DECEMBER FAVORITES
Before I jump into my favorites this month, I want to express so much gratitude for each and every one of my readers. As you may have noticed, I slowed down my posts this month, because while December was full of incredible highs for me, I also was subject to extremely low lows. I experienced more than one tragedy this month: from the absolute horrific passing of my family's physician in a house fire, to the death of my wonderful, brilliant, innovative grandfather this past week. I was ready to, all together, halt my posts until mid-January on this blog, or until my life returns to some normalcy -- but ultimately, decided against this. I've learned more about life in the past three weeks then I probably ever had known in my 22 years, and if I learned anything, it's to continue to do things that make me happy, even at the darkest of times. Every ounce of my energy put into my creative work going forward is going to be for the honor of these two souls ; especially, my grandfather's. I wanted to address all of this not as merely a story to share, but as a reminder of how therapeutic creativity can be -- whether it's charting out an Instagram grid or writing on a blog. These things may seem frivolous to some, but they may actually be a healing process for others. So without further ado, here are some lovely beauty and miscellaneous items I am recommending from this past month, and, again, I thank you so much for reading.
BEAUTY
01. Chanel Le Lift Anti- Wrinkle Cream- A beautiful stocking stuffer from my wonderful wonderful grandmother and late grandfather, what a gem of a gift this is. It's probably the most gorgeous (if a cream can even be described as gorgeous) facial cream I've ever used. It has left my skin feeling refreshed and smooth even in only a couple of uses, so I recommend trying to get a hold of any sample of this while poking around a Chanel counter.
02. Mac Soft Serve Shadow in 'Bounce Around'- Ah, a treasure that I found in my beauty closet! As I've briefly mentioned before, I've received many extraneous beauty items from my past internships in fashion writing, and this was one of those items that got pushed toward the back of my drawers and remained unused. While rummaging through said drawer, I did, in fact, stumble upon it, and was very pleased with it's pigmentation and consistency. This is excellent for an eye shadow base, and even cooler for lining the lower lash line.
03. Colourpop 'Over The Moon' - Shadow, highlight, whatever you want to call this -- it is by far one of the coolest pigments I have in my collection. Introduced to me by Miss Lindsey (of course), this is an iridescent purple-pink-white shimmery pearl highlight that is just absolutely gorgeous for any skintone. It is certainly an out-of-the-box cheek highlight color, but will look incredible for any evening out this winter -- especially a great pick for NYE!
04. Glossier No.1 Pencil in Graphite- Another amazing gift I received this year was the Glossier Black Tie Set, a gorgeous collection of Glossier's latest beauty innovations. One of the first products I was immediately drawn to in this collection was their eye pencil, the first of it's kind for Glossier, and by far, the creamiest eye tool in all of the land. Excellent for smudging out a cat eye or adding dimension to the lower lash line- I'm pretty obsessed with this and would highly recommend.
05. Nars Oasis Blush - Oldie but goodie product for the month! I fell in love with this blush ages ago! I just rediscovered it and am so happy to have. Because of it's plummy undertone and gold flecks, it's just so gorgeous for this time of year, and I would definitely recommend this if you're looking for a nice winter blush that will give you that perfect flush of pinky-gold.
06. Too Faced La Crème Color in 'Unicorn Tears'- Ok, full disclaimer -- I have not worn this product outside of my house yet!! I did swatch it when I got it, however, and will admit that it is strikingly bold and not wearable for daily use. With that being said, it's probably the most fun lipstick I've ever purchased, and it would in fact, be perfect for a weekend outing to the disco. This photo does it absolutely no justice tbh, because damn, is it beautiful in person-- it leaves you with a highly bluish purple sparkly iridescent lip that's seriously too incredible to put into words.
07. Glossier Lip Gloss - Another gorgeous beyond gorgeous product from the black tie set that I am absolutely in love with. Lip glosses to me are sometimes funky, sticky, not the best consistency. Hands down, this beats all of those claims. It applies extremely smoothly, is short from sticky in any way, and channels that gorgeous nineties- high gloss pink in its bottle. 10/10.
miscellaneous
08. Surell Fox Fur Earmuffs- What a beautiful, special gift I received from my wonderful grandmother and late grandfather. After the debut of Billie Lourd's character (so much love to her in her dark time right now as well) in Scream Queens wearing earmuffs non-stop, I couldn't resist wanting a nice pair. I had let my wonderful grandparents know this, and right before my grandfather passed, they were able to get them for me. A special pair of earmuffs that I will always hold near and dear to me completely.
09. Unicorn Ring Dish- Thank you so much, LMW! In addition to the other couple of amazing gifts Lindsey got me this year, I knew I wanted to put this one in my favorites first. How freakin' cute is it! Certainly the most adorable jewelry ring dish I ever did see (plus everything is 100x cuter with a unicorn, amirite?!)
10. My Cinema Lightbox Mini- Another cutie gift I received this year from my parents. I wanted this baby well because, it screams me, and it also matches my room. I'm really obsessed with it and you will probably be seeing a lot of it on my instagram in the future (sorry, not sorry).
I feel it is only right to end this post with a quote in dedication to my grandfather:
"To you, your father should be as a god; one that compos’d your beauties, yea, and one
To whom you are but as a form in wax by him imprinted, and within his power
To leave the figure or disfigure it"
[Midsummer 1.1]
Happy 2017 everyone, I will see you on this blog then.
Cheers, xx - A. Martine
