Favourite Products of 2011

I cannot believe that it's already midway through January 2012.  It seems that 2011 passed by in the wink of an eye.  I hardly remember what I did and when I did it.  It seems like just yesterday I was celebrating NYE 2011 with my girls.  Talk about fast.  I admit that a lot of things happened in 2011 though.  That being said, I think I've grown up some and though I'm still searching to find myself and what inspires me, I found a lot of things that I liked over the last year.  So without further ado, here are my favourites of 2011!

Disclaimer: all products mention were purchased by me with my own money unless otherwise stated.

December Favourites

This is a little belated but it didn't occur to me to do a monthly favourite blog post.  However, there are a lot of products I really did enjoy and use a lot of over the month of December.  Though I did travel, some of these still came with me and got used.  I will do a 2011 favourites - when I get the chance - which will be up before the end of January... but here are some of my favourites for the month of December 2011.

Las Vegas, NV with the Girls

Palazzo's main entrance

Over the winter holidays, I managed to go to Las Vegas with some of my best friends from high school - ie. my girls!  We had such a blast.  These plans were not long in the making.  We had the idea about a year ago but nothing really came of it until a few months before as we started looking for flights and deals.  Amazingly enough, we snagged a relatively inexpensive flight from Bellingham, WA and a great rate at the Palazzo for a 2 double-bed Bella suite - facing the strip! (our room literally over looked the pool.)

Iris Apfel for MAC Cosmetics

This past Sunday (January 5, 2012), MAC released it's newest collection - Iris Apfel for MAC.  The beautiful thing about this collaboration is the colours they chose to release.  Bold and bright colours perfect for the coming Spring and Summer months.

Flamingo

The part I was most excited about - in this release - was the lipsticks.  They are named after various birds (except for one - Morange - which is part of their permanent line) and are very brightly coloured.

There are 5 limited edition shades:  Flamingo (a light milky bright coral), Party Parrot (a bright red-pink), Pink Pigeon (a 'brightest clean pink'), Scarlet Ibis (a bright orange-red), & Morange (a 'loudmouth orange' - amplified creme).

Lash Lovelies by Benefit

The first thing I usually notice about a person is their eyes.  I adore it when girls have simple eye make-up and long, defined and voluminous lashes.  You know the ones?  Those eyes that you think, "how did she get those incredible lashes when mine are ....", well my personal lashes are straight and not-so-amazing.  I'm working on it.

I was at Shopper's Drug Mart today and came across these babies. or Lovies.  Benefit Cosmetics has come out with a new line of lashes called "Lash Lovies".  The range includes seven styles of flirty lashes with creative names (Big Spender, Debutante, Little Flirt, Pin-up, Prima Donna, Rockette and Starlet) as well as their single lashes (which are appropriately named Going Solo).  They are priced at $18 CAD a pair (or $15 USD from the Benefit website.)

Prima Donna Lash

Sally Hansen 'Co-bolt Blue'

It's been a while since my last post - I've been busy.  I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday season!  I know I did - but more about that later.  Quick and easy post of the week - or day.  This is Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri formula in "Co-bolt Blue".

In my opinion, this is a gorgeous, deep marine cobalt blue.  The formula itself is thick and opaque - so realistically, one coat of this lovely color would do the trick - but as always I do two coats because that's just how I prefer things.  It's lasting power is fair enough for it's low price tag of under $4 at any drugstore.