Best of Beauty 2016: Skin, Hair, Nails & More

*Affiliate links/PR samples used

Hey friends! This week we're saying goodbye to 2016 by taking a look back at some of the best beauty launches and discoveries from the past year. We've already covered the best of the best in makeup, and today we're chatting skincare, haircare, bath, body and more! Curious to find out what products made the cut? Keep on reading!

Classic Holiday Glam at Bloomingdale's

There are a lot of things I love about the holidays - baking sugar cookies, seeing Christmas lights,  shopping ridiculous online sales (but really though...my poor wallet). In all seriousness, there's something inherently magical about the month of December. Even though we're all grumpy about the cold and dealing with crazy traffic and lines at stores, there's still an excitement in the air that makes everyone seem at least a little bit festive. In true beauty blogger fashion, I channel a good chunk of my holiday spirit into my makeup game. It's not that I won't occasionally rock a glam look year round, it just that as soon as the Christmas decor is up I find myself busting out the glitter and lashes pretty much every weekend.

Recently I received this beautiful PR package from Bloomingdale's with a selection of products that are perfect for creating a classic glam holiday look. From a bold red lip, to fluttery lashes, to a signature scent, and a killer 'do, you've got everything you need to channel your inner old Hollywood starlet.

Fall Beauty Haul

I'm not going to lie. I'm ever so slightly embarrassed to have a haul to share before the holiday shopping season has even ramped up.

Back in September I acquired a massive amount of new beauty to play with from my trip to Generation Beauty. That haul alone had more than enough newness to keep me occupied for the rest of the year. But as any beauty blogger will tell you, between PR samples, promotions, and an unwavering curiosity about all things new in beauty, it always seems like its only a matter of time before you've ended up with another pile of product to test out.

So, as unnecessary as it all may be, I've got a ton of fun new stuff to show you guys that I'll be testing and reviewing in the next couple of weeks. Curious to find out what? Keep on reading!

May Favorites

Hello there, friends! May has been a bit of a crazy month for me, and I know I haven't been as active around these parts as I would like to be. It's not for lack of things to share. I've got A TON of posts queued up, waiting for me to make time to finish them. My hope is that I'll be able to get my butt in gear over the next couple of days and get down to blogging business. On that note, if you aren't already subscribed to Little Blushing Birdie by e-mail, it's the best way to get notified whenever I post something new. It'll deliver a snippet straight to your inbox so you can remember to check it out whenever you've got the time.

Anyway, back to the reason your here! There are a few great products I've been playing with this month that I'm excited to share with you all. Truthfully I've been using a lot of the same things I've been loving from the past couple of months (the IT Cosmetics CC Cream is life), so if you really want a clearer picture of my beauty loves, I'd recommend looking back at my previous favorites posts from this year. But as any beauty junkie knows, there's always something new to talk about. So let's get to it!

March 2016 Empties

Holy empties Batman! I don't think I realized I had accumulated so much beauty trash until I did a thorough clean out of my room today and added a few more things to the bin. Needless to say, it became very apparent that today's video was going to be an empties one. Speaking of which, I think I'm going to try and get into a regular routine of filming and uploading a video every Sunday. I'd love to make it more frequent, but I think that'll be an ambitious enough goal for right now. If you've got any specific requests for videos you'd like to see, definitely post a comment or tweet me and let me know what they are!

But anyway, let's not get derailed here people. We've got a lot of beauty products to chat about!

Birthday Beauty Wishlist

When I was a kid I used to hate that my birthday fell on a holiday weekend, and in the summer at that. It was impossible to have a well attended party with all of my friends traveling or with busy with family plans, and I never got to have cupcakes to celebrate at school (such a travesty, I know). Now that I'm a bit more grown up, though, I couldn't imagine a better birthday. I always get a day off, either on my actual birthday, or the day after, and I get some pretty sweet fireworks to celebrate! So far I'm not entirely sure what my actual plans are for today aside from dinner with my bestie, but I'm sure that as a whole I'll have a lovely long weekend.

I'm also a big advocate of self gifting for birthdays. At this point in my life I'm mostly past parties and presents and other celebratory activities, so I usually take it upon myself to make sure I feel a little extra special. And of course, my favorite way to treat myself is almost always with a little bit of retail therapy. I've always got a pretty lengthy beauty wish list, but here are the items I'm currently coveting the most!

July 2013 Favorites

Seeing now that August is a week underway, I thought it was about time to officially say goodbye to July and do a quick recap of my absolute favorite new finds from the month.