December '17- January '18 Favourites!

I think out of all the things I had missed blogging about, I missed doing my monthly favourites

posts the most. I love looking back and reflecting on what products I was impressed by,

loved using, and kept reaching for again and again. So today’s post is going to be about

my favourite products from the last two months! December sort of bleeds into January in

my memory, so I’ll be talking about my favourites from “the past little while”, not strictly a

month back.

Hold tight, this is gonna be a long one, folks.

The first products I just have to mention are a recent launch by Sephora Collection! I’m talking

about their Lipstories lipsticks!

I have the shades (L-R) Desert Trip, Twolips, Ice Breaker, Labyrinth City, and Trippin.

From the second I saw the teaser pics for this launch, I knew I needed to own at least one of

these lipsticks, if only for the packaging. I picked up the shade Twolips and ended up falling

head over heels for the formula. The #matte finish glides across the lips with full pigmentation,

isn’t drying but isn’t extremely creamy either- it doesn’t even need a lip liner, in my opinion!

The staying power is commendable, too- the #matte shades leave more of a stain, while the

#cream shades just stay on the lips for a remarkably long time. I haven’t yet worn the #metal

shade I picked up, but it impresses me that Sephora put out some interesting shades at a non-

intimidating price! They even have a white, which would be great for mixing.

My most-worn shade out of the ones I have is definitely Labyrinth City, a gorgeous browny

rosewood shade in the #matte finish.

Wearing Labyrinth City

I definitely recommend that everybody try at least one of these!

Next I want to talk about the Too Faced Milk Chocolate Soleil Bronzer. I got this mini as a

100-pt perk at Sephora, thinking it was the original Chocolate Soleil. I had always avoided the

Milk Chocolate shade because it looks so orange in swatches and product pictures online. I

decided a while back that I didn’t want it and never even gave it a second glance. When I got

this perk, however…

It’s amazing. On my skin, it leans ever-so-slightly yellow-based, but in a way that is

actually flattering. It adds such a subtle warmth and definition to my face without screaming

“hey, I put on bronzer today”. It looks especially nice when used with a fuller-coverage

foundation- just gorgeous. And the blendability of this product is second-to-none, it always

looks natural and never patches up on top of my foundation. It also works great as a

transition shade in the crease in a pinch!

What can I say about the Urban Decay Heavy Metals Glitter Liners that hasn’t already been said?

I know I haven’t spoken about them on this blog before, but at this point, they’re indispensable in

my collection. I freaking love glitter, and these are awesome. They’re stupidly easy to use, can

be used in a plethora of different ways, and stay locked and loaded once applied- no fallout in

sight!

Lately I’ve been digging putting glitter in my eyebrows.

The beautyblender Solid Cleanser is another unexpected favourite. I picked up two as 100-pt

perks and have been using the black pro puck recently. Pictured is the “swirl chill” limited

edition version. I’d never used this before picking up the perks, but I figured it had been too

long since I’d given my brushes an actual soap-and-water wash. This soap is really effective!

I’ve used Dr. Bronner’s soap for my brushes before, as well as the dish-soap-and-olive-oil

method, but neither of those hold a candle to this soap! It was particularly effective for my

face brushes. While I don’t think I’d spend the money on a full size, I’ll gladly use these pucks

up!

I honestly wasn’t expecting much when I tried the Maybelline Superstay Foundation. Ever since

the spring, I had been moving away from fuller-coverage foundations because I find them more

finicky to work with. I’m not bothered by leaving the house with no makeup at all, so I don’t mind

when my skin’s redness or a blemish peeks through while I’m wearing makeup (as long as my

eyes look bomb). However, an acquaintance of mine raved about this foundation to me, so I

decided to pick it up.

It’s not perfect by any means, but it still is pretty damn impressive. For one, the bottle has a pump,

which is a step in the right direction for Maybelline!

The foundation spreads very nicely and blends in well with a sponge. The result is a beautiful

blank canvas to apply your makeup on. The foundation is indeed full-coverage, and the finish is

somewhere around the satin end of matte. I would say that the one downside to it is that it tends

to look cakey around my nose and in between my eyebrows.

My favourite thing about this foundation, though, is the wear time. I can apply this before school

at 7am and go directly to work an 8 hour shift after class, and this foundation stays looking great

the whole time. I would even venture to say that as you wear it, it starts to look better than it did

when first applied. Around the 3-hour mark is when the foundation is at its peak. I find that after

about 7 hours I have to powder, and only at the 12-hour mark am I like “Oh, I should take

this off”.

The thing that by far impressed me the most about this foundation is that it stays on my chin. NO

foundation ever stayed put on my chin until this one. Especially given that it’s winter, I bus to work

and school, and I smush my face into a huge woolen scarf- let’s just say I was damn surprised when

I got to work my first day testing this foundation, and it had stayed intact on all parts of my face

throughout my commute.

Lastly, a skincare product- the Origins Original Skin Cleansing Makeup Removing Jelly is such a

good product.It really does feel like a smooth gel. You rub it onto your face dry to dissolve your

makeup, and as you rinse it off with water, it turns into a cleanser. I hate washing my face unless

I’m in the shower but this makes the process enjoyable! I really want to get the full size of this.

Here are some swatches of the Sephora Collection #Lipstories and Urban Decay Heavy Metals

Glitter Liners!

L-R: Desert Trip, Grind, Trippin, Labyrinth City, Distortion, Midnight Cowboy

I hope you enjoyed this post! Have you tried any of these products? What are your thoughts

on them?