2015 Year in Review & Favorites

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and wish you all an even better 2016!

2015 was definitely a new milestone year for me with the engagement and wedding planning.  This year also marked many new tried and true products that I definitely have on my holy grail repurchase list.

2015 Beauty Faves - Lorac Skinny Eye Palette in Black, Dior DiorSnow White Reveal Sunscreen, Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua Foundation, Sunday Riley Luna Sleeping Night Oil, Laura Mercier Lip Parfait Creamy Colourbalms

• Lorac Skinny Eye Palette in Black - this was a Nordstrom Anniversary Sale Exclusive and I didn't expect it to be so perfect! Not only is it the perfect warm nudes palette, but it has both the shimmer and matte shadows that I use daily. The shadows are so buttery soft AND they don't crease despite all day wear. I found myself reaching for it almost every day in the last 4 months so it definitely had to be a fave for this year. I'm looking forward to getting more.
• Dior DiorSnow White Reveal UVB Protection Sunscreen in Translucent -  I was reluctant to use it in the beginning since it's pure sunscreen. I always have to mix it in with a moisturizer every morning so it was a little cumbersome but after finding the right one (Clinique's Moisture Surge Extended Thirst Relief), it works so wonderfully. Never greasy feeling and doesn't crease any base makeup.
• Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua Ultra Light Skin Perfecting Sunscreen Makeup Foundation in 20 Beige - super lightweight foundation that has a light to medium coverage. My skin stays dewy all day without getting oily. Super love and already restocked.
• Sunday Riley Luna Sleeping Night Oil - if I had to choose the #1 beauty product of the year, I'm most amazed by the Luna Sleeping Night Oil's results. No, I didn't see overnight results like most people claimed, but I did see noticeable differences to my pores within a week.  I also saw improvement to acne scars around my chin area. Maybe a full review to come soon?
• Laura Mercier Lip Parfait Creamy Colourbalms - I already own 5 of these! They go on smooth and doesn't accentuate any lines. Leaves lips looking glossy and rich. Laura Mercier already added more colors in this line, I guess I'll be stocking them up again.

That's it for my top 5 beauty favorites of 2015! There were many wonderful products this year but these are definitely hands down the best I've tried and used this year. Do you have a list to share?

Once again, thank you for stopping by and making it possible for me to get chances like sponsored posts. I wish you all a wonderful 2016!

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Monthly Empties: 4Q 2013

Sad to say that my monthly empties turned into a quarterly empties post! I just haven't been able to finish enough products I suppose, which is not good as I've accumulated so much more products this quarter. ::raises fist to Sephora VIB sales::

First up is the Oct 2013 empties. I can probably even nickname this the toner empties month.

Oct 2013 Monthly Empties

Beauty Haul - Winter 2012

Wow, I just realized I haven't shared a haul for months! No wonder there are so many haul pictures that are backlogged on my computer. Time to share! I apologize in advance if some of these items are now out of stock as these are from past sale events.

Laura Mercier Haul

Laura Mercier Exclusive Colour Collection

The Exclusive Colour Collection was on sale direct from Laura Mercier for $29! It includes a full size Second Skin Cheek in Sunsoaked Bronze, Baked Eye Color in Aquamarine and Lip Glace in Coral Diamond. Love the set plus I bought the Sheer Lip Color in Kissed Lips which was part of their Summer Collection and was sold out when I was looking.

Laura Mercier Luxe Colour Portfolio

Also direct from Laura Mercier, their Luxe Colour Portfolio was on sale for $49 from $98! Includes 6 eyeshadows, 3 eyeliners and 2 blushes. Also with included are their luxe brushes. The African Violet eyeshadow is soooo beautiful! Swatches to come! I see that this set is now available at Sephora again, but is selling at it's original selling price at $98.

Laura Mercier Colour Preview Collection

I went a little crazy with the Laura Mercier Colour Preview Collection which was on sale at Sephora for $35. Crazy meaning I actually bought 2! Took advantage of it during their VIB sale too. It comes with a full size cheek color in Citrus Spark, eyeshadow duo in Sandstone/Cognac and lip colour in Grapefruit! The colors were so pretty that I just couldn't give it up.

Sephora Haul

Sephora Haul

Another haul from Sephora of their new sale items. The Tokidoki beauty products are being discontinued, they were all on sale for over 40% off. I was looking to get the little cardboard palettes since they were so cute and very similar to the Stila travel palettes. Also picked up some of their sale Hello Kitty items which was a cheek & eye palette. Too many deals!

And last but definitely not least, I bought the cult favorite Cargo blu ray powder! Beauty.com had it in a beautiful set for $42. Comes with a full size pressed powder and foundation/concealer. I've been using the concealer for quite some time now, swatches and review will be coming soon!.

Hope you like my haul updates. Swatches and reviews will be up! Please stay tuned!

Swatches: Essie, Revlon, Lancome, Laura Mercier

Happy New Year everyone!  I've been itching to post these nail swatches up, but have been too lazy gazy. So here they are!

Essie's Muchi Muchi with Revlon's Stunning

Essie's Muchi Muchi with Revlon's Stunning

Here's I have 1 coat of Essie's Muchi Muchi, which is quite sheer and streaky in 1 coat but I really love the pale pink shade, spiced it up with Revlon's Stunning Nail Lacquer only on a few fingers to make it more unique. The Revlon Stunning polish is top coat of silver glitter with bigger sphere shapes. It is absolutely stunning! (no pun intended ;p ) Only complaint I have is that it was quite hard to pick up the bigger circular glitters with the brush. And as with all glitter nail polish, this was horrible to take off. But it's just so pretty!  What do you think?

Lancome's Vernis in Love in Gris Angora 407N

Lancome Vernis in Love in Gris Angora 407N

No flash

Saw Raeview's review of the new Lancome Vernis in Love and I fell in love with the colors. Picked up this greyish violet color and I was dancing! Perfect fall/winter shade. It's a beautiful creme finish with 2 coats. (1 coat leaves it very streaky). These nail polishes are $15 a bottle and smaller than the regular full size but it makes it a little more affordable to play with. Not like I've ever finished a bottle of nail polish. Plus the polish was quite long lasting (almost a week.)

Lancome's Vernis in Love in Rose Plumeti 300M

Lancome's Vernis in Love in Rose Plumeti 300M

No flash

Here's another Lancome Vernis in Love that I purchase in Rose Plumeti. Color is a neutral pink with a shimmery sheen. Here I have it on with 1 coat. It was a little weird, this dried out to a matte finish. I was slightly disappointed that it didn't have the same jelly like finish as the Gris Angora.

Laura Mercier's Cabana Nail Lacquer

Laura Mercier's Cabana

Here's a throwback from the summer collections, Laura Mercier's Cabana. This was a highly sort after polish when it first came out. The perfect coral red/orange you can find! Perfect jelly creme finish. You have to apply 2 coats for the coral red to show up. I have only 1 coat on my ring finger in the picture and the color looks very washed out. Very long lasting and no chips at all. You can see that the tip wears off first.

Since spring is coming up, what do you think is the new "it" color for spring?

Macy's & Sephora F&F Hauls Oct/Nov 2010

Crazy Crazy HAULS! Stupid sales that are constantly going on.. haha.. I blame them! =P

Macy's Lancome & Clinique Haul

First up, I have my Macy's haul of Lancôme and Clinique products. I ordered these on Gene Day (Oct 22, 2010) when every purchase of the Lancôme Génifique Youth Activating Concentrate, $7 will be donated to the St. Judes Research by Lancôme. Also Clinique was still having its wonder gift with every $21.50 purchase.

The Macy's Bill

Total came out to be $120.31 after tax, not too bad considering all the things I got.

Very pretty packaging

Lancôme Génifique Youth Activating Concentrate & Eye Concentrate

This special Lancôme Génifique Value set (sold out on macys.com and sephora.com now) contains the full size of both concentrate which retails for $137. Macy's was selling this set for $88 and Sephora had it for $100. I heard YouTube gurus fuzkittie and raeview raving about it and I really wanted to try it out. Most importantly, I recently noticed these lines under my eyes, not sure if it's really from lack of sleep or my biological age kicking in. =(   I tested the eye cream at the Lancôme counter and really like the smooth mousse like texture. Hopefully it works out!

Clinique with freebies. Haha, I only paid for 1 thing in this picture.

I ordered the Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion 4.2 oz. I got the one without the pump, I don't really see the point of spending another $1.50 just to get a pump that I wouldn't use by the end of the bottle. This purchase was really a splurge to get the gift set! Haha XD  I sound so retarded. But it was true, nevertheless. I needed to make a $100 purchase so splurge + free gift it is! I've used this lotion from the sample sizes in my other Clinique gift sets. I normally use this as a hand lotion, so I can justify this purchase by leaving this bottle at work.

And now for all the great freebies!

This Berries Eyeshadow Trio looks so pretty!

I really wanted this eyeshadow trio the most from the gift set! Isn't the berry pink colors beautiful? So soft and elegant. Plus I love how they have all the numbers on the brushes and applicators to let you know what you should do with each. There was an instruction card too.

Freebie #2 Clinique repairwear laser focus wrinkle & UV corrector

 Got this as freebie deluxe sample with any Clinique purchase, didn't try it out yet, but it's a decent size.

Lancôme Génifique Youth Activating Concentrate 7 Day Sample

This 7 day pack was part of the purchase. But on Oct 22, 2010, they were giving these out at the Lancôme counters. Got a total of 3 packs of these. There are 7 little packets in each. Very very decent size packets with a lot of product. Not going to put the packet sizes here, they don't make sense. Lol.. because according to the package sizes, this 7 day sample can fill a full size bottle of the Lancôme Génifique Youth Activating Concentrate >.<  makes no sense at all.

Macy's Free Goody Bag

I was surprised to find this goody bag with my order. Haha, I guess Macy's is trying to be like Sephora and Ulta and give out freebie samples too. The ziplock bag's cute though. The crazy random things that I like.XD 

Now to my Sephora F&F Hauls. Yes hauls with the "s" because I made 3 different orders! Probably getting another during the VIB sale... sigh...

Sephora F&F Oct 2010 Haul # 1

Only got 1 item during this haul, I've been eying the Laura Mercier Flawless Face Kit sets for a while. I controlled myself till the F&F sale. =)

Laura Mercier Flawless Face Kit ($159 Value) for $65

Ingredients for the Flawless Face Kit

Got the tinted moisturizer set in Nude. Comes with a 3/4 size of foundation primer and their tinted moisturizer. Includes 2 brushes and powder puffs. Also comes with the full size Undercover Pot. The Undercover Pot has both the famous LM concealers and camouflage. I'm really loving the camouflage right now, very creamy, but the concealer is very dry.

Now for Sephora F&F Haul #2. Got this very close to the end of the sale, I wanted to see what they were going to add to their Sale section.

Sephora F&F Haul #2

Sephora F&F Haul #2 Bill

Made a purchase just slightly over $50 to get my free shipping and 3 samples. =)

NARS Blush in Sex Appeal

I purchased my first NARS blush! Got it in Sex Appeal versus the cult favorite Orgasm. It's a very pretty pale peach! Gives off just the slightest hint of color. Definitely love, but it's not as pigmented as my Rock & Republic blushes.

Stila Make An Impression In Moscow Travel Palette $10 ($65 value)

Also bought the Stila Make An Impression In Moscow Travel Palette for $10! This is part of the 5 travel sets that Stila has been coming out with on a monthly basis. I saw an actual picture of this on Luuux and was immediately in loved! The colors are so soft and pretty. The blush/lip color is very creamy. Love the colors.

Smashbox Instant Eyes Shadow & Liner Palette $15 ($67 value)

Also got this Smashbox Instant Eyes Shadow & Liner Palette for $15. It was Sephora's weekly special and still available. I never tried a cream liner and wanted to give it a try. The eyeshadows aren't pigmented at all. All they have are shimmers, but that doesn't bother me because I don't like shadows with color anyway. =)

Also the other weekly special, Perricone MD Cold Plasma Face and Eye for $15 (a $61 value). These were really really small. You can probably see how small they are compared to my NARS blush. I just wanted to give this a try, more like paying $15 for a deluxe sample size. =T

Now for my last Sephora F&F Haul (haul #3). I submitted my order at 11:50PM EST on the last day of the sale. Haha, splurging way too much. =P

Sephora F&F Haul #3

Sad thing is I loved the Stila Make An Impression In Moscow Travel Palette so much, I decided to get a backup! These are limited edition so I rather pay the $8 (after F&F discount) now than regret not having it anymore. In fact I liked it so much I bought the Stila No. 1: Road to Radiance - Across the USA - Collectible Travel Palette too. It has very pretty pinks, the other palettes are more ehhh.

Also bought First Aid Beauty Be Fabulous Kit for $35 ($70 Value). I wanted to try the moisturizer since my hands has been so dry and it even started cracking. I hate this time of the year. XP

Sephora was having a sale on the NARS eyeshadow duo, so I got another NARS product! They are full size products and I got it in the color Wicked for $10. The colors aren't as flattering as I had thought. The greens are actually very very pale. But I'll swatch it next time. I think Sephora will keep it on their site for a while.

Okay now what to get with my VIB discount? Haha, if you are a VIB at Sephora, you can use VIB20 to get 20% off your purchase from now till Nov 15.