As per usual, by the time December hits, I am sooo tired of makeup releases. Don’t get me wrong, I love diving headfirst into all of the new palettes and sets when September hits, but after three months of constant NEW NEW NEW, I get pretty dang tired. So December’s haul is on the small side because I  am burnt out on new makeup! (This won’t last – I give it till late February before I’m enticed by shiny new things again!)

I ended up returning the Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow in Taupe (from last month’s haul) because it was just wayyyyy too dark for my brows and was nowhere close to matching my own hair). So I decided to get the NARS Brow Defining Cream in Sonoran (their only blonde shade). I was really worried about the colour tone in this shade since it does pull quite warm in the pot. Thankfully, it does actually work out really well for my brows. It doesn’t give as much depth as a deeper product would, so what I do is lay down this product as a base for my brows, and then follow it up with a few flicks from a taupey-grey  pencil and it looks fantastic. Probably one of the best pairings for my brows yet!

I have no freaking idea what these Black Magic Makeup Remover Cloths are made of, but they are absolutely incredible. Using only water doused on these cloths, I am able to remove the bulk of my makeup (even from my Grinch tutorial!). This is really handy if you can’t be bothered to grab makeup remover (although I do sometimes prefer to use makeup remover instead of these). Seriously… how does this work??

Ughhhh. My level of disappointment with eyelash curlers is at an all time high right now. I used to LOVE Sephora’s eyelash curlers – I picked up their Original Eyelash Curler in Prague back in 2014 and I have been loving it ever since. But, the pads ran out, and Sephora doesn’t make replacement pads you can buy, so I went ahead and bought another set of curlers. THESE ARE NOT THE SAME, and the ones I bought last month aren’t either. The clamp part doesn’t open as wide, which makes getting my eyelashes in between the clampy bits REALLY, REALLY awkward. Like… so tedious that I’m at the point where I don’t even want to be bothered with an eyelash curler in the morning. I am so frustrated because I LOVED the original Sephora one I got back in 2014. If this new one is their “updated and improved” model then I am sorely disappointed. (And, also, the new pads don’t fit on the old curler. UGH.)

For the first time in my life, I did not have a list a mile long for Christmas presents that involved makeup. It’s been a plentiful year of makeup for me, and I just didn’t really “need” anything. But one thing I did absolutely want was the limited edition Too Faced Melted Matte in Candy Cane. Not only is the colour right up my alley (a stunning pink-red that I saw Jen wearing more times than I could count), but it also actually smells like peppermint mocha. How I wish all of the Melted Mattes smelled this way! In the end, I do find the formula is on par with their original line, so it is kind of drying, slightly sandpapery on the lips, but for this special item, I’m willing to deal with the pain of it! Oh, and it was my husband who got it for me for Christmas. 🙂

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The other item my husband got for me on my list was this Lush shower gel in It’s Raining Men. I really, REALLY do not need shower gel – I’ve got far more than I can ever even get through in the next year, but I love the It’s Raining Men scent and it had been about two years since I last had a bottle of it. So happy to have this one again. 🙂

The next item I received via Zoe of Writing Whimsy. She passed on the Too Faced Chocolate Shop palette to me because she knew what I rabid fan I am for Too Faced and figured I’d get a lot more use out of it. And right she is! This palette was part of their 2016 holiday lineup – Christmas in New York. And yes, it smells like chocolate… which I’m starting to feel is almost a necessity when I’m doing my makeup now!

Zoe also sent along a Marc Jacobs item she had two of: the Lamé Noir Ultra-Glittering Mascara. This is a glitter topcoat for your mascara which I have yet to use… but she knows me so well – glitter is always good in my book!

I’ve been using a lot of random brands’ invisible lip liners and primers (all sent by PR) and none of them work nearly as well as MAC‘s Prep + Prime Lip. I finally said “enough” and just went out and bought MAC‘s lip primer because I was “making do” with products that only worked 50% as well as MAC. I am so, so happy to have my MAC lip primer back – it prevents lip line bleedout and makes sure my lipstick stays in place. LOVE!

I picked up the two brand new Physicians Formula Butter Blushes as soon as I spotted them at Shoppers Drug Mart. They are on the unbelievably pricey side at 17.99 each, but they had tear off mail in rebates for $7 each which brings them down to a bit more of a reasonable price tag. Review is forthcoming!

Another pricier item by Physicians Formula (seriously, their Canadian price tags always make me gasp), but this one had a $9 mail in rebate. Anyone see something familiar in this product? It’s identical in tone to the BECCA x Jaclyn Hill trio! Review also forthcoming with a comparison to the BECCA shades!

That’s it for December! Did you get anything really awesome this month? Tell me in the comments!