Final Farewells: My Fall 2016 Empties

Friends, it's time yet again to go through my beauty trash. I love filming empties videos, but I also totally can see how strange the whole concept probably is to someone who isn't as immersed in the beauty world as my crazy self. Because really, who else hoards expired makeup and empty bottles?

In all seriousness, the reason I think empties posts are so awesome is that when you've used a product to the very last drop, you really know how you feel about it. It's like a relationship. In the beginning its all excitement and newness, and you're probably willing to overlook the little flaws and annoyances. But time goes on, and when the honeymoon phase is over you've either found yourself a beautiful partnership, or end up realizing that that product...er...person...isn't as awesome as you originally thought.

It's been a couple of months since my last empties round up, so I've got A TON of products to share with you guys. Did I find true love? Or was I already checked out of our relationship? If you want to know, grab yourself a snack, cozy up, and get ready for some real talk (beauty style).

Best of 2015 Beauty: My Makeup Picks

Happy New Year! It's hard to believe, but 2016 is already here. It's amazing how quickly 12 months can fly by and all of a sudden its January again. While 2015 was a relatively low key year for me in my personal life, I feel like it was pretty exciting for me blog-wise. I started out my first affiliate partnerships, revamped my YouTube channel, worked with some great brands, and tried SO. MANY. PRODUCTS. I wrote 171 posts (that's more than the two previous years combined!), totally revamped my site design, and have finally started to figure out this whole social media thing. In the end, blogging is definitely a labor of love, but I couldn't be happier about investing my time and energy into creating this space that I can share with all of you. I've got so many plans and goals for the coming year, and hope that you'll all be up for joining me on that journey.

But, before we get to ahead of ourselves, I want to give 2015 a proper send off. I've spent the last few weeks rifling through my cabinets, digging through my drawers, and perusing my old blog posts to come up with an epic list of my most favorite beauty products from the past year. For a moment I considered making one short list encompassing my best-of-the-best products, only to quickly realize that it's kind of impossible to just pick one favorite makeup or skincare item from the hundreds that I've tried. So instead, I offer you this. Over the next few days I'll be sharing my best beauty discoveries of 2015, with each post focusing on a particular group of products. So let's start things right by talking about everyone's favorite beauty addiction - makeup.

September 2015 Favorites

Holy crow...how is it the end of September already?! I feel like I say this every time I'm writing up my monthly favorites post, but man, it seriously feels like August was yesterday. It's been a busy month for me both blog and life wise, which is probably why time just seems to evaporate. In addition to trying a whole bunch of new amazing products, I've also been working hard to get my YouTube channel off the ground. As much as I really enjoy writing and photographing posts to share with you guys, I think videos lend themselves really well to things like tutorials. It's so much easier to actually demonstrate how to contour or blend out an eyeshadow than to try to describe it in writing. If you haven't seen it yet, I posted a fall inspired makeup tutorial last week that you might want to check out as well as an unboxing video of a YSL VoxBox that I just received.

Anyway, on to the real reason you're here! There are so many good products to share this month it's hard to know where to begin. Trying to pick and choose what to show you out of what I've been using was no easy feat, although I think I managed all right. Let's dive on in, shall we?

Holiday Gifting 2014 - Limited Edition Vanity Affair Birchbox

There was a time when I would get really excited for the sets of minis that I'd find around the holidays at stores like Sephora and ULTA. In my early days of delving into high end beauty products these sets were often a great way to get to try new products without having to dole out a ton of cash. Over the years I've noticed, though, that there isn't a whole ton of variation in brands or products with these sets. Yes, everyone loves NARS Orgasm blush. Stila Kitten is a classic. These things have hype for good reason, but when you've been around the beauty block more than once, it kind of gets boring.

And then, there was Birchbox. I could go on and on about all the reasons why I love this company (amazing customer service, a fabulous rewards program...) but one of my most favorite things they do is curate Limited Edition boxes that I can get excited over. They're always an incredible value, and never fail to introduce me to trendy, up-and-coming and super luxe brands. There are quite a few wonderful looking LE boxes in the Birchbox Holiday shop this year, but I absolutely had to get my hands on Vanity Affair. With over $300 of amazing things tucked inside, this box makes one incredible gift to yourself or a special someone.