Favourite Products of 2012

My list of favourite products aren't necessarily of new launches. They are products I personally discovered and enjoyed throughout the year. I've talked at lengths about most of them, if not devoted reviews to them.

Simple Refreshing Facial Wash Gel - Reviewed here. I love it so much that the PR sample is nearly finished merely within a few months of receiving and testing it. Definitely will repurchase.

La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo - Reviewed here. This thing saved my acne-ridden face. I was on the right track with using the Clarisonic along with the REN AHA Concentrate, but the final touch was the addition of this super gentle yet extremely effective treatment that can be used day and night to banish breakouts within half a day.

Nivea Creme - I haven't talked much about this, but I keep a tiny travel size pot of it in my daily makeup bag and use it on random dry patches on the face as well as to substitute as hand cream when I'm short on actual hand cream hand creams. I also keep a big tin of it at work to use as a cheap hand cream because I fear that the same weaselly co-workers who steal other people's lunch will probably stoop to stealing nice hand creams if given the chance. I'm about 1/3 through that tin and find that it's actually quite similar to the L'Occitane Shea Butter Hand Cream at one tenth of the price, failing just short of the coveted dupe status only because it doesn't permeate dry skin quite as well. The look, texture and scent is nearly the same, offering a hefty coverage over rough hands and providing an effective barrier between skin and nature. It's not holy grail but just an all around awesome and useful multifunctional product to have on hand, literally.

George's Cream - Reviewed here. My parents still keep this at their store and I use it every chance I can. Would definitely purchase the second I finish using up the 100 other moisturizers at home.

J.R. Watkins Lavender Hand & Cuticle Salve - It's a recent discovery, one that I picked up on a whim. I used to hate the smell of lavender but suddenly I can't get enough of it. Out of the multitude of lavender-scented products I managed to accrue in the past two months, this one is my favourite. The salve feels like a thick, dense oil that requires one to warm the product for half a minute on skin before rubbing into skin for a soothing, therapeutic experience. It's oilier and more liquified than the Burt's Bees Cuticle Salve and ten times the size for a few more dollars. I love rubbing this over my hands and feet as the last step before falling asleep.

Hourglass No. 28 Primer Serum - Reviewed here. I don't have it yet but I'll probably spring for the full bottle some day. An amazing product from an amazing (and rather underrated) brand.

SilkyGirl Magic BB Powder Foundation - Reviewed here. My sister is now hooked on this as well and we have cast aside Laura Mercier and Shiseido powder foundations in favour of this affordable Asian drugstore find. I'm nearly finished my second compact and will be relying on the one remaining backup for Summer 2013. Will definitely ask my friend in Singapore to send me more!

L'Oreal Infallible Eyeshadows - See reviews of Goldmine, Bronze Divine and Black Star. I had a feeling as soon as they were launched that I was going to like them. I resisted for a long time but finally have four, including Sahara Treasure. For those confused about shade names in different countries, MAC Nunu has a fantastic chart cross-referencing all the shades which is super helpful. Click here to access.

NARS Pure Matte Lipstick in Amsterdam - Reviewed here. The day finally arrived when I stopped being afraid of full coverage lipsticks. This one is a matte, which I had also avoided in the past. While the texture and glide were smooth and wonderful in fall, I can't wear this right now as my lips are a total wreck. But I look forward to better days when I can whip this out and kick ass with my lips.

Hourglass Opaque Rouge Liquid Lipstick in Empress - I was dared to trial it at Sephora and tweet a picture of me wearing it. Click here to see how that turned out. I've been in love with it ever since. If I become brave enough, I might even go for Icon, one of the most beautiful reds I ever saw. I think there's a picture of that one as well... here.

Caudalie Divine Oil - Reviewed here. An amazing product that will make you feel decadent and pampered. The scent is rather strong so it can even double as perfume.

Caudalie The des Vignes - Never gave it a proper review but I will soon, since I purchased a second bottle of it. It's one of those things that are totally under the radar and just happens to work well with my body chemistry. Even my perfume-hating mom likes it on me and a certain Tim Horton's employee went gaga over it. (Click here for a refresher.)

Bath & Body Works French Baguette Candle - Reviewed here. I have three more 3-wicks left and have been burning one all evening. Mmmmm, mmmmm, mmmmm.

I don't know about you, but I feel a certain amount of satisfaction from drawing up a list like this. It makes me content to have found so many great products that I can return to without stress. I also like that I've managed to branch out into uncharted territory on a personal level with makeup and colours. This foray into bolder makeup is actually taking me on quite a journey. More on that in the new year, which is only one hour away for me right now.

Previous years' favourites:

2011 Favourite Products: Skincare and Hair
2011 Favourite Products: Makeup, Nail and Perfume
2010 Favourite Products

Happy new year, everyone!

2012 Empties Part 10

Last empties of 2012!

Empties

Pond's Cleansing and Makeup Removing Towelettes* - I was surprised by how much I liked this. I stopped buying overpriced wet wipes geared for makeup removal and have been relying on baby wipes instead. This one has a strong floral/soapy smell and is super wet. Perhaps because of the extra wetness, two sheets used front and back removed 99% of makeup and exfoliated my face nicely with its textured finish. Pond's is pretty cheap so I may come back to this at some point. I was sent this product in early December and blazed through it due to long days and much laziness.

MaskerAide Hydrating Facial Sheet Mask - My first blogger friend Toya of Beauty Obsessed sent me this along with a lovely Xmas card, and I slapped it on that very same night after removing makeup with the Pond's wipes noted above. I've been wiping my face and just going to bed for the past month, so either my face wasn't used to good treatments anymore or the mask was just too rich for my stupid skin. I broke out a little the next morning and sadly can't say whether it was me or the mask.

LUSH Magic Mushroom - Ashley of Makeup Kismet gave me this back in March and I was saving it because it's so darn cute. One night I really needed a bath, didn't have the strength for a shower, and just tossed it into the tub. It turned the water red due to the red mushroom cap and looked a little disturbing, as if I had slowly bled to death in the water. I love the concept of LUSH products but find that they don't always execute to my liking in the end.

mereadesso Beautiful Body Balm* (Travel Size) - The full size will set you back CAD$54 according to the product website. While I loved receiving samples of an unknown new luxe brand, I didn't love the balm to the point that it made me want to purchase it or do an individual review on it. It's a lotion in texture rather than a balm and smells fresh and citrusy with notes of herbs in the background. Not bad but nothing to rave about. I used it as a hand lotion because the sample size was handy to tote around.

Vichy Idealia Smoothing and Illuminating Cream (Sample) - It plumped up my face and gave it a nice, soft, luminous look and feel in the morning. Enough to make me feel positively about testing out a bigger size, but not enough to make me want to buy the full size at regular price.

L'Occitane Angelica Hydration Cream (Sample) - I can barely remember the effect of this cream. It wasn't bad and it wasn't spectacular. Kind of like the Vichy above except less memorable. Will not purchase.

Borghese Tono Body Lotion (Travel Size) - Reviewed here. I actually went to Sears to look this up and they didn't have the body moisturizers - just the scrubs. Then I found the moisturizers at Winners! They were marked down to $24.99 and I really wanted the body cream but was holding the Guerlain Terre Indigo palette and pretty makeup won. I also have a lot of body moisturizers stocked up and really couldn't justify another, even though I could justify yet another shadow palette. Dammit, life is tough, first world problems, etc, etc.

EOS Lip Balm Smooth Spheres - One year and one month ago, I pulled a Boromir and kept this lip balm for myself instead of gifting it as I should have to an adolescent girl. The flavour was Passion Fruit, not that it really mattered because the scent was very light and I never noticed it at all. To do penance for my sin, I used up this sucker almost every day. Then I grew to like it because it was the least stickiest of lip balms and made for a nice prepping material before slapping lipstick on top of dry lips. I'm not sure that I'd repurchase but I don't want to say no either. Let's leave it at maybe but don't call me.

Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment (Mini) - Reviewed here. I like the balm but they really need to work on making the packaging better. It looks nice and seems perfect but the balm is so soft and skinny that it gets knocked off and battered to the point that I got really annoyed with it and don't even want to look at the full sizes anymore. It's debatable whether I'd spring for the regular ones at regular prices. Maybe with a coupon or a gift card. Maybe. Really don't call me.

REN Resurfacing AHA Concentrate - Reviewed here. I used a Sephora coupon to repurchase it. Love!

Guerlain Aqua Allegoria Mandarine-Basilic - MY FIRST EVER PERFUME FINISH. It took 3-4 years. I used it like a fiend almost exclusively during summer months. And because I was down to the last 1/5 of the bottle and missed summer a lot in the fall, I kept on using it. I'd spray it at night to remind myself of sunny days filled with scents of basil and warm citrus. Despite being a light, refreshing sort of scent, something warm at the base really gels with my body chemistry and keeps it from being too light and flyaway. To me, it's more orange and warm, not green and leafy. I already repurchased it using the Sephora VIB 20% deal last month.

Unknown perfume in Sephora Atomizer - I cannot remember what was in it. The scent tickles my nose and it's driving me nuts. I had this in my desk at the office and thought the atomizer was broken. But it turned out that I had emptied it long ago. I'm going insane. Soon I'll be able to take a leave of absence after pleading insanity!

Tosses

To properly ring in the new year, I decided that some more old stuff had to go. I was nearly finished with the Lancome and Sephora lip glosses, but they are now going on 4-6 years in age and I feel gross looking at them. Gone.

Lancome Hypnose Star Mascara (Sample)* - I love this mascara. And I never have to buy it because somehow I ended up with like four samples.

Tarte Lock & Roll Creaseless Eye Shadow Duo - One side is a liquid cream and the other is a loose shadow. Both are pretty shades of rose gold that I found too shimmery when I first bought it years ago. The liquid side has dried up and I have no use for a half-finished thing that I never reach for. Also, it's so old that Tarte no longer makes this. Wah wah.

Tarte 24.7 Natural Lip Sheers in Wednesday and Sunday - Also really old Tarte stuff that are no longer made. I loved Wednesday but was shy of wearing colours back then. The fool I was! Sunday was basically nude and I was all over it. There's plenty of product left in both but they are old and I need to move on with new loves. Also, they weren't as moisturizing as they claimed to have been.

Wednesday (left); Sunday (right)

Sunday (top); Wednesday (bottom)

Not pictured: Third finished French Baguette 3-Wick Candle - reviewed here. The love is going strong. I have three more left!

*Products sent by PR/company for review.

Total

Today's Total:

Jumbo - 0

Regular - 6

Travel/Samples - 7

Tosses - 5

2012 GRAND TOTAL:

Jumbo - 6

Regular - 87

Travel/Samples - 40

Tosses - 21

The Math:

1 Jumbo = 2 Regulars

5 Travel/Samples = 1 Regular

That's 107 products finished this year. INSAAAAANE. Why do we need so much stuff again? I really really want to give a concrete answer to this before this blog retires some day.

Onwards, to 2013!

December Pickups and Deliveries

I always have a silent debate about whether to post haul or empties first when we near the month end. My tendency is to post the haul first and then assuage any guilt over the excess by posting the empties immediately after!

At some point, I intend on writing a long post on the powerful hold that makeup has over collectors like us and the hows, whys and nature of growing collections. Until then, my brain has decided to remain dormant and let my impulse pick up a few last deals of 2012.

Purchases

L'Oreal Infallible Shadows in 024 Bronze Divine, 021 Sahara Treasure, 027 Goldmine - I now have four Infallible shadows and am pretty much in love with the colours and textures of all of them. (Click here for a review of 023 Black Star.) I was never big on noticeable blingy shimmer in the past, but suddenly I can't get enough of them. Sahara Treasure was one that I had my eye on all year, so I figured it was time to just snatch one up when the drugstores put these on sale. Except that I picked up three. Oops.

REN Resurfacing AHA Concentrate - October and November are temptation months at Sephora. I got a coupon for $20 off $50 purchase and hemmed and hawed for weeks, debating whether to get something new and nice (we just got Becca and Illamasqua at the Eaton Centre location (!!!)) or old and faithful. In the end, I decided to repurchase the REN Resurfacing AHA Concentrate which clears up my skin and makes it glow. I had used it every day for the first few months of 2012 and the last few months with a big gap in between during spring/summer. If used every night, I might need 1.5-2 bottles per year. At CAD$54, it's also the most price-friendly of the REN brightening series. I really liked the mask also and wanted to try the serum but didn't want to stray too far past the $50 minimum purchase requirement.

Tom Ford Noir (Free Sample) - I will try anything Tom Ford and hope and pray to the cosmetics gods that I won't fall in love with his insanely expensive products.

MAKE UP FOR EVER 3 Eye Shadow/Blush Palette, Powder Blush Refills in #75 Neon Pink (bright fuschia pink) and #99 Scarlet (matte red) - Just as I thought that I had survived the Sephora valley shadow of death, they redeemed my VIB status for next year and sent me a 10% off coupon. Goddammit. The newly renovated location at the Eaton Centre now has a huge MUFE pro boutique and I decided to substitute my lust for NARS Exhibit A and NARS Desire by purchasing the much cheaper refill pans and creating a customized blush palette. $18 vs. $32 isn't really a difficult choice to make.

Guerlain Terre Indigo 4-Shade Eyeshadow - Guerlain Summer 2011 Terra Inca remains one of the most stunning makeup collections in my mind. I oohed and aahed over the promo pictures and didn't dare approach the counters lest I do something insane. Months and months later, there I am at Winners*, casually browsing as I am prone to do, and I see a Guerlain palette in a sealed plastic bin in the far back corner of the cosmetic shelf. I ask a cashier to unlock it so that I can look at the merchandise and ...BAM! This happened.

*FYI for our non-Canadian friends: Winners is a discount chain that sells brand name merchandise at marked down prices. Some locations are really good, others are really crappy. I live near a Winners and I work right around the corner from another Winners, which is why I talk about it so much and go there so often. Sometimes I see the same items in regular stores at Winners at the same time and regular stores end up offering better values during sales and promotions. A lot of people assume that Winners has the best pricing but that's not always the case. Sometimes, especially as of late, they don't. You have to be a savvy shopper to know whether you're getting a deal or not. In the case of this Guerlain, which is now sold out and was in the $70 zone for Canadians, I sure did score a deal for $35.

I Have The Bestest Blogger Friends In The World

Amy at Beyond Just Beauty and I conducted a small swap, and along with that, I ended up buying her unwanted Hourglass Opaque Rouge in Empress for $20 because I've been in love with it since the summer when it launched and Amy is clearly insane to part with it. (Love ya!) I think she was supposed to send me just the Prestige Total Intensity Eyeliner but she either stalked me and knows everything I like or she is brilliantly intuitive and sent me everything that I love! Included in the package were this year's Boscia Peppermint Blotting Linens which I missed out on, Zoya FeiFei which I also missed out on, a keychain MADE WITH FeiFei, Lancome Hypnose Star Mascara Sample which I adore, a glass nail file (finally get to upgrade - woohoo!), some skincare samples for oily skin, a lovely rambly letter/card full of Amyish quirks and some delicious treats from Tibalu which is run by Amy's mom. Nobody does gifts like fellow bloggers. Thanks, Amy!!!!!!

About a month ago, Tracy and I were chatting on Twitter with Maggie of Maggie's Makeup when she offered to send us some samples for Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. I think we were talking about booze at the time. Somehow the brand came up and browsing the website caused an awful lot of lemmings. Well, I thought that Maggie was going to send a few sample vials to start us off, but one day I came home to a rather sizeable box and THIS happened. Like Amy, she is a crazy person. As I said earlier: Nobody does gifts like fellow bloggers. Thanks, Maggie!!!!!!

Last month's haul contained quite a bit of nice things from the lovely MAC Fairy. Not shown in that post was a MAC x Carine Roitfeld Limited Edition Desert Camouflage Full Face Kit from Fall 2012 that my sister had stolen. Sister decided that she didn't like it after all and kindly returned it. I was so happy because this was one of my favourite items from the lot but couldn't bring myself to ask for it back when sister has only one foundation and one blush. (I suspect that the palette rather overwhelmed her, hahaha.) Say it with me: Nobody does gifts like fellow bloggers. Thanks, Denise!!!!!!!!!

I also did a small swap with my darling friend S in Portugal. I wasn't actually expecting anything back in return but this is what arrived.

The lovely bimba & lola makeup bag was full of samples, and my favourite is the Caudalie candle which smells fresh and luxuriantly floral all at the same time. I need Caudalie to make that in a bigger size and sell it in North America. Thank you, S!!!!!!!!!!!!

PR Samples

Because of my crazy winter schedule, I missed out on a major beauty event in November and the lovely ladies at Harbinger kindly sent me a gigantic box full of goodies that made me feel not so missed out. :-)

I also received some lovely samples from PRITTE that I'm looking forward to testing out and reporting back on.

Paying It Forward

There were some last minute unexpected guests for Christmas dinner and I prepared a last minute gift for them in a dual attempt to (a) not let them go home empty-handed at Christmas, and (b) to downsize the monstrous hoard of beauty samples sitting in my room. Well, one couple clearly felt the need to reciprocate and my attempt to reduce products was in vain. I got back a tin of German-made Nivea Creme and a Nivea Happy Time Deodorant. Luckily I like Nivea, even though I have no use for deodorants. Lesson learned: "Merry Christmas and God bless us all, everyone, goddammit." (TM Dustin Hoffman at 5:50 of this video.)

Aaaaaaand that's the end of my 2012 pickups. May 2013 bring that elusive simplified lifestyle that I supposedly so long for. (But leave my Chanels, Diors and Guerlains alone pleasethankyou.)

Blackened Goldy Green/Olive Shadows

You'll note that the title is extremely confused. I barely know what I'm trying to say here, but once you see the shadows, you'll know exactly what I mean. I have a particular liking for in-between shades that are nothing and 1000 different things at once. It's why I dove for Laura Mercier Black Karat as soon as it was released and why I picked up L'Oreal Infallible Bronze Divine.

Bronze Divine, despite its name, appears to be a dark golden olive. Black Karat is as the name suggests: blackened gold.

Top: Bronze Divine / Bottom: Black Karat

Like all the Infallibles I've tried, Bronze Divine applies smoothly and opaquely with very little effort. I've heard of people complaining of fallouts with Infallibles but I haven't had that particular problem. In fact, the fallout issue occurs with Black Karat due to its baked shadow formula. It's less troublesome when applied wet, and because it's a gorgeous shade, I forgive whatever issues I have with its performance.

Then as I was swatching the two, I remembered that I acquired MAC Gilt By Assocation last month. I was afraid that it would be way too similar to Black Karat, but its allure was irresistible nonetheless.

Left to right: Bronze Divine, Black Karat, Gilt By Association.

Top to bottom: Gilt By Association, Black Karat, Bronze Divine.

In the end, Gilt By Association and Black Karat bear more similarity. Gilt By Association, however, seems to be more black with traces of gold while Black Karat appears to be equal parts black and gold. Bronze Divine belongs in a category of its own away from the other two, with greens, golden bronzes and khakis.

All three are gorgeous shades that I find alluring and mysterious. But the troublesome nature of BK has me thinking twice about its merits and permanence in my stash. I think that I might be perfectly happy with just GBA and BD in my life. I see no reason to keep it just because it's Laura Mercier, even though I love Laura Mercier products in general.

Do you have any of these shades? How would you describe them?

Gold for Christmas

I know it's kind of a cliche to pair gold eyes with red lips, but I can't help it if that's a look that I fell head over heels for this season. What can I say? I'm a late bloomer. :-)

It kind of makes sense for me to delve into gold shadows at this point in time, as an extension to my favourite "barely there" shadows. Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Cream Shadow in Sandy Gold makes a second appearance as a tie-in to the original post. The others are a mix of old and new things: L'Oreal Infallible in Goldmine, Tarina Tarantino Sparklicity Pure Gold Sparkle Powder and theBalm Snobby from the Nude 'tude Palette.

L'Oreal Goldmine

Bobbi Brown Sandy Gold

Tarina Tarantino Pure Gold

theBalm Snobby

My preference for gold shadows is still quite tame. I don't like them to be too yellow as it just feels like too much yellow on top of my Asian olive undertone. I also don't like them to lean too silvery either. The middle of the line gold is truly difficult to find, and a part of me is still on the hunt for that perfect shade.

L to R: TT Pure Gold, BB Sandy Gold, L'Oreal Goldmine, theBalm Snobby

L to R: TT Pure Gold, BB Sandy Gold, L'Oreal Goldmine, theBalm Snobby

L to R: TT Pure Gold, BB Sandy Gold, L'Oreal Goldmine, theBalm Snobby

As you can see, the yellowest is Snobby. Sandy Gold is almost flesh-coloured and looks nearly rose gold at times. On the lids, Sandy Gold is nearly invisible and adds a nice sheen to the lids and truly belongs in the "barely there" category rather than among the golds. My favourite of the lot is Goldmine for the bling factor. You pat a bit of that on your lids and watch as you suddenly look 100 times more awake than you've ever been in your life. As for Pure Gold, it's a loose sparkle powder that's meant to be added as a final touch to a look for added shine and shimmer, not for any intensity of colour.

In general, I'm quite happy with the round-up of gold shadows in my stash. I'm not going to go crazy looking for that elusive perfect gold shade, but if I do find "it", you bet I'll snatch it up. What's your favourite gold shadow and what are you wearing for Christmas?