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summer bronze

June 13, 2013

June 2013 Birchbox vs Ipsy Glambag

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Posted in Hair, Makeup / Cosmetics, Nail Polish, Skin Care, Subscription boxes

My Birchbox unboxing AND my Ipsy unbagging in the video below along with some swatches and commentary. AKA June 2013 Birchbox vs Ipsy Glambag:

My June 2013 Birchbox:

  • Davines 3-Step System – Davines Love Smoothing Shampoo, Davines Love Smoothing Conditioner, Davines OI/ OIL. dimethicone… staremptystaremptystaremptystaremptystarempty 0/5 stars
  • Mirenesse Glossy Kiss in “Quick Kiss” – the color was growing on me and at first glance I thought that the ingredient list looked ok. Not super healthy but not super toxic. What I missed was that they include fragrance AND dimethicone. The dimethicone is a deal breaker for me personally. And it’s a gorgeous color.Argh. Cosmetics database custom report has it about a 4. Since I had already swatched on my hand, I tried on my lips just because I was curious about the color. I think it might be a little hard to wear but I do think it might have certain occassions that it would be nice to have that extra pop. Then I washed my face intensely and I’m hoping that a limited test isn’t going to cause cystic pimples anywhere near my mouth. I was thinking of the Laqa & Co Lil’ Lip Duo when I was doing the video so I’m frustrated I didn’t get this product. staremptystaremptystaremptystaremptystarempty 0/5 stars for the Mirenesse (would have been a 5 star if it had been without dimethicone and fragrance … or if it had been the other product.)
  • Color Club Wanderlust Collection – I received “Pardon My French” which is a nice lavendar but I was hoping for “Reign in Spain” because I have a thing for corals. My problem with this isn’t that I have to buy the nail polish color I want, it’s that they don’t have full size bottles and you can only buy the set. Since you already have one of the colors, then you’re buying a second of that color no matter what you got in your box. The purple is a good enough color to have as a mini but I don’t need two and I really wish that they offered these as full sized individual bottles instead of the collection. I will probably buy the collection though at $8 and free shipping, so whatever. starstarstarstaremptystarempty 3/5 stars (I’m just not a big purple fan plus my comments about the collection above and no full size products even available. For purple it’s an excellent shade and always love the Color Club polishes.)
  • Oscar de la Renta Something Blue – synthetic fragrance. They now have a new check box for “don’t send me more than 6 fragrances a year” but I really wish I could make that setting “don’t ever send me fragrances” …. maybe with the additional of “I’m allergic to half of them and I don’t want to use the other half and this is such a waste. One even gave me a headache just from opening the box so please stop sending perfume already.” Sigh. Just know, unless it’s natural / organic and it doesn’t give me a headache (which does exist, just rare) I’m not going to give a fragrance a positive review. staremptystaremptystaremptystaremptystarempty 0/5 stars

My June 2013 Ipsy Glambag:

  • Starlooks Lip Pencil in “Bare” – I had high hopes for this one. However the color made me unsure if it was meant to be a lip liner or a light eyeliner (though lip liner makes more sense …) Nothing jumped out as obviously bad ingredients that I could identify. No dimethicone, no frangrance, no parabens. But the custom report, it ended up a 6.  (pdf linked on this one.) staremptystaremptystaremptystaremptystarempty 0/5 stars
  • J.Cat Beauty Eyelash + Eyelash Glue – even the glue on this isn’t bad for you. I may cut these apart into individual lashes instead of trying to use the full strip but I’m happy enough with these. Until you get into some really specific eyelashes, those in the under $8 price point are all fairly decent and your biggest factor is lash style / cut. Latex free glue. And these are human hair … ok so a little higher quality than your average drugstore lashes but also a little creepy in that sense. Cruelty free (not tested on animals.) I don’t wear false lashes maybe more than … once every three years but I will be using these for an upcoming special event probably fairly soon. starstarstarstarstar 5/5 stars
  • Chella Ivory Lace Highlighter Pencil – AWESOME no cones. Turns up a 3 in a custom report. Talc is the worst ingredient and in this case I’ll forgive it since it’s not going to go on my eyelids (where talc tends to crease) and it’s not filler reducing impact of some other pigment. I love this in the inside corner of my eye and this looks perfect and natural. No shimmer so it can be used easily and I wonder if it might make a good concealing pencil as a result as well. starstarstarstarstar 5/5 stars
  • J.Cat Beauty Sparkling Cream Palette – this is categorized under “body glitter” instead of eyeshadow. It’s a chunky glitter so this makes more sense. No, just no for so many reasons. Plus there are the ingredients which aren’t good as well. Kind of on par with petroleum jelly mixed with glitter. It even says “This product should be used on the body and not on the eye area.” I’m not sure what they were thinking. Halloween? Rave? 8 year old girls? I don’t know and this just really doesn’t seem like a great fit for an ipsy bag even ignoring the ingredients for a minute. Yes it’s wild but… Might have made more sense it to be sent out in October just for the Halloween reason.  staremptystaremptystaremptystaremptystarempty 0/5 stars
  • NYX Blush in “Pecan” – awesome bronzer shade but there’s dimethicone and talc so I won’t be using it. I haven’t swatched this but I suspect the color is excellent for a beachy summer look.  staremptystaremptystaremptystaremptystarempty 0/5 stars

I also just realized that people were commenting below the products on ipsy (linked to in the glamroom) if they wanted to trade. OR there’s also http://mygl.am/glammieswapforum (though the other seems more efficient… or makeupalley would also work better than the facebook page.)

And I’m happy with the leopard bag with the neon zipper. I’ve been leaving the chevron bag in my swim bag recently just to throw my jewelry in so it’s not lost at the bottom of the bigger bag. I’ll probably find a use for this one too.

So there you have it … another mildly disappointing month with Birchbox and a good month with Ipsy. I think I wouldn’t even be saying this if I had received the Reign in Spain polish and the other lip gloss Birchbox had promoted on facebook. Actually I’d probably have been happy with just the other shade of nail polish just because the swatches I saw of it looked like a nice bright fun summer color. The creamy shade is one that I already own something similar and the green … meh, not as versatile. Actually the purple I already own something similar to as well just the that Color Club purple is just a hint better actually.

Swatches of some of the products from these boxes: Swatch Mirenesse Glossy Kiss in Quick Kiss Chella Ivory Lace Highlighter Pencil Starlooks Lip Pencil in Bare

 

June 12, 2011

Everyday Minerals “Natural Reflections Summer Bronze” Bronzer

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Posted in Makeup / Cosmetics

http://www.everydayminerals.com/store/face-natural-reflections-summer-bronze.html

I got this to compare to Everyday Minerals “Raw Sugar” since they don’t carry that anymore and it’s my staple bronzer. Often bronzers will look either too pink or too yellow or too muddy on me (no matter how light I try and apply them.) The Summer Bronze is “ok” … I’m not amazed and in love but it’s better than nothing and it does NOT look too yellow or too pink.

In fact it will probably work pretty well for the summer because it has a hint of pink to it and I’m spending more time outside so I may need a little more contrast.I took a lot of photos so you can see it in different lights as well as compared to the Everyday Minerals medium beige foundation (in pics above.)

“Natural Reflections Summer Bronze” on LEFT and “Raw Sugar” on the RIGHT side of my hand. Pics inside and in direct light. The Summer Bronze does not have any shimmer which some people will probably like.

Everyday Minerals is becoming this horrible love hate relationship for me, I find something I love so much it becomes an staple item I use daily and bam, they stop carrying it. First the pressed powder, then the bronzer.

Right now this bronzer is only $4.50 for the full size so I expect this to go out of stock like anything else I like.

And a quick note on the foundation, I previously posted EM’s response about no longer having the pressed powder (though they “say” they’re planning on bringing it back, I just don’t think that’s likely anymore.) I bought both matte and semi-matte powders to try. I can’t use either individually, I really do have to mix them to get the right coverage and color for me which is really frustrating.

EM used to sell mixing containers … I need that because I don’t have any empty sifters and it’s a pain to open two different screw top containers each morning for one simple task. I really like their close-able sifter covers.

Anyone have any spare empty EM containers they want to ship to me? Otherwise I guess I could dump them both out into a bowl in the kitchen and then refill the existing containers … I guess that’s what I’ll actually end up doing.