Hello, beauties!

I meant to put up my January favorites a few weeks ago…and apparently I never did, so I decided to combine those with a few new things I was loving in February, and here we are!

I Didn’t Come Here to Make Friends: Confessions of a Reality Show Villain by Courtney Robertson

In case you didn’t already know this about me, I love the Bachelor/ette franchise, and I can’t help it. I haven’t watched every single season or anything, but I did watch the season with Bachelor Ben where Courtney, the author of this book, was a contestant. Basically everybody hated her because it seemed like she was manipulative and rude and conniving, and other people loved her for those same reasons. This book was even better than I expected it to be. Not because the writing was spectacular, obviously, but because it was fun to get a more in-depth look at The Bachelor and some of the contestants on Ben’s season. I’m not ashamed to say I devoured this book pretty quickly because it was just so interesting. If you watched Ben’s season, or have any interest in this franchise, I’d recommend this book. It’s definitely good for a few laughs!

Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit

I heard people rave about this for months before I finally decided to pick it up, and man I’m so glad that I did! At first I wasn’t sure that I would really use three setting/highlight powders and three bronzers, but now I love that I have so much variety. you can achieve a wide variety of looks with these powders, and I just love them. I typically use the banana powder (top middle) to set my undereye concealer, and then I top that with the powder on the top left, which is more pink-toned. Then for bronzer, I tend to gravitate to the one on the bottom left for day-to-day, but the others are beautiful on the skin as well. These powders go on really smoothly and last all day, so I’d highly recommend this palette if you’re looking to get more into contouring or just have more variety.

Urban Decay Vice Ltd Palette

Urban Decay is one of my all-time favorite brands, and since I have the three other vice palettes, it should come as no surprise that I just had to get this one, too. This one is different from the other Vice palettes, though, because they’re not all brand new shades. Some are new, but others are cult favorites, most of which I don’t already have, so I was pumped about that. Not much else to say besides I love it!

Macadamia Natural Oil Deep Repair Masque

I’ve been wanting to try products from Macadamia for quite a while now, but they’re pretty spendy. When my boyfriend and I were in TJ Maxx about a month ago, I saw this for less than $10, so I knew I had to try it. And oh my gosh, it’s amazing. I can see why people rave about this all the time. It smells amazing, and it made my hair feel so amazingly smooth and strong. I use it about once a week, and I notice a big difference in the overall look and feel of my hair. If you’ve been wanting to try this out but have held back because of the price, head over to TJ Maxx and see if they still have some!

Tree Hut Moisturizing Hand Cream: Coconut Lime with Moroccan Argan Oil

I LOVE THIS HAND CREAM. It’s very lightweight, it absorbs into your hands quickly, and it smells amazing. Plus it’s only $6 at Ulta, so it’s also a great deal. My hands get crazily dry in the wintertime, so I make sure to apply this every morning at work, and my hands feel moisturized for most of the day. I use a different hand cream that’s thicker at night, just for even more hydration, but I really just can’t say enough great things about this hand cream.

Nubian Heritage Coconut & Papaya with Vanilla Bean Extract Hand Cream

This is the hand cream I keep on my night stand so I remember to moisturize my hands every night. It’s thick but not too thick, and, you guessed it, it smells amazing. This one takes a little bit longer to absorb than the hand cream above, but that doesn’t bother me. I can see and feel a big difference in my hands both right after I put it on and in the morning.

Sebestian Shaper Plus Touchable Extra Hold Hairspray with Humidity Resistance

This hairspray is the bombdotcom, seriously. My mom used to use this all the time, and then she said they switched to a different formula, and it was just horrible, so she stopped using it. Then they went back to their original formula, and all was right with the world again. Ulta had a crazy good deal about a month or two ago where you could get a bottle of this hairspray (which usually costs around $17 I think) for $5, so I snatched this up right away. I just love it! It holds your hair in place really well without making it feel sticky, and it really lasts. Plus I really like the scent, so that’s an added bonus.

Kiss InstaWave

This is a product I received for testing purposes from BrandBacker, and I can’t believe how much I love it! At first I thought it was a scary looking curling iron, but it’s actually really cool and pretty easy to use. Read more about my thoughts on it here!

 

CoverGirl Clump Crusher Mascara by lashblast: Very Black

I’ve heard YouTubers and beauty bloggers rave about this mascara, and though I haven’t been super impressed by CoverGirl mascaras in the past, I wanted to give this one a try. I love it! It’s one of those rare mascaras that looks good on its own or layered over another mascara. If I’m looking for a more natural but still curled look, this is great on its own. But I do have a couple of other mascaras that I love that clump from time to time, so this is perfect to put on top because it stays all day and doesn’t clump at all! I’ve found it also works well on my lower lashes, too.

NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream: Copenhagen

   This is the first soft matte lip cream I’ve ever tried from NYX, and this shade has been highly coveted and I know my local Ulta is almost always out of stock. When I was working truck one night, I saw we got this in and had to buy it right away. I was nervous about using it because the bottle looks so dark, but it doesn’t go on your lips that dark, not unless you layer it quite a bit. I love the color it looks on my lips, and I swear it feels like you’re not wearing anything when this is on. This formula is so unique, and I just love it and this color. Can’t wait to try more of these in the future!

NYX Intense Butter Gloss in the shade Spice Cake

I had been waiting for a few weeks for my local Ulta to get the intense butter glosses, so when they finally came in, my hand was a crazy swatch party. This was the color I fell in love with right away, and I just can’t emphasize enough how much I love it. This lasts much longer and is obviously much more pigmented than the regular NYX butter glosses, and it’s actually almost like a liquid lipstick because it lasts so long and it’s so, so pigmented. The shine fades a bit after a few hours, but the color remains just as beautiful. This is like a purply-pink shade that only requires one swipe of the wand to get full color on your lips. I just love this so much!