Purrrr-reka! 2014 Furvorites

Now that it’s the tail end of 2014, it’s the purrfect oppurrtunity to cat-alog our purrsonal furvorites and best discoveries of the year.

*Post spawnsored by Miss Roxy, BeautyandtheCat’s resident bundle of holiday cheer.*

Angela

• Ole Henriksen Pure Truth Melting Cleanser, still the fastest, neatest, and most effective oil cleanser I’ve tried. Haven’t touched a face wipe or eye-makeup remover since using this. It has so ruined me for other oil cleansers that when I tried the madly pawpular Banila Co. Clean It Zero (on my hand), I thought “eh” and walked away.
• PocketDerm Anti-Aging, which is the only way my lazy butt would restart tretinoin/Retin-A. So long, crosstown bus rides to the derm! The skin-shedding decreased exponentially starting in week 5 and I’m looking forward to what my skin will look like at the 6-month mark.
• Laneige Water Drop Tints, in case you couldn’t already guess from the 37 posts I’ve done on them. Most loved shades: Raspberry Pink and Neon Pink.
• The Face Shop’s LOVELY ME:EX You Face Blusher in 03 Purple Fantasy, the surprise contender. Your first instinct might be, “Pale purple blush?! Are you kitten me?” But I used this a lot on its own for a subtly brightened, lifted cheek when my skin was flaky and pinkish from PocketDerm. It added dimension while also neutralizing redness.
• Hourglass Lip Treatment Oil, which just ran out after 11 months of regular use. Expensive but worth it. It’s out of stock on the Sephora website, at the local Sephora, and at the Hourglass store in Venice. ::shakes fist at whoever bought the last one the day that I went:: (It’s the Hourglass store’s #1 seller.) Going through withdrawal has made me realize how much I rely on this just to be able to wear lipstick.
• Using slightly acidic facial cleansers. The difference was almost immediate. For the next two weeks (before I turned into Flaky McFlake from starting PocketDerm), my skin was zit-free and smooth like never before (well, like never before except for while on the pill).

Notice what’s missing? CUSHIONS! This year, I used a cushion 99% of the time that I wore foundation. What gave me paws about including them though was that the cushions aren’t usable all over (gets patchy and emphasizes pores on my nose) and don’t do more than what my fave mineral foundation can aside from leaving a dewier/shinier finish.

So even though I love and recommend my cushions (I should star in my own soap called All My Cushions), they didn’t quite rise to the level of the year’s best.

Renee

• Kevyn Aucoin’s Sensual Skin Enhancer in my shade of SX08 is like a puuurrrfectly matching layer of skin that covers ALL. It is extremely thick so you have to apply with an expert hand and work quickly. But this is the BEST CONCEALER. I REPEAT, BEST CONCEALER I’ve ever found in my years of wearing makeup. It’s $48 for a tiny pot but worth every penny and lasts for a loooong time. It conceals dark spots, freckles, pimples, and can be used as a very potent full coverage foundation.
• Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-hour Full Coverage Foundation SPF 15 does what it promises: FULL coverage. It’s a little thick and chalky upon first application. But it makes my skin look absolutely glowy and flawless, but not in a cakey makeup way. My friend Alexia wore it one time and she looked stunning. The shades are a little tricky to match (I used Sephora’s Pantone Universe Color IQ system and it worked like a charm.) One downside is that it’s not as weightless as NOT wearing anything (I usually don’t even wear foundation) and not as light as Chanel’s Double Perfection Lumiere powder foundation (for when I do want a tiny bit coverage.) But for special occasions and that smooth, creamy, bare beige canvas skin, grab your Tarte.
• Color IQ by Sephora is a FURRRREE foundation matching system. Using a scanner, the Sephora rep scans your face in 4-5 places. Based on this, Sephora’s Color IQ system gives you a shade number. If you’re a Sephora Beauty Insider, they link this shade number to your account. My default is 02Y08 but I can choose one shade darker or lighter (depending on time of year) and select from automatically matched foundation shades on Sephora.com. It’s good for ALL foundation/BB/tinted moisturizer/concealer products that Sephora offers. Fabulous and quick solution to online shopping for skin makeup.
• Dry Bar Buttercup Blow Dryer is puuurrricey. Very pricey. BUT it is damn good. I blow dry my hair every day. Yes, every day. Besides a ton of damage, it takes so damn long because I have pretty long hair. This Dry Bar Blow Dryer gets my hair to dry, corporate, news-anchor worthy shape in 6 minutes flat. It’s lightweight, has a bunch of modes, and is a beautiful sunshine color. Wait for the Sephora Friends and Family 20% discount and GET IT.
• Cocoon exfoliators are cheap, natural, and do wonders for sloughing off gross dead skin, releasing magical sericin to stimulate collagen, and makes your face smoother than a baby’s bottom. My mom is pretty wary of bug-related skin care items and I even got her to try.

I looked back on all my Sephora purchases (VIB ROUGE second year in a row baby. I am both proud and ashamed) and non-Sephora purchases and the above are probably worthy products that I want YOU to try. I love and treasure all my beauty products but these recommended items are just that extra special. CANNOT wait to discover more with you guys.

From Both of Us

Finally, thank you for purr-rusing, commenting on, and following our little blog. We started this on a lark in the summer and now have over 100 followers on WordPress and received over 27,000 views. Fun fact: our readers came from 116 different countries with the top three being the U.S., Singapore, and Canada.

Here’s to many more beauty-filled meowments, festive felines, and bad cat puns in 2015! Happy Mew Year!