As I said, my birthday is in January. Because of that, there is no more appropriate favorite than this first one – Happy Birthday Nail Lacquer from Deborah Lippmann! J I have always wanted this wonderfully glittery top coat, but never wanted to spend the money. This year I finally bit the bullet and I’m really glad I did! There are tons of dupes for it, but no one does glitter polish quite like Deborah Lippmann. I’m usually not a huge glitter polish person, especially when the base is clear like this one, but I’ve actually found myself adding this as a topper more often than not. It just looks like a confetti-filled celebration. It’s like fun in a bottle…and speaking of bottle, I should add that I absolutely adore the shape of Deborah Lippmann bottles. They’re actually designed to prevent them from tipping over! Anyway, my nails have been well dressed in pretty multi-colored glitter pretty much all month and I have loved it! J
Sticking with nails, another nail favorite is something I’ve been wearing every single day. It is from Barielle and it is the Clearly Noticeable Nail Thickener. I have mentioned my terrible peeling nails repeatedly and I think I have finally found something that actually does make a lasting difference. This is basically just a clear polish, but somehow it manages to seal down any peeling bits and not only prevents further peeling, but seems to help it disappear. Not sure how it does it, but it seems to be working! I can also easily apply this as a base coat or with color on top and the benefits seem to stay the same – and the polish wears just as well, if not better than with other base coats. If worn alone, my nails actually look healthy even when they are not. I think I’m going to have to buy the Clearly Noticeable Nail Thickener in bulk from now on! J And if you’re wondering where to find it, I get mine from Vitacost (referral link).
Moving right along, I have a new body scrub favorite…make that addiction! It is frank. That’s right, frank. Who, or shall I say what is frank? Well, frank is the most amazing body scrub ever! J I have the Coconut Coffee Scrub and it is basically made using finely ground coffee and oils. You just scrub away in the shower, preferably letting it sit on the skin for about 5 minutes and rinse away. It is kind of messy, but I find by the end of my shower most of the super-fine coffee granules have rinsed down the drain. When I get out of the shower, my skin is so, so soft! I have never felt it this soft before, not even with dry brushing. Even better, it is hydrated from the oils and I think by letting the scrub sit for a bit helps the oils to actually penetrate the skin for the ultimate in softness. I don’t need moisturizer, though I’ve been using one anyway. And if silky skin were not enough, I also feel like frank makes my skin look a bit firmer (who doesn’t want that? J) and just all around healthier. It’s truly amazing stuff. I intend to write a review on it soon, so I’m not going to write my entire thoughts here, but definitely give frank a try and he’s sure to treat you right!
Typically I’ve been following up a down and dirty scrub from frank with a prior favorite – the Deep Steep Dry Oil Body Spritzer in Brown Sugar Vanilla. I reviewed this a while ago and you can find that review here. It is just so easy to use! My only complaint is that, though the mist is incredible, the bottle doesn’t spray from all angles and sometimes I feel like I’m standing on my head trying to spritz it on my back. But I can forgive that because it smells delicious, absorbs almost instantly, hydrates so beautifully and is just all around amazing. I have definitely become an oil-loving convert over the past year! J Between frank and the Deep Steep Dry Oil Spritzer, my skin is probably softer than the day I was born!!! J I think the two will have to be my Valentine this year. Hehe J
To keep my face clear, soft and clean, I’ve been turning to Sibu Beauty’s Seabuckthorn Balancing Facial Cleanser. I typically don’t feel like face washes make much of a noticeable difference in my skin care routine unless my face has a negative reaction to it. However, the Sibu Cleanser made me feel like there was an actual improvement in the clarity, texture and appearance of my skin almost right away! It is a gentle gel cleanser that works into a creamy lather, but also has some sort of very gentle scrubiness to it. I’m not sure what is in it that feels scrubby, but there’s definitely some kind of gentle grit. It’s always difficult to tell with my acne-prone skin, but I really think this has been keeping most of my acne troubles at bay…of course I have two massive eruptions on my face right now, but generally speaking, my skin has been much clearer and just all around healthier looking since I switched to the Sibu Balancing Facial Cleanser.
Quickly moving on to makeup, my first favorite was in my Annual Favorites, so I’m not going to say much. It is the Arch Brow Sculpting Pencil from Hourglass. It is just such a quick and easy way to fill in my brows. I love the color (I use Blonde), the texture and the packaging. The shape of the brow pencil itself is a triangle and, though I have thin and sparse brows, I find this is really convenient to just angle differently for thin or thick lines. Thinner pencils take too much time, while a thicker pencil is not thin enough to get the tail ends of my brows. This pencil can do both and I find it to be just perfect. Well done Hourglass! J
These last two products I haven’t used much because I haven’t had them long, but I already know that I love them! The first is one of the new Sheer Revolution Lipsticks from Urban Decay. I have the color Sheer Rapture and it’s just a perfect everyday my-lips-but-better kind of color. It seems to wear pretty well, especially for a sheer formula, and it is surprisingly comfortable to wear. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the original Revolution Lipsticks, but I absolutely love the new Sheer Version!
Finally we have what I guess is a cult classic. It is the Watercolour Blush from Daniel Sandler. Oh. My. God. This stuff is seriously incredible! I have the shade Cherub and I seriously cannot envision ever grabbing for another blush! It is so easy to apply – a dot is plenty. It lasts literally all day and it creates just the perfect sheer wash of color to the cheeks. It reminds me of the effect that the Josie Maran Watercolor Cheek Gelee (reviewed here) provides, but is so much easier to use. I just put a dot on the back of my hand, tap my finger into to it, apply to the cheeks and stipple with a brush for even distribution. I find it incredibly easy and it is so pretty! Can you tell that I find it pretty and easy? I seriously love the Daniel Sandler Watercolour Blush!!! I need them all! J
I feel that I need to address something that was so horrendously awful that I can’t bear to try it out more than once! It’s the new Physician’s Formula Organic Wear BB Mascara in the white tube. I only used it once and would normally give it more of a test, but I can usually tell if a mascara is worth a second chance after one try, plus this was just freakin’ awful. The brush, the formula, the wear, just everything about it. The plastic comb has different length “teeth” on various sides and unless you have it positioned just right, it’s nearly impossible to get on your lashes without smearing it all over your eyelid. It also clumps something awful…and it’s chunky!...plus the more I tried to fix it, the worse it clumped. I tried holding the wand a variety of ways, but nothing worked well and my lashes ended up clumpy no matter what I did. I would have been willing to give it another shot, but it flaked so horribly that I just can’t bear the thought! I very rarely find mascara to flake or smudge on me, but this stuff left little specks of black all over under my eyes. I may try it once more out of sheer curiosity, but I have absolutely no hope for the Physician’s Formula BB Mascara. Stick to the green tube if you’re looking for a good Physician’s Formula mascara!
Look at the weird gaps between "teeth". No bueno!
As for the items that I’ve been testing this month (check them out here), I’m still sitting on the fence. I partly feel like I haven’t given them enough of a go, but I also can’t decide on the end results either. I’ll try to keep you posted when I make a decision, but for now, they’re all still in that uncertain “testing” phase. Sounds so scientific, doesn’t it? Trust me; it’s not! J
That’s going to do it for my January Favorites! It’s actually been a pretty good month all around with many changes, but moving in a positive direction. And for me at least, January meant Christmas! How awesome is that! J I hope you all had a wonderful January, though that sounds a bit contradictory since January always tends to be kind of a gray month – both figuratively and literally. Anyway, I hope you’ve enjoyed this edition of my monthly favorites and I hope to have a few more posts throughout February than I did in January! Looking forward to seeing you soon!!! Until then, best wishes and thanks for stopping by. J
