AND WE’RE BACK! Happy New Year!
I don’t believe in declaring products “the best” in any absolute sense. Context matters! Skin changes! Taste evolves! But I do watch patterns, and these 40 products defined The Love List’s 2025: they were innovative, they generated real buzz, you clicked on them relentlessly, I got cornered about them IRL (or in chat/DMs), or they became personal staples. As always, thank you for clicking, buying, questioning, arguing, and telling me when something worked.
If you’ve been reading The Love List for a while, you’ll recognize the throughline: fewer/better things, yes, but also things that justify the space they take up because they have a human story.
(As always, you can reference our beauty glossary and check our Shopping Discount Codes page for deals on our favorite products.)
Here’s what you loved the most in the year behind us.
Farah Homidi Beauty — Essential Lip Compact: Makeup, meet object. The matte colors are calibrated to tap on with a finger, and the compact itself makes touch-ups a pleasure. The companion lip liner is a must.
Madame Grey — Perfume: One of the most asked-about scents of the year, and deservedly so. It wears close and smells expensive in a way that’s hard to elucidate, which was exactly Cassandra Grey’s intention. It’s been such a runaway hit that the brand introduced a more accessibly priced travel bottle and a companion sex kitten hair perfume.
m.ph Beauty — Underpainting Palette: This overhauls how you do your makeup without making it a big deal. The textures blend without fuss, and everything looks better layered on top. It’s a product for people who want structure without heaviness, and it explains why Mary Phillips’ work looks so incredible, especially in photos. She also introduced a tawny lip pencil meant to create a shadow under your lip line that, once I mastered it, people accused me of getting filler. Top it with Mary’s cheeky lip ciggy.
Zepbound: I’m including this as a beauty product because pretending weight loss doesn’t radically affect how people experience their face, body, and clothes feels disingenuous. Zepbound reshaped lives, wardrobes, confidence, and conversations in 2025—on Substack, IRL, everywhere! The downstream effects on beauty are undeniable, and anyone paying attention knows it belongs in this conversation.
Victoria Beckham Beauty — Foundation Drops: This is one of the most-discussed products in our chat. The drops even out tone and photograph beautifully without making you look “done”. It’s the kind of base that makes people ask what you've done, not what you’re wearing. Apply it with a damp BeautyBlender.
Biologique Recherche — Masque VIP 02: A reformulated classic that had a very real resurgence in 2025, mainly because it still does exactly what people want their skin to do: look rested, plump, and expensive. It’s oxygenating, deeply corrective, and reliable when your skin is tired or sallow.
Westman Atelier — Bronzing Drops: These solve the exact problem most bronzers create: too much. Gucci Westman would never! A few drops warm up skin without turning it muddy, and they mix seamlessly into whatever you’re already using—moisturizer, foundation, or nothing at all. It’s a believable color, not contour cosplay, which is why so many people stuck with it.
Celisse — The Full Set Manicure Kit: The answer to a viral question? Maybe! This became a niche obsession because it actually made at-home nails feel polished instead of DIY. Best of all, the polishes apply as easily as your lip gloss.
KRAUM — Eye Makeup Brushes: I don’t know that I would call Annie Kreighbaum’s first foray into brushes “considered” so much as “obsessive”. The word here is precision. The shapes make sense for the way real, non-professional people apply, and they encourage a lighter hand, which most eye makeup benefits from.
Maison d’Etto — I-Dream Perfume: Vanilla can be polarizing. I have hated its cloying saccharine smell as long as I can remember. But this one is different. It’s intimate and strange, a little green, and doesn’t bloom in your nostrils like a potent nuke cloud. Best worn with your most expensive outfit.
Celebrity doctors and aestheticians ruled the shelves this year, making who you see just as important as what you’re having done. Dermatologist Dr. Idriss’s Barrier Baste duo (11) became shorthand for “my skin can’t take another winter.” Nurse Practitioner Jordan Harper ramped up Barefaced, and the brand’s hypochlorous acid spray (19) migrated from post-procedure care into everyday gym bags as an acne solution. At the same time, the conversation around interventions shifted: under-40 facelifts (13) went mainstream (paging Dr. Levine!), and blephs became almost mundane.
Hair had its own moment, but the rule was that it had to be easy. La Bonne Brosse brushes (12) had the girls cooing “ooh la la” during gift guide season, especially when paired with Crown Affair Overnight Hair Serum (17), which organically folded into evening routines alongside skincare. Dune’s The Bod Guard (15) became something I clocked because everyone seemed to have it this summer, including The Row in Amagansett.
ROZ’s Salt Scalp Scrub (14), which landed mid-December, elicited a mellow “ahhhh” when I first started detox-testing it in October, while precision products like Lisa Eldridge’s Pinpoint Concealer Micro Correcting Pencil (16) daintily deleted blemishes. And then there were the old-world indulgences, like Santa Maria Novella’s Terracotta Pomegranate (18), that suddenly seemed to be ubiquitously fragrancing all the modern New York bathrooms.
Wellness is beauty, and likewise. Ever heard of beauty sleep? Sakara’s Night Service (20) supplement guaranteed it, without melatonin nightmares or histamine hangovers. Devices followed the same logic: Therabody’s vibrating red-light mask (21) signaled an evolving wellness consumer, one who demands science with bells and whistles.
Makeup and skincare leaned similarly. ILIA mascara (22)—especially the new brown—had a real moment because it appealed to the wellness-loving, skin-first crowd. And seasoned power users doubled down on what already worked: Vintner’s Daughter Active Botanical Serum (23) in 2025’s large format bottle felt practical if, like me, you were already in a years-long commitment with the brand — our readers are their top converters.
Skin resurfacing also got smarter and more specific, whether through still-trusted laser duos like BBL/Moxi, the prevalence of innovative treatments like VIPeel, or at-home, with products like Lilis’ Korean body peel (24) and Sofie Pavitt’s Mandelic Acid Serum (26). For cleansing and ritual, May Lindstrom (25) surged back onto the scene after a successful seeding campaign, while Kindred Black’s pleasing oils, tinctures, and potions (27) sat at the far end of the spectrum, more focused on intention and atmosphere.
Small luxuries made the everyday feel more considered. St. Rose’s French Poetry perfume (28) landed squarely in that lane, smelling grounded and transportive. The same could be said for David Mallet’s hairpin (29), which became a daily companion for many of us after I posted a video of David twisting it into my hair. Makeup followed suit: Westman Atelier’s new lip pencils (30) made the case for stay-put definition without drama, while Regime des Fleurs’ buzzy Blood Spider Orchids perfume (32, what a name) felt like a deep cut for people who like their scents gothic and feminine.
Comme Si’s Pilates socks (31) were a ‘25 bellwether for the ubiquity of what began as a prison workout. EADEM’s exfoliating lip balm (33) solved the daytime dry-lip problem with a bit of color. Even heritage flexes felt approachable: a delightfully frivolous Hermès nail file (35) scratched the luxury itch for people who don’t carry a Birkin. Vanity culture had its own moment, too—Isamaya’s makeup wipes (34) demanded permanent counter space next to our perfume bottles and Instagram-worthy hair brushes. And Jillian Dempsey’s Flyk Trick mascara (36) earned its spot by letting people get a catlike eye flick without actually committing to liner.
At the end of the list are the things that reminded us beauty need not be so serious. Cyklar’s (37) paparazzi-fueled body oil went properly viral after Hailey Bieber, but it stuck because it actually delivers glassy skin and a sexy scent. Lazy Jamie’s TV tray (38) somehow became a bath essential. Overnight treatments leaned maximal in the most literal sense: Biodance’s bio-collagen overnight face masks (39) joined the chorus of “maxxing” your morning shed.
And then there’s Ghia’s new blood orange spritz (40), which earns its place here less for what it does and more for what it replaces. Sobriety (or even just drinking less) has quietly become one of the most effective beauty interventions around, and Ghia made it feel social rather than punitive. Better skin, steadier moods: not exactly a serum, but the results speak for themselves.
The Love List is love listing.
Very into the bronzing drops.