A Few Of My Favorite Things

I'm always being asked about my favorite things. 
I was given some amazing products in the lead up to Christmas, and I bought some really great items, and some of it got lost in the holiday madness and didn't make it to the blog, but today I want to show you an assortment of my absolute favorite beauty items of the moment.

I have been hearing so much about Sunday Riley products for a while now. My winter Rachel Zoe Box Of Style had a full size jar of Sunday Riley's uber celebrated Tidal Brightening Enzyme Water Cream.

This is the cream that everyone is raving about and I can totally see why! This is a next generation super hydrating cream that holds water and nutrients to the skin, plumping it up and making it look youthful, all the while brightening it and getting rid of that dull, lifeless winter complexion. It is really, really fabulous.
(Tidal is going to be an amazing product to travel with this year too.)
I seriously want to try out the Sunday Riley Juno Hydroactive Cellular Face Oil which I hear is just amazing. It's going to be the next new skin care product that I buy.

You can find Sunday Riley products online at Space NK.

From my Bloomingdale's Beauty Box, which was a birthday gift from Bloomingdale's, I fell in love with the new Tory Burch fragrance, Love Relentlessly.



I have worn it every day for the past month and just adore it. It is pure romance.

Bloomingdale's also gave me my new favorite mascara too. 
It's from Clarins and is called Supra Volume Mascara.

In it's tube it is quite unassuming, and I really thought it would just be a "nice mascara", but this one is an absolute powerhouse lash builder! It makes my lashes huge, but not gunky. They stay defined, separated, long and thick all day long. I am convinced that Supra Volume Mascara is the french girl's secret weapon. 
I was sent so many mascaras last year, most of which I never wrote about as I only talk about the products I love. This one is the real deal.

I am always looking for concealers that I can love. Most either don't hold all day (my days are looooong! I'm constantly leaving home at 8 am and not getting back til 11 pm) or they are too heavy, which just makes you look old and tired, or they don't color correct out the dark shadows well enough.

I am obsessed with Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer. I bought mine at Nordstrom before Thanksgiving and have worn it every day since. My shade is Honey, but they have tons of them, all calibrated with different undertones to color correct out your under eye demons. (10 I think?) They also have a fantastic color selection, so you can be the palest girl or the darkest goddess and they still have you covered.
They don't crease, have a luminous finish that bounces light off, making your eye look refreshed, last all day long, and frankly are the best concealers I have used in years. Love.

From Stila I have been enjoying Aqua Glow Watercolor Blush. 

The colors are fresh and pretty and the product is buildable. 
I love really glowing, gorgeous complexions so often I find that powder blushes can either look heavy on the skin or deaden the glow. This one breathes life into the skin and gives it a gorgeous radiance.

Lastly, my new favorite lip product is Sephora's Lip Stain.
They have a creamy texture but a matte finish, the colors are fabulous, and they only cost $14!!

image via Modern Maires Blog

Every time I walk past a Sephora I go in and buy another one. They are gorgeous!

Bloomingdale's Beauty Box

When I lived in London I used to travel to New York once or twice per year. I loved it. I would go to Broadway shows, spend hours at the MoMa and the Met, walk all over the city, eat at fabulous food joints, and shop.
I loved going back to London with cool clothes and shoes that no one else had. I would spend hours and small fortunes at Bloomingdale's, and then get a huge kick out of walking around with their shopping bags, and back in London being able to say "Oh this? I bought it at Bloomingdale's in New York". 

Bloomie's has always held a certain magic for me.

I was so excited to hear that the Rakuten Affiliate Network and Bloomingdale's had chosen my blog as one of only 30 blogs to receive a pre-Christmas Bloomingdale's Beauty Box. Bloomingdale's!!!

I was supposed to wait until my birthday to open it, but I was too excited, and I couldn't wait.
It's fabulous!

Here is what blew me away. They didn't just put a bunch of excess beauty products into a box and ship them out. They clearly researched me and my blog, and then curated a box specific to things that I would fall over loving.

The beauty box also has a very french-girl approach to beauty, a timeless aesthetic that I am just obsessed with.


Let's start with hair. If you follow this blog you already know that I swear by Bumble and Bumble hair products. Among other things I use the Invisible Oil Primer, Bb Straight Blow Dry, and the Thickening Spray every time I'm blowing my hair out smooth. 
In my gift box I got a huge bottle of Bumble and Bumble Thickening Spray.

I have super thick hair anyway, but I swear by this product! My hairdrsser turned me onto it at the beginning of this year.
When you have a ton of hair like I do it gets really heavy and flat. I spray the thickening spray through the roots and first 3 or 4 inches of damp hair immediately prior to blow drying. It gives my hair fabulous volume and makes it bouncy. 
I'm sure it was created for people with thin hair, and I'm probably using it incorrectly, but sometimes that's the best way, don't you think?

You know me, so you already know that I love big, thick fabulous lashes. I am so fully invested in mascaras, and my beauty box gave me two to play with. 
Lancome Grandiose Extreme takes mascara to an entire new level.
When you want exceptional volume, maximum length and incredible lift, this is the mascara for you!

Check out the wand! The swan neck shaped wand lets you roll the mascara all around the lashes and get all the way to the base of the lash. It has dual brushes to super load your lashes - a short row to put product on and a long row to really pull the product through.
The mascara itself is super inky black.

Clarins Supra Volume mascara gives you full, fat, voluminous lashes. It contains Cassie flower wax to strengthen and protect your lashes, and is super pigmented.

This is a gorgeous, everyday mascara. You can use it as part of your total eye makeup, or, if you are channeling your inner french girl, skip the shadows apply a couple of coats of Clarins Supra Volume, and then set the world on fire with a swipe of the most killer red lip ever.

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You know that I have blogged about MAC Ruby Woo lipstick many, many times. Ruby Woo is a classic blue based red. 

To me Ruby Woo is old Hollywood. Timeless, perfect, robust but so incredibly wearable. If you are in the mood for jeans, a white tee and a black blazer, this is your red lip. If you feel like going all out in your most sensational LBD, this is the red for you. If you are going for a look anywhere in the middle, this is the red for you!

Red lips can be tricky to wear, especially if they are slip-sliding around your mouth. Ruby Woo stays put and wears really, really well.
(As a side note, last time I was in Paris my daily look was minimal base, groomed brows, glossy black mascara and Ruby Woo, rubbed in with my finger. I love Ruby Woo!)

No party or big night out is complete without lashes.
My gift box had MAC lashes. I use MAC strip lashes all the time. They are perfectly shaped, flex well with your eyelid and are the perfect length - the enhance the eye rather than collapsing it. L.O.V.E.

Love Relentlessly eau de Parfum by Tory Burch.

Honestly?? Okay, so she had me at the name. Regardless of how this fragrance smelled I was in, boots and all! 

Tory Burch's new fragrance, Love Relentlessly is pure romance.
It's pink pepper and rose, folded into ambertonic and patchouli. 
It is beautiful, it is intensely feminine, it is luscious and warm. 
I am wearing it everyday. It is a lovely year round fragrance, but for right now it makes me think of a winter white cashmere sweater and curling up on an overstuffed sofa in front of an open fire, with a gorgeous man. This perfume is loooove! 

The packaging is beautiful, and don't you just love the bottle?

Thank you so much Rakuten Affilate Network and Bloomingdales!
These are just wonderful gifts and I adore them all.
XO 

All images by Kristina Beth Photography