Best 11 of 2011

Hello, dear readers,

As I was browsing the blogs I follow, I came across the "Top 11 for 2011" tag on Liparazzi and thought it looked quite fun. Don't worry, it's different from my Pop Culture Favorites. I'm actually morphing this one with the Top 11 of 2011 beauty tag from YouTube. The YouTube tag asks for your top 2 lip, eye, nail, hair, and face products, as well as one palette. I have to cut the eye and palette categories, because I don't use them, so I'll take that opportunity to add more to areas in which I own more beloved products. I also got rid of two categories from the blog tag, because I didn't want to go through and decide on my favorite blogs or YouTube videos. I'm also aware that the products are all different sizes in the pictures; I'm no photography expert.

Here are my answers to the best of each category in 2011 [in no particular order whatsoever]:

Top 11 Products:

Face

This is tricky, because I have more than two favorites, but I'm limiting it to essentials only!

• Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder I have this powder in the shade 001 Transparent [which still gives me a tiny bit of color, noticeable to no one but me because I'm so pale!], and I have to say that it keeps my makeup lasting for hours. I already have a review of it here, and I continue to be impressed by the staying power and mattifying effect of this product. Granted, I've only ever tried two other powders, but this surpasses them both in quality. 

• Hard Candy Glamoflauge Concealer I have a review on this, but I love this concealer because it's extremely full-coverage, which I primarily need for dark under-eye circles, and it works well to cover any discoloration and blemishes.

Lips

If you read my blog regularly, or you look at the title, you may have guessed that the category I'm expanding is that of the lip products! In order to prevent listing half of my collection, I'm limiting this mostly to new lip products from 2011.

• Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Demure Besides scoring this lipstick at a deep discount during the CVS beauty clearance sales, this happens to be the closest color I've ever found to my natural lips. I don't think I would have ever looked twice at it if not for this sale, but it happens to perfectly warm up and brighten my lips. I'm a bit concerned that it's being discontinued, simply because it is part of the sale, but I can't be sure.

• Revlon Colorburst Lipstick in Carnation At the same sale, I scored this lipstick, which is a lovely soft, cool-toned pink that's perfect for day or night.

• Maybelline Color Sensational Lipstick in Pink and Proper See a pattern here? Think I like pink lipsticks? You're absolutely right. This one is a nice bright, cool-toned pink, but still completely wearable for daytime. I'm always the one in my group of friends with a bright lip, anyway. I love the name of this lipstick, too.

These came out a bit browner than they are.

• Maybelline Color Sensational Lipstick in Pink Peony I have to include this lipstick, because I wore it nearly every day during the time I was at college this year. It's the greatest pink for daily wear, because it's not too cool-toned or conspicuous. It's a nice, more subtle, way to wear pink lipstick to class.

• Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick in Rose Blush This is the only lipstick that I bought last year, but it needs to be included because I wore this quite a lot towards the end of the year. It's a nice, neutral, almost brownish, pink, and could pass as a natural lip color. The funny thing is, it's not actually that similar to my lip color, but for some reason looks like it could be my lips. Maybe it's just much more pigmented than my own lips, so it replaces their color? Who knows?

Nails

With a collection of over 50, down from over 80, I'm keeping this strictly down to two new [to me] nail polishes from 2011. [Note: I'm actually wearing both of these colors again right now, in an attempt at fun plaid nails for New Year's Eve!]

• China Glaze For Audrey Ever since hearing about this on YouTube, I felt I needed this color. I love the elegance associated with Audrey Hepburn, and what girl doesn't love Tiffany's? I gave it a mention here and a more thorough review in this post. Though the formula isn't my favorite, I love this color, and I've worn it at least three times this year. With a collection as large as mine, and growing, three wears means it must be a pretty fantastic color.

• Milani Bijou Bronze This is probably the most unique polish I own, and it's all thanks to Harry Potter. You see, I needed bronze to complete my Harry Potter nail look for the midnight show of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 because it's one half of the Ravenclaw house colors. I ended up enjoying this color more than I expected, and wore it twice more this year.

Hair

• Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Serum/GVP version I've mentioned the Paul Mitchell product a few times, and have done a more thorough review of it here, so you can imagine how thrilled I was to discover a generic version of the exact same product, reviewed here. Overall, this is a great serum for smoothing down flyaways and getting rid of frizz. It's neither too lightweight nor too heavy, so it does it's job effectively withought weighing down hair.

• Paul Mitchell Flexible Style Reworks Texture Cream This is my current favorite product to use when I want to keep my curls intact throughout the day. I have looser curls that tend to fall into waves, especially as my hair gets longer. I use this when my hair is on the slightly wetter side of damp, combining it with my serum and scrunching my hair. It really is flexible, and my hair doesn't look crunchy or wet, two looks I loathe. If I play with my hair too much, the curls will fall into neat waves, but that's why this is called "flexible," right? 

Top 11 Things That Happened in 2011

• My friends threw me a surprise 20th birthday party
• I got my first "real" job over the summer, boring as it was
• I won Funky Makeup Junkie's first [I think!] giveaway 
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 came out in theaters
• My friends and I sang late at night onstage at a closed beach, and the security guard thought we were actually rehearsing for a performance
• My sister came home for Thanksgiving week with her fiancé, and she brought her dog!
• New Girl and Hart of Dixie came into being
• I finished the 5th Harry Potter book in Spanish
• My cousin [second? I think?] got engaged
• I finally tried Pilates, and I love it!
• I got this blog up and running!

Top 11 Songs in 2011

• "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele
• "Someone Like You" by Adele
• "Summer is Over" by Jon Mclaughlin
• "Without You Now" by Jon Mclaughlin
• "A Little Too Hard (& A Little Too Fast)" by Jon Mclaughlin [and at the risk of including his entire album, I'll cut off the Jon Mclaughlin songs here]
• "Best Thing I Never Had" by Beyoncé
• "Tonight, Tonight" by Hot Chelle Rae
• "Skyscraper" by Demi Lovato
• "Stereo Hearts" by Gym Class Heroes feat. Adam Levine
• "Gonna Get Over You" by Sara Bareilles
• "In Your Arms" by Kina Grannis

 [I promptly listened to most of these songs after making this particular list]

This is officially the last tag of 2011, so I do hope you all enjoyed. It was fun recalling all the best moments of this year.

Here's to making more in 2012!

Again: Happy New Year!

xEsther