Best of 2012

I just wanna start of by saying happy new year!

My posts will lack during January because of my exams so I thought I would do a pretty extensive blog post reviewing all my favourite products (as well as books, movies and music favourites) of 2012 today. Links are added to reviews :)

Best eyeshadows (palette): Urban Decay Naked 2
Best mascara: Rimmel Volume Flash Scandal Eyes or Clinique High Impact
Best pencil liner: Avon Supershock or MAC Stubborn Brown or Rimmel Scandal Eyes in Nude
Best liquid liner: Maybelline Master Precise
Best eyeshadow base: MAC Paint Pots
Best eye lash glue: Revlon Precision Lash Adhesive
Best eyebrow product: Anastasia Brow Wiz in Medium Ash

I'm not a lip product fan, the only lip products I use are MAC lipsticks. My favourites, and most used, during 2012 have been: Myth or Hue or Honeylove or Sunny Seoul.

Best liquid foundation: Esteé Lauder Double Wear in Fresco and Desert Beige
Best powder foundation: NARS Powder Foundation in Fiji
Best primer: Smashbox Photofinish
Best concealer: Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection in Fair
Best bronzer: NARS Laguna
Best blush: Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush in Exposed
Best powder: MAC Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Medium Plus

Best volumising product: TRESemmé Volume and Lift Mousse
Best dry shampoo: TRESemmé Instant Refresh
Best heat protector: TRESemmé Keratin Smooth
Best treatment: Moroccan Oil or Leo Bancroft Instant Sleek or Kerastase Nectar Thermique or Macadamia Oil
Best straightening balm: Redken Power Tame 16 or Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Serum

Best self tanner: St Moriz Mousse in Dark
Best face moisturiser: Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturising Gel
Best body moisturiser: Shea body butter from The Body Shop
Best hand cream: L'Occitane
Best universal cream: E45 or Sudocrem (not pictured)
Best acne/red skin treatment: Mario Badescu Control Cream

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Favourite books of the year

- The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

- Unwind by Neal Shusterman

- Holy Bible (ESV)

- The Dog Stars by Peter Heller

Favourite movies (and shows) of the year

- Project X

- Ted

- Sherlock, both series

Favourite albums of the year

- Born To Die: Paradise Edition by Lana Del Rey

- Take Me Home by One Direction

- Life is Elsewhere by Little Comets

- Babel by Mumford & Sons

- Channel Orange by Frank Ocean

- What's The Story (Morning Glory)? by Oasis

So thats all of my favourite things of 2012. I hope you had an amazing year and I hope that the new year brings you happiness and lots of laughs.

Suzanna xo

Review: Mario Badescu Silver Powder

Mario Badescu Silver Powder is designed to remove blackheads, clear stubborn clogged pores and to reduce excessive t-zone oil by using the special absorbent powder. To use: dip a damped cotton ball into the powder and press on nose, chin or other clogged areas. Leave for 10 minutes, then remove with a toner or astringent. Fairly simple process and claims to work wonders. But does it work?

I bought this along with the Control Cream (review here) and the Special Healing Powder in hope to clear up my skin. The control cream is perfect, the special healing powder wasn't anything special - I'll do a proper, in-depth review of that soon.

Therefore, I didn't know what to expect from the silver powder, but I was excited to try.

The first time I tried it I followed the instructions: damped cotton ball, press on areas and remove after ten minutes. I was impressed as it did remove most of the clogged up dirt in my pores, yet I felt like it could've removed more - especially on my forehead. It seems to remove the blackheads on the nose extremely easily. Second time I tried it I left it on for longer and put more product on the places that were more stubborn to get out - in my case, this was my forehead. It seemed to work much better.

Overall, this is a great product. I use it more than twice a week (despite being recommend once or twice only) and I also leave it on for much longer (again, even though it says for ten minutes). With a product like this, I think you just have to see what works best for your skin-type and what you want to get cleared up. For example, apply more product to those areas needed and perhaps leave on for an extra five minutes to ensure removal. If this doesn't work, try again and leave it on for a different length of time or apply less product. Either way, I do think it works well and I would definitely repurchase. It might take a while to empty the pot though! Note, the picture above was taken after four applications. Good, right?

Suzanna xoxo

Review: Mario Badescu Control Cream

After a recent skincare "hype" I decided to buy a whole bunch of new skin care products. I've tried them all for about two weeks and am going to give my opinion on each product starting with the Mario Badescu Control Cream.

This was the product I had high hopes for - it boasts a high percentage of 98% on positive reviews - and wanted it desperately to work for me. My skin has been extremely red especially on my cheeks, perhaps because of the abrupt climate change in England or because it's 'one of those times'. Either way, I wanted to clear it up before I go on holiday. Beauty Bay, the online beauty supply store in which I purchased it from, says: "Mario Badescu Control Cream is an anti-redness cream that works best for red, rashy, flaky and irritated skin types, also for Rosacea sufferers." Reading the reviews it seemed that most users were Rosacea sufferers so I was interested to see if it would work to cure my redness. Long story short: it does. I've used it constantly for two weeks (in replace of my Clinique moisturiser) at night and have noticed an incredible difference. It seriously clams my skin, makes it less irritable and effectively reduces redness. It also worked super fast, perhaps because of the balsam peru which is an active, soothing botanical ingredient that makes a visible difference.

The only negative I have about this product is that it can be drying. My skin is fairly normal so it wasn't an issue for me, yet I would recommend using a moisturiser as well if you have dry skin.

Overall, this product is fantastic and I'll definably be repurchasing when its empty!

I also picked up the Silver Powder and the Special Healing Powder - reviews coming soon.

Suzanna xoxo

Ps. I hope you're all having an amazing summer! <3