Best of 2010 - Eyeshadow

Alright this is starting to get ridiculous.  I mean really, how much eyeshadow does one person need.  I can tell you this, I know my stash of shadows is a lot less than some others (lame justification) and I really had no idea how much I owned until I pulled them all out.  After I saw everything that I had, I thought about skipping this category all together.  But in the spirit of finishing these bleeping 'Best of' lists (wow was this more work than I expected), I am forging on.  So here are my eyeshadow picks for 2010.  

Best of 2010 Eyeshadows

Grouped by brand only starting from top left: Bobbi Brown; Smashbox; ELF; Mark; Body Shop; NYC; Wet n Wild (oh geez I even forgot to include my WnW palettes from Florida in the picture); Hard Candy; Annabelle; Physicians Formula; NYX, Revlon; Lancome; Clinique; Benefit; Almay

Best Eyeshadow 2010

 Wet N Wild in Nutty and Brulee

These shadows have been wildly popular and there has been much written about them, so I won't go into great detail here.  These are two MUST HAVE shadows. Brulee is not only a great base color and can even be worn on it's own, but is the absolute perfect blending & highlighting color.  If you feel like you over did it with any shadow, use a bit of brulee on a blending brush to mute the color.  Nutty is a beautiful bronzey brown color that has a gorgeous sheen.  I love using this overtop of other shadows for some great dimension.  For less than $3CAD each...you just can't go wrong.  See my past review & swatches of these shadows here. 

Honourable mention

 Annabelle Trio Eyeshadow in Haute Chocolate

After all of these shadows I've tried, I always come back to Annabelle.  I have been wearing Annabelle shadows for years and love the textures of these shadows.  This is a fairly new trio for me but I have quickly fallen in love with it.  The pictures don't do it true justice but these are beautiful and that light shade is a gorgeous taupey purplish brown & my go to almost every day for my lid.  They are basically a velvety matte and apply easily.  You do have to tap off the excess to avoid any fall-out, but if you do that you won't have any problems. I know this is a Canadian brand but if you can find these, try them!   They are a drugstore brand that retail for under $10CAD.  

Least Favourite Eyeshadow 2010

Revlon Illuminance Creme Shadow Quads

Aren't these pretty?  Yeah I thought so too.  These pictures don't even show how gorgeous the colours really are.  I bought these creme shadows thinking they would be similar to a MAC paint pot, hoping I could use them as a base for other shadows or on their own for an easy look.  I used my finger to apply and blend, as they suggest, and it actually looked great...for about 5 minutes.  Then it just started to crease and disappear into thin air.  When you wear a powder shadow over top they do last longer, but they turn into a muddy color rather than stay true to the shade you applied.  I have also used these with a primer and they still don't last, and still crease like crazy.  If you have a very quick date, then these are your shadows.  Otherwise skip them.  

What are your favourite shadows?  Notice anything missing?


One more Best of left.....

Florida Haul

In the spirit of shopping, I'm back with some details on what I bought in Florida, which by the way has some crazy gorgeous beaches and yachts that are bigger than anything I've seen in my life.  But I digress. 


Sephora Glitz & Glam kit  
This one had some items I couldn't resist!  There will be
a few posts on this kit and a rave of at least one item in here coming soon


Laura Mercier mineral powder foundation


Per-fekt Skin Perfection Gel primer/foundation
A total spur of the moment purchase, review coming


Maybelline Dream Smooth Mousse foundation 
You can not get this yet where I live in Canada (that I've seen) & I've been curious to try it.  

OPI Nail Envy
This is one of my holy grail items and I got this for a steal! This is all I pretty much ever use on my fingernails.  In Canada this costs about $21-$22 a bottle, which is insane.  In the States it was $16.50 and I found a salon that was selling these as kits with lotion & cuticle gel for %50 $8.25 each, crazy!  So I of course got 3.  So exciting. 

Wet N Wild Holiday palettes

These eyeshadows are raved about on youtube & are apparently hard to find.  Imagine my excitement when I found them, review pending.

Revlon lip gloss in Peach Petal

I really was excited to find this as I've never been able to find it in Canada.  This is one of those colors that has been much talked about & is a light creamy color that goes well on top of just about anything.  So far, I'm loving it and wish I had bought two.  

Essence of beauty crease brushes

I bought these because of a recommendation by Emilynoel83.  They were under $5 for two of them.  I can take some more pictures & post them if anyone is interested but basically these are smaller crease brushes, which are great for applying crease or outer 'v' colors.  I really like them - and not just because Emily does too :)

Covergirl Trublend Mineral Blush in Shimmering Sands

I must have a thing for glowing, shimmering, etc. right now because I seem to be drawn to these types of things.  This is a huge container of product that was marked down to $4.99, likely being discontinued.  It's a very light peachy pink color that I haven't used enough to form an opinion about yet.  I will say I wish I could send you all a sample because I will never get through this by myself.  

Milani Powder Blush in Luminous

This is the lightest color they sell and appears goldish pink in the container.  I put it on & can only see gold, not at all pink or blush in color, it's very odd.  I don't think I'll grab for this that often, because it really isn't a blush.  

Milani Liquif'eye Eye liner

I've only used one of these, I bought both black & brown, review pending.


EOS lip balm in lemon
I thought you couldn't get these in Canada but apparently Shoppers is now carrying them, although I'm sure they were much cheaper in the States.  They are really nothing special, the hype is pretty much un-deserved in my opinion.  They do smell delicious though & are fun to try so if you can find them at a price you like, I say go for it. 

Vaseline Cocoa butter vitalizing gel body oil 
I had heard this was great for dry skin so I decided I had to have some for the winter, and better yet it has that wonderful coconut, beach scent.  You don't need much of this or you'll be feeling like a bit of a greaseball.

ELF items

I found a few things I don't want to detail too much here because they are stocking

stuffers for certain people who may be reading this.  I also picked up another $1 ELF total face brush as mine was showing some wear & tear.  I wish I could find the brushes in stores in Canada, would make life so much easier.  

Well that's enough rambling for now.  I also got some cute Vera Wang sunglasses, a purse, a ring and some clothes but enough already right? Let me know if you want reviews on anything here.