January 2015 Top 5

I hope that everyone's new year is off to a great start!

I went back and forth on what I was going to do for favorites this year. It's funny that I hate writing and have blog. Anywho...I didn't want a long list of stuff like last year. Plus since I have gotten rid of a lot of stuff, I didn't want to end up talking about "the same" products. Makes sense?

There will be repeats I'm sure. So I'm going to try my best to stick the 5 products/looks that I absolutely enjoyed using and wearing for the month. Let's see how this goes...HA!

Here are the four products and an eye look that I have been loving for January.

elf Mineral Primer

elf had a 40% off promo in December and I picked up this primer in Clear based off of a friend's recommendation. I really really like it. Here is the product description from elf's website:

"Transform your face into a flawless and smooth canvas with the Mineral Infused Face Primer. Developed to combat against excess oil, flaky dryness, enlarged pores and fine lines. This clear multipurpose skin primer will prepare your skin so makeup goes on evenly for a long lasting satin finish."

It goes on nicely and fills in my pores to smooth out my skin. I've used this will liquid and mineral foundation and it works well with both. I've also noticed that it helps maintain my oily skin. My forehead still gets shiny but it's not as bad as it can be. I did alternate this with Rimmel's Matte primer and compared the two. I like Rimmel primer more but I still enjoy this primer. It'll be interesting to see how this holds once the warmer weather hits.

 elf Blush Palette in Dark

This was another item that was in my elf order. There is also a palette in Light but I decided not to get it. But according to my friend, I need to get it lol. The shades in the palette are pigmented, easy to blend and are not chalky. This would be a good palette to travel with. It reminds me on my Bobbi Brown blush palette that I put together in terms of the packaging. Now mind you I had to get the blushes separately and the empty palette. So without a doubt this elf palette is the better deal. My go to blush was the one on the bottom right. It's a pretty deeper pinky plum shade. The one that surprised me the most was the one on the top left. It's the perfect peachy pink shade for deeper skin tones. This just may be my blush favorite for the year. Calling it early am I?  I've already made myself put it away because I could seriously keep using in through February. But y'all have seen my blush drawer *head palm*

OPI Suzi Has a Swede Tooth

If you checked out my Best of Beauty 2014 post then you might have seen my fingers floating around in some of the pics. This is the polish that I'm wearing and I really really like it. I have various pink nail polishes and I like them. But this one for some reason really caught my eye. I like how it looks against my skin tone. If I had to get rid of all my pink nail polishes and just keep this one, I'd been fine with that. This will get a lot of use from me once the warmer temperatures roll around.

Jeffree Star Cosmetics Velvet Lipsticks

I ordered the bundle of 3 from the Jeffree Star Cosmetics website I'm gifting the pink shade called Prom Night to a friend. I kept Red Rum and I'm Royalty. Liquid lipsticks are the new lip trend and everyone seems to have them or they are launching them this year. For some reason the ones from Jeffree Star Cosmetics caught my eye. These are fantastic. They are SUPER long wearing but I didn't feel like they dry out my lips. They are pigmented and not for the faint of heart. Both apply on the bright side. When I first put them on I was like ummmmm o_O!! But once they dried down, I was ok with wearing them. Looks like a pinky nude shade will be launching soon and I can't wait to get my hands on it.

Brown Smokey Eye

Sooooo the MAC quads that I mentioned in January Product Play got NO LOVE this month. Oye. I may try to use them again. Or take it as a sign that they need to go. Not sure how I feel about just straight giving them away since MAC quads aren't cheap. Anywho...

I'm kind of "cheating" here since I'm mentioning more than one product but this eye look has been a go to for me in January and these are the products I used to achieve the look. Some mornings I just want something quick and simple and this kind of eye look is it for me. I can wear whatever blush and lip combo and keep it moving.  I could wear a brown smokey eye everyday and be happy. Which is telling and may help me the next time I go through my makeup stash to purge more stuff. That's the hope anyway. The two main products I used the most this month to create this look were the Jordana 12 HR Made to Last Eyeshadow Pencil in Tenacious Brown and elf baked eyeshadow in Chocolate Dream.  I also used the Jordana pencil with Darkhorse from the Naked palette. One morning I used Tarte's shadow pencil which in a bronze shade with the elf shadow and it was so pretty for more of dark bronze/brown smokey eye. The Jordana pencil is matte and is a good alternative to a black shadow pencil since it is a nice dark brown shade. I've worn the elf baked shadow on its on all over the lid as a one shadow look and it's very pretty without a base.

And done! That wasn't too painful. I probably could have listed a few more products but I'm sticking to my guns and only picking 5!

See you in February!