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

Mally's Favorite Things Kit

If you remember my January Favorites, I had a bunch of Mally products in it. I bought the Mally's Favorite Things Kit back in December on QVC when it was on the Today Special Value {3 easy payments} of $23. This is my intro to Mally products. I always hear of the makeup and she has such cute packaging that I figured this was my chance to hop on and try some stuff out!

Everything I Got In This Kit:

3 Volumizing Mascaras

3 High Shine Liquid Lipsticks

3 Age Rebel Eyeshadows

3 Evercolor Ultimate Waterproof Eyeliners

Age Rebel Shadow Sticks: 

 These are cream shadows that do not need a primer. Once you apply them, you have 30 seconds to blend them out and they will stay put for the day. You can use them as a base to put eyeshadow on top, or you add them on top of your eye shadows, or wear them alone. I have put them to the test before: no primer, no nothing except the Age Rebel Eyeshadow alone and they stayed put and didn't crease up on me. {yay!} These are also good for wearing underneath the waterline: I like to add the lightest one on my inner half of the eye and one of the darker ones on the outer half of my eye. She mentions you can wear them as a smudgy eyeliner but I have yet to try that.

They come in these mint colored metal tubes and they have weight to them. They aren't like heavy or anything but because they aren't light as a feather it reminds me that they are higher end {is that weird?} You get a shimmery champagne color called Sugar, a deep purple called Burnished Violet, + an emerald green called Jade.

I have been loving to use a matte medium brown in the crease {Urban Decay's Buck and Naked mixed} with a light matte color on the lid {Wet n Wild's Creme Brulee} then adding Sugar to the balls of my lids and in the inner corner lately. It makes for a really pretty, soft {but not too soft!} natural look. Or sometimes I will use Burnished Violet or Jade in the crease and on the lower lash line with Sugar all over the lid for a really quick -no primer needed- look.

Evercolor Ultimate Waterproof Eyeliner:

When I first bought these, I thought they were a dupe for Physician's Formula Shimmer Strips For Blue Eyes. The one thing that sets them apart is the colors. Physician's Formula's For Blue Eyes have more of a bronzed brown and a medium blue. Mally's are waterproof and Physician's Formula's are not. I have used Mally on one eye and Physician's Formula on the other using every color and the black one's were the only one's that matched perfectly. They were both jet black. But, I noticed most days that Mally's faded away quicker! Physician's Formula's were much quicker to smudge throughout the day, however. I am getting knit picky here, but only because I feel like you should know every last detail. Even though I noticed some smudging with Mally's liners, it wasn't much at all and happened at the end of the day. I would really like to try these out in the pool!

  In this kit, I got 3 different colors of liners: Express-O-Lane {Matte Brown}, Navy {Matte}, + Shimmering Black {self explanatory}. All 3 shades are really wearable for me and I seem to gravitate towards Mally's over Physician's Formula because of that. I usually only wear black and sometimes brown but all 3 of these shades are perfect for every day or night. I have worn each of them multiple times. They are all deep, rich, saturated colors. Not to mention the cream-mint tube it comes in with the rose gold writing- She could not have picked cuter packaging!

Volumizing Mascara: 

I got 3 of these so I was really hoping I would like them! When I first open my bottle of this mascara, it was perfect. It volumized, lengthened, and didn't clump up on me and make my lashes look spidery. Now that it is getting older {2 months} I am noticing that if I want to apply more than one coat, it will clump up on my lashes. So, this mascara is best when it is new {unless you like spider lashes}. One coat is all I need, anyway. I still volumizes and lengthens with one coat. I make sure to wipe off the brush and go over them a second time to separate them and it works.

High Shine Liquid Lipstick: 

Not until I read the exact name {aka right this second} did I realize these were in fact liquid lipstick's and not lip glosses! Other liquid lipstick's I have tried are really, really sticky. These are not at all. They feel like a thin gloss on the lips but they really do deliver both color and shine. Mally says that these are your lip primer, lip color and lip gloss all in one and I would say that is a great explanation. I don't find that they accentuate my lines in my lips- in fact, they seem to make them look smoother. Punch has been my favorite and I have been loving wearing it with ELF Essentials lipstick in Flirtatious {and alone too!}. I also got a shimmery berry color called Raspberry, and an orange nude called Peach Sorbet which reminds me a lot of Revlon's Creamsicle Lip Butter.

So to sum it all up:

-Age Rebel Eyeshadow's are great worn alone, as a base, or over any eyeshadow, and what you see is what you get: they are as vibrant/shimmery at the end of the day as they were the second you put them on. These were flawless.

-Waterproof Liners are great staple colors, with deep pigments, they do not tug on the lid, very little smudging and fading although there will be some at the end cap of your day. If your looking something cheaper, Physician's Formula's Shimmer Strips are very comparable. Comparison above. Full review here.

-Volumizing Mascara is volumizing and lengthening. One coat is all you need for full, long lashes.When the bottle starts to get a little older, that's when you have to watch out for the clumping. Nothing a clean mascara wand can't fix! Run one though your lashes after you apply the mascara to separate them.

-High Shine Liquid Lipsticks are truly a primer, color, and shine. They don't accentuate my lines in my lips and they really do pack a punch of color. Just like the Age Rebel Eyeshadow, these were flawless. And not sticky.

-Everything was made with care. The packaging is so nice and you can tell everything is higher end.

-Im glad I took a chance on some Mally products for a really great price!

Have you tried any Mally stuff?
What do you think?

xoxo
Erica

The Things I Loved in January

Hey! Time for my favorite things from January! I have adopted a lot of new techniques this month which you will see. I also have been doing a little something different in terms of my normal blush colors. Lot's of good stuff this month! I hope you enjoy (:

Products Mentioned:

John Frieda -Luxurious Volume- Blow Dry Lotion- Root Booster
2 rules to make this give you really good volume while still making your hair really soft. 1: add to the roots of wet hair. 2: blow dry with a big round brush. I love it (: I didn't add a picture because I feel it was getting a little bit crazy but in the collage above, it's the blue bottle right in the middle (obviously)

YBF Correcting Cream/ Illuminating Cream

 Another new technique I have been using is adding this correcting cream underneath my eyes as a concealer and adding it to the high points of my face. It brightens really well without adding shimmer. This correcting cream is a good one! Creamy, opaque, but still thin enough so it wont settle in my fine lines. Im wearing it in the video.

 Hard Candy Concealer Pencil:

 I have been using this as an eye liner for my water line! It has been working great as a nude liner. Who woulda thought? This actually came with the Glamoflauge Concealer as a little bonus. It doesn't irritate my eyes.

Revlon Colorstay Liquid Liner

Maybelline Bouncy Blush in Fresh Pink

Also wearing this in the video

Elf Studio Blush in Mellow Mauve + Giddy Gold

 Love both of these! Both colors are really different than any other blush I have. The rest are pink, haha! Giddy Gold is my top blush. It is so pretty on my cheeks. They both are a nice change up! Click on the link to go to my full review on a bunch of the ELF Studio Blushes.

Wet n Wild Single Eyeshadow in Creme Brulee

Mally Age Rebel Eyeshadow in Sugar

 Be on the look out for a full review on all of the Mally stuff from Mally's Favorite Things Kit. That includes everything I will be talking about in this video/blog post from Mally.

Mally Volumizing Mascara

Mally Lipgloss in Punch 
Review coming soon on lots of Mally stuff!

ELF Essentials Lipstick in Flirtatious
Perfect with the lip gloss. They are exactly the same color. The Essentials lipsticks are really creamy and pigmented. For $1, it doesn't get any better.

Favorite T.V. Shows

Catfish: 

I have been loving this show! I can't believe all the Catfish they actually found but I am always so happy when they document a true love story...well, as true as your going to get! Something about Nev I love. He is my crush right now.. He looks oddly similar to someone I know who is my boyfriend....hmm. Also, the music they play on that show is so good! 

Family Guy : 

I am not sure if you guys know this about me but I am a huge fan of Family Guy! It just might be my absolute favorite show and has been for years. The new one about "The Giggity Wife" was hilarious! South Park coming up a close second of course. Oh yeah, I can't forget about American Dad! We call Stella "Roger Dog" because she looks like Roger the alien when she sits up. She's so cute!

 Online Favorites:

Twitter:
Has been one of my favorite things! With #HowtobeHappyJanuary and #Jadorelavie hash tags, it has been a lot fun connecting with people, staying on track and staying inspired. I am taking this high, happy, motivated energy well into February! Howboutchu?

Lumosity:
One of my new years resolutions was to stay healthy: healthy mind, body, + soul. That includes the brain! Lumosity has been really fun. It takes a total of 5 minutes a day and it's easy and fun.  You can play 3 different games a day for free- as many times as you want. If you want full access, it's something like $7 a month. I just do the free games. 

Favorite Bloggers:  

Beauty:
Elle Sees:  
This girl is freakin' creative! She always has themed blog post's and things going on over on her blog. Right now is Love Week  

Healthy:
Bess Be Fit:
I just found her a couple of days ago but I am a big fan of hers. She is always making up really good workouts and recipes and how she uses Photoshop {or Gimp} to bring a certain finesse to each one reminds me of how I like to post recipes here. Am I even making sense? Just go check her out and you will see what I mean!

That's just about everything! I have some food favorites as I have been back to eating healthy but this would be way too long if I added those too! Thank you for reading!

xoxo
Erica

2012 Bestie's: My Favorite Eye Liner

Every time I type that I feel like such a dork! Ha! Besties Awards! Im crazy.

The Bestie's Awards are everything I absolutely loved last year. I may not have something from every single category but all of these products were the cream of the crop. Today I want to talk about my favorite eye liner.

Shimmer Strips Custom Eye Enhancing Eyeliner Trio $12

What I love about these and why they are the object of my eye lining affection for 2012 is that I never have to worry about them running down my face. Another problem I run into with eye liners is the fact that they just don't stay on my eyes at all, let alone run down my face. I have really watery eyes. Any other eye liner I have used will be gone within the hour when my eyes start to water. The Shimmer Strips give me the best of both worlds (no worlds?) meaning it will stay in my water line weather my eyes are watering or not and will not run down my face. 

 A few hours into my day, I will notice a little bit of the product collecting in the corners of my eyes but it is nothing I cannot fix really quick with a swipe of a little piece tissue. Sometimes I don't even bother, to be honest! I get busy throughout the day and cannot watch every move of my eye liner. With these, I never feel like I have to worry about it too much.

As for lining your lash line with these, your going to be golden all day long no matter what. That eye liner isn't going anywhere. I am not someone that really smudges out my eye liner at all but if you wanted to do that with the Shimmer Strips, you have a couple seconds before it sets. I never ever have to set the liners with any kind of powder or eyeshadow or anything. It just stays. I have put them to the test plenty of times (scratching my eyes) and it never budges. However, taking your makeup off at the end of the day with a makeup remover is easy. 

 These are twist up eye pencils. They don't need sharpened. They have a built in sharpener in the bottom of each one that I have never used before but its there is your wanting a finer point. I can't say it makes much of a difference as far as performance goes. They are just as easy to use weather that fine point is there or not.

The Physician's Formula Shimmer Strips come in a pack of 3 eye liners in different colors. They market them for different eye colors "For Blue Eyes" or "For Hazel Eyes". Even though I have brown eyes, I have tried both For Brown Eyes (comes with a black with blue glitter, a brown, + a purple) and For Blue Eyes (a black with purple glitter, a brown, + a blue).

 What you see in the pictures is the For Blue Eyes set along with the one purple eye liner from the For Brown Eyes set that I had from before.

As you can tell from the swatches, the glitter in the black one is pretty much non-existent. It is there and I can especially see it in a heavy swatch like this one, but once it is on my eyes I cannot tell that there is glitter in it. That is either a good thing or bad thing depending on preference. I personally like the fact that it is so subtle. They are nice liners for every day because it's not like bam-in-your-face glitter.

As for the pigmentation, it is really good. This isn't the blackest of black I have ever used but since it stays put all day long, I can deal with it just being black. I usually find myself going around my inner rim a couple times before I get that black-black color I am looking for. So, it is achievable! If I had to work way too hard to get any kind of black line on my inner rim, I would never consider these liners for a Besties Award. As you can see, the brown isn't so much brown as it is a bronzed shade. Just like the black, you can work it up to be a more intense brown but with the brown eye liner, it may be a little bit harder. It's funny because the brown shade is actually the lightest shade of the bunch.

Here's the bullet points:

-Twist up pencil

-Built in sharpener (I have never used)

-Stay's put in the water line

-Stay's put on the lash line, no matter how hard you rub your eyes.

-Doesn't migrate down my face

-Don't need to set with an eyeshadow

-Very little gathering of product in the outer corner

-Comes in a set of 3 for around $12

-Easy to remove with makeup remover

-Pigmentation is pretty good

-The shimmer is nonexistent on the eyes

Ok! So far, I have done:
Besties Award for Best Mascara (another Physician's Formula product too!) 

I will be back in a day or two to fill you in on the rest of everything! 
Get ready for:
 the main Besties Awards (face and the rest of the eyes) 
Besties Awards for Nail Polish 
Besties Awards for Lip Products

Before I go, I wanted to thank all of you for an awesome 2012! Things got crazy in 2012 but the one thing that is always so awesome and growing is Mind Body Beauty! I am so blown away! Thank you times a million! You guys are seriously the best people on this earth and make me so happy (:

Until Next Time
Erica

7 Deadly Sins of Beauty TAG

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Hey! I am sure we have all sen this tag floating around. I know I have! It looked really fun but everyone kept on answering w/ the same answer's! What Gives? Some things I suppose are inevitable but other questions, I really wanted to get creative! Of course, not everyone's Q&A's were exactly the same, & I obviously loved the idea of this tag, so if you do have a video or a blog post about, link me up, yo!


1. Greed: What is your most inexpensive/expensive makeup item? 

Inexpensive: I have lots of inexpensive things! That is stuff I live for. Anything from the E.L.F. Essentials line is $1 & they have plenty of excellent products on that $1 list. I would say I got the most bang for my buck with the ELF Essentials lipstick in Classy & the Eye Shadow Quad in Drama.

For $1, you can't ask for anything better with this lipstick. It applies nicely & it smells really good too. I also hear it is a good dupe for Angel by MAC. hmm...I cant say for sure because I dont have Angel but I would say it's true because I watched a great video on it. They also smell amazing!

 here's a swatch: sorry about the shadow- boo! You can tell it's a mid-toned pink. Pretty

As for the Brightening Eye Shadow Quad, it is really great! There is a white matte that is actually pigmented, a couple really sparkly glittery silver colors (those are always good to have on hand) and a black w/ a little bit of shimmer. Check out the swatches: The swatches are on my boyfriends hand (: thank you Philly

Most Expensive: Even though I got the Naked palette for Christmas, I still know it is the most expensive makeup item I do own. I am not going to go on and on about it because we have all seen it a few times now! I will say I really do love it and my favorite colors are: Sin, Virgin, Toasted, Naked, Sidecar, Buck, & Hustle. So pretty. Between my mom and I, we get a lot of use out of it. My mom even thought it was an outrageous price, bought it anyway, & is happy she did so nowadays. That's proof that it's a good investment!

2. Wrath: What Beauty item do you have a love/hate relationship with? Revlon Colorstay. Now let me explain. This has been my absolute favorite foundation that I have ever tried. It worked so well for me for over a year now. When I recently purchased my new bottle I was feeling like it wasn't working for me. Sure it covers but I have a lot of redness that Color Stay used to be able to cover up & now it doesn't do that as well. Granted, it still covers just not as well as I would like it to- like it used to. It's really strange. Maybe it's the new concealer I am using which is Revlon's Photo Ready Concealer

another beauty item I have a love hate relationship with is Nyx Narcissus! God, I love that gorgeous color! My favorite bold lipstick! And the smell? Amazing! I was wearing it every single day I loved it so much. Then, something happened to it. I think it was because I used to put it in my apron every day and re apply every hour at work where I was running around in a hot restaurant. I think its probably time to buy a new one. For now, I have a love hate relationship with it. Love the color. Hate when I go to put it on, I get it everywhere. I usually just dot it on my lips then smooth it out w/ my finger or q-tip. You really cant put it on like regular lipstick

What item has been the hardest to get? A great nude lipstick! I was trying so many nudes until I found Revlon's Lip Butter in Creamsicle. The one I really missed the ball on? NYX in Summer Love. It looks awful on me. You would think I would have known that just by looking at it but I obviously didnt! lol- I personally would like a nude lipstick in lipstick form as opposed to a butter type of thing. Any suggestions for me? I ws thinking Nyx Orange Soda

3. GLUTTONY: What are your most delicious beauty products? Since I have been picking 2 for almost every question, why stop now? Especially when both of them are a true tie.

My first one is the Bodycology Hazelnut body scrub. You can get a big tub of it at Wal-Mart for like $6. It literally smells like it is supposed to be slathered on to my toast as opposed to my body. Not to mention it is a really great scrub. I actually like it better than any of C.O. Bigelow's.

My next one is Dark Kiss body butter. I will let the description speak for itself. - "A blend of black raspberry, Mirabelle plum, amber, dark vanilla bean, & sensual balsam". That's how Bath & Body Works describes it. When I smell it, it makes me think of a blue kool aid flavor with a really warm note, which is probably the amber. It's hard to describe. It's smells delicious.

4. SLOTH: What beauty product do you neglect, due to laziness? Lashes. Absolutely, without a doubt. It doesn't help that I am not that great at applying them. I do have lashes that are pretty long, esp. when I am using the right mascara, I sometimes feel as if I don't need them. But when I really want them, I start putting them on, they annoy my face and eye balls to no end, so I take them off. Practice makes perfect & most of the time I don't even attempt to put them on, sometimes I grin & bear it, but most likely I take them right off! Pictured are Elf lashes. The only ones I have right now, actually.

5. PRIDE: What beauty product gives you the most self confidence? Black eyeliner on the waterline. I don't leave home without it, actually. When I first started with makeup, all I would do is apply black liner on the waterline and apply some mascara & I would be happy. To this day I always use at least mascara,black liner, & arch my brows. But if I am not wearing my liner, I feel very peculiar. Here's some of the ones I am using now that I like a lot.

front to back:  Mark. No Place To Run, Styli-Style, Smashbox, & Revlon Colorstay

6. LUST: What attributes do you find most attractive in the opposite sex? Hair, Eyes, Ambition, Kind, Polite, Loyal, I like a guy that is a homebody,I hate that loud obnoxious guy at the bar. Or the guy that is a party animal. I especially like a guy that will go shopping with me or to a makeup party if I can't find anyone else to go. My boyfriend? Is all of those things.

7. ENVY: What items would you most like to receive as a gift? I think this calls for a quick little wish list! The ultimate gift would be a makeup brush set.

1. The ultimate brush set that would be perfect for me would be the Performance Eye Kit Brushes simply because I do have smaller lids to work with and even the brushes I have now are sometimes too big.

2. The next thing is something I just came up with but I would love it as much as anything else. A Nars eye shadow palette. Any of them, honestly. I always hear how Nars eyeshadow's are so amazing & unique.

3. The Sigma Precision Brushes I really would love because they are unique face brushes that are all kabuki type of brushes.

4. I have wanted this Too Faced Face palette since it came out a few months ago. It is right up my alley. I would use the fuck out of it! haha

There you have my 7 Deadly Cosmetics! - lol

Link me if you did this tag as well

Till Next Time,

Erica

like all of my picture flare?  Go to this link! She's amazing!

January Birchbox Review

Hey guys! So if your new and wondering why I am talking about last month's Birchbox, I will fill you in. I was a little tired of just hauling the boxes that I thought I could do more of a review and be much more beneficial to the blogging world. Instead of me talking about my expectations for the things in my box, I would have had enough time to try them out to see what I think. This is also a motivating factor for me to actually try everything in my box and use it to the last drop. Let's get started, shall we?

Stila Smudge Stick Waterproof Eyeliner in Moray: ($20) Stila is quickly becoming my favorite high end brand and this product did not disappoint! The only color liner I use is black- for the most part, anyway.. I really don't like brown and I will try purple every once in a while on my lid but my waterline is always black. This liner is really unique. A really dark greenish color with green specks of glitter in it. I find it is a great alternative to brown for me. When im in the mood for something different, this has been fitting the bill. I do find that it can start to smudge off of the water line after a few hours.  It goes on smoothly on the lid, and doesn't really budge there once applied.

However, I do have one complaint! It is really hard to twist up and once it is twisted up, you cannot put it back down. When I first received it, I immediately called Birchbox to let them know I got the liner tube and package, but no liner. I felt really stupid even admitting it to the B-box rep. She then made me feel better telling me they had the issue of twisting the liner up and even went so far to tell me they had to call Stila to ask how to use the liner. Was she just trying to be nice? I don't think so......maybe? Whatever, once I figured out how to use it, it was good to go from there. It can be a pain from time to time though.

Jouer Body Butter: ($32) I think if anybody were to own this body butter, it would be Lisa Vanderpump. It is extremely luxurious considering it's nice frosted glass packaging, extremely creamy consistency, and light, floral scent. I think this was nice to sample because I am so used to my overbearing, so-good-you-can-eat-it Bath & Body Works butters (which I love) I never really go for anything else. I probably will not be re-purchasing it because B&BW is easier to access and easier on the wallet. I do feel rich when I have Jouer's on though. I am probably not making any sense. These are my weird thoughts. If I can help just person with this paragraph, I have done my duty (: On a more mature note, I do want to mention that, out of any body butter's I have ever tried, this one is the least bit greasy. It is actually not greasy at all, as some butter's can be. I really love that the most about it. I don't get my keyboard all messy a minute or 2 after putting it on. It is just straight moisture. Im giving it a 5/5 because of that. It's just that price. ouch.

Borghese Curaforte Moisture Intensifier: ($67) I got my Birchbox around the same time my Proactiv Face Brush came and I started using them both and after a week or so, my skin wasn't reacting well. It just seemed red and irritated so I back off of both the Borghese Curaforte and the Face Brush for a day or so for my skin to go back to normal. When I brought both back in, my skin actually got better then before both of them and I was really pleased!

This stuff is not only meant to moisturize your skin,  "it also helps your other products sink in more deeply so that active ingredients can perform more effectively. As if that weren’t enough, the lightweight formula boosts skin smoothness and clarity." (birchbox.com)

So I have been putting this on after my Revitalizing Toner (Step 2) & Before my Repairing Treatment (Step 3) following the rule of applying the light product first, and heavier products after. The consistency of the Borghese Curaforte is a very runny serum. I found out that applying them in this order really made this stuff work 10x better! (Before hand I was apply the serum after all 3steps and I didn't notice much of a difference) First off, it really made my skin extremely soft. What I mean by soft is I used to have very small pimples that would never go away and it has smoothed them out to what are becoming non-existent. I also do think it is helping my other products (Proactiv, esp. step 3) work even more effectively. I do have acne prone skin and Proactiv has always made my skin manageable, but with this added in my skin is even better. I have really liked this stuff.

Here's an awesome article about How To Layer Skin Care I found on Birchbox.com



LaraBar in Chocolate Peanut Butter: I like Larabar's, but don't love them. I am not a fan of alot of nuts and such. This bar was the best bar I have ever had! I ate it in the middle of the night and the next day went to my local health food store to see if they had any of the flavor in stock...they didn't. They asked if I wanted to buy a whole box of the flavor for $30 (16 bars) that they would order for me. I can't spend $30 on freaking Larabars, but wish I could have. I don't have an original picture to show you, I hope this one will do. credit

Juicy Couture Viva La Juicy: I thought it was a really nice fragrance. This is right up my alley. If you guys like a fresh summer time scent, you'll love it. I am just going to read right off of the package for the description:

~

Wild Berries & Mandarin.

Honeysuckle, Gardenia, & Jasmine.  

(^^would go perfect with Jouer body butter!^^)

Amber, Caramel, Vanilla,

Sandalwood, & Praline.

~

There's my birchbox from Jan in review form. I do hope you guys like this type of take on it. For the most part, I usually love everything in my birchbox. Maybe not everything is a total hit but I usually like the majority of my box. Last month I really loved everything. be on the look out for this months (feb) birchbox post, next month! So far, im not really impressed but I will fill you in soon enough!

Have you guys had a chance to try everything in your box? What do you think? 

thank you guys for reading!

yours truly,

Erica