Happy Holidays!

Charlie wishes you a very happy holiday season too.

I know I've been MIA recently -- I can only blame holiday-related insanity.

But I wanted to make sure to wish everyone who reads this blog a very happy holiday, no matter what you celebrate.

I will be back very soon with reviews of a bunch of great, new products -- and I suspect Santa's bringing me a few more treasures because my Christmas list consisted of almost nothing but makeup goodies.

I hope you all get some fun gifts, eat yummy food, and enjoy time with family and friends.

And as always, thanks for reading!

Review -- The Balm Mont Balm Eyeshadow Palette

I have been absolutely obsessed with wine, burgundy, and/or cranberry eye shadow lately.

It makes sense, I suppose, because those kinds of rich, dark red shades scream fall and winter, and I really like the way the warm tones contrast with my blue eyes.

Whatever the reason, I've been using them like crazy so when I saw that The Balm had a new quad at Kohl's that features a gorgeous cranberry shade, I had to pick it up.

(Of course, it's The Balm, so I likely would have picked it up regardless of the color selection but ...)

The Balm's Mont Balm Eyeshadow Palette is an adorable ski-themed quad with the usual fun, retro artwork on the packaging.

Review -- Make Up For Ever Artist Palette

When it comes to Make Up For Ever, my experience is mostly with their face products.

I've tried many of their foundations, concealers and powders over the years and love pretty much all of them -- the MUFE HD Foundation has pretty much achieved holy grail status for me, actually. But despite the fact that the brand's other products have a pretty stellar reputation, I haven't tried much else.

I have a couple of their old shadow singles, but that's it.

Still, when I heard a few months back that they were reformulating their eye shadows, I was intrigued. MUFE describes the new shadows as a gel-powder formula with a silky texture that makes them super easy to apply and blend and ultra-fine, atomized pigments for intense, super-saturated color.

Sounds pretty great, right?

So I had to give these a go, but because I wanted to get the most bang for my buck, I decided to try their Artist Palette, which features the new shadow formula.

Review -- Lancome Jason Wu Collection Color Design 6-Pan Palette in Dark Romance

It's been years since I tried a Lancome eyeshadow -- I currently only have one single in my collection and I've probably had it for at least four years --so when they had their Friends & Family sale recently, I decided that it was time to take the plunge ... again.

(I promised myself I wasn't going to buy much before the end of the year, but I caved in the face of all the amazing Black Friday/Cyber Monday/Friends & Family sales. I am weak, weak, weak.)

I was just going to buy a single shadow or two when I saw the Jason Wu Collection Color Design 6-Pan Palette in Dark Romance and I was so drawn to the colors that I had to give it go.

The palette is apparently inspired by Jason Wu's 2014 Fall Collection and Lancome's website describes it as combining "rich autumn colors with hints of metallic glam for on and off the runway looks."

Review -- L.A. Girl Glazed Lip Paints

A few months back, I bought a Too Faced kit from Sephora that contained one of the Melted Liquified Long-Wear Lipstick and though I'd seen some pretty good reviews of the product, I wasn't overly impressed.

I didn't hate it or anything, but I just didn't think it was worth the $21 price tag that the full-size Melteds go for.

Especially when there's an incredibly similar product that costs a fraction of the price and performs just as well.

The L.A.Girl Glazed Lip Paints are very similar to Too Faced's Melted Lipsticks in terms of pigmentation and texture, but you can pick them up for $4 each.

Pretty amazing, right?

Review -- L'Oreal Colour Riche Dual Effects Eyeshadow

Recently, when I was trying to organize my oversized makeup collection, I realized that I really don't have too many drugstore eye shadows.

There's no real reason for that. I'm a big fan of drugstore makeup -- I actually feel like some of my favorite new foundations in the past year or so have been from drugstore brands and God knows I love me plenty of drugstore lipsticks.

But with the exception of a bunch of e.l.f. shadows and a few other random brands, eye shadows from the drugstore haven't really made their way into my makeup bag.

So a few months back when I saw that L'Oreal had come out with a new line of shadow quads, I decided to give them a try. The Colour Riche Dual Effects Eyeshadows each feature four shades, which are meant to deliver rich color and smooth, velvet-y texture.

Review -- Josie Maran Coconut Watercolor Cheek Gelee

I absolutely love cream blush.

Especially in the winter when my skin starts to look seriously dry and dull -- because instead of just sitting on your cheeks like powder blush, the cream variety blends into your skin for a really natural, glowy look.

I just always think that it provides such a fresh, healthy look.

My cream blush obsession has gotten pretty out of control this year, actually, so I've tried a bunch.

I was particularly intrigued by the Josie Maran Coconut Watercolor Cheek Gelees because their consistency is somewhat unique -- it's kind of a cross between a cream and a gel, which makes for an interesting texture. It also contains 50 percent pure coconut water, so it's hydrating too.

Review -- Maybelline Color Sensational Creamy Matte Lipsticks

As a rule, I don't like matte lipsticks.

Not only do they tend to be drying and feel uncomfortable, they seem to highlight every crack, line, and dry patch that you have on your lips so they just require too much effort to make work.

But I do kind of like the way they look, particularly in fall and winter and especially when they're in darker shades. There's just something really bold and glamorous about them.

Still, I'd sworn off buying matte lipsticks a long time ago because the ones I did have just wound up collecting dust in the back of my drawer. When I started reading and hearing really positive things about Maybelline's Color Sensational Creamy Matte Lipsticks, though, I thought maybe it was time to reconsider mattes.