2012 beauty & make up favorites

As much as I love music, plenty of posts on this blog are devoted to beauty and make up as well. So I thought it would be apt to show you my beauty & make up favorites of the past year. My one condition for making this post is that I must have purchased the product in 2012. If they have been favorites for a longer time, chances are I already wrote about it before. Most of these products have not been featured in reviews yet, so if you care to see one, then please let me know. I have picked products in all categories: hair, shower, skincare, lips, face and eyes. Not all products I like are in the pictures as some are long gone by now. I will still list them in the text though. Enjoy your read!

Hair products:

2012 has definitely been the year where I started to discover hair products. I’ve never been too much of a hair person. But since I’ve been trying to let my hair grow out, I want it to be long and healthy looking. Not dead and like straw. My discovery of the year: leave-in conditioners and hair masks. My favorite by far has to be the leave-in conditioner by Kerastase that I bought from my hairdresser in May. A good second place goes to the L’Oreal Elvive Extraordinary hair oil. This is what I’m currently using. I also fell absolutely in love with Jasmin & Henna Fluff-eaze hair mask by Lush. It smells amazing and leaves my hair silky soft after I use it. Another favorite is the Lush shampoo bar in Squeaky Green. My scalp became agitated after using a different shampoo and this thing nicely solved my problems. It foams like there is no tomorrow and cleans your hair very thoroughly without being aggressive.

Shower products

My only addiction when it comes to beauty products: shower gel! I simply can’t get enough of them. I’m absolutely in love with Lush’ Flying Fox, but I finished that ages ago and since I have so many lying about I decided against buying it just yet. Other than that I’ve falling absolutely in love with the Bath & Body Works shower gels I bought in the US over summer. Twilight Woods smells amazing and it’s infused with shea butter making it creamy and not very drying on the skin like other shower gels sometimes do. Another favorite is the Lush Almond & Coconut smoothie. Also creamy and smells delicious. I can’t pinpoint what it reminds me off, but the scent reminds me of my childhood. Double win!

Skin Care & Perfume

I’m not too adventurous skincare wise, so nothing too special going on here. I already wrote about my love for Angels on Bare Skin by Lush and in their Christmas collection they now have Bûche de Noël. Same idea, only creamier, thicker and much more suited for dry, winter skin. Love it! Another favorite I bought only last week, but I think it is a winner. Most eye creams give me itches, sit on my skin or irritate my eyes. Last week, I purchased the Nutriganics eye cream at The Body Shop and I instantly fell in love. It’s rich and creamy, leaves my under eye area silky smooth and seems to work marvelously well. Last but not least, I’ve included a perfume: the Lush Ginger perfume. It’s definitely not a scent for everyone but I love it.

Eye make up

My favorite make up item has to be eyeshadow and I bought quite a few again this year. Favorites are the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette. I prefer it over the Naked 1 and whenever I want to make a neutral look it’s this palette I take out. In addition, I discovered two microshadows by The Make Up Store in Jubilee and Tribecca. Two gorgeous highly pigmented eyeshadows that glide on like a charm. Last but not least a budget favorite: the Cover Girl monoshadow in Tapestry Taupe. Great basic color that only costs a few dollars in the US. Not in the pictures but also one of last year’s discoveries is the Maybelline the Falsies Flared mascara. It makes my lashes full and accentuate them in just the right way.

Lips & Cheeks

This year was the year of the MAC lipstick. I think I purchased at least 5 of them in the past year. To represent that obsession I have included MAC’s Amplified lipstick in Impassioned in the picture above. I wore it most together with the Matte lipstick in Pink Plaid and a Lustre in Lovelorn. Another MAC lip product I discovered and loved instantly was Lip Erase in Dim. I have very pigmented lips and wearing lighter colored lipsticks used to be a feat, but no longer. Cheeks wise I only have one real favorite of the year: Physicians Formula Happy Booster in Warm. For a bit of instant glow to the face with a subtle color, this has been my go to color since summer.

Face products

Three MAC products yet again, but very rightly so some of my favorite of the year. 2012 is the year where I finally started using foundation and in which I found the perfect concealer. The foundation that accompanied on my maiden voyage in the land of liquid face make up is MAC’s Face & Body foundation. It is a bit on the sheer side, but easy to build up and with a very natural finish. For concealer I switched from the Studio Sculpt to the Select Moisture Cover for summer. It’s lighter and blends so easily, I simply kept using it because the Studio Sculpt one now feels so cakey. To set all this liquid make up, I have started using the MAC Prep & Prime transparent pressed finishing powder. My job has a climate controlled air conditioning system and caused my MAC Mineralized Skinfinish to look cakey at the end of the day. I told the make up artist about it and she give me this white, light weight powder. I’m in love: it sets my make up, mattifies my face AND makes my make up last without it looking cakey. I’ve had it for 4 months and I’ve already hit pan too!

And that’s it’s my favorite beauty and make up products for 2012. What are yours?