Best of 2015: Skincare

Hello my darlings! I seem to be writing these 'best of 2015' posts in portions... there's just too many things to mention and I didn't want to 'shove' them all in one huge post. Anyhew... today I'm going to talk a bit about my favorite skincare (and some haircare) products of 2015. I didn't realize it until now, but boy there sure seems to be a lot of L'Occitane products... they got me good last year and now I'm hooked. :) 

My beautiful moisturzing duo were (and still are) L'Occitane's Shea butter face cream (the lighter version) and La Roche-Posay Nutritic Intense Riche. I use L'Occitane's during the day and LRP's for night time as it is a bit heavier. L'Occitane's smells amazing and that was a big part of why I had to buy it, but it's also a very lovely face cream. LRP on the other hand has a very mild scent and is suitable for more sensitive skin. 

I recently also tried a bunch of samples of L'Occitane's 'heavier' (20% shea butter) face cream and I loved it, sooo... I guess I have to start saving up some money. ;)

I ran out of my precious Liz Earle toner so I decided to venture out and try something else. Since I was very happy with my face cream I picked up the toner from the shea line as well. I actually loved it so much I went and bought a backup bottle when I 'had to' use my 15% off VIP card. It's such a lovely, gentle toner with a nice scent. I love that it has a pump which makes dispensing so much easier. 

Besides a gentle, everyday toner I also use an exfoliating one - Mario Badescu Glycolic acid toner is still my man but I am going to try something else soon (Pixi Glow tonic or Clarins Exfoliating toner probably).

One Liz Earle product I make sure I never run out of is of course my beloved Cleanse&Polish... I love the original but I couldn't help myself when they had some LE ones with different scents. I have three - Grapefruit & Patchouli, Pink Pepper & Mint and Sweet Orange & Mint. I love all three but Orange & Mint is my favorite... they really need to make it permanent! ;)

Just in case you're new to my blog and aren't aware of my Cleanse&Polish obsession... it's a creamy cleanser that gets rid of all makeup and I have yet to try a cleanser that does that better. You remove it with a hot muslin cloth (hence the 'polish' part) and it makes your skin feel and look amazing.

The other two cleansing product that were in regular use were also Balance Me Cleanse and Smooth face balm and Neutrogena's 2in1 wash/mask. I use the Balance Me for morning/evening cleansing when I'm not wearing any makeup since I don't consider it a makeup remover at all. It does however perform amazingly well as a cleanser/exfoliator and is effective yet super gentle (great for winter time when my skin is all flaky and messed up). :) 

I use Neutrogena's wash under the shower in combination with a regular face brush (I currently use L'Occitane's one but since they don't sell it anymore I got some cheap ones from eBay). It's a great clay-based cleanser that's very purifying and almost feels a bit cooling on the face. I love using it under the shower to get a really good cleanse when my pores are open and my skin is all softened up. ;)

As you can see from the empty big bottle of Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse, I absolutely love this stuff. I use it for my face and body and it can also be used on your hair but I haven't tried that yet (I'm pretty happy with Orofluido). I used up this bottle during my pregnancy as I was trying to keep the skin on my tummy as nourished as possible (still got a bunch of stretchmarks but who gives a crap). I also looove using it for my face - alone or underneath a moisturizer. It smells amazing, it feels amazing, it's just a wonderful dry oil you need to try for yourself. :)

Another cleansing product I really liked in the past year were micelar waters. I don't advise using them as cleansers and please don't think you don't need to do anything else after you've removed makeup with them (you need a proper cleanser!)... but they're great for quick fixes and for quick removals. I've tried quite a few, the last one being Bioderma and I liked them all... just some more than others.

Two new body products that impressed me were L'Occitane's Jasmin-Imortelle-Neroli body lotion and Melting Honey Ultra soft cream. Both are gorgeous and I love both for different reasons. :)

Now I just need L'Occitane to make Melting Honey a permanent line and start selling a 500ml jar of the body cream.

Dove surprised me with their new hair care line and I've been thoroughly enjoying the shampoo and conditioner from the dry oil line (the gold one). I think I'm on the 4th or 5th bottle of both of them and that's saying something since I don't usually stick with one hair care product for that long. 

And of course Dove shower gels/creams are still my favorite... I just haven't found anything better yet. They're just the creamiest and most nourishing shower gels and I love their scents. :)

And last but certainly not least are L'Occitane hand creams... I've managed to collect quite a few of them so far, the last one being from their LE shea line - Hugs&Kisses (a separate post on all the hand creams is coming soon). They're all really nourishing but don't 'sit' on the skin for long which I like. I always have one on my night stand and one in my bag. 

Phew... so this turned out to be quite a long post after all. Hope you found it interesting enough and maybe discovered some new products to try out for yourself.

What were some of your skin care favorites recently?

Best of 2015: MAKEUP

Hello my beauties! I'm a little late with this one but still... I really wanted to post my 2015 favorites. :) This post will cover makeup but I have skincare and random favorites ready as well, so keep your eyes open for those two in the upcoming week.

Let's start with eyes first... I wouldn't be able to call myself a real eyeshadow junkie if I didn't have at least 3 eyeshadow palettes in my favorites - Chocolate Bar, Cocoa Blend and Naked Basics2 were my go-to palettes all throughout 2015. I didn't wear makeup all that often but when I did, I surely used one of these three beauties. Cocoa Blend was a huge surprise to me... I really didn't expect to love it so much. Now I'm itching to get some more Zoeva palettes. :)

NYX HD Eyeshadow primer and Catrice Eyebrow filler are one of those products I repurchase as soon as I run out (or I already have a backup in waiting). I did use theBalm's Put a lid on it when I ran out of NYX and I can say they're pretty well matched but I kind of prefer the later.

My top eyelash duo was Too Faced Better than sex mascara and Tweezerman lash curlers (I really don't know what I was doing before these two came into my life). Better than sex is my all time favorite mascara (so far) but I can't always get it on BeautyBay (they aren't stocked all that well lately) so I had to venture out and got myself one of them famous Lancome mascaras (review coming soon). Still can't decide which one I like best... I'll let you know. ;)

In the blush department I was all for gentle, pink shades so Lancome's Rose Ballerine blush and Benefit's Dandelion were my most loved and most used. At the end of the year I was also lucky and got MaxFactor's Creme Puff blush in Lavish Mauve in a giveaway at Sanja's blog and I fell in love with it right away.

Foundation/base wise I enjoyed Lily Lolo's mineral foundation in Blondie. I've been through a couple of these jars and I'm never without it. It's just such an easy foundation that gives a beautiful, natural look and feels weightless... you can't go wrong with it. :) 

When I wanted a bit more coverage or preferred just a different look/finish, I went for Vichy's Teint Ideal cream foundation. I absolutely love this foundation and it matches me perfectly which is a rare thing lately (somehow all foundations look a bit orangy on my skin, don't know what that's about). When I wore the cream foundation I always used Urban Decay's Mattifiying powder on top. It's actually not super mattifiying which I like but it does keep the shine away for a while and that's all I really need.

The corrector that wowed me was Collection's Lasting perfection. It's a beautiful, full coverage concealer that works both for blemishes and the under-eye area. Love it!

And the only bronzer in my collection (yes, the horror... a beauty blogger that owns only 1 bronzer, unimaginable!) was my beautiful Chocolate Soleil (Milk Chocolate) from Too Faced. This is the only bronzer so far that works so well with my fair complexion and I love it (the beautiful chocolaty scent doesn't hurt either).

2015 was the year of 'nude everything' for me so nude lips were also 'in' most of the time. UD's Revolution lipstick in Naked with a bit of Clarins' lip perfector on top was the winning combination.

When I wanted a bit of color I went for MAC's Syrup (mauve) or Crosswires (pink-red-coral shade). Speaking of MAC... I need more of their lipstick shades, like now! ;)

Lip care wise, L'Occitane lip balms really grew on me. I now own 3 of them and I love them all. They aren't suuuper hydrating and won't heal chapped lips but they're totally fine for regular dry lips and for protection in colder/windier weather. Plus they smell really, really good.

As I mentioned before, I had a nude craze in 2015 so my nail polish shades were mostly from that family as well, except some really lovely glittery ones. I mostly wore shades like OPI's My Vampire Is Buff, Don't Bossa Nova Me Around and Ciate's Iced Frappe. The two 'glittery' ones that really impressed me were Illamasqua's Facet and Ciate's Antique Brooch.

And here's a little 'fotd' for you, using a bunch of the products mentioned. ;)

What were your 2015 favorites? Leave me a link to your post bellow and I'll be sure to check it out... :)

Best of 2013

Hello lovelies! Today I finally got around to doing this post... It was a hard one I tell you. I love so many different makeup/beauty products, it was really hard for me to choose the 'creme de la creme' out of all of them. :) I thought long and hard and here's what I came up with. WARNING! This will be a long post! :)

MAKEUP

The two eyeshadow palettes that I've discovered and loved in 2013 are the UD Naked Basics and UD Vice2. Of course I've also been loving my UD Naked palette, but I've been loving that for a few years now, so I decided not to feature it this time. :) Both the Naked Basics and Vice2 are phenomenal palettes, each in its own way and I absolutely love using them.

Speaking of eyeshadows... the eyeshadow primer I've been loving (for quite a while now) is NYX HD eyeshadow primer. I've tried quite a few primers this past year and none have worked as good as this one does. It keeps my eyeshadows looking perfect for up to 15 hours, even in high humidity, heat, cold... It's just amazing. :)

I've never really put much effort in my eyebrows before, all I did was pluck them and maintain their shape (sometimes not even that), but that was until I discovered Catrice's Eyebrow filler. It's a wonderful product that shapes my brows and gives them a bit of color (so you can actually see them). I absolutely love it, because it's so easy to use, you can't over do it with this product and your eyebrows look defined, yet still very natural.

The lipstick that was on my lips most of the time, is UD Revolution lipstick in Naked (I also have it in Fiend, but I mostly wore Naked). It's just such an awesome lipstick, with a gorgeous packaging and a great formula. Love it!

Last, but certainly not least is a foundation that swept me off my feet and made me fall in love with liquid foundations again - I'm talking about Illamasqua Skin Base. It's a gorgeous, full coverage foundation that feels really nice and light on the skin and lasts all day.

PERFUME & NAIL POLISH

The two perfumes I wore the most are Verace's Crystal Noir (my favorite perfume for a while now) and Lolita Lempicka (the name of the perfume is the same as the brand). Both smell amazing and very special, especially Lolita Lempicka - it's a very unique, strong scent, definitely not for everyone. :)

The nail polishes that impressed me the most or I loved wearing the most, are Essie's Blanc and Warm & Toasty Turtleneck, Ciate's Antique Brooch and Nails Inc Grosvenor Gardens. All of these polishes are amazing, long-wearing and just beautiful. 

SKIN & HAIR CARE

I think we all knew Liz Earle would make it's way on my 'Best of 2013' list. I just love the brand and their products. You already know I'm totally obsessed with Cleanse & Polish but I also love Instant Boost skin tonic. Both products are amazing and my skin absolutely loves them. :)

Face masks I loved the most this past year are Queen Helene Mint Julep masque and Avon's Turkish Thermal baths. Both masks are clay-based and meant for unclean skin. Mint Julep is more of a hard-core mask and also a great spot treatment, whilst the Avon mask is more of a gentle, spa mask.

The body cream I really enjoyed (and still am enjoying) is Elizabeth Arden Green Tea Honey Drops body cream. Such a lovely, luxuries cream with a wonderful scent (and it has honey drops in it, HONEY DROPS!). :)

Hair care wise, I discovered the best shampoo ever - Lush I love juicy. I really can't profess my love for this shampoo enough... It's super cleansing (which is great for my oily hair), yet somehow manages to be very creamy and gentle. Seriously love it to bits! :) My ends on the other hand, are thoroughly enjoying Orofluido hair oil - a gorgeous oil, a bit on the thick side with an amazing oriental scent to it.

OTHER

The two beauty/makeup tools that have changed my life the most are Tangle Teezer and Real Techniques Miracle Complexion sponge. I can't imagine brushing my hair with anything else than the teezer. My hair is super fine yet super tangly, so this is a real life saver. :) The Real Techniques sponge might not be such a life saver (I can still apply my foundation with a brush or fingers) but it has certainly made foundation application a dream + the finish it gives is amazing, almost airbrushed.

Another big game changer for me is the Seche Vite Dry fast top coat - it really helps all of my nail polishes look better and last longer (with its help I can wear some nail polishes for 10 days). Amazing product!

Other products I really loved this passed year are the Too Faced Chocolate Soleil bronzer in Milk Chocolate (beautiful!), UD De-Slick mattifying powder and theBalm Put a lid on it eyeshadow primer - a primer that works almost as good as the NYX primer.

MAKEUP LOOKS

I decided to include some makeup looks of 2013 that were my personal favorites. If you haven't seen them yet, go and check them out - Jingle bells, jingle bells, Birthday party, Inglot eyeshadows II, Galaxy, New Year's eve party look #1 and #2. :)