Here is a way to set matching icons to your labels all without leaving your HTML.

Just create a new data-icon attribute on your tag that contains your label and set it equal to the icon you would like to use.

<li data-icon=★>Favorites</li>

And then set your CSS to display the data-icon attribute before the label.

li:before {
    content: attr( data-icon );
}

On a side note: attr() works in IE8+.

That’s it. Happy holidays.