1.  Chanel Rouge Allure Lipstick in Darling.
The Rouge Allures are my absolute favorite lipsticks.  First of all, the packaging is so pretty! You can’t help but feel special when you pull out the glossy black tube with the gold base and the double C logo on the bottom.  And the fact that it never accidentally pops open in your purse does not hurt either.  The lid is spring loaded so that the tube is flush with the lid and is pressed to release.  The texture of these lipsticks is so smooth and creamy that its almost like you’re wearing a lip treatment rather than a lipstick!  On me, Darling is the perfect light pink shade and compliments all types of looks, but all of the colors that I’ve purchased are great.

2.  Fekkai Classic Brush.
Spending nearly a hundred dollars on a hairbrush seems ridiculous, I know, but this is the most amazing hair product I have ever owned.  At first, I thought it was the Fekkai Glossing Shampoo that made my hair so shiny and healthy looking, but when I tested other shampoos and still had the same results, I realized it was my new brush!  The Fekkai brush contains both natural boar and nylon bristles to create a static free shine.  When you think about how much we spend on our makeup brushes, this really is not that outlandish and somehow, it really does help make my hair look amazing no matter what products I use.

3.  MAC Mineralized Skinfinish in Blonde
This MSF released as part of the Blonde Brunette Redhead collection.  I thought that since I am a brunette, that my obvious favorite of these was going to be the Brunette MSF, but that was not the case at all.  When I saw the Blonde MSF, I knew it was going home with me.  Blonde is a collaboration of many lovely pink shades, but one of the best things about it is that since the product has stripes of color rather than marblization like the previous MSFs, it can be used swirled together or as seperate colors for highlighting or even eye shadows.  My favorite way to wear it is swirled together because the light pink color and the fine shimmer create a very glowy look.

4.  Chanel Bronze Universel de Chanel
For my fair skin, this is the best bronzer ever created.  It comes in a jar and has the consistency of a cream foundation.  The color is very buildable, so you can choose to give yourself just a light wash of color, or go all out tan.  When I heard about this product, I just knew I had to try it, but when I swatched it on my fingers in the store it was not at all what I was expecting.  It seemed like it was going to be too dark for me so I went home without purchasing the bronzer.  I did not stop hearing about how wonderful it was though, so I ordered it on Chanel’s website and only regret waiting so long!  I apply this with my #16 Chanel foundation brush so that I can really blend it out to not overpower my light complexion.  In the tub it appears to have a fine gold shimmer in it, but I’ve never noticed any shimmer at all to appear on me skin after applying.

5.  Too Faced Shadow Insurance
I feel like I should not even bring my love for this product out into the open because I stand alone in my preference of it over Urban Decay Primer potion, but on my lids this product just does a far better job.  It has a creamer consistency which makes it much easier for me to blend my shadows without having to tug them around.  Also the TFSI doesn’t make my lids feel tight and dried out like UDPP or even paint pots often do.  And while it has nothing to do with the product, the packaging of TFSI is far superior to UDPP because you actually are able to use what you paid for without having to break out the power tools.

6.  Clinique Touch Tint for Eyes in Gold Glimmer
I was not sure if I should even mention this it because it is discontinued, but I recently rediscovered this product when organizing my collection.  I have seen it available on multiple discount websites still, so I think I may look into purchasing a backup.  This product is packaged in a tube and comes out with the consistency of a cream shadow.  When you apply a thin layer of the cream evenly over your lids, brow bone, or even tear duct, the cream itself becomes almost translucent and all that is left is the most beautiful wash of gold glimmer.  I like to wear this both under my eye shadows to create a highlight and all by itself on days when I don’t really want to do much as far as makeup.  It sounds like it might be another tacky glitter product, but its not at all.  The glimmer is very fine and would work on nearly anyone.

7.  L’Oreal Lineur Intense in Carbon Black
This liner was recommended to me by a friend as a dupe for Lancome Artliner.  I’m always skeptical of drugstore products duping high end, but this liquid eyeliner is amazing!  Before purchasing this, my favorite drugstore liquid liner was Maybelline Lineworks Waterproof liquid eyeliner, but you have to be somewhat skilled to get the perfect line with the Maybelline product because the wand is very short and stiff.  I do not think that liquid liner gets any more foolproof than this L’Oreal product because the felt tip pen is slightly flexible and creates a thin line without having to worry about accidentally getting too much product on the wand.  Another thing I love about this is the color.  The carbon black is very intense and I’ve never had to go over it to get it dark enough.  I also haven’t had any problems with it running or smearing although I don’t have extremely watery eyes.  All I know is that I will be keeping one of these in my eyeliner drawer at all times!

8.  Bath and Body Works Aromatherapy Sugar Scrub in Mandarin Lime
I love sugar scrubs, but they can be really expensive and the containers never last me very long.  When I found the Aromatherapy sugar scrubs at Bath and Body Works I was really excited because BBW always has a coupon or sale going, and even if there is not a sale going, it retails for $16 for 13 oz. which is pretty cheap compared to something like Fresh Brown Sugar Body Polish at a whopping $65 for 14.1 oz.!  The texture of this scrub is very coarse and when rinsed off it leaves my skin soft and moisturized. As with most of Bath and Body Works products, they contain a lot of fragrance and probably would irritate sensitive skin, but luckily I don’t have irritation problems with fragranced products.  The scent is a very invigorating citrus and while this is the one I chose to buy first, I will probably try the other scents as well.

9.  Dior Addict Ultra Gloss in A Stitch of Brown
I know this color is not available anymore, but this is the one I have been hooked on for January.  The color itself is not what makes this gloss so wonderful and there are so many beautiful colors available in this gloss right now.  I bought this gloss last year and completely fell in love with the formula.  I reached for this pinkish mauve color randomly last month and remembered how much I liked it and now its been on my lips almost daily.  I just don’t think the texture of these glosses can be beat.  It is so smooth and while I am not sure that there is such a thing as gloss that is not a little sticky, the formula of these is the least so that I have found.  It is long lasting, doesn’t dry out my lips at all, and even makes them feel more moisturized.  The brush applicator is so much better than the sponge tip because I never feel like I can get enough product onto my lips with the sponge and that means I have to go back in a couple of times to get it right.  And of course, I love the packaging!  The glassy square container and the shiney silver knob on top make me smile every time I pull it out of my purse!

10. Urban Decay Deluxe Palette
I am sure I will do a separate article on this palette, but it is definitely one of my January favorite things!  The texture is so smooth and blendable and they are extremely well pigmented so you do not have to keep layering on the product to get it to look like the pan color.  I did not think I liked Urban Decay shadows because the ones that I had tried left me with chunky glitter fallout everywhere, but then I heard about their deluxe shadows and I am in love!  The palette comes with nine colors that can be used in various combination to create an endless number of looks.  My favorite color of the palette is Peace, a gorgeous pool blue color, but I honestly use every single shadow in this palette which is really rare for me.  I used this palette everyday for a week and never had the same look twice!  The packaging, purple velvet with silver mesh is fun, unique, and different from Urban Decay’s other palette packaging.

11. Shu Uemura 24K Eyelash Curler
This is without question the best eyelash curler ever to be made.  The Shu Uemura may look exactly like other curlers, but there is just no comparison.  The gold finish does not make the product work any better, so that isn’t what makes this a must have, but I just happened to grab up a holiday 24K edition.  To me, design and packaging are extremely important in a product, but I would repurchase this baby if they painted it neon yellow and strung it with purple tassels!  When I first started using this curler, I didn’t see what the big deal was and it was almost as though I had to break it in before I really started to believe the hype.  I have no idea why the Shu Uemura is superior to any other lash curler when they all look identical, but it really is a completely different product.