Have you ever purchased a product that absolutely knocked your socks off and you couldn’t wait to let your friends know about it?

This past summer my husband and I were having lunch with my best friend. She pulled out a plastic wrap product that my husband and I couldn’t wait to purchase. Now granted, this may seem a little strange because after all, what would be so exciting about a roll of plastic wrap? But this plastic wrap had one amazing feature that set it apart.

You know how often you rip off a piece of plastic wrap along that metal edge and it doesn’t rip off evenly or even easily? Well, what got us so excited about this plastic wrap was that it had a plastic slider that cut the plastic wrap off perfectly and easily.

Well, in today’s article and accompanying video, I’m going to share with you 15 skincare and makeup products I tried this past year that generated the same sense of excitement for me and which I still absolutely love using.

Top Skincare “Finds”

Finding a product that can reduce the dark color of age spots can be a challenge. Certainly, prescription strength products can work, but so can this wonderful over-the-counter product from Kiehl’s called Clearly Corrective Dark Spot Corrector.

It not only helps reduce any dark discoloration such as age spots and hyperpigmentation, but it also helps brighten the skin. And it can be used on all skin types – including sensitive skin – and is paraben free. My age spots visibly reduced in color after just four days of regular use at night. It can be used both day and night and can also be used to correct visible skin discoloration on the hands, neck and chest.

As we know, we can each have very different experiences with skincare products. What works for me may not work for you, but these next two products have definitely helped reduce the look of fine lines under my eyes.

The first is the Smooth Landing Advanced Retinol Eye Balm from the clean beauty brand Versed which is available at Target. It melts into the skin and helps to soften the look of fine lines and wrinkles. Of course, the results aren’t permanent, but I’ve been very pleasantly surprised by how well this product works to temporarily reduce the look of fine lines. I put it on after cleansing my face at night.

After cleansing my face in the morning, I apply the second eye product that’s been a game-changer for me: Colorescience Total Eye Firm and Repair Cream. I apply it immediately after using my face serums and before applying my moisturizer so the Colorescience Total Eye Cream can thoroughly soak in before I apply my other eye products.

It’s a beautifully rich moisturizing eye product that includes a number of botanicals, anti-oxidants, peptides and caffeine. And the caffeine is especially important in reducing puffiness and smoothing out the look of fine lines. This product and the Versed Smooth Landing Advanced Retinoid Eye Balm pair together wonderfully for a morning and evening undereye routines that help reduce the look of my fine lines.

Help for Our Eyes

And while we’re zeroing in on our eyes, let’s talk about two eye makeup products – one for the brows and one for the lashes. As we know, white and grey brow hairs have a different texture than our regular brow hairs and most brow products won’t adhere to them and therefore won’t cover the white or grey.

But a brow gel I found – after testing many – that did cover white and grey brow hairs was a product from Anastasia of Beverly Hills: their ABH’s Dip Brow Gel. I still recommend this product, but I’ve also found a drugstore option that works equally well. It’s Maybelline’s Brow Fast Sculpt Eyebrow Gel Mascara Makeup. This product has great pigmentation and adheres beautifully to white and grey brow hairs.

Thanks to a purchase I made about a month ago, I now have three mascaras that won’t irritate my sensitive eyes. This newest mascara is from the clean beauty brand Doll 10 Beauty. It’s their gel formula Effortlash Mascara. This mascara helps lashes look both longer and fuller, and it also conditions and separates the lash hairs. And, there is no clumping or flaking.

Be sure to check out Elise’s YouTube channel which specifically focuses on makeup tips, techniques, and product reviews for those of us 50+. Don’t forget to subscribe!

Three Outstanding Foundations

There have been three foundations I’ve tried this year that have risen to the top of my list of Holy Grail foundations. The first is the Kosas Revealer Skin Improving Foundation. Kosas is a clean beauty brand, and they’ve created a top-notch medium coverage natural finish foundation. It blends in like a second skin and helps to blur and visibly smooth out texture which minimizes the look of pores.

Of all the foundations in my collection, my Charlotte Tilbury Beautiful Skin Foundation gives the most beautiful, soft, glowing finish. It hydrates, smooths and brightens. If you have dry or combination skin, this foundation can really make the skin look radiant. It probably won’t work as well for those of you with oily skin. But I’ve never found another medium coverage foundation that creates such a lovely soft radiant look.

The third foundation is from the clean beauty brand Doll 10, and it’s their full coverage Anti-Stress Skin Perfector. It’s a skincare and makeup hybrid which smooths the look of skin texture. And although I thought the color I purchased was too light for my skin, I was amazed that it adapted to my skin tone pretty darn well.

The Best Contour I’ve Ever Tried

Although I found several good contour sticks in 2022, the product that stood head and shoulders above the rest was the Huda Beauty Tantour Contour and Bronzer Cream. What sets this product apart is how easily it applies and how easily it blends into the skin.

I like to apply it with one of my other game changing products from 2022: the Huda Beauty Tantour Face Contouring Sculpt and Shade Brush which was specifically designed to work with this product. It’s double-ended so the smaller end can be used to apply the contour and the larger end is designed to blend it into the skin. And one of the reasons this brush really stands out for me is that the smaller end also works beautifully to contour the sides of the nose.

The Most Natural Looking Blush

In the video I combine blush and highlight by using a liquid blush and highlight from the same brand: makeup artist Daniel Sandler’s Watercolour Liquid Blush and highlight. What’s so outstanding about these products is how sheer they are and how foolproof they are to apply. They give the most beautiful, natural-looking flush to the skin which is exactly what we want in a blush.

Now you certainly don’t have to combine the blush with a highlight as I do in the video, but I just love the look of a blush with a soft glow. And to pick the color up off the back of my hand, I use another tool the Sephora 56 brush.

These Two Tools Really Make a Difference

My last two game-changing products are the Sigma E-25 eyeshadow brush – which is absolutely perfect for applying eyeshadow to the crease area of the eye – and the Sigma Beauty Spa Express Cleaning Mat Brush Cleaner. The E-25 brush – which is available at Target – just makes eyeshadow application faster and easier since this brush picks up and applies eyeshadow perfectly.

The Sigma Beauty Spa Express Cleaning Mat Brush Cleaner (also available at Target) gets brushes thoroughly clean because rubbing brushes over its textured surface releases all of the eyeshadow residue and gently removes it.

I have done experiments where I just swished a brush around in soap in my hand and then rinsed it. Then I took the same brush and rubbed it over this Sigma pad and a great deal more eyeshadow came off the brush. So I’ve seen visual proof of what a difference this brush cleaning mat can make in getting our brushes really clean.

Let’s Have a Conversation:

What have been your favorite beauty and/or makeup discoveries in 2022? Is there one that you now just can’t do without? Did you find a great drugstore product? If so, please share what it is.