2016 Makeup Faves: Eyes

Hi, everyone! Hope your first week of 2017 has been great. A few days ago I brought to you the first installment of my 2016 Faves serious (featuring my favourite complexion products of the year) and I'm back today with my most-worn eye makeup from the past 12 months. Every product on this list was discovered and used by me for the first time in 2016. Let's delve in! 

It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of Make Up For Ever Artist Shadows and this past year I put together a fresh new trio of bold, ultra-warm shades in M738 (Auburn), ME740 (Magma), and M846 (Morello Cherry). They are so wonderfully smooth, pigmented, and long-wearing and when you buy them in trios, the value is pretty great. I reach for this custom palette whenever I want a properly fiery eye look. I've heard you can use these as blushes as well, so there's a resolution for this year! 

Up until this year, I had yet to find a drugstore mascara that really wowed me. That fact always irked me greatly, as shelling out $30 for a mascara never sat well either. But all of that changed when I tested out Essence Forbidden Volume Mascara** and Forbidden Volume Topcoat**. The mascara gives such amazing length and volume (people ask me on the regular what I'm wearing on my lashes) and the topcoat just pushes them over the edge into ultra-long status (no need to fiddle with falsies with this topcoat in your arsenal- seriously!) These mascaras truly rival my all-time fave BeneFit They're Real, but at a fraction of the price. Such a pleasant surprise and I will happily repurchase these forever!

When it came to eye shadows in 2016, Violet Voss totally stole the show. I was first introduced to the brand at IMATS in NYC in April, where I purchased the much hyped-about Holy Grail Palette. I'm so glad I succumbed to the buzz, because this ended up being my most-used palette of the year, by far! It's an amazing mix of mattes, shimmers, and metallics in a killer colour palette of golds, bronzes, browns, berries, and everything in between. The shadows are so smooth and pigmented and work together effortlessly to create such flattering looks, no matter if you want to go natural or bold. Given my love of the Holy Grail, I could not help but snag the Violet Voss x Laura Lee Eye Shadow Palettes at IMATS Toronto in the Fall. It also includes a selection of warm-toned neutrals, but also some utterly stunning and unique yellows, oranges, and greens that make it totally worth owning. I wore it tons over the holidays! 

I will always be loyal to my Anastasia brow powder, but this year it was ultra exciting to find an eco-friendly brow pomade that really performs! Ecobrow Defining Wax in Sharon (for dark blondes and lighter brunettes) and Marilyn** (for lighter blondes) both work well on me, so I like mixing them together. The formula is pigmented and creamy, applies easily and is super buildable, and wears all day. Plus, a little goes a long way, so these little pots will last forever!

I obviously thought this shadow was pretty enough to buy, but MAC Foiled Eye Shadow in Faerie Fayre was such a pleasant surprise because it was my most-worn single eye shadow of the year! It was part of the MAC Faerie Whispers collection (limited edition, unfortunately) and is a gorgeous pinky copper that's so flattering with my brown eyes. All over the lid, it's the perfect mid-tone shade for colour and glow, but soft enough to wear to work. So glad I snagged it. 

I also have to give a quick shout-out to ColourPop Super Shock Shadow in Telepathy, which I've only worn a couple times to date (still waiting to properly photograph and review it; ah, a blogger's life!), but it really struck me as the most stunning metallic golden green. I'm sure you'll be seeing lots of it in 2017!

2016 was the year when I discovered that Chanel eyeliners are totally worth the splurge. From the Fall Le Rouge collection Le Stylo Yeux Waterproof in Eros is the most stunning metallic red that has just enough brown and berry tones to it that it's incredibly flattering and wearable. Deep enough to define the eyes, but vibrant enough for the shade to really stand out. Plus the formula is so creamy and long-wearing. It's dreamy! 

This one is a bit of a cheat, as I bought it very late in 2015, but it was last year when I wore Chanel Le Crayon Kohl Intense Eye Pencil in Rouge Noir several times per week. It's the perfect plummy black that smoothes and smudges wonderfully and adds instant smoke to any look (though also wears amazingly well, given the smudginess). It feels simultaneously chic and edgy, so is obviously right up my alley :)

What were your favourite shadows, liners, and/or mascaras of 2016? Did I feature any of your top picks or tempt you with anything? 

Thanks for dropping by! xo

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**Products marked with these asterisks were provided to me as PR samples for consideration and review. All opinions expressed in this post are 100% authentic and my own!