Best of 2012 - Favorites for Eyes, Lips and Brows

Today we have the most exciting part of makeup – the colorful stuff! In case you missed my favorites for creating a perfect canvas, you can find them here. My favorite skincare of 2012 can be found here, and my favorite body & hair care products are here. Now onto the fun!

            My all time favorite eye shadows have always been from Urban Decay. Now that they have reformulated them, they are even better! Highly pigmented, wonderful texture and so many wearable – and not so wearable – shades! I also love that you can now customize your own Urban Decay palettes as well.

            However, I think I may have a new favorite in Inglot’s eye shadows! Inglot’s formulas are amazing and they have a huge selection of shades. As if that were not enough, they are pretty affordable as well! The only drawback is that there are very few places in the US where you can actually see the products in person.

            For eyeliners, again my favorites of 2012 have been from Urban Decay. The 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencils come in a vivid assortment of colors and glide on so beautifully, yet last forever! These liners do not budge after about a minute. They are really wonderful, high quality eye liners. My go-to shades are “Demolition”, a deep matte brown, “Rockstar”, a slightly shimmery deep eggplant, “Zero”, basic black, and last but not least, “Perversion”, the blackest of blacks.

Demolition, Rockstar, Zero & Perversion
I guess I should have sharpened them!

            A really nice, affordable alternative to the Urban Decay 24/7 liners – they’re pretty much a dupe for them – are the NYX Slide-On Eye Pencils. They are really beautiful liners that are also available in a wide range of colors. I only have one at the moment in “Tropical Green”, a beautiful emerald green color. The NYX Slide-On Pencils are definitely my favorite new find in the eye liner department!

            Back to higher end pencils, the Stila Smudge Sticks are also one of my favorites. They glide on beautifully, can be smudged easily for a minute or two, then they stay all day. The shade selection is not too impressive, but the colors that are available are wonderful basics. “Moray”, a khaki green with a hint of shimmer is one of my favorite shades, and not a color you see too frequently.

            The mascara I kept going back to in 2012 was the Smart Amazonian Clay Mascara from Tarte. It seems to be pretty good at all things, while not being damaging to the lashes. I will say that I am still searching for the perfect mascara, but I imagine this will be a lifelong quest! J

            For my eyebrows, which need a fair amount of help, I discovered the Brow Wiz pencil from Anastasia Beverly Hills. I really like this pencil because it comes in a wide range of shades, including one light enough for my over processed hair, “Ash Blonde.” Best of all, it looks really natural and wears quite well. I like the ease and portability of a brow pencil too, so I consider this just about perfect for my brows! J

Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz in "Ash Blonde"

Lip products have been a bit tough this year because my favorites were almost all from Revlon. Since Revlon now sells in the Chinese market where animal testing may occur, I am doing my best to avoid companies that are now available in China. So, what remains in my arsenal of favorites for lips?

            Carmex Moisturizing Lip Balm has been a life saver! It is inexpensive and available almost everywhere. It has a slightly medicinal scent, but it works wonders. This balm keeps my lips soft, smooth and prevents chapping. I can’t ask for much more than that!

            Despite having a good lip balm, exfoliating my lips is still necessary to avoid occasional flaking dry bits. Yum! My hands down favorite is the Maracuja Lip Exfoliant from Tarte. It is gentle without being completely ineffective. The maracuja oil keeps the sugar from being too harsh, but it is not so moisturizing that the sugar just slides off. Tarte has found the perfect balance between scrubbing and moisturizing. I suppose this is a bit of a luxury product in that you can make your own similar lip scrub, but it is very difficult to make one that works as well as Tarte’s, so it’s a luxury I will continue using!

            The lip color I have probably used the most in 2012 is likely a tie between Bite Beauty’s Lush Lip Tint and Tarte’s LipSurgence pencils. Both are kind of a balm-tint hybrid that lasts without drying out lips. My favorite shade of the Bite Beauty Lush Lip Tint would have to be “Orchard”, which looks like a nice natural pink flush. My favorite Tarte LipSurgence is “Amused” which is a bright fuchsia that is still subtle enough that it doesn’t scream “look at my lips!” Both are very comfortable to wear and last a good length of time.

Bite Lush Lip Tint in "Orchard"

Tarte LipSurgence in "Amused"