February 2015 Top 5

And the fun continues!

This month was good month. So let's get to it!

Starbucks Chestnut Praline Flavored Syrup

The Chestnut Praline Latte was a new drink at Starbucks last year. I had it several times and really enjoyed it. The Starbucks near my office had the syrup on sale for $9.95. Every time I would go in, I kept looking at it and looking at it. I finally picked it up and I got one for a gift. It is SO GOOD! I have a Keurig at home. I'll add a little bit in my cup before I brew my coffee. I have also used it when I've made hot chocolate at home. I'm so glad I caved and picked it up! As you can see I have put a serious dent in it!

Black Radiance BB Cream

Black Radiance has gotten a lot of  my money this month! This was a random purchase one Sunday morning when I was in CVS. I picked it up in Coffee Glaze and Chocolate. I'm terrible at color matching myself. I like Coffee Glaze more so than Chocolate. Chocolate is a little too dark for me, so I went ahead and gave to a friend to try. I also ended up getting the shade Brown Sugar. I think it might be a better fit for me over the summer. So I'll hold on it to it and see how it goes. Coffee Glaze may work for me year round. This BB Cream is awesome! It covers what I need to cover and it has some excellent coverage. It blends into the skin nicely and gives you a matte finish. This is a perfect everyday product for any type of makeup lover. So glad I took a chance on this product and will definitely scoop up another tube of Coffee Glaze.

Black Radiance True Complexion Under Eye Concealer

I got this along with the BB Cream. Wasn't expecting much and the only reason I picked it up was due to the 50% off sticker on the packaging lol. Turns out this is a really nice concealer. It's very close to my skin tone. I've used it on my face and under my eyes. The stick side I use under my eyes along with Bare Minerals Stroke of Light. I love the combo of these two together. The other side is a liquid but it isn't runny and it has a doe foot applicator. I use it on any dark marks on my face that need some extra coverage and on my upper lip. I'm curious about checking it out in a lighter shade for brightening/a possible replacement to Bare Minerals Stroke of Light *gasp* lol!!! We'll see if that happens. Y'all know I loves me some Stroke of Light from Bare Minerals.

Black Radiance Perfect Tone Lipstick in Cognac

I have 3 other lipsticks from Black Radiance that I enjoy. I was looking for some newer shades that I heard about but I didn't see them. But Cognac caught my eye. This a very pretty everyday shade for me. Its mix of brown and red but it's not too warm. The mornings when I did not know what to put on my lips, I threw this on. It goes with just about any eye and blush combo. These lipsticks are pigmented, have awesome staying power and you cannot beat the price.

Real Techniques Brushes

Not a particular brush but just all of them were my favorite this month. Again I kind of cheating here. I'm using all the ones I have now and you can tell they are used since they are dirty in the picture lol. I do have some other brushes mixed but the majority of them are Real Techniques. I always enjoy using them and whenever I travel for work, they are the brushes that I take with me. But for some reason, I really have been enjoying them more so this month. I could probably get rid of my other brushes and just use the Real Techniques. And I have thought about that. They are so soft, apply product nicely and they are easy to clean. I also like that they are multipurpose. They can be used with cream, liquid or powder products. I did pick up two from the Bold Metals collection which are a a higher price point from their main collection. I am enjoying those as well. If you are looking for good quality brushes and don't want to spend a lot of money, check Real Techniques brushes out. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

And done!

On to March and hopefully warmer weather!

February 2015 Surprise Products of the Month

Hey party people! Long time no "see"! I had some dental work done early this month and it was rough couple of weeks afterwards. Plus winter has decided to show up and show out the last week or so. Fun times. Any who...

I was going to include these items in my Top 5 post for February but then it started to get kind of long. So voila a separate post. I may not do this every month. But if I have some products like this to talk about then I'll do a post separate from favorites. Sound good?

This month has been the month of face products from the drugstore. You'll see some more face stuff in my Top 5 post. So here we go!

Covergirl Queen All Day Flawless Foundation

I FINALLY was able to see the Covergirl Queen All Day Flawless foundation in person. Well let me step back. I  attempted to check it out in Hel-Mart (Wal-Mart) butttttt the display was so messy and people had opened and used the product! I was so disgusted, I left and didn't even bother checking again to see if the display had been refreshed. Before a dentist appointment, I peeked into a Walgreens that I check out from time to time. Now I hadn't been in this Walgreens for a while, but from previous visits I've never saw the Covergirl Queen collection in this store.  This trip I was like on my! They had a TON of stuff from the collection including the foundation. I also picked up the CC Cream but I haven't gotten into it yet. I am terrible at color matching myself and I had looked at this foundation online when I was going to try and order a shade. A friend of mine has been using the foundation and we're about the same skin tone. So I grabbed the one she had been using as a starting point. I picked up Mocha Q835. This is an awesome shade match for me! It blends so nicely into the skin, the coverage is awesome, it has SPF 20 and you don't feel it on your skin. It also held up nicely on my face during the day. I love the is has a pump. A lot of foundations at the drugstore don't have one. I was curious to try it but I was truly surprise by this foundation. There may be a new favorite that isn't a Bare Minerals foundation for 2015 *gasp*.

Black Radiance Soft Focus Finishing Powder

Black Radiance has launched a new finishing powder. I got mine from CVS. The display does have testers which is nice. There are three shades and I was thinking the middle shade would be best for me. But the display only had the lightest and deepest shades available by the time I made my way over to the store. I kept looking at the deeper shade which is Milk Chocolate. I thought it would be too dark but I went ahead and got it. When I got home, I put it next to my Bobbi Brown Loose Powder in Basic Brown and they looked exactly the same. So I was like ok this was the better choice of the two but still I wasn't expecting much from it. I've been using it for the majority of the month and it is a really nice powder. The one thing that gets on my nerves is the packaging. It's rather larger and hard to open. I have to use a hair clip to open it every doggone time. Other than that I have been really enjoying it. I still may go back and pick up the middle shade for giggles. We shall see.

Zoya Matte Velvet Lipstick

I got this lipstick in the Mystery Bag from Cyber Monday. I actually forgot I had it until it was looking in bag that the items came in. I thought I took it out. Smh. This is another product I wasn't expecting much from but this is a really nice matte lipstick. It's comfortable to wear and doesn't dry out my lips. It also has some serious staying power. I looked on Zoya's website and I saw lipglosses but no lipsticks. So maybe it's something new coming for 2015. I would be interested in trying more shades. One thing I don't like that there isn't anything printed on the lipstick packaging. It's a basic black tube. So I kept the box so I know what the heck it is. It also doesn't have a shade name. It's a pretty deep red shade.

Noxzema

Yes Noxzema! I haven't used to this in yearssssssss. This is product that makes me think of my dad. This is what he used (and I think he still does) to wash his face and he's always had pretty decent skin. I used it when I was in high school and maybe college. I came across this article, 8 classic cold creams to save your skin this winter. I was like hmmmm. So I scooted over to CVS and picked it up along with the CVS version of Ponds. Jury is still out on Ponds. I got the Classic Clean version. There are two other versions. I've mainly been using Noxzema in the morning and evening on the days that I don't wear makeup. I've really been enjoying it. It makes my skin soft and smooth. I also feel like it's helped clear my skin up as well. When I was in Bed, Bath & Beyond, I saw it in a bottle with a pump. I'm debating if I want to pick it for work travel since there ain't no way I'm travelling with this huge jar. Sometimes it pays to go old school lol. Today on QVC, philosophy has a Today's Special Value. I knew it was coming and looked at it before today. It's a nice configurations but I loudly told my NOPE! I have mix of products that are working for me and I like the prices too! I was able to score a good deal on the L'Oreal Youth Code products that I have been using from drugstore.com. Also the Bed, Bath & Beyond I when to as a NICE skin care section and I always have a coupon from them. See I'm getting better.

And I do have a meh product to talk about -___-

LaVanilla The Healthy Deodorant in Pure Vanilla

I picked up a mini LaVanilla deodorant from Sephora. They had it in the area of stuff just before the cash register. I have been curious about using a more natural deodorant. I mentioned back in my October 2014 Favorites about my deodorant issues. At first I really did like this. Then I noticed that it wasn't keeping my underarms dry. I know it ins't an antiperspirant. Then I started noticing an order. I was like oh hayle to the naw lol!!!! I'll continue to use it until it's done and maybe I'll have a change of heart. But right now I don't plan on repurchasing it.

And there you have it! Next up my Top 5 for February!

Product Play February 2015

Hello February!

The month of love *insert eye roll* and the end of the football season *tears*. Here's what I'm play around with and what I'm trying to use up this month.

Palette Play

I had gone back and forth on whether not I wanted to get the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette. I finally made up my mind thatI would get my hands on it in 2014. I lucked up and got it  for a really good price from a blog sale. It pretty much looks brand new. I've purchased stuff from this person before and she's good with her makeup. I don't just buy anything from anyone. Trust and believe! I see some folks selling makeup that's all beat up and stuff. Just trifling I tell ya!

I haven't used the Urban Decay Naked 3 palette in a while, so let's show it some love.

Polish Play

I need more polish like I need another hole in my head *sigh*.  I'm still on an OPI kick. I placed an order on Amazon and ended up picking up 1 full size polish in Do You Have This Color in Stock-holm! and 2 sets of minis. It irks me to NO end that OPI doesn't print the polish name on the minis. They are only listed on the packaging. Grrrrrr!!!! So I'm going to add these to the mix and still play around with some polishes I didn't use from last month.

Out of  My Face

Last month the three products that I wanted to use up were Wen Fall Apple Spice Cleansing Conditioner, CVS Cocoa Butter Petroleum Jelly and Aveeno Positively Nourishing  Comforting Whipped Souffle. I was successful in using up these 3 products in January! Woohoo!

Here is what I want to use up this month:

philosophy Fresh Cream Shampoo, Shower Gel & Bubble Bath, philosophy Fresh Cream Body Lotion, Elasta QP Olive Oil & Mango Butter Moisturizer, Black Radiance Shine Control Primer

Some of these may carry over in March. But that's fine. The goal is to make up effort to use to stuff up!

Annnnnnd gooooooo!