Beauty Favorites of 2012

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! 2012 has come and gone…..boy does time fly! It’s been a crazy year for me; I never knew that raising a little kiddo would be so tiring and amazing at the same time. Having a child has changed my spending habits for beauty/fashion items; instead buying lipgloss, I have been buying formula and diapers buy the truck load. I feel like I didn’t purchased as many new products this year but the ones that I did have turned out to be some of my favorite, most used products of the year. So with out further ado, here are my favorite beauty products of 2012!

Skincare

• Peter Thomas Roth Anti-Aging Cleansing Gel ($35) - Contains Glycolic & Salicylic Acid to exfoliate and clarify. It’s oil-free and leaves my skin feeling squeaky clean.

• Ole Henriksen Sheer Transformation Moisturizer ($45) - Lightweight, Oil-Free and melts into to the skin to hydrate beautifully plus contains multiple anti-aging ingredients. Only wished it came in a pump!

 • Caudalie Pulpe Vitaminee Eye & Lip Cream ($49) – I use this morning & night, super lightweight, I feel my dark circles have lighten a bit and definitely feel like I look less fatigued in the eyes.

• Caudalie Pulpe Vitaminee Anti Wrinkle Serum ($62) – I use this a night to give my skin a little moisture before bedtime. Contains Hyaluronic acid and Grape-seed Polyphenols to smooth and correct wrinkles. Got to start early to combat those wrinkles!!

 

Makeup

• Foundation – Chanel Perfection Lumiere ($54) B10/B20 – Love Love Love this foundation! I get even coverage every time and it lasts all day…it really is perfection.

• Concealer – Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer & Corrector ($23 each) Sand/Light Bisque – Use together really covers my dark circles and other skin imperfections.

• Powder – Rimmel Stay Matte Translucent Powder ($3.99) – Heard about this powder on Pixi2woo’s YouTube channel. Extremely affordable & works great to set my makeup.

• Blush – Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush in Exposed ($25) this is my favorite color currently but I love the formula of this blush and have it in multiple colors. Lasts all day and this is a perfect everyday nude shade.

• Bronzer – Edward Bess Ultra Luminous Bronzer in Daydream ($45) – Been my go to bronzer for about 2 years now. I love it, can’t say anything but good things about it.

• Eyeshadow – (tie) MAC Carine Roitfeld Desert Camouflage Palette ($44) & Urban Decay Naked 2 Palette ($50) – These both are excellent neutral palette perfect for everyday use. You can create tons and tons of look using just these 2 palettes.

• Eyeliner – (tie) Eve Pearl Black Pearl Liquid liner ($29) & MAC Teddy Eye Kohl ($15) I use these separately but also together to get the perfect liner. The EP liquid really gets to the bottom of the lash line to create a really thin line. Teddy is just an overall great everyday liner.

• Mascara – MAC False Lashes ($20) doesn’t clump or flake. It lasts all day and makes my lashes longer and fuller than any other formula I have tried.

• Lip liner – No. 7 Lip liner in Nude ($7.99) best basic lip liner, almost exactly like Sublime Culture from MAC. I use this everyday.

• Lipstick – Burberry Lip Cover in Nude Rose ($30) Great neutral color, I have been using a lot this fall in winter as my go to lipstick for everyday.

• Lipgloss – (tie) Illamasqua Sheer Lipgloss in Intimacy ($22) & Chanel Sweet Beige Glossimer ($29.50) both of these shades look great on their own or over lipstick. Love both formulas.

 

Well there you have it, my favs of 2012. Hope everyone had a safe New Year Holiday and I can’t wait to see what new goodies 2013 will bring! See you next time…

Burberry Sheer Summer Glow Natural Highlighting Palette

I caved and decided to purchase the Sheer Summer Glow Natural Highlighting Compact ($50) from Burberry Beauty from the limited edition Iconic Nudes collection. This effortless all-in-one compact is a combination of two bronze shades, a light pink and a pearly highlighter. All of the shades have a soft luminous sheen to them.

Blended together, this highlighting powder adds natural glow and definition to the face. It can be applied in so many ways; all colors mixed together for an all over glow or using the bronzer shades as a bronzing contour color and then highlight using the pink and pearl shades.  I have also been using the pink and pearl to highlight my brow bone. This is an absolutely gorgeous palette and I am so glad that I decided to get it because I believe it has sold out! One other thing I love about this palette is the soft scent of roses it has. 

Good swatches were a little hard to get since this palette isn't super duper pigmented.  The deepest bronzing shade is the easiest to see since it is the most pigmented of the four.  The pink and pearl shades blend in with my skin, so they are faint to see but in person they are beautiful colors.  The pink almost has a tinged of gold in it that is so pretty.

Burberry Lip Mist in Pink Heather

Since I have decided that I love the Burberry Lip Mist formula, I decided to add another color from the Iconic Nudes collection, Pink Heather. I just love the sheer creamy formula, so I had to have another.

Pink Heather is a soft cool pink, which is much more pigmented than the other two Lip Mists that I picked up (Nude Peach & Field Rose). This shade is extremely natural looking and enhances my natural lip color perfectly. I normally lean to warmer shades, but recently I have really been digging cooler ones. I have included swatches of Field Rose and Pink Heather so you can see the difference in pigmentation and color. Field Rose also has a slight sheen, whereas Pink Heather has a cream finish (no shimmer). Love, Love this formula, definitely check it out if you haven’t already!!

Left: Field Rose    Right: Pink Heather

Burberry Summer 2012 Iconic Nude Lip Mists

Burberry Beauty introduced four new shades of Lip Mists ($30) in their Summer 2012 Iconic Nude collection: Field Rose, Pink Heather, Nude Peach and Nude Honey. I decided to try out two of the new shades, Field Rose & Nude Peach. Burberry’s description of their Lip Mists is “Burberry Lip Mists gives a sheer illuminating finish with a subtle hint of color. Contain moisturizing emollients and wild rose extract for long-lasting hydration and protection.” I haven’t tried the Lip Mist formula before, only the Lip Covers, so I was excited to try them out. The Lip Cover formula is quite pigmented so I was anxious to see how the Lip Mists compare.

I love this formula! I much prefer it over the Lip Cover formula. I find that the Lip Covers can be too pigmented and the color settles into the lines of my lips and I don’t have that problem with the Lip Mists. They apply so smoothly, almost like a gloss but still have decent pigmentation like a lipstick. The color is definitely buildable and the formula is light and super moisturizing. The formula is similar to Chanel Rouge Coco Shines but much more pigmented but still gives the lips a shiny wash of color.

Field Rose is a gorgeous dusty rose with a touch of shimmer. I simple adore this shade, it is the absolute perfect “my lips but better” shade for me. The color looks deeper in the tube than it does when applied. This is definitely my new go to shade for everyday.

Nude Peach is exactly what the name says, a nude peach. This shade has more of a cream finish, with no shimmer that I can see. It gives the lips a soft nude glow with a hint of peach that adds some color, but not much. Nude Peach is perfect for someone who is afraid of a true nude lip but still wants natural nude look.

Left to Right: Field Rose, Nude Peach

Overall I love the Lip Mist formula over the Lip Covers. I will definitely be purchasing more of these in the future. They are the perfect mixture of a gloss and a lipstick. I love how they glide easily onto the lips and give subtle shine & color.

August Favorites

Here are my favorites for the month of August. What products are you loving right now?

1. Urban Decay NAKED palette
2. Edward Bess Ultra Luminous Bronzer in Daydream
3. NARS Cream Blush in Penny Lane
4. Burberry Lip Glow in Cameo Pink
5. Bobbi Brown Extreme Party mascara
6. Estee Lauder Crystal Lipstick in Crystal Baby

Burberry Beauty Haul and Review

I was super excited when I heard that Burberry would be coming out with a beauty line. Promo images of the products where beautiful, so as soon as they were available, I jumped at the chance to purchase some items to try. The line can be found on Burberry.com and Nordstrom.com. When looking at all the shades available in both eyeshadows and lip products, I was overwelmed with delight. So many to choose from, what was I to do. Since I am a normally a neutrals girl, I decide to try a few of the neutral lip glosses, which they call "lip glow" and one lipstick or "lip cover". Here is what I decided on.

I purchased Burberry's Satin Finish Lip Cover in Cameo #02 ($30). It's a nude peachy beige with a very soft sheen. The color goes on very pigmented and really smooth. I love the soft fragrant smell it has, very feminine. Overall, I am very impressed with the packaging and product. Very classic and elegant.

The two "Lip Glow's" I purchased where Cameo Pink #7 and Rosewood #1 ($27). Both are absolute winners for me. Cameo Pink is a beautiful shimmering pinky peach which goes gorgeously over the Cameo Lip Cover as well as by itself. Rosewood is the perfect warm pinky brown that you can just put on whenever and look stunning. Its very wearable and a must have in your purse for on the go. They both have a lovely soft texture and smell wonderful too!

Top: Cameo Pink Bottom: Rosewood

L to R: Cameo Lip Cover, Cameo Pink Lip Glow, Rosewood Lip Glow

When it comes to the eyeshadows in the Burberry collection, they are all about the neutrals. The majority of the colors range from creamy beiges and browns. I decide to try out a few of the deeper colors that seemed alittle more fall to me. I purchased Rosewood #09 & Pearl Grey #17 ($29)

Rosewood

Pearl Gray

Left to Right: Rosewood, Pearl Grey

Both shadows are very soft in texture and have a shimmer finish to them. The colors glide on very smoothly to the skin and are not overly pigmented, but can be when layered. Rosewood is a beautiful brown shimmer with a hint of rosy color. Although Pearl Grey looks very blue in this picture, its really a soft light grey with a hint of blue. It's the perfect color for a soft smokey eye.

Overall, I am very pleased with my Burberry purchases. The colors and packaging are very luxe and are a great addition to my makeup collection. I have a few more products I would love to try out like the Warm Glow bronzer, Light Glow Blush and Sheer Luminous Foundation. So stay tuned for more Burberry goodness to come!