I don’t repurchase things easily. Most of what’s in my makeup bag rotates in and out depending on whatever I’m curious about that month. These seven are the exceptions. I’ve bought each of them more than once, for reasons that have nothing to do with marketing and everything to do with actual life.
Tarte Shape Tape Concealer, Original
This one covers the kind of dark circles that come from a full-time job, overtime I chose on purpose, and the occasional late night binging a drama I told myself I’d only watch one episode of. It works so well that I’ve stopped even trying alternatives. I just wait until I run out and buy it again. I’ve lost count of how many times.
Maybelline Sky High Mascara
Mascara is the one product I actually track for longevity, which says more about my eyes than my organizational skills. My lashes and sensitive eyes are picky about almost everything, and this is the one that never lets me down.
Clinique Almost Lipstick in Pink Honey
Funny enough, it’s not the cult favorite Black Honey everyone talks about. That one’s always been too dark on me. Pink Honey is the shade that actually works, the kind of “my lips but better” color that looks like nothing in the tube until you actually put it on. I own it in both the mini and full size, which tells you everything.
Missha Perfect Cover BB Cream
This was my first BB cream, and it’s still the one people compliment without knowing what it is. One of the reasons I had to buy a second one was that my mom decided she liked it on her face too, so I just gave her mine.
Lancôme L’Absolu Rouge Cream Lipstick
I currently own eight of these. I use a different shade every single day for work video calls, which is a sentence I say out loud and immediately regret. I make a face every time I’m pulling one out of the drawer, but my brain insists I have a valid reason. It’s not really valid. Sometimes you just have to tell yourself that until you believe it.
Natasha Denona I Need a Nude Eyeshadow Palette
This is one of those palettes that earns its price by actually getting used. I haven’t hit pan yet, but it’s the kind of palette I reach for constantly, which is rare for me.
Natasha Denona Hyper Natural Face Palette
I pair this with the nude palette on the days I’m genuinely rushing out the door. It’s my grab-and-go option when there’s no time to think about what I’m doing.
If I’m honest, I’m more drawn to all-in-one palettes than almost anything else, which is exactly why I end up browsing Sephora every September through December pretending I’m just looking. Last year that pretending turned into the Hourglass Deer Palette 2025 and the Hourglass Swan Palette 2025, both special editions that sold out and aren’t available anymore, two products that do essentially the same thing. I already wrote about buying things because everyone else had them instead of because I needed them, and if I’m being fully honest, those two palettes are basically that post happening again in real time.
Some of these I’ll buy forever. A couple of them I bought because I forgot my own advice. Both things can be true.
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