EcoTools Flat Liner Brush - Review

Disclaimer: All products mentioned in this post were purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Part of my reorganizing for the new year has been to try a new way to organize my blog pictures. I've previously been organizing them by month so I wasn't so overwhelmed with a million pictures. The bad thing was that things were getting left behind when I moved on to a new month.

I'm going to try and work back through and review things that I never got to or forgot about. I don't think I'll ever get myself caught up, but it'll be good for me to go back and look at the things that I purchased over the last year or so. With that though, my pictures will be ping-ponging around with different backgrounds since I moved from taking pictures in my half-bath to using a light box, and I've tried different fabrics and bulbs with my light box.

One of the first things I pulled out of my picture archives was the EcoTools Flat Eyeliner Brush.

Price: $3.99 on EcoTools.com

Product

I bought this brush because Wayne Goss on YouTube (Love him!!!) talks about using this type of liner brush to push liner into the lashline, which just makes lashes look thicker without a thick eye liner. All of my other flat liner brushes are angled.

First of all, I have to say that I don't think I've ever been disappointed with the quality of EcoTools brushes. I own most of the brushes in their line, and there are a couple of new ones that I want to pick up. All of the brushes that I have are really soft and don't shed. If I don't like an EcoTools brush, it has to do with the shape of the brush, not the quality. The Flat Eyeliner Brush lives up to the EcoTools quality I have come to expect.

As for this particular brush, it is thicker than what I was wanting and expecting. However, I pulled it back out because I hadn't used it in a while, and it does a beautiful job creating a smudgy, smoky liner look without me having to grab a cotton swab to smudge it out.

Final Thoughts

 While this brush wasn't exactly what I was looking for, I do like it. After grabbing for it again, I think I'm going to reach for it more often. I've gotten into too much of a rut of constantly reaching for my Urban Decay liners. It's time for a change.

Have you tried this particular EcoTools brush? What is your favorite EcoTools brush?

Disclaimer: All products mentioned in this post were purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Finished It!!! Volume 9

Disclaimer: All of the products mentioned in this post were purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Well...my brief blog hiatus allowed me to really build up a pile of used up products. Even I was surprised with everything I'd used up when I was taking pictures yesterday. For reference, I haven't done one of these posts since March 5, so it really has been a while. Products with a * are ones that were on my list of products that wanted to use up.

I'm going to start with a product that isn't pictured.

Heritage Store Rose Petals Rosewater (8 fl oz size) - This didn't get pictured because I already reused the bottle to make a homemade brush cleanser, so it wasn't in my pile o' stuff. I enjoy using this rosewater as a face spritz to get rid of the powdery look after I've finished my makeup. I have a setting spray, but I know those aren't good to use every day, so this is a nice substitute. I've already repurchased it.

HerStyler Nourishing & Moisturizing Conditioner - You know those obnoxious kiosks in the mall where you get sucked in and they won't let you leave. Well...I got trapped by one of those last summer. She was trying to sell me a hair straightener. I caved when she dropped the offer down to the straightening serum, shampoo, and conditioner. I finally used up the conditioner. I'm sure they normally charge an arm and a leg for it. I'll never buy it again.

Neutrogena T/Gel Shampoo - I love my Nature's Gate Tea Tree Shampoo, but it just wasn't cutting it for keeping flakes at bay, so I went back to my old stand-by for a while.

got2b Guardian Angel Flat Iron Balm - This is a regular item for me. I've gone through a bunch of bottles of this. I've got a travel bottle left, and I'll probably stock up again when it's on sale at CVS.

got2b Guardian Angel Flat Iron Balm - No, I didn't screw up and take two pictures of the same bottle. I emptied this one out into the small travel bottle I mentioned. I didn't even realize that I had another one in my finished products pile.

John Frieda Luxurious Volume Conditioner - I picked this up because a box of hair dye that I bought had a coupon for a free bottle of conditioner. I liked it well enough. I'm happy with my Nature's Gate conditioners, so I won't buy this again unless there is a fantastic sale or another coupon.

Organix Smooth Hydration Argan Oil & Shea Butter Moisture Restore Mask - I'm trying to take better care of my hair, so I picked up a couple of Organix deep conditioners. I haven't tried the other one yet, but I really liked this one. The texture was like a really thick pudding. I felt like it did do some serious conditioning. I'm not running out to repurchase this now because I have the other one to use first, but I can see myself repurchasing this in the future.

The Body Shop Chocomania Shower Cream - This smelled exactly like devil's food cake. Yum! Sadly, I'm not impressed with the slip that these Body Shop shower gels have. I don't use a shave cream, so I really need a shower gel that helps my razor glide. This one didn't do that.

The Body Shop Vanilla Bliss Shower Gel - Again, this smell on this one was fantastic. The slip on this shower gel seemed to be a bit better than the Chocomania one. I still don't think I'll repurchase it.

Bath & Body Works Coconut Vanilla Body Wash - Bath & Body Works body washes are some of my favorites. Fantastic lather and enough slip to make shaving easy. I really liked this scent too, but it is sadly discontinued.

Softsoap Scentsations Lemonade Berry Splash Body Wash - I really didn't like this body wash. The scent was great, but I think it was missing the slip that I need. I stopped using it in the shower a long time ago. I tried using it to wash brushes, and I didn't like it for that either. My last ditch effort was putting it in a hand soap container and using it that way. It's still hanging around, but it will be used up as a hand soap. I just want rid of the bottle.

Dr. Bronner's 18-in-1 Hemp Almond Pure-Castile Soap - I heard so many raves about this soap that I had to pick some up to try it. I use it as a hand soap in my main bathroom. The fantastic thing is that it is so concentrated that it can be watered down. I bought a bottle of foaming soap and continue to use the foaming bottle for this soap (even not watered down, this soap has a thin consistency). I've already repurchased this and will continue to repurchase it and use it.

Taylor Swift Wonderstruck Scented Bath Gel - This came on a Christmas gift set that I purchased on clearance after Christmas. I got a small bottle of Wonderstruck, the bath gel, and a lotion for $10. I like the Wonderstruck scent, but I didn't like it in a shower gel. It was just overpowering. I prefer food scents for shower gels.

EcoTools Body Lotion* - This wasn't anything special, and I didn't particularly care for the scent. I won't repurchase.

Bath & Body Works Cashmere Glow Body Lotion - I LOVE this scent. According the Bath & Body Works website, the notes of this scent are shimmering vanilla, golden peach, and cashmere musk. It's just a gorgeous warm, sweet scent. I will likely purchase more items in this scent at some point.

The Body Shop Hemp Hand Protector - This was part of this massive bag 'o stuff that I got with their Black Friday sale. It was really moisturizing, but I still didn't like it. The metal tube kept squirting out more lotion than I wanted. If I tried to squeeze the product towards the cap when the tube was closed, it squirted out when I took the cap off. I also didn't care for the scent.

The Body Shop Coconut Body Butter - Yum! This was a super creamy body butter that I kept in my purse throughout the winter months to keep my hands from getting dry and cracked. I've got a full size of another scent in my stash that I'll probably start using when it gets cold again.

Kate Somerville ExfoliKate - I love this stuff. It is both a physical and chemical exfoliator. It leaves my skin feeling really soft and smooth when I use it. I think some people might be bothered by the scent. To me, it smells like cloves. I don't love the scent, but I don't mind it either. I used to have friends in college who smoked clove cigarettes, so it reminds me of them (yes, I realize that sounds a little weird). I already have another mini bottle in my stash.

Boscia Luminizing Black Mask - I got this is a Sephora Favorites skincare set a couple of summers ago. I know there are people who love it, but I just didn't. I've decided that I just need to stay away from peel-off masks. I don't like them because they hurt to pull off.

Ole Henriksen Truth Serum Collagen Booster - This is the second mini bottle of this serum that I've used. I got this bottle through a swap. I like it, and I know vitamin C is good for evening out skintone. I don't know that I liked it enough to pay full price for it, but I would be happy to use it again if it was in a great value set.

Sephora Daily Makeup Brush Cleanser - I bought this a long time ago to do quick brush cleaning, but it didn't dry as quickly as I was expecting. If I'm going to be an emergency brush cleaning, I'm just going to use rubbing alcohol. I don't plan to buy a brush cleaner again.

Yankee Candle Lip Balm in Root Beer Float* - I've already finished a couple of these lip balms. I like them, but I don't love them, and they are hard to find. I might grab one again if I come across them, but I'm not going to hunt them down.

Simply Lip Balms in Vanilla Mint and Pomegranate - Clearly, I like these balms. I bought a ton of them last summer, and I've still got a few left. I'll be on the hunt for more this summer when I travel to visit family because I found them at Walgreens, and I don't have a Walgreens near me. The only real negative with these is that they melt somewhat easily. Definitely don't leave them in a hot car and be careful if you keep them in your pocket and are out in the heat - they'll be really soft.

Urban Decay Lip Junkie Lip Gloss in Midnight Cowboy* - This was a really easy color to slick on without a mirror. Sometimes the formula felt a little too sticky for me, but most of the time I didn't mind it. I wouldn't repurchase it, but if I happened to get another mini, I would use it.

Tarte Clean Slate Flawless 12-Hour Brightening Primer* - This was in the $9 primer trio that Tarte released (I don't know if it is still available). This particular formula is meant for dry skin, and it did make me feel oily part way through the day. I used it up by using it on days when I was just running a couple of errands and not on busy work days. I won't repurchase this formula.

Juice Beauty Green Apple Peel Sensitive - This is a fantastic exfoliating mask. Even though this mask says "peel," it isn't a peel off mask. I'd be curious to try the full strength version of this, but a full size is somewhere around $45, and I haven't been willing to spend that much.

Physicians Formula Black Liner from the Nude Eyes Set* - I'm so excited to finish this liner off. I have so many black liners in my stash, so I'm glad to see one leave my collection. I did like this liner. It isn't as soft as an Urban Decay liner, but there are times when I don't mind that because it gives me a little more control about how intense it applies.

ELF Zit Zapper* - I didn't care for this. It's a salicylic acid treatment in a roller ball form. It didn't always dispense well out of the roller ball because it was a thicker gel-like formula. I won't repurchase it.

Meow Equilibrium Finishing Powder - I had this for a long time. It was a white finishing powder that was supposed to balance out your skin, similar to Tarte's claims about Amazonian clay. I ended up mixing this in with my Meow foundation powder because I've been preferring to use mineral foundation as my setting powder. This is a good powder, but I don't plan on repurchasing it.

Urban Decay Primer Potion* - This is my favorite eye primer. I have a jumbo and a full size of the old style bottle to work through. I will continue to repurchase it.

Silk Naturals Lovelace Blush sample* - This was a pretty light peach blush sample. I love their blushes, but this isn't a color I use often, so I won't be repurchasing it.

Silk Naturals Sleep in a Jar Light Peach - I use this product every day I do my makeup. It is a fantastic corrector.

Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Creme* - I've had this for way too long. It's an okay product. It's really thick, so I would only really use it at night when I was sitting in front of the TV. I don't plan on repurchasing it. If you have any good cuticle cream recommendations, please let me know!

L'Oreal Revitalift Deep-Acting Moisturizer - Nothing special.

Fekkai Shea Butter Moisturizing Shampoo and Conditioner - Nothing special.

Meow Ballerina blush sample - This was a really soft pink blush shade. It probably wouldn't show up on anything deeper than fair to light skintones. I have another sample of this, and I have too many other blushes to think about repurchasing it.

Silk Naturals Nekkid eye shadow sample - This is Silk Naturals version of MAC's Naked Lunch eye shadow. It was too peachy/orange for my taste. The formula was good, but I won't repurchase this color.

Sephora Creamy Body Wash pods in Strawberry, Coconut, and Vanilla - I bought these as fillers to get free shipping. They were handy to have and the scents were decent, but I don't plan on purchasing more (unless I need another filler product in the future).

That's it! You've made it to the end of my marathon empties post. Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: All of the products mentioned in this post were purchased by me. All opinions are my own.

Mini Haul and Rambling

It's Monday night (this will be scheduled to post on Tuesday AM), and I'm exhausted. I shouldn't be exhausted, but I am. I am so tired that I crouched down to look at the bottom shelf of a bookshelf and was seriously tempted to just sit down and sit there.

So...I'm keeping this post really short and uncomplicated.

On Saturday, I stopped at two Walgreens stores, a CVS, a KMart, and a WalMart. It doesn't sound all that exciting, but it is when your local shopping isn't very good. I picked up a bunch of items, most of them overly exciting, so I'm not going to bother sharing them right now. I do want to mention a couple of items that I picked up.

The first is an item that I found at Walgreens: RenPure Cleansing Conditioner.

RenPure Cleansing Conditioners in Sweet Pomegranate and Rosemary Mint

I picked up both scents because I thought they were BOGO Free, but they weren't. However, they were only $9.99 each, and they made my purchase large enough that I got a voucher for a Walgreens sample box, so I'm okay with that.

I'm really excited about these because I like the SalonGrafix Cleansing Conditioner, but my hair has been super dry lately, and it hasn't been cutting it. I'm hoping these will work better. I tried the Rosemary Mint one last night, and it seemed to work well.

The other item that I'm really excited about is the EcoTools Fresh & Flawless Five Piece Complexion Set.

I love EcoTools brushes, and I can't resist their sets. I actually think I have them all. When I saw this one at WalMart (the last one that they had), I snatched it up.

I also have to brag on myself that I was actually able to show some restraint while shopping. The WalMart I was in had the entire Flower by Drew Barrymore line, and I didn't get anything from it. I was really close to picking up the foundation because it actually looked like it would be light enough for me, but I have enough foundations right now, and when I grabbed the brush set, I knew the foundation had to get left behind.

That's it for now. I told you: short and sweet. I'm hoping to get to bed early so I can feel a bit more energetic tomorrow.

Have you had any fun, exciting beauty finds lately?

Products I Want to Use Up! Volume 1

I've had a container of products I want to use up sitting on top of my makeup table. After seeing carlyjeanx's video about products she wants to use up in 2013, I realized that would make a good blog post series.

Let me be clear that I'm not attempting a project pan here. I'm not going on a spending ban. I know I would fail miserably if I tried. I am trying to cut back on my beauty spending, but that's not the purpose of this.

My purpose here is to use up products that I would like to see go away or products that I have multiples of in my collection (like foundation, black eye liners, etc). I tried to pick things that I use daily or smaller sized items that I'm more likely to finish. I don't want to get frustrated with myself or get completely bored with the colorful products.

Let's take a look at what I'm currently working on:

Lumene Double Stay Long-Lasting Makeup in Vanilla Meringue

Confession: I finished this prior to getting this post written. I've already switched to a new foundation product: a Holika Holika BB Cream.

Revlon Photoready Perfecting Primer

There's no particular reason why I threw this into the mix except that I've got several primers, so I picked this one to try and finish up first.

Tarte Clean Slate Flawless 12 Hour Brightening Primer

I threw in this sample primer too because it's formulated for drier skin, so it makes my face look greasy before the end of the day. I try and use this on short work days or days when I'm just running errands.

Garnier Skin Renew Anti-Dark-Circle Roller

This product just won't die!!! I've been using this consistently for over a year now. I don't love it and don't plan on repurchasing, so I just want it gone. 

Darling Girl Cosmetics Sweet Lips on the Go Sugar'd Lip Scrub in Creme Brulee

I love this stuff. The best part is that you get to choose the flavor. I'm trying to use it up because I've had it around for a while and I don't want it to go bad.

Yankee Candle Lip Balm in Pomegranate Fruit

I like this lip balm well enough, but the size makes it a little awkward to put in my pocket. It's getting close to being gone, so I'm trying to finish it off.

Urban Decay Lip Junkie Lip Gloss in Naked - Mini Size

As you can see, this is almost gone. I have too many lip glosses in my collection, so I chose a mini size to try and use up first. After this one is gone, I'll probably work on another mini Lip Junkie.

Burt's Bees Radiance Body Lotion with Royal Jelly

I dislike lotion with shimmer in it, and this one has shimmer. It's small enough that it won't take me too long to get it out of my collection.

EcoTools Sustainable Softness Body Lotion

If you've followed me for a while, you probably know that I have a big stash of lotion since I end up mentioning it when I have a lotion in a finished it post. This is a small bottle, so I grabbed it to try and use up. I'm also not a big fan of the smell.

Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream 

I'm not in love with this cuticle balm, I've had it for a really long time, and I've hit pan on it. It's time for it to go. I've got a mini size of this to work on after this one is gone.

Silk Naturals Colt Eye Shadow Sample

This was a sample made for me by a friend. Colt is a dupe for Urban Decay's Darkhorse (By the way, Silk Naturals now has dupes for the Naked 1, Naked 2, and Naked Basics palettes). A friend sent this to me a long time ago. I have too many baggie samples in my collection. This will be a start in the right direction.

Physicians Formula Black Eye Liner (From the original Nude Eyes set) 

I have a lot of black eye liners in my collection because so many brands throw them into value sets. After I finished off a mini of Urban Decay's Zero (it'll be in my next finished products post), I pulled this one out as the next eye liner to finish off.

Hard Candy Pencil Concealer

This came with the Glam-o-flage concealer. I'm using it to brighten up my lower waterline. Even though the pencil is quite small, it's going to take me a long time to finish. I've used it a handful of times already, but I haven't had to sharpen it yet.

Urban Decay Primer Potion

I use this every day. I have a full size and a jumbo of this in the old-style packaging. This mini tube is almost gone.

Silk Naturals Naked Eye Shadow Sample

This is a dupe of MAC's Naked Lunch. At first look, you might this this little baggie would be easy to finish, but you would be mistaken. If you've had baggie samples like this, you'll know that they last through quite a few uses.

Silk Naturals Bone Eye Shadow

I pressed this a while ago. It's a nice browbone highlight, but it doesn't match my Wet n Wild Brulee, so I want to finish it off. My goal is to work my way through my matte highlight shades that aren't Brulee and then not purchase any more. For the quality and the price, I don't think anything else can beat it.

Silk Naturals Panache Cream Blush Sample 

This has been collecting dust, and it shouldn't be too hard to finish if I just grabbed for it regularly.

Silk Naturals Lovelace Blush Sample

This is a much brighter peach than it is appearing in the picture above. I'm not a big peach blush person, but I really like this one. The second picture was included to show how much product is in the jar. Again, it doesn't seem like a lot, but this will last through quite a few uses.

Meow Ballerina Blush Sample

Again, this baggie holds a deceptive amount of product. I'm hoping since the color is pretty light I can go through it faster than a brighter color because I'll be able to apply more of it.

Those are the products I'm working on right now. Do you try and focus on finishing specific products? What products are you working on finishing right now?

EcoTools Day-to-Night Clutch Set Review

I don't know about all of you, but I feel like I had a crazy week this week. I subbed every day (one of them was a half-day, but the rest were full days), had tutoring two days after school, helped on of my guard girls write a routine on another day after school, and had a doctor's appointment. It wouldn't have been bad, but I had a headache ALL week. It started on Sunday and came and went through last night. I was so tired last night that I was in bed by around 8 p.m., and I didn't get back up until around 8:30 this morning.

Sadly, with everything going on and not quite feeling right, I didn't get a post up yesterday. I've been trying to stick to having posts up every Tuesday and Friday, and I just didn't have enough of them done ahead of time.

I'm making up for it today though by bringing you a review of a relatively new brush set by the company EcoTools.

EcoTools is an earth-friendly company that makes their brushes from synthetic taklon bristles, recycled aluminum ferrules, and bamboo handles.  Best of all, their brushes are sold at places like Walgreens, Walmart, and Ulta for super-affordable prices. If you keep your eyes peeled, you can often find them for BOGO 50% off at Walgreens or Ulta.

I picked up the Six Piece Day-To-Night Clutch Set when EcoTools had an amazing Cyber Monday sale - 50% off everything with free shipping. The everyday price on the EcoTools site is $16.99, which isn't bad for five brushes and a cute little clutch.

Here's a look at the clutch on it's own. It has elastic loops on the inside to hold the brushes in the set. You could also throw in a couple more loose brushes if you wanted. I personally won't use this much (if at all), but it is more functional and convenient than other brush holders that EcoTools has included with their sets.

Before I start talking about the individual brushes, I will say that every single EcoTools brush that I have is super soft. 

Round Powder Brush - Because of the size, I've been using this for blush instead of powder. I like the shape and density of this brush because it helps me get a light blush application. I can see how this would be a good brush for powder for the same reason. You will be less likely to over-powder with a brush like this compared with a brush that is more dense.

Stay-There Shadow Brush - This is a classic EcoTools brush. You can find this same shape in a couple of their other sets. I find this particular brush shape too large and fluffy for applying shadow to the lid, but this is my absolute favorite brush for applying my matte highlight to my browbone and to help blend out my crease color.

From top to bottom: Pointed Concealer Brush and Smudge Brush

I'm including a picture of these two brushes together because my individual pictures are deceptive about the relative size of these brushes.

Pointed Concealer Brush - I use this as a crease brush because I like how precise it is for applying color.

Smudge Brush - I also use this in the crease. It is smaller and doesn't have a point. The size makes it great for applying a super dark color to the crease.

Lip Liner Brush - This is another brush that is included in other EcoTools brush sets. I've never used it to apply lip color, but I can tell it would work well for this. It is also a good size for adding an inner corner highlight or as a small concealer brush.

Final Thoughts

I just flat out love EcoTools brushes. They are soft, inexpensive, and good quality. They have a decent variety of brush shapes. I own nearly every brush they have put out. My only real complaints with their brushes are that a lot of them can only be purchased in sets and they often include a lash and brow brush as part of their sets. I'm really excited about some of their new brushes that just came out, but I'm going to wait to pick them up. I'm trying to cut back on my spending for a little while after my shopping spree at the end of 2012.

I clearly have a tendency to use brushes in ways they were not intended for. Are you that way too? Are you as happy with EcoTools brushes as I am?

Cyber Monday Deals! Wow!!!

My credit card is officially whimpering. There's some amazing Cyber Monday sales going on!

The two that I just indulged in:

The Body Shop has everything 50% off (except for a few holiday sets from what I saw). You get free shipping for order over $30, and you can get a tote bag of goodies valued at $100 for $30 with a $30 purchase. If you join their rewards program, which costs $10 for a year, you get 10% off this order and every order throughout the year (along with other perks). Don't forget to use Ebates, which currently has 10% cash back for The Body Shop.

Eco Tools is also have a 50% off sale with free shipping on every order. I love their brushes. I own almost all of them. I don't have their newest 6-piece Day to Night set, and a couple of those brushes looked interesting, so I caved. I added a couple of shower poufs to my order as well because I need to replace mine.

Other deals/info I want to share:

Silk Naturals Holiday Collection went live last week, and it looks gorgeous! Karen created a lot of really great new products and colors. I don't use a lot of loose shadows anymore, but I just couldn't resist picking up a few of the new ones. I'm also anxious to try their caffeinated lip balm. I'm a caffeine addict, so it'll be nice to get a boost without a can of soda. Through December 20, you can use the code GOBBLE12 to get 6% off your order. It isn't a huge discount, but Silk Naturals keeps their costs low to begin with (shadows are only $4 each), and they don't have sales often, so it's worth taking advantage of it.

Darling Girl Cosmetics is also having a nice sale right now. Copied from their Facebook page:

Posted a little early but I get busy in the morning and forget stuff. lol CYBERGEDDON gets you 10% off your orders through 11/26/12. I haven't removed the discounts from the collections or the mix & match sets either so that's just about 20% off of collections and mix & match shadows and I rarely offer that much of a discount!

Tarte Cosmetics is having a 25% off sale. It looks like their Holiday collection is excluded, but sale items receive the discount. You get free shipping with a $40 purchase, and Tarte also includes a deluxe sized sample with every order. 

Shameless plug: I also have a blog sale going on. Please check it out here. I just lowered some prices and added a few items. I'm willing to negotiate, especially if you are interested in multiple items.

I might end up adding to this post throughout the day. Please feel free to share any deals that you notice in the comments! Also please feel free to share what you picked up over the weekend or what you are ordering today to make me feel better about my over-spending lately. :-)

Best of 2011 - Eyes

This is the last of my posts on my favorite products from 2011. There are a lot of eye products that I love, but these were the ones that stood out to me just because I reach for them so often. 

Urban Decay’s Naked Palette – Okay. This isn’t really a shock. Nearly everyone loves this palette. It is just really easy to use while still giving a lot of look options. When I travel, I usually grab this. I doubt anyone actually needs to see a picture of it, but here it is anyway:

 Urban Decay’s Suspect eye shadow – I got this in the Book of Shadows volume III, and I got another one in the Rollergirl palette (which is what is pictured here). I’ll be getting a third in the Naked 2 palette. I like this color enough that I'm happy with having three of it. It is a great lid color for me. It is one of those shadows that I can just throw on to add some depth and color to my lids without worrying about it being too dark. When I want to go really subtle, I'll use this as a crease color with Verve on the lid. I could also use this as a lid color with Smog or Darkhorse in the crease for a smokier look (I have to try that now). If you're fair skinned, definitely give this color a swatch if you see it. Here's my quick swatch without primer:

Wet & Wild Brulee eye shadow – This is the perfect highlight shade for me. I love it because it helps me blend out my crease color, which always tends to go higher than I would like. It also evens out the color of my browbone without being obvious. Looking at it closely, I can see tiny flecks of shimmer, but when applied, it looks matte, so it is great for super shimmery looks. As you can see, I've hit pan, and I bought this sometime during the spring or summer. I rarely hit pan on things, so that says something about this product.

EcoTools Blend eye shadow brush (from their 6 piece eye shadow kit) – This works really well for applying Brulee. It is fluffy enough to sort of buff on the color and help blend my crease color, but it is dense enough to lay down enough product to even out my browbone area. I use this brush every day.

 I have two of these brushes, and they are a little different. I prefer the top one because it is less flat than the one on the bottom. I feel like it blends better, but I do still use them both.

ELF Studio Contouring brush – This is the perfect crease brush for me. I typically have issues with crease colors going too high and too far out. This keeps my crease color where I want it better than other crease brushes I’ve tried, but it is big enough to blend out the color too. I’ve got four of these brushes, and I’m always tempted to buy another one when I am in a Target. 

Silk Naturals Cream Eyeliner Palette – This was released as a limited edition item in the spring, and it was rereleased for Christmas. It has 9 mini pans of SN’s cream liners – Midnight (navy blue), Fort Knox (gold), Peacock (teal green), Mahogany (shimmery brown), Espresso (matte dark brown), Amethyst (purple), Tarnish (steel grey), Envy (khaki green), and Film Noir (black). I love the texture of these. They are stiffer than most cream/gel liners, so I have to swipe an angled liner brush across the top instead of dipping a brush in like you do with most cream/gel liners. I like that it is pretty much impossible to get too much product on my brush because it is so stiff. Most days, I don’t bother setting this with powder (which is recommended by SN), and aside from the outer corners of my eyes, which usually fades to nothing by the end of the day, it stays put. This palette retails for $19.99, which is a great value because these liners will last you a really long time. I've barely made a dent in the two colors (the browns) that I use most often. 

What eye products have you been loving over the past year? What should I try during 2012?