December favourites!

Yep, that's right, this will be a (reaaally) late post on my December '09 favourites.
I know it's probably the most belated "monthly favourites" post in the blogging history, but I 've been really busy lately, preparing for exams and everything...

Well, better late than never, right? :)

So, on the products then:




1. Cetaphil Daily Advance Ultra Hydrating Lotion. I 've been using this as a body lotion recently instead of my usual body butters, and what can I say, I love it. It keeps my skin moisturized in the cold winter weather, it sinks in quite nicely without feeling tacky and I adore the fact that it isn't scented, although that is completely unlike me! Now I suspect that for all those reasons it would make an even greater lotion in the warmer months, has anyone tried this in the summer?

2. Sleek Storm palette. Now it might be just me or this particular palette that I have, but I 'm really not feeling this product...I guess that puts me in the minority, but the consistency of the shimmery colours is slightly gritty, making them difficult to apply and achieve an even finish. This wasn't the case with the matte colours, they were quite nice to work with. So, you might be wondering why this made my "favourites" list? Simply because it's a nice compact palette with pigmented eyeshadows that covers any basic neutral and basic smokey eye looks you would want to do. I took it with me while traveling during the holidays and I didn't find myself needing any other colours. But (and this is a big "but"), if I 'd built a MAC palette with similar shades to the Storm one, this would probably be heading towards the...bin.

3. Barry M Glossy Tubes Lipgloss in No.4. No. 4 is also called "Matt Pink" I believe, and that's pretty much what it is: a non-shimmery, non-sticky, light pink lipgloss. It's an extremely flattering shade and I believe that it would work wonderfully for those that have enough pigmentation on their natural lips, as well as for those ones with paler lips. My lips fall more into the more pigmented category, so this lipgloss gives a subtle milky pink effect, which I just love.




4. NARS Orgasm blush. Not much to say about this blush, you either love it or hate it. Personally I love the gold sheen (I tried to make that show on my swatch below), I think it pairs quite nicely with its peachy-pink colour. If you love MSF's and have a fair/medium skintone, you 're probably gonna like this one too!




5. Benefit Erase Paste in No.1 Fair. Seeing that my MAC Select Cover Up in NW 20 was a little dark for me lately, I thought I 'd give Erase Paste a try. It claims to be a brightening product as well as a concealing one, and if I 'm honest, I do think that it provides a slight brightening effect. You certainly don't need a lot of product, and unfortunately it's quite easy to go overboard, since the spatula (that's included in the packaging) method isn't the most easy to get control of. Now, as Sarah pointed out, a little too much of this will end up in your fine lines, but then again in this case unless you have very dark circles, you 'd better try something in a more liquid form. Swatch below showing that it pretty much erased my prominent green little vein.




So, have you tried any of these products and what did you think of them?

And, what are the products that you 've been swearing by lately that I need to try? :)