Meighan Tosten

Best of 2010! [Part one: skin, hair, body products!]

As 2011 begins, let us not forget the great things 2010 brought us! This blog is going to be my "best of 2010" awards blog. Everything will be in categories and I will have a high end and a low end best of 2010 product for each category! I thought of maybe doing this in a video on my youtube channel, but thought that this would be a great blog to start the new year with! So let's begin!

SKIN PRODUCTS OF 2010

Formula 10.0.6 became a staple in my beauty regimen this year. I really enjoy many of their products. The price is reasonable and the products are packaged in nice tubes and bottles with bright colored lettering. I got the chance to test out their oil free moisturizer, foaming cleanser, orange bergamot mud mask, tinted moisturizer, and over night acne treatments. They are all miracle products! I have been steadily using them for several months now and don't see myself stopping any time soon!

I normally have oily skin issues, however when winter in Jacksonville hit me, I had some dry issues to address. The Nivea cream saved my skin! It's such a simple, no muss, no fuss product with simple packaging. It is phenomenal, I recommend it if you have dry skin or if you, like me, have the occasional dry skin flare up!

Another "low-end" (not meaning poor quality, but less expensive) skin product I loved this year was a green tea infused exfoliating product from st. Ives. I really enjoyed using it to get any dry flaky skin off of my face, and I also loved that it had salicylic acid in it's ingredients to fight acne.

As far as high end products for skin go, I was able to try out a brand more thouroughly this year than I had in the past. I had tried philosophy products before and had liked them but would only use one or two prodicts from them here and there. This year I tried their purity product, hope products, and various other items in the product line. They have some really great products! The only downside is an obvious one....price. For the smaller sized hope in jar, you pay about $50. 

Hair Care products of 2010

The aveda rosemary mint shampoo and conditioner have been favorites of mine since 9th or 10th grade. I stuck with them through 2 packaging changes and a slight formula change, however the quality has always stayed the same!! The smell great...like most aveda products do! They are more pricey than drugstore or lower end shampoos and conditioners, but they work nicely to fight dry scalp and to nourish your hair. They run about $30 per container.

The macadamia nut oil conditioning treatment is amazing! it runs between $25 and $30, but is sooo worth it. I could tell the difference in just a few uses! It has a smooth texture, doesn't linger and cause greasiness after you use it, and it smells great too!

The It's a 10 brand was completely new to me this year. A friend of mine suggested it to me through facebook and I'm so glad she did! It targets 10 different things that you might want for a hair care product. It is a leave in miracle worker!

The final higher end product that made it into my "best of 2010" is the bed head ego boost. I have spoke about the product on my youtube channel, and I'e used it for many years. The packaging and formula have been the same through that time. It runs I believe around $15, and it lasts a decent amount of time. It is another leave in product, however it isn't thick like most leave in conditioners. It is a bit gel like and much more liquidy than any other leave conditioners I've tried. It specifically claims to be a split end mender. 

As far as high styling products go I enjoy just a few things that I feel were worthy of being in my best of list. The chi silk infusion is a cult favorite and a favorite of mine as well. I love the way it leaves my hair fealing silky. Another set of styling products I looooved this year were some items by got2be. Their guardian angel spray are absolutely fantastic. I love all three: protect and flatten, protect and blow dry, and protect and curl. All three are not only heat protecting sprays but styling sprays as well!! To finish off any look I love the got2be 2 sexy voluptuous volume hair spray!

At the top of my list of lower hair care products is a line from herbal essence call long term relationship. I use all of the products in the line. The shampoo and conditioner work well and the leave in conditioner is wonderful! It's great for when you really want a thick leave in product that really feels as if it is saturating into your hair! All of the products run around $5 in this particular line. 

This next product I discovered kind of late in 2010 but it is wonderful none the less! It is by organix and it goes along with their line of natural products and specifically their coconut milk line. I like the shampoo and condition from this line as well..not as much as other shampoos and conditioners, but I do like it. This product is a lower end split end mender. A great substitute for the bed ego boost if you want to spend less!

There we some really awesome lower end (again not to be confused with lower quality) hairstyling products I tried this year! If you're looking for an alternative to the chi silk infusion, try the john freida frizz ease hair serum. To protect against heat, try the treseme heat protectant spray! I really like the nozzle on the treseme heat protectant. Finally, The treseme tres two hair spray is my all time favorite hair spray...I like even more than any high end hair spray I've ever tried. Nothing compares!

 

Body products of 2010

To close out Part one of my "best of 2010" blog, I want to talk about some great body products I tried and loved this year!

I love the apricot scrub from St.Ives. It's great to get your skin nice and smooth. It's also perfect as a pre-sunless tanner product. Speaking of sunless tanners, there were 2 that stand out to me for this year. The neutrogena spray mist self tanner is a product worth trying! I did a review of it on my youtube channel. It's phenomenal. Another great sunless tanning product, which I have been loyal to for years, is the jergen's natural glow daily moisturizer. It gives a gradual and natural looking glow and doesn't leave stain on every white piece of fabric in sight!

There were 2 higher end body creams that I really enjoyed using this year. The coconut body butter from the body shop is one that a family friend introduced me to about 2 or 3 years ago, the lush karma cream is one that I was new to this year. I love anything that smells like coconuts so the body butter from the body shop is just great for me! It's very thick and super moisturizing. The Karma cream, has hints of patchouli in it, which I also love. It's a little thinner that the body shop butter, but a great moisturizer none the less. 

 

There are 2 lower end body lotions, that I think definitely deserved to be mentioned. This past summer hawaiian tropic vamped up their packaging and tweaked their formula to creat and amazing line of after sun lotions, and creams. My favorite was the after sun lotion that smelled of coconut and limes! They also have a body butter that smells similar to the more expensive body shop coconut body butter by the way! The other moisturizer that needs to be mentioned the bath and body works body butter. My personal favorites are the twilight woods, warm vanilla sugar, and coconut lime verbena.

For the last few products in the first part of the best of 2010 blogs, I want to talk about some body wash/soap type products! This year I have been a total lush junkie! Starting off with their solid soaps, the honey I washed the kids, rockstar, and quingereme of nineveh soap fragrances are my favorites! Lush is overall reasonable priced and their soap fragrance linger after you shower!

A body wash staple, which has been for some time, is the St, Ives oatmeal and shea butter shower gel. It's simplistic, smells great, and the shea butter helps your skin stay soft!

For those days, where a bath is more my speed, I turn to lush yet again! I am a huge fan of their bubble bars and bath bomb. The bubble bars that I think need to be mentioned are ruby red slippers, karma bubble bar, the comforter, and the ma bar! My favorite bath bombs or the year have to be butterball, cinders, vanilla fountain, and sakura! If you haven't jumped into the lush, you have to ASAP!

That's it for part one ya'll!! Stay tuned for part two which will be my top perfumes and home fragrances of 2010!