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!

So... The thing is, when I was a kid Jem was EVERYTHING. I wanted to BE Jem... and frequently pretended that was the case. A couple of years ago, I got my hands on the whole series and decided to rewatch from the beginning. I was kinda struck by how completely psycho it was - what, with all the actual murder attempts that The Misfits perpetuated against The Holograms, but it was still a great nostalgia watch. Now, I am completely grossed out by the trailer for the movie and how they modernized it to basically be Hannah Montana meets Josie And The Pussy Cats (2001) but with pink eyeliner, so we're just going to ignore the fact that the movie even exists, mmk? Let's all get excited about the fact that the gross movie means a Jem collection from Sephora! As soon as I saw the promo pictures, which you can see in my blog post here, I absolutely had to have this liquid lipstick set - and I proceeded to stalk the Sephora website until my local store had it in stock and had it in my hands within a couple of hours. Yes, the need was real. Anyway.... How did it live up to what I was hoping for?

Keep reading for my review and swatches!

So... I'm sure you've heard about this by now, but on the off chance that you didn't I figured I had no choice but to share my excitement and the gorgeousness of this collection!

I grew up on Jem. It was my absolute favorite when I was a kid and a few years ago I decided to rewatch the entire series while I was on a crafting bend. Of course, it was a little more psycho than I remembered it being, but it still had that bright, glittery nostalgia that I had been looking for. The movie is NOT something I am even a little bit excited about - since apparently taking the coolest cartoon for girls of the 80s and turning it into Emo Hannah Montana With Pink Eyeliner was someone in Hollywood's cruel plan. I saw the trailer and I cringed. Hard. They left out the HOLOGRAMS. Like, not the group, but the actual holograms. No Synergy. Oh, and Jerrica Benton is some kind of melancholy teenager making videos of herself singing in her bedroom, rather than running a record label. And then there appears to be your standard run-of-the-mill girlenemy tropes when Jem steals the spotlight. Puke. Way to bring down the bad ass, movie. UGH. Movie fail kicks the ass off my childhood nostalgia.

However, Sephora has gone and made it a little bit better by releasing this 4 piece Jem & The Holograms Collection that manages to capture that spirit of the TV show that the movie completely missed. With the original logo, all the pink a girl could ask for and a dash of Glitter & Gold, this collection is pretty much every 80s girl's dream collection. 

Jem and The Holograms: Truly Outrageous Liquid Lip Set
Create your own unique JEM-inspired lip with this five-piece liquid lipstick set.
$31CAD ($25US)

Jem and The Holograms: Truly Outrageous Eyeshadow Palette

Create endless, wearable JEM-inspired looks with this collection of matte, shimmer, and glitter eye shadows.

$49CAD ($39US)

Jem and The Holograms: Truly Outrageous Lipstick 

This creamy formula glides easily onto lips, leaving them with a bright pop of pink that is reminiscent of the iconic '80s pop look. 

$20CAD ($16US)

Jem and The Holograms: Truly Outrageous Compact Mirror

This flashy dual compact mirror is perfect for makeup application, touch-ups throughout the day, or travel. 

$23CAD ($18US) 

Clearly I'll be getting my hands on that liquid lipstick set if it's the last thing I do. And I'll be crossing my fingers that there is the perfect lippie in there for my Jem costume for this Halloween! So far these products have only gone live on the US site, but I'm waiting very impatiently for them to come available for us Canadian shoppers! Fingers crossed it's soon!

Will you be picking up anything from this collection???

As the summer is coming to a close, I realize that I haven't put much of a spotlight on my non-beauty favorites for the past few months. There's definitely a lot of things I've been loving this summer! I just picked a random selection of TV shows and entertainment in general, some snacks and beverages, and a couple of accessories that really jumped out at me while I was thinking about what I've been loving this summer. I'm not sure that this type of post will be a regular occurrence, but I liked the idea of it so I figured I'd put it out there.

If you're interested in seeing what I've been loving - and I think you should be, because I feel like I have some really good recommendations - keep reading!

I know that it becomes somewhat predictable when people say that they can't believe another month has gone by... But seriously, how is it already June 1st? I have to admit, I'm excited for these summer months, so the passage of time doesn't bother me so much, but I'd love to be able to slow it down so that I can really soak up the next few months casually. Anyway, it's been kind of a weird month weatherwise here in Winnipeg, from incredibly hot to literally freezing cold with a couple of days, but it seems to be leveling out. The garden is planted, the AC has been turned on, and it's time for summer. For me, that means paying a little more attention to the skin on my body than I might when I get to cover it up in heavy sweaters all winter, and paring down my makeup to something a little more simple. I feel like that's really the theme with this month's favorites!

So, without further adieu and chitchat from me, keep reading for a closer look at the products I've been absolutely loving this month!

I'm gonna come out and say right now that I am a jerk. Why am I a jerk, you ask? Because my favorites this month includes 3 products that are limited edition and no longer available. I considered not keeping them in, but I wanted to really just feature the things that I've been using the most this month and these are them. Also, I feel like there might be some people who have these things tucked away in their collection like I did, just waiting to be used. And one more also... There's one product that I'm hoping to put out into the universe in hopes that the vibes will make the company bring the product back for another limited run. We'll get to that later!

This month's favorites is very makeup heavy, which I always find to be more exciting, and this month it was all about that face... 'bout that face... (Har har, I hate myself.) Anyway. if you're interested in seeing what I've been loving this month, keep reading!

First off, I've gotta admit that I've been planning on doing this favorites post all week, since I always prefer to do it as early as possible, but life has been a little bit crazy and I just hadn't gotten around to doing photos for the post. Also, I am planning on doing full reviews on a lot of these products in the near future, since so many of them are new to me things that I've been trying out, so keep a look out for those if any of these pique your interest! January feels like one of those months when the makeup world goes a little mad with power and new collections seem to be launching every week, so there are so many things that I need to get around to trying and reviewing right now.

That said, this is about my favorites this month, so keep reading for a closer look....

So... This has been a good month. Not gonna lie, it's kinda weird to say that when my feet are still frozen from being out in the -40º weather this morning, but here I am saying it. It's been a bit of a low key kind of a month, staying home and cooking cold weather comfort food and curling up on the couch to binge-watch TV shows. My little introverted heart loves this time of year for that very reason, nature gives you a built in excuse to hide in your house and not bother with real pants other than when it's time to go to work. It's also been a good month for beauty products, I found. It wasn't until I started compiling my list of favorite things this month that I realized what a good month it was.

So without further adieu, keep reading for my monthly favorites...

Before you click away, I have to tell you that I never would have thought that I'd make a blog post like this... but I never would have thought that I'd be so impressed with a cartoon for children that holds a pretty significant marketing objective behind it. I never would have thought it, but I really am. I've been incredible impressed as I've marathoned the entire first season on Netflix at the subject matter, messages, and positive lessons that this show delves into. As my best friend put it via text message the other night, having watched some episodes after listening to me talk about how impressed with it I was, "It's fascinating that they tackle actual things... It's blowing my mind. All adults should watch this show."

I decided I absolutely had to write about this. Keep reading for my thoughts as to why.

Some months my favorites are a little harder to choose than others, but this month was an absolute no brainer for me and I hardly even had to think about it. This month was definitely the latter. In fact, this really required no thought at all. For me, fall beauty comes much more easily than any other season and I end up feeling a bit like it's a no brainer. This month my favorites consist of a few products that are new finds combined with some old favorites that just jump out at me for fall looks. Also, I have a couple of non-beauty favorites that I'm just over the moon excited about.

Keep reading to take a closer look!

It's that time again... and weirdly enough, it didn't feel like this month passed all that quickly. Feels like the beginning of the month was ages ago, to be honest. That said, as it gets closer to fall I'm always a little sad about the end of summer, but balanced with excitement about cozy fall fashions. I feel like that probably goes around a lot. Fall is my favorite season, particularly when it comes to fashion and beauty, because everything seems to be about warmth and comfort. For me, September was all about makeup... which is possibly why the tail end of the month saw my skin looking less than amazing, since I was focused more on the esthetics than the care... But I digress.

Keep reading to take a look at my favorite products this month... and a few extra non-beauty favorites, of course.