Wow, January. You were a very cold and very bitter month. It was so cold in Toronto that it was pretty much on parr with Ottawa winters, which is not something I’ve encountered in the 12 years I’ve been living in this city. It was so cold that my walks to work induced windburn tears and pretty much dissolved my eyelid makeup most days. I got into the habit of packing my makeup and bringing it in to work to do it there instead of risking complete destruction on the walk in!

The first item in my favourites has been an absolute necessity for me this winter. Blistex‘s Lip Medex is the lip balm type product I reach for when I need a fast acting, thick balm to heal my lips. The consistency is thick and very much feels, tastes and smells like medicated vaseline. I’ve worn this a lot while walking to and from work through the exceptionally cold January we’ve had this past year. There were even one or two days where I was walking in -39C (with windchill)! This balm kept my lips completely protected.

I’ve had a lot of eyeshadow favourites this past month and the above two eye looks (left side tutorial, right side tutorial) I loved so much that I ended up wearing them several days in a row which is really unusual for me. So the shadows that make up these combos are what made my favourites this month:

I wish my photography skills could do this shadow justice, but they don’t. L’Oreal‘s Infallible Eye Shadow in Amber Rush is the epitome of rose-gold. Not only is the colour beautiful, but the Infallible eye shadow texture has always been fantastic and this one is no exception.

These two Makeup Geek eyeshadows have become absolute staples in my collection. Bitten is a deep brown-maroon shade. I love this in conjunction with L’Oreal‘s Amber Rush. The other shade, Creme Brulee, has done for me what no other mid-tone brown has ever done. I love using this shade to blend out my lid and crease colours and help fade line between those colours and my browbone highlight. I’ve tried various others shades to do the same thing (Urban Decay‘s Naked and Buck, to name some common ones) but none of them were just the right shade and tone. Both of these Makeup Geek shades are must haves in my book and I’m so glad I finally got around to ordering from the line.

The orange (Inglot AMC Shine 15) and red (Inglot Matte 382) eye look above certainly isn’t for everyone, but it’s my absolute favourite eye look on myself. It’s incredibly vibrant and the orange tones do wonders to bring out the blue in my eyes. It’s just so bright, vivid and happy! A few months ago I tried these two colours out on a whim (I mean really, you wouldn’t normally think to wear luminescent orange and matte red to work) but I quickly fell in love with the combination.

Despite loving my eye looks above and wearing them several times throughout the month, I also had a few days where I was like “mehhhhhh” and didn’t want to really have to do anything extensive with my eyes. These were usually the days I hit the snooze button too many times and was left rushing to get ready. That’s where Maybelline‘s Color Tattoo in Barely Beigecomes in. This pale champagne shade is a cream shadow that makes for a very easy eye look when I’m need to get out the door as quickly as possible. I’ll smooth Barely Beige all over my lids and then blend in any brown shade into the crease (MAC‘s Haux, Cork, etc.) for a quick and easy look. I’ve done it so often that it’s a completely brainless operation for me now.Barely Beige was part of a limited edition collection a year or so ago, but there is a permanent shade called Barely Branded that is near identical if you’re looking to pick this up.

Illamasqua‘s Hussy blush wasn’t one I was expecting to love so much. I bought it at roughly the same time as Tweak (deeper, slightly red) and I loved the look of Tweak… but I just don’t find myself reaching for it like I do with Hussy. Hussy is one of those colours that just happens to match most of my eye looks. It’s very easy to wear and brings just the right amount of colour to my cheeks (go easy on it though, these blushes are incredibly pigmented).

Revlon‘s lip butter in Creme Brulee has always been a favourite of mine, but I’d forgotten about it over the past few months. This is my second tube and it’s almost close to done as well. This is my perfect glossy shade of nude. It doesn’t make me look weird like Creamsicle does, and as such it’s a completely effortless shade. I love wearing this with very dark eye makeup looks.

This one is a bit of a weird favourite. I wore this deluxe sample size of Too Faced‘s Better Than Sex mascara a lot this past month (it came in my Too Faced “A Few of my Favorite Things” holiday set and was easy to pop in my makeup bag on those days where I was doing my makeup in the bathroom at work). I love the formula, I love the effect it gives to my lashes, but I haaaate the brush. The brush has an hourglass shape that can be very frustrating to work with. The end of the brush ends up severely coated in mascara, so much so that it requires a lot of wiping off before you use the wand. And something about this wand causes me to get a lot of mascara on my lid (moreso than usual anyway). So while I love the mascara itself, the wand drives me bonkers! And I definitely wouldn’t be able to justify paying full price for that mascara – I love my drugstore ones far too much. As a note, it has a very wet formula, which is what I’m partial to, but I know most people aren’t a big fan of very wet mascaras.

And that’s January done! I’m not usually one to say this as I quite like winter, snow and cooler temperatures, but I’m about done with this particular winter. It’s been too frigid and too windy and I’m looking forward to spring.