Monday, February 24, 2014

February Birchbox 2014

Whoops! That one got away from me a bit! I meant to post this a week ago or so, but you know, life happens. Anywho, here's all about February's Birchbox! (and reviews at the end of January's!!)


This one came in a different outer casing. As you can see, it's red, has a whole bunch of stuff on it, and has US Weekly up in the corner there. This isn't the first time Birchbox has teamed up with other companies (I believe they did People and possibly Allure in the past), and honestly, I wasn't too excited about it. The boxes I've received in the past weren't the best when they did this, but hey, maybe this time would be different!

The box itself looks pretty much the same.


And when first opening it, it looked not too shabby!


After diving in the products though, it was.....meh.

Somethings turned out to be awesome, like this one:



It's Serge Nomant Meta Revive Dry Conditioner. I've received the dry shampoo in the past and loved it. It did a great job at dry shampooing (if that's the right term) without making my hair look grey/white (it's a medium brown), gave it nice texture and SMELLED AMAZING. Like, no joke. It was just. Perfect. 

So when I saw this in the box, I had high hopes that it would have the same scent. Once spritz into the air confirmed my expectation!! The scent is hard to describe, but here it goes: if you combined a cologne your grandpa wore was combined with a cologne from Natuica, that's pretty much what this smells like. It's definitely masculine, but fresh, and somewhat light. It's just really up my alley.

As far as a dry conditioner goes, this was my first! I've started to see them here and there, but never tried one. So I was happy to see something that I was familiar with, but yet, brand new!

Next I saw these beautiful packaged square things, that at first, was super excited about!


Then I realized....they were tea. Ugg. They are Harney & Sons Wrapped Tea Sachets in Organic Bangkok (pink) and Mint Verbena (mint). It was considered as a "bonus" and not one of the normal products, but still. Not the biggest fan of tea. Luckily, my husband is.

Next I see this pretty little box:


I honestly had no idea what was inside, but was pleasantly surprised!


PERFUME!!


I actually really like getting these, for I'm always on the hunt for a new one, since I'm quiet picky. This is Joan Vass L'eau de Amethyste, and is described as having top notes of star ruby grapefruit and Italian bergamot meet middle notes of red currant, ylang ylang, and rose oil, and rounding out the scent are slightly sweet, earthy bottom notes like patchouli, vanilla tincture, and vetiver.

Uh, yeah, I guess that's what it smells like! Honestly, I think it smells like flowers in the city, sweet, but musky. I do like it, but I did find it bothering me after while, so I don't know if I would buy it.

Next was this little tube:


It is the Miracle Skin Transformer Face Spotlight. As far as I could tell, it's like a super light BB cream that is also a highlighter (as well as other benefits). It comes out like this:


And spreads out like this:


It is pretty, don't get me wrong, but I just don't get along with cream highlighters. I've just never liked the way they looked on me. But maybe this one is different. We shall see!

Last, I saw this little beauty:


Even though you can read the name, I'm pretty sure you can guess what this is :) I was jumping up and down when I saw they included an OPI nail polish!! I love this brand! I have quite a few already, but nothing like this! It looks like a gorgeous grapey, berry color, and can't wait to try it. So I did on some paper (I usually do), and this is how it turned out:


......uh.....what? So then I hold it to the light:


.....top coat? TOP COAT??? Wth??? What is going on!!! So I look at my card:


Turns out, it's a tinted top coat to slightly change they way your polish looks, either change the tone, make it brighter, or you can layer it for an ombre look. It is OPI Sheer Tints Color, and I got it in "Don't Violet Me Down". Needless to say, I was not impress. But I'll give it a go, and maybe it'll be better than I thought.

Overall, it was an okay box. I was excited for two/three products, and the other's were okay. They weren't awful or anything (from first impressions), but I've had better boxes.


Speaking of which, let me go over real quick of Januray's box!

Burt’s Bees Intense Hydration Day Lotion with Clary Sage: Loved this! It goes on nice and smooth, really sinks in, and it as good as my oil that I use during the winter! Would definetly buy this next winter (it's a bit too heavy for the spring/summer)

Fekkai Advanced Brilliant Glossing Conditioner and Shampoo: These were not for me. The scent was nice, but the shampoo made my scalp itchy, and the conditioner wasn't moisturizing enough (to be fair though, this isn't marketed towards being one, but making your hair shiny). I would not buy these.

Harvey Prince Journey - 50 ml: I really liked this! The scent is very different, deep and musky, yet also light and floral. It didn't bother me at all, and it's made from pretty okay ingredients! I would consider buying this!

Coastal Scents Revealed Palette Set: This was nice! It's Coastals Scents version of a Naked palette and I think they did a really great job! If I didn't already have them, I would buy this! The colors were soft, and blendable, and nicely pigmented! If you haven't bought any neutral/Naked palettes yet, but have been considering one, I highly recommend this!!

Well, I think that about wraps it up for this post. Back to X-files! :D

Em

Sunday, February 16, 2014

bareMinerals Try. Believe. Love. Kit

Good morning!!

Today I thought I'd do something a tad different, because, hey, why not?! This is going to be a post of something I bought recently, so instead of doing a full review, it's more of a show and tell.

The other day I bought this kit:


As you can see, it was only $20 and you get to try 4 different bareMinerals products (not including the brushes)! I have the original foundation and LOVE it, but I wanted to try basically everything else!

Here's the back of the box:


I found this at Ulta, and couldn't wait to break it open! Here's what came inside:


Too cute, right???
This kit comes with a little pot of the Original Foundations, the Matte Foundation, the Mineral Veil, and the Concealer. I bought mine in "Fairly Light", since that's what my Original foundation is in. Both the Matte and Original came in Fairly Light, the Mineral Veil in Original, and the Concealer in Bisque.


It also comes with two brushes, a mini Full Flawless Face brush, and a mini Concealer brush:



Now the little pots are little. Like LITTLE. Here's the best comparison I could think of:

Order of size: Full size, Kit's Face ones, Kit's Concealer
Overall, I'm super happy with this purchase! Even though I already love the Original foundation, it doesn't work that well for me in the summer. It makes me look flat out oily, instead of dewey, like it does in fall/winter. So I figured I'd get the Matte one a go. But after reading reviews online, it sounded like unless you have oily skin (which I don't, I have pretty normal skin), it makes your skin super dry. So instead of spending $27 on a full sized, this was a great way to try it for less! PLUS I always wanted to try the concealer and was curious about the Mineral Veil (which, by the way, is awesome!! It gives a beauty, air brushed look! I loved it so much, I already bought the full size! I'll do a post of this soon!)

Here's a link for where to find it at Ulta (it came in lots of different shades in store, but online it seems to only come in two right now): http://www.ulta.com/ulta/browse/productDetail.jsp?productId=xlsImpprod2980097
Here is is on the actual bareMinearls site (it comes in 7 different shades there): http://www.bareescentuals.com/Try.-Believe.-Love./USmastertrylove,default,pd.html

Hope you have a great rest of the day!

Em