Happy New Year! It’s 2009 and I’m not looking back.

While 2008 was mostly wonderful for Makeup Bag (the WWD feature, the Elle mention, PARIS!), it was also a very difficult year for me personally. I lost my dad in January which has crippled me in ways that I can not explain. I’ve also spend most of the year away from my husband who is working on a business project in Hawaii that requires him to spend most of his time on the island of Kauai. For these reasons, most of 2008 was rather foggy and I haven’t really felt quite like myself.

This year, I’m taking my mom’s advice and moving forward. I have so many fun ideas for Makeup Bag but just haven’t had the mental energy to execute them.

This is the year I’m going to make it happen. Makeup Bag will be bigger and better than ever and I hope you’ll stick around for the beauty-adventure.

Here are some of my favorite products from 2008:

1. Bobbi Brown Mauve Palette Everything I need for makeup on-the-go is in this palette. Kudos to Bobbi Brown for creating yet another perfect palette.

2. CHANEL Haute Chocolat Nail Colour It was love at first sight with this deep brown, shimmery polish—and the honeymoon’s not over yet. I love this polish.

3. CLINIQUE Comfort on Call moisturizer This has been my go-to moisturizer for weeks. There is no scent to irritate my dry, sensitive skin.

4. CoverGirl LashBlast Mascara I like the waterproof formula—it does amazing things to my lashes.

5. CLINIQUE Blushwear Cream Stick in Shy Blush This color is so perfect for my skin and I love the convenience of the cream stick.

6. Jurlique Citrus Hand Cream The incredibly creamy texture and amazing scent of this hand cream make up for the price.

7. Zoya Nail Polish in Erika How could I NOT include my namesake polish on this list?

I’ve seen a few lists from other beauty bloggers around the web this week. Check them out:

• The Makeup Girl

• 15 Minute Beauty Fanatic

• Rocketqueen

• Blogdorf Goodman

• Makeup Minute

• Jolie Nadine
  

What were your favorite products of 2008? Leave a comment with your answer and be entered to win a selection of products from the Makeup Bag Beauty Closet.

Winner will be selected at random on Monday, January 5. Feel free to enter as many times as you’d like. Good luck!

The nail polish we’re wearing in yesterday’s video (which, by the way, thank you for your sweet comments about Janey…she is quite a character) is LC from the Zoya Gossip Collection .

Named after The Hills’ star Lauren Conrad, it’s a summer cream red that looks great against all skin tones.

Even though Zoya polishes are Toluene Formaldehyde and DPB free, they are amazingly long-lasting and durable. The manicure you see here is already 5 days old and, aside from the bit of pink sparkly polish on our middle finger (resulting from a slip while painting Janey’s nails), it still looks great. No chips at all and the edges are just beginning to wear.

See more Zoya nail polishes at ArtofBeauty.com .

Okay, you’re probably sick of hearing about the Erika nail polish from the Zoya Chitchat Collection, but someone recently pointed out that I never showed you the final product.

Thanks to my beloved Nikon D50′s current state of broken-ness I’m using a crappy little Coolpix that doesn’t want to cooperate, hence the blurry photo.

What you don’t see in this photo is that Erika has a pretty gold undertone that sparkles in the sunlight. So pretty.

What do you think? Would you wear it?

The much anticipated Zoya Chit Chat Collection is now available for pre-order on their site. (Thanks for the heads-up Lianne!)

This Summer 2008 collection, named after some of the internet’s favorite beauty bloggers (yours truly included), is a gorgeous collection of fun summer hues layered over a shimmering gold base.

Included in this collection is: Erika (soft pink metallic–*a Makeup Bag must-have!), Gaia (hip white metallic), Bekka (cool chartreuse metallic), Lianne (ultra tangerine metallic), Annie (bold berry metallic) and Elke (hot rose metallic).

This is better than Christmas!