Trite as it is, the holidays are over and the new year is just around the corner. Who isn’t doing some kind of ‘year in review’-type thing now?

2008 was the year I began this blog, because 2008 was the year I actually started to give a damn about my personal appearance and took up a vested interest in beauty, makeup and style. I would attribute this primarily because I’ve started wearing what I call my “big grown-up lady life” — in other words, I’m an adult now and I want to look like one – not a college kid, working two part-time jobs (one of which is being a slacker). Those days are behind me and I’m glad for it!

With a full-time salaried job, a place to live that I call my own and a set of responsibilities that I somehow magically learned how to handle play a hand in developing my identity through the use of beauty and all its related miscellany.

So what five worthwhile cosmetic revelations can I fondly look back on from 2008?

1. Lipstick is not just for special occasions or grandmothers. Over the course of 2008, I acquired a number of different lipsticks in various colors and finishes from an array of makers. My favorite? That’s a tough one because I seriously have warm, fuzzy feelings for all of them, but I will go with Christian Dior Rouge Dior Replenishing Lipcolor in No. 357, Gala Pink. A truly long-lasting, sumptuously moisturizing lipstick formula and straight-up, high-saturation color. Daytime or evening, winter to fall. Perfect. AND it smells nice because it is modestly scented with the Dior “rose” fragrance.
2. Washing daily with a quality facial cleanser is THE first step to looking lovely. Not sloughing off the makeup from your day, plus unwanted clingers like dirt, oil and other free radicals can really make a person look drab. Lumene makes a number of face washes using extracts from skin-loving stuff like cloudberry, blueberry, cranberry, linseed and sea buckthorn. I like Lumene Radiant Touch Cream Cleanser because it lathers nicely, smells good and gently washes away makeup and oil. Since Lumene products are divided into various collections for different skincare needs, I recommend buying the accompanying toner and moisturizer to maximize the benefits for your skin. [Confession: I'm using Olay Complete Lathering Cleanser right now; but once I'm done I'm switching back to Lumene!] Lumene products are available via CVS/pharmacy, which often has them at 50% off. Ulta carries some of their line, too.
3. Big girls should use real brushes. Throw away (or at least leave them for when you’re in a pinch) the dinky sponge-tip eyeshadow wands that come with the compact. Brushes that tiny may work okay for Barbie, but we have life-sized faces and precision is key. The right brush, I’ve learned, is necessary to take an “eh, so-so” look to “wow! how did you do that?!” There are kinds for eyeshadow, lipcolor, blush, powder, blending (every woman should have a blending brush), and more. Be careful, though. You do get what you pay for – brushes from the drugstore that may look nice are often not worth the money because the hairs come out and end up on your face, where they’re completely useless. Dole out the money and get some professional brushes from a reputable retailer like Sephora. After hundreds of uses, the brushes will have paid for themselves. And don’t forget the brush cleaner! It will prolong the lives of your brushes even more.
4. Issues with eyebrows unfortunately plague many of us whether we have been a bit overzealous with the tweezers, or haven’t seen a pair of tweezers in years, or were just born with uneven, wimpy, unflattering eyebrows. If you’re like me and have the shape and arch just right but not enough oomph to properly frame your face, try on an eyebrow filler. I use a Milani Easybrow Automatic Pencil to darken and emphasize my eyebrows and the results are amazing for a drugstore product. The double-ended pencil has a spiral brush to soften and blend the color in for a natural appearance and I top everything off with Sephora’s Professional Clear Natural Mascara for a perfect finish. My eyebrows look natural yet bold and don’t budge until I want them to (i.e., when I wash it off at night).
5. Before you get that eyeshadow brush anywhere even close to your eyelid, put some primer on it first, please! Before I discovered Urban Decay Primer Potion I was always ending up with a greasy-looking eyelid and my favorite dark eyeshadows camped out in the crease of my eyelid. With a primer, that won’t happen and it will make your eyeshadow last longer (literally in the sense that you won’t need to reapply, but also because you’re not wasting any for reapplications) and look more vibrant. I don’t use any eyeshadow without putting primer on my lids first (unless it’s a cream shadow by Benefit) and neither should you. My only wish? That the bottle was not so oddly shaped and/or the wand was short. I imagine a lot of the product gets stuck in the bottom of the skinny tube and is unreachable.

Ah, all these things I’ve come to live by in just one year. I’ve come a long way, haven’t I? So naive, so innocent… I’ve learned a lot about how to be pretty (or prettier, my boyfriend would insist) in 2008!

So what am I going to set out to conquer in 2009?

Foremost, a budget. Wait, what? Yes, that’s right. I will be the first to admit I splurged on makeup in 2008, although I have now amassed a collection of products that I adore, am proud of and that I will use until I run out. Really, it all became an expense taken for the sake of research, which I also hope to share more of in the coming year.

Beyond reigning in the spending to a more frugal level, I look forward to exploring exciting, jewel-toned eyeshadows from the palettes I own, as well as taking a closer look at my fingernails and playing with lacquer. Also going give cream blush a whirl-and-swirl, hopefully with photo-worthy results. Ah, and of course, more fun with red lipstick. All of this… with PICTURES!

So cheerio, 2008, and hello ‘09! I think I’m ready for my close-up.