I Tested Dozens of Makeup Products This Year: The Best 5 Buys
Neha Prasad is a South Asian Beauty Content Creator based in Sydney, Australia. Lawyer by day and beauty content creator by night, Neha is known for her Bollywood recreations and love for all things full glam! Some of her favourite brands are Huda Beauty, Dior Beauty, Makeup Forever, Maybelline and The Ordinary.
Neha Prasad's five must-have makeup picks of 2025 are Huda Beauty Easy Bake Powder, Benefit Benetint Raspberry, MAKE UP FOR EVER HD Skin Hydraglow Foundation, the Artist Color Pencil and The Ordinary Saccharomyces Ferment 30% Milky Toner. You’ll get Neha’s reasons, favourite shades and quick application tips so you can decide what to buy and how to use each product.
Fast Facts You Need to Know
- Set makeup with Huda Easy Bake Powder instead of spray; Peach Pie and Banana Bread suit neutral tones.
- Layer Benefit Benetint Raspberry under powder blush to lock colour and keep your blush visible all day.
- Use MAKE UP FOR EVER HD Skin Hydraglow Foundation for lightweight, buildable coverage and a luminous finish.
- Choose the Artist Color Pencil in Limitless Brown for a true brown liner that also doubles as lip and cheek colour.
- Add The Ordinary Saccharomyces Ferment 30% Milky Toner to strengthen the skin barrier and prep skin before makeup.
After testing dozens of launches across 2025, Neha narrowed her routine to products she repurchases and reaches for daily. Use the shade and layering tips here to recreate her longwear, luminous looks or to pick one standout product to upgrade your kit next.
2025 has come and gone in the blink of an eye, bringing with it countless incredible beauty launches that have taken over both our routines and social media feeds.
I’ve been creating beauty content for almost a decade, and I’ve been incredibly lucky to try some of the very best products along the way.
Even so, there are five products in my routine that feel almost completely irreplaceable and that I keep reaching for again and again.
These are the standout makeup products of 2025 that have truly earned a permanent place in my collection, and I simply cannot put them down.
1. Huda Beauty Easy Bake Powder
If you know me, this being my top pick will come to absolutely no surprise. It's one beauty product I don’t think I will ever live without.
If you want your skin to look like the Instagram “Paris” filter in real life, this is the product you need.
It’s a lightweight powder which can be used for baking but also overall setting. I’ve honestly stopped using setting sprays because this powder helps your makeup LAST. Bonus points if you use a powder puff with this.
My favourite shades are:
- Peach Pie for everyday use or when I want a bit of extra warmth.
- Cherry Blossom for extra brightening (I usually only focus this shade under my eyes).
- Banana Bread for everyday use. It’s the perfect shade for my neutral undertone.
There’s a reason why I post about this product almost every week. By the way, it also comes in a duo formula now so you can get the best of both worlds in one tub.
2. Benefit Cosmetics Benetint
The Benetint has been an iconic product for years, and this year we were blessed with two new shades (Raspberry and Dark Cherry).
Since May, I have not stopped using the shade Raspberry, which gives a gorgeous pink flush. I use this on the daily on my bare skin, but also when I do full glam. My favourite tip is to layer the Benetint with any of your favourite blushes. Here's the routine:
- Apply Benetint over your foundation.
- Set with powder (bonus points if you use Huda Beauty’s Easy Bake Powder).
- Apply powder blush on top.
I always hear people say their blush is the first thing to disappear. Trust me, if you incorporate the Benetint, you will never have to worry about your blush fading.
3. MAKE UP FOR EVER HD SKIN HydraGlow Foundation
MAKE UP FOR EVER is one brand that knows excellence, and this foundation really shows it.
The HD Skin HydraGlow Foundation is a gorgeous lightweight, hydrating foundation with buildable coverage. I’ve used this as a tint by sheering it out with my moisturiser, and also used it as a full coverage foundation, both experiences have been so wonderful.
The hyaluronic acid and glycols in this formula give you a beautiful luminous finish, so your skin looks so fresh and full of life, but also makes it great for all skin types.
4. MAKE UP FOR EVER Artist Color Pencil
Hailey Bieber was SO right about this pencil. Typically this has been used as a lip liner, but this delicious formula is also perfect to use as eyeliner. Heck, you can also use it on your cheeks and even as an eyebrow pencil.
These days a lot of brown lip liners have a red undertones however, the reason why I keep gravitating to this product is because of how true to colour it is. If you’re looking for a proper brown lip liner, Limitless Brown is the one. A little goes a long way too!
Personally, my favourite shades are: Limitless Brown which is a beautiful rich chocolate, and Anywhere Caffeine for a “my lips but better” shade.
The formula is really pigmented however very forgiving. If you want a muted liner, you can simply blend it in with your finger for a flush finish, with the same longevity.
5. The Ordinary Saccharomyces Ferment 30% Milky Toner
I’m very picky with my skincare so once I love a product, I will use it to death, repurchase and repeat. The Ordinary Saccharomyces Ferment 30% Milky Toner is a game changer!
This super gentle toner is powered by fernet filtrates which is great for brightening and smoothing. Whilst I love dabbling into acids (which can often disrupt the skin), this toner is incredible to balance and strengthen my skin barrier. The squalane is also super hydrating. I’ve been through so many bottles, and cannot recommend enough (especially for my sensitive skin girlies). This is also amazing as skin prep before applying making. @ The Ordinary, can we get this in a mist format?
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