2014 Beauty Faves

2014 is still fresh in our minds, right? Right! So it's totally okay for me to post this mid-January, right? Right! I'm really excited because the blog celebrated its first birthday on Jan. 11th and because I have been blogging and "doing research" (watching beauty vlogs and buying things I can't afford), I have really branched out with my beauty regimen, application methods, looks and most importantly - the products! I've broken this post down into different categories and yeah, okay I cheated a bit and broke the lip products into six sub-categories but it was hard to choose just one and we all need options! The only thing I wish I could have found this year was a standout foundation, but as my skin has been changing a lot, I don't feel it's fair to select any one foundation at this point. I am however crossing my fingers I find a fave in 2015! Also, happy new year!!!

December Faves | 2014

Where has January gone, amirite? Blaming the blur that is winter break, screwed up sleep schedules, TV show binges/movie marathons and family visits, I completely lost track of date/time and missed my appropriate window to post December faves! I was thinking about just not writing this post and sticking to 2014 faves, but I discovered so many things in December that wouldn't be fair to include in a year's worth of favorites, but I do think they deserve their own post so here we go!

How to | Clean Your Makeup Brushes (affordable and easy)

If you own makeup brushes, you know the struggle of forcing yourself to clean them once a week (ish). I had makeup brushes for three years before I ever thought about cleaning them (don't judge me) because I didn't know how to go about doing so. Last year, my collection grew, as did my beauty blogger research. Like with many things in the beauty world, there were so many different ways to clean brushes and it was all a bit overwheming and expensive. I wanted to find a simpler method that was budget-friendly. I had been using regular antibacterial hand soap until I found something better when I thought about using dish soap.

#essiebuttoneffect

Beauty blogging is a special thing because within the community, one person's rave of a product makes its way around the blogosphere and before you know it, a hyped-up product has been born and everyone wants to get their hands on it. I don't believe there's such a thing as "copying" within the beauty blogger world, despite that so many of my fave beauty gals use the same products. The repitition serves as a sign that the product is phenom and I HAVE to have it (usually). As I see so many of the same products put to use and raved about, I always feel confident about my purchases and rarely ever buy something without researching blogs and watching YouTube videos to form an opinion of the product. My go-to-gal for all things beauty is the one and only Estée (or EssieButton). Estée and I have a similar taste, and most of the time I love everything she's raved about and I've tried. Below is a round up of my #essiebuttonmademedoit purchases, each with a mini review. It took everything in my power to not adopt a greyhound and include him in the post, but I can't make any promises for the future. Also, this is a long one but you get so many products reviewed!