We’ve just finished up the first quarter of the year. With that, I just finished up concentrating on certain items in my makeup collection. I’ve also discovered new things during this first quarter of the year.

I decided it might be fun and even helpful for me to go through some of the things that truly stood out to me during this busy first quarter.

I am going to start with foundation. During this first quarter I had been on the hunt for a long wearing foundation that matched nicely to test out for my wedding. You may remember the bit of drama that happened when I decided I wanted to try a mac product. The salesperson slipped a foundation that wasn’t what I wanted in my bag and I paid for it, left the shop, and got annoyed when I looked at it when I got home. But, that salesperson whether being tricksy or not understanding my wants ended up doing something so extremely amazing for me. She picked a foundation that I adore. It truly sticks to my face. Even my nose! All day! Even if I wipe my nose! I can’t get over it. I love it, I’ve tested it well, and I know it’ll perform well for my wedding day.

It turns out that the Mac Pro Longwear foundation is my perfect foundation. After the wedding, I’ll be working through ALL my other foundations and then only using this one forever and always. NW15 in the winter and NW18 in the summer. Good to go. I have LOVED trying foundations over the past year and thought I’d always be a bit of a foundation junkie. But as it turns out now that I found the perfect one all desire to be a foundation junkie is gone.

The next product I am going to touch on is Lancome Cils Booster mascara primer. It’s a pricey product I got half off. It has changed my mascara game completely. When I am out of this one I plan to try L’Oreal voluminous primer but I don’t hold out high hopes for that since many of the voluminous products irritate my eyes. I have to admit, if that’s the case, I’ll be purchasing this pricey one again. I just love it so much!

Over top of that primer I’ve been using the Too Faced better than sex mascara. I’ve avoided trying this mascara for more than a year. I hate the name. It’s dumb. I didn’t want to spend the money on it. And, since there are so many “dupes” and I’ve tried those and they always flaked, I assumed this one would flake too. I figured why bother trying it out when it’s just going to do what all other mascaras do. But, I got it in a boxy charm box and it’s wonderful. It’s a great mascara for me, it does NOT flake, one of the first! It’s so pretty and paired with the primer my eyelashes look so full and thick.

I would be remiss if I did not talk about the MoroccanOil dry texture spray. The amount of volume, grit, and staying power this product gives me is amazing. I don’t use this on the first wash day. On day 2 or 3 I begin to use it to give volume and hold to an updo. I add this and then throw my hair in a bun or a gibson tuck. I can get two or three days of updos out of my hair with this product and a little dry shampoo prolonging the time between washes significantly. While I may try other dry texture sprays in the future if I come across them, for now, this is a permanent item in my collection.

And the last thing I am going to mention from this quarter, though it is now gone, is the NYX intense butter gloss I received in the advent calendar in December. Prior to owning this I kept saying I hated gloss and just handed any gloss that came my way to Miss Butterfly. The intense butter gloss changed all of that completely. Unfortunately, it seems like the only place I can get the intense butter gloss now is off the NYX website itself. It isn’t carried in Ulta. I haven’t seen it in drugstores. It’s a bit disappointing. BUT, it opened me up to the idea of gloss again and I did find that I really enjoy mac’s glosses too. So, I am just going to keep my eyes open for gloss formulas that tend to be highly pigmented with really nice staying power.

My makeup love is strong these days and I could absolutely keep listing product after product that I am really enjoying. But, that really defeats the purpose. The above products are ones that truly stood out. That I’ve loved over everything else. They surprised me, they surpassed my expectations, and at this time, I never really want to be without them (Or an appropriate dupe) in my life.