Category

Beauty & Skin

September 18, 2012

September 2012 Birchbox unboxing

 

What’s inside:

  • Birchbox and Color Club® Custom Collection in “Put a Pin In It” : love it, I’m thinking the other shades are enticing as well.
  • twistband™ Lace up for Fall
  • The Brush Guard Variety Pack
  • Fekkai Essential Shea Shampoo & Fekkai Essential Shea Conditioner : scary ingredients. Didn’t even bother running a custom report on this one after taking a closer look. Add in that it would cost $50 total for shampoo and conditioner and I’ll pass on buying a full size version any time soon.
  • Dr. Jart+ Water Fuse Beauty Balm SPF 25+ : This BB Cream is a 5 according to a custom report with the Cosmetics Database. The big problems are parabens. For me two additional problems (for breakouts) are talc and dimethicone. I tried it on anyway… it just was all wrong for me.
  • BVLGARI Mon Jasmin Noir : again with the synthetic fragrances

Bonuses:

So favorite things from this box: nail polish, hair tie, and brush covers.

Unboxing video:

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September 17, 2012

Review & swatch: Essie House Boat

I absolutely LOVE this color for summer. The one problem however is that it chips quickly.

I’ve tried several different base coats and several different top coats. 2 layers of nail polish, 3 layers. Every time is seems to last maybe 3 days tops before starting to look really bad.

Most of the other Essie polishes I’ve tried last about 5 days and even then they don’t deteriorate so quickly. So if anyone knows of another color that looks the same but last longer I would love to know!

Correction: It’s “Boat House” and I’ve found a nail polish to replace it with I think!

September 10, 2012

Review: Pixi Beauty Lip & Line – Fresh Pink

I bought the Pixi Beauty Lip & Line in Fresh Pink. It actually seems to look better in the photo than it does in real life (though I was tired and ready for sleep when I took the photo.)

It’s just a little too pink and a little too chalky looking in person somehow. I tried adding a lip gloss on top and that didn’t really help. Somehow it washes out my lips just a little too much and had that “teenager just starting to play with makeup” look to it.

I was impressed with the ingredients and would probably try something else from their line but I was not impressed with this lip & line product.

September 6, 2012

Birchbox August 2012 unboxing

Unboxing video below descriptions:

  • Schick Hydro Silk Razor – I kinda wish I knew what was in the moisturizing strip BUT this is a problem I just have to ignore because it’s pretty much the same question I have with any good razor. This razor IS better than the Venus3 I was using before so I think I will be switching to it because it really is that much better. As long as I can find blades for it (first drugstore I was in didn’t have them but that could have just been the one.) First few uses it felt like it almost suctioned to my leg. The only problem with this is if you have a bug bite (be careful!) A much cleaner shave all around though.
  • WEI™ Pomegranate Buffing Beads ingredients: Polyethylene, punica granatum (pomegranate) peel, coco-glucoside, benzoic acid. EWGEWG Environmental Working Group - an organization focused on research to make informed choices and live a healthy life in a healthy environment. rates it on these ingredients as a 1 (custom report.) LOVE this. I always love a good exfoliator and this is gentle and very different from a lot of the other options out there. You use it with your own soap so you’re not stuck with a soap that doesn’t agree with your skin. 20 packets for $20 is … not too bad actually for what you’re getting. Yes, there are better deals to be had but I think I might actually buy these.
  • Yu-Be Moisturizing Skin Cream – I’ve received this before (on second look, I actually received this in my KlutchClub box as well.) Camphor is a really wonderful thing for sore muscles. Since I recently royally messed up my back, I did in fact go through almost all of the two samples I had stashed before trying a cheaper drugstore muscle cream (almost all of them have menthol so there was only one.)
    They say that the camphor smell in this product dissipates  but it doesn’t really seem too in my opinion. It’s less harsh than menthol but it still makes me smell a bit like a little old lady. Maybe it would dissipate more if just used as a lip balm. This isn’t specifically a sore muscle cream but HOWEVER this is WONDERFUL on sore muscles.
    Would I buy this? I’m really on the fence. I would love to use it as an occasional post workout muscle rub but it comes in such tiny quantity that I don’t think that’s practical. It’s also fairly expensive at $18/2oz.
  • WEI™ Golden Root Purifying Mud Mask – I can’t seem to find the ingredients list for this but I think it’s just clay and golden root: http://www.weibeauty.com/by-type/purify-chi/golden-root-purifying-mud-mask.html
    I liked what this did but the scent was a bit overwhelming for me. It’s not a bad scent, just one I felt irritated my sensitive allergy prone nose. Top that off with the cost … $5 per pod isn’t bad as a treat but since you have to come up with $40 and commit to more at once my brain kicks in and says “$40 for mud?” 🙂
  • Caldrea Hand Soap – this is a 4 according to EWG’s cosmetics database and part of that is for the essential oils being labeled “fragrance.” However the fragrance in this soap is derived from natural ingredients so it should have a better score. As a soap it’s still a little harsh, a little generic to some degree… I just wasn’t wowed. http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/product/206539/Caldrea_Liquid_Hand_Soap/
  • stila stay all day™ foundation, concealer, & brush kit – apparently the ingredient list isn’t posted online, I’ll write the company. http://answers.sephora.com/answers/8723/product/P374937/questions.htm?page=2
    I did go ahead and try it on the inner part of my arm and the color somehow came across as chalky to me. It seemed to match my skin tone but something was just off about it.
  • Juicy Couture Viva la Juicy La Fleur – again with the synthetic fragrances. Seriously, when are they going to stop sending me these? Moving on.

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** SPOILER ALERT **

I watched the September Birchbox preview for a change and here’s what I’m really hoping I get in my September box:

  • Color Club Put a Pin It – Rose gold nail polish
  • Brush guards – brush rolls are too space consuming unless you have a large sink counter to work with which makes them annoying for travel but my last trip I threw everything in a cosmetic bag and it wasn’t kind to my brushes so really hoping I get to try these
  • Vasanti Brighten Up! – Enzymatic Face Rejuvenator – this has good ingredients and is an exfoliator which is something I always like trying
  • LiQWd Professional Volumizing Catalyst – I’m on the fence about wanting this. I can’t find the ingredient list.

July 30, 2012

Color Club Blue-ming nail polish

I like it but I’m not as crazy about it as I thought I was going to be. The color DOES grab people’s attention and get good comments. Since I took it off my finger nails and left it on my toe nails, I’ve liked it a bit more so maybe just on all nails it’s a bit too much.

  

It also might have been that I kept needing to go to meetings and it didn’t seem appropriate and now that I’m on the beach it makes more sense.

Second photo I have the antique gold crackle on my thumb over this.

July 16, 2012

Birchbox Glamour Magazine July 2012 unboxing

 

  • Color Club nail polish in Blue-Ming – looks like Essie Turquoise & Caicos in the bottle but they are different enough on that I’m glad I have both. The Color Club is a little brighter and a little more in your face whereas the Essie is a little more demure.
  • Eyeko Skinny Liquid Eyeliner in Black (not waterproof)
  • Harvey Prince fragrance in Eau Flirt (you know the drill by now, synthetic fragrance is not my thing)
  • Supergoop! City Sunscreen Serum – this is ok. There are better but this is acceptable: http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/company/Supergoop%21/
    Here’s the 2012 Sunscreen Guide: http://breakingnews.ewg.org/2012sunscreen/
  • Tea Forté Minteas Reboot in Cocoa Mate – these are organic and have yerba mate as an ingredient. I thought I had these in some other flavors but it turned out that what I had were actually SenCha mints in different flavors. These taste VERY similar.
  • Neon Earbuds – cute but lacking in bass… tried them after the video and they’re a little too tin-y. I’ve actually bought $10 earbuds before that sound better than these. I was kinda excited to get these but they ended up in the trash they were bad enough.

Link to Glamour’s “getting pretty” playlist: http://www.glamour.com/spotify

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