I’m going to start with nails since my nails should have taken a brutal beating in December with my daily polish changes thanks to the Ciate Mini Mani Month! J My nails stayed in relatively good condition (cuticles, not as much!) and I think it is mostly due to my Mineral Fusion Base Coat. It’s nothing fancy. Just a clear old base coat, but it really seems to seal my nails and keeps them strong and healthy. It’s also nice and shiny if you’re just looking for a clear polish or if you wanted to use it as a base coat. But, yeah, thank you Mineral Fusion’s Base Coat! J
For makeup favorites, I really only have one product that I have reached for almost every time I’ve put on makeup. It is the Fruit Pigmented Blush from 100% Pure in Berry. Firstly, the packaging is gorgeous! It has a beautifully embossed magnetic rosy-pink lid. The color is more of a light berry and it is super pigmented. I was actually quite surprised by it’s pigmentation. I tend to have a light hand and, even using my normal light hand, the brush picked up a ton of color! The Berry is a gorgeous shade that creates a beautiful winter flush. It’s very natural and very pretty! It has a slightly unusual, almost fruity scent. I believe their products are made with fruit pigments (hence the name), so that kind of makes sense! Really, really loving the 100% Pure Fruit Pigmented Blush in Berry this month!
Next, I have a shampoo. The shampoo is the Tea Tree Scalp Treatment formula from Avalon Organics. It’s keeping my flaky, dry scalp happy and it keeps my hair feeling and looking clean. Plus, it seems to make my thin strands look somewhat more voluminous! It smells minty, but not overpoweringly so. It’s just nice and refreshing. Avalon Organics has nailed their Tea Tree Scalp Treatment Shampoo formula! J
What’s a shampoo without conditioner, right? J Of course I have a conditioner to include as well! It’s from Acure and it is their Moroccan Argan Stem Cell + Argan Oil Conditioner. It seems to keep my over-processed locks healthy and strong. Quite a feat, actually! J It’s also light enough that it doesn’t weigh down my already limp hair, while still feeling conditioning. And, perhaps my favorite of all, it smells a bit like almond extract! I love the smell of almond extract because it makes me think of baking a cake for my dad. He loves almond buttercreme, so I’m always using almond extract. Maybe it just smells like almonds, but I associate it with the baking extract. Either way, I love the scent and the formula of the pretty-close-to-perfect Acure Moroccan Argan Stem Cell + Argan Oil Conditioner! J
Sticking with hair, I recently started using the Badger Argan Hair Oil and it is leaps and bounds better than any other leave-in treatment I’ve tried! Granted, I’ve never tried the famed Moroccan Oil, but I suspect the two may be pretty similar. Argan oil is Moroccan oil after all. I just distribute one pump of the Badger Argan Oil through my damp hair and brush through with absolutely no difficulties! It’s like a miracle product for my always tangled hair! It also keeps my hair conditioned and shiny, while controlling fly-aways, winter static and disguising split-ends. It doesn’t weigh my hair down, nor does it make it greasy, as many leave-in conditioners seem to be doing lately. I don’t really notice a scent, which I kind of like in a treatment product. I can’t tell you how much I love the Badger Argan Hair Oil!!! J
Finally, I have a body product that I saw Catherine from Buying Cruelty Free mention in a post. It is the Giovanni Hot Chocolate Sugar Scrub. In addition to sugar, it also contains crushed cocoa beans to help with the scrubbing. Not surprisingly, it smells exactly like hot chocolate!!! So delicious! J It’s an emulsified sugar scrub, so it’s not overly oily when you scoop it out and the ratio of scrubbiness is just right! It feels like it’s doing something, but gently! It’s really easy to scoop out of the tub and it holds together, even while scrubbing. It does dissolve, but so many scrubs kind of separate as soon as they touch your skin and then you’re chasing the scrub down your leg instead of actually exfoliating. Not so with Giovanni’s scrub! J It’s an absolutely wonderful scrub that’s affordable, smells delicious and will leave your skin beautifully soft! J Really, really love the Giovanni Hot Chocolate Sugar Scrub!
That’s going to do it for my December favorites and my favorites for the year! I’m kind of sad to see the year end, but excited to see what the new year holds! J I will admit that I find New Year’s Eve a bit of an annoying “holiday,” and the ball drop – which is the worst name ever! – in NYC is actually rather pathetic. Watch it and tell me you don’t agree! J Australia’s NYE fireworks display is incredible every year! I will say that I do enjoy watching the different celebrations from around the world every year. It’s interesting to see how different cultures ring in the New Year. But back to my point, I hope you’ve all had a fantastic year and that this next year will be even better and brighter!!! J Happy New Year and thank you so much for checking out my favorites this month!!!
