Makeup Madness Challenge 2023: CHAMPION REVEALED! Check out Community's Favorite Product

[TeamBIC]

Makeup Madness Challenge 2023

It’s March, and here in the BIC that can only mean one thing… 🥁… It’s time to celebrate the anniversary of one of our favorite activities: MAKEUP MADNESS! Yes, we’re bringing back this fan-favorite challenge for the third year in a row, where our beloved makeup categories go head-to-head in the ultimate showdown to earn the crown of Community Champion. 👑

This year, we’ve retired our previous winners – Mascara (2021) and Lipstick (2022) – and brought in a mix of some new and old categories to face off in some fierce competition. It’s up to YOU to vote on the winner … and share some tried-and-true beauty recs along the way (that’s what we’re really here for, after all).

Makeup Madness 2023 Champion: EYESHADOW!

Don’t know how to play? It’s easy! TO VOTE, hit the reply button below and tell us which category you’re voting for AND tag a product you love that represents the category you’re voting for during that week. For example, @GeorginaBT loves a tingly lip moment, so she might reply with “Lip Plumper! My new fave is Fenty Beauty by Rihanna Gloss Bomb Heat Universal Lip Luminizer + Plumper Hot Chocolit."

Let the games begin! Each new round of voting starts Fridays, and ends the following Thursday at 2pm PT:

• ROUND 1 (3/3 – 3/9): Lip liner (👑) vs. Lip plumper
• ROUND 2 (3/10 – 3/16): Face primer (👑) vs. Setting spray 
• ROUND 3 (3/17 – 3/23): Foundation (👑) vs. Tinted Moisturizer
  
• ROUND 4 (3/24 – 3/30): Eyeshadow (👑) vs. Eyeliner
• ROUND 5 (3/31 – 4/6): Lip liner vs. Face primer (👑) 
• ROUND 6 (4/7 – 4/13): Foundation vs. Eyeshadow (👑) 
  
• FINAL ROUND (4/14 – 4/20): Face primer vs. Eyeshadow (👑)
• CHAMPION REVEALED (4/21): 👑 EYESHADOW 👑

Hit “Reply” below and vote for your favorite product in this week’s round, use the “#” sign to tag a specific one you love, then check back for the results and the next round of voting!

UPDATE 4/21/23: Thank you to everyone who voted for their beauty faves in Makeup Madness 2023! This year's champion is EYESHADOW! Knowing how much the BIC loves dazzling eye palettes, it's hard to deny eyeshadow's place as this year's champ! Here were Community members' top-tagged eyeshadows from your votes throughout the challenge:

1. PAT McGRATH LABS Mothership V Eyeshadow Palette - Bronze Seduction 
2. NATASHA DENONA Glam Eyeshadow Palette 
3. Too Faced Sweet Peach Eyeshadow Palette 18 x 0.03 oz/ 0.85 g 
4. DIOR BACKSTAGE Eyeshadow Palette 
5. Danessa Myricks Beauty Mini Lightwork Vol. III The Experience Eye & Face Palette 

Also, just for fun, let's take a look at the top-tagged product from all the Makeup Madness categories this year! Check out your faves:

• Lip Liner: PAT McGRATH LABS Permagel Ultra Lip Pencil 
• Lip Plumper: LAWLESS Forget The Filler Lip Plumper Line Smoothing Gloss 
• Foundation: Armani Beauty Luminous Silk Natural Glow Foundation 
• Face Primer: tarte timeless™ smoothing & blurring face primer 0.5 oz/ 14.2 g 
• Setting Spray: Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Flawless Waterproof Setting Spray 3.3 oz / 100 ml 
• Tinted Moisturizer: Summer Fridays Sheer Skin Tint with Hyaluronic Acid + Squalane 
• Eyeliner: Danessa Myricks Beauty Infinite Chrome Waterproof Micropencil Eyeliner 

Thanks for playing!

[WinglessOne]

Face primer, even though I don't wear cream/liquid foundation. I use face primers for a couple of reasons: 

1. Oil & shine control - I've been loving Danessa Myricks Beauty Yummy Skin Blurring Balm Powder - Tinted Primer & Foundation Universal on my combo skin's oily zone (on and around my nose), as well as my sweaty forehead. This balm doesn't make my skin overly matte, thank goodness; it gives me more of a natural skin finish without emphasizing any dry patches. And it keeps me from running through many packs of blotting paper. 
   
   
2. Color correction - Smashbox Photo Finish Correct Anti-Redness Face Primer 1 oz. / 30 mL minimizes my surface redness quite nicely. A good color corrector should cancel out whatever color you want to mask, not fully obliterate it with its own color. I've tried several other anti-redness correctors that turned my skin very noticeably green. Smashbox's primer doesn't do that. Plus, it's a shade of green that works well with my "medium-deep to deep" skin tone, unlike many other correctors that are too pale/chalky a green to do the job. 

Shoutout to my old favorite mattefying primer, Lancôme Blur & Go Stick. It was fragrance-free, invisible on my skin, and shine-controlling without leaving a super matte finish, and it was very conveniently in stick form for on-the-go use. I know Lancôme has a new primer that comes in a compact but I haven't tried it—especially since Danessa's balm already works well for me. 

[CynthieLu]

Nice primer picks @WinglessOne 😀

[mishanyc]

I can't be without setting spray. I use it as the final step in my pretty minimal makeup routine.  It just helps my face products melt into my skin creating a natural finish.  My favorite is Too Faced Hangover 3-in-1 Replenishing Primer & Setting Spray 4 oz/ 120 mL I love the mist on this thing. It's a fine and even spray that's also quite refreshing.  

[Saradestin]

Oh yes @mishanyc !! How refreshing is a good setting spray fine mist! 💚💚💚

[Saradestin]

Team Setting Spray here @TeamBIC ! My favorites are Urban Decay All Nighter Makeup Setting Spray Duo Value Size - 2 x 4 oz/ 118 mL and Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Flawless Waterproof Setting Spray 3.3 oz / 100 ml depending on the day and finish I want. I love both!

[JoSometimes]

@Saradestin I’m team face primer but Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Flawless Waterproof Setting Spray 3.3 oz / 100 ml is amazing!

[Saradestin]

Yes, it is a gorgeous setting spray @JoSometimes ! 

[curlychiquita]

Team Setting Spray! I'm tagging my tried and true Urban Decay All Nighter Setting Spray Duo . To be fair, I enjoy the All Nighter so much that I haven't strayed to try anything new 

[Saradestin]

All Nighter is a winner @curlychiquita !! 

[sister13]

I have to go with Team Primer. I use the tarte timeless™ smoothing & blurring face primer 0.5 oz/ 14.2 g nearly every day to fill large pores on my nose! Otherwise, another fave is the Danessa Myricks Beauty Yummy Skin Glow Serum with Hyaluronic Acid & Niacinamide ! 

[Saradestin]

Great favorites @sister13 ! 👍

[JoSometimes]

Definitely team face primer. No amount of setting spray can fix a textured, dry base. It’s all about the prep! And my dry skin definitely needs some much needed moisture before foundation.

When I first got into makeup, I used #SEPHORA COLLECTION All Day Hyaluronic Acid Hydrator Moisturizer 1.69 oz/ 50 mL as a primer. Then I discovered First Aid Beauty Hello FAB Coconut Skin Smoothie Priming Moisturizer 1.7 oz/ 50 mL, which felt like giving my skin a tall glass of ice cold water. So moisturizing! I also like The Ordinary High-Spreadability Fluid Primer 1 oz/ 30 mL. Makeup goes on smoothly and doesn’t move after. 

[Saradestin]

I see that you have a very curated prep routine @JoSometimes ! That’s awesome!! 

[JoSometimes]

@Saradestin The first time I gathered the courage to ask a Sephora employee about feedback on my makeup, she told me skin prep was essential for minimizing texture. I drew some parallels to painting, where I need to sand surfaces smooth and apply to correct primer so that the paint sticks and the finish is nice and smooth. (I’m fairly handy when it comes to home and car repair.)

[Saradestin]

That’s such a great way to explain it @JoSometimes 👍

[Titian06]

Great analogy, @JoSometimes ! 💖💖💖

[JoSometimes]

Thanks @Titian06 and @Saradestin! My mind always draws parallels and makes analogies. I do it a lot at work and it’s hard to turn off. 😅

[Saradestin]

I find it so useful and, sometimes, even poetic @JoSometimes 

[Mellmars1185]

My vote goes to primer! I have to pick this because a good base for your makeup makes all the difference! I am still testing out different ones and have not found a favourite yet. Right now, I use skin care and spf as a primer. I use an spf by Viver that goes really well under makeup. I will tag a Rare Beauty Primer I enjoyed.

[Saradestin]

If SPF counts as a primer I may need to change my vote to primers  @Mellmars1185 ! 😅

[CarolBT]

I missed casting a vote for Lip Plumper last time around (although it was clearly a runaway winner with lip liner), so I'm not going to miss casting a vote for PRIMER!! And since I am mostly a skincare person and less of a makeup person, I am going with Supergoop! Unseen Sunscreen Invisible Broad Spectrum SPF 40 PA +++ !!! It's my fave because I get sunscreen protection AND the smoothing effects of a primer all in one. Love it!