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Monday, December 31, 2007

Favorite Things 2007

I can't believe that it's already been a year since the three of us decided to jump into this blog. 2007, you have been a pretty neat year, and I know I'm looking forward to 2008, too. After all, it's going to be our year!

I know we wouldn't be here if it weren't for the amazing beauty blog community that's taught us a lot of things this past year, and so it's incredibly exciting to be included in Blogdorf Goodman's Favorite Things 2007 list. Thank you!!

So with that, in no particular order, here are some of my favorite beauty finds for 2007!

- Firespot Eyeshadow from MAC Moonbathe: This is the eyeshadow that made me realize that yes, I can wear bright vivid colors on my eyes as well as make them extra-green. I never would have guessed that sizzling orange would be a stand-out color for me, as orange isn't a color I wear on a regular basis unless I'm going to a baseball game. But Firespot is truly an incredible color. The Moonbathe collection in general was great for my coloring -- more spring and summer collections in warm tones! More! Like the Non-Blonde says, do more for olive skin!

- Bigarade Concentree from Frederic Malle Editions de Parfums: I originally reviewed this perfume in March after my first trip to New York. I still love this perfume and its tangy citrus qualities. I'm still learning about what I like in perfumes, and while sites like Now Smell This are definitely helping me learn more about perfume in general, there's still a lot of shooting in the dark. I never know what to say when I get asked by perfume sales assistants what I like, so managing to find this between my hemming and hawwing and "Well, I like citrus?" was a blessing.

- Clog-Dissolving Cleansing Milk from Bliss: I think that one of the best things I've done this year is realized that I don't have oily skin -- I have combination skin. After years of, well, being a teenage girl and a college student, I finally realized that my skin is really not as bad as I thought it was, and that bringing out the big guns to try and zap everything was just making it worse. On a trip to Seattle this August, I stopped at Sephora since I was running low on face wash (plus, hello, I love Sephora). I snagged the Clog-Dissolving Face Wash and I love it. It smells great and keeps my skin soft. (I will say, however, that it wasn't as effective at taking full geisha make-up off as I wanted it to be. How often one will be wearing a full face and neck of geisha make-up, I don't know.)

- Russian Navy from OPI: I have always loved blue nail polish, and so learning that navy was going to be the hot color for fall was even more awesome. I found my bottle of Russian Navy in a beauty supply shop this July, back when the buzz was just starting. I adore this color, and I'm so glad I have it. I've had it on my toes since September, and wore it for Halloween, too. I actually managed to get some street cred on this one ("oh, that's the one from all the magazines!" "Yes, it is!").

- Charm Factor from MAC A Muse (2006): Here's a little story about me. For over seven years, my hair had gone back and forth from shoulder-length to bobbed, and I was ready for a change. In July 2006, MAC released the A Muse collection, the first MAC collection I sat up and took notice of thanks to this blog post. And that kickstarted me into the MAC, make-up, and beauty blog addict I am now. I darted to Bloomingdales and picked up what I needed to recreate the signature look -- the duo eyeshadow, the Fluidline eyeliner, and the lipstick: Charm Factor. In December, I took in a picture of Sienna Miller and got my hair chopped off. This July, I went even shorter. Charm Factor stayed in my make up drawer until I said, "That's it, I'm doing this, I am going as a mod for Halloween, at the very least." And I did. And it was awesome.

- Butterball from Lush: Kati just wrote about this little guy, but it's true -- this is one of the best (and most basic) things from Lush. It smells great, moisturizes, and it's fun to just roll around in the bath water with it. I can't survive in a place without bathtubs. Just can't do it.

- Feline Kohl Power Pencil from MAC Smoke Signals/McQueen: I really do love this eye pencil. I wrote about it in a joking manner, but it is truly out of love. They just moved it to the Goodbye section in the MAC website, so go get it. Seriously. I've also been using the Orpheus pencil for holiday wearin', and I'm hanging onto my Jealous. I will be so very sad to say goodbye to this pencil once it's gone.

- Pucker Tendertone from MAC Tendertones: This is another "why, why, why do you introduce such awesome things and take them away from me, MAC?" item. I don't know; I just kind of have that sort of relationship with MAC, I guess. The Tendertones are lip glosses that come in a little jar, which is usually my least favorite kind. I don't like putting my fingers in a jar, I also don't want to have to carry around a lip brush, and I also don't want to carry around a jar instead of a little stick I can pop in my pocket. That said, I will put all of that aside for Pucker. It's the perfect sheer raspberry lip balm, and it has SPF in it. And it smells and tastes delicious. Because that is also important.

- Supernova mascara from Fresh: My ultimate black mascara; I'm really surprised more bloggers aren't writing about this one. I will say that I did buy a mascara in Japan that I'm looking forward to trying out -- it's Rose of Versailles mascara, Oscar-style (Oscar being the protagonist of Rose of Versailles). That said, I'm also apprehensive about trying mascara that I can't find easily again, especially since it's, hello, mascara based on a manga character that I bought in Japan, and you're not supposed to keep mascara after three months, and wouldn't it be sad if that suddenly became my favorite mascara and I couldn't get it anymore. So knowing that I can pick up Fresh mascara from Sephora or Beauty.com makes me feel better about declaring it my favorite because it will never go away and leave me.

In addition to my picks, here's Kati's favorites from 2007:

- #55 nail polish from Sephora: While this year was all about the navy blue for Jeanne, I was all over the turquoise. I spent all spring searching for the perfect matte shade, and it wasn't until I was down in San Francisco over Memorial Day weekend that I found this little number. I've been wearing it on my toes pretty much ever since. J'adore!

- Lip Service from Napoleon Perdis: Okay, so everyone I know would've expected me to pick Stila's It Gloss here, but that's a last year's find for me. Lip Service was something I picked up this year, and hello, this is my favorite gloss ever. Clear and tastes like vanilla cupcakes, perfect for a simple tastes girl like me.

- Angelica eyeshadow from Boots Botanics: This has been my workhorse shade all year (sensing a theme with my color palate this year?) and bonus points for it a) being drugstore cheap, and b) looking remarkably similar in the package to MAC's Parrot, the infamous shade that I bought last week and have yet to try (blame all the at-home family time and not wanting to share with my sister.) I'll let you know how it holds up in comparison to the Parrot, but so far, this is my favorite eyeshadow ever. And I'm not just saying that because I wore it for my University graduation and it was super flattering in the pictures.

- Crush on You Sugar Scrub from Product Body: I don't think it's really a secret that the most important weapon in my beauty arsenal is my skin. I don't wear a full face of makeup every day, and I don't want to. I'm a low maintenance girl and I like it that way. Crush on You is hands down my favorite exfoliator, and without it, I am itchy and sad from my eczema. [I gave her a sample after I read about Crush on You in last year's Favorite Things round-ups! - Jeanne]

- Dream Cream Moisturizer from Lush: Okay, so this is a bit of a cheat, since I've known about this for more than a year, but it and Butterball (see above) are my all time favorites for moisturizing. Dream Cream has a bit of an odd scent in the tub, but the scent fades very quickly (good for you perfume addicts who want to layer, and good for me, who just likes smelling like soap or vanilla or a citrus farm). Plus, I have yet to find another moisturizer that is as non-irritating for all over.

So what will 2008 bring for us? And what goodies from 2007 will we find from this amazing list of bloggers? Click around and see if you can guess what we'll be aiming to get our hands on...

  • 15 Minute Beauty Fanatic
  • Afrobella
  • All About The Pretty
  • All Lacquered Up
  • Beauty 411
  • Beauty Blogging Junkie
  • Beauty Talk
  • Beautiful Makeup Search
  • Beauty Hatchery
  • Beauty Jones
  • Blogdorf Goodman
  • Canadian Beauty
  • C'est Chic
  • Coquette
  • eBeautyDaily
  • For The Love of Beauty
  • Give Me Your Eyes I Need Sunshine
  • Getting Amped
  • Grayburn
  • HauteMommaStuff
  • Koneko's Beauty Diary
  • Makeup Bag
  • The Makeup Girl
  • Miss Whoever You Are
  • My Life,My Words,My Mind
  • Legerdenez
  • Perfumista
  • Periodic Style
  • Platinum Blonde Life
  • Product Girl
  • Shop Diary
  • Slap of the Day
  • Steeping Beauty
  • The Beauty Alchemist
  • The Daily Obsession
  • The Life Of A Ladybug
  • The Non-Blonde
  • Urbane Girl
  • Victoria's Own
  • We Love Beauty

  • image from blogdorfgoodman.blogspot.com -- thank you for including us!!

    7 comments:

    Annieytown said...

    I love MAC's feline and orpheus pencil and totally forgot to mention them! My magic moment for MAC was the Madame B collection. I bought everything and became a more passionate fan.

    I love Product Beauty. The quality of her products is so amazing. I can not wait to see what she is doing in 2008!

    Thanks again for participating and putting up with the tech glitches. Have a wonderful and safe New Year!

    Gaia said...

    I can't think of a better place to start learning about perfume than a Frederic Malle counter.

    Happy New Year!

    Grayburn said...

    I have seen many mentions of the lip service throughout 2007 so this one I will be sure to put on my to-buy list. Thanks for such a great list and happy new year!

    Henna said...

    oooh, I too love the Feline Kohl Power and I'm pretty surprised that it's on the Goodbye list but MAC introduces so many products every year that I'm sure there will be something else to take its place in our hearts.

    Happy New Year!

    Carla said...

    That Napoleon Perdis gloss is great. :) I'm new to perfume as well and I think sites like Now Smell This describe perfume so poetically. I'd love to be able to do that. You might want to pick up Mandy Aftel's book, it's taught me a few things.

    Victoria said...

    Great list, I'll be checking some of these out I need to revisit Lush! Thanks!
    Happy New Year,
    Victoria

    risa said...

    you've got a great list, here! i regret missing the Firespot.. olives unite!

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