Capsule Makeup Collection Challenge 2025

[itsfi]

Hi there, BIC and happy spring! Whether (a) you're spring cleaning, or (b) returning to the office and wanting to use the makeup you have (new and old) or will pick up along the way, or (c) interested in putting together a collection (big or small) of "go to" or Top Shelf product for every day, the season, a special event or occasions, or just in general, or (d) for any other reason, please join us here at the Capsule Makeup Collection Challenge 2025. 

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 found by you. 

For me, I've found having a bag of makeup ready at the start of a week to be helpful in getting me out the door more efficiently, and feeling and looking put together. Some weeks my makeup bag has a minimalist look and feel; other weeks, the makeup capsule I've curated for use during the week resembles a more maximalist approach, with several products to choose from. There are weeks when I use the beauties in my capsule every day, and, there are weeks when I may add products into my existing bag of makeup during the week to meet my needs. 

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  

Week 22 (May 26 - June 1) - The Musician Founded / Owned Beauty Brand Makeup Capsule
We've got the American Music Awards (AMA) taking place on May 26. Use actual red carpet looks from this year or past years for inspiration when putting together a makeup capsule with one or more products that fit this week's prompt. Or, show us what product(s) you'd use if you were attending the AMAs. 🎶🎵🎶 Or, curate a capsue if one or more products from beauty brands (focusing primarily on makeup) that are founded or owned by a musician.

Spoiler

Below is a non-exhaustive list of brands founded or owned by a musician that have makeup products as a primary focus. Prodcts with an asterisk (*) after the brand name are available at Sephora. 

about-face (Halsey)
Fenty Beauty (Rihanna)*
GXVE by Gwen Stefani*
Haus Labs by Lady Gaga*
Kesha Rose Beauty
Keys Soulcare (Alicia Keys)
Rare Beauty by Selena Gomez*
R.E.M. Beauty (Ariana Grande)
Victoria Beckham Beauty

Optional (month-long theme): May is Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) National Heritage Month and to celebrate, we're bringing back the optional month-long theme in addition to the weekly themes. So, if you're up for the challenge, consider doing a tie-in of both, be it one product that fits both capsule themes, or one or more product from the then current weekly theme below and one or more product from an AAPI founded or owned beauty brand.

Spoiler

Below is a non-exhaustive list of makeup brands founded or co-founded / owned or co-owned by Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPI) - the brands listed are primarily ones that offer makeup / color cosmetics.  To the extent the founder's identify cannot be determined by the brand name, his/her/their name(s) will appear in parens next to the brand name. Brands with an asterisk (*) next to their name denotes that that brand is available at Sephora.

CLE Cosmetics (Lauren Jin)

CTZN Cosmetics (Aleena Khan, Aleezeh Khan, and Naseeha Khan)

Em Cosmetics (Michelle Phan)
Finding Ferdinand (Nhu Le)

* Glow Recipe (Christine Chang and Sarah Lee)

Jason Wu Beauty

Kimchi Chic Beauty (Kim Chi)

* Kulfi Beauty (Priyanka Ganjoo)

Live Tinted (Deepica Mutyala)

* Mango People (Sravya Adusumilli)

Meloway Makeup (Aiden Kim and Ash Kim)

* One/Size by Patrick Starrr

Orce Cosmetics (Yu-Chen Shih)

Ourself (Lauren Otsuki)

* Patrick Ta Beauty

Purlisse Beauty (Jennifer Yen)

Seraphine Botanicals (Sylvia Phann)

The Creme Shop (Theresa and Lawrence Kim)

* Tower 28 Beauty (Amy Liu)

U Beauty (Tina Craig)
* Velour Lashes (Mabel Lee)

* Wander Beauty (Divya Gugnani)

Yensa Beauty (Jennifer Yen)

UPCOMING Makeup Capsule Themes: [Updated 5.18.2025]

Spoiler

Capsule themes for June will be posted to the thread sometime during the Memorial Day weekend (most likely near the end of the long weekend).

Previous Capsule Themes: [Updated: 5.25.2025]

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

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.

[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 🤣🤣

[blackkitty2014]

Well but we smell fabulous @danielledanielle 😘

[peculiarzmakeup]

Beautiful capsule I love how you still have this brand a shoutout very neat. I love your addition of fragrances in your capsule and the fit is fitting! Amazing 😎 @danielledanielle 

[danielledanielle]

Thank you @peculiarzmakeup 

[ather]

@danielledanielle  Wow this is an amazing lineup! 

[danielledanielle]

Thanks @ather 

I am peacocking a bit, but this is also the time to display the contributions of black beauty.  Everything here was Sharon Chuter.  They only thing I didn't purchase before the buyout was their blushes.  There are multiple "hero"/well performing products here and this was a brand that was only around for a short time.  To develop so many products is nothing short of amazing.

IMO hero products are:

Baby Brow Fro To go and the Baby Brow Fro (not pictured, I've used mine up)

Black Magic Allure and Freedom Palette

Boss Gloss

Bad@$$ lipstick

Trippin' Smooth Setting powder

Drama Bomb Mascara

Stay Woke Concealer

  I love Sephora, but on their page they put "changing" the industry.  Mere semantics and possible miscommunication with, but it's wrong.  It's continuing to change the industry...Black entrepreneurs have been ever present.  Literally one of the first millionaires for hair care was a black woman.  Madame CJ Walker.

/Soapbox

[blackkitty2014]

The Lunar New Year week: please don’t kick me out of the classroom 😂🤣 I’m behind again. For Lunar New Year, I’d like to feature lots of red and gold. Chanel Reve D’Orient looks beat up (yes it is old) but it’s one of my all time favorite. I still try to hit pan sometimes this year.

x-post the lipstick challenge of these lipstick swatches 

PS I will try to take picture of this week capsule  tomorrow 😘 It’s pretty much PMG lip eye and cheek 😘

[CynthieLu]

The red and gold theme is so eye catching @blackkitty2014 😍

[Mellmars1185]

@blackkitty2014 Wonderful Lunar New Year capsule! ❤️💛❤️✨️

[Samtian]

@blackkitty2014 Whoo those are some stunning reds!