Best in Beauty 2017

As the new year sets in I imagine you are possibly starting a new gym regimine, working on a new goal, or still wondering how we dropped 17’ and have arrived at 18’. In the propper spirit of someone who is still adjusting to the arrival of the new year, I thought I'd be a little reflective. Starting with my favorite beauty favorites from the past year.

I found a lot of new favorites this year but some are a older favorites and were in my beauty favorites of 2016 (check that post out Here).

I know that I would LOVE to ramble on and on about each of these but there is a lot to get through so I’m going to be pretty brief. If you want to know more about any of these or have a specific question leave it in the comments below and I’ll make sure to get back to you!

Additionally I wasn't able due to traveling to get a huge amount of pictures for this post SO I'm going to be linking the other posts these products have been in after I talk about them. So you can see swatches and more pictures of them there!

Starting with primer I wasn't a wowed this year. I know I mentioned a few within hauls and other posts but I didn’t stick long with any of them. I’m still searching for my perfect primer (if you have any dry skin recommendations I would love to know?) but I would say my favorite one I used this year was the Too Faced Hangover Rx primer. It’s perfect for dry skin as it really smooths and hydrates and I have a feeling I may end up repurchasing it soon.

(mentioned in my favorites last year Here)

For foundation I have a few favorites as I do like to vary my coverage. First off is my well loved Maybelline Dream Fresh BB cream. This was my go to for days I had class as I was able to apply it with my hands and get a light but still effective coverage. Next for a medium coverage is my Covergirl Vitalist Healthy Elixir foundation which is a soft matte foundation. I loved this foundation during summer as it lasted through the heat and the soft matte finish makes all worries about shine be gone. Last is my Hourglass Vanish Foundation stick (which I have actually just used up) which has been a lifesaver in the past year. This is a full coverage foundation but gives the most natural high coverage. I was struggling with really dry and irritated skin at the beginning of this year and this foundation could cover the redness, dry patches, and general skin issues all without irritating my skin.

(read about the Maybelline Dream BB cream Here, The Covergirl Vitalist Elixir Here, and the Hourglass Vanish Foundation Stick Here)

I knew right away for concealer! The Tarte Shape Tape has pretty much blown my mind! I picked this up in the summer and have used it almost every day since. It’s very high coverage but doesn’t look dry , cakey, or unflattering under my eyes. It makes my post usually tired face look like I’ve slept for days!

(read my review and ramble on shape tape Here)

My favorite powder was the Loose face powder by Coty Airspun and the Hourglass Ambient lighting powders. I love using the coty loose face powder to set my makeup (as it makes it last and stay all the day) while I use the Hourglass powders to get an amazing airbrushed look. I don’t know how to describe the effect but magic might be the closest word. If you have the opportunity to go in store and swatch them I would recommend it as your mind will be blown!

(read about Coty Airspun Here and about Hourglass Powders Here)

For face I loved the yearly hourglass palette as it has the most beautiful blusher, bronzer and (again) face powders. I used my trusty Nars Laguna bronzer and orgasm blush duo so much this year. It’s been a few year favorite truy, and I have still to find a bronzer that can bronze/ contour like laguna. Lastly are the Mega Glow sticks from Wet N Wild. The Mega Glow sticks are super affordable cream products and I ended up trying a few. Throughout the whole year I loved the light contour/ bronzer (oaks on you) and blush (floral majority) the most. I’ve actually used them so much that the packaging is cracked and I’m sadly going to have to throw these last two away and purchase new ones. I guess that’s when you know that you’ve found something good!

(Hourglass linked above, Wet N Wild Mega Glow sticks Here)

For eyeshadow I loved the Kylie Cosmetics Burgundy Palettes for most of the winter months. I love the array of warm brown and red shades and I went back to it in fall. For summer I absolutely loved and obsessed over the Too faced Sweet Peach palette as the shades are so diverse and I found myself loving the shimmers and mattes. Formulas wise Too faced makes some of the absolute best shadows in my opinion. I also want to mention the Maybelline Cream Shadows specifically in the shades Inked in Pink. I used it a lot as a base to make shimmer shades pop or as a V simple and V fast eye look.

(read about The Burgundy Palette Here and about the Maybelline cream shadows Here)

For eyebrows I split the year pretty evenly between using a powder and a pencil. For powder I loved the Anastasia Beverly Hills brow powder duo in the shade dark brown as the powders are easy to apply, last a long time, and look natural. When I need to define my eyebrows more I will switch to my Nyx Micro Brow Pencil as the pencil is so small and precise that it makes defining and filling in eyebrows a breeze.

(Check out the ABH brow powder duo Here and keep a look out for the Nyx Micro brow Pencil in future posts)

As for liner I am still searching for the perfect one but I've come pretty close with Pixi Liners. They are long lasting and smudge SO well! For liquid liner my fave is the same as last year (Stila of course!). For mascara there was a clear winner as I used Lash paradise by L’Oreal for months straight. As someone who is usually unfaithful to mascara this was such a *unique* development and was something I was completely obsessed with.

(read my full review of the Pixi liners Here , Here for my review of the Stila liquid liner, and Here for Lash Paradise)

Lip products are my obsession. So, this will be the briefest part of this whole post as I do have quite a few to mention. I don’t buy too many lip liners and I only have my trusty three: for nude lips Rimmel Exaggerate in Innocent, for red Rimmel Exaggerate in Red Diva, and for plum Charlotte Tilbury lip liner in Berry Naughty. Lipstick (the main obsession) faves are Mac Velvet teddy (Matte/ pink brown), Charlotte Tilbury Glastonberry (Matte/ red plum), Mac Ruby Woo (Matte/ true red) and Rimmel 104 (matte/mauve). For liquid lips Jouer was my most worn as Noisette (a nude brown) was my fall go to while Dulce de Leche (a nude pink) was my most worn in spring. For gloss my favorite is the Anastasia beverly Hills lip gloss in Vintage as it’s the most flattering rose mauve shade!

(for Glastonberry read Here, for Ruby Woo/Velvet Teddy read Here, for the Jouer and the ABH gloss read Here, lastly for Rimmel 104 read Here)