Bright Summer Lips: NYX Butter Glosses

When spring/summer rolls around, I am ready for bright color's. The past week in Ohio has been nothing but rain and storms. Le sigh. I went into Ulta with the intention of finding something bright. NYX was having BOGO 1/2 off {as usual} and I knew I already liked their Lip Butters so I decided on these two. They were the brightest of the bunch.

Since I have already reviewed these in two other colors here, I will just give you a quick run down. These Lip Butters are great. They have a doe foot applicator + They have both pigment and gloss. It truly feels like a buttery consistency. It isn't sticky in the slightest. They are comfortable to wear.

Cherry Cheese Cake

This one was the brightest orange of the bunch. I always like orange lipstick for the summer. I wondered why they chose "Cherry" as a part of the name- it is a bit misleading. I think of a cherry as red, don't you? I have decided if it isn't a red orange then it is a yellow orange. To me, this is a true orange. It reminded me a lot of Revlon's Siren {matte} and swatching them next to each other, I noticed it was a dupe as far as the color goes. If your looking for the perfect orange lip, they make an excellent pair.

Peaches and Cream

Another weird name. I had to look for the peachy tone in there and I suppose this would lean slightly coral but to me this is just a perfect bubblegum pink. I have talked about the ELF Essentials Lipstick in Flirtatious plenty of times {may or may not be my all time favorite lipstick} and after swatching them side by side, I realized they are an exact dupe as far as color goes. Another perfect pairing if your looking for a bright pink lip.

Here's the swatches on my wrist. Peaches and Cream is on top and Cherry Cheesecake is below that.

Swatching lipsticks/glosses never give a true color of what it would look like on the lips. These lip glosses look a little but deeper- more bold - on the lips.

I love this time of year. I am so excited for the summer- and bold bright colors!

What are your favorite Bright lip colors?

What about your Favorite NYX Butter Gloss shades?

thanx for reading!

{xx}

Erica

August Ipsy Products Review

Better late than never, right? Truth is, I wanted to give myself some time before I started writing all about everything. I find that when I give you a first impression type of blog post, I tend to regret what I said about it a week of two later. My opinion is always changing anyhow and I would rather review these things than haul these things. Every blog is hauling the Ipsy stuff. I actually really like to read and watch the Ipsy hauls. They are what made me want to sign up for Ipsy in the first place. However, I thought I would do what I used to do with Birchbox and review everything. It's more helpful, right?  That's a long winded explanation! Let's move on...

Micheal Todd True Organics
Jojoba Charcoal Facial Scrub {$18}

I always hear different beauty vloggers and bloggers talking about this skin care line. I have always had it on my wishlist, I just never bought it.  I use Proactiv on a daily basis and have a ton of it, so this face wash was just a wish and not on my shopping list.  It is black. Strange. It is for all skin types and is said to draw out impurities. My skin is combination skin. It is oily and dry and it tends to break out a lot. Even though it is a scrub, it is very gentle on the skin. Gentler than Proactiv. My face feels soft after I use it. Along with the exfoliator in with it, the rest of the formula turns into a foam, not like Proactiv. It is a really good face wash/scrub. I would consider buying this the next time I am out of my Proactiv face wash. I wouldn't normally say something like that so soon in regards to skin care, but this stuff is pretty awesome. It has also been keeping my spots at bay pretty well. All of those things combined, I am sold.

Pacifica
Alight BB Cream {$16}

 I talked about the Coola Tinted Moisturizer that Ipsy sent out last month. I mentioned how I liked it and was the best tinted moisturizer/BB cream I have ever tried, but doesn't wow me. This one on the other hand is great. It has a nice cream finish and doesn't feel too liquidy and like it is sliding off of my face. It has a nice finish to it. It really does blur imperfections and makes my face and skin tone look even. It doesn't cover up my freckles. Honestly, it gives a glow to my face without it being all sparkly. You know those BB creams I am talking about with that sheen to them. {I'm looking at you, Tarte!} Ugh, I hate that finish. To me, this is the perfect BB cream. Being light and airy, and actually covering up imperfections while making my face look fresh. This BB cream has that special something that I didn't even know was possible. Ok, that sounds so dumb. But it's true. Spring of 2014, this will be on my list.

Urban Decay Lipstick
Anarchy {$22}

 If you know me, you know I love bright lipsticks and pink lipsticks. This was right up my alley. It's a very pigmented bright pink that doesn't dry out my lips. That quality is hard to find in a bright lipstick. Because of that, it is the best bright lipstick I have tried. I have never gave a second look to any Urban Decay lipsticks. I have a gloss from UD that I love and now Anarchy is joining my collection of UD lip products. I have yet to meet one I don't like. Even though I like it, I probably won't purchase it. I do not have 1 high end lipstick and if I ever bought one, I would buy one that is more or less wearable for any day, any season, and for any look. I have so many bright pink lipsticks and you can find some really good ones at the drugstore. Maybelline's Fuchsia Flash is almost the exact color of Anarchy. Anarchy is a little deeper in color. The only thing that separates this from the rest is the fact that it stays creamy. 

Mica Beauty
Shimmer Powder in Bronze {$10}

Wow. This is so pretty. Since I got it, I have been using it everyday on my lid. I just tap my finger on the cap and then press it onto my eye lid. I get a nice, rich, duo chrome bronze every single time using that simple method. Sometimes metallic duo chrome eye shadows can be deceiving. They look really pretty in the pan but don't deliver that color onto the eye. This one does not have that problem at all. Granted, I have yet to use a brush with it but my finger works so well with it. I also never get that much fall out, if any fall out. I love this stuff.

Pixi
Lash Boosting Mascara {$17}

I have always wanted to try Pixi. All of their stuff is so cute! This is a deluxe sized sample of mascara. Because of that, the wand is smaller. If I were able to try it with a bigger, normal sized wand I might like this a lot better. Or maybe not, actually, considering that the mascara tends to transfer onto my lid- big time. I have been liking it my for bottom lashes because of those things. Comparing it to my all time favorite mascara, Mally's Volumizing Mascara, Pixi's doesn't make my lashes as full or as long as they would be if I was using my Mally favorite. Pixi's Lash Boosting Mascara makes my lashes longer and volumized, yes. But only to a certain degree. It makes my lashes more long than voluminous. Maybe I am spoiled with my Mally mascara. If it didn't transfer onto my lid so much I might really love it. It's good but not great.

Whoopsie! Almost forgot to include the swatches.

From left to right: 
Pacifica BB Cream, Urban Decay Anarchy, and Mica Shimmer Powder in Bronze. 

I wanted to give you a "swatch" of the BB cream blended out. So where the swatch used to be of the BB cream, it is now a blended out swatch. Not the greatest blending job but you can kind get the idea. From here, it looks shimmery but there is no shimmer in it. I swear! lol

I have really been loving getting the Ipsy bags each month. Birch Box was great because after building up points, you got to get free full sized products. I also miss trying out all the skin care. But, as you can see I got a really nice Micheal Todd face scrub to try out. I find myself actually using these Ipsy products on a daily basis. Not to mention the company was founded my Michelle Phan, debatably, the original beauty blogger.

thank you for reading!
<3
Erica

Physician's Formula Nude Palette: Swatches & Dupes!

Hey! I found out from Nouveau Cheap that CVS was having 40% off Physician's Formula. Naturally I got into my car and drove to the nearest one. Since my CVS is relocating they had all kinds of stuff marked down. I got my Revlon Colorstay foundation for under $2 (yes!) That meant I could spend more on Physician's Formula! One of the things I purchased was this Nude palette. I have been in love with it ever since.

I personally love PF eye shadows! I think they are the best drug store eye shadows. I have even mentioned that they are as good as Urban Decay shadows. It wasn't until I swatched them side by side for the dupes in this blog post that I realized Urban Decay is a little bit better. Stila is even better than Urban Decay. But that is a whole 'nother blog post! What ever the order, PF is still the best drug store eye shadow in my opinion.

Here's this whole palette swatched with no base or primer. Obviously any eye shadow comes to a whole different life over a primer and looking back I should have primed my arm but then again, this is the real deal. Like all of you know, use an eye primer to make your shadow last longer (or at all for that matter) ! I tried to pick a favorite but I honestly couldn't! Sorry for the blurryness. As you all know, it is hard taking a picture with one hand and keeping it steady!

 I actually like the sponge applicator it comes with. It looks like an angled eye liner brush and it does that job perfectly. It will be perfect to throw in my bag. It has eye shadow and eye liner already taken care of!

 So the first dupe I found was the obvious one. There really isn't much that is different about Sidecar from Urban Decay and the color highlighted from PF Nude. I am seeing from this photo that Sidecar may have more of a brown undertone but honestly, when your looking at them in person, you don't see this distinction. Sidecar is also a little more pigmented. No primer's were used.

The next one I found was another obvious one. I am sure there is a dupe from every single cosmetic company but what-ev's. I was surprised to find out that PF's sprakley black was more pigmented then UD's sparkly black is, Creep. It seems that the glitters in Creep are much bigger than the ones in PF.  No primer's were used.

Got one more for yah! I don't think any company can beat Stila when it comes to pigmentation, but these 2 shadows are dead on when it comes to color.  Kitten looks a bit more shiny but I think that has to do with pigment. Again, no primer's used.

Weather or not this palette has a couple dupes, the Nude palette is awesome in it's own right! It has some unique colors that I didn't find dupes for! Definitely worth the $6 I paid. I would have paid $10!

Have you guys tried the Physician's Formula Nude palette? What do you think? If not, are you going to?

What is your favorite drug store eye shadow?

Till Next Time

Stay Beautiful,

Love Always,

Erica

Candles By Victoria

As you guys know if you frequent Meet Makeup that I placed an order for CBV and it came a few weeks back. I wanted to give you guys my 2cents on the candles so I wanted to wait for this post, so here we go:


Breakfast in Vermont- White chocolate truffle fragrance begins with top notes of caramel and sugar; well-rounded with middle notes of buttercream, maple, and molasses. Dry base notes include vanilla, white chocolate and white flour. -from the website. 

It sounds so decadent, doesn't it? mmm hmm! This one reminds me a lot of Cinnamon Sugar Donut from Slatkin & Co (Bath & Body Works) I actually thought that I was burning that one when I was burning this one so I really feel it has a cinnamon note in there- an extremely sweet cinnamon note. Not one of those spicy ones. Which I prefer the sweet kind, if you cant tell by all of my candle purchases ever. Can we call this a dupe for Cinnamon Sugar Donut? yes, we can!

Log Cabin- We created this scent for a customer that wanted to play a prank on her hubby by making him think she was making him pancakes for breakfast and we did just that according to her! A rich blend of Maple, Butter and Syrup this scent will have you running to the kitchen. Just so yummy! -from the website. 

This is actually funny it mentions that on the site because when my mom came in the other day she mentioned that it smelled like pancakes in here. This is truly maple syrup & buttery pancakes. I love this one and I love that I can smell the buttery note in it. <3

Tiffany D- TiffanyD on YouTube inspired me to create this wonderful fragrance. Colored light blue like the infamous Tiffany boxes, a beautiful mix of Watermelon, Honeydew Melon, Cotton Candy with a splash of Vanilla. -from the website.


This one to me smells a little plastic-y in some ways. Not that it smells like burning plastic, but it just doesn't smell like real fruit. However, all of the notes mentioned I can pick up after reading what's in it. Its one of those that smells extremely sweet

Coppertone ~ If you like the smell of coppertone suntan lotion, we think our copper suntan lotion fragrance will make you very happy! -from the website.

I haven't burned this one yet and for some reason I wanna wait for spring/summer but it really does smell for the most part like Coppertone. I think once I burn it I am really going to be smelling the Coppertone. 

Cotton Candy-County Fairs, ferris wheels and good times are what this sweet scent brings to mind. Sweet and sugary with a hint of strawberry in the background -from the website.

This one is pretty sweet as well but I do like it better then Tiffany D, it's not as sickeningly sweet and fake smelling.

Pumpkin Pickin'-   A french vanilla cream pudding slightly caramelized with hints of pumpkin spices.- from the website.

One thing I thought was really nice was that they sent me a scent shot for free, which was Pumpkin Pickin'. I love when companies do that, it is always a nice touch. I have yet to burn it but it smells like a spicier pumpkin scent. I know once I burn it though I think it will smell more sweet

Other Points

--I want to mention that if youare going to order from Victoria, dont judge the candle before you burn it. They do smell a little different/better. Notes that you cant smell in the un-melted wax, you can once melted


--The only thing that really sux is the shipping. Yeah the candles are great and fairly priced but 8 something for shipping kills me. Either way I am really pleased with my purchase and will make another purchase eventually. I think I may get more candles than tarts but the tarts are so cheap and worth it lol.  

--Something I noticed was the candle wax itself which is rather....waxy, for lack of a better word. I actually spilled some of my tart (oops!) and when I was cleaning it up, it was rather hard to deal with.

--Overall, I like the candle/scent shots but I can't say they top my beloved Slatkin and Co. lucky for me, Slatkin is readily available but I do like Victoria's Candles alot so next time I need a change up im going to order more from her for sure 

--CBV is on the same level when it comes to the throw of the candle. We can smell her candles from a mile away (not literally), which I really love. Her candles are also really cheap, I honestly think she could be charging more, but luckily for us, she doesn't! If you are contemplating on ordering, I say go for it.

Have any of you ordered from CBV? What scents did you get?

as always, thanx so much for stopping by!

xoxo

Erica

Contouring & Bronzing

I wanted to talk about ELF's blushing/bronzing duo initially, but once I started swatching & comparing it to other things. I think I detected some sort of dupe!

Elf Blushing/Bronzing Duo

This baby was $3 and it's a pretty big palette for the price! I bought it off of eyeslipsface.com and I have been using it ever since then. Like I mentioned in Oct Favs, it is highly pigmented! Remember to use a light hand and tap off your excess!

Bronzer- I am pretty fair and I feel many tones that are darker than me can pull this off, and also couple lighter than me as well- this is a pretty dark bronzer. I love this because it is matte, and not shimmery, which is perfect for contouring. Shimmer brings light to the place you apply it and I want to create more of a shadow effect when Im contouring, and not a highlighting effect. This color doesn't have an orange tint to it, as most bronzer's I have seen can have. You will notice in the swatches it a true brown, which I am likin'! Nice change compared to the others I have

Blushing- It is a pretty blush alone, but I like to use this with the bronzing side as well. With my angled face brush from Sigma, I dip in into each color 2x and then tap off the brush 4x. Hey, it works for me and im not too sure why this particular ritual does but what-ev's. I love doing this because I am so fair that it tones down the bronzer and makes it a more of an orangey tone as opposed to brown. It's really easy to mix and match to your perfect color if you wanna take this route.

When I use the duo the way I just mentioned, I like to go right above the hollow of my cheeks, and a little below where my blush would usually go. I find that this actually flatters me much better anymore for some reason, try it out with any bronzer you have- who knows, you might love it too!

efl duo: left: bronzer side right:blush side

Laura Gellar Blush n Brighten in Honey Dipped

Even though this has a shimmer in it, it works for me. This does have an orange tint to it which can be used for more than just contouring because of that- I sometimes like to dust it all over for a glowy finish.

Dupe

 Mixing Elf's blushing and bronzer duo together is extremely comparable to Laura

Gellar's Baked Blush N Brighten in Honey dipped. However there are a few difference's. As you can see, the Blush N Brighten does have some shimmer to it, and is more dimensional than the Elf duo mixed. I also think this has something to do with the baking process from cream to powder. 

left: Blush N Brighten right: Elf duo mixed together

Physician's Formula Cashmere Bronzer:

This is a much much lighter bronzer. If you are the lightest of light shade, this would be your bff - I love this bronzer because of that, in the dead of winter this is the bronzer I usually need to contour. This past fall, I have been using it over my foundation to boost up my complexion a bit. It is for the most part a matte powder with the slightest detectable shimmer to it that I never noticed until I did this blog post. If you are a darker tone, I think this would make an interesting highlight. Something I need to remember to try once I am tan again.

whats your favorite bronzer to contour it? 

what about your favorite to use all over your face to brighten it up? 

let us know in the comments! 

dont forget about the giveaway!!!

xoxo Erica J