Best of 2012

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makeup2012 has come and gone and my makeup collection has grown considerably larger in a year’s time.  Last year I did a best of 2011 so I thought I would recap my faves from this year as well.

Keep in mind that there will probably be some repeats from last year because if I like something, I’ll just keep repurchasing it.  Let me know your faves in the comments below!

Makeup

Best foundation: Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation

Favourite primer: Kiehl’s Super Fluid

Favourite setting powder: Make Up For Ever HD Micro Finish Powder

Favourite foundation brush: ELF Studio Flat Top Powder brush

Favourite bronzer: It Cosmetics Bye Bye Pores Airbrush Bronzer

Favourite blush: NARS Madly

Favourite concealer: Make Up For Ever 5-color Camouflage Palette

Favourite eye shadow: MAC Naked Lunch

Favourite cream eye shadow: MAC Paint Pot in Nubile

Favourite palette: Urban Decay Naked palette one

Favourite eye primer: Urban Decay Primer Potion

Favourite pencil eye liner: Make Up For Ever Aqua Eyes in 0L black

Favourite liquid eye liner: MAC Liquid Eye Liner

Favourite gel eye liner: Sephora waterproof gel liner in Must Have (black)

Favourite mascara: YSL Faux Cils Shocking in black

Favourite eyelash curler: Shu Uemura x Karl Lagerfeld eyelash curler

Favourite highlight: It Cosmetics Hello Light Illuminating Powder (Honourable mention: Benefit High Beam)

Favourite false eyelashes: Velour lashes in Lash in the City

Favourite lipstick: MAC Innocence, Beware!

Favourite lipgloss: NARS Turkish Delight

Favourite lipbalm: Smith’s Rosebud Salve (honourable mention: EOS Lip Sphere)

Nails

Favourite nail polish: China Glaze Aquadelic (honourable mentions: Butter London Slapper, Essie Penny Talk, China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy)

Favourite base coat: OPI Nail Envy

Favourite top coat: Poshe top coat

bathandbody

Face and Body

Favourite body lotion: Kiehl’s Creme de Corps

Favourite perfume: Viva la Juicy

Favourite facial cleanser: Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cleanser with the Clarisonic Mia

Favourite toner: Clinique Clarifying Lotion

Favourite face moisturizer: Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion

Favourite face serum: Kiehl’s Midnight Recovery Concentrate

Hair

perfume

Favourite shampoo: Pureology Antifade Complex (the purple bottle)

Favourite conditioner: Pureology Antifade Complex (the purple bottle)

Favourite hair serum: Nourishing Oil Care Hair Serum

Favourite hair spray: Farouk Royal Treatment Ultimate Control

Favourite mousse: Dove Style + Care Amplified Mousse

Happy New Year!

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The Holiday Collection: Benefit Cosmetics The Big 10

Have you ever wanted to dab your fingers in a little bit of everything from a makeup brand?  I know I have and thankfully Benefit Cosmetics has solved our problem!

I have always admired Benefit in the past because I love their witty packaging and fun names, but I have always found the brand to be a bit on the pricey side. I used to use their Bad Gal Lash mascara religiously (one of my holy grail makeup products) but other than that I haven’t really tried anything else from the iconic brand.   They have a variety of different cult products, like for instance their Benetint liquid blush.  Now if you were always freaked out by the fact that this blush is literally a liquid (like me) now you can try it (risk free!) along with nine other of their bestselling face products.This fantastic set is comprised of 10 samplers to let you basically try out (and love) the Benefit brand.  Honestly, every brand should do this because it let’s people try out different products under their brand umbrella.

The set includes minis of some of their most popular products:

  • Erase Paste – Brightening camouflage for eyes and face (concealer)
  • Stay Don’t Stray – Stay-put primer for concealers and eyeshadows
  • Benetint – Rose-tinted lip and cheek stain
  • Posietint – Poppy-pink tinted lip and cheek stain
  • High Beam – Luminescent complexion enhancer
  • “That Gal” – Brightening face primer
  • Bella Bamba – a 3-D brightening pink face powder
  • The POREfessional – PRO balm to minimize the appearance of pores
  • Dandelion – a brightening face powder
  • Oh La Lift – Instant under-eye brightening boost
I myself am new to all these products so I was extremely excited to try them out.  Their Benetint product is a cult favourite (expect a Cult Collection post coming soon!), as well as Erase Paste.  There are also products that other brands make similar things of such as Stay Don’t Stray and “That Gal”.
All the samples are a generous size and I honestly think will last a while if you don’t use them religiously everyday.  Once you are done the set, just buy the products you loved.
I did try out some of the products (there are so many of them!) and thought I would quickly go over some of my thoughts.

Erase Paste is on the left eye, right eye without

The first product I used was Erase Paste, which is a jar concealer.  The product had a soft whipped consistency to it and blended in very nicely.  I have read on other blogs that this stuff is too thick for some people, I didn’t find that all at.  I applied this over my foundation so I didn’t really have any dark circles but I did notice my eyes looked brighter after I applied it.

Benetint Applied

Posietint Applied
Next product I tried was their iconic (and very first product) Benetint which is a liquid blush.  This rose-tinted blush is surprisingly easy to work with and all it took was a few swipes on my cheeks and some blending and voila! Perfect flushed cheeks.  I actually really liked this product and the rose smell was delish.  Look for an in-depth post coming soon!
Aside from Benetint they also have Posietint, which is the same product but more of a baby pink.  I really liked this product as well, but if I had to choose between the two tints I would choose the original.

Dandelion blush

Dandelion applied

Bella Bamba applied

Aside from the tints, the set also includes two blushes, Bella Bamba (a coral pink) and Dandelion (a blush pink).  These blushes are very generous sized, as I believe that they will last you a while, you get quite a lot in the pan.  Also, I have a million other blushes, so these won’t be gone anytime soon.

Bella Bamba reminds me of NARS Orgasm because of the shade and the fact that I think it could be universal for any skin type.  This colour to me is very weekday, I would wear this to the office or a special event.  Dandelion is a lot softer, it’s a great lazy Sunday shade, like if I wanted to just relax and have a basic face.  These are the first Benefit blushes I have tried and I am very impressed with them, the colour payoff is great.  Especially for Bella Bamba, a little goes a long way.

High Beam

Next product I loved was High Beam, which is a liquid highlighter.  I applied it to my cheekbones and there was some noticeable shine present.  The product, once blended, gives off a nice illumination wherever it’s placed.  Aside from your cheekbones you can also use it on the bridge of your nose and on your brow bone.

Stay Don't Stray primer. Makeup applied at 8:15 a.m.

Eye makeup at 4:30 p.m.

As for their primer, Stay Don’t Stray, which is to be applied underneath eyeshadows and concealers, the product seemed to work fine enough but my makeup definitely wasn’t as fresh as when I first put it on.  I did apply too much initially, all you really need is a dab.  My favourite primer is Urban Decay’s Primer Potion which retails for a little less than the Benefit version ($23 versus $30 CDN) so I don’t think I would purchase the full size of this product (if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it).

So why is this a good present?  Well, it let’s you get your feet wet in the brand!  Benefit is a pricey brand, so to get samples of 10 products is a good deal.  Have you ever bought an expensive product and didn’t really like it?  It happens to all of us, so why not save someone the trouble and let them test out a generous sample beforehand.  I would love a gift like this because Benefit makes awesome products and to have the chance to sample a handful of them would be awesome.  Also, because these are face products, they are basically the foundation behind the rest of your makeup. Foundation primers I find are kind of pricey, but in this set you essentially get two of them plus a concealer, a highlighter, four blushes, and a few other essential goodies.

Currently The Big 10 is a Sephora exclusive which unfortunately is out of stock online but check your local store, they may have some left.  It retails for $32 USD.
Have you tried Benefit Cosmetic’s The Big 10?  Is it on your list?

Please note: I did receive this product for review, however, it did not affect my opinions on it.  All opinions are my honest own :) .  


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Sweet Pink: Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter in Cupcake

So the online beauty world has been aflutter about these new Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butters.  I can’t think of the last time I have used a Revlon product but I have heard so many great things about the brand that when I heard about these I new I had to pick one up.

Basically what these lip butters are are pigmented lip balms that moisturize your lips but add some fabulous colour as well.

From Revlon:

  •  Hydrating mango, shea and coconut butter formula boosts lip moisture by 156%
  • Pampering gel formula provides super charged hydration and glides on lips buttery smooth
  • Sheer to medium color with buttery shine
  • Available in 20 luscious shades

So with 11 colours available it was hard to choose just one but I went for the pinkest one I could find and that was 055 Cupcake.  (All the shades are named after yummy treats by the way).  I’m going to get into the colour in a second but first I want to talk about the packaging.

The tubes for these are similar to their ColorBurst lipsticks which I personally haven’t tried but have heard great things about. The tube lid is in the colour of the shade and has the quilted design on two sides and the other two are just frosted.  My favourite part is the top because it’s clear so you can actually see the colour that you are buying (no surprises in store here!).

As for the actual tube, they remind me a lot of the MAC Pro Longwear lipcremes, where the product is flat and angled and the tube is long.

Now for the colour, Cupcake is a pale blue-based pink.  When I think of lip butters pigmentation doesn’t often come to mind, but these are very pigmented.  They are honestly like a lipstick but moisturizing at the same time.  YSL also makes something similar but their Volupte Sheer Candy products, I find, are not very pigmented at all and kind of a waste in my opinion.

This colour in particular is getting a lot of comparisons to MAC’s Viva Glam Gaga I because they are both blue-based baby pinks.  I find that MAC’s is more pigmented and pinker than the Revlon version, but if you didn’t get Viva Glam Gaga I the first time around and are looking for a dupe, give these a try. (By the way, for the holidays, MAC is offering Lady Gaga’s two Viva Glam shades in a collectable gift bag).

MAC Viva Glam Gaga (left) with Revlon's ColorBurst Lip Butter in Cupcake (right)

Top: MAC Viva Glam Gaga Bottom: Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter in Cupcake

So my final thoughts?  So far, so good.  I really like the colour, the consistency, and the fact that these leave my lips feeling hydrated.  There are a ton of colours to choose from, some more pigmented than others, but totally something for everyone.

I got mine at the Real Canadian Superstore for $8.99 with a two dollar off coupon and no tax (they had a no tax day on Saturday, December 3, 2011) so it only cost me $6.99.  I have seen these at Wal-Mart and Zellers too but the prices vary per store.  I believe they are $7.98 at Wal-Mart, at Zellers they were in the nine dollar range.

Have you tried the Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butters?  What were your thoughts?  Leave me a comment below!


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