Best of 2012 TAG

Goodbye 2012 and hello 2013!

I've seen beauty guru's doing this tag and I thought: "Why not? Let's start this year's blog with a tag called 'Best of 2012'. 
And oh, I tag everyone to do this tag! If you do, don't be shy to share the link to your fav's of the year. Let's jump right into it, shall we? :)

My Favorite....

BEAUTY
1. Face product

Nivea Ideal Finish Mattifying powder: 04 sand

A drugstore mattifying powder. No matter how much you put on, this doesn't get cakey. I usually powder my face lightly after applying some concealer and leaves it mat for about 4 hours.








2. Cheek product

Benefit Coralista blush

I'm most of you have already heard of this blush, if not you already own this one!
I LOVE this blush!

It's a gorgeous corally color with some light shimmer to it. As soon as you apply some of it on your cheeks, it gives your face a certain glow (a nice glow, not the greasy looking glow!). And yes, you can build this color up to get some vavavoom on your cheeks!

This blush will suit a wide range of skin colors, so you can't go wrong with Benefit's Coralista!




 3. Eye product

Fairy Drops mascara

This mascara has become my holy grail. It gives volume, it lengthens and yet, it makes it look natural as the eye lashes are your own. I'm loving the waterproof version as well. A must have in my beauty kit!






4. Lip Product

Maybelline Baby Lips

As most of you already are familiar with Maybelline's Baby Lips, these Baby Lips came out in Asia. They're not exactly the same though.

The Asian ones aren't tinted lip balms, they just hydrate the lips like hell :)

Unfortunately I haven't got the chance to try out the US versions...








5. Skincare Product

Bioderma Sensibio H2O

This toner has gotten a lot of hype on the internet. It's a toner which I use to remove my make up with, or if I'm not wearing any make up, I'll still use this to freshen up my face. In spite of my combination skin, I 'm using the one for sensitive skin (which I have as well). I have just read a lot of good things about the red bottle (sensitive skin) compared to the green bottle (combination skin).







6. Nail Polish

Sasatinnie - Rose

I bought this polish when I was in Hong Kong. Unfortunately I can't seem to find this on the Sasa website. It was 'buy 1, get 1 50% off'.

It's a gorgeous corally, pink color that's great during spring and summer.

You know I LOVE my polishes, but if I can only choose one for the year 2012, it has to be Rose.








7. Hair product

Biosilk Silk Therapy

This hair serum should be applied on towel dried hair and makes your hair freakishly soft! :D I like the scent because it's non-chemical and not overpowering. A must try!






8. Body product/Perfume

Christian Dior perfume: Addict To Life

I'm very bad at describing fragrances, but this smells sooooo good! I had to cheat and look up some words to describe the scent: rose, floral, slightly woody, fruity, musky and sweet. I have definitely fallen in love with this perfume and am considering of buying another bottle (which I have never done :O)
Only downside? This is quite expensive...






FASHION
9. Clothing piece

H&M skinny jeans

Man, have I lived in this pants during 2012 :D
They're a skinny low waist jeans, but do stretch which makes it comfortable to wear this pair. Often when I wear skinny jeans, it can get quite uncomfortable because it's just too tight. Thanks to the 2% elastane, it makes it wonderful comfy! They do have some distressed details, which makes it more "edgy" ;)












10. Accessory

ASOS glasses ring

 



 I got my pair from an asian website, but apparently these can be found on ASOS as well. You can easily bend this ring bigger and let it fit appropriately to your finger. There's quite a wide range of colors you can choose from: red, black, blue, white, even gold!
A cute accessory, for almost no money, and which will give that umpf to your outfit!








11. Pair of shoes

New Look boots

I have a pair in camel color, but unfortunately (after wearing them a gazillion time), they're worn off. Thanks to a friend, who was still a college student at that time, I used her discount card...mwoehahaha! You can easily style these boots with pretty much anything: with skirts, dresses, skinny jeans, ... Loved these!



RANDOM
12. TV Show/Movie

Dexter

This is without a doubt Dexter. For those who don't know the show, it's about a loveable blood spatter analyst who works for the Miami police department. During his secret life his dark passenger (himself) kills criminals who got away by the legal system. A quite addictive show that knows how to keep the tension!








13. Book

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James

For those who don't know me very well since I only talk about beauty stuff, I'm a huge sucker for books :)
I have always loved reading (except when it was obliged at school, haha!). But this year, I accidentally picked up the first book of 50 shades, and didn't know what to expect at all. After finishing the book and liking the story, I suddenly noticed a lot of hype around this book. My friends asked me whether I've heard of this book, seeing a lot of commercial in the book stores, ... Then I found out the 1st book I bought was part of a trilogy. I bought no2 and no3. By then this book became viral, all my friends kept talking about this book, people talking about this on television, ... It became HUGE! I loved the books. I read them in Dutch the first time, but I read the books a 2nd time in English, just to compare, because books are never translated exactly the same.
E.L.James, I'm sure you didn't know what was coming at ya girl!







14. Food

sushi

 I learned how to make sushi early 2012, and I've made sushi whenever I was in the mood for some raw fish :)









15. Beverage

SPA water

I had to taught myself to drink water, since I used to be a soda junkie.
I have to admit: I like drinking water and only drink soda whenever I need some sugar. I can't imagine going through a day without drinking any water. Only downside? I only drink SPA water (Belgian brand)... Water all the way!







16. Song

Emeli Sandé - Our Version of Events

The first time I heard Read All About It, I fell in love with Emeli's voice. I started to get into her and looked up some songs. Around the beginning of April, a friend of mine invited me to go to her concert. I didn't hesitate for one second, and man oh man, it was the greatest concert I have ever attended! I've already bought another concert ticket for 2013 and I'm soooo looking forward to it! :)








That's it beauties, wish you all a happy new year! May 2013 be even better than 2012! :)

NOTW: She's Pampered

Here I am with another NOTW!

I'm sure everyone agrees that red is THE holidays' nail polish color. Hence my choice for an Essie's red:

Essie: She's Pampered

She's Pampered is an indulgent (as they say on their website) red and makes part of the 2012 Winter Collection.

This polish is a cool toned pink based red and applies smooth as a baby's but :)
It would be ideal to apply 2 coats, but I only put on 1 coat in the picture above.

I must admit that Essie chips quite easily on me, so it's a bit disappointing that I pay that much money (Essie is in the average price range in Belgium). Nevertheless, I love the cream formula and how opaque Essie colors can be. Not to mention that Essie is known for their DBP, toluene and formaldehyde free formula, yay!

I only buy Essie if I'm totally in love with the color.
And this color is a true holiday color :)

Favorites of the month: June 2012

Hi there! It's that time of the month again! No, I'm not talking about PMS, it's monthly favorites...YAAAAY!! So, let's jump right into it, shall we? :)

As some of you may know I bought a Clarisonic a while back, and I decided to try it out before I wanted to review it. Well...I tried and fell in love :)

Clarisonic - sensitive brush

I've been using it every other day, other days I may do a light scrub or just go over with it with some toner, about which I'll talk more in just a second. I've been using the Philosophy Purity Cleanser or the Bioré Acne Gentle Care - Oil control facial foam.

Philosophy Purity Cleanser

                                                                   





The Philosophy is a bit more drying to my skin, but since I do want to use up the entire bottle, I'll moisturize my skin immediately after towel drying my face.

Bioré Acne Gentle Care Oil Control Facial Foam

As Bioré's name says so, it's a foam. It's not as drying as the Purity cleanser. I definitely will be repurchasing this one as soon as I'm out of cleansers.









I use the brush for sensitive skin and I have to say, I finally understand what the fuss in the beauty world was about the Clarisonic! My skin has gotten a natural glow to it, without being oily and my impurities have significantly disappeared. I'm really loving it, parapapapa!

I've been using my Biotherm toner for a very long time, and I had to switch up toners because I think my skin got used to it. And since acne was popping up on occasions I couldn't afford to have them, I started using a Clinique' toner.

Clinique anti-blemish solutions toner

Most people use the 3 step skin care line, but since I'm not most people I just wanted to try out this clarifying lotion. If you look at the bottle you see there's a powder at the bottom, which is acne medication. You just shake up the bottle so the powder can disperse in the liquid and I just a put a little bit on a cotton ball and go over my face with it.

I always learned that it's better to use a serum before putting on your moisturizer. Well, since my skin has been so good to me, I wanted to pamper my skin as well. I tried the Estee Lauder Idealist Skin Refinisher serum.

Estee Lauder Idealist Skin Refinisher serum

After using this, I barely notice dry spots on my face. Take that combination skin!

Summer's up (yes, Belgium has summers as well!) and my skin gets quite dry during warm temperatures. *enters Garnier moisturising gel* :)

Garnier gel-cream

It's a very moisturizing gel-cream for the body for those with dry-sensitive skin. It says it contains L-Bifidus** (which is inspired on pro biotica in most yoghurts to keep your skin moisturized) and peach extract. It has a slights peach scent to it, but it's not an overpowering scent that will bother those who don't like scented goodies. I prefer gels to lotions because those just make my skin glows like I've put shimmer all over body. Gels just work better for me and I'm really loving this product.


I've been a huge fan of the Shu Uemura pro concealer for years, but since they're discontinued, I had to start looking for a replacer (not a dupe, because I'm afraid I'll never find something as good as my SU pro concealer).

Maybelline Pure Mineral Concealer: shade 1

I bought Maybelline Pure mineral concealer when I was back in Hong Kong, and I finally gave it a try. Since my skin has been approving, I need less concealer and the Maybelline covers up just fine actually. When I do need a little bit more coverage, I'll go back to my Shu Uemura, but Maybelline's liquid concealer is not doing a bad job at all.
Perhaps that this will be my go to concealer from now on. Maybe it's Maybelline?

A monthly favorite ain't a favorite without mentioning my nail polishes :)
I've really been digging my Essie Tart Deco.

Essie Tart Deco

It's a bright coral, slightly orangy, and I just love this baby! It's bright enough to give my outfits a pop of color, but it's not too bright that screams heeeeeeeeeeey, look at me! :D

Well beauties, this is it for this month. Stay tuned for more make up loving!

Favorites of the month: April 2012

April 2012, 'till never!
I had a great month: first dance lesson in years, first Emeli Sandé's concert, started working again, birthday, got to see my great friends, ... overall, great month!

I don't have a lot to show for this month, because I've been using a lot of the same products from last month.

Let's start off with eyebrows. I've always used drugstore eyebrow pencil, but unfortunately they were always a bit too brown for me. I just never found one that was a bit grey/light black, until I found this eyebrow pencil from Lioele...yay! It's got a pencil on one side and a spooly on the other side. Lovely pencil!

Lioele Auto Eyebrow pencil

Then off to eyelashes! I've tried a lot of mascara's, and I now know for sure that European drugstore and high end mascara's (YSL, Maybelline, Bourjois, Yves Rocher, ...) don't do the job for me. Asian mascara's on the other hand actually do keep my keep my eyelashes curled, lengthens and gives volume to them. One of my HG mascara is definitely the Fairy Drops mascara.

Fairy Drops Scandal Queen

Next up is blush! I've been a huge blush freak lately and I own mostly drugstore blushes aside from my MAC blush. I've read a lot of good reviews on the Shu Uemura Glow On blushes, so I decided to spoil myself with one of these babies! I intended to get the Soft Coral one, but the sales guy recommended me this pink one. If you want some more information on this one, go ahead and check out my review :)

 

Shu Uemura blush pink 30

And I'll end this fav of the month with nail polish! I was always the girl who loved neutral colors and was afraid of using brighter colors...until 2012! I love wearing bright colors on my nail such as red, brighter pink, green, blue, purple, ... all the colors of the rainbow :D If you've been reading my blog for a while, you probably know where I got these 2 Sasatinnie nail polishes from...yup, from Hong Kong! They have this huge drugstore called Sasa, and you can honestly find EVERYTHING there! It's been one of my must go's whenever I go to the other side of the world, haha!

Sasatinnie nail polish: left: P573 Rose - right: Q23

I must admit that it looks paler on the picture than in real life. It's this beautiful toned down hot pink...aah, just love it! But seriously, if anyone ever goes to Sasa...get these nail polishes. They need 2 coats, but they're cheap as hell and have an amazing color range!

Sasatinnie Rose

Anyways... that was it for this month! Hope you all enjoyed it and stay tuned for more beautilicious goodies! :)