If you follow my instagram (spookylipsandfathips) you’ll know I’ve been spamming your feed all morning of teasers of my favorite beauty products of 2016. I had been teetering with the idea of making this post with a lot of doubts, because I’m basically a nobody in the beauty world. However, I think this is actually a good way to further introduce myself and show what my tastes and styles are, and if nothing else, its fun to read what people’s favorites are; I know I personally love reading others favorites! Not everything on my instagram will be listed here, since there were some products I just quickly mentioned, but here are the major faves of mine from 2016!

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Instead of going product for product, I’m just going to make a few fun categories and give descriptions of what products I loved, why, and link where to get them! Hope you like it!

(I wanted to make this post originally in early January, but ah well! Here we go!)

Favorite Beauty Find of 2016 – Juvia’s Place Eyeshadows

Juvia’s Place is an indie makeup brand that blew up this year on social media, and for good reason: their eyeshadows are amazing! Currently, they have three palettes released, The Nubian 1, The Nubian 2, and The Masquerade. The Nubian 1 is their first palette and the smallest of the three (top right corner of photo). It contains beautiful neutral/warm tones that I found myself constantly reaching for, to the point where I had to force myself to put the palette away and show others love. The Nubian 2 (bottom right) offered larger pans and more pops of color. The shadows are so pigmented and a little goes a very long way, which is something I look for in a palette. Finally, the Masquerade palette is a colorful eyeshadow lovers dream! Originally limited addition, Juvia’s place has since re-released the palette in both full size and a mini version. All palettes work well alone and are great when paired with each other as well. With many eyeshadow palettes, often a finger swatch can be misleading of how it will perform on the eyes with a brush, but these shadows apply just as perfect with a brush as with a finger. I can’t go on enough about how pigmented and beautiful these shadows are. Because I am an avid eyeshadow lover, it was no contest for this to place as my favorite beauty find of the year, and I look forward to the release of their newest palette, the Saharan, at the end of this month!

Purchase Juvia’s Place Here

Favorite Drugstore Brand of 2016 – Essence

Essence is easily one of those brands that could go overlooked because of their ridiculously affordable prices. So many of their products have worked their way into my every day makeup routine, though, and I even have a bunch stashed away in my back-up drawer which is how you know I love something! Not going to go into every product, but some things that really blew me away were basically all of their mascaras (current favorite: Rock’n’doll Crazy XXXL Volume), their eyeshadow primers, basically any of their brow products, their face powders, lip products, single eyeshadows, and their Pure Nude Highlighter. Definitely check them out during your next Target or Ulta trip!

Essence Website
Purchase from Target
Purchase from Ulta

Favorite High-End Brand of 2016 – Tarte

If you told me I could only pick one brand to get all of my makeup products from for the rest of my life, hands down I would pick Tarte. Again, I am not going to go on about every single product I love, but I’ll hit the highlights! Their quality is incredible, powder products are smooth and blendable, eyeshadows are pigmented, packaging kills it, and they offer so much variety. Again, speaking from the perspective of an eyeshadow junkie, besides great quality, one of the things I love about Tarte is that they tend to lean more cool-toned in their shadows, whereas many companies tend to be very warm. While I can get a soft, elegant, neutral eye I can also get smoky, grungy eyes which is what I tend to always end up doing (even when I don’t mean to, oops!). Almost everything I’ve grabbed from Tarte this year has been worth every penny. They make great eyeshadow palettes, contour powders and kits, mascaras, eyeliners, their amazonian clay blushes are some of the best in the business, and the hugely hyped shape tape concealers lived up to every word. You can grab Tarte on their website, Sephora, Ulta, and QVC (which offers financing!)

Tarte Website
Purchase From Sephora
Purchase From Ulta
Purchase From QVC

Favorite Trend of 2016 – Metallic Lips

In general, I love where lip trends went this year, especially towards the Fall. I love the grungy browns, the vampy reds, the “unwearable” colors, and especially the metallics. I love to pair metallic lips with dark, one tone eyes or as a statement in a bold color with very neutral eyes. Overall, I love the “hey, look at me!” affect metallic lips create. Colors shown are from Colourpop in Crystal Ball and Cheat Code, though many brands are now offering great metallics!

Favorite Not Hyped Enough Product of 2016 – Lorac Light Source Illuminating Highlighter

Highlighters and illuminators blew up this year on social media. Almost every beauty guru has shown us how we can glow to the gods – and I admit I even fell hard into this trend. A good illuminator can take your look from average to show-stopping in just one sweep of a brush, and my favorite highlighters that I don’t ever see anyone talking about are the Lorac Light Source Illuminating Highlighters. I first find these kind-of by accident when swatching products at Kohl’s. Finding a good highlighter for my skin tone can sometimes be hard because I am so fair, so anything too pigmented can read as just a streak of color or glitter on my face. These highlighters, though, just melt into the skin! They are so buttery and reflective that they end up creating a soft, almost wet “glow from within” look with no chunky glitter! They are perfect for daily wear, and I just love them!

Purchase from Lorac
Purchase from Ulta
Purchase from Kohl’s

Game Changer of 2016 – BH Cosmetics Quick Change Makeup Brush Cleaner

I’ve seen more expensive brush cleaners like this at Sephora, and even made my own at one point (a possible future blog post), but when I saw this $8 dollar quick change brush cleaner from BH Cosmetics, I knew I had to have it! Essentially… its a sponge in a tin. What makes it game changing, though, is that it allows you to get all the eyeshadow off a brush with just a few swipes, so that you can continue to use that same brush for a different color while doing your eye makeup. For an eyeshadow junkie like me, this is literally the most amazing tool on my vanity. Plus, you can take the sponge out and quickly wash it the second it gets too dirty.

Purchase It Here

Favorite Splurge of 2016 – Morphe Brushes Gilded Collection

Morphe is a brand that is very talked about on social media, with many gurus being affiliates to the brand (meaning, they offer discounts to the site with their own unique promo codes that in return give money to the affiliate). It’s a brilliant marketing campaign because it gets so many influencers to talk about the products, but it also has the potential to over hype products that may not actually be so great. Personally, I really do enjoy many of Morphe’s products. They are (mostly) affordable, and pretty good quality for the price.

One thing I kept seeing hyped around the holidays was the limited edition, gilded collection of Morphe brushes, offered both as singles and as a set. I swore I wasn’t going to buy anything on black friday, but when I saw the Morphe deals I knew I had to grab them, and they did not disappoint! Brushes are synthetic, very soft, and work amazing, especially the eye brushes. I actually loved the eye brushes so much that I recently ordered more of the crease brushes. For me, this was my absolute favorite splurge of the year, but a splurge is just that – something fun to buy that you don’t necessarily need (just to keep in mind!).

Buy The Gilded Collection Singles Here
Or Buy The Whole Set Here

And Finally, Here’s Some Advice That I’ve Taken In 2016 That Can Be Helpful To You Too!

• Take off your makeup and wash your face every night, no matter how tired you are (I do this even when I’m camping and doing geology work, so you can too!) (yes I wear makeup when I do geology field work don’t judge =P).
• Invest in your skin! While makeup comes off at the end of the day, you’re stuck with the skin you have. Learn about your skin type and what will work best for it.
• Moisturize! Your body, your face, your under eyes etc., even if you have oily skin a moisturizer can seriously help.
• Wash your makeup brushes!!! Daily brush rinsing sprays or a color switch are good for temporary cleanliness, but if you want to make sure you are extending the life of your makeup and not spreading bacteria, deep clean your brushes at least once a week! Plus, clean brushes will help with the application of your makeup.
• Wash your hands before touching your skin, your makeup, or your brushes to also reduce the spread of bacteria, prevent breakouts, and extend the life of your makeup.
• Don’t over do it on the face masks, and give your skin a break from harsh treatments every once in a while.
• Replace your beauty sponge every 1 to 3 months – trust me.
• Put the lid back on tight! (this applies to both food and makeup products ^_^)
• Don’t give a s*** what ANYONE else says about your makeup! Rock that green lipstick, overdo it with the eyeliner, break gender norms – makeup is about self expression, so get expressing! ❤︎

Anyway, those were just some of my favorites from 2016 (I could have talked forever), and I’m hoping to continue with more informative posts this weekend, possibly “what to look for in a makeup review” or “how to clean your makeup brushes and sponges” (which was requested by my lovely friend Mariah!). Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

-Lacie ❤︎❤︎❤︎