Beauty Favorites // 2017

Beauty Favorites // 2017 

Better late than never? If you follow my instagram (@allisonhunt_2), then you could see my post explaining how I've been MIA because sicknesses have hit our household! It's been a solid week now and they're slowly, but surely going away. 

I wanted to post this at the beginning of this month, but I was still getting caught up with other blogs that didn't get done because of how busy the holidays were. I will still be posting try-ons using January subscriptions, but they will be a little late. I also have my Winter FabFitFun coming really soon along with other ideas to start off this year! 

I've had so many favorites this year, but I really wanted to narrow it down as much as I could. I separated them into groups like primers, foundations, concealers, etc. For the most part, each section has my most used high-end and my most used drugstore products for the year of 2017! 

Primers 

I really went through a phase of trying out several primers this year. It was hard narrowing it down to just two, so I have two high-end and two drugstore. I really recommend buying a high-end primer. Your makeup application will be so much smoother/nicer and the wear-time will be so much longer than your average drugstore primer. High-end primers can be up there in price, so for day-to-day use you might want to find a good drugstore primer that works for you. 

I've mentioned the Too Faced HangoveRX Primer in so many blogs this past year. This has been my holy grail primer for quite some time now and I feel like it will be for awhile! Nothing has compared to this one. It's so hydrating, smells amazing, and leaves the skin just the right amount of tacky for foundation to lay on and stay all day! 

Farsali Unicorn Essence is a serum that is great for prepping the skin for makeup! I fell in love with this towards the end of the year and was using it non-stop! This one is a little pricer, but you can also buy the deluxe sample size (like I did to try it out) for only $20 at Sephora.

Maybelline Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser does an okay job of blurring out some of my pores, but my real reason for this primer was how well it worked with some of my foundations. I used it all summer long and it's one of the best primers I have found at the drugstore.

Revlon Youth FX Fill + Blur Primer  is a little pricey for "drugstore," but this primer truly does blur and fill in my pores! It's so handy to have for those days that your pores are extra large and/or really noticeable even with foundation on. The only down fall to this primer is that it hasn't worked with every foundation. Any foundation that is water-based isn't going to stay in place well all day with this. Honestly, that is with any primer that has the fill-in, silicone feel, and blurring effects. 

Lip Balms & Treatments

 I haven't branched out into too many lip treatments until just recently, but in 2017 I did try a few new things that I ended up loving and continued to use on a daily basis! 

Everyone knows what EOS is, but I still mention this because this has been one of my go-tos for years now. I sometimes feel like some balms are just too heavy. I like the EOS formula because they're very moisturizing, but light-weight on the lips. This is the scent Coconut Milk. 

These Maybelline Baby Lips hydrate my lips really well and I've been a fan of them just about as long as the EOS. They're a little waxier feeling like a regular chapstick, but not too heavy feeling. These come in different shades and even though they're sheer they still tint your lips. It's a good option if you're just a chapstick wearer, but want to add a little color to your lips. 

I hand never tried a lip oil before this Juice Infused Lip Oil by the Ulta Beauty brand. This can feel super heavy on my lips. Its not an actual oil, it's thicker. When fall hit and my lips dried out I would wear this around the house or apply it before I went to sleep at night. It would literally bring life back into my lips! Ulta Beauty Brand items normally have really good BOGO sales too! 

I know, that price point for the Bite Beauty Agave Lip Masks, ouch!  I actually received these cute little samples (pictured above) of each one of their shades and that is how I tried them out. I didn't want to incase I fell in love with them because a full-size is $26, but the full-size is a pretty decent amount and would probably last forever. I went through a phase of wearing these every night and they did wonders to my lips and were very comfortable on my lips! 

 Foundations 

This was such a tough section for me because I wanted to add more, but I decided to keep it simple. These two have been around for awhile, but I used these the most in 2017. 

I've been trying out a few newer foundations recently, but I have been missing this Tarte Rainforest of the Sea Water Foundation! With spring and then summer to follow, I know I will be using this one all the time again. It is medium coverage, but the finish is gorgeous! 

I kind of feel like the price raised a little on this foundation.. Or is it just me?

I thought it was about $8.99 before, but in any case the  L'oreal Infallible Pro-Matte would still be worth the $12.99 to me! I have tried so many drugstore foundations in the past and could never find one with good coverage that lasted on my (then) oily skin all day until I found this one! Now my skin is more combo-to-dry and it still looks great and last through the day well! 

Concealers

I cheated on this section, but I really don't have any drugstore concealers that I wear all the time. I always reach for one of these two. I fell in love with both of these this past year and I'm not sure how I ever got by doing my makeup before without them!  

Tarte Shape Tape is worth every penny! This is still my favorite concealer of all time! It conceals and brightens my under eyes so well and it also is amazing at concealing blemishes. This sets nicely with powder and doesn't crease. This product has made concealer one of my favorite steps in makeup routine! The price range and the quality of these two are about the same! I had seen a few people really rave about this Urban Decay Naked Skin Weightless Complete Coverage Concealer and so I ended up making myself buy it. I feel like the Tarte Shape Tape is still my favorite over it, but this one is so close! The coverage is there, it looks flawless, it doesn't crease, and is overall a great concealer! 

Setting Powders 

This was another tough one, but I told myself to only choose two. 

I feel like the Laura Mercier will always be my holy grail translucent setting powder, but the Too Faced Born This Way Ethereal Setting Powder really blew me away this past year! It's so smooth and makes my skin literally look flawless! It keeps my base makeup in place and doesn't crease in any fine lines. For the drugstore this Wet n Wild Mattifying Powder has been the only one that I have been using that I approve of completely! I like to use this one after I apply matte foundation, then concealer, then this powder just in the t-zone area. I don't like using this to set my under eyes, but it does a good job of keeping my makeup in place. 

 Contour Palettes 

2017 was more of a contouring year for me instead of bronzing. I've really liked the look of having a good contour and a nice highlight. My favorite contour shades of all time are the shades in the Tarte Pro Glow palettes. They're just perfect for my skin-tone and I love both palettes. You have more highlights with the bigger one, but the Pro Glow To Go is so handy for traveling! These blend so well and I really do like the highlight shades too! Another high-end favorite has been the Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit in light to medium. I love the formula of this one. It does the job of contouring and naturally highlighting high-points of my face without being too powdery like some contour palettes. My favorite drugstore Contour Platte of 2017 was this Wet n Wild Megaglo in the shade Dulce De Leche. I've wanted to try the mega bronzer from Marc jacobs, but then I read this is a close dupe. I can't say it is, since I haven't tried the other, but I really like this one. It blends well and I like the light shade in this palette as well. If a Wet n Wild product is good you might as well get it since you can't beat those prices! 

Blushes

An "oldie" that I purchased off of a Makeup Trading site (since it was a limited edition palette and I didn't get my hands on it then) was the Becca X Jaclyn Hill Palette. I originally bought it for the highlights, but I really love these blushes too! Beccas blushes are super pigmented! Tarte blushes definitely make the list! I have used these non-stop the last 4-5 months and I have loved just about every shade! I bought the Holiday Bazaar palette just to have more of a variety instead of just a few singles. They're pigmented, but you have to build them up. I like this aspect because I like more of a subtle blush. I also fell in love with this The Balm In Full Swing blush sample that I got in an Ipsy Glam Bag. I plan to buy the full size because I like it so much! It's a very rosy pink and makes my blush look more natural, which leaves me with the last blush from Physicians Formula. This is their Argan Wear blush in the shade Natural. It is very natural and buildable. I've worn this so many times on the blog this past year. 

Highlighters 

Again I had to throw in that Becca X Jaclyn Hill palette for the highlighters. I liked Champagne Pop a lot in the summer, but I really fell in love with the other one (Prosecco Pop) and wore it over and over for months. I love the highlighters in the Tarte Pro Glow palettes (I wanted to mention that again), but they have really good single highlighters like the one above (Exposed). Their highlights are soft, buttery, and blinding! This one in particular is blinding, but not glittery. Wet n Wild won me over again with their Megaglo Highlighting powder. It reminds me a lot of the Tarte formula and is so blinding as well! Speaking of blinding.. Cover FX finally got me with their Custom Enhancer Drops. They're so gorgeous! I usually put mine on after foundation, but before powder. Even after applying powder they're still blinding! The last highlighting powder that I must mention is the XO Beauty ones. They're very natural, but you can build these up. When fall hit I went through a more natural highlight phase and this was perfect for it! 

Brows

I've been using the Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Definer for awhile now, but it's worth another mention because it was still my go-to product for my brows in 2017. I branched out more with brows and found out that I love the Benefit Goof Proof Brow Pencil just about as much, if not the same, as the Brow Definer! These are both awesome eyebrow products and fill in my brows seamlessly! 

Eyeshadow 

I really didn't know how I was going to narrow this section down. I have tried so many great palettes this past year, but I tried to keep it (again) simple. I chose the Tarte Rainforest of the Sea Vol. 2 for the simple fact that the shades are so neutral and this is such a good sized palette to travel with. All three of those palettes are great, but if I had to choose one it would be the second because you can create the perfect warm-tone eye looks or the perfect cool-tone eye looks with it. I have to mention the Morphe X Jaclyn Hill Palette and the BH Cosmetics Shaaanxo Palette. I have followed both of these Youtubers for so long now and I was so excited to see these palettes launch. Both of them are also hits! The shades are amazing, they blend so well, and last on my eyes all day! The last palette is of course the Anastasia Beverly Hills Modern Renaissance Palette. Although I have loved the Subculture and the Prism Palettes as well, I have to give it to Modern Renaissance for the shade range. The shades are gorgeous! This formula is my favorite to work with. It is so pigmented, but blends out so smoothly. 

Lastly, I had to add the Stila Glitter & Glow Liquid Eyeshadows. These are so pretty! Everyone has jumped on the liquid glitter eyes and although I waited more till the end of this past year, they're still worth the mention with the awesome formula and how long-wearing they are. 

Eyeliners 

Eyeliners has been so simple for me because I haven't used them much lately. On the days when I wanted a wing I usually reached for one of these three. I got both the Skone Insanely Intense Tattooed  Liner and the Ciate Fierce Flicks from subscriptions and they're both great! They're both felt tips, but they're really fine tips. The pigment with both are amazing the only difference is the Ciate is matte and the Skone is shinier when they dry down. I like both, just for different looks. I bought the Too Faced I Want Kandee Black Licorice Eyeliner because the angled tip intrigued me. I'm glad I did because creating a wing has never been so easy since I have found this! It applies very thin and precisely! The pigmentation on this one is also really good and it dries down matte. All three of these are long-wearing! 

 Falsies 

 Falsies have been like eyeliners. I haven't worn them that much. I've really gotten more confident with natural lashes, but occasionally I would throw lashes on if I was in the mood for a little extra something. I used these two lashes the most. These are both by Ardell. The Natural black 110 are good for day-to-day looks because they're pretty natural. The Black Demi Wispies are more of "full glam" type lash. I really like the Adrell lashes. They're affordable, wear well, and can be cleaned and reused. I use Duo lash glue with these. 

 Mascaras 

I've been loving more high-end mascaras than drugstore, but the ones worth mentioning are Benefit Roller Lash (for curling and separating my lashes), Urban Decay Troublemaker (I love how super black this is, but I love how well this makes each individual lash stand out with separating them), Tarte Lights Camera Lashes (for that extra length), L'oreal Voluminous Lash Paradise (drugstore and also gives my lashes so much length and volume!), and Mac Bold & Bad Lash (I like the big wand, but it's not my favorite. The little bottom lash wand is why I love this so much!). 

Setting Sprays 

The top two setting sprays that I have used nonstop this past year was Max Fix + for day-to-day use and the Cover FX Illuminating Setting Spray for my "full glam" days or when I wanted a little extra glow because this really makes you glow, like no other! 

Lipsticks 

I have way too many favorite lip products so to narrow it down, instead of shades I'm just going to share brands/formulas that I love and that work well for me. For normal lipsticks I love Tarte (they're creamy, pigmented, comfortable, and long-wearing), XO Beauty (launched this past year and I'm obsessed! The cremes feel so good on my lips and the mattes are the perfect amount of matte. They're pigmented and wear great!), Mac (This isn't a new love because I've been wearing their lipstick for some time now, but it works for me. The mattes are sometimes a little intense for me, but the wear-time is incredible!), Dose of Colors (I tried for the first time this past year with the Desi X Katy collection and I really love the formula! I've only tried a matte shade and it is MATTE, but still comfortable! I definitely want more of these in my collection.), and Mellow Cosmetics (I've been really happy with this formula as well. It reminds me of the Mac formula, but the matte isn't as drying. It's not as long-wearing as the Mac lipsticks, but close!).

Lip Glosses 

I'm not a huge lip gloss wearer, but I really love how these brands wear on my lips. 

The Tarte and Anastasia Beverly Hills lip glosses are really pigmented and comfortable to wear. The Kiss Me lip glosses are thinner than the others, but perfect for those "light" makeup days. 

Liquid Lipsticks

I love liquid lipsticks so much and I've been on the search for the best ones! These four have been great! Dose of Colors has a thicker whipped consistency, but dries down completely matte! Tarte and Huda Beauty are similar to me because their consistency is so runny, but they dry down matte quickly! The Kiss Me liquid lippies remind me of the Dose ones because they have an almost whipped consistency and dry down about the same. The Tarte and Huda Beauty lipsticks wear longer than the others, but they are both a little more drying than the other two. If I'm looking for super long-wearing I go for Tarte or Huda. I'm I'm going for just long-wearing with a little extra comfort (or if my lips can't take being anymore dried out and I still want a liquid lipstick) then I go for the Dose or Kiss Me. 

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I hope you enjoyed my Beauty favorites of 2017! 

What were your favorites?