2011 Favorites

Aaaand it's the last day and last few hours of 2011! Instead of doing a December favorites post, I decided to just do a post that includes all the products that stood out to me this year. Sure, I had a bazillion favorites but the ones that truly swept me off my feet are what you will see below. Otherwise you would have to see 50 blushes, 100 eyeshadows...you know I fall in love with products quite easily! 

First up is the wonderful Z palette. I love it for mainly two reasons; helps greatly in my attempt to keep my life and makeup drawer organized and it helps me find the color I am looking for very easily because of its clear lid. Read my review here.

Natural Eye by Too Faced hopefully isn't a surprise to anyone as it is one of my absolute favorite palettes! Other eyeshadow discoveries and obsessions are MAC's Patina, Woodwinked, Twinks, All That Glitters, Chanel Taupe Grise (definitely a winner by far!) in addition to Inglot's velvety soft and super pigmented shades.

Dior Amber Diamond is definitely in my top 10 products of the year. It's everything I would want a highlighter to be. It highlights my cheekbones like no other. Yes it is pricey, it is Dior after all. But if it makes me feel good, and it does, then it's worth every penny. Tarte Amazonian Clay Blushes have most likely deserved the most amazing and long lasting blushes of the year award. Not only are they paraben-free but last all day on skin and come in a variety of gorgeous colors. My favorite and shown above is Tipsy. Benefit Bella Bamba has been my go-to pink blush this year, it has just the right amount of shimmer thus making it easily wearable during the day. Have I mentioned it smells amazing? Top drugstore blush just must go to Milani's Baked Powder Blushes. My favorite is in Luminoso. It's the perfect light peach which wears beautifully when paired with Dior Amber Diamond. Favorite bronzer-but-really-blush kind of product is Laura Geller's Blush-n-Brighten in Honey Dipped. I would have most likely never figured out this product even existed had I not received it in my Birchbox few months ago, thank you Birchbox! Almost every time I wear this product, I get asked what it is! It's quite magical for a bronzy blush.

I talk about MAC Paint Pots quite a bit but don't be fooled because between you and me I have just introduced myself to them exactly a year ago. Since discovering these little gems of pots, I have started using UDPP less and less. And since picking up Nubile several months ago, I have not been using UDPP at all. I just feel like paint pots perform just the same (and some shades even last longer!) are less expensive and come in variety of permanent shades. My absolute favorites this year have been, Nubile, Vintage Selection, Indianwood and Genuine Treasure. 

Shu Uemura's Painting Liner in Black has been my go-to gel liner this year. I love it for lasting forever on my semi-oily lids, no flaking, smudging nada. I couldn't ask for more. Anastasia's clear brow gel have kept my eyebrows in place this year and have done an amazing job making my brows always look groomed. Concealers of the year have been Hard Candy Glamoflauge and YSL Touche Eclat. Glamoflauge will cover just about anything, I heard even tattoos! It lasts all day on my trouble areas on my face and it also seems like it will last me few years as you just need a tiny drop of it to cover a medium to large patch of skin. Ah Touche Eclat, why haven't I tried you all these years? It's done wonders for my under eye area, making me look awake on the days I was barely able to keep my eyes open. 

If you've been reading my blog for a while then you may know that I am not such a huge lip product fan like some other blogger friends out there. But when I love a lip product, I love it endlessly! MAC's Shy Girl, Hue, Underage, Maybelline's Pink Please, Revlon's Soft Nude, Dior's Singuliere and YSL Gloss Pur #2 to name a few. I believe I will never be without these beauties! 

The most important brush this year for me was MAC 217. I believe everyone needs not one but multiple of 217. It's seriously the best for blending! MAC 227 comes very handy especially during busy mornings and makes life so much easier. With 227, I literally apply and go. It's great for quickly applying an overall lid color. For face brushes, I absolutely fell in love with Sigma F80. It works amazingly with my favorite foundation ever, Revlon Photo Ready. The combination of these two leaves my face looking flawless. Earlier this year I experimented with Sigma F50 and began using it for blush application and since then it's the only brush I use for this purpose. A small duo fiber brush just doesn't apply well on my face and makes it hard to blend, but F50 does a perfect job. And finally Sigma F35 for contouring, applies the contour shade exactly where it should be. F35 is also great for what it's actually for; highlighting. 

2011 was a glittery and shimmery year for me - in terms of nail polishes that is :) Sure, my all time favorites nail polishes do not include this much glitter but this year...I decided change was in order! So I reached, more than it was necessary, for glitter overload polishes like Milani Jewel FX and Sephora by OPI Spark-tacular. I also enjoyed Orly Rage and Butter London All Hail the Queen on days I needed to be more polished (yes, pun intended!) :)

I want to thank my lovely readers and my blogger friends for making 2011 a great year with great beauty discoveries! I wish all of you a very happy new year, may 2012 be a year of joy and happiness with loved ones!

xoxo

Wows & Blahs / 2010

My last post of 2010...I wanted this post to be a summary of products that just amazed me. I was initially going to list everything from my favorite mascara to foundation to shampoo and every product in between. But then I felt like it wouldn't be a favorites post but rather a holy grail products post (which I will blog about one of these days) 2010 was not the year of only amazing and wonderful products, I had a few disappointments here and there! I thought now is the perfect time to talk about those too! :)

//Wows...

Revlon Photo Ready

I always say: This foundation was made for me! Gives the perfect coverage, a flawless "photo-ready" finish, stays on until I take it off!

Illamasqua Lover, NARS Lovejoy, Benefit Hoola

Without a doubt, Illamasqua Lover has been my go to blush ever since I purchased it earlier this year. Funny how much I use it and I still haven't hit pan on it! Then, not too long ago, I met NARS Lovejoy and it's become one of my top blushes ever. They are two different colors so I can't even compare them. I love them both! Hoola is an amazing matte bronzing powder that gives the most perfect tan to my face without looking fake.

e.l.f. Contouring Blush & Bronzing Powder, N.Y.C. Blushable Creme Stick

This e.l.f. duo is seriously high-end quality. I use both shades as blush and I occasionally use the bronze shade for contouring. This duo has been compared to the original, NARS one and it's pretty darn close for fraction of the price of the NARS duo! N.Y.C. blushable creme sticks have been a total hit in the beauty community this year and I gotta agree with the hype! I am not big on cream blushes because it can be such a hassle to blend them! With these blush sticks there is no hassle. They are super creamy, blend very easily and have great pigmentation and color pay-off! They layer beautifully under powder blushes and because of the packaging they are super easy throw in your purse.

Wet n Wild Color Icon Eyeshadow Palettes

I think Wet n Wild has made a come-back this year with their Color Icon palettes! People have been crazy over finding these palettes and I can't blame anyone! Most colors in these palettes have amazing pigmentation with the exception of one sometimes two shades. The palettes are quite cheap but for their price they are of very good quality!

e..l.f. Under Eye Concealer & Highlighter, L'oreal Voluminous, Milani Liquif'eye Eyeliners

This e.l.f. concealer and highlighter duo helps instantly brighten my under eye area to make me look less tired and more awake! I use the highlighter side right on top of where I applied the concealer for an extra oomph! Voluminous deserves the best mascara of the year award as it's got everything I look for in a mascara. It's defining, lengthening, volumizing! I haven't really found anything that compares to it! Milani Liquif'eye eye liner pencils got quite a bit of attention from me this year! I would like to compare them to Urban Decay 24/7 pencils but Liquif'eye ones just don't cause raccoon eyes and UD ones usually do.

Revlon Soft Nude, OCC Liptar in Cha Cha

I have a lot of favorite lipsticks, mostly from MAC. I would have never expected Revlon to be the next big thing for me in terms of lipsticks. But it was! Thank you Revlon for uniting me with this beautiful and amazing nude lipstick! It just has great formulation, is moisturizing with great pigmentation. I had never heard of lip tars until my discovery of Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics. I just love the idea of "tars" because they combine the advantages of lipsticks AND lip glosses.

St. Ives Naturally Clear Green Tea Scrub, Lush Bubblegum Lip Scrub

Another amazing product from the drugstore! For my skin, it really does what the packaging says it does. It helps clear breakouts. Obviously you cannot expect any product to clear up your breakout overnight. But for me, this green tea scrub comes pretty close. It helps speed up the process of the clearing. I also really love it's scent. It's not green-tea like but to me it smells more like green apples! Lush's Bubblegum scrub has helped my lips a lot especially during these winter months. I love the way it smells so much I use it more often than I need. It really helps scrub away dead skin from my lips and leaves them looking and feeling super smooth.

//Blahs...

Maybelline Falsies

It just didn't work for me. If I would be looking for a spider leg eyelash look, however, this would be the mascara I would definitely resort to. I think the name "Falsies" was a bit too daring for this mascara, has anyone even tested it before they put it out in the market? I highly doubt it.

L'oreal Carbon Black Lineur Intense

I actually loved this popular eyeliner in the beginning. Obviously I wasn't checking my face too much in the mirror while wearing it. I accidentally looked at a mirror one day and what do I see?? I only have half of my lid lined! In summary, this eyeliner, while looking good at first, migrates horribly. I just need something that is a bit more stubborn and has a better staying power!

L'oreal go 360 Clean Deep Exfoliating Scrub

This scrub was talked about quite a bit. To see what the hype is all about, I purchased it. Then I regretted it when one day it dried up my whole forehead area and gave me nasty looking flakes. Apparently it was too drying for my skin. Also the little scrublet thing doesn't do much as once you start working with it, it gets all soapy and slippery.

Yes to Cucumbers Facial Towelettes

While on the hunt for new makeup removing wipes, I saw this bright green packaging and couldn't help but buy it. I really wanted to like them but meh...First of all they do not have a pleasant cucumber smell, it smells rather bitter if that makes sense. More importantly they do not take off mascara and/or eyeliner (liquid or gel) unless you scrub the heck out of your eye area which nobody would or should do! MOST importantly they leave the skin super sticky hence gross. Why should I bother using these wipes if I will afterwards feel like washing my whole face? Big thumbs down for this product.

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I wish everyone a happy, healthy, joyous, peaceful and fabulous 2011!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Happy New Year!!!! ♥