Nov. & Dec. Beauty Review

Until Christmas, when I got a healthy little beauty resupply, I'd really reigned myself in and didn't purchase much in the way of beauty products for myself. Almost every item that made it home with me were my ride or die essentials.

Almost... ;)

Si by Giorgio Armani || I'm pretty sure I've already mentioned this, but I've spent the past few months kind of overhauling my fragrance collection. Everything was either empty or just not my thang anymore... Si by Giorgio Armani is my first new addition! It is the perfect everyday perfume. To me it has a beautiful soft vanilla/airy floral scent. I'm not blown away by the bottle (lets just face it, pretty packaging counts!) which is probably why I didn't notice this fragrance on my own. The guy at Sephora showed it to me, sent me home with a sample and I was back in under 48 hours purchasing the full size! 

"Lovesick" Everlasting Liquid Lipstick by Kat Von D  || Not much needs to be said about these lipsticks I don't think. The formulation is second to none! It's the shade "lovesick" that I want to talk about! This is the perfect, "your lips but better," pinky/mauvy/nude shade for those of use with fair/cool toned skin. Period. You've gotta buy it NOW!

The Righteous Butter body lotion by Soap & Glory || When I talk about something two reviews in a row, you know I'm not messing around! The smell! THE. SMELL. #cantstopwontstop

Oh. And it's hydrating or whatever. ;)

Philips Sonicare 2 Series || Does this count as a beauty product? Kind of a stretch, right? Oh well. It's worth mentioning for it's price tag alone! (On sale for $39.99 at Target right now!!) This isn't the first Sonicare toothbrush that I've owned. I had one when Kyle and I got married, then less than a year in he claimed it for himself leaving me to wander the toothbrush aisles alone for the past few years. Not anymore friends, not anymore! This is like the Clarisonic for your teeth--once you use this, nothing else will make your teeth feel "clean" again.

Mario Badescu Cucumber Cleansing Lotion || I'm a big believer in toners. BIG. I've learned over the years that my skin really relies on this step to not be a hot mess! I love to experiment of course, but always end up going back to ol' faithful, the one by Proactive. Unfortunately, this one by Mario Badescu didn't knock my socks off. Wasn't bad, it just wasn't good either. Ya feel me?

Ouidad Styling Gel || This one is mostly for my fellow curly girls... Eh. It's just ok. For $26 I was hoping it would do a little something more than just define most of my curls. I probably won't repurchase this one.

Clinique Acne Solutions BB Cream || Tiffany D raves about this stuff and that's what first sent me to Sephora to give it a little test drive. (Note: This is a Sephora exclusive!) It's designed to be light weight and mattifying while hiding imperfections AND offering protection from the sun with it's SPF 40! "Acne solutions" might be a bit of a misnomer. I thought by its name that it would contain some kind of acne fighting ingredient, but it doesn't. It is just not supposed to cause breakouts which it didn't for me. I am in love with this BB cream! It feels like I'm wearing absolutely nothing and really looks flawless! I actually apply this with my fingers then buff it in with a brush.  It's liquidy consistency can be a bit tough for me to work with if I use a brush or my beauty blender right out of the gates. I highly highly recommend this product! (To give you a little point of reference because there are only 5 color options in this line, I wear the shade "light.")

It Cosmetics Tightline primer || As far as lash products go, this is as good as it gets! The brush on this primer is super thin with tiny bristles making it a dream to work with and really get right up on your lash line. In fact, I don't have a desire to wear eyeliner with my day to day makeup because using this primer, it already looks like I'm wearing eyeliner! Good, good stuff. I always get waterproof lash products but this is also available in a regular formulation. You can actually grab a mini version here if you want to just wet your whistle before taking the plunge. ;)

Vitamin C serum || I purchased this product a little over a month ago and used it religiously until I ran out a couple of weeks ago. The consistency was perfect in that it didn't interfere with my makeup at all. Some vitamin C serums can be a little thick, or even grainy, but this one was great! Another plus was that it didn't have any noteworthy odor. I always kind of wonder when the "simple formula" serums pack a heavy punch in the scent department. My only gripe with this stuff was the packaging. Oh I loathed this packaging! It was like a 5 step process to just get the serum into my hands--NO! Hopefully they can improve the packaging because for the price point, this is a great face serum!