Current Obsession & a Stila Haul

Hey guys! I ordered from Stila during black friday weekend when it was %80 off and I wanted to share it with you guys.

My Current Obsession is this Stila Garden Bliss All Over Shimmer Powder and it was the pretty flowers that reeled me right in and I am so glad it did because I am seriously in love with it. It really does illuminate my face and gives me a healthy glow. I wasn't sure if it was going to match my skin, but when I got it, I realized it would be perfect for almost any skin tone, it is so versatile & i'll tell you why.

I personally really love pale pink blush and the flower in the middle lightens up the powder and makes it good for a blush. The over-all brown color of the powder makes it great to use as a bronzer for all over your face. I wouldn't say it is good as a contour powder, unless you are extremely fair. For the darker girls out there, I think it would be a great blush. I have a lighter skin tone and this powder is darker then my skin but it dosen't look horrid on my face and blends really well. It really does liven up my face and creates a gorgeous glow. I really like using this as a blush and then taking it all around my face. I also like to apply it after using a blush. My favorite face powder to amp up my look to date by far. Next pic is a swatch of the pale pink flower in the middle along with the surrounding colors, unblended.

Lesson Of The Day: Buy makeup because of the pretty packaging! haha!

Wanna see the rest of the stuff I ordered too? k!

I ordered these eye shadow pans. I have Stila's Coco shadow, a matte brown, I got from my birch box but it didn't come with a pan so I thought now was a perfect time to grab one, considering the price. I bought 2 of them because of my next purchase.

Kitten Eye Shadow: I honestly bought it because of the hype it gets and I think it does deserve it, as it is highly pigmented, soft, & easy to wear. Just like the face powder, I think a range of different skin colors can pull this one off As you can see, mine came broken! I contacted Stila and they are actually going to send me another one, thank God. Well, I dont want to sound too vein so maybe I shouldn't thank God, lol.

Lip Glaze in Mango: This was just an impulse buy. I have never tried a lip glaze so I figured now was the time. I honestly don't think its anything special- it is actually pretty sheer, which is fine- but I am not wowed by it.

 Below: Swatch of Mango Lip Glaze and Kitten Eye Shadow

So there yah have it! Overall, I am really happy about my purchase and im so glad I caught the sale w/in the last hour!

Did you guys order anything from the 80% off sale? If not, have you tried Stila? What do you love from Stila? Hate? let us know in the comments! 

As always, thanx for stopping by!

xoxo

Erica



oh yeah wanna know who won the give-away? I will give you one hint: This girl is a true southern belle! I will post the winner tomorrow, but if you think you may know who won, comment! 

Jouer Creme Eyeshadow

Hey everybody! I hope everyone is having a really great holiday season, I know I am! I just got my baby puppy yesterday! More about her later because I really could not wait to show you guys this Jouer Creme Eyeshadow in Feather I got the other day

I ordered it from Birchbox and got it for free! I had racked up so many points (230 to be exact) and that meant that I had $20 in points to spend. I have had my eye on this for a couple of weeks now and when I started contemplating which shade I wanted, I googled them (there's only 4) for swatches. I found each swatch...except for one, which was Feather. It was the one I was leaning towards anyways, and figured it would be a good chance to swatch it for the internet world, since I couldn't find one. There are 2 dark colors, and 2 light colors with Feather being one of the lighter ones. This one has a pink undertone to it: obviously already swatched it as I couldn't keep my hands off long enough for a photo. Isn't it gorgeous?

left: swatched once right: swatched 3x

As you can see, the shadow is really sheer for the first swatch, but it is seriously buildable. I love that it is sheer considering it would be a good highlighter because of that. With one coat on my cheek bone, when the light hits it perfectly, it looks natural and beautiful. In fact, here's a great example of how pretty it is with the light hitting it:

left: swatched once right: swatched 3x

excuse the blurryness of the picture, as it is a little hard to capture with one hand!

-as for using it as a shadow (as it is intended) I like to use this under Stila's Kitten (which came broken!)

-I found that I did need a primer underneath or else it will crease. Another point I wanted to make was that it is so silky & dries down to a powdery like consistency. It is so extremely beautiful that I really cannot tell you how much I love it and I cannot wait to try out Cashmere next. If you have enough Birchbox points, get this! Even if you don't, I would pay $20 for this little gem.

Now about my puppy! She is a blue miniature pincher and I named her Stella, after Stella McCartney. It was the perfect middle ground as I am a fan of Stella because of her clothing line, and mom is a fan of her dad, Paul. But I sometimes call her grimlin or reindeer because she looks like both of them. I bought her the cutest coat! it's red and has a hood with fur (faux) and if it was bigger, you would mistake it for a human coat. I also bought her a cute sweater with ruffles I will be taking some pictures and i'll put them up in no time! Yep, im the crazy dog lady now lol

Thanks so much for reading!

xoxo 

Erica J

Blue Fall Polishes

I have been so intrigued by all the blue polishes this season, which is interesting because I am usually a pink kinda girl.I have espically been loving the deep royal blue ones, like this one which is Sally Hansen's Blue It. So here's my NOTD.....or Week. My nail polish never lasts for a whole week because I bite it all off.

Sally Hansen's Blue It- I only used 2 coats with this one. I think I could have gotten away with one because it is such a deep color, and in turn pigmented.


Sally Hansen's Marine Scene- This color on the other hand (or finger) took me 3-4 coats to get the color you see. This one is much more sheer which really sucks but is buildable. Once you have all of your coats on it is gorgeous

notd post's are always so quick and easy, I love doing them! They add a nice little touch, dont cha think?

xoxo, Erica

FOTD: Picadilly Purple & Dolly Pink

I haven't done one in so so long! I have been so busy and half the time I do 1 shadow, liner & mascara- good to go! The other 1/2 of the time I do get ready, & do a nice eye look, I dont have any time to take pictures!  I dont know about you guys but it takes me like 15-20 minutes to get good ones lol

Like always, I have been loving purples on my eyes. I really feel my best when I wear purple and yes I do have brown eyes (obviously). I think they really compliment well. So Alex (bfff) bought me this sweet little palette. for 3 bucks. A great Christmas present! I think im going to showcase it in my Christmas buying guide because I have some swatches and some pictures I already took.

I thought it would be fun to also include what brushes I used for each step- ever since I ordered new brushes from Sigma and Elf, I took my talent up a notch! My Aunt Lori always says "it's not the makeup you have, but the brushes you use" in her philosophical tone....well she doesn't have a philosophical tone,  I just thought it sounded right.

Face:

Maybelline 24/7 Concealer- Actually just put this around my eyes as they can become red- I apply this with my finger with a patting motion as opposed to rubbing it on.

Neutrogena Healthy Skin Liquid Makeup- I apply this to the back of my hand and then dab my blush + bronzer brush from mark. in the product. This brush is basically a flat top kabuki. Then with a stippling motion, go to town. I always like to start on my neck line and then go up my face. I personally like to use sponges better then any brush. I find it applies much more evenly and smoother. Maybe I just haven't found the right brush. 


Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation Primer- I actually have been putting this on before and after I apply my foundation/concealer. I heard it will help mattify your face. I personally do think that it may but I think it is a combination of this and my ELF HD powder.

ELF HD Powder- Like I just mentioned, it will help mattify your face and does so, I really love this stuff. I find that the puff it comes with works best to apply it.

ELF Contouring Blush & Bronzing Powder- I like to dip my Large Angled Contour Sigma brush (F40) in both side's twice, shake off the excess and contour my cheeks bones, taking it around my fore head and also behind my ears, swiping it towards the center of my neck. If you are new to Contouring, I highly recommend watching all of the videos you can find on it. Take what you want and leave the rest- that's how I learned.

Light Pink Blush- This is a generic blush that I got last year in a Markwin's Christmas Gift and I love it so much. It reminds me a lot of Dandelion by Benefit (which I dont have, but want so badly!) a perfect pale pink for a lighter skin tone like mine. I Apply this on my apples and then sweep up towards my hairline, Following right next to where I contoured. I use ELF's stippling brush (picture) which works well.

Eyes:

YBF Automatic Brow Pencil in Universal Taupe- I got this in my Birchbox and I have been loving it ever since

Smashbox Photo Finish Lid Primer- I apply this with my finger's on to my lid.

Nyx Jumbo Pencil in Milk- I went underneath my brow and near/around my tear ducts. Then with my ring finger, I blended it out- perfect.

Physician's Formula For Blue Eyes Shadow- With my Sigma Eye Shading E55 Brush (a dense flat shader brush) I grab the lightest color you see highlighted in the picture below and apply that exactly where I put the Milk Jumbo Pencil. I do not tap off excess- I first go in near my tear duct and then what ever is left on my brush, take it to my brow bone. 

Hot Looks Glamif Eyeshadow- This is the palette that is only $3 at Dollar General. With the other clean side of my E55, I pick up the color you see highlighted below from the palette. I simply pat this right next to where the silver color is on my lid. I took this color all the way to the end of my lid. I like to blend the 2 colors together, switching sides of the brush and pulling colors opposite direction of each other until blended.

Mark. Piccadilly Eyeshadow (matte Purple)- If I could go back and do it differently, I would have made this my last color that I apply in the outer v with my Small Tapered Blending E45 by Sigma (which is a tear drop shape). But with this FOTD, I applied this in and above my crease with my Sigma Tapered Blending Brush (E35) in a windshield wiper motion, pulling up towards the edge of my eye brow to create come contour on my eye. 

  

Physician's Formula For Blue Eyes Shadow- The darker color you see highlighted (in the above picture of the palette), I did the exact same thing with that as I did with Piccadilly

At the very end, I wiped off my E35 really well and picked a generic color that matches my skin tone to blend the previous 2 colors. I just went back and fourth on the harsh line right below my brow bone. 

Wet n Wild Cream liner in Black- I tightlined my eyes with a slanted eyeshadow brush which I find works really well - I got it from Icing, it's awesome! Then I squished the liner in between the top lashes to make sure I dont have any gaps of my skin color showing.

Revlon Colorstay Liner in Black- I put this in my water line and also adding another layer on the top too. I didnt concentrate that much on the top water line, I just closed my eyes and ran the pencil across it.

Lastly I took my ELF Waterproof Eyeliner Pen to line my lids. I just bought this a couples weeks ago and as you can tell, it is very splotchy and separates which makes it hard to draw a straight line. I worked a little better when I first got it, but since then it has dried out. I don't recommend this thing to anyone......

Lips

Nyx Lip Liner in Dolly Pink - Lined those fuckers

Nyx Matte Lip Cream in Tokyo- Put on my lips.....easy enough! Waited for it to dry.....

Revlon Lipstick in Prim Rose -over top of it all

that completes my how-to look! I hope you guys liked this format for my FOTD and took at least one thing away from it - what have you guys been wearing on your face today? We would love to know! 

Till next time,

xoxo Erica J

November Favorites

Wet n Wild Palette - Since I have been working so much, this is such a quick way to liven up my eyes without spending a half hour in the mirror- Although the lightest color doesn't have the best pigment, it is definitely build-able to some degree. As for that medium color...it is my love! It is such a pretty taupe color and has great pigment. Most on-the-go days, I will put this in my crease and the lightest color on lid and brow bone. Voila! All done!

as you can see, they swatch well on my fingers:

but once I transfer (for lack of a better word) the swatches on to my hand, you can barely see that lightest color. But this isnt in my favorites for nothing, they are really beautiful on the lid: you just gotta work for that lightest color! as you can tell...

Revlon Lipstick in Prim Rose- It's just really pretty. I have been wearing this along with the shadow combo almost every day to work- it's easy. I do love my light/nude/pink lip colors and I this color is no exception. This is a "cult favorite" as they say and I can see why.  My latest obsession (Nyx Narcissus basically fell apart which is extremely depressing for me- other wise, I would have never tried to replace her! Prim Rose looks nothing like Narcissus btw I just think with my neutral eyes, a bold lip like that one would go awesomely)

here's a swatcharoo - isnt it gorgeous?!

EOS Lip Balm- My lips have been dry and I can stash this (along with Prim Rose) in my apron and im good to go. Lipsticks never can replace a trusty chip stick so this is a must. I know everything has been centered around work, but I have been working so much! It's nice to find some good products that are easy for this past month. People wonder what it is all the time lol

Nyx Jumbo Pencil in Oyster- This one is more of a sheer color, unlike Milk which is extremely matte (I still love, love, love milk but I have been reaching for this one more!) It is perfect underneath my Wet n Wild combo I talked about above.

here's Oyster (right) next to Prim Rose (left)- I love how reflective it is

just to show you how reflective and two toned it is I wanted to give you guys another swatch. Oyster is on the left and this swatch is with no light hitting it.

Revlon Growluscious Mascara- It took me some time to get used to the wand which is huge but I really do love this mascara. It really grabs ahold of them and expands them to make them longer while separating. It does give volume, but not to the point where there's so much product on my lashes that they look like spidey's. Yuck I hate spiders! c-r-e-e-p-y. So if you look for length in a mascara, this if for you!

so see the wand isnt too bad at all- try it! you wont regret it

The Body Shop Shea Lip Butter- I think it is safe to say that I am obsessed with lip stuff this past month. My boyfriend Phil bought this as an early Christmas present. Even tho I can't throw this in my apron (I do not wanna be sticking my fingers in my lip balm after touching someone's eaten off of plate...that's just gross) I wear this every night after I use proactiv. It has been replacing my Carmex lately so I think it is safe to say Carmex is getting a run for its money! This lip butter is much more smoother than the Carmex but I think they stand right next to each other when talking about dried lips being repaired. It also smells so amazing!  Like an almond buttercream....yeah that it- Almond butter cream it is!

Other Favorites:
My favorite guru always seems to change on Youtube but I have had the same 2 favs for a couple months now and in case you guys dont know who they are, I wanted to let you know about them:

EmilyNoel83- Her channel is Beauty Broadcast on Youtube and she is also a news anchor. I just really love her. She has great charisma and is really captivating. She's into the same beauty products I am into- She is always talking about things you would never hear of on any other guru's channel- I get alot of idea's from her so I def. recommend her channel! Another thing about her is that she comes up with video's that honestly nobody else on youtube would- she is really creative when it comes to videos and I really cannot say enough about her. So if your looking for new great products and someone else to follow, Emily's alot of fun to watch. she also has a blog which is a great one too on blogger

Amarixe- I always love the things she talks about in videos and her personality is great- If I knew this chick, we would be cool. She is, Like Emily, really easy to watch and is also really relatable. Her makeup is always so beautiful too which makes me realize I should invest in some expensive shadows. Her blog is also a great read as well

Jenna Marbles- She isnt a beauty guru in the least- she is actually a comedian on Youtube. My personal favorites are how to avoid people and disney movies. I love comedy because you can always tell who has your sense of humor through comedy (obviously) and my boyfriend Phil loves her too. I catch him watching her all the time which is hilarous to me because he dosen't even have a youtube account. Let me know in the comments if you guys like her too! I would love to know your favorites as well!

the pictures of the youtube people were (obviously) not taken by me-

Financial Favorite- My boyfriend won the lottery a couple weeks ago! isnt that awesome?!?!! He won $345 after taxes and bought me some makeup and bought himself a new guitar- So yeah, that didn't last long but it was fun spending it

those are my favorites for the month on November- what have you guys been loving? If you did your own favorites post or video please link it below in the comments- I would love to see what you guys have been loving!

By the way, my give-away is extended till December 14th so you have 14 more days to enter! only 7 comments so far guys! 

Thanx so much for reading, 

xoxo, Erica J

Give-Away Still On!

ok so the give-away is going to end December 14th and I wanted to extend it because there are only 6 people entering so far!!! I know you guys can do better than that! Think of it as a Christmas present if you win....and to the people that already entered...I love you guys! Thank you so much for your support!

to enter, click here which will open up another tab and take you to the rules and what not. Thanx guys! best of luck to yah!

Christmas Wishes - Book Edition

Hey there! I wanted to do a couple of these kinds of posts where I talk about what I want for Christmas. Partly because I wanna share with you guys and give you some ideas and partly because I don't wanna forget my wishlist! There has been so many books I have been wanting!!!! FYI- be prepared: Meet Makeup will be taken over to do Christmas gifts hauls, Christmas gift ideas, etc. What ever else I can think up! I am not sure if you guys know that Christmas is my absolute favorite holiday! And this is exactly why. It inspires me to be creative in every which way: parties, presents, blog posts, decor, fashion, makeup, food. I mean anything I can think of I try to make it Christmas oriented...so yeah. Hope you guys are gunna love it! Dont worry tho, because I do have a review or 2 coming up and also a cyber monday haul too. I also have a FOTD coming up as well...soon enough I am hoping to find the time.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen- (novel) we actually just watched this last night and in a lot of ways it reminds me of The Notebook. I cannot say it tops The Notebook but it is pretty similar so if you haven't seen this movie, you need to! As soon as the movie was over I knew i had to read the book next.


The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks- (novel) I have seen the movie a million times but I have never read the book so I really want it- I am positive it is going to be amazing.


Dear John by Nicholas Sparks- (novel) Same author as The Notebook and me and by bf love this movie. And I cry every. single. time. It is so freaking sad, that I have to be in a mood to watch it but I cannot wait to read the book.  Also, have you guys heard the soundtrack? It is amazing as well.


Million Little Pieces by James Frey-  (novel) I have read My Friend Leonard by him as well and it is my favorite book to date. I read it in a matter of 2 days. My Friend Leonard was seriously a book I couldn't put down and I always hear people say that about books and couldn't truly relate until I read this one. This book is really good about love, hardship, addiction- it is a must read. My Friend Leonard is the sequel to Million Little Pieces so I will be reading it backwards. Oh well.




Queen Pin by Jemeker Thompson-Hairston and David Ritz (novel) I heard about this from Makeup by Mel from Youtube and she said it was a good one. As she mentioned this is about drugs, sex, & violence and is a true story. Right up my alley- sounds like an excellent read.


Nars Makeup Your Mind-(makeup book)  Dont think I need to mention what this is about. We all want this one.


Lauren Conrad Style Guide- (fashion book) I always loved Laguna Beach & The Hills but I was always team Kristen. Nowadays, Lauren Conrad is one of my favorite (affordable) designers so I think I would really love this one. You can get her clothes at Kohl's btw.


Barefoot in Paris by Ina Garten- (cooking) If you have ever watched Barefoot Contessa on Food Network then you will know of Ina. Her show is the only cooking show I can sit through and keep me interested. The name Barefoot Contessa was actually adapted from a '60's movie about the culture in Paris, among other things that I have no clue about lol. But yeah, I want her cookbook.


Fabulosity by Kimora Lee Simmons- (style/how-to)I really just love her. She is so glamorous from her clothes to her homes that I want her book. What beauty blogger wouldn't?


Ur Infinite Power to be Rich by Joseph Murphy- (financial) I have read (a few times, actually) Smart Women Finish Rich by David Bach and I seriously learned so much on how to save and spend money. You too can be a shopaholic and actually save money for retirement and vacations, so as far as Smart Women Finish Rich goes, I highly recommend it. Even if your a boy, I think it is still perfect. Too much to explain in this little paragraph but it will give you worksheets to tailor your spending and what not and to help you figure out what is important to you and it also helped me turn my dreams into goals by putting every detail on paper and mapping it out for me.

Twilight-(novel)  I haven't read this yet but everyone I talk to tells me that I must! So yeah, I wanna read it. Although, this isnt at the top of my list. Have any of you guys read it?