THE BEST MAKEUP OF 2025 | I’ve tested more than 150 makeup products and these are the WINNERS!

I have been testing luxury makeup for over a decade and not everything that launched recently is worth the splurge. Lately, I've spent around $2,000 testing new luxury makeup and in this video I'm going to share with you what are the products that I would buy again. So if you don't want to make expensive mistakes like me, you can learn from my mistakes. And if you're new to my channel, I love testing luxury makeup, but I also know what I want from my money. For me, my days start at 5 a.m. in the morning and end at 9 p.m. in the evening, so it doesn't get more real than that. I test makeup in real life, so my expectations are sky high. And let's see what are the products that are worth the splurge in the beginning of 2026. I want to start this video with an exceptionally beautiful makeup product that reminds me Chanel's Lip Beige Makeup Collection. It's timeless, it's beautiful, it's suitable for all occasions and this is a new eyeshadow palette from YSL that I have been using in the past couple of weeks. This one launched here in Europe the earliest, so I was lucky to try this one early. It is an oversized eyeshadow palette by YSL and it features nine neutral nude colors suitable for all occasions and this one is called Nude Hours. This eyeshadow palette was a big surprise to me because we didn't expect it. It launched here unexpectedly. It has the typical for YSL faux leather packaging with this faux stitching. It's incredibly luxurious. When I first saw this eyeshadow palette, I was very intrigued, but I didn't expect that it's going to be such a good quality. You basically have everything that you need if you're a working professional or even if you're a stay-at-home mom or if you just want to look put together, elegant, beautiful, you have everything that you need. So you have a row of neutrals, this is like going to be like the first row is going to be your perfect neutral, everyday neutrals, then you have your more aesthetically pleasing shimmery colors and then you have a row of more intense colors to deepen the darkness a little bit and to create this smokey eye look. So this palette takes you from day to night and from every day to a special occasion. The shimmery colors, these two are shimmery, they are absolutely beautiful. They can be used as toppers, but they're not your typical topper shades. They actually have color, so they can be used as toppers or they can be used alone all over the eyelid. I love the matte black shade that we have here because it can be used as an eyeliner and this one is going to be especially suitable for people who have mature eyelids because eyeliners are usually not going to look that flattering on aging eyelids, but this kind of black color is always welcome if you want to create this very soft line, define the eyes, but still keep it natural and you can't go wrong basically with this kind of a shadow eyeliner when you apply one. The mattes are incredibly velvety, soft, beautiful. The palette features different finishes and it's a dream come true. Depending on your skin tone, you can use some of the colors like this one, even for a little bit of sculpting. If you use it on top of powder, it can be used as a little bit of sculpting or you can mix the two colors on top. I've mentioned this many times that with luxury makeup, you can actually use eyeshadows also as blushes and vice versa, you can use a blush or a bronzer on the eyes as well. When you're paying for a luxury makeup, make sure to make the most of it. Right here at the back, it says that the eyeshadows can be used for 24 months, but I bet that you can use them for a lot longer than that because the quality is truly exceptionally good. Then you have 17.5 grams of product. Oh, you can see this one is almost like my hat. The palette is so big. I did not expect that it's going to be so big. So you can see my finger here, how it fits in the palette. So you're getting a lot of product here. I want to show you also, I own a lot of, most of, most of the YSL mini clutch eyeshadow palettes. I'm a huge fan of the brand. I was a fan of the brand many years ago when it was more popular in Europe, I would say. YSL was not that popular in the US, I believe their blushes, their eyeshadows, then suddenly they disappeared a little bit from the market. And then now a couple of years ago, they started to reappear. They started to create a lot of new makeup and I think that it's a brand that is worth checking out because they have exceptional quality makeup. Their holiday palette also was so beautiful. I mostly have their permanent eyeshadow palettes. I believe that I have all of their permanent eyeshadow palettes, except for one, which was some garden, kind of a green eyeshadow palette, which I normally and typically don't wear. But this is a beautiful piece from YSL and the colors here are not repeat shades, which is something that I truly love and truly appreciate. And last year, actually, YSL launched two of the most beautiful neutral eyeshadow palettes. One was Overbrown, which was a warm tone and the other one was, um, I forgot the name of the other one, but there was also a very beautiful cool toned eyeshadow palette, which I showed you in previous videos. So I would definitely recommend this, checking this one out. It has been a dream come true for me. Next we're moving on to a product that I was anticipating and this is the new Bronze Stix from Dior. So I believe that a couple of years ago, Dior actually launched their sculpting sticks and these, um, everyone fell in love with these sticks. At that time, I didn't buy one because I'm not a person who likes to contour my face. The quality is exceptional. It's really good, but I just didn't want to buy it. I purchased one of the sculpting sticks now, just so that I can, I can compare it to the bronzing stick. And I was expecting for Dior to launch these bronzing sticks for the longest time. They were a little bit in delay, but here they are and they are absolutely beautiful. The color that I have chosen is the second color, not the palest shade, even though as you can see, I have quite fair complexion. I am going to show you swatches. So this one is in the shade 02 Soft Fair. There is one color that is paler than this. I don't like, um, for bronzers, I never buy the palest shade, same as with the Chanel cream bronzers. I typically don't go and don't purchase the palest shade because the palest shades tend to lean a little bit more orangey, which is not my preference, whereas the second shade always leans a little bit more like a caramel color, which makes it a lot more natural. And since you're not really applying this one straight from the stick, I am going to apply it in the demo straight from the stick, but just so that you can see how the color looks. When this one is blended, typically for a lot of people, even if you have fair skin tone, the second shade is actually going to look better. A lot of people choose the first shade and they typically feel a little bit disappointed because the first shade usually is going to lean a little bit more orangey, whereas the second shade is always going to be just a little bit more like a caramel color, which is more flattering on a lot of people. As for the contour stick, of course, I purchased shade number one with contour. It's different because when it comes to contour, the color is more cool toned and it's really the whole idea is for this to blend into the skin in a way that it's going to mimic your natural structure of the face, that when you start sculpting your face, it's going to look natural. So you can see what a huge difference we have. The sculpting stick is going to be more grayish, more ashy. This is because it has to blend into the skin so that it can sculpt your face beautifully. And this is the shade number one, whereas the bronzing stick is actually going to be warm toned. It is going to give this sun-kissed look. And I have to tell you guys that I, I prefer this one over my Chanel cream bronzer, the iconic Chanel cream bronzer. And these are actually refillable. I found this because when mine arrived, it was not assembled. So I found this by accident. And these are actually going to be refillable, which is great as well. They are also travel friendly. And for now I have to say that it's so buttery, soft, beautiful. It beats my iconic Chanel cream bronzer, which I love and used for so many years and kept repurchasing. This is a winner for me. Next we're moving on to my favorite brand Chanel. If you know me, you know that I love Chanel. I recently did a video Chanel versus Dior, my top shelf products, because I really, Dior and Chanel are the two brands that I really own everything from these two brands with few exceptions, of course, but I've tried everything like makeup, skincare, fragrances, you name it. I've tried it. These are brands that I love. And still, I have to say that not everything that Chanel released is absolutely worth the splurge for me, considering that my expectations are really sky high. When it comes to luxury makeup, I know exactly what I want. And here in this video, I wanted to include the products that I'm actually willing to buy again. With Chanel's oversized face and eyes palettes, I've mentioned this before, they are not my favorite formula. And that's why I'm not including the iconic Rouge Noir face and eye palette here, because I do not love the formula. So I'm going to show you two products, new products from Chanel that are absolutely worth the splurge and quite unique in my opinion. I have a few hundred lipsticks in my collection because I have a few drawers full of lipsticks. I don't have such color. And I think that's unique. Unfortunately, it's limited. Some of the most beautiful Chanel makeup products are going to be limited. And this is from the Rouge Noir collection, absolutely worth the splurge. This lipstick is Rouge Allure Velvet in 357. This color is to die for. It is so unique and so beautiful. And for those of you who are familiar with the Rouge Allure Velvet formula, this is the velvet lipstick formula of Chanel. This color is everything. It is so unique. I used to have years and years ago, I used to have a lipstick shade, very similar to this one from a niche beauty brand, and it costed $200, the lipstick. I believe it was. It was insane. But this, if you still can get this one, I think get this shade because this is quite a unique rosy shade. But one thing that I wanted to mention, Chanel actually have improved their Rouge Allure Velvet formula. It is not as matte. It is more like a luminous matte now. I'm going to give you a good close-up and I'm hoping that the camera is actually going to show. Can you see that it actually, the color has a little bit of a luminosity, even though it's set to be a matte color, it does have a little bit of luminosity to it. And they have twitched the formula a little bit because I have so many of the Rouge Allure Velvet lipsticks and, you know, they were a little bit drying, like any matte lipstick would be. It is to be expected from a matte lipstick, but this one, it feels like nothing on the lips. It feels so lightweight. This is currently, I believe, probably the very best matte lipstick formula that I have in my collection. It doesn't feel drying on the lips anymore. So definitely go ahead and try this one, even in store, if you want to. The other unique product from Chanel this year, starting from 2026, is going to be their eyeliner. I'm not sure if this one is still, is currently available in all countries, but it will be. And I believe that this is going to be joining the permanent collection. This is the liquid eyeliner from Chanel in the shade Rouge Noir. I adore this color. I just want to show you, and I'm actually going to make a little bit more like a, okay, I think you can see now. I'm going to do a heavier swatch so that you can see. This is Rouge Noir. So when you go ahead and apply this as an eyeliner, it's almost black, but not quite. So it adds this mysterious feel to the eyes. It is so good. And I hope that I'm not mistaken, but I was told that this is actually joining the permanent makeup collection of Chanel. I hope that this lipstick really deserves to join the permanent collection of Chanel as well. But a lot of times their highlighters, blushes that they create, and also lip colors that are most beautiful, they are going to keep them limited, which is rude. I don't like that. I don't approve that. But these two products, they are unique. Grab them if you can. I think that you're not going to regret it. It's my personal opinion, of course. We're moving on to Guerlain. Guerlain really is the most beautiful, pretty, angelic, girly spring makeup collection. I purchased actually the eyeshadow palette. I returned it because I was able to test it in store. And here in Europe, if I test it, if I open it, I cannot return anymore. I had to return it because these are not really the kind of colors that I'm going to wear. But what I have been telling a lot of times is that you can multitask. You can use your luxury makeup for multitasking. The pink shade, actually, I'm going to pop a photo here. The pink shade is the most angelic, beautiful blush. But that's the only color that I want to use in the eyeshadow palette. For me, just the colors are not right. Other than that, it's such a beautiful collection. The pearls are also beautiful, but I already have three of them, so I don't need more of these pearls. If you already have some of the Guerlain Meteorites Pearls, I don't think that you need to buy a new one or they're limited editions, unless you collect them. In the past, I used to collect them, but now not really, because you get the same effect. So the difference, it can't really be seen on the face, unless in the past they used to have beautiful Meteorites Pearls that were actually a blush, and I still have them. And I don't understand why they never did actually Meteorites blush. It was so beautiful and angelic. But the product that I actually got from the collection, I got a few products. So the product that I kept is this beautiful lipstick case with one of the colors. Again, one of the colors is just the most beautiful and unique color, and it's quite similar to the Chanel color I'm going to show you now. So the color that I purchased, it is limited. Guerlain are famous for their beautiful limited edition lipstick colors. They are going to make a unique shade of lipstick, and then they're going to keep it limited, which is so frustrating. Now the color for Guerlain is 759. I tried all of the colors. This is the only one that I would absolutely recommend. And again, this is a very unique shade that I think you shouldn't skip. So this is the Guerlain lipstick, and it's from their Luminous formula. It's just so incredibly beautiful. So they are quite similar with Chanel's lipsticks. So you can decide to buy only one. I'm going to go ahead and hold them together so that you can see. They are somewhat similar, not the same. For me, it's absolutely justified to have them both, but Chanel is a little bit more pink, whereas Guerlain is a little bit more muted. I have Guerlain on my lips today. And then the other product that I purchased from Guerlain's collection, this is, Guerlain have some of the best lip oils. If not, actually, I think that they have the best lip oils. So this is, again, released with the spring collection. I've already started using it. And the color is, this is the Guerlain Kiss Kiss Be Glow Oil in Blooming Glow 209. I have been repurchasing the Guerlain lip oils since they launched. And this gives a very pretty, nice, a very light pinkish hue on the lips. You see, when I swatch it, you can't really get much of a color because still it's a lip oil. The scent is absolutely amazing. It's this very lightweight honey scent. And we're talking about lip oils. So this brings me to the reformulated Dior lip oils, which I'm so happy about. I have always loved the Dior lip oils. However, I never, I was never really able to actually wear them because for some reason I have extremely sensitive skin and also extremely sensitive lips. And for some reason, the Dior maximizers, I absolutely can't wear them. But the lip oils as well, they were a little bit frustrating. They were a little bit triggering the sensitivity of my lips. These, they have improved the formula. Finally, they still have the typical Dior minty scent, but they are so nourishing. They have changed the formula for the better. And now they come in three different finishes. Initially, I purchased only two from the new finishes. So now the new Dior lip oils come in three different finishes. One is the classic Dior lip oils that you know, they are basically like this one. I'm going to show you actually one of the old lip oils, just a second. So this is the old Dior lip oil, and these two are the new lip oils. Currently, Dior's lip oils come in three different finishes. The classic finish, which is like this clear, they only add a hint of color. You wouldn't really see that much of a color unless you purchase cherry or some of the more red ones or the purple ones. You aren't really going to see much of a color. It's more like a hint of color. And the other two finishes are, they have a new pearlescent finish, and then they have the glaze. The glaze is absolutely beautiful. The two colors that I decided to purchase are 077 Rosy Candy, and the other one was Latte. I'm going to show you how they look. I have been using them for the past, I believe it's been around two weeks now since I have been using them, and let me show you. Now the Rosy Candy has a little bit of a hint of this shimmery particles. It's very pretty. Actually, it's really, really girly, lovely. It's not really going to show up as glitter on the lips. But then the glaze formula, so beautiful, it is quite intense, they are almost like a lipstick. And I'm going to buy at least a few more colors from the glaze formula because it's so good. And now they still have, I want to, they still have the minty scent as the old ones. The old one is just a little bit stronger. And when I apply the old lip oil to my lips, it just feels like my lips are not nourished like they should be for a lip oil. Let me show you the swatches. Now should you go ahead and buy from the new Dior Lip Oils? I think that it's worth trying any of the two new finishes because I think that they are beautiful. I love the pearlescent, I love the glaze finish as well. They are beautiful. I think that it's worth trying them if you used to love the old Dior Lip Oils and if you didn't love them, definitely go ahead and try them. But I don't think it's worth buying the same lip oil that you already have. So for example, there are a lot of repeat shades, especially from the classic formula. So if you already have the pink lip oil from Dior, then you don't have to go and buy the new pink oil. If it used to work for you, just use them, enjoy them. The packaging is basically very similar, like the size is exactly the same. The packaging is a little bit different. Just here we have the Dior letters logo, which you can already touch. I definitely prefer the new packaging. I think that it's a nice touch and they even give a little charm. I used to have a little charm, yes, from one of these oils. I think that they still give with patches. And now we're back to Guerlain. Guerlain just relaunched one of their most iconic products. This is the Terracotta Jolie Tint. And a lot of Europeans might know this product because it has been one of their most popular products. So it's basically like Guerlain's version of this Le Beige Healthy Glow look. So this is a product that is a tinted moisturizer and it's supposed to give you healthy glow. So it's supposed to be a little bit deeper than your skin tone so that it can give you this sun-kissed look. And in the past they used to have, I believe they were three colors or four colors, I'm not really sure, but I believe it was actually three colors. The palest shade was three shades deeper than my skin tone. I have been waiting for them to launch new colors for so many years, I actually thought that I was never going to see this formula and I was never going to be able to use it this formula. They now reformulated them. Now they have different shades. The color that I purchased is the palest shade, which is shade number 10, Sun Veil, and it matches my skin tone beautifully. To my surprise, this is actually a little bit cool toned and I want to show you how it comes. I have been using it for the past around a little more than 10 days because this is not a first impression. I wanted to really test all of the new products that I purchased so that I could give you an actual review. For those of you who are familiar with Julie Tan, the old one, this is a new version. It's not the same as the old one. The old one used to be lighter coverage, slightly more liquidy, slightly more blendable. This one has higher coverage. I would say that it has the coverage of an actual foundation, so it has like a light medium coverage. This one can be built up to a medium coverage. Is it beautiful? I think it is beautiful, yes. Definitely, it is a beautiful product. It gives a nice amount of coverage. It has a new scent. It smells like spring flowers. I can feel a little bit of lilac, lavender. That's what I can feel. Lavender is so faint, more like a lilac. It's not the typical meteorite scent that we used to love and that they changed with the reformulation of the meteorite pearls, but it's so pleasant. It's so Guerlain. It's so beautiful. If you like this kind of light medium coverage, I think that this is a product that I would actually keep repurchasing. It has an SPF 20, which, of course, don't rely on SPF that are in tinted moisturizers or sunscreens. Make sure to wear a dedicated SPF. Make sure to take care of your skin. Next, there have been a few concealer launches, and I've tried them. My favorite is still going to be the new Chanel concealer, which actually launched last year in Europe. I've had this concealer for more than six months, I think now, but it's new to the U.S., so I wanted to mention it. Out of all of the new concealers that launched, I think that the only one that I didn't try is there is a new Hourglass concealer, along with a new Hourglass foundation with SPF 20 or 30. I haven't tried those. I haven't tried Hourglass. But from the other concealers that have launched, the Charlotte Tilbury concealer, the Prada concealer, the Prada concealer I'm still testing, but, and even though I like it, I'm not that impressed, so that I can say, like, go ahead, run and buy it. It's a good concealer, but nothing that impressed me as much as the Chanel Ultra Latente concealer. This is still my number one. And since we're talking about concealers, I think that there's a product that I never mentioned on my channel, but I actually use and I love. And this is actually a color corrector. This is from Charlotte Tilbury. It's the Magic, so this is the Magic Vanish concealer. I tried the new concealer from Charlotte Tilbury, and it's good. It's full coverage concealer, not really my cup of tea. But this one, this is the Magic Vanish concealer corrector, Magic Vanish in number one fare. And this has been my best friend for so many years when I have more darkness under my eyes or I use it for all around the face. And I mostly actually, I'm going to be honest with you, I don't have that much severe darkness. By the way, I just did a video on concealer, how to cover, how to stop actually concealer from creasing, because I think that this is a problem that a lot of people experience, myself including, until I perfected my routine. So if you want to try some of my tips on how to keep concealer crease-free or how to fix it midday in case it creases, I have a whole video here with a tutorial. So some of these tips might be useful for you as well, customize them to your liking. Of course, everyone is different, but I did my best to share with you a tutorial that actually works for me from 5 a.m. in the morning until 9 p.m. in the evening, because I work a lot late. So this is the Little Magic Color Corrector. And I use this one mostly, I have been using this one for years. This is brand new. I recently repurchased it because I love it so much. And I mostly use it for times when I have a breakout and it leaves a scar. I have one product that I completely failed to mention. I actually mentioned it, but I failed to show it to you. This is the Holiday Collection Coconut Zelda Body Oil. They often launch this kind of body oil. If you can still get this one, in Europe we can still get this one. I actually purchased a backup from this oil, and I have it in two different places. This is one that I just got as a backup. I loved this one. And actually, it has a little bit of a gel texture. It's not like your typical oil. It is a little bit thicker compared to the typical oil. I just want to show you, probably I'm not going to be able to give you an accurate picture of it. And I'm so sorry that I'm actually, I actually recommended this oil a few times in my videos, but I couldn't show it to you because it was not with me, because I tend to travel a lot. So unfortunately, it was not with me, but it's such a brilliant product. So if you still haven't, if you find this and if it's still available in your country, I would definitely recommend this one. I don't know why Chanel decided to launch these oils only as limited edition. It comes in a glass bottle. It is a generous amount, 250 ml. I just wanted to mention this because it's so lovely. And I use it even though we have clothes now, because the shimmers are actually so fine, so refined that it's not like your typical shimmery oil. So it doesn't really shine that much. The shimmer is very subtle, very elegant. And only Chanel are capable of doing these shimmery oils that are actually so elegant. So beautiful that you can even wear them if you work in an office or, let's say, if you have a high profile job, you can still wear them. But it makes the skin like silk. And yes, I wish they would release another similar product with their Le Beige Makeup Collection. By the way, Chanel are going to have a beautiful Le Beige Makeup Collection. I saw some sneak peeks that I cannot show you, unfortunately, but it's going to be really nice. Stay tuned for that. I can't wait to show you everything. And I don't want to pump this video with many makeup products just because I purchased them and I have to make you buy them as well. No, I just wanted to show you the products that I would buy again and that I feel are worth the splurge and worth your attention. So this was all that I wanted to share for the beginning of 2026. And thank you so much for spending time with me. If you enjoy refined beauty content and makeup that works in real life, make sure to subscribe. I would love to welcome you. Until next time. Bye!