August Birchbox

It's beauty subscription review day for Birchbox. As I am also starting school or actually did on Monday this is bittersweet for me as well.

First off, the box was very cute and creative!

I loved the color and theme of this month's box. Let's take a look inside to see what I got...

• Juicy- Viva la Juicy Perfume. I love Juicy perfumes. This nice like jasmine and not too fruity. Def will be adding this to my makeup bag I take for school.
• Miss Jessie's Original Creme Meringue. I don't have curly hair =( or even wavy hair that will crimp when I scrunch it so this just gets thrown in my unused bag. The smell kind of reminded me of medicine too? I don't know maybe I'm weird. Wasn't a fan.
• Schick Hydro Silk Razor. I love trying new razors. It was a great extra! Shaves with precision!
• Miss Jessie's Original Creme de la Creme Conditioner. No more hairproducts please!!
• Talika Lipcils Expert (front). I am very weary against trying out any products that I need to apply at the base of my eyelids as I am terrified of getting an irritation. Although it says it wouldn't I didn't want to risk it and honestly I think I have fairly long lashes so I think I will pass on this.
• Sabon foot Cream. Moisturizes your feet well. Has a nice light scent to it not too frangrancy.

Overall, I was not thrilled with what I got in my birchbox box. Based on the them I thought it would be beauty products that would be great to add on the touch up or look for school. Like mini makeup items. I seen others get cool products like Stila's foundation or blush, shadow pens and all sorts of cool makeup. I did not get any of that and I am pretty disappointed in them! I am prob going to see how next month's go them cancel it. Anyone get another beauty subscription they are happy with? Would love to hear about other types! Again, these are my own personal opinions and maybe you like what was in your box.

Interested in Birchbox?

*It’s a monthly beauty subscription where you

get 4-5 deluxe sized samples of high end products.

Want to join? Sign up {here} for $10 a month with

free shipping & other awesome benefits

August MyGlam Bag

It's that time of the month again..not mother nature silly! Beauty Subscription time yaya!!!!

Any who here is what I got in this month's Myglam bag!

The theme this month is Endless Summer although I am not sure how the bag or products included this month fit that theme. Summer means glowing ie bronzer, shimmery etc. and this def does not fit that. The bag this month as well as the last few months *summer* have been very cheap as compated to the first few months I got. This one def looks like you could get it at the dollar tree. It's not cute and I prob would never use it.

Besides the bag here is what we got this month:

Circus by Andrea's Choice -Ringmaster. I was really sad we got another nail polish. I will give them credit because its a cute color and anything beats white but seriously this polish is very streaky and I just don't like it.

MyGlam Extra Lipgloss in Hot Pink- #02.I was a little nervous at first to try a lip gloss they mad but I actually like it. It has a great smell, texture and the color which is hot pink surprisngly even looked good on my skin tone. Nice!

Eclos- Anti-Aging Moisture Therapy Regenerative Cream. I am not quite at the stage in my life where I need to use anti-aging cream and want to give my face a little break from face products as I noticed an increase in oil production on my face.

S.A.L.T.Y. Cosmetics Loose Luxury Mineral Eye Shadow Glama in ZOID. Since I am brown skinned white eyeshadow never looks good on me so I will just add it to my box of never trieds. Too bad! I would have a loved a green or brown shadow heck anything but white. I've tried quite a few mineral shadows and just can't find a way to love it. To me its harder to get a more uniform look and I always drop clumps of shadow when I am bringing my brush to my eyelid. What do you think?

Eclos Anti-Aging Cellular Activator Face Serum. Again I decided to skip out on trying the face product until I get my oily forehead under control.

Demeter Roll On Perfume Oil in Dragon fruit- This smells really nice but I am always hesitant on putting oil on me as it somehow always manages to stain my clothes. Which is why I prefer perfume instead.

Overall, I would rate this months bag as a 5 out of 10. I honestly would only use the lip gloss and really want to see more facial cleanser, mascaras, eyeliner, eye pencils, things for blackheads and big pores. Just to name a few. Till next month! Did you enjoy your myglam  bag? Why or why not?

MyGlam is a monthly sample program that delivers 4-5 beauty products in a design makeup bag that changes each month. Some items sent are samples while others are full-size.  You can subscribe to by visiting myglam.com but as of right now they are sold out. Just keep checking, I waited for about a month and half but finally got in! 

Herbal Essences New Honey I'm Strong Collection

Do you suffer from hair breakage? I don't know about you but I do! Want to help repair hair but not pay ridiculous prices for brand name items.

 Well, today is your lucky day, Herbal Essences just came out with the new Honey I'm Strong Collection. Infused with natural honey extract and apricot which is def a combination I never heard of this shampoo smells yummy! .

When used together, the shampoo and conditioner work by allowing the honey extract to bind to the damaged areas of your hair to help repair it to achieve rejuvenated silky strong locks. This products again, smells amazing and they also have a creamy texture that when washed off leaves your hair feeling nice and soft. And with continued use will help strengthen your hairs protective outer layer to give you that smooth silky appearance you have been trying to get! Plus, it is affordable as well. No paying 30+ dollars for these products you can find them both for less than 10 dollars. What's not to love?

Want to learn more about The Honey I'm Strong Collection or other ones offered by Herbal Essences? Click here to check out their website

Where to find: Now available at any drug store (Walmart, Target, CVS, Walgeens)

Price: $3.99 or up 

**Disclaimer- This product was provided me by the PR of Herbal Essences for my 100% honest opinion**

Macadamia Natural Oil Shampoo and Conditoner

My godmother is a hairstylist so when it came to doing stuff to my hair I did anything and everything from red highlights one week to perming my hair the next week. So as you can already guess all the treatments eventually took its role on my hair. I'm talking like dried up, split ends and all nasty! A few years ago my sister learned about the company Macadamia Natural Oil and in particular their Deep Repair Mask that when left in your hair for 15 minutes twice a week would help reconstruct and rebuild damaged hair while impriving the overall shine and elasticity of hair. Now when I tell you the mask was a miracle I mean it. It does WONDERS to damaged hair. But I really wanted something to use daily to maintain my hair's appearence so I decided to give the rejuvenating shampoo and conditioner a try.

Here are bottle shots of the products. I love the way Macadamia Oil Products look. The color combination is just so cute!

Here is a better look at what they look are called. To be quite honest you can find them on Amazon for a good deal as compared to Salon prices which are crazy expensive.

I've been using the shampoo and conditioner for over 3 months now. I have noticed a tremendous difference in my hair. First off, it is soooooo shiny now. Secondly, I have noticed my hair doesn't have as many split ends as it use to. It honesly looks healtier than it ever has before and when I went to get my hair done at the salon they asked me what I used bc my hair was sooo healthy. In my mind I was like ha I am giving my secrets to the stylist lol! I can't wait for my hair to grow long again like it was in April before I chopped it all off to not go crazy during this hot summer in Dallas. Ps. Sorry my hair is all yucky I woke up from a nap after this pick!

Overall, I have nothing but amazing stuff to say about Macadamia Natural Oil they literally have tranformed my hair from damaged to AMAZING!

Price: ~30.00 a bottle on Amazon

For more info on this company check out their website:

www.Macadamiahair.com

Tone Fruit Peel Body Wash

I love Bodywash! Nothing helps me wake up better at 6am then a great morning smell! Today I am excited to talk to you guys about Tone's brand new Fruit Peel Body Wash with Alpha Hydrozy Fruit Acids combined with citrus, kiwi, and apple essences.

Containing alpha hydroxy acids, Tone  Fruit Peel body wash hydrates and leaves skin feeling softer, exfoliates to help removed all the dead skin cells we lose every minute and helps stimulate the skin. Containing Vitamin E, it also helps moisturize the skin.

The very first thing I noticed when I used this body wash is the SMELL. If you could imagine a garden of the most amazing smelling fruits at their peak this is what it would smell like. It is so strong and amazing you just feel revitalized after your shower! It also makes your skin have a little glow to it and it makes it soft as well. And the best part, as it is a drug store brand it is very affordable! So your skin can look and smell amazing for a cheap price what more can you ask for! Plus I have tried a lot of body washes and this by far is the more fruitiest, and yummiest one yet! What are you waiting for!

Where to find: Now available at any drug store (Walmart, Target, CVS, Walgeens)

Price: $3.99 

www.ToneSkinCare.com

**Disclaimer- This product was provided me by the PR of Tone Skin Care for my 100% honest opinion**

Hare Polish Swatches

This is my first purchase from Hare Polish...yay! I love bright colors and especially pink so when I saw these three polishes I had to get them!

The 3 polishes I chose was Rad Cloud, Magic Mist and Asteroid Turf.

Bottle shot of Rad Cloud. A light baby pink color with green and purple glitter, small orange glitter, hex pink glitter and little hex glitters.

I love how all the glitter pops out of this polish! It is just beautiful!

Magic Mist is a light lavender color with purple square glitter, small orange and blue glitter and tiny glitters. (Bottle Shot photo got damaged...sometimes I hate cameras!)

This polish was my least favorite it was pretty thin and it took me 4 coats to achieve this look and it still wasn't completely opaque here.

The final polish I bought was Asteroid Turf. A lime green color with pink glitters in it. I loved how unique this polish looked and pink always wins me!

This is def my 2nd favorite one. Love how the polish has a jelly texture and how well the glitter pops out as well.

Overall, I loved the combination and how well each glitter stood out in each polish! They are not only unique but fun colors as well! I can't wait to see what HARE Polish has in store for the Fall and look forward to trying more of her polishes!

Like this polishes?

Check out HARE Polish pages to see when her next sale becomes live!

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Covergirl blastflipstick

I just recently got into lipstick. Never thought it would look good on me and just couldn't find the right kind. I finally got reintroduced with a designer lipstick a few months ago but who has the money to afford lipsticks that cost over 10 dollars? I certainly don't so when I got the chance to review some drug store lipsticks by Cover girl I def wasn't going to say no.

Covergirl Blastflipstick is a convenient new double ended lipstick that offers two blendable shades that can be interchanged with one another with the simple flip of a stick. What's even cooler is that one end of the stick contains a creamy side which can be mixed with the shimmer end of the other side. Or you can use each duo individually to get the look your looking for. Consisting of 13 different shade duos of this collection, I got the chance to review two of these neatly designed lipsticks.

Two lipsticks I have to review today is #855 Minx and #800 Whisper. Mink consists of a deep berry and taupe shade while whisper consis of a taup and pearl pink shade.

Mink consists of a deep berry and taupe shade while whisper consis of a taup and pearl pink shade.

Here is the deep brown shade on Minx and Whisper contains the taupe pink shade. Notice the Minx side is the creamy shade while the Whisper has the shimmery lipstick.

Here is a swatch of the deep brown lipstick on Minx. It can come out a lot darker but since I am already brown I decided to keep it pretty light. It doesn't look at bad as I thought but I am not really into brown lipstick and feel it would look better on other skintones.

Here is the shimmery pink shade on the Whisper lipstick. I like the golden shimmery and color of it. It looked really nice with my skintone and this color def is one that I think will look good on lots of colors.

Flipping over the lipstick we see the gold shade of Minx and the Taupe pink of the Whisper. Here you can see the gold is more shimmery while the pink is a creamy texture. When I looked at these two colors I was like there's no way these will look good. They were totally out of my comfort zone.

The gold shade actually looked pretty cool. And it seemed like an amazing summer color. All I needed was some shimmery lotion and some sunglasses and I would feel like Jennifer Lopez lol! But really it turned out to be a cool shade!

The Taupe pink shade was another color I was scared of. But I thought if Nicki Minaj can pull it off so can I! It was def a different color but I loved it! This color is my fav of all the four for sure!

Overall, I loved the creamy texture, the way it moisturized my lips and smell of these lipsticks. I don't know about you but lipstick usually has this weird smell to it but I liked these. Love the variability that each shade duo has and the fact that you can change up your look mid day by simply flip the stick and applying the other shade. They are convenient and the colors I tried today were great! I can't wait to see the other 11 shades and am glad I got to try these as I found new shades of lipstick I can pull off now!

Where to find: Any drug store (Walmart, Target, CVS, Walgeens)

Price: $8.49

 

http://www.covergirl.com/

**Disclaimer- This product was provided me by the PR of Gillette for my 100% honest opinion**

Gillette Venus & Olay Razor

The one thing I can't stand is dull razors that make me have to keep shaving over my legs to get a single little hair. Like seriosuly I have better things to do at 6am when like try and wake up when I'm getting ready for work in the morning! I was so excited to try the all new Venus & Olay Gilette razor!

Now we all now Venus is a global leader of shaving needs and Olay a leader of skincare..worked together to make the first ever razor with Olay mositure bars to help soften your skin for less dryness with every stroke.

This razor consists of 5 blades and is extremely flexible to get literally every hair you have. You don't have to rotate around in the shower trying to get that one hair on the side of your leg, the razor literally adjusts to every curve. It also gets every hair a lot faster than my other razor bc of the precision of the 5 blades it has! I hate when I have to keep stroking the razor in one area bc it doesn't pick up the hairs! You def don't have to do that much work with this razor.

Check out the mositure bars in this razor. First off it smells so good! Secondly since it has soap on the razor itself  you can just start shaving on wet skin. And when you wash it off you will notice your skin is nice and skin! Seriously a razor that doesn't need shaving cream to do its job how awesome is that! Plus it gives me more time to wake up in the morning instead of remembering to add shaving cream to my legs. =) And I also love the color of the razor...maybe its just me but the gold color make me think of a goddess..lol! It's just so pretty!

Overall, I love this razor for its flexibility, moisturizing capability and it's precision. I think I just got converted to this razor and may not even buy any other ones. My other razor I used right before this stunk! I literally was moving the razor back and forth to try and get a little patch of leg hair. And it wasn't fliexible at all! You def should try this razor out!

Where to find: Any drug store (Walmart, Target, CVS, Walgeens) or online (walmart.com, amazon.com etc) 

Price: $8.99-$10.99

http://www.gillettevenus.com/en_US/index.jsp

**Disclaimer- This product was provided me by the PR of Gillette for my 100% honest opinion**

July Bloom.com Ambassador Box

Today is the last series of my July Bloom.com Ambassador box reviews. The last product I tried was the Strivectin-SD Eye Concentrate for Wrinkles.

Strivectin SD eye concentrate that is a wrinkle reducer, greatly reduces the dark cicles underneath your eyees and tired skin and puffiness all to give you a new refreshed vitalized look. I def am a victim of sleepless nights lately and am lucky if I get more than 5.5 hrs of sleep. So yeah my eyes are def puffy and I have dark circles underneath my eyes. I posted my before and after pictures while using this product and be aware they are w/o makeup pictures! Ekkkkk!

Here is my D1 photo. Notice my puffy eyes and the dark circles underneath. Wow I look really sleepy here. Strivectin SD should be applied to a clean face prior to your moisturizer in the morning and at night.

I tried this product for a week and half. I do have a little bit of eye makeup here, mascara and eyeliner but I don't have any face products under my eye. Notice the reduction of dark circles under my eye and a slight reduction in the puffiness of my eye. Since I don't have wrinkles yet I didn't notice a difference in that with use of this product. But its never too early to start!

Overall, I think the product did a very good job at hiding my lack of sleeps effect on my eyes. Although it is pretty awesome the price of $59 dollars a tube makes me cringe a little as I am a poor college student. But if you can afford it that's awesome. Unforunately I can't so I better start working out before bed or avoid taking a nap after work!

Want to see these products or more that Bloom.com has to offer? Check out their Website ! I have also provided the individual links of all the products I reviewed today! Hope you enjoyed learning about all these products and I dont know about you but I can't wait to see what I get to review next month!

http://www.bloom.com/

skin-care/eyes/eye-creams-treatments/strivectin-eye-cream.html

 

Do you have anything on Bloom.com that you would like to see reviewed? I def want to hear about those products so I can provide suggestions to Bloom.coms Ambassador Representative

**Disclaimer- These products were provided to me for my 100% honest opinion**

Mally Beauty

Afternoon Ladies! I love trying new makeup from companies I have never heard of or tried. So when I got the opporunity to try some makeup from Mally Beauty I quickly jumped on it! Mally's Beauty is a line created by Mall Roncal, a makeup artist in New York. Mally has an amazing quote on her website "Makeup is simply the accessory that allowes someone's true nature and beauty to outwardly manifest itself" She had an amazing journey where she started off as a pre-med student then swtiched over to her passion of beauty starting working at a makeup counter. She then became a makeup artist for private clients including a huge list of celebrities. All of this brought her to where she is now to share her beauty philosophy with all to empower all women. This is how she founded Mally Beauty, and now a days she has created a collection of over 1,000 products. Today I have two of them to share with you!

The two products I will review today are 1. my favorite beauty product and 2. Something new for me.

The products I will be reviewing today are the Volumizing Mascara and Face Defender.

I loveeeee mascara. It is one of the two beauty products I cannot live without. Mally Volumizing Mascara. Made from natural waxes and powders, this mascara aims to give lashes an instant boost while thickening lashes without clumps to give you gorgeous volume that will last all day long.

I applied two coats of this mascara on my lashes. I did not use a eyelash curler before or after applying the mascara to test the overall lenghening, volumizing and clumping ability of the mascara. My preference for mascara is one that helps my lashes look long, thick black coat and lasts all day long. I really can't stand when my mascara looks amazing in the morning but by the mid afternoon looks flat!

The first thing I wanted to show you is how the volumizing and clumping action of this mascara performed. As you can see my lashes look super thick and black which I love! The way the bristles work on the brush I didn't get clumps! Another bonus in my book! It dried quickly so I didn't black smudge on my eyes when I moved my lashes around. And it stayed on all day long and my lashes looked just as good in the evening as they did in the am!

Check out the lengthening of this mascara. Again I did not use an eye lash curler! They look pretty sweet right?

The second product I am reviewing is the Face Defender. I don't know about you but I had never heard of a face defender before. Applied after your makeup has been applied, this product is perfect for giving the finishing touch on your makeup. It looks like a thick gel consistency but comes on very light and not greasy. It didn't irritate my face and did take off a little bit of the mineral foundation I put but that was expected. The face defender aims to minimize pores while helping protect your makeup to last all day long. It def added that extra final touch to my makeup and despite walking in over 100 degree weather it lasted pretty well. My makeup was not melted across my face! Gotta love that Dallas heart. So any makeup defender that can make me not look like a melted snowman after is good in my books! Also, I put it on over my face when I was sweating and it literally decreased my oily face OMG!

Overall, I am so happy I got to try out this company! I loved the two products I tried. And call me a mascara snob if you must but I am extremely picky when it comes to mascara so if I like something it is pretty good! Also, I never would of known what a face defender was and I am so glad I did! In this heat and humidity. I need all the protection I can to keep my makeup on! Can't wait to see what other beauty products Mally Beauty has to offer!

 

Where to find these products!

Mallybeauty.com, trymallybeauty.com and QVC.com

**Disclaimer-These products were provided to me by the PR of this Company for my 100% honest opinion **

Rimmel London-Match Perfection 3 Tone Blush

Hey ladies! Got another sneak peak product from Rimmel London's Fall Collection. This 3 in one blush will enhance your natural radiance, glow and most importantly will adapt to your unique skin tone. This blush will sculpt, shadow and highlight your face together or you can use each color seperately.

Personally, I love the look achieved when combining all 3 blushes. The only con I have of this product is that when you brush off some blush it leaves a lot of excess powder that I have to wipe off. You can see all the excess powder in this photo.

The blush I am using here is Medium/dark.

Using a Kabuki brush (my absolute favorite brush for applying blushes and powder fondations) I swirl it around each color in a circular motion a few times. Since a lot of excess powder comes off I like to tap the brush gently before applying to my face. While either smiling or just looking into a mirror to see my cheek bone, I take my Kabuki brush in in a circular motion from the inner cheek to the outer cheek continually. If I feel that the blush is to light I repeat what I mentioned until I am happy with the achieved look. As you can see on the far right I like a nice pigmented blush on my face.

Overall, I love that this Rimmel London is not only affordable but delivers amazing products. The Match Perfection 3 Tone Blush def gives me the exact color and highlighting look I look for in my product and lasts all day long. I had never tried Rimmell London products before this week so I am so impressed with all of the products I have tried thus far! I think I have a new favorite Drug Store Beauty Brand!

What do you think of all the Rimmell London Fall 2012 products so far? What are you excited to try?

 

 

Where to find: Coming Soon to any Target, Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, ULTA

 Price: $4.97

**Disclaimer-This product was provided by Rimmel London's PR Group for my 100% Honest opinion)

July Bloom.Com Ambassador Box Part Two

Hey Ladies- Part 2 of my Monthly Bloom.com Ambassador Box Reviews. Today I am reviewing one skincare product and one makeup product.

The first product is Dr. Dennis Gross Extra Strength Alpha Beta Daily Face Peel. This treatment aims to smooths the appearance of fine lines while firming skin, treating large pores, redness and excess oil to give you a refreshed and revitalized look.

Applied daily you simply wipe your cleansed face with 2 wipes. Step 1 is applied to your face in a circular motion from your forhead to your neck and applied to dry for 2 minutes. Then you apply step 2 using the same circular motion. Neither wipe is washed off and you go about your day. I used these wipes at night before bed. Bloom.com sent us a 5 day sample of these treatment.

I hate that I have to show you a no makeup picture but here it is, a clean face! Ahhhhh! Lol here is Day 1 and Day 5. (I took the picture in the same area and the same lighting but for some reason my Day 5 came out better. Maybe bc I was closer. Not sure but apologizes their not exactly the same)

Here I am wiping my face on Day 3 (sorry my eyes are a bit red)

Overall, I noticed a little redness the first day when I used this product but it quickly went away following continued use. Also, the smell of the Step 1 wipe was very strong with me that I would have to hold my breath and close my eyes, it was kind of like a strong methanol smell. I didn't have any irritations (thank goodness) to the peel besides a slight tingling when using the Step 1 wipe. In the end, I didn't really notice a dramatic difference but that could be because I don't have too many scars on my face and have a pretty clear face. Also, I did notice an increase in oil in my forehead and an enlargement in the pores of my nose. When weighing the pros vs. the cons and the fact that it cost $85 for 30 applications I think I would pass on this product. Although it could be that I only used wipes for the 5 day and the results are typical or maybe the regular strength would be better for me. Again, this is my personal opinion and it may work well for others!

The Second product I am reviewing today is the Stila In the Know Palette that came out recently!

This palette comes with 10 different shades that vary from light to dark beige colors, brown, orange, grey and black colors.

L to R: Air, Wind, Desert, Clay, Earth (top)

Driftwood, Fire, Rain, Smoke, and Ebony (Bottom)

Also included: Smudgestick Waterproof eye liner in Half Moon

Here are swatches of the first 5 colors on the palette. These are great base coat colors (first 4) followed by Earth which is a great lid or crease color.

The second row on this palette contains great lid and crease colors. It varies with Driftwood which is a brown color, fire a fierce orange/red color, rain is more of a natural light brown, a nice grey color (smoke) and of course you can't go wrong with a smokey black color (Ebony)

Here are some looks I achieved with some of the colors included in this palette:

The exotic Stare using Clay over the entire lid and Ebony along the contour crease area. I also tried out the eye liner in Half moon.

Here is a side view of the above look.

I def had to try out Fire bc it looked like a great color. Here I put Fire along the lid and just had to use a brown crease color in Earth. I mean Earth and Fire! Def a good combo.

Love love love this look and how the Earth looked! Amazing.

I usually use black as a smokey eye look but decided to change it up and use Driftwood on the base and bring in a smokey Ebony color.

This combo suprisingly looked amazing too! I loved it.

Overall, I love this palette. It provides some colors that you can combine to create some AMAZING looks. Def challenged me on looks to create and I think they are perfect Fall Colors. There also are a lot of light colors that are perfect for beginners to work their way up to come great daring looks! And when applied with a Primer they lasted all day long! Love this palette!!!

Want to see these products or more that Bloom.com has to offer? Check out their Website ! I have also provided the individual links of all the products I reviewed today! Hope you enjoyed learning about all these products and I dont know about you but I can't wait to see what I get to review next month!

http://www.bloom.com/dr-dennis-gross-skincare-extra-strength-alpha-beta-daily-face-peel.html
http://www.bloom.com/brands/stila/stila-in-the-know-eye-palette.html

Do you have anything on Bloom.com that you would like to see reviewed? I def want to hear about those products so I can provide suggestions to Bloom.coms Ambassador Representative

**Disclaimer- These products were provided to me for my 100% honest opinion**