Sunday, December 27, 2009

Best and Worst of 2009

I must admit I did not stick to my resolution of sticking to a makeup budget this year...on the contrary I went way over it :( On the bright side, I did discover several gems I will be repurchasing, but there are also a couple of products that I wish never to see again!

Lets start with the good stuff...

Best eyeshadow


Yaby Pearl Paints

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Gorgeous shimmery colours that are pigmented and easy to work with. I will be reviewing these shortly!

Best mascara

Lorac Visual Effects mascara - lengthens AND thickens! The only drawback is that it does get clumpy with age.




Best coloured liner

Lunasol Geminate liners

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Ok this is cheating a little since I got my Geminate liners end of 2008 but because I hadn't really used them as much then I did not realise how awesome they are until this year :) The metallic/subtle glitter in these are so unique and undupeable. They bring a subtle sparkle to the eye without being too obvious unlike glitter liners (eg. Urban Decay's)


Best glitter liner

Too Faced So Smurfy liner in Smurf You (glittery smurf blue)



Yeah I know I just bashed glitter liners above but this is one I really like to use over black liquid liner to jazz it up with more obvious sparkle.


Best concealer

Cle de Peau concealer stick in Beige

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Goes on super creamy. Colour matches my skintone once blended right.


Best foundation

Lunasol Water Cream Foundation




This purchase was of course influenced by Fuzkittie. I had been debating this purchase for ages, and was not disappointed as the formula feels divine and glides on beautifully with fingers or sponge. Coverage is excellent since it is a cream but does not feel heavy at all. Best of all, it does not oxidize!


Best tinted moisturizer

Cover Girl Smoothers SPF 15 Tinted Moisture



Finally got to try this (because its not sold in Canada) and was blown away by how well it matched my skintone without oxidizing. Coverage is like a typical tinted moisturizer so that was to be expected. It trumps La Mer and Laura Mercier in that it contains UVA and UVB protection (both LMs have only UVB).


Best blush

Jill Stuart Mix Compact blush in 07 Lovely Tulip

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Subtle cool pink perfect for spring.


Best highlighting product

MAC MSF in Refined

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Gorgeous peachy glow without shimmer or glitter! Can also be used as blush.


Best drugstore lipgloss

Marcelle Vita Lip Plumping Gloss

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Fragrance free, non sticky gloss that gives the illusion of fuller lips without any chemicals to sting your lips. Love it!


Best drugstore lipstick

Joe Fresh cream lipstick in Strawberry

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Creamy, pigmented goodness in a tube for CDN$6 - what more could you want?


NOW for the bad...

Here are a few things I regret purchasing - not necessarily for poor product performance but also the price.

1. Guerlain le2 mascara in Bleu Cerise



Too expensive. Even though I hardly used it the formula went clumpy after 3 months. That may sound normal but considering I hardly opened the tube (like 4x in the 3 months) it really sucks!


2. Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer




It looks great at first and gives a lovely glow that I got complimented on. However after a few weeks of use I noticed it tends to oxidize and make my face look darker :( For the price I was expecting better...


3. Urban Decay Box of Potions



Already went over this one here - do not recommend! All the products besides the famed UDPP failed to perform for me. Fortunately I was able to return the set.

4. Lunasol Full Glamour Gloss

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Pretty to look at but wasn't much different from a regular clear shimmery gloss. Not to mention I paid well above retail, silly me.


What about you? Feel free to share yours in the comments or on your blog, and let me know! :)

13 comments:

Rae // theNotice said...

Nice list, m'dear! I've been absolutely dying to try out Yaby; I can't wait for the review! But yah, you definitely broke your beauty budget... *shakes finger at you* :P

Jenn @ So Very Fabulous said...

I'm surprised at the Laura Mercier TM, it gets great reviews on MUA! Good to know though, I'll have to cross it off my list of things to try :)

MiuMiu said...

i totally agree with you on the LM TM....omg i was so oily!
definitely love the lunasol foundation, although i have the modeling water one, it's still great =D
happy new year!

AskMeWhats said...

really? LM Tinted moisturizer failed? oohh I'm glad I didn't purchase! :) thanks for sharing! :)

Catherine said...

Man. I haven't even begun to think about bests for the last quarter much less for the entire last year! LOL!

Fantastic picks though!

Crystal said...

aww too bad that box of potions didn't work. i saw that too and it looked nifty.

Citrine said...

Now you remind me how much Laura Mercier TM sucked...It pretty much caked, cause major irritation, felt heavy and color looked way too yellow on me.

Anonymous said...

Nice list. It's hard to keep to a budget sometimes. I'm not criticizing because I've been there and done that too when I was in my 20's with a disposable income -- not married, no mortgage yet, and no kids.

When you think about how much you do spend on beauty products (and all colors tend to look like the other items already own etc) in a month or year's time. That could be savings, for example, a downpayment for a place you want to buy. It adds up so quickly, savings, that is.

Good luck with your next budget. Have a happy new year!

Pobedochka said...

Thank you for the review, hon!

Very useful! :)

Witoxicity said...

Oh, I like this post. The good and the bad all in one. Unfortunately, I've never tried many of the brands listed (can't get them here in the Netherlands), so now, I'm just left with new lemmings. :D

sindylicious said...

oh the MAC MSF looks gorgeous!!

mayaari said...

good list - I think I may be one of the few that hasn't tried the LM tinted moisturizer yet, haha.

izumi said...

ooo interesting. i wonder if i should even try to look through my stuff to make a list like this xD

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