Capsule Makeup Collection Challenge 2025

[itsfi]

Happy fall, BIC! 🍂🍁  Whether having a set of makeup products all picked out in advance makes it easier to get ready in the mornings or if you're looking for a fun way to use the new-to-you and tried-and-true products in your collection, welcome!! 👋 Please feel free to join in weekly or as a theme suits your style or piques your interests. We love seeing and being inspired by what beauties everyone is using. 💋

 

How does this work?

To add a little bit of fun and creativity to curating a makeup capsule, there will be a weekly theme or prompt on which that week's group of beauty products will touch upon. There's no need to have every single product for the week fit the theme exactly. All you need is one product. And, truth be told, how that product fits into the weekly theme is subject to interpretation. Yours, primarily. So, please feel free to be creative. This is about finding a set of makeup products that work for you and your lifestyle, whether already in your collection or waiting to be discovered (or, in some instances, re-discovered) by you. 

How Can / Do I Participate?  

There are several ways you can participate - You can post a photo of the products you use or tag and list them, as you like. You can give someone's post a heart and / or ask questions about products in someone's capsule. You can post a different capsule every week or once a month or every once in a while, when a theme grabs your interest or draws your attention. 

When and where are/will the weekly themes posted?

The weekly themes are (or will be) included in the original post - under the section titled "Current Makeup Capsule Theme" or "Upcoming Makeup Capsule Theme". Occasionally, I will post a link to a separate post with the monthly themes.

▶️  CURRENT MAKEUP CAPSULE THEME  [Updated 10.5.2025]

Week 41 (October 6 - 12) - The Beauty Brands Supporting Mental Health Awareness Makeup Capsule and/or The Makeup Artist at Sephora Makeup Capsule

A few options for capsule themes this week. Curate a capsule made up of one or more product(s): 

(a) from a makeup brand that supports or promotes mental health awareness* (in honor of the first full week of October being established by Congress in 1990 as Mental Health Awareness Week); and/or

(b) from "'new and breakthrough brands from beauty experts" at Sephora**. See spoiler below for more details and disclosures pertaining to both prompts.

Spoiler

Makeup Brands Supporting Mental Health Awareness*
Maybelline entered into a 5-year partnership in 2024 with the WHO Foundation to expand access to mental health services across the globe.

Rare Beauty by Selena Gomez "donates 1% of sales to the Rare Impact Fund (also founded by Selena Gomez), which aims to raise $100 million over 10 years to increase access to mental health resources."

Urban Decay entered into a 3-year partnership with the Cybersmile Foundation in 2021 to introduce a new campaign to raise awareness about online bullying and promote digital wellness. It appears the partnership may have concluded last year and I was not able to locate information to confirm that the partnership had been extended. 

* The list was compiled based on an online article titled "10 Must-Know Beauty Brands That Empower Mental Health Initiatives" from Who What Wear, statements found on brand websites and information obtained through various online searches.  

The Makeup Artists Edit at Sephora**
Makeup | Sephora
Charlotte Tilbury

Ciele (Nikki DeRoest)
Danessa Myricks Beauty
Fara Homidi
Huda Beauty (Huda Kattan)
Hung Vanngo Beauty
Isamaya (Issamaya Ffrench)
LYS Beauty (Tisha Thompson)
Makeup by Mario (Mario Dedivanovic)
m.ph by Mary Phillips
One/Size by Patrick Starrr
Pat McGrath Labs
Patrick Ta
Refy (Jess Hunt and Jenna Meek)
Violette fr. (Violette Serrat)

Westman Atelier (Gucci Westman)

** On the Sephora page(s) for The Makeup Artist Edit, the brands Make Up For Ever and Natasha Denona are not listed, but Charlotte Tilbury is listed among the group. Based on that arrangement and in absence of any further information I could find, I have assumed "new and breakthrough brands" to mean beauty brands having been around for less than 12 years as of 2025 (Charlotte Tilbury was founded approximately 11 years and 6 months ago in 2025). Accordingly, I have also included Pat McGrath Labs in the list above as PML has been around since approximately 2015, or 10 years. 

 UPCOMING Makeup Capsule Themes: [Updated 10.5.2025]

Spoiler

Week 42 (October 13 - 19) - The Indigenous People's Day Makeup Capsule, The Canadian Thanksgiving Makeup Capsule, and/or The Samples 2.0 Makeup Capsule

A few options this week for makeup themes. To celebrate October 13's Canadian Thanksgiving Day and Indigenous People's Day, put together a look with one or more product(s) from a Canadian or Indigenous founded or owned makeup brand (see spoiler below for non-exhaustive list).

Spoiler

Canadian founded/owned makeup brands - brands with an asterisk (*) next to their name can be found at Sephora:

19/99 Beauty

Attitude

Birch Babe

Bite Beauty

* Cheekbone Beauty (Sephora Canada)

Elate Beauty

Evio Beauty

* Hung Vanngo Beauty (Sephora US & Sephora Canada)

* Ilia (Sephora US & Sephora Canada)

Jason Wu Beauty

Lise Watier

* MAC Cosmetics (Sephora Canada)

Marcelle

* Nudestix (Sephora US & Sephora Canada)

* The Ordinary (Sephora US & Sephora Canada)

Selfcare by Bloom

Tok Beauty

I don't know about you but I've got some makeup samples that could use my attention, both to keep my pile of samples more manageable and also to see if there might be something I'd like to pick up during the upcoming holiday / year end sales. Now's a good time to put those samples to use and maybe head on over to the Foil Challenge if you finish up a foil in the process. In the name of research! Always good to make an informed purchase, right?! Who knows, it could be Love At First Sample!!! 🥰!

For additional prompts, check out October Makeup Capsule Themes 

Previous Capsule Themes: [Updated: 10.5.2025]

Spoiler

1 - The "New Year, New-To-You" Makeup Capsule  
2 - The "Mocha Mousse" Inspired Makeup Capsule
3 - The "Favorite Feature(s) Focus" Makeup Capsule  
4 - The "How Low Can I Go?" Makeup Capsule
5 - The "Lunar New Year 2025 Zodiac Sign Lucky Colors" Makeup Capsule  

February 2025 Capsule Themes <Click on link ⬅️ for more detailed description of capsule themes>
6 - The "Black Founded/Owned Beauty Brand(s)" Makeup Capsule
7 - The "Dynamic Duo, Trusted Trio or Killer Combo" Makeup Capsule
8 - The "New York Fashion Week Inspired" Makeup Capsule and/or The "Celeb-Inspired" Makeup Capsule
9 - The Throwback Makeup Capsule

March 2025 Capsule Makeup Themes <Click on link ⬅️ for more detailed description of capsule themes> 
10 - The "International Women Founded / Owned Beauty Brand" Makeup Capsule and/or The Palette(s) Makeup Capsule
11 - The Samples Makeup Capsule  and/or The "Attitude of Gratitude" Makeup Capsule
12 - The "Spring Is In The Air" Makeup Capsule
13 - The "Take 2" / Do Over" Makeup Capsule 

April 2025 Capsule Makeup Themes <Click on link ⬅️ for more detailed description of capsule themes> 
14 - The Spring Sticks Makeup Capsule
15 - The Flush of Color Makeup Capsule 
16 - The Spring Refresh Makeup Capsule 
17 - The “Green” Makeup Capsule 
18 - The Makeup-Artist-Founded/Owned Brand Makeup Capsule 

May 2025 Capsule Makeup Themes <Click on link ‌‌⬅️ for more detailed description of capsule themes> 
19 - The  Asian American Pacific Islander Founded / Owned Beauty Brands Makeup Capsule
20 - The "Tailored For You" Makeup Capsule
21 - The Vacation Makeup Capsule
22 - The Musician Founded / Owned Beauty Brand Makeup Capsule

June 2025 Capsule Makeup Themes <Click on link ‌‌⬅️ for more detailed description of capsule themes> 
23 - The Love Is Love Makeup Capsule 
24 - The Sleeping Beauties Makeup Capsule and/or The "Shop My Stash Makeup Capsule
25 - The "Welcome, Summer!" Makeup Capsule
26 - The "My Best Self" Makeup Capsule

July 2025 Capsule Makeup Themes <Click on link ‌‌⬅️ for more detailed description of capsule themes> 
27 - The Indie Brands Makeup Capsule and/or The Canadian Founded/Owned Brands Makeup Capsule  
28 -  The Multi-Taskers / Repurposed Makeup Capsule and/or The "On The Go: Summer Edit" Makeup Capsule 
29 - The Sizzling Summer Samples Makeup Capsule
30 - The Pop of Color: Summer Edit Makeup Capsule

August 2025 Capsule Makeup Themes <Click on link ‌‌⬅️ for more detailed description of capsule themes>
31 - The (Lip)Sticks (aka Lips + Sticks) Makeup Capsule
32 - The Athlete Founded / Owned / Endorsed / Influenced Beauty Brand(s) Makeup Capsule
33 - The Savvy Savings and/or Spectacularly Splurge-y Makeup Capsule 
34 - The Gifts (With Purchase) Makeup Capsule and/or The Gift-Worthy Makeup Capsule
35 - The Palettes Makeup Capsule

September 2025 Capsule Makeup Themes <Click on link ‌‌⬅️ for more detailed description of capsule themes>
36 - The Workhorse(s) Makeup Capsule
37 - The "Summer Favorites" Makeup Capsule 
38 - The LatinX Founded/Owned Beauty Brands Makeup Capsule 
39 - The Runway / Red Carpet Inspired Makeup Capsule

October 2025 Capsule Makeup Themes <Click on link ‌‌⬅️ for more detailed description of capsule themes>
40 - The FALL into Color Makeup Capsule

Additional FAQs

Spoiler

Why weekly? 
Years ago, beauty & lifestyle blogger Serein Wu, did a weekly series (on her blog and YouTube channel), Makeup Bag Monday, where she rotated her makeup bag each week with new product launches and makeup already in her collection. Every Monday, she shared the products she selected for the upcoming week and provided detailed makeup reviews on the makeup she used for the previous week. My reviews here will likely not be as detailed, but I will at least try to include a few thoughts about the products at the end of the week or beginning of the next week.  If weekly works for you, great. If not, feel free to join in based on what works best for you. 

Having a weekly capsule at the ready at (or near) the beginning of the week has also been helpful with making getting ready in the morning easier and more efficient, and that, has made it more fun too. It's also a great way for me to see how well a product performs with other products and that makes the decision to keep, donate, re-home or toss an item a lot easier. Also want to note that if the makeup for the week's capsule is not something you want to use for the entire week, that's fine, too. I generally use the makeup in the week's capsule 4-6 days during the week, sometimes more, sometimes less. 

When are the weekly themes posted?
I generally try to post the themes for the next month about two weeks before the start of that next month (so around the 15th of each month, give or take a few days), except that, for this month, weekly themes for weeks 2 thru 5 for January will be posted by or before end of the day on January 2. Weekly themes are updated at the end of the then current week (e.g., Sunday). This year, I will plan to update the weekly themes the Sunday before the start of the next week's theme, around 9pm Pacific / 10pm Mountain / 11pm Central / 12midnight Eastern Time.

What if I don't have enough products to fit the theme for a full face?

There's need for your entire makeup capsule to fit the weekly theme(s). Just one item will do. And, even if you don't have one that fits squarely within a theme, feel free to post your makeup capsule. We'd love to see what you're using and hear your feedback on the products as you put them to use - are they a favorite or a potential favorite? Are they just 'meh'? Or, is it time to declutter the item(s) from your stash?

Is there anything else I should include in my capsule?
It's all up to you what to include in your capsule. Some weeks, my capsule consists of completely different items than the week before. Other weeks, I've swapped out just a few items or have included additional items in one category of products - some of us refer to this as giving us options for the week. 

You may see reference to "fits." That was creatively coined by our fabulous @danielledanielle and refers to the bag or component that will hold the week's makeup and, specifically, does all the makeup for the week's capsule fit into the bag / storage component. You ca also include the makeup brushes and tools you use for application, if you wish.

[PrettyPaint]

@danielledanielle Awww....that's too bad that it's no longer available. Sorry that your lipstick broke! 😢

[danielledanielle]

Awww, thank you.  The Uoma bullets are prone to this, so I did buy two thankfully.  If this one breaks, I'm smooshing it back together 🤣 @PrettyPaint 

[CynthieLu]

Gorgeous capsule! @danielledanielle Could you tell us more about the pallete's and the quads? 😍 

[danielledanielle]

@CynthieLu 

The Quads from her sister line, which I think is defunct now, Uoma by Sharon C.  They pack a punch and are nearly true to color for me, which is saying a lot.  With something like a yellow and a green, it's usually going to be an issue.  A lot of greens look dirty on me depending on what is in the base, and a lot of yellows -- don't show up at all.  I use eye primer regardless, so I am pretty nit-picky on those colors in particular.  If I see a yellow or green (or dark purple) in something, I expect it to show on me muted and usually use a white base to make them pop. I don't have to do that here, sometimes I opt too, but it is nice to not have to.  They are powdery, but they blend well.  I also used the orange and red this week as blushes, and the orange one works out nicely, doesn't last all day, but subs in.  I wouldn't use the red as a blush again, lol, kinda patchy.

The palettes are the Allure palette and the Freedom palette.  The Freedom (black and white casing)  palette is one of my favorite palettes, it has 3 duo chromes, and each shade is named after an important Black figure.  Kind of like how all the Bad@$$ lipsticks are named after someone.  So it hits that nice space where it performs well, and has a pop culture or personal aesthetic to it.  The shimmers do have fallout, so that's my main complaint.  The Allure (multi colored casing) palette is my wearable version of Natasha Denona's Yucca (which I ended up getting later, but whatevs) or skin to ABH's subculture.  I has a grungy, emo feel to it.  The mattes are super powdery like the quads, and while I don't mind the tetxture, I do know a complaint is that the shimmers are chunky.  They work well together and separately.  They have 10 pans each.

[CynthieLu]

That was a good read @danielledanielle thank you for taking the time to go in depth on those. 🙏  I think I've seen one of these before at Shoppers Drug Mart ( Allure palette I think) and I need to go back and investigate what they carry from Uoma. I want to see Freedom in person if I can, I mean it's your favorite, I want to see it irl now. 😃

[Mellmars1185]

@danielledanielle Great capsule. I don't think I have tried anything from Uoma. I am curious about the Chris Collins perfume. After everything, I have not tried any of his scents. 

[danielledanielle]

@Mellmars1185I get what you mean, but any fragrance is genderless, but the scents are usually more herbaceous or bodied vs something that's floral, sweet out light, although I feel like Lost in Paradise and Long Kiss Goodnight have a sweetness to them Chris Collins is comparable to Kilian's On the Rocks IMO vs something more gourmand or candied.  Or think Tom Ford Fabulous or Oud vs their Vanilla ones.

At Sephoria, I was advised to not layer them, but I really like Harlem Nights with the Fenty Fragrance.  I do not like the Fenty but itself, it has this patchouli note I hate, but something like Harlem Nights (my guess is the Rum) just knocks out the Fenty patchouli-ness enough

[Mellmars1185]

@danielledanielle Very true. Thank you for the clarification. I am going back to edit that post. 

[danielledanielle]

@Mellmars1185, you didn't need to. TBH, that is always a question that's going to be asked about scents/fragrance at some point.  His line is interesting, because I think most people would automatically categorize all the accents as "masculine" but I've worn four of them and was never told I smelled a certain way.  The question just leads me to think there's just an expectation of what people think one should pick, that's all and I don't want people to avoid a really good line because they thought it was "too ______" something.  I didn't intend for you to edit, just wanted to highlight CC's versatility.

[Mellmars1185]

@danielledanielle Thank you. It gives me a new perspective. I think maybe in the past, scents were marketed a certain way, so I think I subconsciously categorized scents that way. I am open to trying all scents. And you are right, I had assumed that Chris Collins scents were masculine (whatever that means). Now, I am very curious to smell the fragrances 😊.

[itsfi]

That's a fab idea for a pairing @danielledanielle. I have been trying to find just the right pairing of vanilla with the Fenty fragrance. I'll have to give Fenty + Chris Collins Harlem Nights a try one of the days ... note to self!

[danielledanielle]

Fenty by itself 😑

Jazz Club + Fenty 😊

Harlem Nights + Fenty 😍

@itsfi 

If I still had whispers in the Library, that would also probably be good, but that got smashed against a tile floor, so I can only wonder 😓

[itsfi]

Oooh, thanks for those recommendations @danielledanielle. I have both those scents in discovery sets and will try them both.  Patchouli is one of those notes for me that in some fragrances work so well 😘 and in others just don’t work at all with my body chemistry. 😩 

Oh noooo, it got smashed!!! 😱🥺

[CynthieLu]

I've never really considered this but reading it made so much sense. Scents are genderless. Tiny mind blown moment 🤯 @danielledanielle @Mellmars1185 

Can I ask why they advised you not to layer that scents in particular?

[Mellmars1185]

@CynthieLu Yes I agree about the mind blowing moment. I am learning.

[danielledanielle]

@CynthieLu, I think it was just preference. I have not tried layering any Chris Collins with another Chris Collins scent. I think it would be overwhelming.  His line has a boldness and depth to it, but as I'm accumulating fragrances, I've been pairing them up to A. use them & B. have a bespoke/signature scent to me.

Also the rep....she was drop dead gorgeous, so I probably would've agreed with everything she said at that moment 😂

[CynthieLu]

Lol  @danielledanielle the last bit made me giggle. She had you at hello. 😂 Ok ok thou, I was just kinda curious but that make sense. I've never traveled into the land of intense scents but I can see where that would make layering challenging. 

[itsfi]

That’s an impressive Uoma collection @danielledanielle! Have you tried the loose setting powder? 

[danielledanielle]

Oh yeah, that's one of their heroes @itsfi 

They also have a hydrating one, that I have but haven't tried, meant to do it over last summer, but I started layering setting spray into my foundation  and it worked well enough.

[blackkitty2014]

Great idea to throw in some perfume @danielledanielle. I will copy you 😘

[danielledanielle]

@blackkitty2014 I copied someone else from last year (I think @cianni ) so we're both just thieves 🤣🤣