Top Products of 2012

I wanted to look back and see what were some of the new favourites I found during last year. Most have already been seen on the blog, but I'll compile a list anyway!

Missha Perfect Cover B.B Cream
A pale shade, perfect for my skin, and with nourishing ingredients. My skin really likes this stuff, it's moisturising enough that I don't need to use anything else in the mornings. Goes on easily and stays well. Doesn't need powder on top, but lasts longer with it.

Darling Girl Primped & Primed eyeshadow primer
I'm not totally friends with this primer yet, but it's my new favourite after Urban Decay Primer Potion suddenly stopped working. This primer needs a bit of rubbing to warm up and spread on the lid properly, and I still sometimes leave the layer too thick and it creases. Creates a nice sticky base for shadows and keeps eyeshadow creaseless for at least eight hours.

Geek Chic The Pointy End eyeshadow
I've purchased many lovely eyeshadows during the year, but this one is my favourite. It's quite hard to capture on camera, but the shade is a darkish-medium cold taupe with shimmer. Easy to wear, goes on nicely, and stays on well. Also, it's part of the Geek Chic collection Win or Die, which means it's named after The Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin, a book series that I love. Arya is one of my favourite characters and the shadow in named after her sword.

Maybelline Fit Me blush in Deep Rose
This blush was actually meant for darker skintones in the Fit Me series, which was designed as an easy way to choose complimenting products. Well, I'm a rebel, so I went for the darkest blush ;P Deep Rose is a cool dark pink with golden shimmer, and works great with my pale skin. It isn't heavily pigmented and that's a thing I like, it's easier to put on just a little.

Real Techniques brushes
I ordered these brushes from iHerb when my other half was getting some vitamins. I didn't spend a long time choosing them, but totally hit the jackpot. My old powder brush was prickly and always bled black dye when I washed it. The Real Techniques brush is a total opposite: velvet soft and washes easily. It's also large enough to do my whole face quickly. The smaller pink one is a stippling brush, meant for putting on shimmer finish or foundation. I use it with BB-cream and it works like dream. Unlike normal foundation brushes, it doesn't suck the foundation in, so I need to use less product and the brush doesn't get dirty quickly. It's also great for getting light coverage instead of accidentally putting the foundation on like a mask.

Lip stains
I listed lip stains in general, because the ones I have are pretty similar to each other, and I had not tried any of these products before. I want my make-up to be hassle-free, I don't feel like wasting time touching up my lipstick when I could be out having fun or working. Thus, lip stains are perfect! On my lips they easily last eight hours or more. The only negative side is that they don't come in dramatic colours.

Sulfate free shampoo
My hair started getting dirty faster (who knows why, maybe I'm just getting old!) so I had to wash it more often, but that resulted in my scalp getting irritated. I had tried silicone-free shampoo but didn't feel much different, so I tried a sulfate free option next and that seemed to do the trick. So I'll go with sulfate free shampoos for now. They were actually pretty hard to find, these were the only two I've found so far. The downside of no sulfates is that the shampoo doesn't foam and it's harder to spread evenly to the scalp. But that's okay, not too hard.

Revlon Precision latex free eyelash glue
I recently (= under one year ago) found out I'm allergic to latex. I hadn't even thought about it even though my eyelids were a bit sore after a night out with lashes on, and my skin was a bit red after wearing a latex corset. But it was a dentist that noticed, because after she used latex gloves while working on my teeth, I had a hand print on my cheek ;) So, the penny dropped, and I went shopping for a top to wear under the latex corset and lash glue that would have no latex. I tried one glue before this one, but it didn't work at all. This one does, you just need to skip the step where you wait for the latex glue to dry tacky.