I spend a LOT of time talking about my favorite beauty products on this blog, but I spend significantly less time talking about my favorite things in other categories. When I sat down and started thing about what to list in my favorite non-beauty related stuff of the year, I ultimately decided to keep it light with mostly easy going favorite things. That said, the last thing in this list is probably my favorite thing about 2017 and I hope you'll bear with me as I go into a little bit of detail on how I feel about it, as it's something I've been wanting to write for a while. Or, if you're interested in keeping it light, you can just stop at the fun pop culture and snacks stuff!

After years of neglecting and ignoring my nails, 2017 was the year that I finally started getting back into doing my nails and dipping my toes into the nail art scene. Now, I still consider myself a novice, but I've really been trying things out and having a really good time doing it, and it 2018 I do hope to include more and more nail art and polish related content here on the blog. But for now... Let's talk about the stuff I've been loving over the past year to both take care of my hands and to play with nail artistry.

Keep reading for more!

If you read this blog with any kind of regularity, you'll know that I'm a bit of a skin care nerd and I've been super interested in the past few years in learning as much as I can about how skin care really works. I also believe pretty strongly that all of the science in the world won't actually tell you how a product will react with any individual's skin, so it's important to really try products and give them a solid test while also considering scientific evidence and the ingredients that work best for you. Anyway, because I try and really enjoy so much skin care combined with the fact that I've found that what works best with my skin is to layer and change up the products in my routine based on how my skin is behaving, really figuring out what my favorites were was a difficult task for me. That said, I definitely stand behind all of these products as ones that work for me, that I consistently reach for, and that I have every intention of continuing to use into 2018.

Wanna see what I loved enough to put it on this list? Keep reading!

Ahhh lip products! When I sat down to really hash out what my favorite lip products of 2017 were, it was a bit of a process. Did I want to choose my most reached for, the formulas that impressed me most, or just go with my gut? Ultimately, I kind of did a mixture of all three of those things. My lip collection is pretty big and there are a lot of products that I really love. Ultimately, though, once I had assembled my favorites there was no question that these five products were the ones that really stood out for me the most in the past year. They were constantly reached for and loved products that I have little complaint about.

So without further adieu, let's get to the products!

For me, lashes and brows really help to frame the face and give a perfected look even if I'm doing really natural makeup for the day, so I'm constantly looking for products that are going to take care of those two areas without too much fuss but with the results that I need. I mean, really, who doesn't want beautiful brows and lashes? For me, the lashes are all about volume and the brows are all about precision and a little bit of fullness. There can definitely be some preference involved when it comes to these types of products, so I always like to make my personal tastes clear when I talk about them.

Now, let's get to the favorites, shall we?

When I sat down at my vanity with my notebook to suss out my favorites of the year, eyeshadows were probably the most difficult for me because there were SO MANY contenders. I feel like eyeshadow formulas have come really far in the past 5 years or so and what I love now is leaps and bounds ahead of what I was loving back when I started this blog. When choosing these five, I definitely considered formulas that were above and beyond, but also what I'm personally most likely to reach for in my collection when I'm not testing something out for review and these are definitely the products that I tend to come back to - and one that is new but just... an absolute standout from this past year.