ELF Essentials Lipsticks: Review + Swatches

So I wrote this whole thing then when I went to go publish it, it was gone! WTF?! I must have deleted it. Oh well. Moving on.....

ELF is one of my favorite brands. It satisfies 2 cravings I have: great makeup + great prices. You would think for $1, these wouldn't be all that great. They are just as good as any Maybelline or Revlon lipstick I have. The only thing is the websites swatches. They really are not true to color. You think your getting one color, and end up with another. Be sure to check this post out + other blogs that have swatches. You can get a better understanding of each color. 

Other than that these are great!

They deliver a lot of color and also smell great. Like fruit punch or sweet tarts. These lipsticks are not really drying or moisturizing. They are somewhere in the middle. Yes, they are creamy but after an hour or so you will feel your lips getting dry only to look in the mirror and see the color on your lips still there, but they are just dry lips. 

That's nothing a lip gloss can't fix! Either a clear gloss or a gloss that is the same color as the lipstick is what I always use. Or sometimes I pick an entirely different color lip gloss to go over any given lipstick to see what color I come up with. 9 times out of 10 I really like the color I get. Just a little inspiration (:

Classy

This is the very first Essentials lipstick I ever bought. It is also the creamiest one I own. I think that is because I have had it for 2 years. I originally bought this because I heard it was a dupe for MAC's Angel lipstick. I don't own Angel, but I do know it is known as a nude pink. I thought Classy was going to be along the same lines as a nude pink. I probably has to do with skin tone. The fairer you are, the darker it looks. So, Classy is more of a soft mauve pink. I have fair skin, but I still find myself wearing it a lot anyways.

Seductive:

Instead of your bright red color, this one is more of a brown red. A blood red, if you will. It's the one I wear the least but nonetheless is really pretty.

 Flirtatious:

This one is my personal favorite! It's a bright Barbie pink. It goes great over Mally's lip gloss in Punch. It reminds me of Narcsissus from Nyx or a brighter version of Dollhouse Pink fron Wet n Wild.

Gypsy:

A deep purple wine color. It reminds me of that color that everyone was wearing Fall of 2012. It's a really pretty color that would work on every one.

swatches:

xoxo
Erica

Target Haul - Home Decor and Some Stuff for the Give Away!

I love filming on this camera! As you can probably tell, haha! Here's some stuff I bought from Target for the give-away and also some home decor stuff....as I mentioned in the title. I found some really good ideas on Pinterest for my bedroom. I am stoked! I hope you enjoy my very first 1080p video. (:

thank you for watching! 

xoxo

Erica

Empty Products/ A Couple Holy Grails {Skin Care Edition}

I have been collecting trash for like months. I just never got around to posting this for whatever reason. It has gotten out of hand so let me get started on this. I have makeup from all catergories, and skin care. let's just start with skin care, then cross the other bridge when we get there. shall we?

One thing you should know is that I have acne prone, combination skin. It used to be oily but I am not sure what happened. Read about that more in the Kiehl's part of this blog post.

Kiehl's Rare Earth Deep Pore Cleanser.
 I knew this was good for acne prone, oily skin. At the time I bought it, my skin was really oily. It is amazonian clay mixed with really tiny exfoliants, which makes for a really thorough, deep clean. The very first time I used it, I remember being so impressed. My skin was the softest, cleanest it has ever been. As the months went on, my skin started to become more dry- not as oily. I am not sure if this is because of the face wash itself but all I know is that right after I would use this, my skin would be really, really dry. So dry, I felt the need {and never forgot!} to use a moisturizer. If you have oily skin, give it a shot but don't pay for it! Yep- get it for FREE! I got mine from Birchbox just racking up points months after months. Here's everything else I got for free from Birchbox.

Urban Decay All Nighter. 
Once you don't have a setting spray, you notice a difference in how long your makeup lasts. At least I did! Think of it as a hair spray for your face. There is a slight stickiness to it once it is starting to dry you can feel it if you touch your face, but it's not so sticky you can't stand it. It is weightless, as promised. I really liked this. It did the job.

Urban Decay De-Slick. 
Another setting spray. I LOVED this one. It is on my Holy Grail Page. This setting spray is for oily skin as the name would suggest. Like I mentioned my skin is more combination. What I really remember this for was keeping my makeup on for the whole day in the hot, humid summer last summer: 2012. If you live in a humid climate, I would recommend De-Slick over All Nighter. Or if you have oily skin. Or if it's hot where you live. 

Borghese Cureforte Moisture Intensifier.  
I got this in my Birchbox a while back. This is a thin serum. It is supposed to moisturize but to really get the benefits of it, you are supposed to use it before your moisturizer, along with whatever else you use. I didn't notice it giving me any moisture but I did notice it making my skin just all around better. When I read up on this product, I read that this is an activator for all of your skin care that goes on after it. So for example, if you use a moisturizer, it's going to make your moisturizer work even harder. I liked it. It was something different and fun to try.

{A rule of thumb for layering skin care goes like this: Cleanser, Toner, Thinnest Serum-Thickest Serum, Thinnest Cream-Thickest Cream. Think of it as thin to thick}

Dr. Hauschka Rejuvenating Mask. 
I got this in this kit from Birchbox.com along with the Kiehl's face wash- again, I racked up my points and bought it with those. I really wished I would have used this correctly because I would have loved it even more I am sure. Just like we have hair mask's that are like conditioners only 10x moisturizing, we have a skin mask moisturizer. Why I washed it off is beyond me because it was so comfortable to use and was seeping into my skin- in a good way. It's a green mask that is a thick lotiony consistency. When I washed it off, I noticed how soft it made my skin. This mask was like nothing I have ever used. It was my favorite mask to date. I am giving this a Holy Grail Award.

Proactiv Green Tea Moisturizer. 
I am an avid Proactiv user {have been using it on and off for years} and I always get a little trial size in every Proactiv purchase I make. It is a great basic moisturizer to use and have on hand. I have never had any problems with it. It gets it's job done. I like it better than any of the other moisturizers I receive from Proactiv. I go through these little things all the time.

Juice Beauty Oil Free Mositurizer.
If I was comparing this to the previous moisturizer I talked about, I would say this one is much thicker and better all around. It is really soothing and moisturizes better than any other one I have tried yet. I really noticed a difference in my skin when I used it. Another Birchbox sample. Another Holy Grail Award.

So as you can tell, all of this stuff was pretty good or really awesome. I like when that happens.

hey. I know im annoying but don't forget to vote in the poll in the sidebar for the give away! 

ok!
xoxo
Erica

Goodbye Google Reader + Where to Follow me Now. Where Can I Follow You?

I do not like typing that. I have a fear that with the end of Google Reader, it will be the end of blogging and bloggers and all of that. I am hoping not! I am hell bent on that not happening! Luckily for all of us obsessive compulsive bloggers, we have other platforms. Hello Cotton, Blog Lovin, and now Google +. Google Plus seems kinda cool but it will take some getting used to. Google + has everything {blog, youtube, photos, +1} in one place. I added that to my side bar and it is just like Google Reader. Simply click on "add to your circle" and your good to go. Your back to following Mind Body Beauty. Then, when your on Google Plus,

>>Go To Home {in the left sidebar}

>> click on the "All" tab and it will look just like your Blogspot Dashboard. All of your "friends, acquaintances, family, etc," blog post's/pictures/videos will be there.

Blog Lovin and Hello Cotton are both nice. But my fave was Google Reader. To follow me on either of those platforms, go to my side bar and you will see these buttons:

or you can click these:

My Hello Cotton Account

My Blog Lovin Account

just click on those, then when you get to the page, click "follow"

hell, click them all and follow me on twitter and all the rest! Why not?

what are you guys going to be using from now on?

do you know of any other platforms to use?

what is this world coming to?

how am i going to follow all my blogs?

Please Please PLEASE Tell me what platform your going to be on so I can get at cha there! I want to follow all of my blogging buddies so let's all switch over together

all of my normal blog post's will resume tomorrow. I wanted to get this out there so I wasn't left behind.

and congrats to Linh for hitting 100 followers! I won her give-away! Can't wait to get the package and show you all everything

See you on the other side

 xoxo

Erica

New Camera {Pictures of the Day}

I got my camera, the Canon Rebel t3i 18mp DSLR....eos....something, something. I got it yesterday and I took a total of 90 pictures. Of nothing much. I took some pictures for beauty blog post's but now that I have them on my camera, they are a little bit blurry. This particular camera is supposed to counter-act blurriness but I only know how to take a picture with it. I know nothing else about. If anyone knows about this baby let me know! Otherwise, I will be reading up on the direction book. Here's the pictures from yesterday.....

FYI: This last photo was taken inside my bathroom with the window open...about 10-15 feet away? How crazy is that?! I used the 75-300 lens for that one.

Have a good one

Erica

New Hard Candy Nail Polish: Candy Sprinkles Nails

This year the trend for nail polish seems to be cream or pastel base's, with different color glitters. Since my 2 favorite nail polishes are glitter and pastels, you know I am in love with this trend. I already own China Glaze's It's a Trap-Eze which is that same concept. Now I own Hard Candy's Cotton Candy Pink.

I had a little bit of trouble choosing between a few of them. They had a couple pastels colors, but pink is always my favorite. When I seen that Cotton Candy Pink had navy blue, and silver glitter pieces in it, I had to buy it! Navy blue and baby pink are my favorite color combo- so pretty! 

Looking on the site now, I see they have an even lighter color pink with the same color glitters called Pixie Pink. That would have looked even better next to my pale skin. Haha!....But seriously.

Your looking at 3 coats there. 

The cream base is a little bit more opaque than I thought it would be, actually. I love how you can see the glitters underneath the last coat from the 1st and 2nd coat. It looks cool! 

Hard Candy also has matte top coat {Matte-ly in Love} that I love putting over It's a Trap-Eze! {Im wearing it today like that!} and I think it would look pretty over top any of the nail polishes from the Candy Sprinkles line, too! Too bad they don't ever run BOGO sales at Wal-Mart! 

Check out the site {or Wal-Mart} because they have some other new, different, nail polish lines. A duo chrome line {Crushed Chromes}, a neon duo chrome line {Itsy Glitsy}, and 2 other glitter lines that look really cool {Crystal Confetti}+ {Glitteratzi}. 

I should have bought one from each line!...It isn't too late!.

What do you guys think?

Are you into these glitter polishes?

alrite,

c'yah!

♥Erica

Dont forget to vote on the sidebar for the giveaway!

New Stuff from Target and 5+Below

Before I start showing you the things I bought, I wanted to tell you guys about poll on the side bar of my blog for a give away! Guys, please help me out and vote! It would mean a lot to me (: I already have a few things bought for it, but I am wondering 1) if you would be interested in a Pinterest challenge giveaway + 2) What kind of things you would like to receive from a give away. So please be sure to go over to the side bar and cast your vote! Thank you (: Other than that, let's get started

Target has some pretty amazing candles that I wasn't aware of. Red Velvet Cake, Lemon Meringue, Sweet Spun Sugar {cotton candy} Lily Gardenia (will be my next purchase!) and Sugar Blossom. I love florals for spring and summer so naturally Sugar Blossom is a must have for me! It smells like a floral sweet tart. Floral candles always remind me of perfumes, and this one reminds me of a body splash you would find at Victoria's Secret.

Safe Haven was on sale for like $5 at Target! So far, it is an easy read and I am going through it pretty quick and that can only mean that I like it! I was thinking of picking another one up for my give-away...what do you think?

from 5 + Below....

I bought 2 nail polishes. 
Both from Wet n Wild. 
From 2 different lines. 

Sugar Coat's brush reminds me of Sally Hansen's Complete Salon Manicure Line- it's flat and goes to a point. The polish also reminds me of that line, it's really nice, doesn't bubble up, and after 2 coats is covered. This is more of a sheer polish {not super sheer} it reminds me of jelly nails in that respect. I hear so much about this particular color I couldn't pass. It reminds me a lot of Kim-Pletely In Love from the Nicole by OPI Kardashian Kollection, without the shimmer in it and Sugar Coat is more opaque than Kim-Pletely In Love.

Sparked I had to buy because it reminds me of my absolute favorite {well, one of my absolute favorite's!} glitter nail polishes...Essie's A Cut Above but Sparked doesn't have bigger glitters in it like A Cut Above. They are all tiny. I love it anyway. 

Wet n Wild Lipsticks

Are a little bit drying, but they are really pigmented. I bought Dollhouse Pink {reminds me of Narcissus from NYX} and Pink Sugar {clearly a nude}

On to something I was exited about but am not liking. I am sticking to my traditional sock bun. I mean, it seems legit. It's mesh and scratchy and seems like it would hold on to your hair really well. It just didn't work. It was hard to get all my hair around it because it's really tight. And once I do, my hair doesn't cover all of the donut up anyways. So if your hair is thin, it won't work. If your hair is thick, it wont work. It's a lose-lose. I feel like I am always reporting back with some dumb crap I have tried recently. Ima try and tell you all about some good stuff from now on (: hopefully!

Watch the video:
On top of everything here, I speak on a couple more favorites and purchases. Hope you like it (:

Side Note:

I announced on Twitter that I bought a DSLR Camera (Canon t3i 18mp) on QVC complete with 2 different lens for a steal! This is the exact one I bought so be ready for some pretty amazing content!...I hope, anyway! haha! If you know anything about DSLR's please let me know what you know with any links you have or any help. I am a total newbie and need all the help I can get

One More Thing:
Off the subject but have any of you seen End of Watch? Really good movies sometimes stick with me and this one is sad but really good. A slow start {me and Phil were like "ok wtf is this dumb shit?"} but towards the end everything starts making a lot of sense. If your into gangster and cop movies {my favorite} you just might love this on. Maybe ill open up a movie blog....nah!

k!

thanks for reading 

and don't forget to vote in the sidebar for what you want in the giveaway! I need your help! 

Thank you 

Erica

Avon Hit's and Misses.

I used to be an Avon representative a couple years ago and just like any other brand, there are hits and there are misses. I have found both in the bunch I have here. I ordered 3 Eye makeup Remover's (Holy Grail Status! The only remover I use) and they had a 4 for $10 going on with certain lip liners and eyeliners. I decided to go for that too. Let's start with those:

 Glimmersticks Lip liner
Please don't ask why they call them glimmer-sticks because there isn't a speck of glimmer or sparkle in them. As far as Pink Bouquet and Simply Spice go, these are all around a creamy finish. As you can see, these are twist up pencils- no sharpening required. These are both really, really nice. They aren't drying and don't tug on my lips either.

I am pretty fair and the Pink Bouquet was probably the lightest color they had, although it is a medium reddish pink. It has been working really well with all of my nude pinks, normal pinks, and underneath pink lip glosses. Poppy Red is a color of the season {a red pink} and is the hottest shade for the lips this season! Dont forget that with any lip liner, you can transform any lip color. If I wanted to bring a little bit of pink to a nude color, I could use this to do it.

Simply Spice is a medium brown nude. When I get some color, this will work even better with any nude lip sticks I have. I have been liking to use it to deepen any lip color I need to by simply lining the lips and filling in the edges of my lips, leaving the middle of my lips bare for just the lipstick to create some kind of contrast. Like Pink Sugar from Wet n Wild for example. A really, really light nude (almost concealer) color. Don't let the name throw you off!

Glimmersticks Eyeliners
Unlike their lip liner counterparts, the eye liner's actually do have sparkle to them. I think this might be what is making them awful though. They dont pack any kind of pigment punch or glide on easily either. It takes a couple strokes to get some color on the waterline and I am only speaking for Aqua Flash. Trying to get Golden Diamond onto the waterline, upper lash line, or even on my wrist for a simple swatch was impossible. Knowing I have been loving my nude liner on my waterline look, I thought I would give Golden Diamond a go only to be disappointed. You can tell from the swatch how bad that one is. Aqua Flash is good for lining my lash line and is at least better than Golden Diamond for the waterline but not by much. Once I get it anywhere in the inner rim, I doesn't really stay there. It just disappears after 1 hour at the most. If your looking for an aqua color for lining your lash lines, this might be good. Anywhere in the inner rim, you can forget it! I will try them both again and again and if I have any luck, I will let you know in a video, or on twitter, or something. Otherwise, find another line for lighter color eye liners.

{Click on any Picture to make it Bigger!}

If your wondering my thoughts on the Makeup Remover, go to my Holy Grail page. In short, it is really soothing because it is a lotion, takes all my makeup off without tugging or making my eyes red and irritated.

What do Love and/or Hate from Avon?
Let me know in the comments!

<3
Erica