Influenster Vow VoxBox

Hey, everyone! I can't believe how long it's been since I posted anything. Sorry for being so M.I.A, but I have been ridiculously busy and sometimes life just happens. Today I wanted to share with you my very first VoxBox from Influenster. I received the Vow box, which is wedding themed. It was meant for brides-to-be, mothers of the brides, bridesmaids, or just anyone involved in a wedding party. It came with 5 products and 1 digital product, so 6 total. Let's check them out shall we?

As you can see, I got something from Ecotools, Pure Silk, Sally Hansen, Tide, Olay, and Hidden at the bottom is a card from Riley and Grey.

First, we have this EcoTools Pure Complexion Facial Sponge (long name). I've already used this and it's absolutely great. Definitely much better than just using hands. It gets all the gunk off, and I've already bought another one. 

Next, is this Pure Silk shave cream. I don't normally use any shave cream, so I wasn't too excited about this one. Also, since I don't normally use any kind of shave cream, I'm not sure that it's any better or worse than other out there. I think it's fine. 

Next, is this Olay Regenerist Luminous tone perfecting cream. I've been trying this for a few weeks at night. It definitely makes the skin more luminous. However, for someone with really dry skin, this just doesn't provide enough moisture. You also have to work it in really well else it starts to ball up. The scent is pretty strong, but it does fade away. 

Next, is this Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in the shade barracuda. It's their version of "something blue." It's a nice shade. I have a few of these polishes and they go on very opaque. One coat with the large brush is usually enough to get full color. 

Next, I got this Tide To Go pen. I've actually never tried this before, so I was kind of happy to see this. I've actually only tried this once since getting this. I found it somewhat difficult to get the product out, and I didn't think it was very effective. I'll keep trying it, but I don't think I would recommend/purchase this. 

Lastly, we have this Riley & Grey card. It's a wedding website service, which I'm not really sure what that means. From what I was able to see, it's a place to organize your wedding plans and let others see it. Quite frankly, this just wasn't for me. I prefer the element of surprise, and it just seems like a lot of extra work to create this site. 

There it is! I was pleased with the products overall. I hope I am able to participate in another campaign. Thanks for stopping by and have a great day! 

L'oreal True Match Lumi Foundation DRY Skin Review

Hi, everyone. Sorry I have been so MIA lately. I've been trying to post every Wednesday, but I have been so busy with all the wedding planning I still have left to do. It's seriously a 24/7 job ( at least it feels that way).  Anyway, today I am going to be reviewing the L'oreal True Match Lumi Foundation. First off let me tell you a little bit about my skin. I have extremely dry skin for the most part. It is incredibly flakey on my chin and forehead. My cheeks can get somewhat flakey as well. My under eye area tends to be really dry as well, so makeup tends to look especially obvious around that area. Anyway, so I know this isn't the newest foundation out there, but I thought I would review it for those of us who don't buy things as soon as they come out. It's so hard to find foundation that looks good on my skin. I heard many raves about this product, so I thought I would give it a try and this is how it went:

Here is a picture of the product. I'm sure you are all familiar with it. It's pretty run and thin in consistency. The shade is a good match for me even though it looks drastically paler than my hand. It matches my face, trust me :)

Here is my before and after. As you can see, it definitely evens out my skin tone. It's pretty light coverage. It does a minimal job in terms of covering my acne scars as you can see below:

It's not exactly build-able either. It leaves a luminous finish like the name implies, but I always powder it and it only takes a little bit of the "dew" away. One thing I will say is that this can cling to dry areas. I find it best applies with a sponge, but still not my favorite foundation for dry skin, because it can cling to dry areas. It's also not at all long wearing, and becomes oily pretty quickly. I would say within about 2-3 hours I'm oily, and I have dry skin! Definitely not a product for oily skin. I wouldn't say this is the best foundation for dry skin, but it isn't the worst either. I think it's worth a shot. Maybe you have a better skin routine than I do, or a better moisturizer etc that might help. I will continue to use it because it does have SPF 20 and is pretty quick and easy to apply. Would I repurchase? Probably not. Hope this review was helpful.

Bottom Line: Not Impressed

May 2014 Ipsy Bag

Hey, everyone! It's that time again. The awesome pink envelope full of goodies has once again arrived. This month's theme was Beauty's Fresh Picks. I guess it's supposed to be products for the outdoors and natural looking makeup. I received 5 products this time along with a bonus item. I received the bonus item because last month they sent me a brush I had previously received. They gave me an option to get bonus points or an extra item. I chose the latter. Alright, so lets get to the bag. 

The bag itself is pretty cute. It's the standard size they send, if not a tad bit smaller. It's a linen/canvas bag that's only printed on one side. It does fit all the items shown very well with room to spare, so it's a decent size. On to the items! lol

First and foremost, is what I found the goofiest item in the bag. It's the Avene Thermal Spring Water. I got 1.76 oz, which is a very nice size. It's supposed to be a soothing mist for sensitive/irritated skin. I think it's a pretty goofy product because upon looking at the ingredients it only contains water and nitrogen. That's it! In other words you could get the same thing by placing some water in mist bottle and sticking it in the fridge. Definitely not worth the money to purchase.

Next we have the eva nyc Therapy Session Hair Mask. It's supposed to be a deeply conditioning, repairing, and strengthening mask for all hair types. I don't really like getting hair stuff because I'm just not a fan. My hair is naturally oily, so it doesn't really tend to get damaged, and hence I don't need much repairing. 

Next, is the Hang Ten SPF 50 Natural Sunscreen. It's broad spectrum UVA/UVB protection. It's 1oz, so it's a good trial size. It's a good size for my purse. I'll definitely be using this. 

Next, I got this Pacifica eyeshadow duo. I didn't open the package to swatch because I don't plan on keeping it. I have similar colors in many other palettes and quads, so I can do without. 

Lastly, is this Too Faced Chocolate Soleil bronzer. It's a very nice size. I'm not sure if it's too dark for me. I hear it's too dark for pale people so we'll see. I don't use bronzer, so I'm excited to try this out. 

Here is my bonus item! They sent me the NYX Bronze Smokey Look Kit. I was pretty shocked to see this! It's an awesome little palette. I couldn't believe they sent this to me as my bonus for their error. The shadows are very nice quality. However, they are quite small. The overall palette itself is pretty small. It has 2 lip colors, although the shades look like they belong on your cheeks. I wouldn't use them for either since the colors are pretty bad and the texture is an awful greasy mess. The pink looks like children's play makeup. The bronze color simply just doesn't belong on my lips. 

Anyway, that's my bag. I was pretty pleased with it. Definitely well worth the 10$. I'm definitely looking forward to my next bag. 

What did you guys get? 

Ariel Inspired Look

Hey, everyone. Today I thought I would bring you a look inspired by my favorite Disney princess, Ariel. I was planning on wearing this look on my recent trip to the happiest place on Earth, but I decided not to since it was going to be extremely hot and the eye products I used are not water/sweat proof. Nonetheless, I enjoy how simple and subtly colorful this look is, so I thought I should share it anyway. Let's get started shall we?

Here is the look. Like I said it's pretty simply, but it has some nice pops of color. 

For the face, I went ahead and used the Covergirl Outlast Stay Fabulous 3 in 1 foundation, which I reviewed here. (Don't mind the super dirty bottle lol)

For the fun part, I used my Balm Voyage palette from theBalm. First, I primed my lids with my Lorac Behind the Scenes primer. Next, I applied B1 all over the lid and crease area. Then, I applied A1 to the lid and slightly blended it up toward the crease to soften it a little. I then applied the Maybelline Color Tattoo in Painted Purple to my upper lash line and winged it out. I topped that with the shade A2 to brighten it up and have a nice pop of purple. Similarly, I applied the Ulta automatic eyeliner in Jade to the lower lash line and winged that up. I topped off this color with B2 to brighten it up as well. Next, I curled my lashes and applied Almay's intense-i-color volumizing mascara in purple amethyst to really bring out the purple hues.The color is really subtle, but it helps bring the purple of the top liner out a little bit more. 

On the cheeks, I used the Maybelline Dream Bouncy Blush in Candy Coral very lighlty. I applied a light layer of Frat Boy blush from theBalm. They're very similar colors, so they're great to pair up for extra staying power. 

Finally, on the lips I used this Revlon lip butter in Creamsicle and the Revlon Super Lustrous lipgloss in Coral Reef. The gloss itself is VERY pigmented, so it can be used alone. However, I just wanted to play with this lip butter and I liked the color I was able to get out of this lip combo. 

So, that's the look. I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did. Feel free to switch out the colors and use any color combo you like. I think its a great way to incorporate bright colors to your spring/summer look without being too intimidating or too out there. 

What type of look would you like to see next?

Covergirl Outlast Stay Fabulous 3-in-1 Foundation Review For DRY Skin

Hey, everyone. Today I'm going to be doing a review on the Covergirl Outlast Stay Fabulous 3-in-1 Foundation. I know it's not the newest thing on the market, but I figured I would still do this because I have extremely dry skin, and I rarely find reviews out there written by people with really dry skin. Plus, sometimes I wait a while between foundation purchases, so I tend to try things out late when they're no longer the newest/hottest things on the market. Anyway, the point of this ramble is that I hope at least someone finds this review helpful. Let's get to it shall we?

Here is a picture of the foundation in the shade 810 Classic Ivory. It's not the perfect match per se. It's slightly too pink for me, and it tends to oxidize to a somewhat darker orange hue. However, I'm not the type who likes to mix and make concoctions to get my perfect color/consistency so I just deal with it lol.  I'm sure most of you are familiar with the packaging and consistency. It's a liquid foundation that isn't too watery, so application is mostly mess-free. However, some product likes to stay stuck to the pump, which after several uses makes the pump/cap incredibly dirty.(I've cleaned it off for photos.)

Here is a picture so you can see the texture and color swatch. Once again it isn't very runny like the Loreal Lumi. It looks fine freshly applied but within 10-15 minutes it starts to take on that orange hue. 

Here I am before(left) and after(right). I believe this foundation has a light to medium coverage.It can be built up, but with my dry skin it starts to look dry and cakey really fast, so I can do 1-1.5 layers at most. It's not translating very well in the photo but my dark spots are far from being covered especially on my chin and cheeks. I definitely would still need concealer if I were looking for full coverage. I will say that I like the finish (semi matte)and lasting power of this product. I recently went to Disneyland and decided to wear this because of the SPF 20 in it as well as how incredibly lightweight it is. It survived the entire sunny and scorching day without getting oily. As far as application is concerned, I do find it difficult to blend. Hands, paddle foundation brush, and sponge just don't seem to do the trick here. I find it blends best with a flat top kabuki brush. I use one by Everyday Minerals and find it works perfect alongside this foundation. It doesn't cling to dry spots or make my skin look overly dry. With dry skin, I don't recommend using powder since it won't be necessary. 

So there you have it, if you have dry skin, I say go for it. Oily skin gals will enjoy this too, however touch ups with a powder will probably be required. Of course if you're in the middle(normal/combo skin) I think you'll like this as well. 

Have you tried this foundation? What were your thoughts? 

Bottom Line: Impressed

April 2014 Empties

Hey, guys! Today I wanted to share with you my empties for this month. Once again, there aren't very many, and I won't get into much detail on every single products. I'll only talk about those which stood out as really good or really bad, as well as give a run-down of what I would/wouldn't repurchase. Let's see what I managed to use up: 

First, we have my household items. I was really impressed with this Better Homes and Gardens candle (in Creamy Tahitian Coconut) I picked up at Walmart for about 5$. It was a great deal. The candle burned really nice and evenly and the scent was pretty strong as well. 

Next, are my face/makeup items. Let me just start off by saying that I absolutely HATED this Covergirl Clean Sensitive Skin pressed powder! I cheated a little as you can see below: 

It's not technically empty, but I just couldn't take it anymore! It just looks so awful and powdery on my face. It just sits on top of the face and refuses to blend in. I know I have dry skin, but this powder is just horrible. I can't see it working for anyone with any skin type. Hey, if it works for you, then I'm glad because it's a really inexpensive drugstore powder. Anyway, the equate eye makeup remover(comparable to Neutrogena one) was not good either. It didn't remove my makeup at all, especially not my mascara, let alone waterproof makeup. It was just bad. 

Here's my last batch of stuff. I really enjoyed this Clean and Clear makeup dissolving foaming cleanser. I'm not sure if it's no longer available though because I haven't seen it around lately. It was really nice and effective and did a good job at removing my makeup, including eye makeup. This Degree deodorant on the other hand was not good at all! I actually found myself smelling kinda gross if I happened to sweat in this. It also did nothing to stop me from sweating. 

So, that's it for my empties. Again, not a lot of products but definitely quite a few bad standouts. 

Impressed: Better Homes and Gardens candle, Clean and Clear makeup remover

Would Repurchase if good deal: Maybelline Lash Stiletto mascara

Not Impressed: Equate eye makeup remover, Covergirl powder, Degree deodorant, and Wet'n'Wild mascara 

April 2014 Ipsy Bag

Hey, everyone! My Ipsy bag came somewhat early this month , so I thought I'd go ahead and share it with you guys right away. I'll go ahead and say that this bag, and I mean the bag itself, is my favorite thus far. I usually just put them away without any intention of ever using them, but this one is just cool and feels really nice and soft. It's better quality than the rest. I'll also go ahead and say that I liked every product that came in this bag, which I believe is a first. So let's get into it shall we? 

Here is my bag along with this month's contents. As you can see I received 5 products once again. (I was a little sad last month when I only got 4). 

First, we have this Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Black Velvet. I was really happy to see this in my bag. I don't own any Urban Decay pencils, so I'm really excited to try this out. I also like that it's a black shade. Pretty good size as well. 

Next, is this Dr. Brandt microdermabrasion skin exfoliant. I'm happy to try this out since I have really dry and flakey areas on my forehead and chin. I hope this will end up helping those areas. 

Next, is this Coastal Scents Medium Shadow Brush, which I have received before. I really liked it and I'm not at all disappointed to receive a second one. However, I will go ahead and give a shout out to the customer service team over at Ipsy. They contacted me before I received my bag to tell me the made a mistake and accidentally sent my this brush, which I had previously received. They then let me choose between receiving a bonus item next month or crediting my account 500 points. I opted for the former since you need 1000 points to redeem an item, but I just found it really awesome and considerate that they even bothered to apologize, let alone fix it!  Oh yeah! To receive 25% off Coastal Scents orders from now until May 6th, use the code BRUSH25OFF . 

Next, is this Starlooks Luscious Longwear Lip Pencil in the shade Naked. I'm not one to wear lip liners. I think I only own 1 or 2, but this is a really nice nude/peach shade that I can definitely see myself using. 

Use code IPSY20 for 20% all starlooks purchases until May 31st. 

Lastly, we have this Elizabeth Mott pop! goes the shadow in the shade Champagne. It's, like the name implies, a shimmery champagne shade. The formula off this shadow is somewhat dry, yet it's not powdery. I'm not sure that makes too much sense. Anyway, the pigmentation isn't amazing. It's good; not great. I'll probably just throw it in to my inner corner highlight stash or give it away. 

So there's this month's bag. I'm really happy with it. Do you subscribe to Ipsy? Let me know what you got down below! Thanks for stopping by! 

Bottom line: Impressed!