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Thursday, December 29, 2005

The Best of 2005



Happy Early New Year's! Visit these fabulous sites for a wonderful compilation of items that have captured the attention of fellow beauty, skincare, fragrance, and fashion-philes this past year! 2005 has been an awesome year of intriguing finds, and you just know that 2006 will bring us more excitement!
Meow!




Koneko's Best of 2005 List

I initially started a "Best of All Time" list, but a "Best of 2005" list is much more fun for the end of the year! So the former will have to wait another time! FYI, this list is a list of items that koneko has just recently "discovered" and started to use in 2005, not necessarily released in 2005. This list is going to be a bit unwieldy (but hello, look at my blog-writing style, and the whole set-up of my blog, you KNEW this was going to happen, koneko-friends!) so I'll try to set it up in a somewhat organized manner...

Best of... Fragrances!
For the koneko, 2005 will be the year of Marc Jacobs. This beautiful gardenia scent is not too heady, and has the the fresh quality of flowing water and green nuances to tone down the creamy sweetness of the beautiful gardenia bud.
Runner-ups:
Dior Addict 2, Boucheron Trouble Eau Legere Nacree, Armani Prive Luxe Collection: Bois d'Encens, Tipton Charles Sandalwood, Serendipitous.
Special:Red Flower candles

Best of... Skincare!
- Amore Pacific Intensive Vitalizing Eye Serum - I can actually feel it work.
- Kiss My Face Liquid Rock Roll-On deoderant - My sensitive skin gets a breather from anti-perspirants every once in a while!

Best of... Fashion!
- BCBG Max Azria dresses! His styles really suited me this year!
- Hollywood Fashion Tape - how did I ever get along without this?! Those "I love this shirt but it always looks a bit awkward when I move in a certain way" moments are OVER! It really makes an outfit "finished!"
- Dansko clogs - my feet and legs are thanking me everyday.

Best of... Books!
- The Lucky Manual to Shopping- I read quite a few "fun" books this year, but this one was fun AND useful! I'm not the best with clothes, and this is essential for those who are more in the know for skincare, cosmetics, fragrances, and other concoctions but not sure what to do once all that stuff is on the skin...

Best of... Beauty!
- Nars Brush #19 - a wonderful tool for blending perfection
- Prada Beauty Reviving Concealer/Tint- for the undereye- perfect if you have mild darkness to conceal as it's a light-as-air gel-cream formula which blends like a dream. You're in luck if you match one of the three shades!
- Caron Poudre Peau Fine - radiant and light application
- Prada Tinted Lip balm (#4)- perfect "just bit into a berry" sort of look
- Armani Limited Edition Midnight White Eye Mania palette - the perfect wintry eye that's not stark white and frigid
- Shu Uemura False Eye lash flares (individuals) - the only things better are 1) the extensions (which last for weeks) are divine! and 2) having your own naturally lush lashes
- Prada Hydrating Compact Powder SPF 15 - nice powder foundation which gives a "creamy" look to skin. And what a compact!
- Milani Mango Tango blush- (powder version of Nars Cactus Flower)
- MAC Fluidline- tons of wonderful colors to choose from, and stays on quite well.
- Armani Midnight Lip Shimmers- so much sparkle! I especially love #4, a vibrant sheer poppy color. It makes my teeth look unbelievably white!
- Sanrio Hello Kitty flavored lip gloss- totally affordable lipgloss with tons of glimmery prettiness comparable to Armani's Midnight lip shimmers and with sweet watermelon flavor too! How cute can you get?!
- BeneFit Dandelion blush- instant glow

Best of... Music!
If koneko had a theme song for this year, it'd be a toss up between 3 songs: an anime song called Inner Universe (the opening song for the anime series Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex Volume 1), the frivolously fun Gwen Stefani song Rich Girl, and the kittenishly playful song Dontcha by the Pussycat Dolls! Yes, I'm lame.

Best of... Movies!
- Batman Begins -
- Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Best of... chocolate!
- Dagoba Organic chocolate: Lavender with blueberries. The only other thing the koneko could possibly think of that would make this perfect would be to add jasmine and matcha to this, but that'd probably overdo it. Or kill the koneko from too much happiness!
- Matcha flavored KitKat from Japan (alas, discontinued!), and Dark Chocolate Kitkat (also d/c'ed)

12 comments:

Victoria said...

Great List! I also love Boucheron Trouble Eau Legere Nacree, Tipton Charles Sandalwood, Serendipitous and Red Flower candles. We have alot in common!

Making a note to get that Fashion tape, I've been looking at it for awhile now. You are just the nudge I need.

Don't you just love flavored gloss? I constantly eat off my lipsticks/gloss, I might as well enjoy it. Have you tried the Sugar Cosmetic line? Also Jessica Simpson's are yummy.

Have a fragrant and Happy New Year!
Victoria O

Bela said...

Hi, there! Lovely list!

Happy New Year! (from your Auntie Bela) :-)

Trina said...

Yum! I need some Hello Kitty glosses - anything watermelon-flavored is a friend of mine :~D Excellent list!

NowSmellThis said...

Ok, what I want to know is where do I get that chocolate???

Marina said...

I love Boucheron Trouble and now that you said there is eau Legere I am definitely going to look for it!

Happy New Year!!

Koneko said...

Hello everyone! Thank you for visiting! I wish you all the very best for this coming new year!

Victoria O- I have been eyeing the Sugar line for a while now, and now *you* have given me the nudge to check it out, LOL! Thank you!

Auntie Bela! So wonderful to see you, and a fragrant hug to you! I miss you very much!

Trina- I think you will like this HK gloss! It's the wand gloss... I need to post a pic. It's actually a swirled gloss with glitter, and it tastes like sparkling sweet watermelon!

NST- Huge hug to you! Which of the chocolates are you searching for? I sometimes find the Kitkats on eBay, but the Dagoba are online, at some Whole Foods, Trader Joes, and I just got a couple at Marshall Field's!

Colombina- I hope you get to try out the Eau Legere soon! It's a fun concept, and the only thing I'd change is to make the bottle as unique as the original bottle!

BdJ! Hello dearest V! I can't wait to hear your take on the differences between the two, as they are slight, but I am not very good at describing them. Huge hug to you!

Happy holidays to you all, and I'm in the midst of visiting all the wonderful lists!!!

Annieytown said...

This is an excellent list.
I am writing down Amore Pacific eye serum. You hooked me with "I can actually feel it working".

Have a great New Year!

Koneko said...

Happy New Year's Eve, ladies!

Annie, do call the amore pacific spa as they are very generous with samples! I love this stuff! =)

Patty, the Caron powders are really awesome! I am dying to try the more glimmery ones next like galaxie!

katiedid said...

OMG, my husband is utterly nuts about the music from The Ghost in the Shell: SAC, too. He's since listened to a ton of stuff that the composer made for all sorts of projects. Really amazing range that guy has.

I just can't make anything besides the lipglosses from Milani work for me. Sigh. And some of those shadows and blushes come in the purtiest colors, too. Just not right on me unfortunately. Don't they have the surprisingly nicest texture for a low-end brand? Texture for them is nicer than other low-end and some high-end brands.

Parisjasmal said...

Hello Dearest M,

How are you? I miss chatting with you. How is the Big P treating you?

I love your list--especially since you added fashion and chocolate too!

Still waiting to shop with you my dear!
Hope you are doing wonderful!

xo
Jen

Kristen said...

Great list! I am SOOOO with you on Hollywood Fashion Tape...I don't know how I ever lived without this.

Happy New Year!

Koneko said...

hello-hello! Happy new year's!

katiedid!
I need to try the Milani glosses! i haven't tried them yet, but now that you have given them the thumbs up... ;-) And OMG~ yoko kanno is a goddess!! I really wish I could meet her in person, she is the most talented, versatile composer EVER! she composes music for such different genre or anime, and honestly I just am boggled by the range of sultry slow songs, etheral-spiritually nuanced songs, the electronica, the goth, the pop...!! GitS:SAC is awesome, and I think one of my favorites is her work on Macross Plus (another awesome mecha anime!) Her most relaxing work is a collaboration on an anime soundtrack called Please Save My Earth which is incredibly beautiful. Sigh!!! Thank you for letting me gush!!! ;-)

Parisjasmal! I miss you! I am doing all right, but I miss the city! I have a free week in April and I plan to spend it in the city... maybe we can have a spring fling shopping get together?! yes?! ;-)

Addict! I am down to my 2 last pieces of tape and I am in a flurry waiting for my next shipment to arrive!!! LOL!