Thursday, February 6, 2014

January 2014 Favorites

Well this is late. Sheesh.

I tried to come up with a catchy title for my favorites post for 2014. Couldn't come up with anything. Oh well. We shall see if I came come up with something. Let's get to it!

Eyes


Bare Minerals Fired Up palette came with a Rock the Clock Liner black liner in Midnight. I am not a fan of these liners. I gave all the full sized ones I had away. I used it because it was in the palette. When I applied it, it went on patchy. I was like heck! I'm trying to finish getting ready and out the door and this happens! So I grabbed Wet n' Wild's black eyeshadow in Panther and the Fine Crease Brush from Essence of Beauty. I was able to smudge the jacked up line out with these two products and I really liked the look it created.



Funny, The Balm's Meet Matte Nude palette was in my February 2013 favorites. I pulled this palette out while I was using the first 2 palettes from January Palette Play (The Light Show and Fired Up). These are some nice matte shadows. You get neutrals but you also get some gray/taupe/smokey colors as well. It's a great palette on its on but you can pair it with a palette or quad that doesn't give you a complete look. Which is why I used it with the 2 Bare Minerals palettes.

Lips


During the middle of the month I pulled out L'Oreal Paris Infallible Never Fail Lip Gloss in #533 Admiration (Color of Hope Edition) and  L'Oreal lipstick #531 Color of Hope. I got this in a L'Oreal set that was on QVC for I think it was either Breast Cancer or Ovarian Cancer. They do special shows and the net proceeds go to research. The lip gloss in a nude brown shade and the lipstick is mauvey pinky brown shade.  If that makes any sense. Every time I wear one, the other or both together, I always take to Amazon looking for a back up. They are both shades that work well with my skin tone separately or together. I have somewhat pigmented lips, so these are a my lips but better color. They go with any eye look or blush color. Both to me are brown girl friendly shades. They are nude but not a concealer kind of nude that washes you or more makes your lips look like you put white out on them or something like that. I lucked up one time and found the Color of Hope lip gloss in a squeeze tube at the Dollar Tree. Of course now I can't find it.

I got the Bare Minerals True Romantic Marvelous Moxie Lip Duo from QVC. I am loving the Moxie gloss. The gloss is called Heartbreaker and it's described as a peony pink shade. I also got a deluxe sample size of Rebel from Sephora.  Forgot to take a pic. Took a pick of the lipstick by mistake ugh! Heer's a link to Sephora's site where you can see the shade. It is described at a pink mauve shade which is right up my alley. I threw it in my makeup bag that I keep with me. I put it on several times later in the day at work when I didn't want to re-apply a lipstick I had on that was of a similar tone. I can definitely see myself getting this in a full size. I am always leery of pink colored lip products. There are very wearable and pretty pink shades that it flattering on a lot of skin tones. Come to think of it, a lot of my favorite pink glosses are Moxie glosses. The formula has also been great for my lips since it have be ridiculously cold! It gives your lips a little tingle but it's not an annoying tingle. Moxie glosses are very moisturizing.

Face


I got the Giovanni Eco Facial Clothes from my Secret Santa who happened to be my boss. I've really been enjoying using these to remove the majority of my makeup before I use Serious Skincare's Glycolic Cleanser and Clasrisonic. I also used these on weekends when I was just kicking around the house and didn't really feel like washing my face. The made me skin feel soft and didn't have my skin feeling tight afterwards. I have some Aveeno wipes to use after I use these up. After the Aveeno wipes, I don't plan on buying anymore makeup wipes. I feel like my Clarisonic and Glycolic cleanser gets everything off in the evening when I wash my face. If I feel the need to use a wipe then I'll use a baby wipe since I always have some on hand.

I've gushed over Wet n Wild's Color Icon blushes before but I don't ever think I've claimed a favorite. I played around with all 4 blushes in January month and I can say Heather Silk is my favorite. Mellow Wine is a close second. Heather Silk is described as dusty pink. Surprise surprise that it's a favorite since this color is my favorite pink blush color.

I used Bare Minerals Purely Nourishing Moisturizer for Combination Skin throughout the month. It's a past favorite. I reached for it on days when I was at home and didn't go out. I would wash my face and didn't feel the need to use a moisturizer with SPF since I was in the house. Or I used it when I used a Bare Mineral primer that already had SPF 30. This sinks in nicely into the skin and doesn't make me look greasy. I keep meaning to try their newer moisturizer with SPF 20. That'll be on the list this year to try and get a sample to try it out.

I also picked up the Bare Minerals True Romantic 3-piece Eye & Cheek Collection from QVC. I haven't really played with the quad or eyeliner but the blush....*pauses* is er'thang!!!!! The blush is called swoon and it is described as a petal-pink satin shade. It's a very very pretty wearable shade that can go with any look.

Nails

In my "11 Nail Polishes I Would Repurchase" post I mentioned that the Out the Door top coat was my holy grail top coat. Weellllll I think New York Color Grand Central Station #202 has taken its place! My beauty pusha Crystalis007 raved about the product on her blog. She got it at CVS during a 40% sale. When I went to look for it during the promo it was out of stock. Another random CVS trip I saw it and decided to pick it up. It's only $1.99 so even at full price it's a good deal for a quick dry top coat. This stuff is good! The one thing I had always hated about painting my nails is waiting for them to dry. Out of the quick dry top coats I've tried, this one is the best. Once I use up the bottle of Out the Door I have,I am sticking with this. I forgot to take a pic of it *head palm*


During the last CVS beauty sale, I picked 5 Milani nail polishes (Chocolate Sprinkles, Black Cherry, Bolting Blue, Dark Coffee and Deep Thoughts). I had only tried a glitter polish which I wasn't wowed by. I haven't heard a lot of people talk about these polishes but they are really nice. They are easy to apply and opaque with just one coat. There's one more that I may go check and see if it still on sale. I can't remember what that are at regular price but they still aren't that expensive. If you are a blue nail polish lover then you need to check out Bolting Blue! It's gorg! Ignore the Black Radiance Primers pictured :D

Body


Another gift from my Secret Santa was the Biggs & Featherbelle Fresh Mint & Sugar Body Scrub. This is a nice scrub. It's not too abrasive, it washes off easily and your skin feels moisturized to the point where you may not need to put on a lotion once you dry off. I didn't try that because even though my face is oily, the rest of me is DRY. So I don't play with it comes to lotion lol!!

Random Stuff

From hsn.com

Andrew Lessman's Secure Complete Meal Replacement has been a favorite for a while. I love it especially in the evenings when I come home and I know I should eat something but I really don't feel like eating. They come in these packets and a canister form. I love these packets for work and travel. I love how it mixes easily. I usually mix with milk or almond milk. I also love that this doesn't make me gassy. TMI I know but I've tried other products that gave me the feeling of being full but I had terrible gas and bloated! I was like jeez! I will definitely reorder.


Another food favorite are Kind Bars. I think I first tried these when I saw them in the grocery store, QVC had a TSV in January and I jumped on getting these. Some people said that it wasn't a good value and I compared it to some currently prices that were on Amazon and what I've paid at the grocery store when I have caught them on sale. I was fine with getting it.


One day while I was in the Dollar Tree, I needed to grab some toothpaste. I'm usually a Crest girl but for some reason I grabbed Aquafresh. Talk about old school lol. My mom used to use it when I was a kid. It came in standing tube. I think it was green.  Anywho...wasn't expecting much but turns out I really like it. I was in Walgreens and went don't the toothpaste aise and they had the larger tubes on sale, 2 for $3. So I got another tube and they also had the whitening version that I grabbed. Been using it the last couple of weeks and like it too. I was in CVS and they didn't have it. They had the newer version the deep clean, extra clean or whatever it's called. I love when finding stuff at the Dollar Tree turns out to be a good thing :) Don't sleep on the Dollar Tree.


I did a 28 day workout challenge in January. The challenge was put together by Jessica Smith TV. The challenge was awesome. It was mix of different things from high intensity, high impact workouts to yoga to indoor walking/jogging and some other things. Her website has a TON of information and workouts for various fitness levels. She also gives alternative moves for you to do if the current move is too challenging. She very encouraging but she does push you.  Her videos are on YouTube. Now that the challenge is over, she's sending out weekly workout schedules. I'm getting back into my Walk at Home workouts with Leslie Sansone but I will check out Jessica here and there to mix things up. Her videos will be handy when work travel rolls back around.

Surprise Products of the Month


Michele1218 on YouTube mentioned the First Aid Beauty Repair Cream in her 2013 favorites and she used it on her hands since they had been so dry. So of course I was like hmmmm. I've had mine for a while and rarely used it. I got it in a New Beauty Test Tube from QVC. So I put my tube by my bathroom sink and have really been enjoying it. The 2oz size is $12. So I doubt I'll purchase it when I'm done. I want to try Neutrogena's hand cream that I've heard good things about. It was nice to hear how someone else used the product, so that I can use it up and be done with it.


I was watching MakeupbyTiffanyD's Ulta haul and she picked up some Tree Hut products. I picked up the Shower Wash, Lotion and scrub in Brazilian Nut. It smells so good! The shower wash and lotion are very moisturizing.  I wondered if the scent would linger but it is very light. So I don't think it would interfere with whatever fragrance I may decide to wear. I'll have to test it out and see. The prices on the products were awesome too. Everything was under $8 and you can you Ulta coupons towards them. When I got these products I have a 20% coupon along with some reward dollars. They also had a promo of buy 2 get 1 free going on when I got these. They have other scents but my nose liked Brazilian Nut the most.

Meh Products of the Month


I picked up the Beauty Blender when I have a discount offer from bloom.com. I got the set that came with 2 Beauty Blenders and the cleanser. I've used this with liquid and cream foundations. I don't like with liquid and it's ok with cream foundations. When I've used it with liquid foundations, I feel like I use too much foundation and waste product. Then bouncing the product on my face multiple times to blend in foundation is kind of annoying, I got this product off of hype and there wasn't anything else I wanted on the site at that time. If I had to go back again, I wound't purchase the Beauty Blender. I'm just not in love with like everyone else seems to be. I may try it with cream blush products. If you're curious about this then I would suggest looking at some of the dupes for the Beauty Blenders. Some reviews have said that various dupes are just as good as the Beauty Blender. Real Techniques also recently released their own sponge and I want to say it's less that $10 and you can use coupons and catch deals at Ulta.


I picked up Urban Decay's Anti-Aging eye primer from Ulta. I have been having a TIME with eye primers, so I decided to try this one out. *sigh* Did not like it at all. My eye look creases in a few hours! I wish I had looked a Musings of a Muse blog post on the product before I got. Her reviews are pretty spot on and she didn't like this one. Needless to say it went back! I'm all about returning products that don't work for me this year. No more of  "trying" to make something work. Either it works for me or it doesn't. End of story.

And there you have it. Not too bad this month.

On to February!

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