Unboxing Boxycharm September 2014, Fashion week fabulous!

Hi everyone! 

I got my September Boxycharm today. I’m glad about the colors this month. (Last month got some really odd colors for my color profile.) Overall I like this box, though I’m getting kind of sick of getting Hello by Harvey Prince. It has been in literally every subscription box I’ve gotten. I’m so glad about the Tarina Tarantino collab with boxycharm, I’m really pumped about this mascara! New subscribers to boxycharm get the hyperlight we got in an old box, so this is exciting. Ths is a pretty good fall themed box with dark NCLA nail polish, perfume, lip gloss (ick), mascara, and fall colored eyeshadow.

This box also included 2 coupon codes:

1. 10% off mynamenecklace.com – BOXYCHARM
2. 20% off tarte.com – FALLBOXY (10/10 – 10/24)

All of the items laid out

This is the intro card to the box:

Items listed on card included

The items!

Tarte lipsurgence lip gloss in tipsy:

This was the color I wanted so I’m glad I got it. Still not the biggest fan of lip gloss though.

Coastal Scents London Go Palette:

I really wanted the Moscow one, but this was my second favorite. I’m glad there is a red shade in this! Coastal Scents is an ok brand, but I’ve never had a problem with them. Their eyeshadows aren’t always so pigmented, but I love the Revealed palette I have from them that is a dupe of Naked 1 and Naked 2 from Urban Decay.

London Go Palette

Closeup of London Go Palette

NCLA Nail Lacquer

I love funky nail polish colors, and this dark color is perfect for fall! I’m so sick of the red/pink nail polish.

Tarina Tarantino Mascara (Fleur de lash)

I need a new mascara, and this came at the perfect time. I like the look of the brush on this, but it looks a little clumpy. I’ll see how it goes after using it for a bit.

Harvey Prince Hello

I actually already bought the full-sized version of this with Birchbox points. I wear it sometimes. I really like the scent, but this has been in literally every subscription box I’ve seen. I wish they’d move onto a new scent. ಠ_ಠ

Final Ipsy September Spoiler, “Street Style”

Hi everyone! Here is the final spoiler for the September 2014 Ipsy bag:

 

This is an exciting bag because it is pretty much all makeup!

 

And that bag is really nice. It looks to be the same size as the Beauty Rocks bag, but much more tastefully designed. 

Boxycharm August Spoiler #1

The first spoiler for Boxycharm is out!

One product for the July 2014 box is a bronzer:

1. EnterPronoun “Blowtorch 01” Bronzer, (link to EP website, $35) or
2. Ofra “Americano” Bronzer (link to ofra website, $35)

“If you guessed a bronzer, you were right! Charmers will receive either an #EnterPronoun “Blowtorch 01” Bronzer or an #Ofra “Americano” Bronzer! Both are $35, universal, and absolutely perfect for the summer! Xoxo, Your #BOXYCHARM Team”

The Ofra bronzer looks pretty cool-toned (on left) whereas the EnterPronoun bronzer looks pretty warm-toned.

WARNING: Do not sign up for Lip Monthly

Lip monthly looks like a “good” subscription for lip products, but they have been giving away old expired products (think 2009).

See Kitsch Snitch’s blog post/review of hers.

This is all part of her review, and these are the 4 items that she received:

The first product is the Lipology Anti-Feathering Stick. This is a clear balm that is designed to help prevent feathering of lipstick. This isn’t a twist up product, so it seems like the amount you get in the tip is all of it. I generally wear long wearing matte lip products so feathering isn’t really an issue for me, so I probably won’t use this product. I don’t understand what happens when you wear down the point… it will start applying like a chap stick. I can’t find much about this in online reviews, but you can only buy this from discount warehouse websites are selling them for around $4.

The next product is by Purple Lab and it is the Huge Lips Skinny Hips plumping lip gloss. I got the shade Red Sole, which is a sheer red gloss shade.

I decided to do a bit of research about this product and it seems the all of the reviews are from around 2010-2011, and in fact the Purple Lab website is no longer up, and they haven’t posted a tweet on their twitter since 2011. This concerns me. Some of the reviews were saying that the active ingredient “hoodia” can have some side effects, and even though I don’t necessarily worry about side effects of ingredients… I am concerned that we are being sent old stock from 2010, of a product that is no longer available, from a company that no longer exists.

The next lip product is by LOL (Lots Of Love) and it is a lipstick in the shade Dance With The Devil. This is a sheer but buildable lipstick, and it even though it applies quite well, it definitely has a cheap teenage makeup vibe to it. Looking these up, it seems like you can buy these lipsticks for around $2 each, but hey, at least they are still available to buy!

Lastly is the Mary Kate and Ashley Lip Foils. These are highly metallic lip sticks in small chap stick tubes. They are very pigmented and impressive to swatch, but on the lips they are far too frosty. Doing some research on these, I actually can’t find any Mary Kate and Ashley makeup site… and the only places you can buy these are makeup wholesale websites or ebay. Again, the only reviews of these are from 2009!

So 3 out of the 4 products are old or discontinued.

 

Pass.

 

Unboxing Birchbox July 2014: Power Up!

Hi everyone. This month was an exciting month for Birchbox because you got to pick one of your samples!! I, being a nail polish addict, picked nail polish of course! (If you want to see what the choices were, check out my previous post here.)
This month I received:

• Cynthia Rowley Beauty Eyeliner
• Ruffian Nail Polish Ambrosia
• Ruffian Nail Polish Remover
• Naobay Body Lotion
• Real Chemistry 3-Minute Peel
• 100% Pure Shower Gel

 

This box is a partnership with Women’s health, and they have challenges all month in the booklet! They’re kind of silly, but look like a ton of fun. 🙂

 

 

Items Received and Value Breakdown:

Cynthia Rowley Beauty Eyeliner
Full Size- 0.04 oz $16.00
Sample Size- 0.03 oz $12.00

Thoughts: Nice, deep black.  Just another eyeliner.

RUFFIAN Nail Lacquer – Ambrosia
Full Size- 0.17 fl oz $11.00
Sample Size- 0.17 fl oz $11.00

Thoughts: More silver than lavender, small as hell.

RUFFIAN Dressing Room Nail Lacquer Remover Towelettes
Full Size- 10 count $12.00
Sample Size- 1 count $1.20

Thoughts: There are better cheaper removers than these, e.g. LA FRESH. Don’t waste your money, they don’t work well.

Naobay Body Radiance Lotion
Full Size- 250 mL $24.00
Sample Size- 30 mL $4.25

Thoughts: Smell fades fast (a plus in my book), but feels kind of sticky at first.

Real Chemistry Luminous 3-Minute Peel
Full Size- 1.7 fl oz $48.00
Sample Size- 0.17 fl oz $4.80

Thoughts: Cool? Haven’t tried it yet, but I am intrigued.

100% Pure Gingerade Shower Gel (Honey Cream Wash)
Full Size- 390 mL $15.00
Sample Size- 10 mL $0.38

Thoughts: This isn’t bad, but nothing special.

Total Value = $33.63

Overall thoughts

This box is much better than last month’s value of $12.23. I honestly think this box is better curated because it seems like one of their more generic boxes for those that picked the ruffian polish, which is understandable. That being said – it is ridiculous that the ruffian full-size is 5 mL. For real?! Even Julep, who is notorious for having bullshit small full sizes, is better than this. It is bad when Julep is better than you. The color is okay, thought it would be a little bit more lavender. It’s more silver tinted lavender than lavender tinted silver. The eyeliner is nothing impressive, it goes on nicely, but not sure the staying power is good. It is a nice deep black though. Don’t even waste your money on those nail polish removers though. For considerably less, the LA fresh ones are much cheaper and work 10x better. The rest is ok. It’s an okay birchbox, but not a great one.

 

See unboxing pictures below:

This is the card that came with it:

And here are the values/descriptions they gave:

All of the items laid out:

The booklet with 12 challenges! You can do these challenges and tweet @birchbox with pictures tagged as #powerupchallenge and #giveaway and you might win something!

Swatches of ruffian ambrosia on my accent nail…. on second thought I am really loving this color!!

A close up:

 

What do you think of this box?

My new project: Chemistry of Makeup

Hi everyone,

If you are interested in the chemistry behind makeup, clearing up some common myths, or just understanding more, I am compiling posts I’ve made at 350nm of beauty.

Here is my intro post.

These will all be written at a level that anyone can understand.

Of course, my normal unboxing posts will appear here.

 

Cheers,

Sarah

[Deal alert] 20% off at tarte.com thanks to Boxycharm!

Use code BOXYCHARM14 for 20% off your entire order at tarte.com! [for purchases $40 and above you get free shipping and a gift as well]

This is valid 7 July to 14 July.

 

Ulta Beauty Steal: Too Faced Primed and Poreless Face Primer for $15 + coupon

Ulta is having a good beauty sale today, June 3rd 2014, for face primer! It’s only $15 for the primer, which is pretty good for face primer.

 

That’s really not a bad deal at all. I might order one, I do need a new primer. You can click the picture above (and all below) and it will take you to the products without any affiliate linking.

Here’s the normal coupon code (206928) for 20% off one item (most likely won’t work for prestige though)

Ooh and they have a good OPI deal right now too:

Here is the rest of the ad if you’re interested!

PSA: Makeup Expires, Check yours!

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to let you all know (if you didn’t) that makeup has a use-by date! You can find this on your bottles and it will look like this:

In this, you can see an open lid and a container with 12 M.

12 is the number of months, and M = Months.

So from this you can only use the makeup for 12 months before you’ll get a ton of bacteria and it’ll be unhealthy.

This is standard in the EU by regs 1223/2009. It’s not necessarily on US packaging.

theBalm Flash sale is going on right now!

As a reminder, theBalm flash sale is going on from 1 pm EST to 2:30 pm EST! After a small glitch with the processor, I was able to check out and buy all of this (note it’s all half off, it’s just taken off below, you can’t see it):

 

Anita Boytoy	681619100291	$17.00	Ordered: 1	$17.00
How ‘Bout Them Apples?	681619802652	$32.00	Ordered: 1	$32.00
Bahama Mama®	681619700279	$20.00	Ordered: 1	$20.00
Sexy Mama®	681619700262	$20.00	Ordered: 1	$20.00
Ima Goodkisser	681619100307	$17.00	Ordered: 1	$17.00
Argyle	681619800603	$22.00	Ordered: 1	$22.00
Jade in the USA	681619801884	$10.00	Ordered: 1	$10.00
Mellow Yellow	681619801907	$10.00	Ordered: 1	$10.00
Blend a Hand®	681619800511	$26.50	Ordered: 1	$26.50
Lighter than Light	681619800757	$25.00	Ordered: 1	$25.00
Lighter than Light	681619200229	$28.00	Ordered: 1	$28.00
Naughty Palette	681619500541	$36.00	Ordered: 1	$36.00

I’ve been waiting since their last flash sale fiasco in September to buy these items again. Soooo excited that I was able to get them. I’m also really glad half of this is going to charity!

 

theBalm has the best customer service ever too! :3 *cough* looking at you Glossybox *cough*