As the clock is ticking towards the turn of the year, I'm bringing you the last and final installment of my Best of 2013 series and the longest one yet.  If you're prepared to go out, you should probably come back later; otherwise, grab yourself a hot cup of tea and possibly a chocolate cupcake to munch on as I bring you my top favorite makeup finds from the past year. Note: makeup finds as in long time favorites like the Laura Mercier Silk Creme foundation and the Bobbi Brown Corrector aren't going to be listed. 

Welp welp! We're already in the final countdown to the new year. I have my new agenda ready to be filled in, but before that, we have a few things that need to be wrapped up. Instead of doing a December favorites, I decided to join the bandwagon and share some of my annual favorites. I already did my haircare picks here, and here's the second installment. 

As I was preparing to type up this week's Update, I was having some trouble remember what I did before Friday. It wasn't until a friend pointed out that I had done a midweek Christmas post did I realize that would sort of explain the lack of memory from previous days. That and the fact that Friday was AMAZING. 

(Can we talk about how gorgeous he looks just standing there? I'm still convinced he's half fiction)

I've been planning this post for quite a while, each time not knowing where to start. I've finally decided to categorize this into at least three parts: hair, skincare, and makeup. Most of these products won't be a stranger to those that have been following the blog for a while now, and I hate to sound repetitive. But they're just really my favorites, okay? Anyway. 

[Dove Dry Shampoo | Herbal Essence Fresh Balance Shampoo | Tangle Teezer | L'Oreal Elvive Extraordinary Oil | Bumble and bumble Brilliantine | Virgin Coconut Oil]

Last Christmas, I gave you my heart...Don't judge me, it's my favourite Christmas song. Since we're on that note, MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! Thanks for sticking around with me the past seven months and spending the first Christmas on Peanut Butter and Chocolate Life with me! 

Wow. WOW. WOW. This past week has been beyond amazing. There are still times when I look back and wonder if the past few days really happened. Hold your horses, Daphne. Let's back up a bit, yeah? 

(Will you just look at that glorious braid??) 

"I thought you were on a spending ban??" Yes, yes, technically, I should be on that spending ban thingy even though I just posted a haul post with two new palettes (here). But this purchase was from way back in October before finally arriving in the mail late November.

"I don't buy a lot of palettes," she said as she added two eyeshadow palettes into her shopping basket. This is basically what happened last midweek when I was in the midst of essay writing. Stress does weird dents to your wallet. 

I'm not a person for coming home late. In short, I have a very happy inner grandma when it comes to the night life. That said, I've been getting home past midnight the past several days, you'll probably know why if you're following me on twitter. But those of you that don't, look forward to it on this weekend's The Update. Anyway. I'm already tired when I get home and all I want to do is change and curl up, rather than spend long minutes on my skincare. So I've devised up a rather quick late night lazy skincare that I thought I'd share. 

[Garnier Simply Essentials 2 in 1 Make-Up Remover | Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser | Origins A Perfect World Moisturizer]

I was all about dark nails this time last year. 12 month pass, and I'm ditching the gothic hues and embaracing the pastels. These light shades tend to be more associated with the season that'll come around in 6 months time, but I've discovered two pastels that have a winter vibe to them.

Phew! This week was an intense one! I'm part relieved it's over and part sad. Basically, this week ending means I can finally catch a break from school, but it also means that half the flat is going home. *sobs* I'm going to be having friends over for the break, but I'm going to miss the guys. 

Am I glad this week is over! End of term is always torturous and hopeful at the same time, isn't it? Holidays are so close and yet, you have mounds of essays and exams blocking the view. Yeah, that was the gist of the week for me. I'll update you more on the weekly insert of [The Update]. But face-front, this week has mainly been about quick and simple.

[Superdrug Naturally Radiant Brightening Hot Cloth Cleanser | Bobbi Brown Corrector | L'Oreal Telescopic Mascara | Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation]

It's three in the morning, I'm supposed to already be diving deep into dreamland. Yet, I'm still awake and realizing that I still haven't made a wish list for Christmas. Most of these things have been on my radar for a while, but either I've never got around to picking them up (I make it sound like I don't have to pay...) or I've never justified buying it for myself. Anyway, with the season rolling around, I'm sure a lot of you are making yourself a wish list. And if you don't know what to get me for the holidays, you could always take an idea from here. hint hint nudge nudge. I know you're reading this, A. x

[Accessorize Libby Work Bag | Zara Checked Soft Scarf | ASOS Boyfriend Watch | Forever 21 Unicorn Kitty Sweatshirt | Accessorize Aqua Square Stone Stacking Ring Set | NARS Pro Prime | Topshop Velvet Lips | Origins Plantscription Concealer | Too Faced Boudoir Eyes]

Megan was one of the first friends that I made when I decided to seriously start blogging several months back. One of the sweetest, down-to-earth people I know, Megan has the ability to make you feel like even the most impossible, absurd dream you have is within your reach. Oh and she also runs a fabulous, cozy blog over at Little Miss Average, which you should totally jump over if you've never read it before. Anyway, over the summer we decided to do a swap while I was still in Taiwan. I sent over several of my favorite Asian products and asked her to hold her package till I arrived in London as I was worried about my luggage limit. A couple weeks ago, I got my package in the mail after a long  day and needless to say, I've been loving the things that she's got me!

I'm typing this up as I digest the self-made lunch I had of chicken bites, salad and a Yorkshire pudding. Well, I say self-made. More on that later. I know if I don't do it now, I'm going to be putting it off and missing another weekly update. 

(let's take a moment to appreciate this epic postcard my friend up in Scotland sent Annie..the other half of the postcard is basically the same thing. I'm still waiting for mine to come - which is weird since they were posted on the same day. Come on, Royal Mail!) (Oops! Forgot to censor that rude 6-letter word )

How is it already in the counting down distance to the turn of the year? Slightly freaking out here. Now that we have that cliche out of the way, let's move onto the highlights of the post. I had quite a hard time narrowing down my favorites this month as I've been testing out new things and switching things up. But I finally decided to only include the products I've had the majority of the month. Those that I acquirred later, fear not, they will be showing up in future posts. Remember to keep an eye out for that. 

[Clarins Lotus Face Treatment Oil | Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer | Topshop Brow Pencil | Rimmel Salon Pro in Punk Rock | Bumble and Bumble Brilliante | MAC Satin Taupe | Nivea Hydro Care SPF 15 | NYX blush Dusty Rose]

Christmas is coming! There isn't anything about this season that I don't love...well, except for buying gifts. It's not that I don't like giving presents to people, it's just that I never know what's the best thing to get them. For example, a couple weeks ago, it was one of the flatmates' birthday and I asked him what he would like for a present. After countless drillings, he finally shrugged and said, "I don't know. Something simple like a ticket to a sports event?" Little did he know that this "something simple" sent me down a spiral of questions: did I get him tickets to a good game but had crappy seats, or a less exciting game but with amazing seats? And even if I knew which of the two options I'd go for, how would I know which side of the field he'd like to sit and would he like to go for a midweek game or a weekend game? 

Well, you get the gist. So while I'm dazzled by all the gift sets that all look amazing, I'm usually spending hours perplexed over what to get for whom. 

I know, I know. I missed last week's Weekly Update. I've got no one to blame other than my horrible time management skills and the need to procrastinate everything. So this post will hopefully make up for the absence of last week's. 

I don't know about you guys, but whenever it's that time of the month, I'm always too tired to put much effort into my makeup. Hence, last week has been more about skincare more than anything. Never thought I'd say that. 

[Clarins Lotus Face Treatment Oil | Rimmel Lasting Finish By Kate Lipstick | Indeed Labs Pepta-Bright]

Happy Turkey Day! Or as traditionally known as, Happy Thanksgiving! Truth be told, I haven't celebrated this holiday since moving away from America more than a decade ago. This year, although based in London, I was invited to a couple Turkey dinners, but chances are, this time tomorrow, I'll still be weeping over not finishing the essay that's due on Friday. (Oh yeah, I'm typing this up on a Wednesday afternoon, when I'm supposed to be tackling that essay) 

Although I'm not celebrating this holiday, I wanted to take this opportunity to count off the things I'm thankful for in the past year. 

Eyebrows. I never understood the whole "they frame your face" idea over brows, I mean as long as I don't have an unibrow, what difference could it possibly make? And then I went through blogs and had a couple (figurative) clobberings by makeup artists before I finally started to learn my lesson. 

[Bobbi Brown Brow Brush | MAC Mystery | Top Shop Brow Pencil | Spoolie]

Here it is guys. You guys have been asking me for a review of this since I first premiered this on the blog a couple months(!) back (see the haul here). I have to admit, I kept putting it off because it's a skincare product and I just don't feel like I'm familiar with skincare in any way. But I absolutely LOVE this product and just had to try and share my love with you guys. Plus, you guys kept reminding me that I was due of a review....

My lip balm collection has grown drastically from none to a handful. And yet. I still manage to be outside, find my lips ridiculously chapped, but somehow manage to not even have a single lip balm on me. It's happened multiple times already and it happened today. Normally I'd just wait it out, but I needed a study break from the library before my next class and there was a Superdrug around the corner. Oops. 

It's that time of the week again. As temperature drops, uni works starts caging me at home. Still, in the midst of essay preparation and procrastination, I still managed to sneak some time outside and take quite a few photos to share with you guys. 

I think I'm pretty diligent when it comes to washing my makeup brushes. It's usually an excuse to step away from my studies (or the illusion of studying), do a little bit of experimental makeup before washing away all the evidence. Both from the face and the brushes. I have a small collection of brushes and I never really noticed how many I use on a weekly basis until I took the photos for this post. 

Oh spots. Why? Currently, my jaw line looks like a frat party of blemishes. A lot of them are the small dark ones, with a couple of huge under-the-skin-please-stop-hurting spots. I've been amping up my skincare routine in hopes to end this fiesta, but in the meantime, I'm striving to aim for a base that'll let me look less like a red dalmatian. 

Scarves. They're probably my favorite accessory in the world. You have the lightweight ones that you're able to add a touch of something in the spring/summer, and then you have the huge chunky ones that are able to keep you warm whilst looking cute in the colder months.

You know that tousled, I just rolled out of bed looking this fantastic look? Back in the old days, I was convinced that not brushing my hair in the morning would result in that look. Little did I know, I was closer to looking like a bird's nest than that chic undone 'do. My hair was always on the coarse side, I never thought that I could ever have ridiculously soft hair. but after chopping off near 20 cm a couple months back (read about it here) and getting my nubby fingers on my current hair loves (here), my hair has elevated to a whole new state that actually requires a styling product to have it hold. Trust me when I say this was never required before. So enter Bumble and Bumble Billiantine. 

Ahh - it's that time of the week again. Me panicking and wondering if I took enough photos to do the weekly London Update for you guys. Also hating myself for procrastinating the reading I have for classes tomorrow. Unfortunately, this week, I've been forgetting my phone at home a lot more and/or forgetting that I should've been a good blogger and taken more photos. So this week's update is going to be a lot less graphic-y compared to earlier weeks. 

I've fallen in love with Rimmel polishes ever since I got my paws on my first bottle several months back (read about it here). Is it just me, but I can never justify spending more than several pounds on a bottle of nail polish that I know I'll never be able to finish. So even when I was back in Taiwan, my extensive nail polish collection very rarely contained bottles of OPI, Butter London and such. Don't get me wrong, I love to be gifted them, I just hesitate a lot when it comes to buying them for myself. Anyway, back to Rimmel, they make amazing quality nail polish at a ridiculously inexpensive price point, plus I'm starting to realize they're more often on sale than not. 

I'm a neutral shadows kinda gal, despite owning gorgeous colored shadows. The most use I get out of them is taking them out of the storage, looking fondly at them, swatching on the back of my hand, before sorrowfully shaking my head and tucking them back into my drawer. Despite all this, I can't bring myself to stop buying colored shadows. So this year, I have my mind set on attempting more looks with colored shadows.

I need to take pictures of things other than food. I'm starting to realize that all my updates have contained some kind of food. 

I have to say, October was good to me. Blogwise, I've been managing to update a couple times a week. School-wise, I'm slightly falling behind on the piles of reading that's slowly piling up on the side of my desk. And lifewise, one word. Amazing. I've been having weekly The London Update posts that you can check out here if you want to have a nosey into my life.

Never in a million years would I have thought I'd be able to type up a skincare post. Even now, as I'm typing up this rambly (per usual) introduction, I'm still considering the idea of just deleting this post and moving on to the next. But a couple of you guys said that you wanted a skincare post from me, and I have definitely settled down with a routine that has done wonders for my skin. So here I am, tying myself to the chair and finding the courage to go through this post. 

I remember talking to the flatmates a couple weeks back. We were talking about how my friend splurged out a small fortune on shampoos from Aesop and the guys just looked at us girls like we had sprouted two heads and turned into a weird shade of purple. They asked us about the difference in shampoos and how much we each owned before shaking their heads and sighing, we'll always have Head and Shoulders. Oh, the silly boys. 

L'Oreal Elvive Extraordinary Oil | Organic Virgin Coconut Oil

Ahh - it's been forever since I've had to go on daylight savings. I've forgotten how good an extra hour of gifted sleep felt like. Let's back up a bit and I'll recap the exciting week that I had. 

Ah, L'Oreal is a brand that I'll have to admit, I didn't have much knowledge of before. Maybe it was the range they imported to Taiwan, but I thought that they were mostly focused on skincare. They were often the stand that failed to catch my attention whenever I was in the drugstores. But in need of a new mascara, the L'Oreal Telescopic Mascara has made it's way into my collection.

I know, I was meant to get this up yesterday but due to my laziness and the sheer amount of school work that I have accumulated, I apologize for getting this up late. 

This week flew by, but at the same time, it was like every second was five hours which I'll go into detail in my London Update post (which I'll work on as soon as I need another break from studying). But apologizing for the lack of updates the past couple weeks, I present to you the most used products of the past week. 

(yes, that is me taking a break from studying and too lazy to clean my desk...)

I don't sleep very well. Well, I didn't sleep really well when I was back in Taiwan. I don't know if it's the change of the climate, or that I'm exhausted at the end of the day, but I haven't had that many sleeping problems since moving here. It could also be because I've developed a routine to prep my brain for sleeping. 

I woke up this morning at 8:00, half cursing my brain why won't it let me sleep longer and half groaning in a mixture of relief and agony as I looked out the window. The shopping plans that I had planned out in my head before falling asleep last night was definitely not going to happen. Not with the gloomy rainy chill happening outside and definitely not the stack of unread papers I had to finish before class tomorrow. So I rolled out of bed, had some breakfast, chatted with my flatmates for a while before dragging myself back in front of my desk. 

The life blogger in me has been pretty consistent. Week four and I'm still going strong. This week has been a marvelous and busy one. Shopping, studying, eating (a lot!) and catching up with some friends, I can only foresee next week being more amazing!

I really like sharing things that I love and to wait every 30 days to share monthly favorites is too long.  It also means that some products will fall through the cracks and that's never a fun thing. So I think every once in a while, I'll do these kind of posts. Today's post is all about the newbies that have been added to my collection ever since moving to London a little over three weeks ago. 

C'mon, guys, you knew this was eventually going to happen. It's not like I was seeking out a Space NK, but I stumbled upon one en route to school so it would just be rude to not pop in over the weekend. The stuff in there is glorious and the sales people are really professional and know what they're talking about. It was really a pleasure to talk to them and get more advice on how to take care of my skin. I might be having a skincare post up some time soon. I know, shocking! So stay tuned for that!

Day one of school here in London. I had a seminar and a lecture that were both really interesting. The professors didn't teach much, but in the hour that they introduced each their class, I hope the rest of the school year is just as interesting as the first class. 

The past week was full of firsts: first boat party, first bar outing, first outing with roommates, first school registration here in London, first huge dinner gathering, and the first time I've stayed up past midnight since arriving in London.