Lali Amora Kiss Awards 2012 - Best Products of 2012

The year was absolutely amazing, the birth of my 4th child, the start of a new exciting career (being a full time stay at home mommy!) and the beginning of a new career for my hubby! Of course like always time flies and before you know it the new year has started and new goals and resolutions are being made, but the most exciting of any beauty blogger's new year is the launch of new beauty products! From the start of a January wintertime After-Christmas sale to the December month hustle and bustle last days of Christmas, these are just a few of my faves from last year....

Lali Amora's Kiss Awards 2011

So many new items in our glamorous world and yet so little time! In 2011 not only did I pay close attention to the products that were recommended to me but I did take notes of those that I will be trying this year :) The 'Kiss Award' is given to my personal favorite picks...Believe me there were many 'nominees' but in the end there is only 1 winner.....or winners in this case!

So a round of applause for the big winners of 2011...Every beauty product favorite of mine deserves a big Kiss!!!!

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure

Milani Liquif'eye Metallic eye liner pencil in Black

Yuko Gold Repair Through spray

L'Oreal Youth Code skincare

Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation

Sephora Lash Plumper mascara

Tarte Amazonian Clay blush

Clarisonic Mia Sonic Skin Cleansing system

Maybelline Color Sensational Lipcolor

..............

Multi-tasking Brush: Sedona Lace Synthetic Blender

It was a video on YouTube that prompted me to purchase the lovely Sedona Lace Synthetic Blender Eb 13 brush. I had to see it for myself! Ok, so this little gem can pack on shadow on the lids, blend, and apply highlight for the brows all in one, and it can have other uses. I have been using the same brush to do all three and I'm loving it :)

There are 2 of them in the picture because when I ordered it there was a promo when you buy one you get one free....How cool is that?!

According to them:

"This brush is not only great for eyeshadow but concealer as well. Makeup artists have been using crease brushes for years to help blend out creamy product like concealer or eyeshadow base. This brush was formulated with synthetic bristles to apply the perfect amount of product. The bristles are also nice and dense to for easily blending out darker crease colors. Tip: Use this as brush for contouring the nose. The shape and tapered bristles will help you blend out hard lines easily."

Price:

$8.95 each

I say:

It is very soft. Ferrule is of good quality. Very easy to use! Has become one of favorite eye brushes. 

They have other products to offer...Check them out at Sedonalace.com!

Blush and Bronzer had a...uh...little accident

This is what happens when you are not too careful with your most favorite compacts or powders! Ok, so there is good news and bad news to this makeup violation: The good news is that I have about 5 backups of the blush (on the right), the bad news is that my most favorite bronzer ever (on the left) is by Tropez, which to my knowledge is discontinued

Since this has happened I'm very careful as to not move it around so much, in fear that I may lose pieces. I still use it but I dip my brush in it very carefully

I can't look at it anymore, it's just so sad looking! LOL

Has this sort of thing ever happened to you? Which beauty product was it?

Favorites of the Month

So, who is ready for autumn? One of the reasons why I love the month of August is because it really is the transition month for fall….the weather changes a bit, school starts, stores stock up on Halloween and fall décor, and fall makeup collections come out, can’t get enough of that!

To kick off my August Favorites post, I wanted to share a bit of joy with you about a palette that I’ve been swooning over like a diabetic in a candy store ;) It’s the Traditional Palette by LA Colors. Boy, if I would have known that this palette would be my go-to for everyday simple neutral looks I would have bought a whole case! Ok, maybe not a whole case, but maybe 2 or 3 backups? And they are only $1, sweet deal!

It has almost everything you need for a nice natural look perfect for the day at the office or in my case, a day at the clinic.

Signature mineral foundation- This is my old-school mineral go-to back when I first started collecting makeup. Their samples is what started it all, but because of my ‘rekindling’ I have decided to order the full size jars. I love this foundation because it gives your skin a glow, perfect coverage and doesn’t feel cakey or dry. Honestly I prefer Signature over Everyday minerals anytime.

Bonne Bell liplites in Strawberry Parfait- I own about 5 or 6 of these and never did I think to wear the lightest one for work of fear that I’d look like I sprinkled pink powder on my lips but actually this color is really nice! While it does look like a really light pink in the tube, on my lips it becomes really neutral and pretty....

Shu Uemura lash curler- I have never really liked the lash curler for the simple fact that my lashes are super strait. Up to this point, not a single thing could curl my lashes, I’ve even thought of perming them! When I had a bad experience with a really cheap lash curler I promised to never use one ever again…. it used to pinch me after which I would call it every name in the book…..But this one I like love!

Jane Blush in Blossom 02- What happened to all the jane stuff? Alot of their blushes seemed to be pretty popular among makeup junkies but then came the day they went on clearance and were discontinued. Anywho, I found a stash of jane products at walmart while vacationing on the coast and simply put, I love this blush! The color is a cute light pink with just a hint of coral.

Kat Von D liquid eyeliner- Since becoming a self-proclaimed liquid eyeliner application pro I've pushed myself to try out other brands of liquid eyeliner. Clinique, thumbs down. ELF, thumbs down. But Kat Von D? 2 thumbs up! :) I got this in a dark brown called Immortal Love, totally digging the names and she has a variety of colors to choose from. The applicator is a brush not felt-tip.

Estee Lauder Individualist makeup- Unfortunately not sold at EL counters but the trusty CCO's happen to carry it. What I love about this makeup is that it is supposedly sheer, but actually covers flaws beautifully. Natural and light, this tube of wonder will always be a favorite of mine next to MAC SFF.

Well, there you have it, my favorites for the month of August. Now I must get back to taking out my halloween decorations stash. hahaha, I begin decorating September 1st!

Which beauty product have you been using a lot of lately?

Last of June Haul

Where has the time went? I swear it was just the beginning of June! The month was very nice for me, went on vacation to the coast, my grandmother and son had a birthday, and both of my boys finished classes....Geeze, the time goes by fast I guess when you are having fun!

So plenty of stuff in June, plenty of polishes and some stuff I bought for backups, plus some things relatively new that I wanted to try out. The nail polishes are all from random places.

Hard Candy Mr. Wrong and Envy were from Walmart, Essie Wicked from the mall (where I also bought a brilliant Dazzleglass dupe lipgloss by Santee in 06), Confetti nail polish, a new kind at CVS, Belle of the Ball and Orly Haute Red also from CVS.

I've heard mixed reviews about Hard Candy's mascaras....You don't know how many times I've visited Walmart to get my hands on 'Ginormous mascara' only to find that it is sold out or out of stock, urh! the annoyance....So I purchased the HC Curl up and Dye mascara in lieu of the Ginormous, which I will be posting a review about shortly. The Falsies Volum' mascara I do like, I'll be reviewing that as well.

The Revlon Creme blush 'Blushing Mauve' and Revlon lipgloss in 'Power Walk Pink' was from Big Lots...

ELF lashes and powder were from the grocery store....

There was an eyeshadow quad Punk Funk in my ELF online shopping cart for quite some time but found it at the grocery store alas...I love how the colors are true on the skin as they look in the quad!

Aside from other ELF quad shadows this one has good pigmentation. These swatches are with underlying UDPP....

Just one of many looks you can create with the quad.... 

Physicians Formula mineral wear is my HG of mineral compact powders and here is why...The formula is for sensitive or breakout prone skin which I don't have, nevertheless, I still like it as it smoothes out the finish of my skin and makes the foundation look airbrushed. Another plus is the SPF factor.

Dollar Tree recently had LA Colors products that were just calling my name. The products come in these little packages called Value Kits that usually contain 2 or more items. I also took home Sally Hansen line smoothing lipgloss in Pink Sapphire and face powder by LA Colors...

About the Value Kits: Everything but the lipglosses are copacetic. The quality of the lipglosses are pretty bad. The formula is way too thick, almost impossible to wear on their own. I'll be tossing these out! On the bright side, the lipliner, lipstick and eyeshadow palette colors are right on.

The Essence XXXL shine lipglosses, a new love of mine, were looking tempting each time I would frequent my grocery store so I took home Bubble Babe and Pick Me Up. I did not bother swatching Pick me up as it is too clear with very little glitters....

From the Dollar store I found some cute creme nail polishes Touch of Taupe and Chocolate Grape, both Maybelline Express Finishes and have a matching lipcolor. The lipcolors are just ok, but not really anything I'd wear, haha!