I’ve long been a fan of Mary Kay for its vast product line and affordability. I even considered becoming a consultant…but chose the nonprofit route instead! I’m thrilled to share some great news with you! Mary Kat is the official sponsor of the latest Univision.com webnovela, Arranque de Pasión! This partnership means that Mary Kay products will be highlighted when characters are wearing their products! In honor of the sponsorship Mary Kay decided to create some unique “looks” of the novella and created a series of vignette’s featuring celebrity makeup artists Luis Casco and Mariela Bagnato share tips on how to replicate the featured looks at home! This is always a struggle for  me – I see an amazing makeup look, I try to replicate it at home and I end up looking like a clown! Not good!!

One of the looks Mary Kay created was the “Ela” Ready to Win look. Everyone wants a winning look, and for Ela, she believes that you should always look good and be ready to win in life and love. This character look developed by Luis Casco is a “winner.”

I was chosen as one of many bloggers to recreate one of the signature looks using Mary Kay products! In the mail I received the products to help recreate the “Ela” Ready to Win look!

Mary Kay® Foundation Primer Sunscreen Broad Spectrum SPF 15

Mary Kay® Brow Gel

Mary Kay® Mineral Eye Color in Hazelnut

Mary Kay® Cream Eye Color in Beach Blonde

Mary Kay® Mineral Eye Color in Coal

Mary Kay® Mineral Eye Color in Cinnabar

Mary Kay® Lash Love™ Waterproof Mascara in I ©Black

Mary Kay® Mineral Cheek Color in Strawberry Cream

Mary Kay® Lip Liner in Spiced Tea

Mary Kay® NouriShine Plus® Lip Gloss inCafé Au Lait

Mary Kay® Compact

Mary Kay® Brush Collection

As someone who doesn’t wear makeup often, I was a little intimidated by the products and recreating the look – but I tried to have FUN with it, and here is my recreating of the “Ela” Ready to Win look!

How did I do?

Be sure to tune into Arranque de Pasion on Univision be sure to contact your local Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant or connect with one on Mary Kay today!

To celebrate the partnership with Mary Kay and Univsion I’m hosting a GIVEAWAY! Enter below to win ALL of the products listed above so you can recreate the “Ela” look at home!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

GOOD LUCK!!

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post in collaboration with Latina Bloggers Connect and Mary Kay.  

For as long as I can remember I’ve tried to achieve healthy happy skin. Over the years I’ve taken the time to educate myself on what products my skin responds to best and which products are no good. I’ve always been the type of person to want to look better WITHOUT makeup on than covered up with foundation and blush and etc. This has meant I spend a good amount of time listening to my skin and taking care of it. It’s also meant educating myself with the ingredients of the products I use – cause I only get this skin and I don’t intend to lift, tuck, pull, or stretch it!

I’m a product junkie. I have my skincare regimen down to a science. Got my moisturizer, eye cream, moisturizer with spf, and serum for the day and for the evening I’ve got my moisturizer, toning pads, eye cream, and vitamin based night cream. But over the past few years my skin has changed and I’ve had to adapt to it. In addition to my sprinkling of freckles I find that I now have post-acne scars that just aren’t going away, and also I’m experiencing more hyper-pigmentation – which I can do nothing about. And my lack of sleep has resulted in unwanted dark circles.

So I needed a skin pick me up, and happy thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Aveeno and their Active Naturals line because their mission is the same as mine – to unlock the potential to improve your health and beauty. I really appreciate their lack of junk in their products; looking over their ingredient list I was happy to find nourishing ingredients like soy, wheat, and lotus.

I’ve recently added in the AVEENO® POSITIVELY RADIANT® Brightening Cleanser into my routine to help with my skin’s overall texture and brightness. With a Disney vacation coming up in less than two months, I want my skin to be at its best, and I know that this product will help me achieve just that. Not only will it help brighten my skin, it isn’t drying, and helps lift away dirt and makeup – and it smells and feels great against my skin!

Can you tell I’m an Aveeno fan? Their Active Naturals line is fantastic, but we’ve been using Aveeno in our house for years, as the Mom to a daughter with sensitive, their moisturizing lotion is safe enough to use on her delicate skin and I don’t have to worry about any negative reactions! Win-Win!

Mark your calendars! There is an #AVEENOActiveNaturals Bilingual Twitter Party on Monday, April 22d at 6p.m. PST / 9p.m. EST. Please join us! RSVP ON FACEBOOK HERE. 

Do you or your family use Aveeno products? Would you try their Active Naturals line?

Disclosure: This post is in collaboration with Latina Bloggers Connect and Aveeno. All opinions expressed are my own.

My motto recently has been, “sometimes you’ve got to spoil yourself.” No it doesn’t mean I’m taking myself on a shopping spree to Tiffany’s. But I always seem to put my needs last…and that’s not okay. But it’s hard to balance my needs while taking care of a little one on my own! So I’ve been trying to squeeze in time in my hectic schedule to indulge a bit. Recently that’s meant buying a new body scrub, face scrub, and going to bed early. I live on the edge…I know!

If I could hit the nail salon every week I would! When I do go (which isn’t very often) my nails sparkle and are super healthy! Since we don’t hit the nail salon every week we’ve been growing our nail polish collection at home and are always switching up the colors and patterns.

Enter MiniLuxe. Love the name! MiniLuxe is a nail and beauty lounge, with seven locations around Boston that wants to cater to you! (I like this!). They get that we are busy, that fitting in time for yourself is sometimes impossible. But they also know that it’s critical for living a balanced life.

It’s safe to say winter is over here…I hope, and today’s mostly beautiful weather here in Boston is a sure sign that Spring is indeed on its way! In honor of its arrival MiniLuxe has released a brand spanking new Spring Collection!

Meet Luxe Jade, Luxe Lucky, Luxe Corey, Luxe Lolita, and Luxe Hingham! I love the colors, they sure say Spring, don’t they!

These signature nailpolishes are a healthier option that some other ones on the market, and are free of formaldehyde, toluene, and DBP which means they are safe for kids and pregnant woman! The sweet new collection will be available at locations starting this month!

For more information, visit www.miniluxe.com or like MiniLuxe on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MiniLuxe and follow them on Twitter at @MiniLuxe.

Do you like MiniLuxe’s new Spring Collection?

MiniLuxe supplied me with their Spring collection at no charge. All opinions expressed are my own and monetary compensation was not received.

Hard to believe it’s been so long since I’ve blogged. 2013 has not started off the way I would have liked, and between my personal life, health, work, and daughter, I’m just barely chugging along. I’ve avoided writing – for fear that all my emotions would pour out, and I’d be unable to stop them, and wouldn’t know what to do with everything.

With the support of a select few I’ve been able to slowly progress. It’s a new month, with new opportunities and I’m determined to make the future days better than my past days. So with that….

I’m thrilled to partner with Jenn over at Joyo a wonderfully unique jewelry company making one of a kind laser cut jewelry. Not only does Jenn make gorgeous jewelry, it’s locally made in Scituate, MA! I’ve been lucky enough to own a pair of earrings and a necklace and I couldn’t be any happier. Not only are her items impeccably made, they are extremely lightweight – which I loooove. When I wear my square earrings, I can’t even tell they are in! And they are the perfect accessory to my newly cut hair (pic to come soon!). 

As someone who is becoming more conscious of environmentally friendly products, I’m thrilled that Joyo values using recycled materials and sources locally as much as possible!! Way to go Jenn & Joyo!

I want you have a piece of the fabulousness and am offering 10% off all orders on Joyo using the discount code ALEXELIZ good until midnight on February 15^th! Perfect if you need to buy a Valentine’s gift for a friend…of yourself!

You know I love a good giveaway, so I’m giving away a pair of the stunning small leaves earrings in birch! Entering is easy:

Joyo leaf earrings

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sometimes I love my hair. Sometimes I don’t. Fair to say I have a love hate relationship with my dark brown locs. A few years ago I wouldn’t go a few months with the same do, I was constantly changing it up with colors, processing, hair products,  and chopping without caring much about the health of my hair. When I finally stopped with the ever changing dos I realized my hair wasn’t in the best shape and I had been stressing it out. So last April I chopped off most of my hair and started fresh, with a new hair care regimen and new hairstylist with the mission of growing strong and healthy hair. It’s been hard to prioritize health over new fresh hairstyles, but it’s important to ensure I’m keeping my hair protected and happy.

In between visits to the hair salon, I’ve had to rely on my hair styling products and tools to get the look I want. Sometimes my hair listens to me and other times it doesn’t! One thing on my Christmas list is a new set of tools to style my hair! Enter Folica! Folica knows hair is our most important accessory. That’s why in November and December they’re offering a special promotion where everyone wins up to $50 to spend on hair styling products at Folica.com.

From November 23rd to January 1st, everyone can cross great hair off their wish lists when they enter to win a credit for hair products at Folica! 1 in every 100 wins a $50 credit to spend instantly on hair care. And with over 60,000 great hair products, more than 300 beloved brands and over 70,000 customer ratings and reviews, Folica.com is your one-stop shop to recreate today’s hottest hairstyles.

Below are some of my favorite products from Folica.com:

Hot Tools Bella 2000 Salon Turbo Ionic Hair Dryer

Sedu Pro Ionic Ceramic Tourmaline Flat Iron

Babyliss Pro Nano Titanium 12 Jumbo Roller Hairsetter

Everyone Wins Great Hair

What hair products from Folica.com are on your holiday wish list?