FIRST IMPRESSION: Influenster Beauty Blogger VoxBox 2012

Yay!!  I got my Influenster Beauty Blogger VoxBox this past Thursday!  This is only my second box since I joined last September, and I'm really excited I got picked for this one.  :)  So let's see what's in the box!

This box came with:

1. NYC New York Color Eye Shadow Palette in Dark Shadows (limited edition) - $4.99
2. Goody Simple Styles Spin Pin for Light Hair - $7.29
3. Kiss Ever Pro Lashes Starter Kit - $5.99
4. Slatkin & Co. 1.3 oz Candle in Cider Lane (from Bath & Body Works) - $3.50
5. Not Your Mother's Smooth Moves Frizz Control Hair Cream - $6.00 for full sized 4-oz. bottle
6. EBoost Daily Health Booster in Orange - $28 for a box of 20 effervescent powders
7. Coupon for $10 3-wick candles from Bath & Body Works

I can't wait to get started on testing everything!  The eye shadows look like they will make a great smoky eye, and the lashes will add to the effect.  I've never used lashes before, since I just use mascara for my everyday to keep it simple.  It's great that this is a starter kit, so I can finally try my hand at it. :)  

The Not Your Mother's smells quite coconutty, and the Cider Lane candle smells delicious.  Confession: I already used the coupon to buy the 3-wick version of Cider Lane!  But I will still be doing a post just for this candle to review it and because I just love it so much!  

EBoost reminds me of Emergen-C, which I usually take when I feel like I'm getting sick.  I'll have to see if it is when I try it.  And the Spin Pins are in the wrong color!  I have dark hair, and I stated that on my survey, so I'm confuzzled on why I would get ones for light hair.  Anyway, hopefully they don't stand out too much when I use them. 

Stay tuned for more in depth reviews of this product.

Note: This voxbox was sent to me for review through Influenster.  If you don't know what Influenster is, check out my post here.

SPOTTED: NEW Revlon Colorstay Ultimate Suede Lipsticks & a Coupon

So when I was at Ulta yesterday, buying my Butter London polishes, I spotted a new display from Revlon.  I could tell it was new because it was still full, lol.  But also because I hadn't heard much about this product before and hadn't seen any swatches, unlike when the lip butters came out.

Doesn't Oliva Wilde look gorgeous?  The color she's wearing is so perfect for fall!  I really love it and was so tempted to buy it!   But these are $9.99 each at Ulta, which is kinda pricey to me for a drugstore lipstick. I'm going to wait on reviews and swatches (and a good sale) before I decide to buy any.  But the ones I kept reaching for were Backstage, which is the one Olivia is wearing, Socialite, Fashionista, and Front Row.  I also liked Couture, Runway and Muse.

Also, I spotted a coupon at Ulta for Revlon:

There was a display of Revlon Lip Butters and Kissable Balm Stains up by the registers that had this $1 off coupon.  I think it's good only on those items, which unfortunately Ulta is not having a sale on this week.  But it doesn't expire until January, so you can save it for a week when Ulta does have Revlon on sale. :)

DEAL ALERT!! Butter London for $7.47 @ Ulta

Just wanted to do a quick post on this deal! TODAY (10/20) ONLY, you can get Butter London polish for as low as $7.47. Almost as good as buy 1 get 1 free. The catch? You have to buy 3 BL polishes.

If you are an Ulta member, you should have received a 20% off coupon which is good to use starting today and expires next Saturday. This coupon can be used in conjunction with Ulta's current promo of buy 2 get 1 free for the BL polishes (which ends today, hence the deal is only good today only). The total should come out to $22.40 and divided by 3 equals $7.47 each (+tax). Yay!! Good deal?

Here's what I got today:

l-r: scuppered, tart with a heart, scallywag

Scuppered and Scallywag are from Butter London's Holiday 2012 collection, and I was tempted to get more but I stopped myself, lol.  This deal should be good both in-store and online, though it wasn't ringing up buy 2 get 1 free in store for me.  But it's in the ad, so the cashier should price override it if it happens to you! Let me know if you take advantage of this deal~  

And look out for swatches of these soon-ish.  I've got lots of things I want to post about, so there should be lots of posts to come! ^^

Let Me Tell You About Influenster

In anticipation of my coming Beauty Blogger VoxBox, I thought I'd do a little post explaining Influenster and letting you know how my experience has been so far. :)

Influenster is a sample box program, but it's different from the other ones (like Birchbox, Glossybox, etc.) out there in a couple major different ways. The first is that being a member and receiving boxes is completely free. Yes, I said FREE! Second, Influenster has more than just beauty boxes.  Since I joined, I've seen beauty boxes, a Latina box, a Mom box, and an eco-friendly box.

So how it works is you unlock badges that are relevant to you.  For instance, I have unlocked the Beauty one, the Fashion one, and the Pop Culture one.  You then try to improve your score in these badges.  Influenster will then choose whether to send you a VoxBox based on your badges.  And that's another major difference.  These are NOT monthly boxes, and you will NOT be getting one every time Influenster releases a new one.  Influenster will choose participants for a certain box based on whatever criteria they use.

Since I've started with Influenster, I have received one VoxBox, the Love VoxBox.  But there have been at least 4 other boxes, since I've joined, that I have not received.  Sure it's disappointing when you see everyone else getting one, but Influenster is working to have more boxes available so that more people can participate.

I have enjoyed being a part of Influenster, and I highly recommend joining.  What do you have to lose? :)

DEAL ALERT! Revlon Moon Candy Duos On Clearance!

Hello!  I just wanted to do a quick post to let you know that I spotted the Revlon Moon Candy Duos on CLEARANCE at my local Target yesterday! They were all in a bin on a back end cap, and they still had a pretty big selection of them.

They were all priced at $5.24, which is only 30% clearance, so it may go down more if the stock doesn't move fast enough.  I was tempted to pick up another one, but I still have a couple that I need to swatch, so I shouldn't really get another, lol.  Plus, I pretty much got the colors I really wanted through the CVS deal a while back, from when I swatched the Supernova duo.

Have you seen these on clearance at your Target?  Planning to get any?

Julep Maven: October 2012

I'm back with my October Julep Maven box.  I almost skipped this month, because most of the boxes came with crackle, and I didn't like the 1 box that didn't have crackle.   The crackle trend is pretty much dead, IMO, and I think many people felt the same way because Julep came out with another option this month and that is the Maven's Choice box.  It came with 3 creme polishes from the October boxes, but no drops.  I really wanted to try the drops, so I debated whether to get the American Beauty box or the Maven's Choice box.  The American Beauty box came with a dusty indigo creme polish named Eloise and an orange crackle named Sabrina, which I thought was a pretty unique color for a crackle and was the reason I was thinking of getting it.  But then I decided it would be better to just get Maven's Choice and add on the drops, since I was also going to add on Sofia anyway.  And ta-da:

l-r: lisa, eloise, keira, sofia, quick dry drops

Julep included several extras this month.  As you can see in the last picture, there's glitter!  I got orange and black, which is perfectly fine with me because it's October and those will be great for Halloween.  But I know some people got white and silver, which would have been nice and more versatile.  The other extra was candy corn, which is a Halloween staple, but I'm not a fan of it.  I'll probably give it away.  Anyway, I hope to do swatches soon!  At the very least, I will do skittle swatches if I can't do full hand swatches right away.

Also, I was playing with lighting and angles and stuff today, so that I can try to be better about swatching and photographing for this little blog.  (Maybe you can tell, by some of the over-brightness of the photos, lol.)  That's one of the main reasons my blogging schedule is so wonky.  By the time I get home from school and/or interning, it's already dark.  And that'll be even more so with winter coming up.  Can't believe it's already October!!

Until next time~

First Impression: September Glossybox USA

As you know, I am already subscribed to Birchbox, ipsy (formerly known as myglam), and Julep Maven.  When Glossybox came to the U.S., I debated joining.  The products looked pretty good, but it is a little pricier than other subscription services.  After August's awesome box, I seriously considered it and then I got an email from Refinery29 about a limited edition box curated by them.  So, I decided to sign up.  The deal was 2 regular Glossyboxes and 1 Refinery29 box.

So, here's my first Glossybox:

I got this on September 26, but was waiting for a reply from Glossybox before posting my first impression.  I have received a response and can now say that this box was almost a TOTAL MISS for me.  I was super excited for the BB Cream, but also a little hesitant.  I don't think it's a good idea for these sample boxes to give out samples of concealer, foundation, etc. because they can't know if it will match the person it's going to.  But BB Creams tend to oxidize and usually end up matching Asian skin tones nicely.  So I was thinking it would be okay, since most BB Creams only come in 1 or 2 shades.  Unfortunately, this Missha one comes in like 4 shades and they gave me the lightest color, #13, which is way too light for me.  I emailed them and asked if it was possible to exchange it for #21, which would fit me better, and this is what they responded with:

No, it didn't help.  Okay, I understand they can't give me a different one.  But this response just sounds like they didn't read my email at all!  I said it was TOO LIGHT and they're telling me to mix it with a foundation that may be too light for me or use it as bronzer.  WHAT?!

I don't know what I'm going to do with the Missha BB Cream.  I can't even review it properly because it's too light!  I might try to find a way to make it work, but for now, it's a miss.  Then there's the Professional Mattifying Gel.  I don't have a problem with oil, so I'm not sure what this will do for me or if it will help me at all.  Another miss.  The Global Keratin Balancing Shampoo and Conditioner is supposed to keep hair and smooth free for up to 5 months.  But my hair is pretty flat, so I'd rather have volume.  I'll have to test this out.  At least it smells good!  And finally, the lipstick.  It's a nice pink color and looks like the only thing in this box that I will for sure get use out of!

Really, I don't know what the point of that survey/quiz was if they're not going to take it into account when sending products that need specific color choices.  The only nice thing about this box was that 3 of the 5 items were full-size.

Strike 1, Glossybox.  2 more to go.  Let's hope it gets better!