BEST OF BEAUTY 2017 (HIGHEND):

When New Years rolls around my favorite youtube videos to watch are always the "Best of Beauty" videos. I love seeing what products were beauty gurus favorites and I always use it as a recommendation for products I have yet to try out. So I'm going to post two blogs both of which being "Best of Beauty 2017", but one is going to be entirely high end makeup and the other is going to be entirely drug store makeup. *Disclosure* a lot of these products may not have come out in 2017, but I'm still going to include them as my favorite for the year if I don't have a 2017 product to substitute it for. So without further ado...

My favorite primer of 2017 is the Smashbox Photo Finish Primerizer. As much as I love the Benefit Porefessional for filling in my pores and making my skin as smooth as a baby's butt, I find that it is just too dry for my already dry skin. I always moisturize my face before applying makeup, so the fact that this primer has a moisturizer built in it I find to be amazing. Now if you already have oily skin I would stay away from this product, but if you're like me and have dry skin this is going to be your new best friend. This primer has ingredients in it that plump your skin and smooth out fine lines. Any product that is "photo finish" is always good so you don't have to worry about flashback in your pictures.

My favorite foundation of 2017 is the Hourglass Vanish Seamless Finish Foundation Stick. This foundation is FULL COVERAGE, but even though it is super full coverage it blends out like a dream and doesn't feel super cakey on your face. A little bit of this product goes a long way so you're definitely getting a bang for your buck. There's not much more to say about this product, it's super full coverage, lasts all day, a little product goes a long way, and it has a beautiful finish.

This next product might be a bit of a surprise. Wait what? My favorite concealer of the year isn't Tarte Shapetape? Don't get me wrong Tarte Shapetape is amazing and it's the most full coverage concealer I own, but it is just too dry for my under eye. I needed something lighter and creamier, which is why I purchased the Urban Decay Naked Skin Weightess Complete Coverage Concealer. This concealer has a lot more moisture to it than Shapetape and I find that it has about just as much coverage. This concealer saved my dry sensitive under eyes.

For setting powder it's no secret that the Laura Mercier Invisible Loose Setting Powder is my favorite as it is everyone's favorite. The reason I love and trust this powder is mainly because it does not have any flashback! I fell in love with the Too Faced Born This Way Ethereal Setting Powder because the finish of it is amazing, but I went out with it on and took some pictures and the flashback was an absolute nightmare. I don't like to bake with the Laura Mercier powder because I find that it is too drying, but I do like to dust it anywhere that I put concealer and I find that it leaves me with the best possible finish.

For bronzer this year I fell in love with the Nars Bronzing Powder in the shade Laguna. You wanna go in with a light hand with this product because it is extremely pigmented. This bronzer is such a perfect warm-toned color it leaves you looking like you've been laying out at the beach all day. This bronzer has the tiniest amount of gold shimmer in it which I actually love because it leaves my skin looking like it's glowing. Not only is the color and pigmentation amazing in this bronzer, but it also blends out like a dream. If you go in with too heavy of a hand no worries because it will easily blend out.

For contour I always go in with the first and second contour shades in this Kat Von D Shade & Light Face Contour Palette. This palette is also extremely pigmented, like I mean I literally dip my brush lightly into it once to contour my cheekbones. You wanna go in with a light hand with this product because it is super cool-toned so if you go in with too heavy of a hand it can leave you looking muddy which is not cute. I also love the first two lighter shades and use them a lot to brighten up my under eye and add some highlight to my forehead. I just haven't found any other contour shade that works as well as this palette.

For blush nothing beats the Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Blush. A personal favorite shade of mine is "Dollface" it's the perfect bright pink color. I personally love blush because I find that it adds so much warmth and color to my face so I love that I can trust this formula of blush to last all day long. This blush is pretty pigmented and is very buildable. These have been the "OG" blushes for a lot of beauty gurus and there's a reason for that.

For highlighters I couldn't just pick one. This has been the year that I have been getting into highlighting the most. Highlighting used to scare me and I thought it emphasized my texture too much, but it is all about finding the highlighter that works best with your skin and knowing how to use it and blend it out. The most blinding highlighter I've purchased is by far the Ofra Rodeo Drive Highlighter. This highlighter has been a fan favorite for nearly every beauty guru. The color of it fits so many different skin tones and it is truly blinding so what more could you ask for?

Another amazing highlighter is the Jeffree Star Cosmetics X Manny MUA highlighter in the shade "Uranus". This is literally the perfect gold shade. It is so pigmented and the formula is amazing because it honestly leaves your skin with that "wet" blinding look. It's hard to explain, but this highlighter just looks amazing on the skin and it honestly does not emphasize texture at all. The only thing that sucks about this highlighter is that it is limited edition so right now you can only buy it in the bundle that comes with two liquid lipsticks. I still had to mention this highlighter though because not only is it the perfect gold shade but LOOK AT THE SIZE OF IT! It's massive, talk about getting a bang for your buck.

For brows I love my Anastasia Beverly Hills Dip Brow Pomade, but I have recently fallen in love with the Benefit Precisely My Brow Pencil. I love Pomades for filling in my brows, but I have found that this pencil is perfect for really defining my brow and making everything look super sharp. So what I will do is outline and fill in my brow with the pomade but then sharpen everything up with this pencil. This pencil has truly changed my brow game and a lot of product goes a long way with this pencil as well.

Another brow product I cannot live without is the Anastasia Beverly Hills Clear Brow Gel. For some reason I have thick curly brow hairs and they like to go all over the place and move around throughout the day. This brow gel truly locks them into place all day long. Even if I'm not wearing makeup I'll comb this product through my brows because it makes my brow hairs look put into place and allows me to shape my brows however I like. This is one product I cannot go without in my makeup routine, so if you're like me and have stubborn brow hairs you will love this I promise.

Nothing has changed for me in terms of setting spray because nothing beats the Urban Decay All Nighter Makeup Setting Spray. If you want your makeup to last all day long I would highly recommend this product. I've tried other setting sprays and it seems as though none of them are as strong as this one. This bottle also holds a lot of product in it so one bottle will last you months.

I have two eyeshadow palettes that have stood out to me the most this year and they are both from Morphe. The first one is of course the Jaclyn Hill Eyeshadow Palette. I got this palette on it's first launch date so I've had a while to play around with it and I honestly create a new look with it every time I use it. I could use this palette for an entire year and create a new look every day. The color range is amazing; it's colorful and vibrant but it still has all the neutral colors you could need. I cannot say enough good things about this palette. The mattes are super pigmented and easy to blend. The metallics are blinding and don't even need to be wet to be applied. I don't think I will ever stop loving this palette or Jaclyn Hill.

The next palette I've been obsessing over is the 39A Dare to Create Palette also from Morphe. When Morphe released pictures of this palette before it came out my jaw dropped. I knew right away I had to get my hands on it, and I mean come on for the price and how many eyeshadows you get it is truly unbeatable. This palette gives you endless amounts of looks. It has color it has neutrals it's everything you need in a palette. The extra large transition shades are a genius idea as well. The size is insane but also it's the only downfall of the palette is that because it is so big it's hard to travel with. When packing to go home for Christmas break I had to leave it in my dorm because it just wouldn't fit in any of my makeup bags and I didn't want to risk breaking it. All in all, this palette is amazing regardless of the size.

This next product I have Jeffree Star to thank for getting me so addicted to it. I honestly thought that high end mascaras were so unnecessary up until I tried the Benefit Roller Lash. This mascara makes my lashes look so long and adds volume in all the right places. Personally I hate mascaras that have big fat wands because I find that they add too much volume and not enough length. This wand is skinny and fits to my lashes perfectly. You only need one dip into the bottle and your lashes will be coated. A lot of the times I don't feel a need to wear false lashes because this mascara does such a good job.

If I had to just pick one lipstick that stood out to me the most it would be Jeffree Star Cosmetics Velour Liquid Lipstick in the shade Unicorn Blood. This is the perfect dark vampy lip color, I've been wearing this lipstick all fall and winter long. It's a deep dark red and is very flattering on all skin colors. Not to mention the fact that Jeffree Star has one of the best liquid lipstick formulas. You don't need to use a lip liner for even this dark of a color because his lipsticks are so pigmented. I also find that they are reasonably priced for just how high quality they are.

That is it for my "Best of Beauty 2017" high end makeup edition. I hope you guys enjoyed this blog post and if you did then be sure to check out my "Best of Beauty 2017" drug store edition post coming soon! As always XOXO, Morgan.