In addition to pondering the wonder and beauty of music, I sat down to consider what I loved most in the beauty world this past year. Not all of these products will be new to this year – many of them are just new to me. And in some cases, we have old tried and true favourites. Either way, this is a list of things that have found a permanent place in my 2011 routine.

BEST BRAND

In any makeup brand, there are going to be things that are phenomenal, and things that just leave you feeling heartbroken and confused. I love e.l.f., but some of the products are utter crap. I love MAC, but the collections this year have been extremely boring and, I’ve heard, lacking in quality. Wet n’ Wild make fantastic polishes, but I just cannot understand the obsession with their eyeshadows (save for the Comfort Zone palette, which is ten kinds of awesome). But the one brand that I can purchase anything in and pretty much know that I’ll love it is Urban Decay. Primers, shadows, glosses, you name it. The only thing that I’ll hold against this brand is the lipsticks. I’ve yet to find one that I really love. I’ll leave the lipsticks to MAC, I guess.

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Now that I’ve had a few days to stink on it, I’ve drummed up a list of some of my favourite things in 2011. Part of the list (to be posted later) is beauty related. The other part (below the post cut) is all about music, baby. Because music has been one of my biggest loves for years. Serious business. Without further ado, here is the Best of 2011 Music List. Feel free to comment with YOUR favourite tunes of Twenty-Eleven!

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Happy 2012, y’all! Hope your new year’s celebrations went well. We spent ours indoors, making merry and playing Monopoly, as seems to have become something of a tradition for us. I don’t know about you, but I rather enjoy being boring. It’s very restful.

With the new year, I bring you something new. Or, at least, it’s new to me. A while back, I was searching Etsy for some good whipped soaps with a woodsy fragrance for Kev. The winter months tend to play hell on our skin, and while I can easily nab some good moisturizing body washes from work, his fragrance options are really quite limited. He’s been stuck using Bath & Body Works Sea Island Cotton Creamy Body Wash, the poor chap. He likes it just fine, but it’s not exactly masculine.

My search ended at PurplecatCreatives. Initially, I was drawn by the beautiful amber packaging with whimsical product labels. I’m a sucker for great packaging. Then, when I saw PurplecatCreatives is based right here in Kentucky, I committed myself to make a purchase. I browsed their fragrance library, and decide to make a small sampler purchase to test the fragrances. I purchased mini sampler body butter jars in Dragon Butter, Raven’s Blend, Pumpkin Macchiato, Twilight Gypsy, Woodland Amber, and Redwood Grove.

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While I have blogged at different sites since the late 90s, this was the first year that I started viewing beauty blogging sites. I had been into makeup and fashion before, but had fallen out of the habit of fussing about it a few years ago. Viewing beauty blogs, however, rekindled my interest, and encouraged me to go on my first beauty shopping spree in years. On posting about my haul, I asserted that “this is not a beauty blog”. The next few beauty-related posts, I still adamantly stated that this was not turning into a beauty blog. But after some encouragement and positive feedback from friends and folks who read my reviews on other beauty sites, I asked myself, what if it was?

And so, glostix was reborn. No longer would she be a dusty chunk of webspace, used only for random image storage and a cool email address. She would actually have a purpose.

I learned a lot in 2011, and tried many new, cool things. I’ve also met some wonderful people through beauty and blogging, proving that beauty isn’t about being pretty or painted, but having the whole package. These people are funny, kind and giving. The beauty blogosphere and indie makeup community is bursting at the seams with strong men and women, and I consider myself blessed to know them.

Simply because I find these sorts of things interesting, here are some stats that reflect the activity of glostix in 2011.

Total unique visitors: 20,067
Total page hits: 118,653

Top ten posts of 2011:
Bath & Body Works Semi Annual Sale 2011 Guide
Happy Haulidays Giveaway
Sugarpill Burning Heart Quad
e.l.f. Eyelid Primer: New Colours, New Review
High Voltage Cosmetics
Revlon Colorburst Lip Butters
UDPP Tubes at Sephora
Clearance Crawl: Hot Topic & Target
Paris Amour Giveaway!
Top 10 Thingy

Top Ten Search Keyphrases:
high voltage cosmetics
bath and body works semi annual sale
elf eyelid primer champagne
urban decay eyeshadow swatches
glostix
elf eyelid primer
revlon lip butter swatches
revlon lip butter peach parfait
urban decay sale
elf eyelid primer swatches

What Next?
At first, I worried that I would not have enough material to cover to keep this place interesting. I most definitely don’t have to worry about that now. The problem at this point is finding the time to test, swatch, review and post everything that I want to say about various articles I’ve acquired. I definitely hope to do so more this year! I plan to write more, and engage with my readers by responding to comments much more regularly than I had before. I also have one giveaway planned in the Spring to go along with my birthday, which should be exciting. Lastly, I want to make sure that I can stay connected with my readers through Facebook.

I hope this new year brings excitement and opportunity for everyone. May all your resolutions be successfully achieved, and all your needs met!

Much love and warmth,
Bekka

Thanks to staying up and getting a bit tipsy on White Russians this Christmas Eve, I had a bit of a late start for Christmas. I did, however, take the time to do a bit of a face, using Urban Decay’s ever-famous Naked palette. I wound up using half of the palette for this one. No, really.

FACE:
Urban Decay Urban Defense (Halo)
Physicians Formula Healthy Wear Powder Foundation (Translucent Light)
Physicians Formula Healthy Wear Bronzer (Light)
e.l.f. Studio Blush (Candid Coral)
Rockabetty Beauty (Frost)

LIPS:
Morgana Cryptoria Lip Balm (Twist of Fate)