Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Favorite products of 2013!

Hey guys! How're you today? It's -20 degrees F here, which I'm not happy about but I'm staying warm inside blogging! November and December were definitely blogging fails for me, and this year I really want to start off strong even though January is a very busy month for me. I know a lot of people had these posts/ videos done before the new year but whatever, it's not too late. Anyway I chose the fourteen products that I either discovered, or really used a lot in 2013. I tried to only use currently available products for this, but a couple snuck in.


1.) Red Cherry Lashes. I discovered this brand in early fall of last year and oooohhh myyyy goodness. This brand has made me completely spoiled for other eyelash brands. Even Ardell lashes, which I've always enjoyed, now seem uncomfortable. What really really makes these special is that the band is so thin and flexible. This makes them easy to apply and comfortable to where throughout the day. Super happy I discovered these!

2.) The Burning Heart Palette from Sugarpill Cosmetics. I did a look and review of this palette here, back in March and my love for it is still going strong. It has four large pans of bright matte shadows with incredible pigmentation. I'm a huge Sugarpill fan, and hope to someday have all of their palettes. If you like bright colors, these will be a must have for you.

3.) The Urban Decay Vice 2 Palette. I adore this palette. At $59 USD this palette is a bit expensive but the shadows come to be under $3 each, so I think the price is quite reasonable. The colors are richly pigmented and come in a variety of shades and textures. And can we just talk about the packaging for a second? Because it's phenomenal! The outside is a beautiful purple watercolor with a large jeweled UD, it has an automatic open to reveal a large mirror (that stays up) and the twenty well organized eyeshadows. This is still currently available on UD's website, but its LE so hop to it if you're interested!

4.) Sebastian Professional Shaper Fierce Ultra-Firm Finishing Hairspray. I received a small bottle of this hairspray from a friend, and fell in love. I bought a full size bottle of this from Ulta soon afterward. (It's a little pricey, so wait for Ulta to have a sale on it.) This hairspray has everything: a strong firm hold that locks in your style, no 80's over sprayed look, and it smells nice. (I hate that classic hairspray smell.) But my favorite part is that this sprayed lightly over curls this gives a great touchable hold while keeping my hair's curl all day. Definitely a new HG product for me.

5.) Boot's Expert Anti-Blemish Cleansing Foam. I mentioned this in my skincare post, and still enjoy it a lot. I tend to switch up my cleansers a lot, but I used this one for almost the whole of 2013. I used this product with my Clarisonic Mia and found this very effective in keeping my acne in check. I love that it works very well, with out being harsh at all. It's very gentle on the skin, and fragrance free. So if you have sensitive acne prone skin this might be perfect! Also I used this nearly every day for a year and only went one bottle. I repurchased about a month ago, so a bottle will last you awhile!

6.) NYC Smooth Skin Bronzer in Sunny. This bronzer is fantastic, especially for the price. It's matte and the color isn't too dark so it's good for light to medium skin tones. The best part of this though is how affordable it is though, you can get it for only $2.99 USD at drugstores. This was a great find, and I've definitely used a lot! I recently hit pan.

7.) The Wet n Wild 8 pan palette in Comfort Zone. I review this awhile ago here, and it's one of my favorite palettes. It comes with 4 neutral shades and four more colorful shades. They're all very buttery and pigmented. I like all the shades, but the medium pink color (left side second down) and the light shimmery grey shade (right side first shade) are my favorites. It also should be mentioned that the last shade on the right side is very good dupe for MAC's Blue Brown pigment. This product is also a fantastic value, at only $5 USD. (That's ridiculous.)

8.) Coola Rose Essence Tinted Moisturizer. I was lucky enough to receive a bottle (tube?) of this fantastic tinted moisturizer from Coola. I really like it for a few reasons. It's very lightweight, contains spf, and best of all the sheer yellow tint is great for covering redness. Definitely wore it a ton this year, especially this summer.

9.) Sonia Kashuk Super Sheer Shimmering Highlighter. *sobs* Alright so I bought this product early this year and it quickly became one of my favorite highlighters, I wore almost everyday this summer. Fortunately I have plenty left, because it appears that this delightful product is no longer available. I despise when this happens. I don't like adding unavailable products to these lists, but this one had to be here because I love it so much.

10.) Sigma Eyeshadow Brushes. This was a great discovery! I was really excited when a Sigma store opened fairly close to me. I'd always wanted to try Sigma's brushes, but their shipping costs deterred me. When I went to their store for a meet up with Leesha from Xsparkage I got four eyeshadow brushes and am very pleased with them. Particularly the Sigma E40 Tapered Blending Brush. It's really changed the way I do my eye makeup.

11.) Lime Crime Velvetine in Suedeberry. If I had to pick my favorite lip product of this year, this would be it. It has a super unique formula that applies like a gloss, and then dries to a matte finish. It currently comes in three shades. The shade I have, Suedeberry, is a light warm red, and is quite bright. Another thing that should be mentioned is that it lasts perfectly, for a loooonnnggg time 6 hours easy. Very impressed.

12.) Lush Ro's Argan. Oh Ro's Argan, I love you so. If you've been following my blog you'll know that I'm a big lush fan in general, but I'm particularly sweet on this product. It's an in shower body conditioner that leaves your skin super smooth and conditioned, without feeling oily. But the best part is the smell. Lush does rose brilliantly, and they've really outdone themselves with this one. It has the yummiest rose/lemon/spice scent that lingers nicely on the skin. It's a truly luxurious product.

13.) Tarte Cheek Stain in Blushing Bride. I received this as a generous gift from my aunt on an outing to Sephora. I've been enthralled ever since. The sheer plum color is super flattering, and perfect for the colder months. I'm sure this is just the beginning of my friendship with this product too, because these tubes last forever, I haven't even had to push up any more product yet.

14.) Nyx Taupe Blush. After months (possibly years) of hearing Nikki of Nikkitutorials talk about Nyx blush in Taupe, I had to try it out. She, as usual, was completely right. This grey/taupe powder makes an amazing contour. It's a versatile product that with a light hand looks very natural, and with a heavier hand can make for some crazy high fashion contouring! Thank you Nyx for making such affordable artist grade products.

What were your favorite products for 2013? Tell me in the comments, I'd love to know!

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