Top 10 Most Popular Blog Posts of 2014, and 3 Honourable Mentions

2014 is ending, and I thought it would be appropriate to do a recap of some of this year's popular blogposts! After making 2013's list of most popular blogposts, there were some unexpected results, so, just for fun, I thought it would be great to do one for 2014, too!

Some of my Top 10 most popular blogposts, as well as the 3 honourable mentions!

Just like in 2013, this year, I have also picked the top 10 by raw number of blogpost views, because it's the simplest way to go about doing things. I've written last year that I feel this method isn't totally ideal because it disadvantages posts that are popular but were written at the end of the year, or "evergreen" posts (like posts on classic topics like skincare, foundation, etc., such as my post on parabens in skincare, as opposed to a more trend-based post, like the latest MAC makeup collection) that may not garner as many initial views, but tend to do very well over a longer period of time. I always feel like counting the raw number of views tends to overlook the evergreen posts and the posts written towards the end of the year. Nevertheless, this seems to be the simplest way of doing things. Of course, if you wanted to be really particular about it you could pro-rate the number of views to the length of time the post was up, but this seems to present its own problems, because not every post follows the same viewcount trajectory - some (like the trends-based posts) do really well for a short time, and then quickly taper off, while others tend to follow a steadier growth trajectory.

But in any case, since we are using raw views, let's get to it, and here's the top 10 posts of 2014! I've also included 3 honourable mentions, which are posts that did well views-wise, but didn't get into the top 10 because they were written in the later part of the year. So let's check out the top 10 posts!

MUFE Holiday 2014 Studio Case Review and Swatches!

MUFE (Make Up For Ever), the brand famous for its artistic sensibilities, large range of colours, and high-quality products, has launched their Holiday 2014 Collection! Their holiday collection includes various sets and kits, from makeup brushes to eyeshadows, and a mix of makeup products. One of the standouts this Holiday season if you're an eyeshadow lover is the MUFE Studio Case, which I've reviewed for you guys today!

MUFE Holiday 2014 Studio Case: One of several sets MUFE has put out this holiday season

The MUFE Studio Case comes with 12 mini-sized eyeshadows, with a travel-sized eyeshadow brush. The eyeshadows are 0.024oz/0.7g, as opposed to the usual 0.7oz/2.0g of product in a full-sized pan, so each shadow is roughly about a third of the size of a full-sized eyeshadow. The 12 shades are grouped into 4 groups of colour stories - there are Natural shades, Smokey Shades, Bold shades, and Chic shades. It's like a little box of colourful gems and treasures!


MUFE Holiday 2014 Studio Case: 12 eyeshadows and 1 eyeshadow brush in a compact case
If you're wondering how to use the shades, the MUFE Singapore Facebook Page even has little tutorial images for each of the looks (natural, smoky, bold, chic). But first, let's take a look at the Studio Case itself, the eyeshadows and the brushes!

MUFE Artist Shadow Swatches Part 2 of 2: Pinks, Reds, and Neutrals

MUFE's (Make Up For Ever) Artist Shadow range of eyeshadows is certainly impressive, as my previous swatches have shown. This time, I'm back with part 2 of the MUFE Artist Shadow swatches! And again, these shadows are smooth, very nicely pigmented, and have a wide, wide variety of colours. If you're an eyeshadow junkie, you can definitely go crazy over the shadows, and if you're not - then there are still at least a few shades that will catch your eye!

I mentioned that there are 5 finishes in the Artist Shadow range (Matte, Satin, Metallic, Iridescent, and Diamond), and you can tell which shade is which as it is denoted by the letter in the eyeshadow name - mattes start with M, satins start with S, metallics, start with ME, iridescents start with I, and diamonds start with D.

Because this bunch of swatches consists mostly of browns and pinksk (along with some reds and oranges), you'll notice that there are a ton of neutral shades. Almost every kind of brown (light, dark, cool, warm, shimmery, matte) is in there, which will certainly please neutral lovers, and there are a few choice taupe shades too! The pink and coral shades are also great as blushes - certainly a number of those look more blush-like than eyeshadow-like to me. But enough with my rambling. Without further ado, let's move on to the swatches!

MUFE Artist Shadow Swatches Part 1 of 2: Blues, Greens, Yellows and Neutrals

Make Up For Ever's (or MUFE's) Artist Shadow, its new eyeshadow line, has been causing quite a stir since it launched, and for a good reason, too. First, there's the sheer number of colours - 210 shades, in 5 finishes. And secondly, there's the quality - MUFE is known for the excellent quality of their products, and I honestly can't think of a single MUFE product I dislike - I've tried their eyeliners, lip liners, lipglosses, lipsticks, eyeshadows, powder foundations and cream blushes, and across the board, every one has consistently been of great quality. That's quite a rare feat in the beauty world, as I find most brands tend to have some products they're strong at, and some they're weaker at, but MUFE seems to be a great all-arounder.

The Artist Shadow Eyeshadows are also no exception - there are 5 finishes (Matte, Satin, Metallic, Iridescent, and Diamond), and all of them are smooth in texture and very nicely pigmented. I think across all the 100+ shadows I've swatched, only a few (like, maybe less than 5) shades had lighter pigmentation. So the consistency is great across the range, too.

Today, the first half of my MUFE Artist Shadow swatches are here! Yes, that's everything in that huge palette you see there! These are over 50 shades, and the shade names are prefixed by a letter that indicates their finish (M for Matte, S for Satin, ME for Metallic, I for Iridescent, and D for Diamond). I've included both their colour codes and colour names for easier ogling! The swatches are all swatched dry with my finger on my unprimed skin. Without further ado, let the swatches begin!

MUFE Rouge Artist Lipstick Swatches and First Impressions

Make Up For Ever (often abbreviated to MUFE), has expanded its Rouge Artist Lipstick lines with four new colours, and of course I just had to shamelessly swatch them for you guys - because that's what a beauty blogger does!

The 4 new additions to MUFE's Rouge Artist Lipstick range: 51, 52, N51 and N52

51 Playful Pink and 52 Rebellious Red are new shades to the Rouge Artist Intense Lipstick range, which features full-pigmentation lipsticks with a creamy (but non-shimmery) finish. Meanwhile N51 Naughty Nude and N52 Coral Confident are part of the Rouge Artist Natural Lipstick range, which features a more moisturizing formula, but is also more sheer (although with MUFE, sheer is a relative thing, certainly you can build even their Natural lipsticks up to near opacity with just a couple of coats).