TOP 10 MONTHLY FAVORITE PRODUCT FINDS
from clothes to shoes to toys to household products to books to everything else in between…
Happy New Year and New Decade you guys!
Last year, well, for the most part, was a blur, a good kind of a blur. I still have no idea where the year went, anyone else too?
But I know one thing for sure, we ended the year with a bang, exactly how I like it!
Especially when we got to spend 2 full weeks of the holiday season and ring in the New Year with our favorite people on the east coast (New England, New Jersey & New York) & being tourists in our favorite New York City. When it comes to the holidays, no one does it quite like New York!!
Needless to say, we all had a total blast, and our little one was showered with lots and lotsa love. So blessed to have such amazing humans in our lives, we miss them dearly!
And a piece of our hearts will always remain in NYC!!!
Now that in itself is a great start to our New Year and Decade!
I hope that you all are having a fantastic start to 2020 as well.
Here’s to our best year yet!
On that note, let’s quickly recap…
top 10 favorite product finds
P.S. Proud to say that I stuck with penning down my favorite finds since I started sharing them on the blog back in February! And it makes me so happy as these are some of the most-read posts on my blog!!
1. REDUCE BROWSER MEMORY USAGE, ONETAB & THE GREAT SUSPENDER
I am one of those (and I know that I am not alone) who will have a minimum of 50+ tabs open on my browser (much like my brain) at any given time. I am not one bit exaggerating you guys. And end up being frustrated because it slows my computer down.
I can’t even begin to express how annoying it would be when the computer used to hand on me when I am in the midst of doing something important and I have to restart it and patiently wait for it to come back to life, with all 50+ tabs loaded.
Which is when I found the OneTab browser extension. I have been using it for several months and it’s been such a savior.
OneTab converts all your open tabs into a list and reduces browser memory with only one click. Once they are in your list, OneTab makes it much easier to scan over, delete, label and manage your list of saved tabs. There are also plenty of special options and features, such as the ability to exclude certain web sites, to remove duplicates, and to export/import tabs.
But a few months back, the hubs found me an even better option, The Great Suspender.
The Great Suspender is a lightweight chrome extension to help reduce chrome’s memory footprint for users that like to have too many tabs open by automatically suspending unused tabs to free up system resources.
With The Great Suspender extension, I am still able to see all the tabs that are open in my browser and quickly get to it when I want unlike with OneTab where I need to go to the list and review the links I want to open.
2. DYSON VACUUM
If you follow me on Instagram then you already know how much I love my DYSON VACUUM.
Mind you, we have 4 other fully functional vacuums in our house (including a robot vacuum) and yet I bit the bullet and bought the Dyson vacuum during thanksgiving (I also shared the amazing deal with you all too, remember?) and it has forever changed my life!!!
Not being dramatic at all here, or maybe I am, but it is exactly how I feel… this exceptional vacuum has made me happy and efficient, and my floors happy and clean. My only gripe, the charge runs out way toooo fast, sigh!
Hubby said that I was crazy to buy yet another vacuum but the other vacuums we own frustrate me. I shouldn’t have to uproot my whole entire floor (you guys have seen how many things are always lying around, thanks to our little one) to get that robot vacuum to do its job, and I shouldn’t have to get super low on the carpet, squint with one eye, and use a cleaning brush to see/remove all the hair (having a lot of hair also means losing a lot of it too), especially after having just used the other highly raved vacuums because they are just not efficient!
I mean, what a total waste of time if I still have to do half the work!?
So I am not one bit exaggerating when I say that since the first time I used this Dyson vacuum my life has changed forever! I first vacuumed a fairly clean carpeted area and I was SHOCKED (in a negative way) to see how much gross stuff the Dyson vacuum cleaned and collected and to think that we (especially my little one) has been playing on these dirty floors (but doesn’t look so on the surface) I was in dismay.
And now, it’s no surprise the hubs is glad that I bought this Vacuum despite his advice not to.
If there is one gift that should be on every clean freaks top wish list then it should hands down be the @dyson vacuum! You know, Valentine’s Day is right around the corner 😉
3. TULA SKINCARE PRODUCTS
If you spend any amount of time on Instagram then you already know that TULA has been receiving a huge positive response both from influencers (for lack of a better word) and their followers, for all the right reasons!
I briefly tried two of their travel-sized products (back in 2018) and really liked how they felt on my skin but given how many beauty products I already have in my bathroom cabinets (that I haven’t even tried, not even once) I didn’t order any full-sized Tula products (but now I realize that was a huge mistake).
Tula gifted me some of their popular products around Thanksgiving and I can’t tell you enough how much I love these products, so much so that these were the only skincare products I brought with me on my trip to NYC.
Mind you, my skin is extremely sensitive to winter weather and gets really dry and flaky. Hence I use a wide range of skincare products during winter to care for my skin.
But instead of bringing at least half a dozen products on the trip I swapped them out with only Tula products (NYC in December = super cold weather) is already saying a lot about how much my skin loves the Tula products.
I will share more about Tula as I continue to use them but for now, these are some of my favorite products from the brand.
Purifying face cleanser / Pro-glycolic toner /
Blurring & moisturizing primer
Cooling & brightening eye balm / Hydrating day & night cream
USE CODE KUSUM TO GET 15% OFF YOUR PURCHASES!
P.S. There is no better gift for V-Day than that of skincare, trust me on that! So take a hint 😉
4. FLEECE LINED LEGGINGS
With such freezing temperatures outside and with us traveling, for the most part, this past December, I needed the absolute best and warmest leggings so I didn’t freeze to death while we were out and about being tourists.
And I put these two different kinds of leggings to test and they both passed with flying colors.
The first one is from a brand that I already love, especially for their leggings. And these leggings are the same kind except thicker. Wore them In Victoria, where it was fairly cold but not super cold and these were perfect for that type of weather.
But when we went to NYC I wanted something even warmer, and these fleece-lined leggings are made for the cold and chilly weather!
I ordered my second pair since I returned from NYC. You can never have one too many leggings, especially ones that keep you warm when the temps continue to keep dropping.
The next time you spot me wearing the same leggings on consecutive days just know that I own more than one pair of leggings, in the same kind, and in the exact same color 😉
5. ATOMIC HABITS BOOK
An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones. There are a lot of habit related or self-help books out there, and yet, the Atomic Habits book surely stands out for me.
I had been meaning to read this one for a while now but I had purchased it on hubby’s iTunes account which means I had to jump a few hoops to give this a read (especially when reading doesn’t happen as frequently as I would like).
Plus, I had been meaning to have the hubs listen to it too. So it was the perfect timing when we were road tripping on the east coast to give this a go. Though we are yet to finish the book we both love what we have learned from it so far.
But given the timing of the season (New Year, when everyone is trying to make changes, small or big) I thought it is fitting to share about it now rather than wait until I finished reading the entire book.
“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”
6. BED HEAD STYLING TOOL
Over the moon excited about this hair styling tool, which makes my life 10x easier when I need to curl my hair. I don’t often curl my hair cuz it takes forever to go through my thick long locks, and I neither have the time nor patience for that.
But after seeing such rave reviews about the bed head styling tool, I had to give it a go and WOOHAAA, super impressed with how quick it gets the job done and I look like this picture in 10 mins, need I say more!?
Hands down my second favorite hair tool I bought last year, see my first favorite hair tool here, its life-changing (haha seems like that’s been the theme here).
8. MONOGRAM MUGS
I know, there isn’t probably a month when I don’t talk about mugs. But I can’t help it, I am obsessed and I have to share.
I have had these monogram mugs for a while now. They are so elegant and classy and even if you don’t want to drink out of these mugs they make for great decor.
And these mugs have become my default go-to gift option this past year. Now I am slowly making my way through hoarding all their monogram accessories too.
Below are some of my favorite monogram styles from the brand.
Again, V-Day is right around the corner :p
9. MakeUp Eraser / MAKEUP REMOVING CLOTH
As I slowly make sustainable lifestyle changes, I (quite skeptically) gave this makeup eraser a try (had to, especially when I saw them at Costco) and my mind was blown by how effective these little things are!
I love wearing makeup but what I love even more is my bare face after having removed my makeup, but we all hate (at least most of us do) removing makeup because by the end of the day you are exhausted and this process feels tedious.
But when all you have to do is wet a cloth and go over your face as it efficiently melts everything right off, I mean, every.damn.product including your waterproof mascara, then it’s a huge hit in my books!
Removing makeup has never been this effortless and easy, not to forget sustainable and eco-friendly! So this gets all the stars from me!!
10. THE FIVE MINUTE JOURNAL
A Happier You in 5 Minutes a Day. Again, again, very fitting to share as we begin a New Year and New Decade.
We have all been hearing about how important and essential maintaining a gratitude journal is, it is all the talk now, especially when our lives are so busy and we are all running after big goals and big dreams.
I grew up watching my parents practice it, not in the form of a journal, but just being grateful and thankful every day for all the things we have been blessed with in life.
And thanks to them, it has also become a part of what I too do daily.
But I have been meaning to take this further and start documenting the things I am grateful for and I am loving The Five Minute Journal!
For starters, it is more than just a gratitude journal. It includes a morning routine section and evening routine section. It covers multiple topics, helps you plan for success, encourages daily affirmations, goal setting, reflecting and appreciating the little things in life.
Basically, everything that closely resonates with what I strongly believe in!
On that note, here’s to all the small changes which have a huge and lasting impact on our lives!
Once again, A Very Happy & Successful New Year to you and your loved ones!
“Begin Anywhere.”
xoxo,
Kusum
Leave a Reply