Best of the Best 2025 Makeup Products for Mature Skin (So Far)

With Halloween behind us, it seems appropriate to take a look back and focus on some of the truly outstanding skincare and makeup products that are new or new to me this year. Let me note that many of them are from the drugstore.

Great New Serum and Moisturizer

Serum

First up is Merit’s Great Skin Instant Glow Serum which is a lightweight serum that immediately hydrates and plumps the skin for a healthy glow. Apply it after your serums and before your moisturizer. It includes a proprietary blend of four types of hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, cacao seed extract – which stimulates blood flow to create a plumping effect – and Japanese goldthread root which has ancient soothing properties.

This product needs to be shaken well first and then two to three pumps should be patted onto the skin if you have dry skin. Use less if you have oily or combination skin. It should be absorbed into the skin as much as possible before applying the next face product.

Moisturizer

I found Merit’s Great Skin Moisturizer to be one of the most impressive products I’ve tried this entire year. It’s a wonderfully lightweight feeling cream that’s fragrance-free and, frankly, does it all. Not only does it provide timed release hydration throughout the day, but it also preps the skin for makeup application, helps soothe the skin and contains hyaluronic acid and oat extract. It’s also enriched with a complex of peptides, spermidine and poly saccharides that help the skin’s elasticity, firmness and tone.

And what I noticed – and loved immediately – was how it felt on my skin. The product description says it creates a blurred, cashmere-like finish, and I think ‘cashmere-like’ is a perfect description. This is quite honestly, the most amazing feeling moisturizer I’ve ever used. And it also acts beautifully as a primer.

Excellent Blurring Primer

Another primer option that I discovered this year that I’m really enjoying is the Poreless Blur Primer from Catrice. It’s a soft-focus-effect primer that blurs fine lines and pores and ensures a flawless application. Niacinamide is one of the ingredients, and it feels absolutely wonderful on the skin. It also helps even out skin texture and increases makeup wear time.

Catrice offers four other primers that address specific challenging issues. There’s an oil control primer, an anti-redness primer, a fresh glow primer, a grip primer and a new bronze glow grip primer. And the price point of $8.00 is pretty impressive.

Excellent Eye Products

During this past year, no-makeup makeup looks and minimalist makeup looks gained favor. So there were some great new neutral eyeshadow palettes.

Eyeshadows

My most recent discovery is the Pure Nude Eyeshadow Palette from Catrice which has a wonderful formula that applies and blends beautifully. There are eight highly pigmented shades and a great shade range from light to medium to deep. Four of the shades are shimmers and four are mattes.

And this last eyeshadow palette has become my absolute go-to, and it’s what I’m wearing today. It was created by my wonderful friend Sharalee of Sharalee’s Box of Chocolates. It’s her My True Beauty eyeshadow collaboration with Doll 10 Beauty. It contains three shimmers and six mattes, and, for me – it’s the perfect combination of neutral colors.

The palette has a talc free formula that’s triple-milled to a silky-smooth consistency and formulated with minerals that lay down evenly and blend seamlessly. And it’s a clean beauty product so it’s great for those of us with sensitive eyes. In the video I’ll share just a few of the looks that can be created with this palette.

Mascaras

I’m also thrilled with two new drugstore mascaras I discovered that also happen to work beautifully for those of us with sensitive eyes. The Versed Day Lash Lengthening and Defining mascara comes in both brown and black and creates a great day time look that is clump free.

And I’m really pleased with the length and volume created by Catrice’s $8.00 Hyperlash Mascara. There are no clumps, no flakes and it comes in black, a black waterproof formula, brown and burgundy. This mascara creates a really beautiful dramatic look.

Be sure to check out Elise’s YouTube channel which specifically focuses on makeup tips, techniques, and product reviews for those of us 50+. Don’t forget to subscribe!

Excellent Face Makeup Products

The most innovative product I tried that surprised me – and which I’ve come to love – is the One Size B12 Base Thinner Serum. It’s a pearlescent mixing medium and serum that boosts radiance and transforms the coverage and finish of foundation while also adding hydration.

If you just want to add a little radiance to your foundation, mix one pump of this One Size Base Thinner with one pump of foundation. For a sheerer radiant look, add two pumps of base thinner to one pump of foundation. And to create full coverage with light radiance, add one half pump of the base thinner with two pumps of foundation.

An innovative new drugstore product was the Shape Shifter Micro contour stick from Morphe which is super slim. This thin contour stick provides a targeted application that can help sculpt the forehead, define the cheekbones, chisel the jawline – and refine the nose and lips. It’s a creamy formula that’s richly pigmented and glides on really smoothly. It also builds and blends seamlessly.

To get the right color, it’s important to know which shade will work for your skin tone as well as your skin undertone, so be sure to check the description of the color on their website.

Three Excellent Blushes

This was a year of a phenomenal number of blush launches, so I have to give a shout out to three of them that I found to be especially good and two of them are drugstore.

Drugstore Blushes

The ten dollar Moira Liquid Blushes are wonderfully pigmented and long lasting. I especially love the fact that there’s a very large shade range that’s composed of 13 radiant shades and 5 matte shades. These blend in very easily and have been a really great find.

The drugstore brand Morphe has definitely experienced a resurgence this year with some great new innovative products. Earlier, we talked about their new micro contour stick and now let’s focus on their Cheek Thrills Blush Palette. This palette contains a multi-finish blush trio that includes powder blush, cream blush and a luminous balm in monochromatic tones.

You can mix and match any of these finishes to create your own custom colors, effects and finishes. I love layering them to create a blush look that is definitely more long lasting. I also appreciate the fact that they’ve included a plastic cover over the two cream products so the powder blush won’t get mixed in with the cream formulas.

This is a pricier drugstore product at $19.00, but it does contain three different formulas and the packaging is substantial. The beautiful balm finish creates a lovely, luminous glow that’s really more like a shimmery metallic highlight. It almost has glittery look so that may or may not be something you’re comfortable with. In the video I’ll swatch the three shades in the palette I have so you can better see the finishes – especially the luminous balm finish.

Designer Brand

This next blush is from a makeup brand that’s specifically designed for mature skin. It’s the blush stick from Revant Cosmetics which comes in three shades: “Dusty Rose,” “Deep Merlot” and “Magenta Pink.” These blushes deliver a lovely dewy soft focus glow that doesn’t settle into fine lines. It’s lightweight and buildable and blends in easily without streaks or cakey texture. It can be applied with fingers for a quick touch of color, or it can be layered for a more defined look. It’s also vegan, cruelty-free, paraben-free and fragrance free. (For 10% off on this product, be sure to use the code ELISE10).

A Wow of a Lip Gloss

This last product is a lip gloss and is one of Fenty Beauty’s Gloss Bomb Stix in the High Shimmer Formula. It’s a gorgeous shimmering lip color that’s packed with Squalane, Vitamin E and Shea Butter which helps lock in moisture and helps the lips feel wonderfully soft. It’s not the least bit sticky and the shimmer formula doesn’t dry out the lips. I have the shades “Flamingo Fling” and “Icy Amethyst” – which I’ll swatch – but this product also comes in four additional shades.

Let’s Talk:

What skincare and makeup products have you tried this year that would make your list of top 2025 products? I hope you’ll share those products in the comment section below.