Nikki From HR

I don’t usually discuss the Allure Best of Beauty Awards, but since I have actually tried (and reviewed or mentioned) quite a few of the products that won awards for 2025, I thought it would be fun to chat about them. Let’s jump right in.

How it works

If you are unfamiliar with the awards, it is a designation that brands do use in their marketing, so it does seem to carry some weight in the industry. Allure starts the process in October every year, and brands submit their products for consideration. This is something to keep in mind, as a brand cannot win an award unless it submits its product. After Allure decides which of its editors will test which products, the brand sends them, and they organize the testing. The actual testing of the products begins in early December. If you want even more detail on the process, Allure has a write-up that you can read by clicking here.

This blog uses affiliate links (marked with **).  I may earn a small commission when you purchase through links on my site.  Learn more here.

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2025 Best of Beauty Base Winners (click here to see all base winners)

BEST LIQUID FOUNDATION – **Patrick Ta Major Skin Hydra-Luxe Luminous Skin Perfecting Foundation, $58

This was a very polarizing foundation release, both because of the price and the formula. As someone with dry skin, I still found this formula to be too hydrating and shiny. However, I prefer a more natural or satin finish over a dewy one. If you have very dry skin or prefer a luminous finish, you may want to consider this one.

I have a full review with pictures of me wearing the shade 18 Golden Neutral and a comparison swatch with my go-to foundation (NARS Natural Radiant Longwear Tahoe). You can find that here 👉🏽 Patrick Ta Major Skin Hydra-Luxe Luminous Skin Perfecting Foundation.

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BEST LIQUID BLUSH – **MAC Strobe Beam Liquid Blush, $30

Continue reading “Allure Best Of Beauty Winners 2025” →

The Charlotte Tilbury Unreal Healthy Glow Blush Stick ($42, 9g) in Cherry Glow is easy to blend and luminous, as the brand promises. However, I couldn’t test the long-lasting claim because I just don’t like how it looks on me. This is an issue I mentioned in my Morphe Cloudlight Soft Glow Veil Powder Review, but I’m just not a fan of adding too much shine to my look. I use a heavy oil-based moisturizer, and I think that may make things appear extra glowy on my skin. But regardless of the reason, I could only wear this for about an hour before I went back and added a powder blush on top to tone down the shine. It is easy to use and I had no problems with blending or it moving my foundation. I picked the blush up with a brush directly from the stick and applied it from there. The glow was expected because of the marketing and the way it appeared when I swatched it, but for some reason, I still expected something closer to the finish of the Juvia’s Place Blushed Cream Blush, which sets to a more satin texture. Don’t get me wrong, the blush looks beautiful and skin-like. It is just a personal preference issue for me. Let’s get into the swatch, what it looks like on me, and a comparison, so you can decide for yourself what you think of the Charlotte Tilbury Unreal Blush Stick.

Continue reading “Charlotte Tilbury Unreal Healthy Glow Blush Stick (Cherry Glow Swatch)” →

I was shocked to recently notice that Sigma’s 14-pan eyeshadow palettes are now clocking in at $65. Back in 2020, when I posted about the Sigma Cor-de-Rosa Palette, they were $49. When the Sigma Cool Neutrals Palette was released in April 2024, it was $52. I purchased mine in November of 2024 for 30% off ($36.40), and it was $52 at that time. Now, they are suddenly at $65. Everything is getting more expensive, but this price jump is worse than most I’ve seen. This is one of the 14-pan palettes that comes with a double-sided brush (E58 Diffused Crease and E54 medium Sweeper), which does add to its cost; however, that was already included in these palettes. There are a lot of reasons to continue to buy Sigma eyeshadows. They are cruelty-free, talc-free, and I’m pretty sure their cosmetics were clean beauty before people were calling it clean beauty. I also often enjoy their color selections for eyeshadows; they appeal to me, and more often than not work well for my olive undertone better than other brands. However, the formula has never been good enough for me to recommend it unless it was on sale for 40% off. And this was back when they were $49, meaning I only recommended others purchase them for about $29.40 before tax. Now that they are $65, they would have to be over 50% off to get close to that price.

Continue reading “Sigma Eyeshadow Palettes Are $65 Now 😱 (Sigma Cool Neutrals Palette Swatches)” →

This blog uses affiliate links (marked with **).  I may earn a small commission when you purchase through links on my site.  Learn more here.

**Givenchy Le Rouge Interdit Satin Lipstick, $48 (shade 114)

The formula of the Le Rouge Interdit Satin Lipstick was nice and felt comfortable on my lips, but the scent of this lipstick was a deal breaker. I have been able to wear Givenchy lipsticks and lip balms in the past, and felt that the smell went away, but that was not the case for the Le Rouge Interdit Satin formula. I’m not sure if the fragrance added to this formula is in fact stronger than in the past, or if I’m just more sensitive to it now. Either way, I couldn’t hang in there long enough to truly test the formula out. Givenchy promises that this lipstick provides 24-hour hydration with a 6-hour color impact, and it comes in a genuine leather case. It is well reviewed, and I’ve had great success with Givenchy’s products in the past, so it may be worth considering for those not sensitive to fragrance.

I have swatches and comparisons below of the shade with Estee Lauder Covetable, Charlotte Tilbury Stoned Rose, Charlotte Tilbury Nude Romance, and Pat McGrath Negligee. Givenchy’s 144 Satin ended up being quite a unique color. None of the other shades I have are really that close.

Continue reading “Makeup Fails (Givenchy Le Rouge Interdit Satin Lipstick and Ilia Eye Stylus Shadow Sticks)” →

I stumbled on the 2025 Halloween Collection from Wet n Wild when I was in CVS last weekend. Well, I think Fantasy Makers is the branding that Wet n Wild uses for Halloween. If I’m mistaken, please let me know. I did check the batch code to make sure it was new, and it was manufactured 2 months and 21 days ago. So even if it is not a Halloween release, it is new to the market.

This blog uses affiliate links (marked with **).  I may earn a small commission when you purchase through links on my site.  Learn more here.

There were two different 10-pan eyeshadow palettes in CVS, the Poisoned Forest and the Queen of Brights. The palettes were more expensive than the permanent collection, $7.29 vs the $6.49 listed on the Wet n Wild website for the permanent collection. **The Queen of Brights Palette is $6.19 on the Wet n Wild website. I decided to buy Poisoned Forest. I just couldn’t see myself using the Queen of Brights enough to justify having it. But I did take pictures of it in the store so you can see what it looks like. I’m not sure if Wet n Wild typically releases its limited edition products at online retailers, but as of today, I couldn’t find these online anywhere. Not even on the CVS website, despite buying them in CVS.

Continue reading “Wet n Wild Fantasy Makers 2025 Eyeshadow Palettes (Poisoned Forest Swatches and Queen of Brights)” →

Just dropping in to tell you about some post updates for the Chanel Les 4 Ombres Boutons 239 Boutons Baroque, MAC MACximal Sleek Satin Lipsticks, and a conversation on concealer creasing.

Chanel Les 4 Ombres Boutons 239 Boutons Baroque – 👈🏽 Click here for the updated post with my review of the 239 Boutons Baroque quad and comparison swatches of the quad to Chanel 252 Peche Glacee and Tom Ford’s 40 Golden Hour quad. Update September 7, 2025: The collection is now available at **Bloomingdale’s and **Nordstrom.

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MAC MACximal Sleek Satin Lipsticks – 👈🏽 Click here for my review post of the MAC MACximal Satin Lipsticks, which now includes photos of me wearing the shades Creme in Your Coffee and Paramount.

Continue reading “Updates (ft Chanel 239 Boutons Baroque)” →

Makeup By Mario’s Softsculpt Blurring Bronzer ($38) was recently released. It is a reformulation, making their bronzer line talc-free. I never tried the old formula, so I’m not sure how this one compares. The brand is promising a lightweight, easy-to-blend formula with a soft matte finish. As the name states, it is also supposed to be blurring with a light-medium coverage, and they also claim it has a sweat and humidity-proof finish. Not the shortest or longest list of claims, but I actually agree with all of them (1 might be a little questionable, more on that later). Right away, I will tell you, if you like your bronzer to be very pigmented, this one might get frustrating. The light-medium coverage is accurate. The formula is firmly pressed, and there is no kick-up. So basically, not very much product picks up on the brush. This can be a downside for some, but that does make this easy to control and blend.

Continue reading “Makeup By Mario Softsculpt Blurring Bronzer (Swatches and Review)” →

I have some swatches of the Chanel Les 4 Ombres Boutons ($86, limited edition) in 239 Boutons Baroque to share with you. I literally just got this in the mail about an hour ago, so I haven’t used these on my eyes. Update August 19, 2025: Scroll down for my review and comparison swatches with the Chanel Single Eyeshadow Peche Glacee and the Tom Ford Golden Hour Quad. But as I’ve said in the past, it can be hard to find Chanel swatches on someone with a similar skin tone. Since this collection is limited edition, I wanted to go ahead and share the swatches. I have a warm olive, medium-deep skin tone (sometimes medium or tan, depending on the shade range). My best foundation matches for shade reference are NARS Natural Radiant Longwear Tahoe and Estee Lauder Double Wear 4W4 Hazel. 

The Chanel quads come with a velvet pouch, and the pouches for each of the 4 quads in this collection have a different design, so I wanted to include a picture of it.

Continue reading “Chanel Les 4 Ombres Boutons (239 Boutons Baroque Review and Swatches)” →