My 5 favourite makeup products in 2009.

This was the year I discovered the joys of cheap makeup, and websites such as Cherry Culture, Makeup Geek, and my personal favourite (they're currently having a 20% off sale - get shopping!), Nonpareil. Consequently, my makeup collection has pretty much exploded in the last few months. However, eventually I managed to narrow down five particular favourites, and here they are:

5. Joey New York Semi-Permanent Concealer Set. Unfortunately, the one I have now is probably my first and last, since Strawberrynet have sold out of my colour (#01), and I haven't seen it anywhere else at a reasonable price. This is a cream concealer which comes with a powder to set. At first I didn't like it - it was fiddly and I couldn't find quite the right brush for the powder. However, a friend gave me a Coastal Scents blending brush which turned out to be the perfect implement for this purpose, and after that I was as happy as a clam. This is the first product I think I've ever hit pan on in my life. Aaagh! What will I do when I run out???

4. Stila IT Lip Gloss Shimmer. This actually came free with a Strawberrynet order, and I almost gave it away. I've never been a fan of lip gloss - I hate having sticky lips, and I often wear my hair down, so you know what a pain that can be. They just seemed to be a waste of money to me. However, the one I received was such a pretty colour (Sweet) that I had to try it out, and as it happened, I loved it. It's smooth and shimmery, and doesn't feel heavy or sticky on my lips. I've since begun a small collection of various lip glosses, and I am finding that I don't hate them so much after all. Thanks for fuelling my addictions, Strawberrynet!

3. NYX Single Eyeshadow. I think there are about 160 of these, and I would love to own every one of them. They're cheap, have great pigment, and come in a huge range of colours. I only have about a dozen, and since I have eyeshadow coming out of ears, that's where I plan to stop for the time being, but I'm sure I'll be back collecting them at some point in 2010.

2. Revlon ColorStay Makeup with SoftFlex. Another free product! My friend Jodi bought this and then sent it to me after it irritated her sensitive skin. Although this year I also fell madly in love with Chanel Mat Lumiere, I would have to say that the Revlon ColorStay tops it because of the price (about half the cost of the Chanel). Both products are fabulously long-wearing and give good coverage. I usually apply them both, as one is lighter and the colours mixed together seem to be better on me than either one of them on their own. It really does peeve me that this product is available in the US for about $12US, but here it costs about $37AUD. Such a rip off.

1. NYX Round Lipstick. I am totally in love with these lipsticks. They are cheap, reasonable quality, and come in a huge array of colours. I have about 20, and there are about another 10 being shipped to me as we speak. They don't last a hugely long time, but no lipstick ever does on me - I have $50 Lancome ones I have to replenish every couple of hours. If you want a huge wardrobe of lipstick colours, this is the brand to get into. I can't recommend them highly enough. My only gripe is that the websites that sell them (as listed above) have ridiculous computer-generated colour swatches that bear absolutely no resemblance to the product itself, so you have to either take a wild shot in the dark and see what you end up with, or spend ages Googling swatches to have a proper look at them. (See, I say that like it's annoying, when in fact looking at swatches is one of my favourite things to do on the internet. So I should probably thank those websites for their crappy swatches.)

So that's my Top 5 - next up is Bath and Body. Feel free to tell me about your favourites for the year!