A Few of My Favorite Things... Shadow Highlights

I have a ton of makeup. Yes, I know there are people on the internet with collections 10 or 20 times larger than mine, but I have yet to meet someone in real life who has more makeup than me. Thanks to an undying obsession, I've amassed more products than I know what to do with. What better way to let you guys know what products I come back to time and time again than to share a few of my favorite things in different product categories? 

Just a few of my favorite things!

While it's easy to do blog posts of hauls or monthly favorites, some of my favorite posts to read are ones that share a blogger's favorite products of ALL TIME for a category. I think it's a great place to find products that maybe aren't "trendy" or talked about constantly. While I do have some favorites in this installment that you've probably heard of - *cough cough* Stila Kitten *cough cough* - I also have some products I use consistently that I've never heard a blogger talk about because it isn't new or exciting. 

Top: Champagne, Iced Latte, Kitten; Bottom: Mylar, Shroom, Phloof!

And that's what I want to do here, after all: share my all-time favorites and talk about products that don't get as much love on the internet. Another thing real quick -- I haven't quite figured out the swatching thing yet. I'm apologizing right now for any lack of quality in the photos. I don't know what it is, but I can't seem to get the lighting right. If you have any suggestions for how I can improve swatch photos, please share! Now let's get a move on! 

From left to right: Stila Kitten, L'Oreal Infallible Iced Latte, 

Bobbi Brown Champagne, MAC Phloof, Shroom, Mylar

From top to bottom: Mylar, Shroom, Phloof

MAC Mylar: Sometimes a shadow isn't all about what you see, but about what you don't see. It is just a hint lighter than my natural skin tone and lacks sparkle or shine (but does have a natural looking sheen), which makes it perfect to sweep across my brow and to use to blend out and clean up the edges of my eye makeup. This shade may be too light for those with even slightly darker or tanner skin, but I think owning a shade like this that matches your skintone should be an important part of everyone's makeup kit.
Uses: Brow Bone; Blending, softening, and cleaning up edges of makeup

MAC Shroom: My go-to highlight shade for the brow bone. It's just a nice shimmery color, but won't create "disco ball eyes." I've been through a couple of these - in fact, I believe it's the only MAC shadow I've been through multiples of!
Uses: Brow Bone

MAC Phloof!: A pretty light shimmery pink. I use Phloof! when I want my eyes to look really awake. I think it works beautifully with browns and is a nice change from the champagne/skin-toned highlighters. It didn't show up as pink in the close-up photo, but the first photo is truer to color and finish.
Uses: Brow Bone, Inner Corner

Top to Bottom: the edge of Champagne (forgive me!), Iced Latte, Kitten

Bobbi Brown Eyeshadow in Champagne: Where a lot of my other favorite highlights pull pinks and peaches, this is a light yellow-gold. I am a nitwit and somehow missed taking a full-on close up picture of this shadow, but you can see half of the swatch in the photo. (PS - This shadow is fantastic patted over Maybelline's Bold Gold or Gold Rush 24 Hr Tattoo Shadow - keeps it from sliding or fading and amplifies the gold for a simple summer look! Aaaand, it may be what is on my eyes right now!)
Uses: Brow Bone, Lid, Inner Corner

L'Oreal Infallible Eyeshadow in Iced Latte: A light pinky-champagne color with a super high sheen and a near-metallic finish. As others have said, this is much more like a pressed pigment than a traditional eyeshadow. I only use this as an inner corner highlight - I think it would be overkill anywhere on my brow bone. I'll also use it on my lid if I want to draw a lot of light and shine to the center of my eye.
Uses: Inner Corner

Stila Eyeshadow in Kitten: There's a reason this is so many people's HG highlight color. I could gush all day about the (flawless) color, pigmentation, and formulation, but I'll spare you. I prefer to use it on the inner corners of my eyes for similar reasons as Iced Latte - it has a super high sheen and sparkle that draws light, but would definitely cause "disco ball eye" on me if I wasn't careful while applying to the brow. I'd imagine that those with darker skin than me (so basically everyone) could use this as a brow highlight if applied with a less-dense brush.
Uses: Inner Corner, Lid

As much as I have ingrained favorites, I am always up for trying some new products. What suggestions do you have for shadow highlights? What are your favorites, cause I'm dying to know! (No seriously... I am that nosy person going through bathrooms at parties because I HAVE to know what products people use. I love this stuff. It's a problem.) Please, leave me suggestions for products to try! I'll leave you guys with another one of my favorite things... this little guy!

EEK! How cute is he??? 

(Drawer pulls from Anthropologie) 

XOXO Samantha