The 18 Most Iconic Makeup Products Ever, According to Celebs and Makeup Artists

Assessing the thousands of makeup products that make up today's beauty market is no easy task. But as editors who routinely chat with the best makeup artists in the business, quiz celebs on their ride-or-die beauty staples, and receive bountiful old and new brand favourites on a routine basis, we're pretty well-versed when it comes to putting together an all-star ensemble of amazing powders, creams, wands and pencils. So we thought we might as well put all this knowledge to good use to piece together the ultimate makeup wardrobe featuring the 18 product staples we hear, see and use over and over and over again. 

Plus, to add even more credibility to our makeup masterpiece below, we cross-checked all of our favourite beauty retailers to ensure we're truly serving you the unanimous top picks and best sellers. 

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(Image credit: @PATIDUBROFF)

Looking to upgrade your makeup roster? Keep scrolling. Ahead, we're highlighting 18 of the best holy-grail makeup products money can buy. In other words, the investment pieces you'll fall in love with so you'll never find yourself unsatisfied or frustrated in the aisles of Boots or department stores again. Here lies your cheat sheet! 

Primer

Foundation

Concealer

Related: In Short, All Our Editors Love This £4 Cult Concealer

Setting Powder

Blush

Bronzer

Highlighter

Eye Shadow Palette

Liquid Eyeliner

Related: I Just Tried 45 Eyeliners—These Are the Ones I'd Actually Recommend

Gel Eyeliner

Eyelash Curler

Mascara

Glitter

Brow Product

Related: An Eyebrow Expert Wants You to Stop Making These Brow Mistakes

Lip Liner

Lipstick

Lip Gloss

Setting Spray

Beauty Director

Erin has been writing a mix of beauty and wellness content for Who What Wear for over four years. Prior to that, she spent two and half years writing for Byrdie. She now calls Santa Monica home but grew up in Minnetonka, Minnesota, and studied writing, rhetoric, and communication at University of Wisconsin, La Crosse. She studied abroad in Galway, Ireland, and spent a summer in L.A. interning with the Byrdie and Who What Wear family. After graduating from UW, she spent one year in San Francisco, where she worked as a writer for Pottery Barn Kids and PBteen before moving down to L.A. to begin her career as a beauty editor. She considers her day-to-day beauty aesthetic very low-maintenance and relies on staples like clear brow serum (from Kimiko!), Lawless's Lip Plumping Mask in Cherry Vanilla, and an eyelash curler. For special occasions or days when she's taking more meetings or has an event, she'll wear anything and everything from Charlotte Tilbury (the foundations are game-changing), some shimmer on her lids (Stila and Róen do it best), and a few coats of the best mascara-type product on earth, Surratt's Noir Lash Tint.