July/August 2014 Ipsy Glam Bag

I've been traveling lately and haven't had time to update here much. Especially since I don't think anyone actually reads this blog. But that's ok, this is just for fun.

Ipsy is a $10 monthly beauty subscription service. If you are interested in checking the service yourself please feel free to use mt referral link here.


July

-Models Own polish in 'Red Sea'

-Pur~Lisse Daily Moisturizer with SPF 30 sample

-Clear Clinic Laboratories Spot Treatment sample

-bareMinerals 5-in-1 Cream Shadow sample

- Pixi Beauty Mini Tinted Balm in 'Unique Pink'



The Knobs and Bobs:

A nice balance of skin and makeup products this month. The bag is cute and water resistant, which makes it useful for beach or pool trips.

Pur~Lisse is a great brand and their samples are always appreciated. I love the fact that this moisturizer has a good level of spf in it.

Models Own 'Red Sea' has large glitter speck in it. The formula was a little sticky and it was chipping after 24 hours. I gave it to a younger family members and she absolutely loves it. It's a fun affordable polish.

Clear Clinics Spot Treatment works miracles! It's a very strong medicated treatment, but helps get rid of or heal acne in a day or two.

bareMinerals recently released a new 5-in-1 line of cream eye shadows. I received a nude color that works great as both a primer and shadow. It does do some serious creasing after a few hours though.

I'm already a big fan of Pixi Beauty and their products, but I've never tried their tinted balm. Mine came in the bag already slightly squished into the lid. I've noticed that the lid just won't stay on. It looks like someone forced it very tightly and crushed the tip to keep the lid on. The sample is a great size with a twist base and good amount of product. The color actually darkens when you apply it. Very neat!


August

-Cali Cosmetics Evulcano Body Creme sample

-Lord & Berry Silk Kajal  Kohl Liner sample

- Bee All Natural Organic Grapefruit Lip Balm

- Urban Decay Perversion Mascara sample

-Manna Kadar Sheer Glo Shimmer Lotion sample




I'm seeing a pattern over the past two months. Samples. Samples everywhere. Ipsy used to provide affordable beauty products and mostly full sized. The only full size this month was the lip balm. Maybe it's just been a slow season.

The Cali Cosmetics Body Creme smells wonderful! I love lemon scented things and it applies smoothly while providing long lasting moisture.

The Lord & Berry liner sample is incredibly tiny. The liner applies very smoothly and the color is vibrant. However, it smudges at the slightest touch. It is not long lasting.

Bee All Natural is a brand I'm unfamiliar with. The balm smells nice, applies smoothly and does not leave behind any sticky lip residue. It's very moisturizing!

Urban Decay has recently come out with their new Pervasion mascara. The formula is thick and the brush applicator is very soft. It does give lashes a very nice boost! But be warned that it's hard to layer without getting 'spider leg' lashes. The first time  I applied I had to remove everything due to serious clumping. I scraped some excess off the brush and was able to apply a much smoother application.

I've worn it all day and there doesn't appear to be too much smudging.


And finally we have the Manna Kadar Shimmer lotion sample. It's very smooth and blends in perfectly when used with other products or alone. However, I don't really see much of a change when it's used. If I apply it alone I can make out a little bit of a pink toned shine. But once blended in it seems to disappear on my skin. It could be I'm not using it right or it just won't show up on pale complexions. It's such a pretty peach color that it may show up better on tan to darker skin tones.


Final Thoughts:

Both July and August were nice months. Nothing really stands out but nothing I hated. All of the products can either be used or gifted to someone that can use them. At $10, the bags are a great value.

I hope to see more makeup products for the coming fall months. Warm seasons are usually more skin oriented and light on the cosmetics.

July/August 2014 Birchbox

These two came within 2 weeks of each other (due to someones mistake on the Birchbox team). I've been on and off with Birchbox lately. Their boxes tend to be hit or miss.

The staff are great, the points system and shop are wonderful but the box samples tend to leave me scratching my head sometimes.

I'll make this short since I'm currently traveling and all of these products can be found in their shop.
If you are interested in trying the service here is my referral link. It's only $10 a month.

July

-Cynthia Rowley Beauty Eyeliner sample

-Real Chemistry Luminous 3-Minute Peel sample

-Supergoop! Daily Correct CC Cream SPF 35+

-Harvey Prince Imperial Gardenia fragrance sample

-Naobay Body Radiance Lotion sample


The Knobs and Bobs:

The eyeliner is the same brand and color that Birchbox has sent out several times in the past. It's a good liner but does tend to smudge.

The peel is interesting. I've never tried anything like it before but it seemed to work nicely. It smells nice and didn't irritate my sensitive skin. There's probably 3-4 uses depending on how much you need to use.

This sample...I placed a US quarter next to it to give a size comparison. And within that tiny container it's less than half full. It's smaller than the fragrance sample.

I might be able to squeeze two uses out of it

The product goes on smoothly but tends to dry in patches. I would suggest maybe mixing it with a moisturizer to get more out of the product and to keep it from drying out.

The fragrance smelled very nice. It's a little strong and floral for me personally, but if you love Gardenias you may love this one.

The Naobay lotion is very nice and the sample is a great size! 

August

-Vasanti Detox Nutrient-Rich Facial Cleanser

-Harvey Prince Ageless Body Cream

-amika Perk Up Dry Shampoo 

-theBalm cosmetics Stainiac

-Noir Long Wear Eyeliner (full size $15 value!)

The Knobs and Bobs:

Vasanti is a brand that Birchbox introduced me to a few months back and I really like it. This cleanser is no exception. It leaves my face feeling clean and fresh.

I love Harvey Prince's 'Hello' fragrance so I knew I would probably like this body lotion. While the smell is nice and the formula is moisturizing, there is less than half a tube of product to use. To find out how much product is in a solid container I place a bright flashlight behind it. The size is already small, it would have been nice to at least have it filled up to the larger letters. There's really only enough to use 2-3 times on my arms and hands or once all over.

amika Dry Shampoo is fantastic! I have a really oily scalp so this has already come very handy. The smell is fresh and it doesn't produce much if any powdery residue. Will be purchasing full size!

theBalm Stainiac was a sample that I chose from a list of 4-5 other products. I love it!  It's a good travel size and the product itself has a nice consistency and color. It can be used as either a lip or cheek stain. Because it is a stain, it can be slightly drying so I top it off with a clear balm after applying.

The Noir eyeliner is very long wearing with very little smudging! I don't use black eyeliner but this would make a great gift for a family member. I really love how it's full sized and not one of those extremely tiny samples that never last and are hard to work with due to the stick being so small. It's a very nice liner.

Final Thoughts:

July was not so great and the sample sizes were disappointing. August had a very nice selection of products and reasonable sizes. Like I've said, Birchbox is a puzzle to me and keeps hitting and missing almost every other month. I'm not subscribed right now but will strongly think about giving them another shot after seeing what others are receiving from their September box next month.

If you've liked the products listed please give the service a chance. While I've had some negative experiences it's only $10 a month and you can cancel at any time. (:

Phone Case of the Month July 2014

I was recently introduced to a phone case monthly subscription service called 'Phone Case of the Month' or PCOTM for short and took advantage of the $5 discount using someones refer link.

If you are interested in trying out the service then please feel free to use my referral link to receive a $5 discount on your first case!

Each $10 case is a limited edition and comes with a small treat such as a sticker or piece of candy.

I received the phone case 'Living Happy' and a small pixi stick candy.

While I like the message I am really disappointed in the case itself.

I opened the package to find it already chipping along the top edges and along the back edges. The case itself feels solid enough and fits my iPhone 5s well. I was able to easily pop the case on or off.

The bottom right edge of the design is slightly warped. I don't think I'll be using this one and no one I know seems to want it.

 $10 is a pretty good bargain for a phone case and from what I see them usually send out I thought I would like whatever they sent.

I've never seen anyone get this design or any like it before. If the logo wasn't on the inside of the phone I wouldn't have even believed this was from PCOTM. They can do better than this. Anyone with access to photoshop could do better than this.






I will give the service another try and hope for something better next month.

Birchbox Limited Edition 'Modern Mermaid'

I couldn't resist purchasing the Modern Mermaid limited edition Birchbox this month. Everything in it is gorgeous and at only $44 the value of products was too good to pass up. All products listed can be found in the Birchbox store.


The Knobs:

- Captain Blankenship Mermaid Mane Sea Salt Spray $12
- Birchbox exclusive Stephanie Johnson Mermaid Mirror $22
- Vasanti Kajal Extreme Intense Eye Pencil in  'Electric Navy' $18
- Atelier Cologne Cédrat Enivrant Cologne Absolue Travel Spray $16.25
- Coola Liplux SPF 30 Balm $12
- Anastasia's Beverley Hills Lash Genius Waterproof Top Coat sample $10 (?)
- Birchbox exclusive Ruffian Endless Summer Collection $26.50

Box Value = around $130 (some products are given educated estimates based on full sizes price)


The Bobs:

Textured Beach Waves are always popular during the summer. I'm new to this particular brand but the product seems to work wonderfully! As a plus this all natural concoction smells amazing!

I will be looking into this brand and possibly purchasing the full size.

Stephanie Johnson created this soft compact mirror for Birchbox! The design is gorgeous and perfect for Summer. The outside looks like luminescent fish scales (or mermaid fin) and the inside shows the designers nautical logo closely resembling the coolest compass ever.

Next we have a very nice eye pencil from Vasanti.

The Electric Blue color compliments almost every skin tone and applies very smoothly. The product is waterproof and long lasting but still easily blendable. I love that the cap also includes a sharpener!

Swatching the Vasanti eye pencil. Please excuse my paleness.


Above: Applied strait onto skin

Bellow: Blended using the attached rubber nib

After receiving a small perfume sample in one of a Birchbox a few months back I have been obsessed with the Atelier Cologne line. All of the scents are delicious and this travel spray bottle is no exception.

The key notes with the Cédrat Enivrant Cologne Absolue scent are Fresh Citrus, crisp lime, Moroccan cedrat, juniper and sweet mint. As advertised, it is indeed summer in a bottle and my go to scent for the season.

While I really like the Coola brand, this SPF treatment isn't very moisturizing and it tends to leave my lips feeling tingly. But it's main purpose is protecting lips against UV rays and it seems to get the job done. There are plenty of other more affordable SPF lip balms that protect against the sun and also moisturize.

Anastasia is a pretty well known brand. This product is a lash topcoat that goes on top of any mascara you are already wearing to make it waterproof. It's genius and works surprisingly well!

I will definitely consider getting the full size once this runs out.

The Ruffian Endless Summer collection is exclusive to Birchbox and the colors are perfect!

Sahara is a light shimmer/metallic gold nude.
Blue Lagoon is a bright metallic aqua blue.
Endless love is a dark metallic plum/pink and my personal favorite of the trio.


Final Thoughts:

For $44 I received over $100 worth of some perfect summer products and the theme was adorable! Lots of things I will be able to get a good deal of use out of this summer. Thank you for a great limited edition Birchbox!

Loot Crate June 2014

I decided to give the Geek/Gamer subscription box a try this month. 

Loot Crate is a monthly subscripton service that offers unique and fun popular gaming, comic, television, etc. items for $16 a month. Each month will introduce new theme and many items included are made exclusively for Loot Crate. This month was Transformers!


The Knobs:

- Marty McPrime Shirt (exclusive)
- Transformers Blind Box
- Transformers Sticker Set
- Transformers Hex Bbug
- MLG Terry Cloth Wristband
- MLG Starter Kit with Stickers
- Warheads Candy (bonus?)




The Bobs:

This awesome Loot Crate exclusive shirt shows a mash-up of Marty McFly from 'Back to the Future' and the Autobots leader himself, Optimus Prime.

The shirt is really comfortable and I love the art!

The Transformers Blind Box includes a mysterious Transformer Autobot or Decepticon. The small soft plastic figurine feels very sturdy and looks great on my desk!

These seem more like collectables than toys. I seem to have received the bad ass Dinobot!


In contrast, I received the Decepticon decal sticker. It will look magnificent on my car. >3

The Hex Bugs are really cool looking. They resemble insects and when turned on vibrate to move across any smooth surface.

I received the Decepticon Lockdown!

There were several MLG (Major League Gaming) items in this months box.

The comfortable, if slightly tight, wristband is one of them, along with an MLG Starter Kit and team stickers. This included a code for one free month of GameBattles Premium Access and an exclusive Loot Crate badge!

And then there is the monthly Loot Crate pin for the Transform month!

I'm a casual pin collector so I always love things like this.







Final Thoughts:

I absolutely LOVE Loot Crate! The items given are really fun and made feel like an excited kid again! Next months theme will be 'Villains'. *crosses fingers for something with The Joker*

If you're not yet a member and are considering joining enter the code: VILLAINS to receive 10% off of your first box!

IPSY June 2014

I received my Ipsy bag a day or two after Glam Rooms were updated. But I've been very busy with personal things this month. Very excited about everything I got!


The Knobs

- Be a Bombshell 'Lash Out Mascara' in Black ($15)
- Jesse's Girl 'Waterproof Liquid Liner' in Black ($7)
- NYX Butter Gloss in 'Apple Strudel' ($5)
- Marc Anthony 'Dream Waves Beach Spray' (full size retails $8.79)
- Essence of Beauty Fine Fragrance Body Mist in 'Forever Paris' (2 oz. $3)

Total Bag Worth = around $30-32!


The Bobs

Be a Bombshells Lash Out mascara had a very strong bad chemical smell, but worked fine. No smearing or smudging. It must have been from a bad batch or something.

 *Edit: After more use it does seem to irritate my eyes more than I'm comfortable with. I contacted IPSY care and was told that after Be a Bombshell was alerted to the high amount of unsatisfied members they tested it again and reported it to be safe. They stated that the company doesn't add fragrance so that sensitive skin isn't irritated and that's why it smells. I'm fine with not receiving a replacement. If this product is supposed to smell like this then I would rather throw away the one I have and be done with it.

My grandmother taught me a valuable simple lesson growing up...if it smells bad don't touch it. There are plenty of natural oils that are non-irritant that could be used. There's no excuse for that smell. It's putrid.

Jesse's Girl is a great affordable brand. But this liquid liner had multiple reports of exploding once opened. My own liner was leaking a little so I let it sit upright a few hours. It works fine now and has a very nice fine felt tip for more controlled application.

The liner can dot thick, thin and anything in between. I noticed a slight problem with running but it's only noticeable when very close. Once it's on though, it's incredibly hard to get off. So it would probably make a great liner for summer traveling.

NYX is another affordable brand and I love their Lip Butters! Very pretty color, smooth non-sticky application and a nice selection of colors.

Apple Strudel is a pretty and bright pink color and will compliment almost any skin tone.

I tend to not use hair styling products so I was excited to try something new and venture out of my comfort zone. The Beach Spray smells very nice and does exactly what it's supposed to do, give you the appearance that you've been swimming in the ocean. Ipsters were given a large 1.52 oz sample size.

I've seen Essence of Beauty products in local CVS stores. It's a good dupe for Bath & Body Works mists and the price is very affordable. Ipsters were given a 2 oz. travel size.


Final Thoughts

This month had a great selection and value for Ipsy subscribers! I loved the products I received and any issues were fortunately minimal.

*A word of warning concerning the Jessie's Girl liquid liner. There are many woman on Ipsy right now very upset due to their liner exploding and splattering waterproof black liquid all over themselves and anything around then after pulling the cap off. Be cautious when opening and contact IPSY if you run across this issue.

*Edit: Be a Bombshell claims that, even though the mascara has a very putrid smell, it is perfectly safe to use. Use at your own discretion. Personally, I find the product irritating to the eyes and will be throwing mine away.

(belated) Lip Factory May 2014

My May Lip Factory box arrived late last month and I just haven't had enough free time to post something up. To be honest, I'm getting a little tired of having my payment process on the 6th and not having anything ship unless I personally email customer service requesting a shipping notice at the end of the 3rd week. This has been happening for the last four months.

They are always very polite and at only $22 a month the service is an incredible value! I always love my box. 

The Knobs:

- MeMeMe Blush Me! box in 'Pink' (8 pounds uk)
- Medusa's Makeup eye shadow in 'Jungle Fever' ($8)
- teez Golden Glow Lipgloss in 'Classy Champagne' 
- Pari Beauty lipstick in 'Ballet Flats' ($12)
- NCLA Nail Wraps in 'Jenna's Nude Moon' ($16)


The Bobs:

MeMeMe is a brand from the UK that I am unfamiliar with. 

The packaging is very similar to Benefits Hoola Bronzer and is made of sturdy cardboard. The one I received was slightly warped at the base. It's a neat design but not travel friendly since the lid can slid off easily.

The color Pink is bright, light and very spring feeling.

Medusa's Makeup is a very colorful line of cosmetics! 

I received an eye shadow from their Safari collection in 'Jungle Fever', a dark aqua green. It's very pigmented and applies smoothly. However, there is some fall out and it creases after a few hours. 

I love teeez cosmetics! We're really lucky to try out their products in Lip Factory boxes this year. (:

This is a nude gloss with some slight pink shimmer. It mainly applies like a clear shimmer gloss and looks great over most nude/pink lipsticks.

Pari Beauty is a brand that seems to be made in Canada. I received a very pretty cool pink lipstick in 'Ballet Flats'. The formula is very smooth, shimmery, pigmented and creamy!

 I will definitely be looking into purchasing more products from this line.

Swatch time!

From left to right:

Mememe Blush Me! in Pink -

Medusa's Makeup in Jungle Fever -

Pari lipstick in Ballet Flats -

teeez lipgloss in Classy Champagne -

After seeing the gorgeous designs everyone was receiving all month I have to admit that the ones I got are very...bland. These look terrible and grainy, like someone printed them off their home computer. It may just be this particular style. I personally wouldn't spend $16 on this style.

Final Thoughts:

As always Lip Factory sent at an awesome box this month! Lots of new brands and excellent products to try. No idea what's going on with the shipping or how they process everyone. It's definitely not by date of purchase or name. But I'll give it one more try.