Curious about my ride-or-die, grab them most often, holy grail makeup products?
I don’t take this lightly, everything on here is my absolute favorite.
Please keep in mind that just because they work for me doesn’t mean they will work for you.
If I have more than 4 favorites; I force myself to choose only 2 high-end and 2 drugstore products in each category. Playing and testing makeup is a tough job, but somebody’s gotta do it! (This page was updated Feb 2023)
♥ Please note all opinions are 100% mine, if I do not like a product I will NOT recommend it.
FTC Disclaimer: Many of the links to products are affiliate links, which means if you use them, I may earn a small commission on your purchases. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
What makes a holy grail foundation for me?
The foundation looks the same or better than bare skin by evening out my skin tone.
- Does not make my skin dry as I wear it all day.
- Minimal settling into my wrinkles.
- The finish doesn’t emphasize the texture around my mouth.
- Covers or minimizes redness, spider veins, and light age spots.
- Plays nicely over my moisturizers and sunscreens that I wear every single day.
My lists include different amounts and coverage and different foundation finishes. I like to play around with sheer, medium, or full coverage. While I prefer a natural or slightly radiant finish, I also enjoy wearing a matte finish sometimes.
♥ Please note all opinions are 100% mine, if I do not like a product I will NOT recommend it.
FTC Disclaimer: Many of the links to products are affiliate links, which means if you use them, I may earn a small commission on your purchases. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Holy Grail Foundation Over 50
♥ Estee Lauder Futurist Hydra Rescue Moisturing Makeup color: 2N1 Desert Beige This is a workhorse foundation for me with sheer to medium coverage and a natural finish. It does settle into my fine lines and wrinkles upon first application. I solve this problem by making sure to blot it out with a damp beauty sponge or brush it out. I typically always wear my favorite setting powder over this foundation to further reduce settling into my fine wrinkles. This foundation wears all day for me. It is never drying. Worth every penny for me.
♥ Revlon Illuminance Skin-Caring Foundation color: 117 light beige (NEW! Feb 2023) This one is very sheer. I love the radiant finish on this. One of the few radiant finish foundations that I have ever discovered that doesn’t make the texture around my mouth look worse than bare skin. This foundation is not as long-wearing as I would like. I love it anyway for the way it makes my skin look. It is an excellent dupe for high-end light-reflecting foundations that cost much more.
♥ Neutrogena Hydro Boost Hydrating Tint for Dry Skin – I have never found any foundation that outperforms this one for its ability NOT to settle into wrinkles. It just doesn’t settle into fine lines and wrinkles. It settles a microscopic amount into the deep wrinkles on my forehead. The formula is hydrating. I don’t like the limited shade range. This foundation does not come in a perfect color for me, but I make it work anyway with bronzer and blush. It remains on my holy grail list because it simply does not settle into my wrinkles.
♥ Tom Ford Traceless Soft Matte Foundation in the color: 2.0 Buff. This is my favorite luxury foundation. Granted I haven’t tried but a handul of luxury foundations (pricey!) so please keep that in mind. This really is a modern matte formula – not dry or cakey looking. It has a light medium, comfortable coverage that looks georgeous on the skin. Although it feels silkier and smoother to apply with my fingers than any foundation I have ever tested, I don’t like the look with my fingers. I prefer to apply it with a stippling brush, my fav is Sephora Pro 64, but any will do.
♥ Fenty Beauty Eaze Drop Blurring Skin Tint color 5. – HONORABLE MENTION from 2022. I still love this skin tint, but my second bottle is running low and I am on the fence whether to replace it. When comparing it to the above “true” foundations, I wish it had a bit more coverage.
If I develope a skin tint, skin drops, tinted moisturizer category I will put this down as a holy grail in that category.
This is indeed a skin tint and not a foundation. With light coverage, this is my most natural, skin-like foundation choice. Eaze Drops are my choice for minimal makeup on my skin. Vegan, gluten-free, and cruelty-free. It is not fragrance-free. I find it lightly fragranced and can tolerate it well. As for the blurring effect, I think it is minimal. I do see a slight blurring effect but nothing dramatic on my older skin. As I approach 60, my foundation preferences have changed : read my article about best foundation for women over 60.
Concealer
Concealer is a very difficult category for me. I don’t have a holy grail so to speak. In 2023, my favorite everday concealer is is the Too Faced Born this Way Ethereal Light Illuminating Smoothing Concealer. I wear the color: Buttercup. I call this light coverage with a extremely subtle radiance that I can even wear around my crows feet.
I use four dots around and under my eyes; than blend with my fav concealer blending brush from Rare Beauty. One coat only for me. Although the coverage it buildable, I can’t seem to do that at age 58 without creasing and settling into my wrinkles.
Powder over 50
♥ NARS Light Reflecting Setting Powder color: crystal. I have only one holy grail powder. I have others I love and use, but only one I consider a holy grail. This NARS powder is invisible on the skin.
It helps keep foundation and concealer from settling into my fine wrinkles. It doesn’t nothing to blur texture or pores. When I wear this I cannot see the powder in any way on my skin even in the 10X magnifying mirror.
Sephora offers a mini – that is how I discovered it. See my article: Best Setting Powder for Mature Skin Over 50 to find out other powders that I love as well.
Cream Eyeshadows
It is somewhat rediculous to have this category on my Holy Grails page since I specialize, collect, test, and explore cream eyeshadows every month for my YouTube Channel. I have 67 cream eyeshadow products and just bought 7 more today …. yes really …. but it’s for my channel !!! So here we go, my two top brands for cream eyeshadow. But please keep in mind I have about 6 or 7 more that I also adore as well.
♥ Laura Mercier Caviar Stick Eyecolor. Yeah, I know. Me and everybody else love this one. I can’t help it. I can wear these without a primer and they last all day. The caviar sticks blend better than any other formula I have ever tested. I have all the matte shades. I love the metallic shades. Shimmers I use them carefully. I never have red, itchy eyes with the cream eyeshadow sticks.
They are pricey. I have probably spent more on these sticks than any other single item in my makeup collection. This is because I want all the colors. Don’t be me unless you are loaded. You can have a wonderful collection with only 4-6 colors.
Caution: they will get stale, dry, and less blendable over time. Mine sticks are at their best for about 12 months. After that I still use them but they are not as creamy and blendable.
♥ MAC Longwear Paint Pot Eyeshadow color Painterly. Great long-wearing formula. My best one-and-done shade. Not as easy to use as a stick. Comes in a glass jar. I use my finger for this one both for application and blending because of the pot. And I am lazy….
I don’t have a holy grail affordable cream eyeshadow. Many come close. I use quite a lot of drugstore cream eyeshadows on a regular basis – always with an eyelid primer. But the majority are shimmer, chrome, and glitter which I tend to use as accent colors only.
Lips
♥ Maybelline Color Sensational Shaping Lip Liner in CLEAR. My go-to problem solver for lip color getting into the wrinkles around my mouth. Love this stuff.
♥ Rare Beauty Stay Vulnerable Glossy Lip Balm color: color: Nearly Neutral. This lives in my purse. I love the slippery feel from the huge dose of silicone this glossy contains. More pigmented and less sheer than traditional lip gloss. Technically named a lip balm, it comes in lip gloss packaging. I personally think of it as lip gloss.
My Go-to Brow Products
This brow mascara will be replaces soon. I kinda don’t like the fiberous look of the CoverGirl product anymore. But until my testing is finished, this is still my go-to brow product.
♥ Cover Girl Easy Breezy Brow in Light Pale. This is an oldie but a goodie. It has extra fibers to thicken brows. It dries very matte. Because of this, I wish it looked more natural. But this product remains on my Holy Grail list. I tend to use and buy it over and over again.
Best Highlighter Over 50
♥ e.l.f. Halo Glow Liquid Filter color: 2 fair light. This has totally replaced Charlotte Tilbury’s Flawless Hollywood Filter for me. I will never pay more. Please keep in mind this is a fleshy highlighter. It reminds me of an extra shimmery concealer type of product. This formula is great. The price is even better.
♥ SAIE Glowy Super Gel Lightweight Dewy Highlighter color: starglow. I haven’t found a more subtle liquid highlighter. I like it equally as well as the e.l.f. listed about. SAIE is a clean brand so I enjoy that as well.
Best Blush Over 50
♥ MERIT Flush Balm Cheek colors: cheeky and Beverly Hills. Ask me which blush I grab most often and this is it. So easy to apply and blend. I have two color favorites. Cheeky is a cool-toned berry. Beverly Hills is a warm color. This is not super long-wearing. But I accept that. I trade that for the benefit of being easy to blend. I love the clean formula.
If you wish to use my link to purchase directly from MERIT I will receive a small commission. My MERIT link.
♥ e.l.f. Putty Blushes. e.l.f. currently offers two versions. Original and Luminous. I am not cray cray about the luminous versions. I personally prefer the original. This cream blush comes in a plastic pot. I like to apply it with a brush. The formula is a bit stiff. Try warming it up by rubbing your finger in a circular motion in the pot before using it. If you don’t live in a cold climate it may work fine for you without warming it up.
I have every color of e.l.f. putty blush. Love them most of them. Exception: Maldives and Caribbean are slightly too intense in pigment for my skin tone.
Keep your receipts!! This will allow you to test and disqualify products at a much faster rate. Before you know it, you too will have a list of holy grails.
Maggie De