We are a month into 2015 and I have a feeling this is going to be my best year in beauty yet. I have been trying out some new products-- especially in the haircare and skincare categories. Many of them aren't ready to be called favorites yet, but I do have a few that I reach for often enough to share with you guys.

The first is the Laura Mercier Flawless Skin Face Polish. This stuff is super gentle-- but really gets the job done. The exfoliant is so fine, like grains of sand, and just a pea size amount really works. Plus it just looks good sitting in your shower or on your counter. Another thing I bought myself for Christmas, along with the Face Polish, was a Tanya Burr lipgloss. Well, I bought a few, but I Found Nemo has been my absolute favorite of the three I got. It a slightly coral shade that smells amazing and feels great on the lips-- not too sticky but not too thin, either. It instantly brightens up my face when I wear it, which I really like.

Two hair products I've really been enjoying are the Sebastian Potion 9 styling cream and the Aveeno Nourish + Condition Leave-In Treatment. I mean, obviously I love the Sebastian Potion 9-- look at how big that bottle is! I put this in my hair when it is wet to leave it feeling soft with lovely waves, and when it is dry to give it a textured beachy look that is still soft. When I don't use that, I used the Aveeno leave-in treatment. Since I got my balayage/ombre--it's kind of a mix between the two--done, my ends have occasionally been a little dry. This stuff really helps that: a few sprays and a comb through and my ends feel soft and moisturized.

My next favorite is a body wash and it smells so good. So good. It's the H20 Plus Sea Salt Body Wash. If you're a fan of earthier scents, like the Jo Malone Wood Sage and Sea Salt fragrance, you will love this. It lathers up great and, again, smells amaaaazing. I also have the lotion in this scent, which smells just as good but is a little too liquidy for me to love it. My last favorite is pretty new-- I just got it a few days ago-- but I am in love. It's the Sally Hansen Velvet Texture nail polish in Deluxe. It's a matte nail polish with a funny texture-- not quite velvet, but something different. This color is a deep, royal blue that is some lights looks a little teal and it is gorgeous! Some people report heavy chipping with this nail polish, but I've only found that with the other color I bought-- the black Velveteen polish. But I've been wearing it for three days and only a couple of nails have chipped.

Like I said, I've been trying out some new products and I hope a few of them make their way into February's favorites.

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know that I suffer from some pretty dry skin. I have tried so many different products to try to combat it, and this winter I think I have finally found a cream that works-- but which one is it? As Steve Harvey would say, we got a good for ya today!

I first tried the Benefit Total Moisture Facial Cream as a sample from Sephora and I fell in love. It perked my skin right up. It was like a miracle had occurred! So the first chance I got, I went out and bought it and began using it immediately. I applied this product every night, but I soon noticed my skin was drying out again-- not as badly as it had been, but noticeably so. And the smell, though not horrible, was overpowering. I decided to move on for a while and try something new.

That something new was the Pond's Dry Skin Cream. My grandma used Pond's for years so I felt that it was certainly worth trying. It, too, had a strong scent but, unlike Benefit's cream, it kept working. I noticed that my skin only seemed dry if I forgot to use it for a night or two. If I used this cream nightly, my skin continuously looked and felt amazing.

Because the look and feel of these creams is so similar, I decided to do a little research and see how similar they really were. They actually only have five ingredients in common: Water, Glycerin, Stearic Acid, Fragrance (Parfum), and Glyceryl Stearate. If you look at the ingredients that set them apart from one another, it would seem that Benefit has the more natural and skin-friendly product of the two. Pond's cream includes a couple of controversial ingredients such as Methylparaben and DMDM Hydantoin, as well as other ingredients that are restricted in countries outside of the United States. However, Benefit's cream has a few controversial ingredients also: Sodium Lauroyl Glutamate, Tetrasodium Edta, and Hexyl Cinnamal. So neither product makes me 100% comfortable about applying it to my skin on a daily basis.

But if we are just looking at how the two products perform, I would definitely say Pond's is the clear winner for me. And it is certainly the better value: Pond's gives you 6.7 oz for approximately $7, while Benefit only gives you 1.7 oz for $42. Perhaps some of their pricing is packaging; Benefit has Pond's beat there.

Again, neither of these products wowed me when I did my research on their ingredient. Therefore I will continue my search for a healthier, but still effective, moisturizer.

original photo: unsplash

One of my goals for the new year was to be both healthier and happier. So far, I think I’ve been doing a pretty good job. Not perfect, but hey! Baby steps! Here are a few of the things I’ve been trying on my journey that I’ve found make me feel great. I’m not saying that these things will absolutely make you healthier— though some of them certainly can’t hurt!— but they are things that I find help me feel better on a daily basis.

Nothing beats opening up the mailbox once a month to find a little bag of beauty goodies to indulge in, and this month ipsy really did not disappoint. I'm usually 50% pleased with my bag 80% of the time, but this month I can say I was happy with every product I received and look forward to trying them out-- and I'm already carrying one around in my handbag.

Here is what I received:

Coastal Scents Liquid Eyeliner. I've been a huge fan of Coastal Scents for years. Their eyeshadows are smooth and pigmented and they have an amazing MAC 217 brush dupe. So I'm excited to try out their eyeliner-- I need the winged look back in my life.

Hey Honey Take It Off! Exfoliating Honey Peel Off Mask. I have found what I think may be the best exfoliator in the world with the Laura Mercier Face Polish. But as this is a peel off mask, and not your standard rub-it-around-and-wash-it-off exfoliator, I'm interested in seeing what it can do.

Laura Mercier Foundation Primer. I like the foundation-- it's in my top three-- so we'll see about the primer.

(MALIN+GOETZ) Mojito Lip Balm. Already in my handbag. Smells wonderful and feels great-- but not spectacular.

Pacific Natural Mineral Coconut Eyeshadow. This is a great neutral shade, but nothing terribly exciting or unique.

For only $10, I would say ipsy started off the year right with some wonderful products.

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This is a strange blog post to be writing, especially because I tend to hold on to relationships and friendships until they are rotten and stinky and no good for anybody involved. I usually think that any problem can be fixed-- and my way of fixing them is to compromise, compromise, compromise until I am totally unhappy and getting nothing out of the relation/friendship. But one thing I've decided to do this year is take better care of myself-- including my happiness-- which means letting go of relationships and friendships that aren't good for me. Here are a few signs that you need to let go of someone in your life:

They never have anything positive to say. It is never good to be around a Negative Nancy or a Debbie Downer for long periods of time-- or many short periods of time. It will rub off on you. And watch out for those backhanded compliments-- you know, things that are meant to sound positive, but totally aren't? "Those jeans really hide your muffin top" is not part of the friend code of honesty, especially when you didn't ask for an opinion.

You dread their texts and phone calls. Does this one even need an explanation? If you cringe with fear every time your phone goes off, it is time to cut that person out of your life.

They gossip about others. Okay, yeah, we all rant about other people occasionally. But if your friend gossips about other friends on a daily basis, it is safe to assume they probably gossip about you too.

It's always a competition. I'm big on friends supporting friends and women supporting other women. If your friend rarely does that and instead turns your friendship into a competition, it's time to move on. That's just not a healthy mindset to have.

Letting go isn't always easy and it may take a few tries before it sticks. But I really believe life will be better in the long run-- for all of us-- if we let go of people who make us feel bad.

Have you ever had to let go of a friend? How did you do it and why?

Thanks to some Christmas money from my parents and my grandparents-- as well a little bit of extra money I'd had stashed away-- I was able to indulge a little after the holidays and purchase a few goodies that I had been lusting after for a while. The most exciting purchase was the Rebecca Minkoff Mini MAC bag, which I had been wanting for absolutely ages. Every year for Christmas I buy my mom a designer handbag and yet, when it comes to me, I've never been able to spend more than around $30 on one. Since the bag I bad been carrying around is about two or three years old, I decided to take the plunge and buy this gorgeous black cherry bag. And, yes, it was on sale so I didn't have to feel too guilty when hitting 'place order.'

I also got a few beauty bits and bobs. I had never tried out the Tanya Burr lipgloss collection before-- every time I would go to purchase, the colors I wanted would be sold out. But when she came out with her new colors, I found a couple that I really wanted to try out (I Found Nemo and Enchanted Forest)... and was able to buy one of the ones I could never luck out and get before (Afternoon Tea). They are wonderful: smooth and not sticky at all, great pigmentation, and they smell amaaaazing. Probably the best smelling lip glosses I have ever had.

And because I had super dry skin-- year round, really, but especially now that it is winter-- I got a couple of things to help save my skin. The Laura Mercier Flawless Skin Face Polish leaves my face feeling soft and smooth. It's exfoliating particles are so fine it feels like sand, so it is really gentle on my skin. And a couple of nights a week I have started using the Origins Drink Up Intensive Overnight Mask, which smells citrusy and fresh and really moisturizes my skin.

These buys helped keep the Christmas spirit alive for me just a little bit longer. Did any of you make after Christmas buys for yourself? What did you get? I, personally, may need to refrain from online shopping for a while now that the season is over!