Do you ever just peruse the Sephora website to see if you can find something exciting that you've never seen before? I do! In fact, I'm always on the hunt for something that hasn't gotten much attention on social media, because I really like to find those hidden gems. Recently, Sephora Collection released some new skin care products that are actually really, really affordable and I was definitely interested. I decided to pick up the Coconut Water Micellar Cleansing Milk and the Coconut Water Lip Balm to start, keeping the other versions in mind.

Keep reading for my thoughts!

I'm pretty much always down to try a mask, I really am. Because, at this point, I've tried so many I feel like I've really sort of zeroed in on what really makes a great mask for me. Honestly, I don't use face masks as a long term skin care solution. For me, it's all about immediate results and dealing with issues as they're happening. Whether my skin is dry, irritated, or breaking out, I feel like I've got different masks in the arsenal that help me with those issues. Recently, I've had the chance to try out the Arbonne Seasource Detox Spa Sea Mud Face & Body Mask* and I've definitely got some thoughts!

Keep reading for more!

If someone asks me about my favorites in any given makeup category, it's pretty rare that I can throw out a decisive favorite when it comes to specific products or brands. I just love too many things and I'm constantly reaching for and finding different favorite products. That said, if you ask me what my favorite brand for lip products is, I'm almost certainly going to tell you that it's BITE Beauty. It's been a few years since I first tried any BITE products and I've since been hooked. Of course, because of this, you can probably imagine how excited I was when I found out I was going to get a chance to try out the new BITE The Lip Pencil lip liners thanks to Influenster. I basically did a little dance.

So let us get to the reviews, shall we?

It seems like whenever the big drugstore lines release their big batches of new products a couple of times a year, there's a release that I get really, really excited about. While I know that the L'Oreal Infallible Total Cover Foundation was the big excitement for a lot of people when it came to L'Oreal's new releases, for me it was all about the L'Oreal Infallible Paints Lipstick. I may or may not have stalked my local stores waiting to see them on the shelves (I did, clearly) and as soon as I saw them I picked up the shade that appealed to me the most - Shade 314 Spicy Blush! Of course, I went for the pinky nude when there were options everywhere from your traditional red and pinks to some of the most edgy shades in the drugstore like a grey toned taupey nude, a lavender and a both navy blue! I know, I know... Still, I like to go with what I know I'm most likely to reach for often, but I do give L'Oreal serious props for going outside the drugstore box with this line.

Keep reading for more!

In the past, I haven't had much success with complexion products from Physicians Formula - I've been a much bigger fan of their eye and cheek products, generally - but after hearing a good review of the Physicians Formula #Instaready Full Coverage Concealer, I really had no choice but to pick it up as soon as I saw it in stores. Concealer is a bit of an obsession for me and my collection is, admittedly, a little bit out of control. Still, I'm pretty much always down to try out a new concealer so... Why not, right?

Keep reading for more!

If you guys checked out my review of my first Custom Buxom Eyeshadow Palette, you'll know that I'm a little bit obsessed with this eyeshadow formula, so when I had a $20 off $50 coupon for Sephora, this is what I went for because I wanted some cooler toned shades and some more mattes from the line. I decided to go with 4 mattes in really neutral shades that I would use pretty much every day as well as two more colourful shimmery shades and I think it was a really good selection of colours.

Keep reading to take a look!

For pretty much as long as I've been aware that skin can be anything other than just a casing for your body insides - read: since puberty hit - I've pretty much hated my skin. Of course, we always think that our skin is worse than other people think it is and looking back at pictures of myself when I was younger I realize that I never really had the most problematic skin. Still, it's always been an issue for me and one that I'm finally really addressing in an active way now that I'm in my 30s and I've got that fun stage where I'm dealing with both breakouts and early signs of aging.

2016 was a big year for me skin wise. I can really honestly say that now that we're in the early weeks of 2017, I'm happier with my skin than I've ever been before and I know that it's because I've been really trying to learn about skin care and what works for my skin and then taking those things and consistently using them in a daily routine. Rather than do a traditional 2016 Skincare Favorites post, I decided I wanted to go into a little bit more depth about my 2016 skincare journey and the things I've learned that have worked for my skin. There will be favorites listed here, but I feel like skin care is definitely about routine more than individual products so I want to take a look at that.

This will probably be a pretty long post, but I think I've learned some pretty good things this year, so I hope it's worth the read! Keep reading for more!

When people asked me what I wanted for Christmas this year, of course I said I wanted Sephora gift cards because... I mean, what else does a makeup junkie really want for Christmas? I mean, I could have made a wishlist of holiday sets or makeup products that I wanted, but I feel like a gift card is a twofer because you get the gift, but you also get to shop - and getting to shop is always a treat, but especially when you're not smashing into your own bank account. So, when Christmas day ended and I was faced with what would be my biggest Sephora spend ever, I was literally having dreams about what I was going to buy. This is a bit of a collective haul and includes 1 online order, 1 return, and a total of 3 trips to my 2 different local Sephoras... all in about 4 days. I know, I'm a fiend, but can you blame me? I was going to hold onto one of the gift cards... but then I got an email telling me that I was almost at VIB Rouge status, so clearly I had to spend it and get myself those perks for 2017.

Let's get onto the haul, shall we?

Hey guys! I know it's been a minute since I've posted over here, but I took a little bit of time away from blogging to really enjoy the holidays with friends and family... and then I basically got hit by a big truck of illness and have spent the last few days in bed pretty much unable to function. HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

Anyway, I had a few different posts planned to start off 2017, but I decided to go a slightly lazy route since I'm still recovering and come in with a haul for you guys! And, trust me, this haul is LONG time coming. I made this order on Cyber Monday (Nov. 28) and received it yesterday (Jan. 3). Yup. It took 3 weeks for them to process my order. At 24 days after I ordered, they sent me a message telling me that a limited edition product I ordered had gone out of stock. And finally after 5 weeks of waiting, my order arrived. I still love essence products, guys, but I have to be honest and tell you I'm never ordering from their website again. Not only is their Canadian shipping absolutely offensive, but the delivery time for my order was unacceptable. 

However, like I said, I still love their products and am pretty happy with almost everything that I picked up, so keep reading to see the haul!

I saved my lip product favorites for 2016 for last because... well, it was probably the one I really had to think about the most. Out of my entire collection, the number of lip products I own at this point is actually kind of insane and there are so many that I love, so I really had to do a lot of swatching and trying on (My poor lips!) to really get to a lot of these favorites. I also decided to go with formula on a few of them because I own and love multiple shades of my favorite lip product formulas.

Without further ado....

Weirdly enough, 2016 will definitely go down as the year that I actually learned to apply winged liner. And of course, once I learned how to apply it well, it became a staple in my beauty routine and one that I'm starting to feel a little bit naked without. This category is definitely full of hardcore ride-or-die favorites because I don't mess around when it comes to the types of products I like for liner, lashes, and brows.

Shall we proceed? Keep reading for my favorites!

When it came to choosing eyeshadow favorites for 2016, I have to admit that there were some absolute knee jerk favorites and some that required a little bit more thought. I don't think I'm the most adventurous person when it comes to my eye looks, but I've definitely been stepping out of my comfort zone in the past year and my personal style of makeup has been evolving. A lot of the products I chose for this category are ones that are attached to favorite go to looks, because I think the things that I tend to go back to are all for good reason.

So let's get going on the favorites, shall we?

Hey guys! Welcome back for the second installment of my 2016 favorites! If you read this blog regularly, you'll know that I'm a bit of a junkie for blush. In fact, my blush drawer is getting so full at this point that I think I'm going to have to either declutter (which is hard, okay?) or figure out a new plan for makeup storage (which I think is going to be coming in 2017!) Of course, I had to give cheek products their own post, especially since this year is so rife with brand new favorites. There are a couple of old favorites in the mix, but for the most part we're going to be talking about things that were new to me in 2016!

So let's get moving, shall we?

Hey guys! I'm super excited for this year's favorites posts - which is why I skipped monthly favorites this month and went straight to working on my yearly favorites. I decided to go with a High/Low kind of a favorites this year, choosing a high end favorite and a drugstore favorite in each category. I really sat down and thought about what I've really been loving, what stands above other things in my collection, and what I would give my recommendation to without question for this list of favorites. Some of these products are quite new to me and some have been staples in my collection for ages.

Without further rambling, let's start with Part 1 of my 2016 Favorites - Complexion Products!

Once upon a time, it was the URBAN DECAY NAKED palette and its sequels. Then came the Too Faced Chocolate Bar palette and its sequels. It seems like there's always a new absolute must have palette that people fall absolutely in love with. Across the board, the reviews are positive and everyone is obsessed. I feel like in 2016 there's really only one palette that has that distinction and that's the Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Renaissance Palette. I mean... Obviously. I feel like overwhelmingly this is going to be showing up on a lot of Best Products Of 2016 lists this year, don't you? I missed the first run and spent at least a couple of months regretting it as I stalked Sephora to check if it was back in stock yet. One morning, while home sick from work, I randomly checked for it on the mobile site while curled up in bed... and it was BACK. So I ordered it like there was a fire under my ass and shifted my focus to stalking my Canada Post app for its arrival. I swear, when it comes to makeup I really want, I basically turn into a tiger stalking my prey.

Anyway... That's clearly a lot of anticipation for this palette to hold up to... Keep reading to find out if it did for me!

Over the past several years, I feel like CoverGirl has firmly taken the mantle of being the best brand at the drugstore for solidly good mascaras. It started with the original Lash Blast and they've just been building on it for years. I haven't loved every mascara CoverGirl has put out, but I've definitely got my favorites - and I think that's true for a lot of people. The newest addition to the CoverGirl mascara lineup is the So Lashy! Blast Pro Mascara* and as soon as I saw the completely insane brush, I was 100% in to try it out.

Keep reading for more!

Did anyone else used to get terrified of the word "peel", or is that just me? I have to say, I've actually learned to love the word as I've more consistently been using products with the word "peel" in the name and having had a couple of in office peels at both a spa and a dermatology clinic. Peels are GREAT things, in my opinion, which made me really excited to try out the VICHY Double Glow Peel Mask*, one of their 3 new masks. You may remember my review of the VICHY Pore Purifying Clay Mask* and how much I was obsessed with it, and I think that obsession might have overshadowed this one a bit. That said, let's finally talk about it, shall we???

Thanks to Winners and Marshalls, I've been building a bit of a collection of Cargo palettes for the past couple of years. The first one I ever picked up, the Cargo Vintages Escapes Palette, is still my absolute favorite and one that I actually pull out a lot at this time of year. The two others that I have, the Shanghai Nights and the Summer In The City palettes, never managed to impress me as much as the Vintage Escapes palette, but I do reach for them occasionally. Recently, I saw the Cargo Around The World Palette at my local Winners and I couldn't resist picking it up - even though a Google search while I was holding it in the store didn't turn up much. I decided to review it for that very reason, because I'm sure it'll be popping up on discount and I thought this would be helpful!

Keep reading for more!

In the past couple of years, I've gotten the chance to try out a handful of products from Paula's Choice and I've so consistently been impressed by the product that I'm pretty much game to try anything the brand has on the table. Recently, you may have read my review of the Paula's Choice Radiance Renewal Mask*, which I absolutely loved and have still be reaching for a couple of times a week as an overnight treatment. At the same time as the launch of that product, the company also released the Paula's Choice RESIST Brightening Essence* - which, because of the type of product that it is, took me a little longer to test.

Keep reading for more on this product!