November's Birchbox

I am thrilled with my November Birchbox! I love all of the products except the Eslor cream. This month gets a grade A from me!
1. Folle de Joie smells dreamy. I typically don't like floral scents because they aggravate my allergies. I get a headache, stuffy nose, sneezing, etc. This parfum did not irritate me at all! Of course I'd love it; it's $98! I will be holding on to the sample until spring since it's so expensive.

2.   The Bain de Terre styling oil is great for my color-treated hair. My ends are so dry because my hair is so long. Those ends have been through multiple torture sessions AKA coloring sessions including bleaching. I have to use oils on the ends to make my hair look somewhat healthy. I like that this one is affordable with little scent to the actual product. The texture is thicker than other oils, which works well on my hair.

3. I began experimenting with highlighters this fall and love them. I was always hesitant to use them because my skin is oily. The first one I tried was Mary Lou-Manizer and loved her! I was so excited to try Cindy Lou-Manizer because I've heard great things about her too. Even though this sample is small, I get a ton of use out of it since it's pigmented.

4. Not Soap, Radio wash reminds me of a Lush shower gel. It provides an excellent lather, lemony scent, and cleanses my skin effectively. Although I love it, I wouldn't pay $16 for ANY shower gel. To me, it's just not worth it.

5. I was excited to get my first food item from Birchbox! The Dang Coconut Chips are delicious! I typically do NOT like anything coconut, but I will try anything once.  Boy I am glad I did! The chips were sweet without being overly sweet like candy. I brought them as a snack when I volunteered at the Rock N Roll Marathon registration area. The runners were dying to try my snack! I let hundreds of people take pictures of the chips, but I wouldn't share lol.

6. I'm sure the Eslor cream is amazing, but I was afraid to use it because it it extremely moisturizing. This would irritate my sensitive, acne-prone skin. I will avoid anything that may cause me to breakout.

This box was a total LOVE for me. Keep your eyes open for an upcoming post in regards to Birchbox's response to my concern about the Eslor cream. I cannot express how much Birchbox's customer service rocks! What did you get in your box?  Leave it in the comments below!

November trash and treasures

These are products I finished in November. Some of them I used for an extended period of time before finishing them. 

I will NOT repurchase the Aveeno lotion. It was not moisturizing whatsoever, definitely trash. Treasure- CeraVe is my go-to cream. My skin gets extremely dry from the Vegas weather conditions. This lotion does the trick and allows me to wear my perfumes since it's unscented. 

Treasure-The Coochy shave cream is another favorite. I got this from a former consultant for FREE! This is the only product that prevents razor burn and ingrown hairs for me. 

Treasure-The Living Proof Style Extender works well for my long hair to conditioner and prevent excess oil at my scalp. 

Trash-Carol's Daughter Marula hair mask didn't do anything for my hair. I am sticking to the Carol's Daughter Manoi mask.

Trash-The Beauty Protector in the red bottle smells amazing, but did nothing to treat my hair.

BBW's Sky had a beautiful, perfume scent, but it's discontinued.  

Treasure-The almond body wash was moisturizing without a heavy scent.

Treasure-I would/will buy Gucci Guilty, La Vie Est Belle, and Juicy Noir. These are very different from each other so I can build my perfume wardrobe.

Treasures- I love my Proactiv Plus skincare. This is the only line gentle enough to treat my skin. I never liked the original Proactiv, but this one is amazing. Another treasure is the Algenist eye cream; I just can't bring myself to spend $50 on an eye cream. Glamglow is my holy grail mask. Partnered with my Proactiv, my skin is pretty clear most of the time. Clinique's Take the Day Off Balm is my holy grail makeup remover. It is gentle, but extremely effective.
Trash- The Clarins moisturizer worked well on my dry areas like my cheeks. I don't think I'd spend the money for a moisturizer I can't use on my whole face. I was so let down by the Dr. Brandt Vacuum Pore treatment. This did absolutely nothing for my pores. While I liked the Epice exfoliator, my Proactiv Plus does the same thing. The Clarisonic Radiance AM cleanser and serum samples broke me out. I loved the PM cleanser because it removed dead skin and makeup without being harsh.

Treasures-Garnier BB cream is my go-to light foundation. I wish it didn't have so many unnatural ingredients, but the coverage is great. The Laura Mercier radiance primer added a glow to my skin without making me look more oily. I LOVE the Becca Ultimate for full coverage. This covers as well as Dermablend! I liked layering the Pur and Benefit mascaras. Unfortunately, I got a horrible eye infection shortly after starting these mascaras. I'm not sure if it was from these products or something else.

Trash-the Cover FX BB cream didn't provide enough coverage for me. I couldn't get the Stila bronze cream to ever look good on me. I tried it under foundation, over foundation, as a bb cream, and as a bronzer.    The Starlooks lip liner was a horrible pink color that never looked right on me. While I enjoyed both Benefit primers, I wouldn't pay the price for the full sized ones since they both contain Dimethecone-a serious skin irritant for me. Last, I like the Nyx powder, but I'm not overjoyed about it. The coverage is awesome and it never looks chalky. Again, I'm trying to get into more all-natural products to prevent skin irritations for me

Thanks for reading! What did you use up in November?

Holiday giveaway!

Happy holidays! I am beyond excited to partner with Lauren Brooke Cosmetiques and Erin K. from Jamberry for my first giveaway!

I'm in love with Lauren Brooke's line because they are the most naturally pigmented products I've ever tried. For the foundation the site states, "100% Natural Vitamins, Minerals & Pigments blended into a 97.5% Certified Organic Botanical Base. Our lightweight, all-natural foundation glides easily onto your skin, yet has incredible coverage and staying power." I'll say! I warmed up the samples of concealer in my hand and applied with my fingers on one side and a brush on the other. The lightest shade is for undereye brightening, and the darker for covering blemishes. 

 The darkest foundation I used as a contour (nothing goes to waste here!).  I used a different foundation shade for the rest of my face. 

I used a different foundation shade for the rest of my face. I blended the colors together using my Real Techniques sponge. I love that I get a natural look with awesome coverage. I finished the look with a natural lip colour from Lauren Brooke. 

As for Jamberry, I cannot say enough about these nail stickers. These aren't your drugstore stickers. They apply and remove easily with heat, but are heavy duty when it comes to chipping. I LOVE that Erin has an application video on her page here . As a teacher, I am constantly writing, typing, and interacting with students. I never have to worry about my Jamberry stickers coming off or chipping. Their fun designs make it hard to choose just one! I like to wear 1-2 different designs as accents. This gives me so much variety when it comes to my manicures. NOW is the time to buy because Jamberry is running holiday sales. 

Giveaway time! IF you want to win a Lauren Brooke full size lip colour, Jamberry products, and makeup products, go here now!

How I get free samples

This week was an awesome week for me in terms of samples/free products. I had numerous posts via social media requesting an explanation of how I scored everything for free. I'm always excited to share my free findings and want to help others as well. First, I got free cleaning supplies thanks to Zep and Crowdtap. Crowdtap is a free website where you complete surveys and tasks in hopes of getting free products. This was my first campaign with Crowdtap, but soon after I got accepted into two other campaigns. 

Now on to the fun part! I attended a free class at Sephora on Saturday. Bumble and Bumble reps taught participants how to do a messy ponytail, fishtail braid, and a casual twist. I LOVE the free classes at Sephora because I always learn new information. I went in set on NOT buying anything, but that never happens.
I ended up getting this multipurpose BB Dryspun product. I can use this to add volume and "grit" to my updo styles to make them stay in place. The Clinique Take the Day Off Balm is my HG makeup removing product! It is a solid, but turns into an oil to take everything off gently. Next, I became a Bite Beauty lip crayon and lipstick lover. These are hands-down my favorite lip products. I can't wait to show you swatches in an upcoming post! I spent $.50 thanks to a return.

Of course I had to stop in Victoria's Secret for a free pair of panties, so I picked up four lip balms (I ended up returning them, details in a minute) to get a 2nd pair of panties for free. After Victoria's Secret, I went to Kohl's for their beauty event. I turned in two makeup items for a $10 gift card. My strategy is to take a non-makeup lover (spouse, friend, etc) to get an additional gift card. The first purchase was the Oscar Blandi set is an amazing deal for $10.50 because I love the dry shampoo and texturizing spray. The hair tool isn't as difficult to use as I thought thanks to the handy pamphlet. The Macadamia shampoo was $4! I love the hair mask, so I was excited to try the shampoo for the great price. I think I'm the only one on the planet that hasn't tried EOS. Since I got the EOS kit, I decided to take the VS lip balms back. I picked up this set at the bargain price of $6.99. In total, I spent about $1 on tax and the Kohl's employees gave me all of the other products for FREE! Sign up for Kohl's emails because that's how I ALWAYS find out about the beauty events.

The picture below shows off my free VS and Sephora goods. From Sephora the BB reps gave us shampoo, conditioner, and repair samples. I had a Sephora cast member/employee make samples of three concealers and Bite's Agave lip masks. I LOVE Sephora because the employees are extremely helpful and willing to make samples of anything.

Last, I WON a giveaway for a Cynthia Rowley bag, eye shadow palette, and eye liner. I'm going to do a review on these products in the near future.

Secret Clear Gel review

I received this full size product courtesy of Secret and Bzzagent. I was skeptical upon receiving this product. I have never had success using clear gels. I set aside my previous experiences to try to give this product a fair review. I have to say I was fairly impressed.The smell alone won me over from the start. It is clean, slightly floral (but not overly strong). The smell lasted all day without being overpowering. Next, the formula provided lasting protection for the majority of the day. Once the gel absorbed I was good to go.

I only encountered two downfalls during my testing period. First, it does not go on with "no white marks" as secret.com claims. I found this out the tough way. One morning I put on the wrong shirt after putting the gel on. When I changed shirts I got a white residue just like stick deodorants. In all fairness to the product, I didn't allow it to dry before changing shirts. Next, this product wouldn't last all day during the summer. Vegas gets extremely warm and I sweat with little exertion. I know it wouldn't do as well as my stick formulas like the Secret Clinical because when I was working out while testing the product I perspired more than usual.

Overall, this product would get a B from me. While researching this product, I found an awesome program on secret.com. Customers send in four SKUs or receipts and Secret will send you one free deodorant. Here is the link if you are interested. Thanks for reading!

October Birchbox review and book talk

This is my October Birchbox! I am surprisingly pretty happy with it. The Balance Me eye cream is moisturizing and feels fantastic on my eye area.

The "worst" product out of the box is my Beauty Protector. I didn't enjoy this as much as I hoped. My highlighted hair needs extra moisture at the ends and I was hoping this product would be the answer; it wasn't. I LOVE the smell though!

One of the favorites from this box is the Model Co lipstick. It's a great shade for any skin color. For me, it's a my-lips-but-better shade. It's creamy and smells like strawberries.

My other favorite is the Revealed 2 palette. The colors are beautifully pigmented, yet blends like a dream.The buttery texture makes me a believer in Coastal Scents eye shadows.

The last product is my "average" product. The Dr. Brandt Vacuum Cleaner was the most anticipated product in this box, but I'm "meh" about it. While this did remove surface rough spots and unevenness caused by blackheads and dead skin, it didn't "vacuum out my pores like Glamglow.

Overall, this is a great month for me for Birchbox. This is my three month anniversary with Birchbox and it keeps getting better.

I'm also obsessed with the author this month, Gillian Flynn. If you haven't read Gone Girl, GET ON IT! This is one of the most gripping, twisted psychological thrillers of our time. I usually don't go for this genre, but so many friends told me how awesome it was so I had to get it. The movie is just as intense as the book. I'm happy with the cinematography and acting in the movie.

Let me know your thoughts on this month's box. What did you love from your box? What books are you reading? Thanks for reading!

Victoria's Secret/Influenster box

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 "This is a sponsored blog post. Influenster provided me with complimentary Victoria's Secret products to test and review as part of a contest."I received the above items from Influenster and Victoria's Secret for free for testing purposes. I am an Angel cardholder, but I never tried the workout gear. This voxbox was a home run with me (pardon the baseball reference as we get into playoff season)! While I engaged in high-impact classes like Zumba, TRX, and bootcamp, the workout gear was awesome! The support and comfort of the bra and pants are unmatched. The fabric keeps sweat at bay while keeping me cool.

Now for the downside and the part that kept this from being a grand slam. I received pants instead of capris in my voxbox. At a whopping 60 inches (5'0) the pants were way too long for me. When I went to return the pants at a local Victoria's Secret (as instructed by VS and Influenster), my cashier handed me a receipt without doing an exchange. "We cannot do in-store exchanges without a receipt. I returned the pants and they will ship to the warehouse. When they process the return you will get a gift card or you can call to do an exchange."

I was taken aback since she didn't tell me what was happening while she was processing the transaction. When I went online a couple of days later, I couldn't track the order. Frustrated, I took to facebook to inform VS about the incident. Thank goodness their social media department is understanding and supportive. I received notice that a set of capris will be sent to me within 5-7 business days. That saved their review from me. Overall, I enjoy the workout gear and will definitely purchase more in the future. I wish it wasn't so expensive, but I will just have to save up while I continue to workout.