Girl with a Pearl Earring: Makeup Favourites 2015

Another year comes to an end, feels like yesterday that I packed my bags and moved back to Cochin (10 months). Sure, the city is catching up on the beauty trends, but we Keralites don't have much access to foreign beauty brands (except for the Malayalis (90%) who have that uncle or aunt who works in Gulf/US). Personally, 2015 has been a mixed bag and as far as beauty buys go, TiS Season has been the best oye!

With friends and family flying back from US frequently, I had easy access to all high end makeup. I shopped from the following websites this year:

Sephora
Nordstrom
Bathandbodyworks
Beautyjoint
Beautybay
Colorpop
Lush UK

I thought, I would round up this year with my beauty favourites for 2015, 5 WOW products that I discovered this year.

1. Anastasia Beverly Hills Shadow Couture Palette: Ever happen to you, that you love a shoe so much so that you go ahead and buy all available colours? Happened to me with this palette, I loved this palette so much so that I went ahead and bought ABH Self Made palette (newer release). I was heart broken that I couldn't get my hands on the ABH Tamanna palette (older version), I did grab ABH Shadow Couture palette when it was available on Beautybay. It's a limited edition palette which retails around $28 (₹2000). The shadows are buttery smooth, blends like a dream, and pigmentation is on par with the UD Naked palettes.

2. LA Girl PRO.conceal: With the humidity in Cochin, a full face of makeup is nearly impossible. I always wanted a lighter shade concealer to brighten my under eyes, and in comes this miracle product that I have reviewed here. I have nothing more to say, hands down my favourite base for this year

3. theBalm Betty Lou Manizer: 2015 was the year of strobing, baking, and clown contouring. For tan skin ladies, it is a pain to find a highlighter that looks flattering, without screaming, "Hey you, look at me, I am fake JLo in the making". This year introduced me to my GLOW-BFF Betty Lou Manizer. Though this lady, is marketed as the bronzy goddess among her trio of friends ( Mary Lou, Cindy Lou, Betty Lou), it works as a beautiful highlighter for darker skin tone.

Note: ABH and Becca have some good highlighters for tan skin.

4. Mac Lip Pencils in Soar and Chicory: So, how do you like your lip-pencil turned into lipsticks? Didn't understand? Well, let me break it down for you. I was first introduced to MAC lip pencil Spice, by a friend who handed me down her unused lip pencil. I was blown by the longitivtiy and creaminess of the pencil, so much so that I started using this as a lip stick with a clear lip balm (to turn the ultra matte finish of lip pencil to creamy formulation) and then Kylie Jenner happened and the whole world was hunting down Soar and Whirl. I started using Soar lip pencil and it is as creamy as Spice, it's a muted browny-rose colour which pulls either to brown or pink spectrum based on your skin tone. Chicory is a latest addition; its an burnt orangish-nudish shade. Beware of black sheeps like Dervish in the family that have drier consistency, and poor pigmentation.

5. Elf Concealer Brush: This should have been there mentioned right after the LA Girl PROconceal. This ELF brush is to LA Girl PROconceal how Robin is to Batman, an eternal side kick. This $3 brush blends the concealer like a dream. Swish, swash and boom, dark circles disappear. I was contemplating whether to add this in my list, but Ironman would not be complete without J.A.R.V.I.S right????