Best of 2011 to Start 2012

I'm mildly obessessed with those end of the year lists that you've probably seen in the past few weeks.  I was starting to make my mental list as soon as I reached consciouness yesterday when I had another thought.  Would something declared the best of 2011 still be relevent in 2012?  Obviously there's stuff like events I can't do anything about, but what if I found an amazing product, say a face wash, does the calendar turning to 2012 make that item any less great because I discovered it last year?  Am I supposed to promote the latest and the greatest even if it's a crap item?  I cried for a bit, because that was just way too much thinking at that moment.  Then, I took some Aleve, drank a Gatorade, and prepared my list for you to enjoy:


1.  Say Yes To Blueberries Age Defying Wipes.  These wipes remove all your makeup, smell great, and really do brighten your face.  My skin looked amazing after just two days of using these.  What's not to love?
2. L'Oreal's Youth Code line.  I bought the sampler set, and while all the products worked well, the Day to Night lotion was amazing.  It moisturized and brightened my skin. 
3. Olay's Pro-X Cleaning Brush.  My skin has never looked better, nor have my large pores looked smaller than after I started using this spinning brush. 
4. Nivea Happy Sensation Body Lotion.  I hate thick and smelly lotions--Bath and Body Works I'm looking at you--but this has a light, clean, citrusy scent.  It's also super light on the skin, sinks in quickly, and is non-greasy. 
5. Rare Minerals Blemish Remover.  This is a sulphur-based powder you apply with the included brush on acne, and is the best pimple zapper I have used in years.  It does smell strongly, but when you see visible results in mere hours, you'll get over it quickly.
6. Dove Winter Care Body Wash.  My skin always dries out in the winter, and the Olay body wash which was supposedly moisturizing was actually making my skin worse.  The Dove body wash is almost like a lotion and really doesn't lather but it moisutrizes so well I sometimes don't have to put on lotion afterwards. 



Having gone on a makeup shopping spree back in '10, I really didn't have the need to buy a lot of makeup this past year, but I did have a good record for buying some great products.

1. Milly with Clinque Pretty Prints Pallette.  Unfortunatly, this was a limited edition, but this set has the perfect blush and eyeshadow shades that look wonderful on everyone.  I use this set if I'm in a hurry or want to look extra pretty. 
2. Tarte's Airbrush Effects brush.  This came in the QVC set I originally wasn't thrilled with back in March, but since then I've come to embrace the brush.  In combination with the next product, it's phenomenal.  As long as this brush holds up, I'll never use a sponge or any other brush to apply foundation.
3.  Make Up For Ever HD Foundation.  After dealing with some meh foundations this past year, I bought this on impulse and have been delirousily happy with it ever since.  It evens out my skin tone, and covers acne scars.  Perfect!
4. Tarte's Amazonian Clay Blush in Glisten.  This came in the QVC set that I got the above brush in, and I wasn't fond of it at first.  However, I was too lazy to go out and get something else and I came to really love the color.  Unfortunately this was a limited edition, but thankfully, Nars Orgasm blush is very similar. 



Nail Polish, oh nail polish.  What colors didn't I buy this year?

1. Deborah Lippman's Happy Birthday.  Colorful!  Sparkly!
2. Chanel Black Pearl.  My first Chanel polish, which quickly led to an addiction of $25 nail polish.  I love this color for it's elegance and sophistication.
3. Chanel Morning Rose.  This has been the polish I have worn ever since I got it in July. I've used up a quarter of the bottle, which is rare for me.  This was a limited edition and I'm kicking myself for not buying another bottle.
4. Nars Jungle Red.  The perfect deep red as it doesn't border on the maroon/brownish border that a lot of deeper reds do.
5. Nars Purple Rain.  This was one of the hot colors for 2010, but I continued to wear it all of 2011.  Just a great shade.
6. L'Oreal Limited Edition Project Runway in Owl's Night.  I had originally bought this trying to dupe Chanel's Peridot, but I didn't even come close (I did buy Peridot later).  This has a black base with a burnished gold with a hint of green sparkle in it.  Very pretty.

Anybody have any bests they want to share?  Just because it's 2012 doesn't mean it's too late to try a great product.

Hide The Credit Cards: Chanel's Spring Makeup Debut

I love makeup.  If you were to add up the total cost of my makeup collection, I could go to Paris for a week.  It's borderline insanity how much cosmetics I own.  It's actually getting disappointing going into Sephora and realizing that you already own most of the store.  MAC, I challenge you to show me something that I don't have already. 

I really haven't been paying too much attention to new makeup collections lately because I keep seeing colors I already own.  However, for some reason this week I opened an email from Chanel announcing their new spring lineup.  My jaw dropped and my credit card shrieked.  May I introduce Chanel's Harmonie de Printemps (Spring Harmony for the non-French speakers)?



It's soft, lovely, and just drop dead beautiful.  Since I'm a huge polish lover, my eyes were instantly drawn to the soft orange on her fingertips, which is named June.  My heart stopped beating, and you can bet my first stop this weekend in Easton will be to the Nordie's Chanel counter.  Here's the pieces from the collection that I will probably end up buying:

Out of the polishes, I will definitely be buying June and probably May.  May is a vivid pink and reminds of the cherry blossoms in Washington D.C., which is one of my favorite things ever.  There is a limited edition eyeshadow that is roughly the exact same shade of the June polish called Tigerlily, and I originally thought it was included in the quad eyeshadow palette.  It's actually not though, and I have similar shades already.  The blush has all of my favorite shades blended into one handy compact. 

Pantone has called orange the color of 2012, and this simply wonderful collection is a great way to get introduced to the fun of one of my all-time favorite colors.

Here are some swatches I've pulled from some of my fellow beauty bloggers who already have the collection:

June polish, source, The Polish Police

May polish, source, The Polish Police

Tigerlily shadow, source, The Best in Beauty

Tigerlily swatch, source, The Best in Beauty

 

 

 

 

 

Beauty Guinea Pig: Cover Girl NatureLuxe Foundation

Even though I'm a hardcore MAC foundation fan, I get the urge every now and then to try something new.  Especially if the new product in question is cheaper...much cheaper.  Back shortly after Christmas, I was in Walmart when I ran across a display of Cover Girl's NatureLuxe foundation.  They had some testers, and when I tried it, it felt very light and comfortable on my hand.  What also appealed to me was the fact that several shades had pink undertones.  The lack of pink undertones in MAC foundation is what will probably force me to change brands, hence my testing new brands. 



I like how NatureLuxe feels on my face, very light and soft.  It blends very well and has a nice dewy finish, so matte face lovers might want to look for a different product.  It contains SPF 10, which I almost feel could be done without since a majority of moisturizers contain SPF nowadays. NatureLuxe also has a fairly strong floral scent to it.  Normally, I hate fragranced cosmetics but this scent doesn't bother me.  As far as wear goes, I got a little over six hours before I started to notice fading, and  it didn't settle into my pores.  This foundation at best provides a medium coverage but I couldn't get it to build very well.  I have some minor acne scarring, and NatureLuxe didn't cover that very well, but it did even out my skin tone well.  It also covered my slight rosacea well. 

Overall, it's a pretty solid foundation.  I'd give it a 7 out of 10 stars.  The only reason I won't buy this particular foundation again is because I can't get the coverage I want with it. 

At the same time I bought this foundation, I also purchased the Cover Girl NatureLuxe Gloss Balm.  Like the name suggests, it's a balm with a shiny finish.  I bought the coral color.  I have to give a "No, Thanks" to this product though.  It states that it gives sheer color, but I didn't see any color whatsoever, just a barely there sheen.  It didn't even last thirty minutes with no eating or drinking.  No, thanks Cover Girl.  1 out of 10 stars.   



Here's a swatch comparing the NatureLuxe foundation with MAC's StudioSculpt.  I'm currently mixing the two to get my perfect shade.

BGP: "Wait, Payless Sells Makeup?"

BGP stands for Beauty Guinea Pig, a feature in which I write reviews for various beauty products.  In short, I try before you buy.  In regulation with FCC guidelines, I will disclose if products were given to me by the maker of the product, retail establishments, etc.  Mostly, though, I buy things because I'm hopeless addicted to beauty products.

I wear a size 11 in shoes.  In the general West Virginia area, it is damn near impossible to find my freakishly large size.  While killing some time in DC this past October, I wondered into the Metro Center Payless and found my happy place.  They not only had my size, they had a HUGE selection, and they had the Lela Rose flats I'd been eyeing for months.  And on sale for $7.99, no less.

 While I was waiting in line to check out, I noticed I was standing next to a display of makeup.  I mean, I had nothing better to do and wasn't going anywhere, so I checked it out.  The selection was sparse, some lip glosses, eye shadows, and nail polish.  There was a really pretty bronze polish that caught my eye, and for around 3 bucks, I decided to try it.  It was a great buy.  The polish is gorgeous on nails, and I wore it from mid-October through the end of November.  It wears well, although you'll probably want to touch up the tips every 2-3 days.

A few days before Christmas, I was in the Charleston Town Center finishing up some shopping and stopped in their Payless to browse.  They had a sale on their makeup, so I thought why not?  Five bucks for a decent palette isn't bad at all.

I purchased two palettes: Soft Petals and Stormy Sky.  Both palettes feature four eye shadows with two eyeliners.  They also include a duo ended brush, one end is a liner brush, the other a eyeshadow applicator.  Like most other palette included brushes, they're crap, just pitch them.

  
Soft Petals contains two shimmer eye shadows (#3 and #4) and two matte (5 & 6) with #1 and 2 being liners.  The first liner is a nice shade of violet.  When applied, it looks like brown and violet liner that had been mixed together with some purple shimmer thrown in.  The second liner is a basic brown liner.  It has good staying power but is otherwise unremarkable. 

The Shadows:
#3 is what I would describe as a irridescent shell pink.  #4 is a mauve shimmer.  #5 is a matte mauve probably 2-3 shades darker than #4 shimmer.  #6 is matte off white.  These colors are well pigmented.

The Verdict:
I've worn the colors out of this palette several times, and with neutrals being hot for the spring, I can see myself using this palette a lot.  #6 off white shadow, which is used over the entire eye area, fades pretty quickly, even with an eyeshadow base, but it does help the other colors pop. With the exception of the off white, I only needed 1-2 coats to get the color I desired. Either liner looks good, although I prefer the violet liner because it gives the look an added kick.   Other than the off white shadow, the colors lasted all day.  There was a bit of shimmer fall out, but adding an eyeshadow base will help prevent most of that.  I have grown to love the violet liner, and have been using it with other eye shadows. 

  
The Stormy Sky palette features two metallic liners, three shimmer shadows and a matte shadow.  The two liners are both metallic, a silver and the other is what I would describe as a "dirty gold."  It looks like there's some brown mixed in with the gold, it's a pretty effect. 

The Shadows:
#5 is the matte gray.  #4 is a shimmery turquoise, #3 is a silver shimmer, and #6t is a shimmery white.  All of these shadows are much more sheer than the ones in the Soft Petals palette.

The Verdict:
I'm not sure how I feel about this look.  I really do like the look, but there's something that I can't quite put my finger on that is keeping me from really loving this palette.  I wear a lot of navy blue, and I can see this looking great, but I also have a lot of bright pinks and fuchsia that will not look good at all.  As I mentioned above, this set is much more sheer than the Soft Petals.  To get the turquoise to show up, I had to apply 4-5 coats to get the intensity I wanted.  I foresee myself maybe wearing this a handful of times this spring/summer, and then never touching it again.
 
O-V-E-R-A-L-L...
I'm impressed.  The only issue I had with either palette was some slight shimmer fallout, which a primer can help prevent.  The palettes themselves are well made, they're cardboard with magnetic closures to keep from opening up.  They're about 4"x2", which makes them great for tossing in your purse.  Depending on the color selection, I would be more than willing to buy another palette.  They retail at $7.99, which is very reasonable.  They're worth checking out, especially if you're on a budget.