Every year new beauty products get launched, and each year the quality and innovation in this industry just gets better.  Some products remain in my kit over the years while others change as I find new and better products for my makeup kit.  Here are my top picks for 2014, which I truly loved.  Check them out, I’m sure you’ll love them just as much as I do.

Face Primers:

Dior Glow Maximizer Light Boosting Primer is a new primer I tried this year.  What I love about it, is the immediate glow and luminous look it gives the skin. It feels super light-weight, and under foundation makes the skin look incredible. Highly recommended!

Benefit :The Porefessional Primer is a primer I’ve been using for a few years now, it’s still one of the best primers I’ve ever used.  It helps to minimize pores, smooths the skin and photographs well.

Eye Primer:

I’ve tried many eye primers over the years, and I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t like sheer primers.  Primers that block out the base work better and help make eyeshadows pop.  As well, they photograph much better than sheer eye primers.  MAC Soft Ochre Pro Long Paint Pot is an excellent primer for NC15-NC35 skin tones.  If you’re deeper in color you can try a deeper shade of the primer they have a lot of colors to choose from. For me, It’s everything I’m looking for in a primer – long wearing, works well under shadow, blocks out and neutralizes the eyelid and is very easy to work with.

Foundations

Dior Star was a stand out product for me in 2014.  It’s really an excellent foundation.  When I use this foundation my skin looks amazing instantly , there is a gorgeous glow (you can make this matte by setting it with powder) and my face never looks cakey.  For me this is my favorite foundation to date and I’ve been using it every single day since I bought it. It’s amazing!

Nars Sheer Glow is another foundation I loved that I tried in 2014.  It’s a medium coverage that makes the skin look dewy and gorgeous.  If you have oily skin they have a matte version as well, which is also very very good.  I love how this foundation makes the skin look radiant and gives a great  finish.

BB Cream:

Estee Lauder Double Wear All-Day Glow BB Cream is a new product launched in 2014.  It’s a great long-wearing BB Cream that gives  light coverage. I love this for day time as it is hydrating and feels really light on the skin.  It has SPF 30 which is more then most of the BB Creams out there.  I love how my skin looks when I wear this, its perfect for daytime, school and work.

Concealers

NARS concealer is a new concealer I tried this year.  IT’S AMAZING: hydrating, yet gives an awesome coverage.  I absolutely loved it! I like using it for both concealing and highlighting.

Mac Pro Long Wear, I’ve been using for a few years and it’s still one of the best concealers on the market.  Full coverage, yet a liquid that gives a non-cakey finish. It photographs well, and is extremely long lasting.  It’s still my favorite concealer to date.

Contour

Most contours I’ve tried end up looking orange.  My favorites for 2014 was obviously the Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit and new to my kit was Tom Ford Sable Translucent Powder and Tom Ford Chestnut Foundation Stick.  With these products you can achieve the perfect contour.  Nothing compares.

Bronzer

Too Face Chocolate Soleil Matte Bronzer is the perfect bronze color.  I love the warmness in the bronzer and that it is MATTE.  You can use this bronzer as a contour as well. If you have a lighter skin tone, go easy with your brush and apply less.  If you have a deeper skin tone, you can add more pressure to your brush and apply more product.  Since I’ve bought this bronzer, I don’t use any other.

Blush:

I’ve been looking for the perfect pink blush for awhile.  I fell in love with Dior’s Pink Glow Blush.  It’s so long lasting, that even if I splash water on my face it remains.  It’s extremely natural and it mimics the natural pink tone of your skin to make it look like your blushing from the inside.  It really is WOW !

Clinique Chubby Stick Cheek Color Balm is a new edition to the Chubby Stick family in 2014.  It’s a long-lasting cream blush stick that looks natural on.  Good for the day, when you don’t want to look like you have too much makeup on.  I like how it kinda just stains the cheeks to give a natural looking color to the face.

Eyeshadow

There aren’t too many matte shadow palettes out there these days.  I love The Balm’s Meet Matte Nude Palette as it has large size shadows that are all 100% matte.  The colors are very wearable for day or evening.  You can create so many different looks with this palette, you’ll be surprised!

I picked Kiko for the first time in Berlin earlier this year.  Kiko is a really good line of affordable products and their water eye shadows are something to talk about.  I love the shine and glow these shadows give while still giving you pigment! You can use them wet or dry and they give such a gorgeous color payoff that seriously I need to get more.  Get your hands on these shadows,They are a must – have  and really cheap too!

NARS Bengali is a shadow that I really use a lot now, I think with almost every look.  It’s a deep matte brown that is a good transition color for a smoky eye, to use in the crease to create depth and even on it’s own under the eye. It’s really pigmented and the color works well for Arab and Asian skin tones. It’s the color that totally got me, and the NARS quality is excellent.

Eyeliner:

They’re Real Push Up Liner from Benefit is a revolutionary product that was launched in 2014. Though I know some of you found it difficult to use, with some practice (like any eyeliner) this one is worth it.  It’s matte and ULTRA black! The slant tip makes it easy to get into corners or to create that perfect winged out cat eye that is straight!  Also, it stays put! You need oil or They’re Special remover to get it off…it’s that good.

Kryolan liquid eyeliner was the liquid eyeliner I used most in 2014.  I like the texture of the liner, it’s black and dries quickly.  I also like the brush, it’s easy to use and you can create the thinnest line with the liner.

Inglot #77 Gel Eyeliner changed things for me in 2014.  It’s the blackest, most long lasting liner I’ve used in my life.  It dries quick and stays on all day and night (even if you sleep in it!).  Simply put, it’s the best.

Eye Brows

In 2014 I decided to grow in my eyebrows.  It’s been a few months but they do look pretty horrible since its still an in-between phase.  I now have to create new eyebrows that are thicker to balance out the growing hair. Anastasia Beverly Hills Dip Brow is a product that I can’t live without.  It’s a pomade that you can use in your brows to make it look like you have hair where you don’t.   It shapes, defines and colors in the brow so perfectly, it looks natural!  I have Ebony which works well with my coloring. Anastasia Beverly Hills Eye brow powders are also really good.  They look really natural on and match your hair perfectly.  I got the pro palette to use professionally for clients as well.  Personally I use Dark Brown the most.

Mac Pro Long Wear Waterproof Brow Set is another product I started using in 2014, and what I like about it is that it combs the eyebrow hair and sets it to place after your done shaping and defining.  It coats the hair and makes the brow look groomed and finished.  I like using a lighter color sometimes as well, to give my brow some natural highlights.

 Dolce & Gabbana Shaping Eye Brow Pencil I loved this pencil !  It’s a creamy brow pencil that comes out in a slant, so you can shape, define and create brow strokes with the pencil while still looking natural.  The colors and texture are amazing and look exactly like your brow when you put it on.  A good product for those looking to add some definition. 

Mascara:

I’ve been a Lancome Hypnose girl for many, many years.  In 2014, I found a bunch of new mascaras that I loved.  Better than Sex from Two Faced is super black and dramatic I love the fullness it gives to the lashes.

Estee Lauder Sumptous Infinite was another mascara I discovered in 2014, and what I love about it most is the length it gives the lashes.  Holy wow, lashes become separated and super duper long with this mascara.  I really like the brush on it.

Lancome’s new Grandiose mascara is the first mascara to be on a slant and was launched in 2014.  Makeup Artists have been slanting their mascara wands for years and this was the first mascara to come out with a brush that was already slanted!  The brush is the beauty of this mascara, very easy to use on both top and bottom lashes. You can get in close to those lashes you normally ignore in the inner corner of the eye. Works very well on the bottom lashes as well to give fullness and volume.  The formula is great too, very creamy and black.

Lips:

Being obsessed with lip products, I really had to narrow down the ones which I loved most in 2014.  Two Faced Lip Injection Extreme is a really good lip plumper I began using.  It works to plump up the lips and it’s the best one I’ve come across so far.

YSL Baby Doll Kiss & Blush was a lip product I loved because of the matte yet natural look it gives to the lips.  The product sits very close to the skin and gives more coverage than a stain but less then a matte lipstick.  You can also use it on the cheeks for a soft wash of color.  #08 was my favourite color from the collection.

Smash Box Be Legendary Long-Wear Lip Lacquer is a really nice lacquer. I haven’t come across good lacquers for sometime and I really loved this one.  It goes on like a lacquer then adjusts to a stain that lasts for 8-Hours!  It’s more pigmented then your typical lip stains which is why I love it even more!

Lime Crime was my favorite lip product for 2014 as it has everything I love.  It’s a liquid matte lipstick that is full coverage, water proof, highly pigmented, gorgeous bright colors and long lasting.  I hope they come out with more colors in 2015.

Estee Lauder is really upping their game.  After signing Kendall Jenner as their brand ambassador they are bringing on a lot of changes and coming out with lots of new products.  They’re new lipstick Pure Color Envy is very well researched and comes in 20 stunning shades.  What I loved most about this lipstick is that it gives a comfortable creamy finish to the lips but is so so long lasting.  It gives texture and shapes the lips as you use it so you don’t need a liner.

Wojooh Beauty launched their own makeup line in 2014, and their Lipstruck Extreme Wear Lip Lacquer really caught my attention. They come on creamy and dry to a semi-matte finish. They have some gorgeous shades and come in a good variety.  Really liked this lip product!

Bobbi Brown Art Sticks were launched in 2014.  They are SO AMAZING! Large creamy jumbo pencils that come in some beautiful shades! I love the texture of these pencils they have a creamy matte finish.  Literally sold out all the time in the Middle East, a must own!

So that was my long list of beauty products that managed to leave their mark on me this year. All products and reviews in this post include opinions that are solely my own and I wasn’t paid for endorsing these products by any brand or PR agent.

I hope you liked my list! Why don’t you guys tell me some of your favorite products of 2014 and we can share notes! Have a wonderful new year everyone!

Stay beautiful!