10 Favorites of 2012!

This year has gone by so quickly! I'm so ready for 2013 to start. Hopefully this year will be a bit more stable than the last. With a job change, a move, and a wedding (my sister's), I'm ready for some calm! I'm still excited to see what the future holds though! Bring it on 2013!

I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't create some kind of "best of" list. This year has been a year of staples for me with most of my makeup routine consisting of items on heavy rotation. However, I feel like I've discovered some favorites late in the year partly because of a Sephora opening close to where I live. My 10 most notable and well loved products of the year are the following:

1. Caudalie Eau de Beaute

This little gem has been my skin's savior this year. It helped my skin stay healthy and clear. Plus, I just love the scent. It's gotten to a point where I can't imagine my skin care routine without this!

2. Estee Lauder BB Cream

This gorgeous BB Cream, which acts as a foundation in my routine, has been used so much in 2012 that it was actually repurchased. That's saying something for a beauty blogger. I always wear it on its own with concealer with needed.

3.  Dior Quints Eyeshadow palettes

Dior Aurora palette and Dior Rosy Tan

These (expensive!) palettes are wonderful. I own three (my Earth Tones palette is not pictured) and use them a lot for creating a quick out-the-door look. Luckily for me, I got two of mine in blog sales which cut the cost of them a little.

4. Bare Minerals eyeshadow palettes. 

I talk about these too much. But seriously, they are amazing.

The Happy Place and The Truth have been staples in my makeup routine since this summer. You will not find better mattes anywhere, I promise you. The shimmery shades are buttery smooth as well!

5. Dior Red Royalty nail polish

Such a beautiful vibrant red. The formula was excellent and long lasting. Definitely my favorite nail polish of the year.

6. Hands down, my favorite lip product of 2012 is the YSL Glossy Stain

I absolutely love this product. I've used it so many times, especially in the last few months. I love the comfortable formula, how easy it is to apply, and how lightweight the product feels on my lips. I NEED more of these ASAP.

7. Another winner for me for lip products in 2012 has been Bite Beauty.

I've been thoroughly impressed with this brand's lipstick formula. The lipsticks are so smooth they almost feel like balms and the color range is impressive. I've tested the Mini to Go kit as well as the Luminous Lip Palette and I'm bowing to these beauties. Hopefully 2013 will bring me more!

8. In 2012, I ditched my trusty Too Faced Shadow Insurance for a much better product! The Make Up For Ever Eye Prime! 

This product is now my every day primer. I find it works much better than any previous primers I've used and I love the doe-foot applicator. This will be a repurchase in the new year for sure!

9. Estee Lauder Violet Underground palette

I know, I know, I already have two eyeshadow palettes listed at my 10 favorites, but I just had to include this beauty. Never have I ever wanted an eyeshadow palette more. The gorgeous colors are to die for, and the palette itself is just so damn gorgeous! I'm especially taken with the champagne color and the deep brown - I've used them often this year!

10. Finally, something I haven't reviewed but used so much during the year, are the lovely Maybelline Color Tattoo creme shadows!

I've loved using these under shadows to make them last longer, and to give my eye look some depth. Excellent value for money! This is probably, beauty bloggers would argue, the best drugstore product this year.

Honorable mentions should include Marcelle's Lux Creme Glosses, Butter London's Jaffa nail polish, the second best drugstore product of the year L'Oreal Color Infaillible shadows, my trusty Z-Palette which I have in different sizes now, Lancome's Rouge in Love lipsticks, and finally, Clarins Rouge Prodige in Soft Peach 02. That's a lot of honorable mentions, I know, but there were so many good products this year! I've noticed that I have no bronzers, concealers, and only 1 blush on this list, but honestly, nothing completely stood out to me in those categories!

That's it guys! Those are my favorites of the year!

Hope you all celebrate the new year safely and in style! Happy 2013!!

Skincare - my new goal for the year

I readily admit that I was never one for a strict skincare regime. I have mostly used Cetaphil and Spectro Jel for the past few years and Bioderma for makeup removal. No "real" exfoliants or moisturizers, the bare minimum.

I've come to realize that my skin doesn't really bode well with the bare minimum. I therefore decided to give myself the 2012 goal of refining my skincare regime and getting rid of my problem areas on my face. They include acne, blemishes, redness around the cheeks, blackheads and bumpy skin/discoloration. It sounds like a lot but these are all things that I notice when I look very very closely at my skin. And it has begun to bother me. I also have some scars from chicken pox that I would like to see minimized.

So, this new goal has been started by Avene Diacneal. This was an idea I got from Sandra from 15 steps then a beauty blog who constantly raves about this product. It is a combination of retinol and glycolic acid which is supposed to rid your skin of acne and discolorations caused by it. I must say, this was a great product to start my regime with. I use it on my skin every few nights in order to give my skin a bit of a break from the treatment. So far, so good. My skin is much clearer (after having gone through a bit of a purge, I'm assuming from the Diacneal) and much much smoother. In two weeks and a half, I can see a big difference. It has definitely encouraged my skin's cell turnover and has helped my skin have a more unified tone - by this I mean that my dark spots from acne scarring are either gone or slowly making their way out. Even my boyfriend has said that my skin has looked clearer. However, one thing it has not cure is the redness on my cheeks. I'm not sure what this redness is stemming from but it is there and looks like a bad acne rash.

 

My next skincare goal will be to tone the redness on my cheeks. This redness doesn't seem to be rosacea or anything similar but might be from lack of moisturization. The red skin isn't bumpy and doesn't seem to have any acne associated to it. It's just patchy and red. We'll see with time but I'll try to keep my skin as moisturized as possible without being a grease ball. 

I'm looking forward to the new collections coming out soon so you can expect some reviews of that stuff. I'm specially looking forward to the OPI Spring 2012 collection. Should be exciting!