BoxyCharm June 2014

My very first Boxycharm box showed up today!! I have been impatiently awaiting the arrival of this box!! I was blown away by the first two spoilers, so I had to get it! The third spoiler had me so excited too! Anyway, Boxycharm is a monthly beauty subscription box. The retail price of the box is $21/month and will contain full size and deluxe size samples of high-end and drugstore cosmetics. This has probably been the best box I've ever received as a sub box, or at least in my top 5!


It has your typical packaging of the shredded paper to keep your items from rolling around and comes with information cards on the theme of the box. Junes theme is Bridal Beauty which is a great theme for June!








Here's the card with a list of all the products and description, price and size. As you can see all the items were full size!

So the first sneak peek was this Tarte cheek stain in Blushing Bride. This had me sold right away. I LOVE Tarte! It is hands down one of my most favorite cosmetic companies and to be able to get one of these cheek stains for only $21 is a great deal! It was just a bonus that FOUR other products were in the box it came in! I would love to own all of the cheek and lip stains in this Tarte line. The formula is wonderful, and the color payoff is great too! Although the pic isn't that great you can see a swatch of this blush. It's the perfect shade of pink for any bride!

                                   

The second spoiler for June's Boxycharm was this Tarina Tarantino Eye Dream Hyperlight stick. This is a full size product and retails for $22! I can't wait to try this out! Nice bright eyes is definitely a great summer look and the reviews of this that I have read online make it sound like a great highlighter!

                                  

The third spoiler, and the one that had me on the edge on my seat, was this gorgeous duo from Strange Beautiful. I love the colors and they were designed specifically for Boxycharm! This is a gorgeous gold and metallic blue duo and I have a design idea of a cute manicure in my head with this duo! I have never used this brand before so I hope it's a good formula! This gorgeous duo retails for $18.

 

The first mystery item is this Tarina Tarantino Eye Dream Hyperliner! I absolutely LOVE it!! It has a really rich creamy finish and goes on so smooth! I can't say enough good about this eyeliner! It is full size and retails for $15. I received a beautiful dark midnight blue! This isn't a color I would normally go for it, but I'm glad I received it because it's not like anything I already have! I think I can get some really great looks using this liner to accent my eyes with. I would definitely purchase other colors from this line!

The last mystery item was this Revlon Bold Lacquer Mascara.  This is a mascara with fibers in it, and I love using these types of mascaras because of how long they make my eyelashes look! According to the info card the fibers in this mascara are black so the color payoff is supposed to be more rich. This is a totally new product and I can't wait to try it!



Like I first said, this box has been absolutely amazing! I'm SO happy I got this one! I've checked out Boxycharm past boxes and from what I've seen they are on a really great roll! I would've been happy with every single box that they they have sent out this year so far! This subscription is a keeper! If you don't have a subscription to Boxycharm and would like to try it just click on any of the Boxycharm links in this page! It's a great value for what you are paying! The savings in this box was over 77%!  I can't wait to see what they have for next month!

Influenster TLC VoxBox - Products, Thoughts, and Reviews!

So I recently got an invite for the Influenster TLC VoxBox. The TLC box is for the mom's of Influenster.  Here's what the box looks like! I was really happy to see this in my mailbox! I love getting boxes, and free ones are the best! Yes, if you did not know, Influenster boxes are completely free!! All they want you to do is review the products and spread the word (like I'm doing now)!

 

 

Here's the inside of the box when I first opened it. The card that came inside explains all the products and the retail value. The artwork on the front of the card is pretty cute too!

Here's all the products that came in the box!  I've had a couple of these items before, but some of them are completely new to me, and I love trying new things!

 

The first item in the box is the also the most exspensive and my favorite, is the Avon Anew Reversalist Express Wrinkle Smoother with a retail value of $30. This is a full size product! I love trying new cosmetics, so I was really excited to give this a go. The way this product works, is you dab some on the wrinkles on your forehead and around your eyes and it's supposed to blur them out. Well, it's not magic. I could still see my forehead lines, as they're pretty deep, but it did help reduce the appearance of them! It's a nice creamy texture that ends with a nice smooth finish on the skin. I'm definitely going to use this product next time when I'm wearing makeup and see if that makes a difference. I'm pretty self conscious of my forehead lines. I feel that I'm too young to have them, but that's what I get for not wearing sunglasses the first thirty years of my life! This product is available online at Avon and you can get 15% off the Anew line with code ANEW15 which is good until 8/01/14.

The next two items in the box was a Neosporin to go and a travel pouch of Puffs plus lotion. Something old and something new! The something old is the Puffs, because who hasn't had a travel pouch of tissues! Retail on the pack of Puffs is $0.49 and I'm pretty sure you can pick these up in almost any check out lane at the store. These always come handy and went right into my purse! The Neo To Go is totally new to me! I've heard of it and I've seen the commercials, but I've never purchased one! This item retails anywhere from $4.97 to $7.50 and this also went right in my purse! I've actually already used it too! It is pretty cool. It's a spray, and you only need one hand, doesn't sting, helps protect from infection and also provides pain relief.

 
 

Another old and new to me product!  A classic bar of Ivory soap. I remember these bars being at my Grandma's house when I was a kid. The retail value of the soap is $3.99 for a pack of 10. The coupon is for a free Breyers gelato retailed at $4.49 - $5.99.  I gave the coupon on to my husband and asked him to pick a tub up on his way home from work. I specifically asked him to get the triple chocolate, but he "didn't hear that part" and brought home the tiramisu flavor instead. It tasted like tiramisu and had the little cookie bits at the bottom, and a light dusting of cocoa powder on top! It was really good and a great substitute for real tiramisu! This is something we'll be getting again!

The last item in the box was a Shell gas rewards card. The Shell gas rewards card is just like any other reward card. You swipe before your purchase, and for every $50 you spend you will receive .05 cents off a gallon of gas at Shell gas. The thing that makes this unique from other reward cards is that you can use it here and purchase items from websites that they're partnered with and also receive the same discount or more! I wouldn't have ever guessed that there was more benefits with a Shell gas card, than just buying gas! This is something that is going in my wallet for future use!

 

 

Overall this was definitely a great box of stuff to receive and try out! With everything in the box, the retail value is anywhere from $40.40 to $44.38 depending on how much the products cost at the store you shop at. I love getting Influesnter boxes! They're always sending out great products to try out, and everything is absolutely free - which is the best part!

 

 

 

 

 

Review on NCLA Cookies and Gold Manicure

 

I LOVE NCLA products! I just want to get that out there before I bash this polish.

I gave myself a manicure with NCLA's Cookies and Gold polish. It's a beautiful glitter polish with hexagon shaped glitters in purples, blues, and gold set in a creamy white base.  It went on pretty well, about 2 coats gave me full coverage and I loved the results and look of it!

 

 

 Really pretty colors, a great fun and pretty spring and summer look!!

Sadly, after about 16 hours of wear, the polish started chipping around the edges. Because this polish ends up with a textured feel from the glitter, it was very easy to patch. Unfortunately patching it up didn't do much better. The formula seems to be very brittle, and two thick coats just made it worse.

The worst part of my experience with this polish was the removal. Most people avoid using glitter polishes because removing the polish can be so difficult and time consuming! I think it's worth it because I love the look I get from glitter polishes, however this was a whole new story.

It was HARD to get the glitter off!! The worst part was that after some of the glitter came up, it was still stuck to the nail and literally started stripping up pieces of my nail! I've never experienced anything like this before with NCLA products.

 

I will try to use it again over a plain white coat first next time. Hopefully that will minimize the chipping and damage done to the nail.

In this manicure I used Butter London's Tops and Tails duo for a base and top coat.