Valentine's Day Beauty Wishlist

You all know how much I love holidays... So whenever I see something holiday-themed, I immediately want it. I've been putting together my Valentine's Day beauty wishlist over the past couple weeks and I thought I'd share my favorites with you. Since I started putting together this list, I've actually bought some of the things, so you can expect full reviews soon!


Urban Decay's flavored body powders. I actually have all of these scents in the old-style packaging, but the new style packaging is even better! I am a total sucker for packaging, I know. I'd get them again just to have the gorgeous boxes. I really do like these, they're sweet scented (Cocoa is amazing, I wish it had a matching perfume) and they also taste sweet. The have a little bit of a tinted shimmer. I used to wear them on my chest/collarbone/décolletage when I was wearing lower-cut shirts. Oddly enough, whenever I wore these, this guy I worked with always told me how pretty I looked.




Physician's Formula Happy Booster blush, bronzer and powder. I don't think I've lusted after any beauty product quite like I did with these. The minute I saw them I just couldn't stop thinking about them. I did end up finding these last week and I love them so much. I'll do a review on them shortly, but let me mention that these currently have $3 off coupons attached to them, so if you're thinking about getting one, make sure to get one with a coupon on it!



Stila Make Me Blush. I feel the same way about this that I do about the Physician's Formula Happy Booster powders. I know that logically, it's just a blush. But when I see it I go crazy. It makes me giddy to look at. Of course, I caved and ordered the set that comes with the Hugs and Kisses lip glazes. It's actually a pretty inexpensive indulgence- the set is only $20.


Philosophy Sweet on You set. One of my readers told me about this! It's supposed to smell like those candy hearts that I love. I have the sweetest readers :) Anyway, I'm a huge Philosophy fan so this is extremely appealing to me. I really really want this!


Bath and Body Works Valentine's Day PocketBacs! They're 5 for $5 right now. These are so cute. I'm a bit of a germophobe so I always have hand sanitizer in my purse, but I wish I had these instead of my plain unscented Purell! Here's what the scents are:

• I Love You (aww ♥) in Sweet Pea
  
• I Love Shoes (lets get ‘em!) in Stylish Strawberry
  
• I Love Cake (maybe just a mini cupcake so that I can fit into my LBD tonight) in Buttercream
• I Love Boys (#bieberfever) in Berry Crush
• I Love Bling (who doesn’t) in Rock Candy

Buttercream and rock candy scented hand sanitizer! Must have these!


YBF Pucker Up lipstick set. They're in heart-shaped tubes! I remember that Models Prefer used to have a set just like this, and I remember always wanting it. I'd probably only be able to pull off that pink color in the middle, but like I said, I'm a complete sucker for packaging.


Kiss Catwalk Nail Decals. Actually, this isn't so much a wishlist item as a recommendation. I just got these and they're perfect for Valentine's Day. Just wanted to make sure I mentioned it!


Sephora Collection Flower Kabuki brush set. Gah. I can't handle how cute these are. I'm not sure how well they would even work for applying powder, but I need them. Anyone have these? Are they good? I love looking at them.


Viktor and Rolf Flowerbomb gift set from Nordstrom.com. It comes in a heart-shaped box, just like a Valentine's Day box of chocolates! I'd rather have perfume than chocolate. Well, maybe. Perfume lasts longer. Can I get perfume and chocolate? I've been meaning to get a full sized bottle of Flowerbomb...




Kat Von D Adora fragrance and Painted Love Lipstick in Adora. Adora doesn't even sound like a fragrance I'd like based on the list of notes (Lychee, Boysenberry, Thyme, Cassis, Hyacinth, Jasmine, Mango Flesh, Patchouli, Sheer Musk, Amber Wood.) but I love love love the bottle. It looks so heavy. And the lipstick? I don't think I really wear red well, but the color of it is so bright and sparkly and look at that romantic looking tube! The red flowers on the black satin background! The little clear base that shows the color!


I'm having cute makeup overload.

YBF Baked Goodies and Chopsticks Lipgloss and Lipliner

YBF is the new cosmetics brand from the lovely beauty maven Stacey Schieffelin. I used to love watching Stacey on TV with her previous line, Models Prefer. She was always so friendly and real and knew all the tricks. I learned how to contour from her! I was wondering what happened to her after the dissolution of Models Prefer, and I was really happy to hear about YBF. I recently got a chance to try out some of the new products, so let's take a look...

The Baked Goodies and Chopsticks collection

The baked goodies portion of this collection consists of three flavored lipglosses. The flavors are:

Coconut Cream, which is a warm medium peachy nude. It's semi sheer and lightly scented with a coconut cream pie scent.

Creme Brulee, which is a semi-opaque frosty beige shimmer. It has a pleasant burnt sugar and vanilla scent.

Strawberry Shortcake, which is a sheer candy pink tint and is scented with a strawberry shortcake scent.


The 'chopsticks' are referring to the eye and lip liners which come in adorable chopstick-style packaging. I only have the lip liner to show:



It's very long, mostly due to the pointed, glitter-covered chopstick like extension on the end. It has a sharpener built into the cap.



The shade is called Nearly Naked and it's a slightly rosy warm nude brown. It's actually rather dark, which you'll see on the swatches below.

Left to right: Creme Brulee lipgloss, Strawberry Shortcake lipgloss, Coconut Cream lipgloss, Nearly Naked lip liner.

The formula on the glosses is a really light, smooth, non-sticky formula. It doesn't feel heavy or thick on the lips. It is very lightweight, which feels nice but also creates a shorter wear time.

The scents are really nice, very sweet but also lightly scented, so they're never overpowering or sickening. They don't seem to have a flavor to them, just a neutral gloss taste.

The packaging is really unique. The caps are a heavy, matte red metal that looks like a red satin top hat and the tubes are almost bulb-shaped. You can see that the inner chamber that contains the gloss is straight, but the body of the tube is thick in the center and tapered toward the edges, creating a lens-like effect. The tubes are large and heavy. The closest thing that resembles this tube would be the Milani 3D Glitzy Gloss tube, but the YBF ones are even heavier.

The liner packaging is really cute and glamorous. It's a matte black pencil with that red glitter point on the end. The cap contains a sharpener and the pencil feels like one of those plastic-like materials instead of sharp wood.

For the most part, I really enjoyed the glosses and two of them will become part of my regular rotation. There were, however, a few downsides for me.

The Creme Brulee shade of gloss isn't wearable, in my opinion. At least not for my skintone. It's so frosty and opaque that it completely fills in your lips with a whitish-beige frostiness. I don't know many people who can pull off that look. I'd say that this shade is best for layering over lipsticks or adding a highlight to the center of the lip.

The gloss formula is also so light that it can be hard to get enough on the wand. I find that I need to dip the wand three or four times to cover my whole lips. Not a major flaw, just something I noticed in the course of testing the gloss.

Overall, the gloss was pretty great. I love that it's scented and light textured and two of the three colors were really flattering.

The liner has a couple issues that I encountered. While the sharpener cap is extremely convenient and a really awesome idea, there are two things you need to keep in mind. One, you must be careful not to cut yourself on the exposed blade. This probably won't be an issue if you keep it on your vanity, but if you carry it in your purse or makeup bag, it can become a concern.

Two, since the cap is a sharpener, there is a gap in the lid. This can allow debris to enter and possibly contaminate your pencil. Again, not a problem if you only use it at your vanity, but can become a problem if you keep it in your purse.

Another thing to note is that the glitter-coated point is fragile. It actually fell off when I was removing the plastic wrapper. It is glued in loosely, so be gentle with it. Also, the glitter does tend to come off easily. Maybe coating it in a layer of clear nail polish would help.

I can't speak for the wear of the liner because frankly, I couldn't wear it! It's much, much too dark for my skintone. As much as I love the 90s, I'm so not into that brown over-lined lip look. I also rarely wear lipstick colors dark enough to match the liner color, so I really haven't had a chance to test it. I think the packaging is absolutely adorable, but the Nearly Naked shade just isn't appropriate for me.

I wasn't able to locate this set or the individual items on YBF's new website, but I found it here on HSN's website. Note that it does also come with a blue-black eyeliner pencil if you were to order the whole thing. I think I'd like to try that pencil, actually... Ever since I tested that Pixi blue black eyeliner, I've been in love with the subtle brightening effect it has on my eyes.

EDIT: I forgot to mention, if you're a YBF or Stacey fan, you might be interested in this:

Pajama Party At Sea - Take a cruise with YBF!

Calling all fabulous females! Former model and makeup guru Stacey Schieffelin is taking her fun-filled, girl power movement to the tropics for the fifth time to bring you Pajama Party at Sea.

Join your best friend Stacey for four days of relaxation, renewal, learning, laughs and best of all new girlfriends. Stacey is offering a unique opportunity for women to escape the stress of daily life and bask in the beauty of the Caribbean surrounded by your best friends, new and old! For the first time ever, the cruise is available in the US and will invite our favorite girlfriends from the UK. Bring your entire family, come with a best friend or come by yourself!

Stacey’s Pajama Party at Sea takes place on a luxury Royal Caribbean Cruise ship fully equipped with all your entertainment must-haves. Indulge in fine dining at one of the five on-board restaurants, sweat and sculpt at the fitness center, save on style with luxury duty-free shopping, and try your luck at the Vegas-inspired casino. And that’s not all; join Stacey and the ybf team for more unforgettable experiences including:

• A private cocktail party
• Beauty makeover sessions
• Inspirational sessions with the ybf life coach
• Tons of gorgeous giveaways
• A ybf makeup kit for every Girlfriend loaded with your favorite ybf products worth over $500!
• Memories that will last a life time

Tickets will be on sale soon for the cruise that leaves Miami to go to the Bahamas and Key West, leaving on July 11 and returning on the 15th.

(These were sent to me for review.)