{"id":11406,"date":"2012-12-28T08:30:00","date_gmt":"2012-12-28T00:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mywomenstuff.com\/?p=11406"},"modified":"2012-12-28T10:18:35","modified_gmt":"2012-12-28T02:18:35","slug":"mws-picks-the-12-best-things-of-2012-and-youre-welcome-to-share-yours-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mywomenstuff.com\/2012\/12\/mws-picks-the-12-best-things-of-2012-and-youre-welcome-to-share-yours-too\/","title":{"rendered":"MWS Picks The 12 Best Things of 2012! (and you’re welcome to share yours too!)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"best<\/p>\n

The end of the world is not nigh, but the end of 2012 is! What a year it has been! \ud83d\ude00 I’m not going to do a “Best of 2012” in a true sense, because heck, its hard to choose, ok! So I’m just going to pick some random categories and tell you what I think the best of 2012 has been for me, and you can do the same \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Best Nail Polish discovery<\/h3>\n

I don’t wear nail polish at the best of times. But I am ever thankful to the reader who pointed me in the direction of A-England nail polishes.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

For someone who doesn’t wear nail polish, I’ve accumulated quite a few from the brand. Application is superb, colours are beautiful, and they ship worldwide for free, from the land of Arthurian legend, England. If you have not yet tried theirs, I urge you to. You won’t regret it, I promise! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Best Makeup Tip<\/h3>\n

The best tip I picked up this year was the one using black eyeliner or black eyeshadow as a base (Tip is here<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"easy<\/p>\n

I’d been doing it for a while but rarely with much success because I realised that due to the shape of my eye, I have to take the black shadow much higher than normal. I colour in about half my lid to get a nice smokey effect and if I want something even more intense, I have to colour my whole lid and then blend it out. It also helped me get a fuchsia pink eyeshadow to work<\/a> and turned it into one of my favourite unexpected looks ever!<\/p>\n

Best Makeup Experiment<\/h3>\n

Grey powder. ‘Nuff said!<\/p>\n

\"chanel<\/p>\n

I don’t know how many of you picked up the Chanel Notorious Joues Contraste powder<\/a> but if you did, I’d love to hear how you liked it. I do like it a lot, and I’m getting quite used to using it so these days I just use the lightest of dustings of this slate gray powder to create an illusion of high, sharp cheekbones. Its surprisingly effective! You don’t need this of course, since many people have been able to do the same thing with bronzer for aeons. I could never use a bronzer properly so this has been an experiment I gambled on and won! \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n

Best Skincare Rediscovery<\/h3>\n

I’m going back to something I used to love – Dior One Essential serum.<\/p>\n

\"dior<\/p>\n

This year, ever since I rediscovered it back in April<\/a>, I’ve been using this almost nightly and I’m very happy with the results. My skin seems to like it very much, it seems to help whatever other skincare I’m using work better and its been all round very good. I was also using the One Essential Mask<\/a> and although I really like it too, that one’s a pricey treat for the skin!<\/p>\n

Best New Thing To Appear in our Pharmacies<\/h3>\n

Ok I was a little torn on this one… but I eventually settled on these.<\/p>\n

\"revlon<\/p>\n

The Revlon Colorburst Lip Butters. We had 2 rounds of colours and both times engineered a lot of hype. I’m sure every one of you reading this has at least one, right? Which colour did you pick? \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n

The other item I was going to pick was the L’Oreal Infallible Color Eyeshadows<\/a> but realised not everyone maybe as crazy about them as I am but I know most people love the Lip Butters!<\/p>\n

Best Foundations<\/h3>\n

Its a bit tricky me including this, because there are a couple of foundations that I tried this year that I liked and there are a couple more I haven’t told you about so I didn’t really want to include it. But hey, why not eh? \ud83d\ude1b Oh and yes, there’s an ‘s’ in Foundations. You can’t make me choose just one! \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>\n

\"diorskin<\/p>\n

My favourite foundations that I use most often this year is the Diorskin Nude Hydrating Foundation (new version), Diorskin Forever<\/a> when I want something that will last and last on me all day (I mix in a drop of serum or moisturizer to combat the dryness) and Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum<\/a>. I picked the Bourjois last year and I’m picking it again this year simply because its so good.<\/p>\n

Best Thing I’ve done for myself in 2012<\/h3>\n

Take a blog break. It put in perspective what I felt was important to me and how I wanted to handle things. It taught me that its ok to say no, and its ok to let go, as much as its ok to hold onto something.<\/p>\n

\"breaking<\/p>\n

It taught me that when we fall into a rut, we have to learn to recognize we are in one and to\u00a0learn to break out of it<\/a>. Its no use wallowing in self pity, because no one else will ever be able to help us if we don’t help ourselves. So if you are feeling down, burnt out or just like you are stuck in a neverending cycle, pause. Your sanity will thank you for it.<\/p>\n

Naturally, once I got back into the swing of things, I wanted more change so you now get a\u00a0brand new logo and layout<\/a>\u00a0which is kept deliberately simple. I hope you too find it as pleasing as I do \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Best Mascara<\/h3>\n

Truth to tell, the best mascara for me come from the high end Japanese brands – Shiseido<\/a>, and RMK <\/a>just to name 2 favourites of mine. I just picked up the very popular RMK Deep W mascara because apparently its really popular and I have to see why but I’m also using a sample size of a regular RMK curling mascara and its so good, I don’t want it to dry out!<\/p>\n

\"maybelline<\/p>\n

But I’m going to pick instead the Maybelline The Falsies mascara<\/a> for Best Mascara because I think it does a good enough job for something that is half the price of a high end wonder. I do have a back up of this one which I (naturally) buy during a sale or promotion. That’s the good thing about buying from the drugstore\/pharmacy. Often, these things go on sale!<\/p>\n

Best Makeup Collection<\/h3>\n

So many makeup collections come and go every year but the one I’m picking out for being all round outstanding to me is the Guerlain Liu Christmas collection.<\/p>\n

\"guerlain<\/p>\n

It was not just the Liu Calligraphy palette<\/a> that I found entrancing. The Perles du Dragon Meteorites Perles<\/a> was also a winner as is the Lou Ling Rouge Automatique lipstick which I also picked up. The whole collection was very cohesive, eye catching and one of the strongest I’ve come across this year. At the very least, it made me want almost everything in it which is quite a feat \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

Best Blush<\/h3>\n

\"dior<\/p>\n

I have to pick this one. The Dior Healthy Glow blush in Petal<\/a>\u00a0that came out with the Spring 2012 collection. It is seriously something! I love how deliciously soft it looks on skin and how gentle. I know, gentle is such a weird word to describe it, but it looks like just a gentle flush of colour. I have 2 of these now so I can afford to be liberal with it yay! \ud83d\ude00 I believe it was limited edition but if you ever come across it, do not hesitate. You need this in your collection!<\/p>\n

Best Hand Cream<\/h3>\n

Anyone who reads this blog will have noticed by now I don’t talk about hand creams. I don’t use them. Well, not until this one came along \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

\"clarins<\/p>\n

This Clarins hand cream<\/a> has been the only one I use nightly to keep my hands from looking like that of an old crone. When I get dry hard bits around my nails or dry cuticles, slathering this one on helps soften my skin and keeps my nail beds looking healthier. It is seriously NOT sticky at all. I can apply this, give it a couple of minutes and pick up a book without staining the pages. I’m almost finished with this tube (it almost never happens so this is quite a feat!) and I’ve got my back up on stand by. That’s how sold I am!<\/p>\n

Best Memories of 2012<\/h3>\n

Ah there are so many, where do I even begin?! \ud83d\ude00 I’ll pick just 3 :-<\/p>\n

\"smiley<\/p>\n