Glossybox Review - June 2013

Note: This was not a sponsored post, I subscribed to Glossybox & was not compensated for this review.

So my husband officially thinks I'm cray cray. I subscribed to two more boxes, just for the month of June. I've cancelled them both now (Glossybox & Pop Sugar's Must Have Box) but I got some pretty cool samples/full size products in both. Here is my review of Glossybox.

Glossybox is just like Birchbox & ipsybag. It's a monthly subscription service that sends you "luxury sized" beauty/hair products. 

I ordered the box at the end of May or very beginning of June, the delivery was pushed back a week because one of the products they were using had to be changed so it took a solid month for the box to arrive. I initially was not going to subscribe to it since I had just subscribed to the Must Have Box but they sent me an email previewing one of the products (Tarte lipstick) & it was their "anniversary" box so I thought it would have some pretty good stuff in it.

When the box arrived, it was in a pretty brown & light pink box. Excuse the wacky image, my address is in the picture & I didn't have my photo editing tools available to gray it out. The box was about the size of my Birchbox, only slightly larger.

The packaging was pretty adorable. The box is themed after different fashionistas & their favorite products. The little insert/magazine contained more details on how to be fabulous, product information, all that jazz.

 Pretty cute, right? I was excited to see what was inside!

At first glance, it looked like some pretty good stuff!

First up we have c. Booth's Honey Almond Nourishing Dry Oil Mist. It says you can spray it on your hair & face. I sprayed it on my hair & maybe I sprayed too much because it made my hair feel heavy & greasy. I spritzed it on my face & that gave me a nice glow. This is not something I would ever use on a regular basis.

Philip B African Shea Butter Gentle & Conditioning Shampoo - I haven't tried this yet but it's a decent size & I will update once I've tried it a few times.

SpaRitual nail polish - this is a pretty, dark maroon shade but definitely not something I would wear in the summer. It has a nice shimmer to it but I think they sent this in the wrong season!

Model Go eyeshadow. I was excited about this one but it was disappointing when I tried it. It's not very pigmented & is more of a sparkle/glitter than an eyeshadow. I don't think I will be using this again.

Tarte Complexion Brightening Lipstick

 This is a pretty cool lipstick. I've used it a few times. It gives you a nude lip with a touch of pink in the center. I like the look of a nude lip but at times it can wash out my face. This lipstick has a really nice hue to it, I like it a lot! The lipstick case is made of a cardboard/paper so it does feel a little cheap but maybe it's supposed to be eco-friendly? Not sure.

Last but not least - a mysterious black bag labeled "Essential Luxuries" by Oscar de la Renta

This little bag was full of 6 fragrance spray samples from Oscar de la Renta. I've tried a few of them & I am having trouble remembering which one I liked. I think it was Coralina & Santo Domingo. It's a pretty cool concept - being able to try out several different scents by one brand. So far I've enjoyed most of the scents & only one smelled like it was made for a grandma (not my grandma though, she's very stylish & hip). :)

All in all, this was a fun box to receive but like I said, I cancelled my subscription. $20 is too much for me to pay on a monthly basis for products that I found so-so. I enjoyed the lipstick but the rest I could have lived without.

ipsy Bag Review

Note: Not a sponsored post, I subscribe to ipsy.

I have a confession. I am cheating on my beloved Birchbox. I know, I know. I just ranted & raved about how much I love Birchbox, about how well they treat me, and how they just showered me with an unexpected & expensive gift. I think being so spoiled by these monthly gems has me wanting more!! More products, more mail to receive, just more!!

I recently read a blogpost on ipsy bags.  It's the same concept as Birchbox but in addition to product samples, you get a free travel/make-up bag as well. When I went to their website & saw the products they offer, I wanted to give it a try for 1 month. I'm glad I did!! I got some really great samples/full sized items in brands that I actually recognized.

The first thing I noticed is that the ipsy bag arrives in a hot pink bubble envelope. How adorable is that?? I want to buy neon colored envelopes & ship things in them for the rest of my life. Great first impression ipsy. The little chevron bag it came in was cute, but it's a cheap little bag & the colors are not exactly my cup of tea, so I gave it to my 18 month old daughter & she has been carrying it around the house. Which is...adorable!

The first box I opened was a black box that said Zoya, which I recognize as a nail polish brand. The picture above is terrible quality but it's a mint green color. It's a nice shade & I'm excited to try out the brand since I've never used it before. I do have a similar color but the fact that it's a full size bottle is refreshing!!

The next box I opened I have never heard of: Nume Finishing serum. Not to be a pervert, but it looks like this product had finished prior to arriving at my house.  (Ok, I'm sorry, that is gross but it made me crack up as I typed it, so it's staying.) There was goo everywhere inside the box. That top white piece had a hole in it & it was a mess!! I wrote an email to the ipsy team & they are sending me a new one. Good customer service, fast response, I like that. I don't know that I am in need of a finishing serum but I will definitely try it out!

In the green box I got a full sized roller-ball perfume by Pacifica. It smells nice, a little too floral for my liking though. The size of the product was really nice though!

Next we have a Juice Beauty organic lip gloss, which I actually LOVE! I know of this brand from Birchbox and the color is really nice. It's also a full size lip gloss which is awesome! Under that is a little blue bottle of sunscreen. I'm probably not going to use that but I will keep it in my travel bag for this summer.

All in all, I am a fan! For $10 a month, I'm in. I like that I can do it month to month as well, no commitment & fun products to try.

I still love my Birchbox but ipsy is a nice refreshing change :)

Review: Salma Hayek's Nuance Birchbox

Note: I am a Birchbox subscriber, this is not a sponsored post.

I got an email about a month ago from Birchbox asking me if I would be interested in receiving an extra box that month, full of Salma Hayek's Nuance line of samples. It wasn't guaranteed but I guess they just wanted to tease me know if I wanted free stuff. Ummm...YES PLEASE. I love make-up, I get really excited to try out new skincare products & I especially love my monthly Birchbox. My husband laughs at me each month when he brings in the mail & he watches me light up like a kid on Christmas as I run to open the box. I really get that excited. What can I say, it's the little things in life and I have gotten some really great products that I use on a daily basis out of those little boxes. I will post on that at a later time.

So when my Birchbox came this month & I saw no Salma Hayek products, I figured I was not one of the lucky subscribers to get one. I was curious & googled it to see what it included. The only thing I could find was on People.com (click to read) and the article said that select subscribers would receive it & it was a $55 value. So I figured I didn't get it and went on with my life (I'm such a dramatic story teller!)

So today, about a week after my original Birchbox came, my husband came home for lunch with a big red Birchbox in his hand. I almost flew out off the couch. "IS THAT A BIRCHBOX!" I yelled. He said "yes, but didn't you just get one" and then I lost it..."OH MY GOD! It's the Salma Hayek Birchbox!!"...I grabbed it from him & noticed how heavy it was & I was filled with excitement! Free makeup! Free skin products!!

I have seen the Salma Hayek products at CVS & I saw her interviewed about the product line once. She said she has really tried to turn the high end products she uses into affordable and effective skincare/makeup that everyone can try. To be honest, when I looked at it a few months back at CVS, I felt like the price point was too high, at least for the eye creams, face products - they were all $19.99+.

Without further adieu...here is what was inside!

Here is a regular sized Birchbox to show the size difference.

Let's open this thing up!

Ohhh la la...tiny bottles of shampoo & conditioner! I use a lot of shampoo & these little bottles only have about 1-2 uses in them, from what I am guessing.

The two bottles of shampoo & conditioner were "Mamey Fruit Volumizing" formula. They both smelled amazing but the verdict is out on how my hair will look once it's dry. They are decently priced: $7.99 for a full size bottle. I would want to definitely check out the other types she has in her line.

There was a HUGE bottle of body cream. On the back there are several statistics about women noticing a difference in their skin's texture & appearance in 1-2 weeks. I have dry/rough skin on my upper arms & I am going to try this out for the next few weeks to see how it works! There was no real smell to the lotion & it went on nice & thick.

There was a small bottle of anti-aging AM/PM super cream which I am excited to try! I really do want to try out her eye creams too.

This next one shows the little anti-aging pot & the eye makeup 3-in-1 trio: liquid eyeshadow, eyeliner & highlighter. This is actually a genius idea. I don't know if she is ripping off of a high end brand or not but having your eyeshadow, highlighter & liner together is a great idea. I travel twice a month for work (drive 2 hours to our main office) and I pack a small makeup bag of essentials: moisturizer/primer (Laura Mercier Radiance Primer usually), blush, eyeliner, highlighter, lip gloss, mascara & eye shadow. I use Urban Decay's Naked eyeshadow palette. The eyeshadow alone is as big as the makeup bag itself.  The 3-in-1 idea would be really convenient for me.

Let's pull it apart, shall we?

This particular trio is supposed to give you the smokey eye effect. I, for one, do not like a smokey eye on myself. I think it looks great on other people but whenever I have tried it, I look like I was either punched in the face like Snooki on a barstool or I look like Rocky the racoon. The liquid eyeshadow is odd for me, I am used to powders but this went on nice, I guess. The color wasn't very even & it actually wasn't as dark as it looks. I put some on my hand above so you can see the concentrated look of it but when you spread it on, it thins out.

Attached to that is a highlighter. I have a highlighter (Benefit's Watts Up) that I use on my cheek bones that I really like but I am guessing this highlighter is for the brow bone. They don't give you any sort of instructions or direction on it, so I just went with it & put it on my brow bones. It's a very thick, white, shimmery pencil-y type of thing, I blended it in & it looked ok...I would never buy it on it's own.

On the other end is the eyeliner. It's a nice liner, it's a fairly dark black but did not go on as thick as I like. I know for a smokey eye, it's supposed to be more blended looking & this definitely has that effect. Not my personal preference but I am always willing to try something new!!

Don't mind my eyebrows here, but this is the look of the eyeshadow/liner. The highlighter really doesn't even show up.

All in all, I was pleasantly surprised with this Birchbox extra! I would definitely explore her line of skin care, hair care & makeup. The verdict is still out on if I would purchase the body lotion but I'm open to giving it a try. They gave me a $2 off coupon & with the rewards dollars I have at CVS from buying all the Mother's Day cards that they sell in the store ($5 rewards bucks worth!), I will definitely go pick up her eye cream & try it out.

To join Birchbox, click here.

Product Review: Essie - Hip Anema

I love beauty products and I've gotten really into painting my nails lately. I am really into the Spring 2013 Essie nail polish collection.  I have the gray/green color - "Maximillian Strasse Her"- its a really nice color & is perfect for Spring!

I just bought "Hip Anema" - which is the bright, watermelon red color. It is a perfect pop of color with just the right about of brightness to it. It went on really smoothly & only needed two coats, plus a top coat (I use Seche Vite & it works really well!)

Sidenote: I do not understand the names of the nail colors for this collection. Usually I get it, it's a cute little phrase but what the hell is Hip Anema? It sounds like a disease. I've tried pronouncing it 10 different ways & I still cannot figure it out. Also - Maximillian Strasse Her? Um...what? I feel stupid or like I'm speaking a foreign language of some sort & don't understand the translation.

My nails:

Purchased at: Target

Price: $6-7

Lasts: about a week

Comments: I don't think Essie polish lasts as long as Sally Hanson or other brands I've used but the colors are always on point so it's hard not to buy it!!

Top coat I use - available at CVS, Target, Ulta, etc.

BzzAgent Review: Kroger Private Selection Upside Down Cake

Product review time! I love trying new things & I love trying things that REAL people have recommended on their blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

I received a coupon (from BzzAgent) for a free, freshley baked upside down cake from Kroger! I chose the chocolate molten lava cake, because hey - who doesn't love a warm chocolate cake, covered with chocolate sauce that is oozing all over the place?? NO ONE.

Bad, blurry iPhone picture I sent to Katie to show her the gooeyness.

Pros:

• Really easy to "bake", you just plop the plastic cake tray onto a baking sheet, bake for 14 minutes and then flip onto a plate. What is easier than that?
• It's chocolate on chocolate on chocolate.
• It's pretty tasty but a little too rich for my taste!
• Easy clean-up
• It tasted homemade - very fresh!

Cons

• 300 calories for 1/8th of the cake. Too many calories for this girl and not worth it for the taste. Sorry, Kroger.
• It was on the dry side, it was good but not something I would purchase again.
• Pricey - It was free for me but normally is $12.99

Overall - it was pretty good. They have a German chocolate & apple honey flavor as well. I bet the apple would be delicious!!

"The Rap Music"

Let me start by saying that I don't think having a child should change who you are as a person. Our parenting philosophy has always been that we would fit our daughter into our life & not to stop doing things we enjoyed, within reason. Yes, our life has changed & we love that. But we never wanted to be the people who were on such a schedule that they had to race home at 6pm so our daughter could take a nap. No judgement if that is what you do, I'm just keeping it real.

We bring our daughter out to eat with us on a weekly basis since she was about a month old. I believe, for that reason, she is very well-mannered at restaurants (with the exception of an occasional meltdown - in which case we LEAVE & do not subject the entire restaurant to her screaming & crying). I remember one night, we went to our favorite Mexican restaurant when babygirl was 6 months old. We had our daughter in her car seat while we waited for our table. A complete stranger came up to us & was coo-ing and complimenting us on how adorable our little girl was. She then proceeded to say "I'm surprised she's so quiet, THAT won't last"...not only did it bother us because this moron complete stranger felt the need to share her 2 cents with us on the behavior of a child she had never met before but it bothered us that she ASSumed that an activity we loved, that was working for us, was probably not going to be an option for much longer.

Let me just say, we continue to go out for a family night at least once a week. THIS is lasting. BITCH.

Anyway, since becoming a mom, I knew there were things I would have to tone down and/or stop doing completely. I'm okay with that. Some of these items include:

• Partying till the break o' dawn
• Sleeping until noon on the weekends
• Laying on the couch, watching Bravo in my pajamas all day
• Spending money on ridiculously expensive handbags that I didn't need
• Listening to hardcore rap music
• Not cleaning poop off another human being's butt cheeks

Out of all of this, one thing I've had a hard time accepting is that I won't be able to listen to "the rap music". That is what my father & Katie refer to Hip-hop as. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of degrading women and disgusting references to sexual acts but I love me some rap music.

I would say my love affair with rap & the Hip-hop genre began when I was a sophomore in high school. I loved Jay-Z, Tupac, Lauryn Hill, Biggie, almost any rap I could get my hands on. I love the beats, the rhythm, the creative wording, the "flow" & rhyming. I just loved all of it. Eventually, my taste in "the rap music" grew increasingly hard-core (naturally) and I was listening to some pretty disgusting songs. Disgusting in the way they spoke about sexual acts, used really harsh language and called women all kinds of names. But I think I just liked the beats. Looking back, I would never want my child to listen to some of the disgusting crap I listened to. What comes to mind is one of my & my girlfriends favorite songs at the time, "Ass & Titties" by Three Six Mafia. I'm talking Three Six Mafia in 1999, before they won an Oscar, before most people knew who they were. The group that had a song (which I may or may not know all the lyrics to) called "Slob on my Knob". Go to Youtube & play that song right now. It's got a great beat but it's pretty much disgusting. Here I was, a 16 year old, innocent, inexperienced CHILD singing about "Ass & Titties" without a care in the world.

I remember going on a road trip with Katie when I was 16. She was 19 and in college and way more sophisticated than I was. I put on my beloved Three Six Mafia for her and I'm pretty sure she had to pick her jaw up off the car floor when she heard the disgusting crap I was listening to. Who was I? What had I become? Ok...it's not that serious. But I was in over my head. I was a girl from the suburbs listening to men talk about things I had never and would never experience. But I loved the beat, yo!!

Anyway, the point of all of this is that I've toned it down, A LOT. Ass & Titties is on a mix CD somewhere in a box, which I will one day sort through, but it's not a song I would listen to in front of anyone else. But how will I ever quit you, rap music? How will I remove the Jay-Z & Kanye "Watch the Throne" CD that has been on permanent rotation in my car since 2011? Do I have to? I don't want to give it all up but I understand how inappropriate some of it is.

Will there be a new form of media that will out do what I think is shocking in 2013? Will I be 80 years old, listening to "Back That Ass Up?" rapping every lyric in perfect synchronization with Juvenile? But seriously, how funny would that be? Will my grandchildren think I'm a quirky/awesome/hilarious granny or will they laugh at me in a "we feel bad for her, she's sad, crazy and old" kind of way? Did I just reference non-existant grand children?? Holy shit. Where am I?

In closing, I would like to quote one of my favorite lyricists of all time, Jay-Z, just to show you how thought provoking "the rap music" can be:

"The drought will define a man when the well dries up.
You learn the worth of water without work, you thirst til you die, yup."

I mean....genious.

 

 

Bath Salts & Bathroom Time

Why is it that if we're in the bathroom for more than 10 minutes at a time that our husbands will send out a search party for us? What could I POSSIBLY be doing in there, except for the obvious things: actually going to the bathroom, showering/bathing, popping zits, playing with makeup or sleeping on the bathroom floor (ok, mayyyybe I did this in college...after a long day of day drinking). I mean seriously, what do they really think could be going on in there?

Husband, I know you have our child in your sole possession for a 20 minute stretch but come on!! Let me poop in peace!! Sorry to be graphic ladies...and gentlemen (if you're reading) but this boggles my mind! I am a perfect lady when it comes to concealing the fact that I go both #1 & #2. In order to do that, I need some time to take care of business and retain the illusion.

Side note: This is an illusion I have created. After having our daughter & having to describe my bowel movements (or lack thereof) to the nurse on a daily basis, I know that my husband (and any other intelligent human being) knows that everyone does, in fact, poop. But I prefer to keep that air of mystery between us. The idea of ANYONE sitting on a toilet taking a shit makes me want to vomit.

The other day, after dinner, my husband was cleaning up & I told him I was going to take a shower. He said "of course, babe, take your time", which I took literally. I took my SWEET ASS TIME. I washed my face, exfoliated it, plucked my eyebrows, clipped my toe nails, took the week old nail polish off (Katie - I know, if I'm old enough to put it on, I need to be old enough to take it off), used the toilet - at which point my 16 month old & husband seemed to wander down the hallway and just so happened to be outside the bathroom door to ask me if I "was okay?" -- to which I answered -- "I'M FINE!!!!!"....why wouldn't I be fine? Whenever I'm not fine, I scream for my husband to come assist me. If I'm bathing our child & I have no towel for her, I scream like I'm on fire until he comes to see what's going on.  If I need toilet paper, I scream my lungs out for him. If I had fallen & could not get up, wouldn't he have heard a loud thump? I mean, please.

I think this encounter kind of set me off so I continued to lolly-gag around in there. I organized my nail polishes, tried out various Birchbox samples, extracted some blackheads, sat on the floor & played "Candy Crush" on my iPhone (it's a big bathroom - don't judge me - I know poo particles fly around in there), then I actually took a shower. Approximately 45 minutes later, I emerged, so fresh, sooo clean clean. Feeling like a million bucks.

(No Exaggeration - this is almost verbatim.)
Husband: "Are....you okay?"
Me: "I'm fine, why?"
Husband: "You were in there a really long time."
Me: "And...?"
Husband: "I was worried about you."
Me: "What were you worried I was doing? What was the worst case scenario for you?"
Husband: "I don't know. I don't know what you do in there."
Me: "What does anyone do in the bathroom? What does that even mean?"
Husband: "Well, I thought something might have happened to you."
Me: "WHAT! WHAT could have POSSIBLY happened to me? Did you think someone murdered me? Did you think I slipped in the shower? What!"
Husband: "I don't know, you were in there a long time"
Me: "What, did you think I was doing bath salts or something? Doing drugs? That actually makes me mad that you would even think that!"
Husband: "Bath salts? What does that mean?"
Me: "Bath salts, you know, kids eat them or smoke them or something and they get really high. This one guy took so many that he tried to eat someones face off!"
Husband: "I don't know what that is.I was just worried about you, okay? I worry about you because I love you so much. I'm sorry I love you so much!"
Me: "Okay, I can't."
And I walked away.

That was our conversation. That was my husband trying to act like he wasn't coming to find me so he could hand our babygirl off to me so he could go clean his golf clubs or watch ESPN all by himself. He is catching on to my tricks & learning how to flip an argument around so that the other person thinks they're wrong. Tricky, that one.

Well, I'm off to go to the bathroom, my bath salts are calling me.