We Picked the Best Makeup and Nail Launches of 2025

Best Tubing Mascara

Tubing mascaras–the kind that coat your lashes in film-forming polymers—wash off easily with water and are raccoon-eye-resistant, making them a big trend this year. This innovative dual-ended mascara gives you the best of the tubing-and-regular-mascara world: one side is a brown tubing primer, and the other is a traditional black mascara. Use one end or both, but the combination gives you feathery lashes that are smudge-proof yet rinse away after washing. Our tester called this mascara a “win-win,” noting that she really liked its versatility and ability to give long, fluttery lashes. Plus, the combination of brown and black gave a natural-looking tint.

Best Makeup Product for Beginners

Several of this brand’s iconic lip liner colors, like Wherever Walnut and Anywhere Caffeine, have gone viral thanks to fans like Hailey Bieber and makeup artist Daniel Martin. Now, there is a jumbo, chubby crayon version of its most popular shades, enabling people to swipe them easily on the cheeks, eyes, and all over the face. Our tester loved the product’s versatility and blendability. “Wherever Walnut is one of the most flattering shades ever created. I’m excited that I can now use it everywhere!”

Best Dewy Face Powder

Many setting powders mattify and accent pores. This is a unique “baked” formula (a powder formulation with a creamy feel) that blurs while also adding a subtle glow to the face. Hyaluronic acid and squalane moisturize the skin and prevent dry patches, while jojoba esters, a type of lipid-rich desert plant, creates a breathable, non-cakey finish. It also comes in five translucent shades. Our tester noted that this setting powder worked to mattify the T-zone, without making it look chalky or cakey. She really liked the soft, filter-like finish.

Best At-Home Lash Extensions

Steady hands not necessary: This system developed by KISS (the brand!) gives natural-looking lash extensions that you can apply in minutes at home. A specialized bond technology enables users to apply small lash clusters under the lash line, hiding the band for a natural look. Our tester has always thought strip lashes and similar products can look fake up close, but was impressed by how these lashes worked to subtly enhance and define the eye. She wore these to an event on a windy rooftop and they held up well, with no lost lashes.

Best Color-Correcting Serum

Color-correcting concealers have been around for years, but this one adds a serum that targets discoloration—a welcome innovation. Bonus: skin-balancing botanicals help control shine and minimize the appearance of pores for firmer-looking skin with a healthy glow. Our tester said the serum blended well on red spots and helped even out her skin tone, noting that it played well under makeup and didn’t leave a green tinge behind.

Best Lip Gloss

This hybrid lip oil and plumping gloss delivers the best of each. Ginger and pepper oils help promote fuller lips, while vitamin E and hyaluronic acid moisturize and soothe. The lip gloss also has a mirror-like shine, and the purple-tinted Thunder Stealer adds a unique, pearlescent lilac hue that flatters all skin tones. Our tester noted that it stayed on for hours without feeling sticky, and gave her lips a subtle sheen with tons of sparkle.

Best Concealer

This concealer pen covers up blemishes like a Pointillist painter. With a creamy, matte, gel texture and a fine pencil tip, it helps you even out skin tone with precision and ease. Camouflage tiny blemishes with just one pin prick, and cover larger areas by “drawing” and blending. This unique format and formula, inspired by celebrity makeup artist Lisa Eldridge’s preferred method of pinpoint correcting, produces a supremely natural result. Our tester said that unlike other heavier concealers, this pencil allowed her to detail-conceal by homing in on small areas, like old acne scars and redness around the nose. Plus, the pencil format was great for traveling.

Best Accessible Mascara

Founder Aerin Glazer wanted to create a truly accessible brand with ergonomic, comfortable packaging for mobility and accessibility. Since then, Tilt has become the first brand to receive the Arthritis Foundation’s Ease of Use Certification. All products have tear-away tabs, braille writing, and magnetic non-slip cases that make them easy to hold. The refillable Lashscape mascara is infused with a combination of peptides, ceramides, and keratin to strengthen and nourish lashes for a fuller look. Our tester noted that the wand fit perfectly in her hand, and the curved handle and non-slip vessel was easily grippable, giving her a lot of control when applying. She also noted that this formula didn’t irritate her sensitive eyes, unlike many other formulas, and left her lashes looking long and voluminous.

Best Makeup Correcting Pen

Even professional makeup artists make mistakes—and many of them DIY a “makeup eraser” by dipping Q-tips into a remover. This pen turns that classic trick into an easy-to-use tool. It has a flat paddle tip that you twist and turn for control, along with a micellar formula that makes the product safe for sensitive skin and ideal for removing imperfections without smudging your makeup. Our tester was “shocked” at how easily this pen cleaned up her liner. She noted that while it usually takes her up to 15 minutes to get a sharp line, she got a similar look in half the time. She also liked that it fits in her bag for on-the-go touch-ups.

Best Creamy Lip Shaper

Bieber created this unique hybrid tool, which looks like a basic lip liner but acts more like contour for your lips, shaping them with a soft, blurred finish. One side has creamy smooth formula infused with peptides and fenugreek extract to soften and plump lips; the other end has a silicone smudger. Our tester, who considers her makeup routine to be incomplete without a brown lip liner, loved the smooth application. She also appreciated that the smudger helps her get her preferred look without leaving makeup residue on her fingers.

Best Tinted Mineral Sunscreen

Creating a mineral SPF that blends like skin care and doubles as a light foundation is no small feat. Conceived as the “crisp white button-down” of sunscreens—effortless and universally flattering—Uniform uses zinc oxide and comes in 15 flexible shades, refined through 50 iterations. “Mineral formulas usually clash with my other skin care, but this works as both sunscreen and base,” our tester said. “It rubs in easily, leaves my skin glowy and even, and the finish beats most of my foundations.”

Best Powder Blush

Tower 28 worked with content creator Toni Bravo–who owns close to 100 blushes and calls herself the CEO of Blush–to create unique shades that she had never owned before. In addition to bright, face-flattering colors like raspberry and bright coral, the blush promises 12 hours of fade-and-sweatproof wear. Our tester loved how brightening these shades were and that the product went on smooth and wasn’t patchy.

Best Lip Stain

If you want to draw on a precise lip stain, maybe it’s time you reach for a marker. This hybrid lip stain is infused with hydrating argan oil to contour and define the lips. A soft felt tip allows for an effortless and precise glide, with a natural matte finish that lasts up to 12 hours. Our tester reported that the stain gives her the “just-bitten” effect of her favorite liners, with a staying power that didn’t budge. “I hate having to constantly reapply my lip liner. This stain lasted all night. Even after I washed my makeup off, I could still faintly see it.”

Best Long-Wearing Blush

This slow-setting, watercolor-inspired tint delivers the kind of natural flush that makes you look instantly smitten. Available in three sheer shades, the stain blends easily, then locks in for all-day wear. “It never left blotches like faster-setting formulas,” our tester said, noting that it looked equally seamless on bare skin or over makeup—and even stayed put through a massage without transferring onto the face cradle.

Best Eye Brightener

This viral color corrector pairs the creamy glide of Kosas’s cult-favorite concealer with undertone-balanced pigments that neutralize dark circles across skin tones. Infused with caffeine, hyaluronic acid, and peptides, the serum-powered formula tackles puffiness and dehydration while brightening upon contact. “I worried an extra layer would get cakey, but this blends right in,” our tester said. “My under-eyes look like I slept eight hours—even when I didn’t.”

Best Dewy Setting Spray

Pat McGrath’s glass-skin moment at Maison Margiela’s spring/summer 2024 couture show left beauty pros clamoring for her secret. The answer: this setting spray, a wearable take on the intensely dewy look. One mist cloaks skin in a radiant veil; additional layers build the porcelain-doll sheen McGrath is famed for. A film-forming polymer locks makeup for up to 16 hours. “One layer added a glow,” our tester said. “A few more spritzes, and I looked like a Margiela doll—all night long.”

Best Liquid Glitter Eye Shadow

Urban Decay set out to create a shimmery eyeshadow without the usual downsides of glitter—flaking patchiness and poor blendability. Inspired by foundation, the weightless liquid dispenses just the right amount when you shake it, and the built-in brush means you don’t have to get your tools dirty. “The cap untwists to reveal a quill-like tip,” our tester said. “It has no smell, and it was easy to apply.” She noted that it stayed on all day without primer, offered great color payoff, and felt lightweight yet intensely glittery.

Best Fast-Drying Nail Polish

Nail polish that fully dries—and resists smudging—in 60 seconds does, in fact, exist. OPI developed the technology by using wall-painting equipment to test drying and smudging. Built-in “dry drops,” a faster solvent blend, and an improved fan brush enable you to use less product. “This was super easy to use and dried incredibly fast,” our tester shared, noting that it set completely in about 30 seconds and that a two-coat manicure took under five minutes. “It lasted a few days and did not chip.”

Best Multi-Use Lip and Cheek Tint

True to K-beauty’s inventive spirit, Fwee’s bouncy, jelly-textured balm adds a vibrant, glossy flush to lips or cheeks. The buildable pigment feels weightless and never sticky, and the translucent bubble packaging is as playful as the formula. Our tester was a fan: “It made my cheeks look impossibly glowy, and looked so good on my lips, too. The color can either be really bright with a few layers or subtle with just one light wash.”

Best Blurring Bronzer

For a natural-looking sun-kissed glow, this powder bronzer combines the benefits of skin care with professional-grade makeup. Hyaluronic acid hydrates, while smoothing amino acids and small particles of powders minimize imperfections. Our tester reported that the bronzer instantly blurred the appearance of pores, had a lightweight finish, and blended seamlessly into the skin.