10 favourite beauty products of 2012

2012 was a good product year for me, I tried a lot of new things and now have some new loves.

So I'm just going to throw skincare, makeup and hair products in at random as I think of them.

As always, my beloved Ultrabland must make this list. I have not been able to try something else without always coming back to Ultrabland. It's good shit. Can be inconvenient - requires hot water, a wash cloth, can be difficult to get off, people freak out about washing your face with oils, etc. but it makes my skin happy.

Bobbi Brown Creamy Concealer is my favourite under eye concealer of all time. It covers really well, looks natural, stays on well, doesn't dry out the eye area and blends easily. What more could you want?

Perfect Potion Rosemary Conditioner is an awesome chemical-free conditioner for dry hair. It makes my hair feel super soft and moisturised without the use of chemicals and silicones, which I love. Plus it has very little scent, so I don't have to worry about it mixing with my fragrance (I like to spray perfume in my hair because it lasts longer than on skin).

Lush Eyes Right Mascara is a great everyday mascara that is easy to remove and doesn't damage lashes. It lasts all day and doesn't require scrubbing to get it off. Also it's quite a wet formula so it doesn't clump and looks more natural.

Benefit They're Real Mascara makes my lashes looks more dramatic than Eyes Right without clumping or being difficult to remove. The packaging is cute and I like the wand, I'm usually opposed to the plastic kinds of wand, instead of the spooly kind, but this really works. The product lasts nicely on lashes too, so I don't have to worry about a little light rain.

Lily Lolo Mineral Foundation and Concealer is my favourite mineral foundation (and foundation in general) of all time. It's cheap (£12.49 for 10grams that lasts me a little less than a year), covers redness and discolouration like a champ, comes in many shades, samples are available, doesn't wash off for swimming, doesn't irritate my skin (something unheard of for me) and blends in easily. The concealer is really nice too, also cheap, covers pimples really well (I wouldn't use it for under eye darkens as it can be a bit dry) and lasts all day too.

By Terry Rose De Rose Sheer Liquid Blush in Fresh Rose is my favourite blush of all time. It goes on really smooth, blends in easier than any other liquid blush I've ever tried, has subtle shimmer that highlights nicely and isn't too intense, so it's easy to apply quickly. It makes me looks healthier and looks natural and pretty.

Lush Catastrophe Cosmetic Face Mask is the best face mask for irritated or sensitive skin. It works really well on sunburn too, I burnt my back up a few months ago, apply Catastrophe Cosmetic on it when I got home and it was completely gone when I took it off a few minutes later. Catastrophe keeps my skin from freaking out too hard if I'm not being as careful with it as I should be.

My new 3 prong black wattle wood hair fork from this etsy shop is awesome. I've been having difficulty with buns lately because my hair is dry and damaged now thanks to the dye, whenever I put my hair in a bun it went all crinkly, angry and even more dry in the ends. I assumed it was the ends being squished under a hair tie so I bought a hair fork from Votepalantine and am so pleased with it! It holds my hair securely (even more securely than a hair band) and doesn't screw with my ends, win win! Also it looks pretty sweet because I bought this one but in black wattle wood, that looks kind of like the fire nation hair things that Azula and Zuko wore in the Avatar: The Last Airbender series.

Moroccan Oil Hydrating Styling Cream is my replacement for the sadly discontinued The Big Tease from Lush. It has silicone and chemicals and all that, but I only use it sometimes, so I haven't seen any damage form it. I like this cream for straightening out kinks from having my hair in a ponytail and for smoothing down flyaways.