Best in Beauty: 2013

Best in Beauty

2013!!!

Part 1

Beauty blog by:

Michelle Hibbard

I know I'm jumping this off later than most but better late then never. So these are my favorites for the whole year, 2013. Since there are 12 months in a year I am going to list 12 products. I will do this in two parts. Six products in each blog. These are chosen by quality, usage, something I would or have purchased again and something in my opinion deserves the title "Best in Beauty"!

Truvia:
Natural Sweetener

I started using Truvia at the end of 2012 when I realized my sugar intake was ridiculous. Truvia is a sweetener that is extracted from the Stevia Plant, a plant found in South America. It is a zero calorie sweetener. Truvia includes Erythritol, a natural sweetener found in pears and grapes. 

I am still no where near perfect but this has cut down the amount of sugar I was ingesting by about 60%. Now I am not a person who likes sweeteners, never been a fan. Truvia is different though. It doesn't have a weird after taste and it isn't overly sweet. In my opinion it tastes just like sugar. 

I have been using it all through 2013 and I will continue to use it. I buy the box which comes with 40 packets, each packet is the equivalent of 2 to 3 spoonfuls of sugar. I use the packets for tea, coffee, oatmeal and anything else that just needs a little sweetening. I purchase the bag when I will be using it for cooking and will need much more. 

It is more expensive than sugar but 100% worth it. It isn't over priced either. I recommend Truvia for everyone.

Sally Hansen: Magnetic Nail Polish 

I had heard about this magnetic nail polish for awhile but had no clue as to what it was. I just assumed it was like the gel where I would have to purchase all of these extra items to make the polish do whatever it was supposed to do. 

I was wrong.

I was at my local drugstore buying make-up, what else, when I saw the Sally Hansen Magnetic nail polish was on sale. I began to read the packaging and it said that all I had to do was paint a first coat, then a thicker second coat then hold the magnet that is built into a second top over my nail, count to ten and voila! It looked like a metallic purple tigers eye. Tigers eye is a stone that has a shiny ombre effect to it. Beautiful!

As a single mother of two I don't always have time to decorate my nails which is something I used to love to do. I am really actually lucky to have both hands painted. Really! So this is a super fast way to paint my nails and have them looking fancy without the work! 

Kat Von D: Spellbinding Book of Shadows

Let me just start with the name of this palette, Book of Shadows. How awesome is that? If you are about my age you will remember a show called "Charmed" staring Allysa Milano, Holly Marie Combs and Shannon Doherty, later on Rose McGowen. This show was also the big start for Kaley Cuoco, one of the stars of the Big Bang. Anyways... the purpose of me bringing that show into the mix is they were witches and had a spell book called the Book of Shadows. I know this book dates much further back than this show but it brought me back to my teens/early twenties. 

As you can tell I loved that show but now I am in love with this palette/book. There are 24 ah-mazing shadows. Now I usually am not in favor of a palette/book like this because it does only have 2 matte colors, a black and a light tan color. However, these colors are so beautiful and pigmented that it doesn't even matter. It also has 5 glitter shadows, 9 satin shadows and 8 shimmer shadows. I don't want to give away too much because I will be doing a review on this book next week. Love this and if you love eye shadow like I do you will love this too!

Covergirl: Outlast 

Stay Fabulous 3 in 1  Foundation

This was a product I actually bought because of youtube. 2013 everyone was raving about this foundation on their videos. I could not find one bad review on this foundation so I decided to buy it. Now I usually don't do this because it is so hard to tell these days who is really loving the product and who is getting paid to say they love it. There is also the whole "Guru Community" thing where to me it seems as if they all want to stay on the same page whether they like something or not. There are only about two that I truly trust. One of them is Jen Luv's Reviews. If you want to check her out click here. She did not review this product but she has many awesome and 100% real reviews.

Back to the foundation. I am so gabby today! Stick to the review Michelle! OK so I bought this for about $10. The foundation I was using at the time cost $38. This is supposed to be a 3 in 1 foundation. Meaning it is said to be a primer, concealer and foundation. For my first application I did use primer and concealer because I thought that it was too good to be true for this foundation to be all that.

On my first application I used a Beauty Blender. The application looked flawless! I have a little bit of acne and some redness at times and this covered everything with one application! Sometimes with other foundations I have to double it up. This was amazing. It worked just as good if not better than the foundation I was paying $38 for and it was $28 cheaper!

I wore this almost the entire year and went through 3 bottles.

I did try this without primer and concealer and it did work very well but I continue to use it with primer and concealer because I looks better with than without. If I had better skin I would just use the foundation.

Love, love, love this foundation and I recommend this for all skin types.

Too Faced: Better than Sex Mascara

Laaaaaa! This is the Rolls Royce of mascaras. When I first took a look at the brush I thought in no way is this going to work. It is shaped like a figure 8 and eyes just are not shaped that way. I didn't use it for awhile because of this and I almost returned it. Until one day the mascara I was using seemed super dry. I have a drawer full of different mascaras but I thought this would be a good time to try the Too Faced Better than Sex mascara. I am so glad I did. As weird as the brush was it worked beautifully! My lashes were separated, full, had length and just amazing. This has to be the best mascara I have ever used! EVER! I know most do not like it but I disagree. I cant say enough good about this product, you have to try it! If you want to see the wand and more info about purchasing this mascara, click here.

Kiss: Ever EZ Lashes

I have always disliked putting on lashes. The first time I saw these at my local drugstore they were on sale for $2. I like to were lashes once in a while. I don't wear them daily but I think they are fun to wear when going out. I liked the look of these and the cute little applicator. The box in the picture are the 55607 KPLO5. These lashes are made with 100% real human hair. What i like so much about these lashes is that they are super light weight. I cant stand heavy lashes. The applicator is pretty cool too. Makes it very easy to apply the lashes and less of a sticky mess. 
Just a little FYI about removing lashes. Very gently take a cotton make-up remover pad with remover on it, remover with oil is preferred, and gently pat your eyes. Let it soak in for a few seconds then begin to peel them off. The skin around your eyes is very sensitive and can damage easily. You may not notice the effects for a very long time but just know that the rougher you are with the skin around your eyes, the more likely you will have wrinkles at a younger age. always take the time to love your face.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       
I want to add that these are not reviews, just best in beauty. Most of the products have up and coming reviews so I didn't get too much into detail about these items. If you are interested in learning more, seeing swatches and more follow my blog. Please feel free to leave comments, questions and if you like a blog hit that + button so I know what you all are liking. Thank you so much for reading.

Part 2 of "Best in Beauty" will be up the middle of this week