2013 Beauty Favorites

I originally wasn't going to do one of these, but I figured that didn't comply too well with my "blog more" resolution for the new year so I decided, why not! These are my favorite products of 2013. Some of them are more recent, but I've been using many of them year-long. I use these products daily and I'm impressed with their quality over and over.

Mac Soft & Gentle: I honestly wasn't too sure about this product in the beginning. I didn't notice a difference when I used it, but now I've come to love it. The effect is very subtle, making it perfect for everyday use as a cheek highlighter.

Maybelline Super Stay 10 Stain Gloss: These stain glosses have to be my favorite lip product of the year. I think they're so easy to apply. They're long lasting, and they stay put throughout the day - no need to worry about smudging.

Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadow in RSVP: I picked this up on Boxing Day last year and I could not be happier with it. It's the perfect base for virtually any eyeshadow look, and it's so easy to blend on. It really is creaseless too!

L'Oreal Studio Perfecting Base: I picked this up because I ran out of my Stila primer, and I have to say, this does a better job. It smooths out your skin like none other, and it has that soft silicone finish. For the price, you really can't go wrong with this.

Essie "Bouncer It's Me": I have to admit, the formulation of this polish is atrocious BUT luckily I'm a very patient person, and 3 coats is no big deal to me. The color is so vibrant and stunning that I can see past the terrible formula. I've worn this multiple times this year because I'm constantly drawn to it.

Models Own "Luis Lemon": This has, hands down, been my favorite polish of 2013. I was really hesitant to buy it, but I'm so glad I did. I think nails are generally a more understated part of someone's "look", so a little pop of neon isn't as scary as I thought it would be... In fact, it's fun and interesting. Love this polish.

Essie "Bahama Mama": Is it cheating if I included this in last year's favorites? Oh well. This polish has been a recurring favorite as I've worn it many times this year. The color and formulation are just unbeatable.

These two brushes have been part of my makeup routine throughout the entire year. I use the angled end of the Sephora brush for bronzer, and the Real Techniques brush for blush. They're really the perfect duo!

That concludes my 2013 beauty favorites! What have been your favorite products this year?

Christmas Wishlist 2013: Beauty

I'll just go ahead and say it: I have an irrationally long Christmas list this year. We can just regard this list as a compilation of things I wanted to buy this year but was too poor to afford. Here it goes!

The eyeshadow palette I bought for myself this year is the Urban Decay Vice Palette, but I've also been lusting after Urban Decay Naked3, the Lorac Pro Palette, and the Laura Mercier Artist Eyes Palette. All neutral, but all extra lovely.

My blush pick for this year's list is Mac "Gingerly" because I've been searching for that perfect orange-coral shade. My concealer/foundation pick is the NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer. My highlighter pick is the Hourglass "Ambient Light" Palette - because all the online reviews have successfully convinced me that I need this.

I've singlehandedly decided that I need a YSL lipstick in my life, so I'm going for a classic red called "Red Muse". My MAC lipstick pick for this list is "Fixed on Drama", a rich wine retromatte. For good measure, I'm throwing in the elf lip exfoliator, because why not?

For the sheer fact that I've never owned a "high-end" mascara that wasn't a sample, I've included: Benefit "They're Real" (all-time best mascara that I have like 3 used samples of), Tarte "Lights, Camera, Flashes", and Clinique "Bottom Lash" mascara, simply because "bottom lash mascara" seems like a superfluous purchase, but works great as a gift.

Ideally I would like one of every type of the Sephora Formula X nail polishes, but I've included "Boom" for list purposes. Zoya "Payton" looks sooo nice. Want. I'm in need of a good matte top coat so I've chosen the OPI one.

FINALLY, Pharmaprix has begun to stock the Sugar Crush line of Soap & Glory products, so naturally I'm after the Body Buttercream and the Body Scrub. Lush "Lovely Jubblies" (a "breast firming cream"...lol) has been on my wishlist for forever, so it's about time I get my hands on it.

Every year I like to refresh my brush collection in some way or another, so this year I'm asking for the MAC 138 which I'll use for highlighter, the Real Techniques eyeshadow brush set, and the Sigma E65 which I'll use for gel liner.

And, surprise, this is not the end of my list! I'll have a part 2 coming up which will feature my non-beauty items :)

Holiday Goodie Bag GIVEAWAY [CLOSED]

Hey everyone! I've been wanting to do a surprise goodie bag type of giveaway for a while, and I thought now would be a good time since the holidays are beginning to roll 'round! The concept is simple: I won't be telling you what goodies will be added to the bag, but I will tell you the brand. You will only find out what exactly you've won when the prize arrives at your door!

I know it's a little early for holiday giveaways, but I wanted everyone to get a chance to enter and I also wanted the prize to be delivered in-time for Christmas in case the winner celebrates it!

PRIZES & INFO:

As of yet, the goodie bag will include the following brands: Benefit, Covergirl, Burts Bees, L'Oreal, Maybelline, Essie, OPI, Tarte, Julep, Ardell and Annabelle. The items from these brands have already been purchased, so they are finalized! I will update here and on Twitter in case more brands are added (highlighted in yellow). I will also throw in some bonuses that I may not even list here!

TERMS & CONDITIONS:

1) Giveaway is open INTERNATIONALLY
2) Must be 18+ years of age or have your parent's permission to enter
3) Must fill out the Rafflecopter form below to enter
4) Must be willing to provide a shipping address if won
5) The winner will announced in a separate blog post and will be emailed
6) You are only eligible to win if you have not won a previous giveaway on Abundance of Erica
7) If the winner does not respond to my email within 48 hours, another winner will be contacted
8) All prizes will be shipped in pristine condition (none have been removed from their original packaging), but I cannot be held responsible for damages that occur in transit

9) Entering via accounts dedicated solely to giveaways will be eliminated.
10) GIVEAWAY ENDS ON DECEMBER 1ST, 2013

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck & happy entering!

January Beauty Favorites (Finally!)

Hey everyone! Long time no blog! I'm finally finished my most hectic week of school (apart from final exams), so I thought I'd finally post my January favorites. I didn't have too many favorites this month because I didn't usually have time to focus on my makeup in the mornings, so most of these products would be nice to use if you're in a rush (and I'll tell you exactly how & why I use them).

Bioderma Micellaire Solution: I received this for Christmas and have used it almost every day since. It does an incredible job at removing eye makeup (waterproof as well!), and I also use it as a toner. If, let's say, I already washed my face in the morning, but I'm only getting ready in the afternoon, instead of washing my face again before makeup I'll put some Bioderma on a cotton pad and quickly sweep it onto my face. I'm kind of sad about how fast I'm using up this product considering how expensive it is, but I would definitely say it's worth it!

Marcelle Hydra-C Foundation: This foundation was on sale at Pharmaprix this month so I decided to pick it up instead of my Marcelle matte foundation, and I have been really enjoying it. My favorite part is the packaging. It's not a pump or a screw top, it's a squeeze tube, so you can control exactly how much product you need. It's super practical!

Blistex Lip Medex: I haven't been putting too much color on my lips lately because they've been sore and dry, so I mostly just reached for my Blistex. It does a really good job at moisturizing, and sometimes I'll put it on right before bed and wake up with really soft lips. Definitely a staple product.

Dual-Ended Sephora Face Brush: I picked this up at Sephora on Boxing Day for $12 and have found it very practical. I've been wanting to get the MAC 168 angled blush brush for a while now, but I really feel like this Sephora one has remedied that need. I don't use the round side as I find it too dense for powders, but the angled side is perfect for blush, bronzer, and contouring.

MAC 217 brush: Now I know why Tanya Burr has like 10 of these bad boys. They're so practical for eye makeup - be it for an all-over wash of color, contouring, or blending. I've even seen this used as a concealer brush which is just astounding. It's so multi-purpose and incredible, I highly recommend it.

NARS Laguna bronzer: I've said before and I'll say it again, I adore this bronzer. I've been going back and forth between this and my NYC Sunny bronzer, but I have to say there is really no comparison. This one is just 100% better. It's the perfect shade for my skintone, it's super sheer, and it makes my skin look really healthy. I swear by this stuff.

Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadow in "RSVP": I think I wore this almost every day in January. I patted some on to my lids with my finger, contoured a little with some matte brown eyeshadow - using my 217 ;), added some mascara and called it a day. I think it's really comparable to Urban Decay's Sin (but I'll probably do a full post on that). It's really convenient and a nice shimmery nude for every day.

So that's it for my January favorites! Now onto February (my birthday month)!

Quick Giveaway Mentions

As you may have realized by now, I am very keen on entering as many giveaways as possible, and I love sharing all of them with you! I know I already posted one this month but I came across a few new ones so I didn't want to leave them unmentioned.

Out Of Liner is having a 100 follower celebration giveaway that includes the beauty items above! (How funny that OPI Nail Envy was on my most recent wish list!?) It ends on October 27th so enter as soon as you can. CLICK HERE

The Amazing World of J is giving away a MAC lipstick and a MAC blush in your shades of choice to one of her followers which is a really great deal! You have until October 20th to enter! CLICK HERE

Blushing Noir is giving away two Butter London polishes in the shades Dodgy Barnett and Trustafarian (you can go check out her blog for swatches!). This giveaway ends on October 25th. CLICK HERE

Starry Eyed Beauty is giving away a MAC blush and MAC eyeshadow in your shade of choice. Her giveaway ends on October 30th! CLICK HERE

Natalie Roseanne is giving away this awesome mini Sugarbomb set by Benefit Cosmetics. Such a great little bundle to win :) Her giveaway ends in like, 50+ days so you have quite some time to enter (December 10th). CLICK HERE

Ellalogy is giving away a Sugar lip treatment (really moisturizing product, by the way), and a Deborah Lippmann nail polish (very exciting chance if you've never owned one before!). The giveaway ends on November 1st. CLICK HERE

A Berry Sweet Life is holding this awesome Pretty Little Liars inspired giveaway! It includes NARS blush in Mata Hari, and a Clinique Chubby stick! This giveaway ends on October 22nd. CLICK HERE

The Lovecats Inc. is offering this massive hamper of beauty goodies so you would be crazy not to enter this giveaway! It includes Barry M, Essie, Soap & Glory, and more beauty favorites. This giveaway ends on November 1st. CLICK HERE

X-Couturegirl-X is giving away a bunch of beauty blogger favorites including the ones above. There are better photos on her blog so be sure to check that out. The giveaway ends on November 6th. CLICK HERE

Let me know in the comments if you are currently holding a giveaway because I would be glad to include it in this post or my next one!

First Ever Collective Haul

I never have enough products to do a proper haul on this blog, but yesterday I felt like I had gathered a good bunch of products lately so I figured today would be the day: my first haul post!

The reason why I haven't done a haul before is because I've been desperately trying to save up my money. If you've been a reader of mine since the very beginning, you'll know that I spent a portion of my summer in Italy, wherein I literally drained my bank account to $0 (come to think of it, it might be interesting to do a blog post on what it's like to be completely broke lol!).

However, upon entering tons and tons of giveaways, I have been able to keep up this blog solely on giveaway wins (incredible, right?), so I'll go through the products and let you guys know how I acquired each of them.

Benefit "Benetint" Lip & Cheek Stain: I've always been super intrigued by this product because it's the one that Benefit Cosmetics built its company from. It originally started out as a nipple stain for a stripper (!?) and then a whole line of cosmetics grew from there. Being a big fan of Benefit, I knew I had to try this product at some point in my life, so when @BenefitCanada was doing a Twitter giveaway, I entered immediately and won! Yay! :D

Aussie 3-Minute Miracle Conditioner: If you read my previous wishlist post, you will know that this product, along with the Revlon balm stain and Rimmel Stay Matte powder were on there. Well, I was having a terrible day on Sunday, and yesterday, my mom surprised me with them! She literally came on my blog, wrote down the products and went out to buy them for me! Best mom award. Anyway, I'm going to write a proper review of this product in the next few days (I'll try it when I shower later today!).

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in "Honey": Again, this a product my mom surprised me with. I'd been looking for this baby for weeks and weeks and could never find it in-stock. I should also mention that, according to my mama, this product is marginally cheaper if you buy it at Wal-Mart as opposed to Pharmaprix (or Shopper's Drug Mart if you don't live in Quebec).

China Glaze "Prism": Alright, so I purchased this product along with the NYX eyeliners using $25 PayPal I won in a giveaway. The giveaway was originally for a Sephora e-gift certificate, but because those aren't eligible for use in Canada, Meredith (the girl I won from), was nice enough to wire me some PayPal money. I should also mention that she doesn't advertise her giveaways very much, so your odds in winning are very good: http://nycmakeuplover1.blogspot.ca/p/giveaways.html. Surprisingly, I have a total of 0 glitter polishes so I knew I should invest in a good one!

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils in "Pacific" and "French Fries": So I got these with my $25 PayPal money as well, and the website I purchased them from is BeautyJoint.com. I can't remember how I found this website, but they sell brands that are difficult to get in Canada (or at least Quebec) like China Glaze and NYX, and they only charge a flat rate of like, $3.50 for shipping. Incredible. I'm definitely going to be purchasing more of these because I can already tell I love them.

Essie "Bahama Mama": In addition to my wishlist surprises, my mom also picked up this nail polish for me. Now... How on Earth did she know that this is the fall nail color? I have no idea. Anyway, can't wait to wear this because I've heard so many great things about it.

Rimmel Stay Matte Powder: Tanya Burr talks about this product non-stop, and I'm running out of my current pressed power, so I'm very excited to try this out. I love the way it makes her skin look in her tutorials!

Maybelline Color Tattoo in "Pomegranate Punch": This is probably the only product on here that I purchased with my own hard-earned money (not bad, huh?). I got this one at Shopper's about a month ago when I was in Ontario. It was about $9 as opposed to $3.50 at Wal-Mart (insane), but it was out of stock there and I was dying to have this shade after seeing Amarixe's swatches.

Sally Hansen Kwik Off (not photographed individually): This is kind of boring, but I like using this product as a nail polish remover and we were out so my mom picked up a new one. Not very exciting but I thought I'd throw it in lol.

Here are some swatches and initial impressions of these products...

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in "Honey": It's a little more on the brown side than I hoped for. Have yet to swatch it on the lips.

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils: These babies glide on amazingly. I'm probably going to use French Fries on a daily basis, and save Pacific for spring and summer. Also, I may or may not have picked one up for an upcoming giveaway.......

Maybelline Color Tattoo in "Pomegranate Punch": I adore this color for fall! I can't believe I haven't seen any beauty guru use it in a tutorial yet. Maybe I can be the first? :O

Benetint Lip & Cheek Stain: Admittedly, this isn't a life-changing product and the color is very, very subtle. I'll use it on a day where I'm feeling a little pale.

I hope you liked my first ever haul post! Let me know if you want to see in-depth review of any of these products in particular because I would be happy to do so.