Monthly Favorites: December 2023 Edition!

[AlexBT]

Monthly Faves: December 2023!

Wow, what a year, Beauty Insider Community! I don’t know about you, but reflecting on 2023 makes me realize how many new beauty favorites I’ve discovered (some of those thanks to you!) and how many former favorites have now become current holy grails. There’s nothing like shopping your own stash…. but splurging on some brand-new beauty is pretty fun, too. 😉 I’m so grateful for all of you BIC-ers for sharing your favorites here for all of us to enjoy, all year long!

Here are the products I’ve been loving this December:

• Charlotte Tilbury Hollywood Contour Wand 
• Olaplex No. 7 Bonding Hair Oil 1 oz/ 30 mL
• Rare Beauty by Selena Gomez Brow Harmony Flexible Lifting and Laminating Eyebrow Gel 0.15 oz / 4.5 g 
• SEPHORA COLLECTION PRO Shadow Brush #10 
• Supergoop! Mineral Mattescreen SPF 40 Mineral Sunscreen 1.5 oz / 45 mL 

Now it’s your turn! Hit the reply button and tell us which products you’ve picked up the most this December… or even throughout all of 2023. Be sure to tag those products with the “#” symbol (hair, makeup, fragrance, wellness, skincare, etc.)!

[Margalee]

@itsfi I'm glad you decided to try them. I'm already running really low on the cloud cream but have others to finish. They maybe need a jumbo size! Out of curiousity, was your cloud cream tan?

[itsfi]

@Margalee, yes, the body cream is a beige/light tan shade. Here's what mine looks like:

[ather]

@Margalee  Great favs! I love the Saie blush too! What’s your fav colour?

[Margalee]

@ather It's *Chilly*, not rosy!

[ather]

@Margalee  That one is also my fav!! Great colour!! 

[Margalee]

@ather I only have one Saie blush. I think it's rosy from the Sephora Favorites kit. I wouldn't mind having more but will definitely have to wait.

[Buootiful]

Ooh, thanks for the viori tip. I've been meaning to try the bars. Maybe I'll get to them next year. As for the Saie, glad the makeup technique improves the performance.❤️

Maybe the doe will make it easier to scrape out prod at the end. I got big cheeks,lol. 😂 @Margalee 

[Margalee]

@Buootiful hah hah I love it! 

[CorgiMommy]

I have to say I resisted purchasing from Rare Beauty but as part of the gratis box there was Rare Beauty by Selena Gomez Soft Pinch Liquid Blush Virtue .  I found myself loving this blush as a little goes a long way as it is highly pigmented.  

[itsfi]

@CorgiMommy, Rare Beauty has an excellent range of products. It was such a great addition to an already amazing gratis box. 

[ather]

@CorgiMommy  Yay! Happy you like it! 

[CynthieLu]

The Rare Beauty by Selena Gomez Soft Pinch Liquid Blush Virtue made it into loved status? 😄 @CorgiMommy that's awesome! It really is excellent and has amazing staying power. Do you think you might try a few more shades in that line? 

[CorgiMommy]

@CynthieLu not really sure as I like powder blush better but t I will keep an open mind

[WinglessOne]

This list includes some November favorites that I’ve kept reaching for this month. Not doing a full 2023 Favorites list because that’d be way too long. 😅 

Makeup: 

Monthly favorites - December and November 2023. The upside-down jar is By Terry 8HA Hyaluronic Hydra-Powder.

Details: 

Spoiler

Live Tinted Huestick Color Corrector - a very lightweight cream color corrector that’s easy to blend and leaves no weird powdery texture. The retractable crayon format makes it very transportable and simple to use. And this shade’s awesome at neutralizing my undereye darkness on zombiefied days. Key word there is “neutralizing”: when I apply and blend this corrector, it doesn’t leave my skin looking bold orange but does cancel out a lot of discoloration. I don’t use this corrector every time I use concealer, but when I need it, Huestick never lets me down. 

Live Tinted Hueskin Concealer (I use shade 7) - my new favorite concealer, and that says a lot considering how much I (still) love Jouer Cosmetics Essential High Coverage Concealer Pen. For my skin, Live Tinted’s has the perfect liquid texture: not thin, runny, or watery, but also not thick. It’s very easy to blend, doesn’t leave my skin looking or feeling dry, and I don’t need to plaster my undereyes to get good coverage. 

By Terry 8HA Hyaluronic Hydra-Powder - a recent reformulation of my longtime favorite translucent setting powder. Thank goodness By Terry didn’t mess up this powder’s rockstar performance! Now its matte finish is even less drying than before, thanks to the boosted level/types of hyaluronic acid. I bought this mini jar to test the new formula, and it’ll probably last a long time since I need so little of this powder to set anything. But eventually I’ll buy a full size jar. 

PATRICK TA Major Headlines Double-Take Crème & Powder Blush Duo She's Wanted - I’ve mostly used the cream half of this blush duo without the powder half. I do love the powder, but the cream’s so effortless and beautiful on its own. It’s also a bit less potent than the powder, so it’s easier to avoid overdoing when I’m in a rush. 

SEPHORA COLLECTION PRO Blush Brush #99 - my favorite brush to use with cream blushes, including Patrick Ta’s. I’m still very grateful to @TeamBIC for gifting me this brush along with several others from the Sephora Pro collection. It’s the only cheek brush in my collection with this shape, and it has the perfect softness + density to easily apply and blend cream blushes. 

Rare Beauty by Selena Gomez Brow Harmony Flexible Lifting and Laminating Eyebrow Gel 0.15 oz / 4.5 g - I’ve used this all month. It has better hold than Ami Colé Ultra-Flex Clear Eyebrow Shaping Gel Clear, but that also means it doesn’t fluff up my brows as well as AC’s. Still, I’ve enjoyed using RB’s gel: it gives me a fairly natural brow look with no flaking or skin irritation, and I can apply my usual brow pencil over it. I’ll likely alternate between this and Ami Colé’s from now on. 

Danessa Myricks Beauty Infinite Chrome Waterproof Micropencil Eyeliner Lemon Quartz - I have several shades of Danessa’s multichrome eyeliner, but Lemon Quartz is my favorite inner corner gilder. 

Kulfi Underlined Kajal Clean Waterproof Long-Wear Eyeliner Purply Pataka - I’ve used this the most on my lower lash line as a subtle bit of color, even when I’ve also used a darker eyeliner on the outer third of my lower lash line. 

Pat McGrath Labs Dark Star Colour Blitz Mascara shade Electric Jade - a green departure from my usual black and blue mascaras, in one of my favorite lengthening and volumizing mascara formulas. 

NARS Powermatte High-Intensity Long-Lasting Lip Pencil Walkyrie - 180 - this month’s persistent purse resident. To me, this Powermatte formula’s a big improvement of the old Velvet Matte crayon formula. These new crayons apply evenly with no streaking or patchiness, and they feel very comfy on my lips. 

Violette_Fr Petal Bouche Matte shade Amour Fou - possibly the best liquid matte lipstick I’ve ever tried. I’ve recently raved a few times on BIC about this magical rose red lipstick, so I won’t repeat myself. I’ll just say it’s stunningly gorgeous and comfy to wear and I love it. 

Skin & nail care: 

2 longtimers, 1 yearling, and 1 newcomer.

Details: 

Spoiler

Londontown Kur Fortifying Ridge Filler - still my favorite ridge filling base coat. Normally I use it just on a few deeply ridged nails, and not for each manicure. But for the last several months I’ve worn it on all 10 nails during a longer-than-expected break from nail polish. It’s helped keep my nails in good shape all this time. 

Butter London Mellow The Yellow Nail Brightening Treatment - contains a bit of purple to neutralize yellow nail staining. Sometimes I’ve layered this over the above mentioned ridge filler, just for a tiny bit of color: it’s a very pretty sheer white with a purple shift. 

Rephr Rebalancing Essence - when rephr asked for customer input on their upcoming skincare products, I begged them to avoid essential perfuming oils and any “clean beauty” claims/marketing. Apparently I wasn’t alone there, since their essence contains none of that. Instead, it just contains good helpful ingredients for my mostly-dry combo and finicky reactive skin, particularly anti-inflammatories and antioxidants. This milky essence leaves my skin feeling hydrated and a bit moisturized. My face will appreciate it even more once temps drop below freezing. 

Full INCI list for my fellow skincare nerds:

Spoiler

Water, Butylene Glycol, Glycerin, Pentylene Glycol, Limnanthes Alba (Meadowfoam) Seed Oil, Niacinamide, Panthenol, Betaine, Propanediol, 1,2-Hexanediol, Hydrogenated Lecithin, Allantoin, Polyglyceryl-10 Oleate, Polyglyceryl-3 Methylglucose Distearate, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Squalane, Madecassoside, Sodium Phytate, Soja (Soybean) Seed Extract, Cynanchum Atratum Extract, Diphenyl Dimethicone, Triethylhexanoin, Tromethamine, Ethylhexylglycerin, Althaea Rosea Flower Extract, Xanthan Gum, Octanediol, Ascorbic Acid, Tocopherol 

Avène RetrinAL 0.1 Intensive Cream - a repeat fave, this 0.1% retinaldehyde cream has been a nightly skincare staple for 3 years. This year I put it on hold so I could test Youth To The People Retinal + Niacinamide Youth Serum 1 oz/ 30 mL (0.15% retinaldehyde). YTTP’s was nice, especially in warmer months, and seemingly effective. After finishing that bottle, I switched back to my trusty Avène and my skin’s very happy about it, especially now that temperatures are dropping. I think my skin’s most in love with the softening evening primrose oil in this cream. If Avène released a 0.2% retinal version of this cream, I’d buy it as a step-up. 

Looking forward to another year of BIC! I feel like I say this each year but: this is the best online beauty community I’ve ever joined. My sincere gratitude to all y’all who make BIC a place I genuinely want to return to and participate in—including TeamBIC of course! 🖤 May 2024 be kind to us all. 

[AlexBT]

@WinglessOne Aww thanks for making the BIC the nicest place on the internet! 🥰 And thank you for this epic rundown of your faves! I feel like I swatch those Danessa Myricks pencils whenever I'm visiting the store and then I can't decide and never end up buying... plus there are even more options online! The green sounds like a fun place to start, though...

[itsfi]

A pop of green on the lashes is so pretty @WinglessOne.

[ather]

@WinglessOne  Great November and December favs!  I have seen multiple people rave about Rare Beauty by Selena Gomez Brow Harmony Flexible Lifting and Laminating Eyebrow Gel 0.15 oz / 4.5 g  I must try this one next!! Can’t wait to see what favs you have for January! 

[Buootiful]

Ah, I almost got the Ami Colé Ultra-Flex Clear Eyebrow Shaping Gel Clear but Sephora forgot it in my order and took it as a sign to low buy and returned it. Hopefully, I can try this soon and I have the Rare Beauty option if need be . Thanks for your review with both❤️ @WinglessOne 

[danielledanielle]

Ohh yeaahhh @WinglessOne , completely forgot about Rephr sorta foray into skincare.  That's great that they took feedback into account.

[CynthieLu]

Well said 💞 @WinglessOne I agree full heartedly, this is the best online community out there.  

I love reading your posts and thoughts on things. 🙏 And your always there to share your knowledge with everyone and offer helpful advice. I appreciate you so much. 💜

Thank you for sharing your round up, DM's pens are little wonderful things. I want to collect them all, I don't have lemon 🍋 yet thou 😉 but maybe someday I'm sure it'll end up home with me. 

[urfavpreppygurl]

 

So nice on my skin!! 10/10 #skincare #glowrecipe