Monthly Beauty Haul: December 2013 Favorites.

The month of December is my favorite time of the year to buy makeup. Honestly I love buying makeup any time of the year, but in the month of December I have a myriad of gorgeous palettes, budget-friendly holiday sets, and limited edition collections that are irresistible. This month I got to try new brands, rediscover drugstore makeup, and just get naked.

1. Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette.

Isn’t she lovely?
Isn’t she wonderful?

I have been waiting for this palette to come out for two months. I heard rumors over the summer that Urban Decay was coming out with another naked palette and my heart almost stopped. I had planned on buying it in January because it sold out on urbanddecay.com so quickly and I still have flashbacks of the days when you couldn’t find the original Naked palette ANYWHERE.  I happen to stop by my local Sephora after work for mascara and they had the Naked 3 in stock. It was absolutely worth the twenty-five minutes I had to wait on line to pay. The Naked 3 palette is a gorgeous collection of twelve brand new rose-gold eyeshadows that have a warmth and depth which makes them universally flattering.  I have so many things to say about this palette I’m just going to pull out my list:

• the colors flatter all skin tones, ranging from fair to medium to dark.
• the palette has matte, glitter, and satin shades (options are always a plus).
• you can easily create soft daytime looks and more dramatic looks.
• it comes with a double-ended brush  (Urban Decay has great brushes).
• the case is a durable rose-gold tin with a mirror.

Two of the shades, Dust and Buzz, have a gorgeous shimmery finish. There is a tiny amount of fallout with these so be sure to gently press them onto the lid instead of sweeping back and forth. My favorite shades are Nooner (a deep matte pink), Trick (a bronze rose-gold), and Blackheart (a purple-black with micro-glitter).  This palette is by far my favorite in the Naked collection.

2. Lush Sacred Truth Face Mask and Charity Pot Hand and Body Lotion.

so delicious!!

In addition to cooking a delicious Christmas dinner I decided to give the gift of beautiful skin by relying on Lush for most of my holiday gifts. This holiday season was my first visit to a Lush Store. I have always heard great things about the brand buy never got around to testing out any of their products until this month. I wish someone had told me what I was missing. When you step into a Lush store you step into a world of purity, freshness, and calm.  After picking up a few presents I treated myself to two fabulous products.

The Sacred Truth Face Mask has become my new best friend. It has papaya enzymes and green tea. Lush products are preservative free so my new favorite mask has to be kept in the refrigerator. Whenever I put it on it feels cool and refreshing. I leave it on for ten minutes and rinse it off with warm water. The papaya enzymes provide gentle exfoliation, extra virgin coconut oil moistures, and kaolin clay purifies. My skin feels smooth and soft after I rinse. Did I mention it smells amazing? This is a great product if you are looking for a mask that will brighten and detoxify without over drying your skin. If you have normal/ dry to combination skin I highly recommend it.

I couldn’t leave Lush without a body product. I purchased Charity Pot Hand and Body lotion.  Money from the sale of this product goes to support grass root charities. What a great way to look good and do something good for others. Charity Pot is a blend of fair trade cocoa butter with essential oils in what looks like a ice cream pint container.  The product is super moisturizing but the texture is lightweight and easily melts into the skin. The best part is that you stay hydrated way after you apply it so you don’t need a lot of product.

3. Violet Voss Cosmetics.

Glitter Glitter Glitter!!

I discovered this brand through Instagram. I noticed a gorgeous smokey eye with glitter in my newsfeed and clicked on the tag. Violet Voss has the most gorgeous range of loose glitters that I have ever seen. They also make a glitter adhesive, Violet’s Secret Weapon, that keeps your glitter in place. When I try a new brand I only buy one or two products to see if I like it. I ordered a full-size of Violet’s Secret Weapon and one pot of Pixie Pink glitter. Pink is my favorite color. When I got my order in the mail it came with my products plus a postcard with detailed tips and tricks on how to use Violet Voss glitter.  This glitter is used on the eyes, lips, and brows.  Thanks to Violet’s Secret Weapon my eye makeup became indestructible. I applied my shadow then a small drop of the glitter adhesive. Then I used a flat concealer brush to gently press the glitter onto my lid. It lasted for over eight hours with no fall out. I was highly impressed and I am planning on adding more colors of Violet Voss glitter to my makeup collection.

4. Covergirl TruBlend Fixstick Concealer

I rarely ever buy drugstore makeup, but when I’m in CVS waiting for my prescriptions I can’t help but gravitate to the beauty aisle with my paper towels in hands for a quick peek.   This particular product caught my eye because of the extensive shade range and the packaging.  These concealers are in a convenient chubby pencil that twists up and down. I bought two shades, Deep and Medium Deep, which I use for highlighting and concealing. The product applies smoothly and blends easily; it lasted a little over eight hours with no creasing. I really love this product and I may try the other products in the Trublend family. One of my favorite tricks is to use the Medium Deep as a brow highlighter.

5. Evolution of Smooth (EOS) Lip Balm

I have two in my purse.

I feel like I’m so late to the party. I have seen this lip balm in various beauty magazines and I have seen a certain Kardashian use it in public. Once again I have fallen in love with adorable packaging and if it’s pink I will probably buy it.  My current lip balm obsession is the Strawberry Sorbet flavor. EOS Lip Balm hydrates with Shea butter and vitamin E. It is petrolatum-free and gluten-free. The twist-off cap that locks is also a plus. How many times have you been on public transportation and dropped the cap of your lip balm? Well it has happened to me. Thanks to this lip balm I am able to wear lipstick this winter with no fear of peeling or flaking lips ruining my look.  It’s only $3.49, so get five.

Before you go, you should know:

Naked 3 palette available at Sephora stores, urbandecay.com, sephora.com

Lush Cosmetics available at Lush stores and lushusa.com

Violet Voss Cosmetics available at shopvioletvoss.com

Cover Girl cosmetics available at Target, CVS, and covergirl.com

EOS Lip Balm available at Whole Foods Markets, Target, and evolutionofsmooth.com