These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

I love to yammer on and on about beauty and bath products. You haven't noticed? That's a mighty big rock you live under! Did you have to take out a mortgage on it? But yeah, I have an addiction to things like soap, makeup, lotion, and nail polish. 

There are worse addictions out there. Like meth. And reality television. 

Because if my obsessions, I do get a lot of folks asking about My list of All Time Faves. This would be a HUGE list. But I've decided to compile a small list of some that are at the top of said list. 

It's also getting close to Christmas and My birthday so... I guess this blog post could be one of those Two Bird killing stones that you hear so much about. 

Ready?  

Onward! 

First item that I adore is something that I also miss. Glam'Eyes mascara by Rimmel has to be the best mascara I have ever used. Ever. Proverbial hands are proverbially down! I curse the Makeup Gods for discontinuing it. I wept into My Cheerios for weeks after discovering it was no longer gracing the shelves of My local Walmarts and Walgreens. This right here was the only mascara I've ever worn where a) I didn't need 21,575 layers to make My lashes look huge and b) everyone accused Me of rocking fake lashes every time I used this stuff! It was perfection on a wand! And now it's gone! I have yet to find a proper replacement. Rimmel, why do you hate Me? My poor, frail lashes were depending on you!

Next on My list is something that I've held dear since the late '70s. (Shut up and get off of My lawn, dagnabbit!) Royal Bain de Caron was the cologne that My biological father wore when I was growing up. 

Parfum Caron released it in 1941. I love a long-lasting product!

 

I say cologne, and so do most reviews and product descriptions, but this scent is very gender-neutral IMHO. I can smell the cologne-ness of it* but it also has a powdery smell that is very clear, and a touch of floral. Someone had recently gifted Me with a bottle (the bottle is still gorgeous with its unicorns!), and the nostalgia was like a freight train. And it still smells just as wonderful as it did all those years ago! 

If you haven't heard... I love roses. The smell especially. Number 1 Very Best Smell! A while back, someone gifted Me with a bottle of Tea Rose perfume and I thought I might die of happiness. It is legit the most perfect, true rose smell I've ever encountered! This perfume makes Me weep joyously every time I put it on My wrists. I spray it on My pillow cases. If anything deserves a Dreamy Sigh, it's this stuff right here. 

Two things that the Holiday Season wouldn't be right without? The smell of pine trees and Bath And Body Works. 

Remember Me going on about My love of rose as a scent? Pine is Number 2 Very Second Best Smell! I usually wear it as a perfume around the winter months, even in Florida and its tropical, jungle-ish ways. 

Would that make Florida Christmas a Jungle Balls kinda thing?

I'll be here all week. Try the salmon. 

B&BW usually has at least one pine scent during the holidays. Sometimes two! I love to hit them up for these scents in their Home Fragrance Oil. It goes on My wrists and pillow cases and stays for eons! I could drool. Honestly. It's such a great way to relax. It inspires daydreams about winter forests. 

Thankfully, winter is when a lot of pine-scented items hit store shelves. Hallelujah! I can pick up air freshener sprays, Febreze, lotions, all kinds of things! So. Much. Pine. Yay. 

 

If you know Me at all, you know the image above.

 

My obsession with glitter is long-lived and strong as hell. All the pretty, shiny bits of love! My inner drag queen is always purring like a kitten when there is glitter involved. Needless to say, I've tried a lot of glitter over the years.

 

I can't remember the year, but I discovered the Fantasy Makers Confetti glitter one year and I was so excited! New Glitter! Wet N Wild only puts it out at Halloween time, and I've only ever seen Walgreens carry it.

 

I gave it a try, and I fell in love. It's a super silvery glitter, super fine, and has such a fun rainbow shine. I never need to use a primer or any sort of adhesive to keep it on My lids. It never gets in My eyes.

 

It.

 

Is.

 

Perfection.

 

I just wish they'd put out more colors!

 

So every year, I hit every Walgreens in My area, and buy ALL THE GLITTERS!!!

 

 

Speaking of Wet N Wild, they're also pretty clever with the nail polishes.

 

Just below My addiction to glitter, is My addiction to nail polish. It's like little jars of heaven, applied to My nails. *drool*

 

One thing I am wont to do is put a black base down and then add a glitter polish over top. The black base just makes the glitter's color(s) jump out at you! It really makes everything more bold. So I go through a LOT of black polish.

 

Right now, the best black for this (that I've discovered so far) is the Fast Dry I've posted above. The fast dry makes it so much easier to change My polish as frequently as I do (sometimes every day).

 

 

Do you see that image just above this text? That lotion? It's sent to Me from the Gods themselves.

 

Backtracking, I have OCD. And the hand washing that is always portrayed in media? No. Everyone has their own obsessions and compulsions. One of Mine is the need to use lotion on My hands. A lot. So I always have a travel size lotion in My purse or pocket.

 

Jergens did right by Me with this one. The travel size is easily found, cheaply priced, and the lotion itself is fairly badass. It works so well and has a very pleasant smell. I dig it. A lot.

 

 

Silk Works, I love you. You area easy to find (usually Walmart for Me), you're inexpensive, and your hair serum saves My wallet and My hair. A dab of said serum replaces conditioner, so I save money on conditioner. I use actual conditioner a few times a month now, so the bottle lasts longer. And the serum works so gooooooooooooooooooooooood!!!! And it smells great. AND! AND! It's meant for hair AND skin! So silky smooth!

 

 

More OCD love for lotion! Beau Jardin by Heathcote & Ivory is an amazing series from the UK. I was gifted their Lavender & Jasmine hand lotion not too long ago and it's amazeballs. It goes beyond the wonderful, calming smell. It goes beyond the wonderful way it smooths My skin. It's the consistency. It's thicker than most lotions. I only need a dime-sized glob for it to work it's wonders. It's a glorious formula and it works so well!

 

 

And here's some more from Beau Jardin! This set contains a travel-size lotion and bath gel. The one I was gifted is their Rose & Geranium scent.

 

Oh Em Gee.

 

The rose scent is very realistic, so is the gerenium. Beyond that, you get a green, kinda earthy scent. To Me, it smells like the leaves and stems you'd smell if you fresh picked the flowers from a garden. It's a truly wonderful blend of smells. I adore it.

 

Heathcote & Ivory? Kudos to you!

 

 

I found this Lucky Brand lotion at Bealls. I honestly never tried the perfume before, but the lotion smells SO good. SOOO GOOD! The lotion is good, but the quality isn't anything new or novel. It does, however, contain... GLITTER! It's a super fine glitter that just leaves a colorless sparkle on the skin. It's nice for the arms and shoulders. I really do love the smell though. I may have to find the perfume and give it a go!

 

 

Sephora. Sephora... we need to talk.

 

You're Golden Sparkle Body Oil is My prized possession. The buttery, amber scent* is so divine. The random-sized gold flecks are like gold leaf upon My skin. The oil softens My skin like a caress from an angel.

 

BUT THEN YOU TOOK IT AWAY FROM ME.

 

Why did you discontinue this glorious product? It is liquid perfection in a fun little bottle. Please bring it back?!?! I will love you for forever. I swear it. Long, hot love. With tongue. Please?

 

I've saved My bottle. I only use it on Special Occasions. I wish I could use the hell out of it, knowing that I can just buy more.

 

I weep as I type this.

 

 

Take a look at this lotion. The one hovering above these words. Read the ingredients. Take it all in. Bask in it's majesty.

 

Deep Steep, you geniuses!

 

I could babble for days about how good this lotion is. What it does to My skin is a miracle. My skin thrives on this stuff. It goes above and beyond anything I've used before. And it's a nice, semi-thick lotion. The whipped consistency is not unlike yogurt. It feels so silky and nice.

 

But wait! There's more!

 

I was gifted the Coconut & Lime scent. I love these scents. I love them together. HOWEVER! I am really kinda sick and tired of coconut/lime scented products being 75% coconut scent and 25% lime. Or sometimes even 90% coconut and 10% lime. It's getting old, and honestly? I prefer lime to coconut as far as scents go. Fresh lime (and also lemon) is such an invigorating scent! If you strip out the sugary sweetness that a lot of citrus scented body products have, the freshness wakes Me up and keeps Me going. This coconut/lime scent? 80% non-sugary lime and 20% coconut. YAAAAAAAAAAAAY! Finally! If I could hire a legit choir of angels to sing praises at this lotion, I truly would.

 

 

Daisies are My favorite flower, but they don't have a really notable scent. so when I spied Daisy perfume by Marc Jacobs, I was curious as to what it smelled like. It's a really nice floral blend (the website also notes fruit but I don't smell the fruitiness*). I do, however, note a hint of... well it's not banana in the traditional sense. It's more like the ripe, greenish smell of the peel when you first open it up. It's really nice! I like it with the florals!

 

 

More roses!

 

Issey Miyake got it right. It's got the true rose scent, but not like the Tea Rose perfume I mentioned above. Tea Rose doesn't have the alcohol scent that some perfumes do. This perfume does. So it's mostly rose, a bit of other florals, and then that alcohol scent. I hope that makes sense? I still love this perfume, though!

 

 

And... we're back to classics!

 

Some people call Chanel No. 5 a "grandma scent" and I really disagree. In My brain, the Grandma Scent is more subtle and powdery. Chanel No. 5 is just vintage glamor in a bottle. And that's why it's lasted since 1921! Coco, I bow to you.

 

 

Lancome has some great products. I could wax poetic all day.

 

When I was working at Macy's one of the Lancome Goddesses in My store turned Me on to their Juicy Tubes in Moulin Rose. A great gloss, AND IT SMELLS LIKE ROSES. 'nuff said.

 

 

I used to find Bee & Flower rose soap in Chinatown, back in the day. It's a nice soap, nothing super special, but it smells like roses, and I adore the packaging. I'm so very giddy that I can randomly find it at drug stores and health food stores on occasion. And of course, there is always the internet.

 

 

Nag Champa is probably my Number 3 Very Third Best Smell!

 

Many, many people try to make Nag Champa incense and oils and fail miserably in My eyes. If I'm going to get the soap, the incense, the oils... it really HAS to be the Satya Sai Baba brand, which is made by Shrinivas Sugandhalaya. It's the only way I like it. That powdery scent in there that many other brands miss!!

 

So... yeah. That's a list of the Tops Of The Top. I have other loves that I could add in to this list, but alas... this has become the Verbose List Of Doom And Pictures. I hope this didn't become a TL;DR for ya'll and maybe someone reads this and discovers a new love for themselves!

 

 

 

 

* - I cannot sniff bath products and identify every "note" in their fragrance blends. I know folks who can, and I envy them! I try My best to describe what I smell, though!