paradise Venus, Nude Venus, and Divine Rose (here). The Divine Rose III shade was released at the same time that the brand released its bronzers back in April. While I like this formula, it is the shade I enjoy the most about this product. I just feel like it is very flattering on my Estee Lauder 4W4 skin tone. Divine Rose III is buildable and although matte, it never looks flat or dry even on my dry skin type. I have found this shade and Divine Rose to have a firmer press in the pan than Paradise Venus. When I use Paradise Venus, I have to be careful and there is powder kick-up in the pan that I don’t experience with Divine Rose and Divine Rose III. 

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DIOR FOREVER CORRECT CONCEALER (2023 REFORMULATED VERSION)

I still wish the new formulation of the Dior Forever Skin Correct Concealer didn’t have fragrance, but as I’ve continued to use it this year, I haven’t had any reaction. The scent lingers for a while after application, so if you are sensitive to fragrance, I recommend passing on this one. This is a solid formula for me and I enjoy the high-medium coverage. At least for the darkness I have under my eyes, I don’t get full coverage out of this. The coverage is good enough for me to feel confident wearing it without a color corrector though, so some people with less darkness might get full coverage. I like to set the Dior Forever Skin Correct Concealer with powder to keep the creasing to a minimum but that is normal for me when using concealers that are not matte in finish. While I do wish that Dior would expand the shade range more, I do find that their undertones work better for me than other brands. If you want more information, I have done a full review that you can check out by clicking here. 

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2023 Worst Makeup Products

The worst products this year aren’t really all that bad. I had more issues with the performance of my 2022 Worst products. We’ll get into my disappointment with the MAC Skinfinish Sunstruck Bronzer, but the concealers that were the worst for me just boil down to a change in how my dry skin reacts to matte finishes.

MATTE/SELF-SETTING CONCEALERS – (HUDA BEAUTY #FAUXFILTER LUMINOUS MATTE CONCEALER, MAKEUP BY MARIO SURREALSKIN AWAKENING CONCEALER, NARS SOFT MATTE COMPLETE CONCEALER, ESTEE LAUDER DOUBLE WEAR STAY IN PLACE CONCEALER)

Remember that I have dry skin, so this won’t necessarily be an issue for other skin types. Technically, the Makeup By Mario SurrealSkin Concealer is marketed as a natural finish, but on me it is matte. I like matte concealers because they provide better coverage than other finishes and have the added benefit of often providing some blurring. However, over the last year especially, I’ve discovered that matte finishes dry me out if I wear them continually. I may be able to get away with wearing them for a day without much issue, but if I wear them for two days in a row, I do experience more dryness than usual. 

I will say, that I get along better with the Makeup By Mario SurrealSkin Awakening, NARS Soft Matte Complete, and Estee Lauder Double Wear concealers over the Huda Beauty #FauxFilter Luminous Matte concealer in terms of wear. I have to finesse the Huda Beauty concealer a lot to keep it from drying out and cracking when I wear it. On the other hand, I had no issues applying the Makeup By Mario and Estee Lauder concealers. I only get minimal creasing with the Makeup By Mario concealer and no creasing with the Estee Lauder concealer. The NARS concealer also wears without much creasing, but I do have occasional issues applying it with my fingers so it isn’t as foolproof for me as the Makeup By Mario and Estee Lauder.

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Smashbox ❤️ Becca Under Eye Brightening Corrector

The Smashbox x Becca Under Eye Brightening Corrector was a surprising fail for me because it is raved about by so many people. Also, considering that Smashbox saved this formula from the Becca brand when they went out of business, I figured it would be a home run. Unfortunately, this formula made my most reliable concealer formulas perform worse. The actual color of the Medium/Dark shade is great for me and corrects my discoloration but it causes creasing and fading when I pair it with Estee Lauder Double Wear Concealer and the Armani Luminous Silk Concealer and those are two concealers that I don’t have trouble with when worn alone. I also don’t have trouble with those concealers when I use them with other correctors like the MAC Studio Fix Conceal and Correct Palette and the Bobbi Brown Skin Corrector Stick. I just couldn’t get this formula to work for me. Just keep in mind that I’m in the minority, this product is very well-loved. On the upside, I did enjoy the emollient texture of the Smashbox Under Eye Corrector. It did make wearing matte concealers more comfortable, but unfortunately, that didn’t make enough of a difference since it looked bad from the creasing.

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MAC SKINFINISH SUNSTRUCK BRONZER

I hesitated to categorize this as one of the worst products since I never tried it on my face, but I decided to go for it. This bronzer has a terrible smell. They were pulled from the market for a short time and there was a lot of speculation that it was because of the smell. MAC never made an official statement of any kind so I decided not to test the product on my face. But now it has been 9 months since the release of these bronzers and the testers at Ulta and at my local MAC counter also smell terrible. This could be a downside of not adding a masking fragrance, but if your makeup already smells like it has gone bad when you get it, how do you know when it actually goes bad? I’d rather not take the risk that there is in fact something wrong with this formula and no one has used it for long enough to know. If you are interested in seeing my full post with the swatches of Radiant Deep Golden and Matte Deep Rosy together, you can click here.

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2023 Most Used Makeup Products

I have talked about these products on my website in the past and I have swatches, so I will provide the links for those past posts that you can check out if you would like more information. 

• NARS Natural Radiant Longwear Foundation – This has been my go-to for a couple of years now, and while it is still mostly working well for me, there is some room for improvement. Although the shade is a little dark it is one of the best foundation matches I have found. The coverage is medium but buildable to full coverage and it doesn’t accentuate any of my texture issues. It can sink into wrinkles so I do have to be careful not to apply too much product or that issue is definitely worse. I’m aiming for medium coverage, so it tends to be ok, but if you want to build it up to full coverage that could become more of an issue. The Sephora listing for the NARS Natural Radiant Longwear Foundation does mention that using too much will accentuate lines and imperfections, so even the brand knows about this issue. I’m definitely open to replacing this as my go-to foundation, so we’ll see what 2024 brings.

• Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Concealer – This was a strange one for me because while I do like it and think it is a great concealer, it isn’t my favorite. I want more coverage than it has, so I only wear it with color corrector. Nonetheless, I surprised myself when I ran out of it, so it felt worth a mention.

• MAC Faux Sure Extra Dimension Blush – Hands down my favorite glowy blush. It does accentuate some texture because of the nature of the shine, but especially this shade is one of the more forgiving shades in the line. 

• MAC Desert Rose Matte Blush – When I do have bumpy texture issues it often happens on my right cheek, so it is good to have matte blushes to rely on when I need smoothing in that area. I still love MAC’s matte blush formula and Desert Rose is a nice shade for my skin tone. I do prefer Pat McGrath’s formula because I think it is even more smoothing when I have texture, but this is still a nice formula.

• NARS Bronzing Powder (discontinued formula) – Just before NARS released their new bronzer formula I purchased Casino in the old Bronzing Powder and have been loving that shade over Punta Cana. The old formula has just a hint of shimmer in it. Not enough to look glittery, but enough to give a satin finish that I love to see in a bronzer. I haven’t tried the new formula for the brand’s bronzers but I hope they are as nice as this one. Although I can tell from swatching them in store that they are matte in comparison to the old formula having a sheen.

• Dior 689 Mitzah 5 Couleurs Eyeshadow Palette (discontinued formula) – Great colors for me combined with an easy to use formula keep this in heavy rotation. I haven’t heard great feedback about Dior’s new eyeshadow formula, so I’m nervous about whether I’ll enjoy it as much as this. I will say, however, that Dior has reformulated their eyeshadows 3 or 4 times since I originally started wearing them and I’ve liked every version.

• MAC Quick As A Flash Extra Dimension Eyeshadow (limited edition Holiday 2021) – This is my current favorite one and done eyeshadow for when I don’t want to spend a lot of time on a look.

• Dior Addict Shine Lipstick – This is one of those do as I say and not as I do moments 😆. I enjoy the color and shine that I get from the Dior Addict Shine Lipstick but it doesn’t last well enough for me to recommend it to others. Since I have it, I’ll enjoy it and use it, but there are better lipsticks on the market.

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What products, good or bad, stood out to you this year? Let me know in the comments section below.

Thank you for being here, I truly appreciate your time. I’ll see you all in the new year!

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If you enjoyed this post, please consider sticking around. You can check out my Brands A-Z index if you want to know what products I have posted about in the past.

Disclaimer:  I purchased all products featured with my own money.  For my full disclosure policy, click here.