2014 Favorites

I had a lot of fun making the list of my favorite products of the year.  2014 was the year that I really started indulging my love of makeup and exploring new products, colors and techniques.  Bolder lip colors, winged liner, bronzer; it was my year of stepping outside of my comfort zone and trying new things.

Macadamia Deep Repair Masque

Anyone that keeps up with any sort of beauty blog or YouTuber know that the Macadamia Deep Repair Masque has gotten a lot of love over the last few years.  I can justify the hefty price to myself for a couple of reasons: one, it does an amazing job making my hair feel healthy, despite all the heat trauma I put it through; two, it lasts forever; and three, it smells delightful.  I use it as my daily conditioner in conjunction with an everyday clean shampoo and I don't find that it's too heavy or intense for everyday use.

Urban Decay Naked Palette

Ah, the Naked palette.  I started watching YouTube beauty videos right around the time that the Naked 2 came out, and I pounced on the third edition as soon as it came out, but the original was never really on my list until I watched a simple smoky eye tutorial over the summer.  Luckily, my birthday was not long after the realization that I had to own this beauty.

L'Oreal Miss Manga Mascara

Holy grail status alert: I love, love, love this mascara.  Even the non-waterproof version doesn't flake, smudge, or transfer on me, and I am just crazy about what it does for my lashes.

Aveeno Smart Essentials Nighttime Moisture Infusion

I love a good drugstore find.  I'm more than willing to splurge on skin care items as an investment in the longevity of my skin, but I'm definitely not going to complain that I can find a great product at Walgreens for an entirely reasonable price.  As an added bonus, I started using this moisturizer not long after our wedding early in the year, so the scent will always make me feel incredibly nostalgic for this phase of my life.  Memories!

MAC Turquatic Perfume

Oh, wow.  There is something about this scent that reminds me of high school, but ever-so-slightly more grown up.  I will absolutely continue to purchase this fragrance; I love it for everyday wear.

Nyx Soft Matte Lip Creme in Cannes

Along with the rest of the world, my primary goal for the latter half of 2014 was to find the perfect Kylie Jenner lip option.  I may or may not have done an embarrassing amount of research on the subject... At any rate, this is one of the more affordable products that I put to the test, and it swiftly became a daily staple for me.  For a matte lip color, it's not overly drying, it sets quickly, and it lasts for quite a while on the lips.

Urban Decay Naked Basics 2 Palette

For all the love I gave to the original Naked palette with all its shimmer, once I got my hands on the Naked Basics 2, I had a hard time putting it down.  Around Thanksgiving, we had pretty limited access to our house while we were doing some remodeling, and this was the only palette I brought with me during our various times out of the house.

What were your favorite products of 2014?  What are you looking forward to trying in 2015?

Drugstore Staples

While I'm certainly not opposed to spending my money on high-end beauty products, there are a few things to be found at the local drugstore that I find to work just as well, if not better, than a lot of the more expensive brands.  Here are a few of my drugstore essentials:

1. Lip balm

As tempting as something from the Fresh Sugar line, or the Dior rose lip balm may be, it just seems so silly to me to spend that much money on something that you're just going to need to reapply in 20 minutes anyway.  Instead, I swear by the Nivea Lip Butters (the vanilla and macadamia is my favorite) for post-lip scrub at night, and the Kiss of Milk and Honey Lip Treatment for everyday hydration.  Both are less than $4.

2. Dry Shampoo
I'm so relieved that dry shampoos have become a lot more affordable in the last couple of years.  For a long time, the only real options to be found were high-end, expensive options, but now it seems like every haircare company has their own version.  My personal favorite is the Dove Refresh + Care dry shampoo; it's $4.99 on an average day, although I just snagged some at Rite Aid for $2.99.

3. Moisturizer
Skin care is so expensive.  I get that the high-end stuff may work wonders, but for basic things like moisturizer, I much prefer the drugstore.  I'm currently using the Aveeno Smart Essentials moisturizer and night cream; they're part of the Active Naturals line and they smell wonderful.

4. Lotion/hand cream

Every now and then, I'll "splurge" on some Hand Food hand cream, but more often than not, I'm strictly a drugstore girl.  I love the Neutrogena Norwegian formula for night, and my favorite to toss in my purse is the Curel Hand and Cuticle Therapy.  As for post-shower moisturizing, I've used the Curel Daily Moisture for as long as I can remember; it's all I remember my mom using when I was growing up.

5. Mascara

I fully admit that I do love some high-end mascaras; I've repurchased Benefit's They're Real several times now, and the Too Faced Better Than Sex continues to grow on me.  That's not to say, however, that you can't find equally great formulas at the drugstore.  Maybelline makes a few of my favorites, and I also love the L'Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black and the Voluminous Butterfly for great volume.

What are your drugstore essentials?

Drugstore Haul: Ready for Spring Edition

The weather in Portland has finally decided to turn the corner toward spring; granted, it won't be consistently sunny until around July or so, but for the next few months we'll have some pockets of gorgeous weather that will make everyone forget that it's grey and rainy seemingly all the damn time around here, and I just couldn't resist picking up some products that will be perfect for the bright, sunny days to come.

The first thing I came across was the Maybelline Dream Bouncy Blush in Candy Coral.  Cream products are so nice for warmer weather, and I was in the mood to make a bit of a departure from my usual blush choices, i.e. many variations of pink.  This blush manages to be both bright and subtle; it takes a bit of working to really get it to show up, but for a light-makeup day in the middle of summer, I think it will be just right.  I also picked up the Real Techniques stippling brush with the intent of using it to apply this blush.

Hey, it's my deck that I should have swept first!

Am I the only one who couldn't find the Jordana display at Walgreens for the longest time?  Every time I was there, I would pace up and down in front of the makeup display and remained completely baffled about this storied inexpensive but uber-quality brand.  Finally, success!  It's next to the register in the cosmetics department!  In my quest to finally perfect a winged liner, I picked up the Fabuliner in black.  It's a nice, firm felt-tip liner that swatched as a deep, rich black.  Excited!

I also got sucked in by the Twist and Shine Balm Stains.  I love my Revlon Just Bitten in Honey, but I've heard such good things about Jordana's version that I figured for $2.99, I didn't have much to lose.  In yet another departure from my standard my-lips-but-better fare, I chose the brightest, fuschia-est shade there was.  It's a lot brighter than I'm used to, but I had visions of throwing on a pair of sunglasses and a bright pink lip and heading out into the sunshine, so there you go.

The last thing I came away with was the Maybelline Color Tattoo in Caramel Cool; I've been on the hunt for this shade for a few weeks now and was about to give up on the dream, but there happened to be one jar left on the display, so I chalked it up to fate and it made its way into my basket.

So. Pretty!

What are you loving from the drugstore these days?