2015 Makeup Favorites and Decluttering

This is a little late, I'll admit, but  I thought it would be fun to take a look at my favorite and most used makeup products of 2015.

Honestly, 2015 was not the year I bought many cosmetics and beauty products. In fact, the only pieces I purchased were (mostly) bits for my wedding makeup. In 2015, I started appreciating what makes a product be exceptional. Instead of breezing through products to test them out, I really took my time to use up things. Which leads us to today - the most tested and true favorites I've ever done!

Where would I be without my trusty Bourgeois Healthy Mix Powder. My Shoppers Drug Mart was out of my shade, so I thought I'd give the Rimmel Stay Matte another try and I was sadly disappointing. Nothing compares. I don't know what it is about the Healthy Mix Powder, but it is truly perfect for my skin. It doesn't appear powdery on the skin, it applies so beautifully and leaves my skin matte. Standout blushes for me this year were my trusty Tarte Exposed Blush, which, to be honest, is probably expired, and my Clinique Cheek Pop Blush in Plum Pop. While Tarte's Exposed is the perfect pinky nude, goes with everything, blush, Clinique's Plum Pop is the perfect healthy flush needed with a more minimal makeup look. Both got a ton of use in 2015.

I took serious care of my brows in 2015. A makeup artist suggested I grow them out a little at a NYE party last year, and I took that to heart. To keep them in check, I've used the Clinique Superfine Liner for Brows and the Clinique Just Browsing Brush-On Styling Mousse. I think I re-purchased both about 3-4 times during the year which indicates a true beauty staple!

As for lips, I pretty much only used my Nars Dolce Vita lipstick (a classic) and as of September, my Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick in Rush. The Rush shade was actually my wedding lipstick - it was the perfect pinky-mauve to add a bit of color to my lips without being too obvious. I loved it. Another well used product in 2015 was the Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector Liquid. I got a travel sized version and used it all year, weirdly enough, on my cupid's bow. It gives the illusion of fuller lips!

Finally, in my list of most used products of 2015 is my Tarte CC Undereye Corrector in Light Medium and the L'Oreal Infaillible Pro-Matte Foundation. I bought the concealer it in the summer when I was looking for something to cover up/correct my dark circles for the wedding and while it's a bit dark for me, it blends beautifully and looks great under my eyes. Definitely a stand out product. If you haven't tried out the ever so popular L'Oreal Infallible Pro-Matte Foundation yet, give it a go, you won't regret it. I never thought I'd like a drugstore foundation (how snobby does that sound!) but this foundation is amazing. It gives the smoothest most natural satiny matte finish. And it's so cheap!

This month, I've also taken the time to seriously de-clutter my makeup stash. Of course, I know I could de-clutter even more, but for now, I'm happy with how things are. My mom was able to receive products she enjoys (you're welcome mom) and I'm finding a bit of breathing room in there. I realized I do not own one single (non-expired) nude blush. And my lipsticks... I got rid of a lot. A lot of them were just too old to even salvage.

I was having a conversation about makeup with my husband, telling him that I got rid of a lot of makeup because it had expired. He looked at me with a shocked face and said "makeup expires?!". After that conversation, it dawned on me, yeah, makeup expires. Why acquire tons of makeup when there's no possible way to use it up? Of course, the whole point of makeup is to have fun, and to make yourself feel more confident, enhance your own natural beauty. But I think 2016 is the year where I will keep that in mind that makeup expires. I don't want to ever throw away makeup like I did this past month. It's so wasteful.

I hope that you found this post interesting. I'd love to hear what your 2015 favorites were! Please leave a comment below or tweet me @smallthingslife!

Tarte Tartelette in Bloom Palette - A Review & Swatches

I'm not going to lie - I've had my eye on this palette the moment I heard it was coming out. It's pretty hard to resist - pretty packaging, smooth matte shades, and let's face it, I'm so amused by the word Tartelette that that even swayed me.

Tarte came out with the original Tartelette palette in late 2014 and it consists of only matte shades. Sadly, even with its great reviews, it wasn't enough for me to buy it because I felt I had enough matte shadows in my makeup spread. However, with the Tartelette in Bloom making its debut, featuring three shimmery shades, I just had to give it a try.

First off, this palettes smells amazing. A lot like sweet... chocolate? Yeah, chocolate. It's nice, but honestly, I personally would rather my eyelids smelled of nothing. It's just strange - why would you want anything scented on your face? Luckily, the smell dissipates and I can't smell it on my face after application.

Hello gorgeous packaging. The palette is well designed - the shadows are neatly placed in the palette in rows.

There is a huge mirror in the palette which is super convenient for travel.

The matte shades are buttery smooth. They didn't swatch too well on my arm for some reason as they look a bit patchy, but they seriously blend amazingly on the lid. Jetsetter, Smarty Pants and Sweetheart are excellent crease shades. The darker shades, Smokeshow, Activist, and Leader as so pigmented and pack a serious punch - you need a light hand with these. The shimmery shades... I'm not going to lie, I was disappointed. This morning, I tried applying Firecracker all over my lid and got a ton of fallout. When I tried tapping off the excess off the brush, it left me with barely any shadow on my brush. Same goes with Funny Girl. Rocker however applies beautifully. If you had your heart set on the shimmery shades like I was, maybe you're better off with the original Tartelette palette because they're a bit of a miss.

Overall, I'm happy with the quality of these shadows. They last well on my lids all day (with a base of course) and the matte shades are perfect. At C$54.00, it's not the deal of the century, but still a decent price for a solid product. 8/10

Urban Decay Naked Basics Palette - The Perfect Go-To Shades for Everyday

Alright, I know I'm really late reviewing this, but since Shoppers Drug Mart in my town has started carried Urban Decay and I've been able to redeem my points for free products, I've kind of gone overboard. By far, one of my favorite purchases of 2015 has been this Urban Decay Naked Basics palette.

This palette is usually described as being an all matte palette - but in fact, the Venus shade, the lightest, is shimmery (described at "demi-matte" by Sephora), and the perfect inner corner highlight. The rest of the shades are indeed completely matte. Youtuber Alanna Davison (one of my recent faves) has professed her love many times for the Naked 2 shade and I have to say I'm completely smitten with it as well. It's the perfect not too cool/not too warm crease shade and I've been using it a ton. Faint is a warmer mid-tone brown that's beautiful for deepening the crease. And Crave is a decent black - not amazing, and it has a bit of fall out, but still quite good. All these shades blend amazingly.

Excuse the powdery photo - this palette got a lot of love before I got around to photographing it.

In order, Venus, Foxy, W.O.S. Naked 2, Faint, Crave.

The packaging of this little gem is perfect - not too big, not too small and incredibly sturdy. Unless you absolutely need shimmery shades, this could easily be the perfect palette for traveling.

If you're looking at investing in a useful, easy to use, fool proof little palette, this one is amazing. And at less than $40 tax included, it does not break the bank!

Clarins Lotus Face Treatment Oil

Guys, this stuff is amazing.

I'm not sure if it's whether we changed the light bulbs in the bathroom for SUPER bright ones and I can now see properly, or my skin is just changing with the weather, but I truly feel like it's been at its worst for about a month. It's been dry and the texture of my skin is bumpy. Not fun at all!

So to help fix these issues, I looked for a face oil that wouldn't clog my pores and would be suitable for oily skin. The Clarins Lotus Face Treatment Oil seemed to fit the bill.

The oil feels quite light when added to the skin. In fact, it feels light enough to layer a night cream on top - saying this, I only wear this at night as I think it would be too heavy for my skin during the day. I bought the version for Oily or Combination skin, but it's also available for Dry Skin, and Dehydrated Skin. And yes, there is a difference, as Caroline Hirons explains.

The oil smells amazing - a little bit like citronella, but in a good way. That said, some may find the smell a bit overpowering. It does fade a bit after application, but if you're very sensitive to scent, this may not be for you. Truth be told, Clarins is a brand that generally have quite scent heavy products - I personally love it, but others may not.

The bottle comes with a dropper. I love this because it ensures no oil is smeared anywhere and my bottle stays clean. I'm a bit of a neat freak, so this makes me happy. There's nothing more annoying than grabbing an oily mess of a bottle.  I use about 2-3 drops depending on how much my skin needs it. The oil takes a few minutes to sink into my skin, and after about 5 minutes, I layer my night cream over top. My skin looks so refreshed in the morning. To be fair, I don't use this every day as I think it would be too much for my skin, but it makes such a difference on the days I use it.

If you're new to oils and are looking for something to freshen up your skincare routine, I think this is a good option. At $54 in Canada, this isn't cheap, but luckily a little goes a long long way.

September Favorites!

Hello everyone! Long time no ... blog? I'm back with September favorites. I've been getting back into trying out new products and I have a few to share with you. Ready?

First off, oh my goodness these Facial Radiance Pads from First Aid Beauty are amazing. There is no other way around it, these little facials pads full of lactic and glycolic acid make my skin look glowing. When I start feeling like my skin is looking a bit dull and bumpy, I swipe this on at night and wake up to new skin. If you're new to chemical exfoliation, this is a great start as the product is not too strong, but strong enough to see results. I'm also a fan of the Clarins Gentle Exfoliating toner which I've reviewed here. This stuff will change the way you see skincare. I've been using this a lot in September as the change of weather has definitely affected my skin.

Again with the skincare, I've been paying a bit more attention to serums lately. When I saw that Caroline Hirons recommended the Soap & Glory Make Yourself Youthful Rejuvenating Face Serum, and it was reasonably priced, I decided to pick it up at my local Shoppers Drug Mart, which luckily, had it in stock, and it was on sale. The serum smells a bit like oranges and cream - it's not offensive, but not my favorite. However, the product works really well. It's light, but also creamy enough to give a bit of moisture to the skin. My mom is also a fan! I use it at night on my oily/combination skin before my moisturizer and wake up with fresh, plump skin. A+

I bought the Clinique High Impact Waterproof Mascara on a whim. I hadn't bought a waterproof mascara in years and thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to wear on my wedding day. Ya know, in case of tears. I had bought this mascara before in the non-waterproof formula and loved it. Turns out, I was pretty meh about this mascara at first. It gave me no volume and kind of clumped in a bad way. After using it about 5 times, all of a sudden, it started being really good, giving me defined lashes, and some volume. And it really is waterproof - this mascara does not budge. I don't know if the formula had to "settle" after opening, but this product is excellent. And I'm very happy it didn't turn out to be a waste of money too!

The Clinique Just Browsing purchase was a suggestion by a Shoppers Drug Mart associate. I swear, I'm not sponsored by SDM, I just buy a lot of my products there! When asked if I could purchase my usual Clinique Brow Shaper, she informed me that Clinique just came out with the Just Browsing product which is described as a "brush on styling mousse". I thought, heck yes, I'm always up for well defined, full brows. Turns out, this product is the bomb. Sadly, it does use up pretty quicky as I'm already on my second tube. The mousse is light enough that it doesn't feel like you have anything on your brows - no crispyness! - but totally keeps everything in place. Plus, the shade Deep Brown is just perfect for my brows. Highly recommend.

The Stila Color Balm Lipsticks are amazing. While I only own the shade "Isabelle", I wish I owned more. The name of these makes sense - they truly are a balmy lipstick. They feel incredibly moisturizing on the lips, and last quite a long time (4-6hrs). "Isabelle" is the perfect shade of pinky nude and goes with everything. The only thing I'm not so fond of is the minty smell. But it dissipates pretty quickly after you apply the lipstick. Next on my list - the nude shade "Sophie".

And finally, my last monthly favorite is this amazing #160 blush brush from Make Up For Ever. I've owned this brush for a while now, and it is one of my favorites. It's incredibly soft and I love using it to apply my face powder. It's great for a more precise application of product and the wooden handle is of amazing quality. I've washed this brush many times and I have never seen it lose a hair. If you're in the market for some makeup brushes, I highly suggest the ones from Make Up For Ever. You won't be disappointed!

And that concludes my September favorites! What have you been loving this month?