Favorite New Products of 2018

It's the end of another year! I've sort of slacked on posting, time got away from me after I came back from my honeymoon. I wanted to recap my favorite new things of 2018 though, as I really enjoyed a lot of new releases! I'm only including new releases and not items that are new to me in the interest of keeping the list relatively short. (Though I did get into some older products like the Stila Glitter & Glow eyeshadows and Klairs Rich Moist Soothing Serum.)

September 2018 Favorites!

Trying not to fall too behind by getting out my September favorites, too! September is still hot mostly, but the weather slowly changes at the end of the month to still be warm but less humid (finally!) Since my No Buy July ended, I've gotten some new things - and there's a few of them featured this month.

Sephora Staples - What I Love & Recommend

Sephora is revamping their Beauty Insider program, and they're having a sale to celebrate! I've been planning my cart for a few weeks now, and am excited to pick up a few new things. I wanted to share some of my favorite products that I've purchased at Sephora. These are all staple items in my collection, and I have nothing but glowing recommendations to give. If you follow me on Instagram, you've seen these items all over my feed.

I took this on my phone, sorry!

Recent Purchases, Repurchases, and Acquisitions

I think it's a good sign for my low buy that I don't have enough stuff for a purchase post AND a repurchase post. It's my birthday month and I was pretty restrained, as you can see. (Unlike last year...) Two of these products were sent to me for review, so I didn't even buy everything here! I'm super excited about everything, though.

January Empties & Reverse Rouge Check In

At the end of last year, I went a little overboard in my purchasing knowing I would be doing a Reverse Rouge challenge for 2018. I won't lie, it's been difficult not impulse buying all of the time, but at the end of January, I found that it's gotten a little easier. I've also made a concentrated effort to try and use up things that were close to empty that I had forgotten about. I'm still not where I'd like to be with the amount of sheet masks I use, but I did use some, and that's what counts.

Since I have a TON of empties this month, and there are some products that I have show up all the time, I'll highlight a few favorites/duds from the pile.

belif Moisturizing Eye Bomb - I LOVED this, and not just because belif sent it to me to review. It's just like the Aqua Bomb, but for eyes. Its a lightweight gel cream (my fave) that sinks in quickly and works under makeup. I have another belif mini eye cream that I am now using, but I really want a full size of this eye cream.

Bath and Body Works hand cream in Salted Honey & Vanilla - I HATED this! I bought it on black Friday because I constantly go through hand cream at my desk due to always needing to pee and the soap at work being stripping (the woes of staying hydrated...) but this was just awful. It didn't really hydrate my skin, didn't completely sink in, and the scent sucked. I had the same scent in a hand soap at home and I really liked it, but the hand cream did not have the same scent. I was really disappointed in this. Looking at the ingredient list, mineral oil is way at the top and shea butter way at the bottom, so that pretty much explains it. I won't repurchase this, or any BBW hand cream.

Boscia Sake Balm - I will be the first to admit that I purchased this due to the texture. You take a scoop out, and it jiggles back into place in the container to become smooth and perfect again. Overall, it was an okay moisturizer. Too much and it became very sticky, so I didn't like using it in the mornings. It was more expensive than I'd like ($46 at Sephora) and it didn't really WOW me enough to consider repurchasing. It was fun while it lasted though!

Cosrx Galactomyces 95 Whitening Power Essence - It took a while for me to jump on the bandwagon for this one, but I'm glad I did. I noticed an increase in the brightness of my skin while using this in my routine. It sank in quickly, and I used it mainly in the mornings for light hydration and quick brightness. I had a backup waiting for when this one ran out!

Clinique Moisture Surge Supercharged Concentrate - I had seen the full size of this in a nifty pump bottle on Instagram, and I wanted to try it. I got the mini size first - it was...okay? I think? It was definitely hydrating, but the gel seemed to have chunks in it that needed to be worked in. It also was a little tacky once it sank in. I like Clinique, so I may try one of their other moisture surge products since I'm a little iffy on this one.

Too Faced Hangover Rx primer - I really enjoyed this, and not just because of the scent! (Though the scent is really pleasant, I love coconut!) The formula for this is light and "sank in" to the skin quickly. I really like it under very matte foundations when the weather is dryer - it doesn't work for me in the summer due to my skin's extra oil production when it's humid. I have a few minis of other hydrating primers to try, but I can see myself repurchasing this soon.

Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Definer - I wanted to try this due to how much I like their Brow Wiz, but this won't be my new go-to brow product. It was a bit soft for my liking, and the smaller end of the triangular tip wasn't a fine enough tip. I'll stick with something closer to the Brow Wiz from now on.

Reverse Rouge Check In

Throughout the month, I kept a running list of all of my finished products, purchases, and destashed items. I looked up the value of each item (of course I had discontinued items in there and had to do my best) and calculated the value of any deluxe minis.

• Sephora Argan Oil hand mask - $6
• TonyMoly Foot Peel - $6.50
• belif Moisturizing Eye Bomb mini - $9.60
• Kat von D Tattoo Liner - $20
• Helloskin Jumiso First Lightening sheet mask - $2.70
• Benton Snail Bee sheet mask - $1.79
• Miss O Good Night sheet mask - $7
• Nivea In Shower Lotion - $4.99
• Cosrx Holy Snails sheet mask - $2.74
• C200 Bubble Peeling Pad - $7.95
• Boscia Sake Balm - $46
• Biore Aqua Rich sunscreen - $8.44
• Bath & Body Works hand cream - $4
• Tresemme Volumizing Mousse - $5.49
• Too Faced Hangover Rx primer - $32
• Estee Lauder Cushion Stick - $42
• Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Definer - $23
• Clinique Moisture Surge Supercharged Concentrate - $13.50
• Banila Co. Miss Flower & Mr. Honey hydrogel - $4.20
• Cosrx Galactomyces 95 Whitening Power Essence - $14

Total - $261.90

Here's all of the items I destashed this month. I've done destashing via Mercari and r/makeupexchange. I counted the full retail value of each item, and calculated the value of any deluxe mini items.

• Clinique Black Honey mini - $9.71
• MAC Naked Bud lipstick - $17.50
• Kat von D Halo Studded Kiss lipstick - $21
• Tarte Shape Tape - $27
• Make Up For Ever Artist Shadows (discontinued round pans) in i524, d708, m816, s556, m548, s314, s312, s836, s848, s234 - $210
• MAC Be A Lady Mineralize lipstick - $22

Total - $307.21

Finally, everything I purchased for the month! I'm really proud of myself, under $100 spent, and some of these were repurchases!

• Nivea In Shower lotion - $4.99
• Nivea Oil Infused lotion - $5.49
• Nailtiques Forumla 2 - $9.59
• Glossier Solution - $24
• Glossier cottons - $4
• Bite Lip Pencil 022 - $13.50
• Sephora Favorites Combo Skin set - $28
• Gold Bond hand cream - $3.89

Total - $93.46

Total Empties + Destashed - $569.11
Minus Purchases - $475.65

...WOW! Over halfway to my goal without counting purchases, and almost halfway there if I take purchases out, and it's almost January! That is a CRAZY amount of money when you think about it. I'm really impressed with my progress, and can't wait to see how the year unfolds. February is my birthday month, so I don't expect as much progress (especially with purchases cutting in) but January has me off to a great start!

2017 Favorites - New Releases

This is the first of two posts containing all of my favorite products from 2017! I did a poll on my Instagram asking what type of favorites posts were more enjoyable - new favorite products or tried and true favorites that got a lot of use that month. (I try to do a mix of both, but sometimes I don't buy anything new!) The result was pretty split, so I decided to do one post of new new products, and one post of new to me items to sum up my 2017. This post is all about my favorite products that were released in 2017.

November Empties

I've fallen a little behind on posting due to the holidays - they were great for me, and I hope yours were wonderful as well! I'm ready to start the new year with more posts - I've already gotten back into a routine over on Instagram. Thankfully, I had already taken photos of November's empties, and just need to share my thoughts!

Recent Repurchases

I love new product hauls, but I also love seeing what products people come back to time and time again. This is a bunch of products I've repurchased recently (thanks, Ulta points!) and a little bit about why I love each one.

October 2017 Favorites!

October has come and gone far too quickly (isn't that always the case?) and November is here and there is a chill in the air.  Most of this month's favorites have been showcased either on previous posts, or on my Instagram - but that's what makes them favorites, right?

Wishlist Wednesday!

It's been awhile since my last wishlist post, and with all of the holiday and fall releases coming out, I felt like it was as good a time as any to update my wishlist!

Please enjoy my Photoshop skills. Product shots courtesy of Sephora, Stila, and BeautySesh

July 2017 Favorites!

Another summer month has past, and I managed to not melt in the process. This month's favorite's have a bunch of warm weather staples, and some warm weather colors.

Empties - Mini Madness

I get a lot of deluxe samples - from my subscription boxes, promo codes, and from Sephora's rewards program. I've been making a more conscious effort to use them up, both to just cycle through products, and to see if there's anything worth picking up in a full size! Since I'm trying to record my empties throughout the year, I thought it would be fun to keep track of all of the minis I go through as well! These are minis that I finished up at the end of last 2016.

Mini garbage! So cute!