Congratulations to Jasmine for winning our Busby Pure Tissue Oil Giveaway! I will be contacting you via email very soon. A big thank you to all who took the time to enter. If you haven’t already, be sure to enter the Books 2011 Giveaway (open internationally), the Burt’s Bees Beeswax Hand Creme giveaway (open to Australian residents) & the Pantene Aqua Light Giveaway (open to Australian residents). Have a great weekend everyone!

06 - Passport Tahiti Moana Body Wash
07 - Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Moisturizer (I would repurchase this, but I have other moisturisers to use up first before I buy any more)
08 - Flourish Perfume Oil in Sugar (I will definitely be repurchasing this after P50P)
09 - Kosmea Organic Rose Mist
10 - Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant (One of my holy grail skin care items, if I didn’t have another of these in my cupboard ready to be used I would have repurchased and not included it in this tally)

I am busting through these empties like there is no tomorrow… Though having said that, I feel like I might be hitting a dry spell over the next month or so. We’ll see.

December is always a busy month, what with me being COMPLETELY F*CKING OBSESSED WITH CHRISTMAS and all. I love Christmas, just ask anyone in my life and they will no doubt regale you with tales of how I baked them cookies and made them listen to that one Bing Crosby Christmas album three thousand times. Due to me being so busy with Christmas, I tend to keep things in my routine pretty simple and use less of a variety when it comes to beauty products than I normally would. My most reached for products in December were: Bath + Body Works Twisted Peppermint Body Lotion (I use this exclusively in December so now it will always remind me of Christmas… perfect), Muppets for OPI ‘Gettin Miss Piggy With It’ Polish (this makes for a great Christmas nail when layered over OPI Red), Bloom Lip Gloss in Shine, MAC Eyeshadow in Orb & Milani Baked Blush in Luminoso aka the most perfect blush to exist, ever.

My current summer nighttime routine consists of showering, washing my hair, lighting a candle and sitting down to watch an episode of The X Files while letting some of this amazing hand cream sink into my paws. The Burt’s Bees Almond Milk Beeswax Hand Creme comes packaged in a beautiful and fairly heavy glass jar (not only does it look good sitting on my desk, but it doubles as a handy paperweight). The cream itself is also quite heavy, and it takes quite a while to settle into the skin once it’s been rubbed into my hands. For this reason I would suggest only using this cream when you have the time to let it sink in before having to do anything. It smells amazing and has a soft almond scent that is natural and not too sweet or overpowering. As with all Burt’s Bees products, this hand creme is not tested on animals. The Burt’s Bees Almond Milk Beeswax Hand Creme retails for $19.95 AUD and is available for purchase from Echolife Australia. (note: this product was sent for consideration for review) To coincide with this review, Echolife Australia have offered a jar of this amazing cream to giveaway to one of you lovely readers. To enter, simply leave a comment on this entry and be sure to include your email address so that I can contact you if you’re the winner. Please note that this giveaway is open to Australian residents only, and will close on February 14, 2012. Best of luck!

We are off and running into 2012, and what better time than the present to give your hair a little treat? Pantene recently released their new Aqua Light care range, with “zero residue and zero weight, leaving you with beautifully nourished hair that you can swisssh…” Sounds pretty good to me! To celebrate the new year, and new hair for you – Pantene have offered up 5 packs of 200ml Aqua Light shampoo & conditioner to give away. To enter, simply leave a comment on this post letting me know what your biggest hair resolution for 2012 is. Don’t forget to include your email address so that I can contact you if you’re one of the lucky winners. Please note that this giveaway is open to Australian residents only, and will close on February 12, 2012. Good luck!

So far, so good! I’ve already managed to finish up -

01 – Bath + Body Works Vanilla Bean Noel Anti-Bac Foaming Hand Soap
02 – Unico Hair Serum
03 – The Face Shop Real Nature Kelp Mask
04 – Stila Convertible Colour in Gerbera (I have a back-up of this in my cupboard)
05 – evo Main Prescription Protein Treatment (I would repurchase this, but I have a few other hair treatments sitting in my cupboard waiting to be used up first)

So far I have resisted the urge to buy any unnecessary beauty products, though my favourite foundation is running out so I may have to repurchase a bottle of that soon. How is everyone else going with their Project Pans?

I was traipsing around the shops on New Years Eve trying to find something to wear that night (last minute much?) and I happened to pop into The Face Shop to have a “quick look”. Right. I ended up walking away with three products, including the Real Nature Kelp Mask. I don’t have much experience with sheet masks, except for stumbling across the odd, mildy terrifying picture of people wearing them that have been posted online. For example:

“I am not an animal!”

Looking at that picture I now realize that I didn’t apply the mask correctly, and that I should have lowered the nose flap down instead of pushing it upwards. This may explain the painful stinging sensation that I experienced in my eyes while wearing this mask. Live and learn. Eye discomfort aside, this mask left my skin feeling fresh and hydrated and it didn’t break me out the next day. My biggest concern with the product is that the instructions aren’t in English, so I wasn’t really sure what I was doing most of the time. After removing the mask I was left with some residue liquid on my face, and I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to rub it into my skin or rinse it off with water (the picture directions were slightly ambiguous). I’d suggest talking to the sales assistant about the product in store if you intend to buy one of these masks in the future. Unfortunately I can’t remember exactly how much this mask cost, but from memory it was around the $10 AUD mark. Available from The Face Shop stores throughout Australia.

There were some definite stand-out books this year, and I thought it might be a nice idea to have a little giveaway with some of my favourite books of 2011. I will be giving away one copy each of We Need To Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Cloudstreet by Tim Winton and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. To enter simply leave a comment letting me know which of these four books you’d like to win (and be sure to include your email address so that I can contact you if you are the winner). The giveaway is open internationally and winners will be drawn on February 1, 2012. Good luck!

Out: Givenchy Photo Perfexion Foundation in Perfect Ivory, Philosophy The Supernatural Blotting Papers, Kosmea Certified Organic Rose Hip Oil, Chanel Coco Mademoiselle Perfume, Glasshouse Galapagos Soap, Bath + Body Works Exotic Coconut Body Lotion.

In: Perfumeria Gal Lip Balm in Red Currant, Inglot Lipstick in #106 & Inglot Lipstick in #105.

It is now 2012 and I am determined to complete a Project 50 Pan this year. I will be limiting my purchasing of new products and attempting to only buy products that are replacing holy grail items when they run out. I’m not sure how successful I will be, but I feel like this is something that I’m really determined to do, so here’s hoping I do well!

I have seen these posts popping up on a lot of my favourite blogs, so like the good little lemming that I am I decided to do one of my own. It was surprisingly hard to cull down my lists of favourite products from this year to just 11, but I managed to do it in the end. So without further ado and in no particular order, my top 11 products of 2011 are:

Serge Lutens Un Bois Vanille Fragrance – This is without a doubt my favourite perfume of all time. I am terrible at describing scents, but to me this smells like a warm smoked vanilla (aka my ultimate fragrance), and the lasting power of Serge Lutens perfumes are second to none.

Flourish Bath & Body Sugar Perfume Oil – As I mentioned in my review of this perfume, it is probably the most highly complimented scent I’ve ever owned. For the low price, the quality of the entire Flourish Perfume Oil range really can’t be beaten.

Benefit They’re Real Mascara – Probably the biggest mascara release of the year in terms of beauty blogging status, and well worthy of the hype in my opinion. Though I rarely stray from my all time favourite mascara (Lancome Hypnose), this will definitely be a staple in my makeup bag moving forward into 2012.

NARS Pure Matte Lipstick in Carthage – This was probably my most-worn lipstick in 2011. One of the first bright lipsticks I’ve ever owned and now I don’t think I could live without it. Perfect on pretty much any skin tone, this hot pink is a must have for all, in my opinion.

MAC Eyeshadow in Orb – Without a doubt the best neutral eyeshadow colour I’ve found to match my skin tone. As always, the MAC eyeshadow quality is amazing and lasts well throughout the day. A new holy grail item for me.

b collection by Bloom Cheek Tint in Yarra Valley – This was a completely random, spur of the moment purchase in Target on one of my trips to Sydney but boy am I glad to have discovered this blush. Pretty, pretty, pretty.

Biotherm White D-Tox BB Cream – BB Creams were a big thing in my life for about 2 months this year, but then all of the attention seemed to peter off a bit. The BB cream product that stood the test of time for me this year was this one. From what I’ve seen it’s received mixed reviews from people so definitely try before you buy.

Bath + Body Works Twisted Peppermint Body Lotion – After using the Twisted Peppermint scented anti-bac hand gel earlier in the year I was determined to try out the body lotion this Christmas and it did not disappoint. If you’re a fan of sweet peppermint scents this is a product for you.

Echolife Floral Facial Mist – A new discovery for me, but a welcome one. I’ve been trying to find a rose mist that I love as much as the Kora one but at a much more affordable price point and this is it. Not only is the product lovely, but the packaging is beautiful.

NP Set Calming Pre-Foundation Primer – The only product (except maybe Clarins’ Beauty Flash Balm) that has ever swayed me towards being a fan of facial primers. An absolute must-have for girls with red undertones in their skin. But be cautious and use sparingly because the product does contain a slight shimmer.

Lanolips Lip Ointment in Sunshine – My favourite gloss this summer. Want subtle, glossy, orange/coral lips? This is the product for you.