March Glambag Review

It's that time! For those of you not familiar, a glambag is a monthly beauty subscription service that sends you 4-5 products (full sized and deluxe sample sized. No packets here) in a makeup bag for just $10 a month! If you want one of your own, please be amazing and use my referral link: http://www.ipsy.com/r/1bhk .If you use it, you'll get a thank you shoutout on the blog (both here and tumblr).

Normally each month there are 5 products, but this month everyone recieved only 4. The theme was destination beauty. I personally don't like the bag print. This print was done by a local artist for Ipsy (the company that sells glambags). Even though I don't like it, someone put a lot of time and effort into it.

Here are the products that I received this month and my thoughts on each:

Bare Minerals Marvelous Moxie lipstick in Get Ready (deluxe sample)

I have wanted to try Bare Minerals for a while but none of their products jumped out at me or justified me splurging to try something. I was so excited to try this lipstick. First off, how cute is this little lipstick? It is a beautiful sort of rosey pink color. I feel that this color would work on everyone. I normally like wearing bold and bright lip colors, so this isn't a color I would have picked on my own. I love it though, it is a beautiful color. It goes on nicely and it is creamy. The color lasted a few hours.

Nyx Love In Rio palette (full sized)

I love Nyx eyeshadows and know them well. I have loved everything I have ever tried from Nyx. As expected, this little palette is great! It contains 3 neutral shades. Each one is very pigmented and lasts. Nyx makes probably the best affordable eyshadows I have ever used.

Chella Indigo Eyeliner (full sized)

At first, I wasn't too crazy about this eyeliner. I have blue eyes, so I don't wear blue eye products. This eyeliner is an eyeliner pen. It has a felt-marker like tip instead of a brush. This I really like, it makes it easy and quick to apply the liner. The blue of this liner is a deeper shade, so it is wearable and did look good with my blue eyes. It does last all day. I just hope it doesn't dry out as quickly as eyeliner pens like this in my experience have. I'm not sure if Chella makes eyeliner like this in other colors, if so and if it doesn't dry out fast I would for sure buy one. 

Pixi Flawless Beauty Primer (deulxe sample)

To be honest, I didn't expect much from this product at first. I was completely wrong, it is amazing! The tube I was given is a really good size. It retails on pixi's website for $9, the full size is $22. You don't need a ton of product with this primer. It is the consistency of a lotion. I applied it under BB cream. It made my skin look beautiful. I had a gorgeous glow that I have always wanted to get. It gave me a glow without making me look like a glitter ball. My makeup stayed all day with this. I definitely want the full sized. For now though, I bought another tube of the sample sized online

Overall I really liked this bag. I can't wait for the April (my birthday month!) Bag.

Weekly Beauty Tip #79: Use caution with glitter near the eyes

This is more of a public service safety announcement, rather than a tip. It is still very important and not something that many people pay attention to. Any time you use glitter near your eyes, make sure it is eye safe!! Do not use any glitter that isn't marked as eye safe and especially do not use craft glitter or nail glitter. If you use any sort of non eye safe glitter, you are risking damage to your eyes. If that glitter gets into your eye, it can scratch up your cornea and could potentially blind you.

Boots Botanics Ionic Clay Mask Shine Away Review

Disclaimer: The product featured in this review was given to me complimentary from Influenster. However, this is my 100% honest review. I was not paid to say any of it.

I received this mask in my J'Adore VoxBox from Influenster. I was pleasantly surprised to see this, as when the pre survey asked about face masks, I was expecting something from Freeman or Montagne Jeunesse. I am definitely a fan of Boots. My mom used to buy their products a lot when our local CVS carried the brand. She used to give me the eyeshadow colors she ended up disliking. Their products had always been top notch quality.

 I really like the packaging. It is very simple. Just a sticker wrapped around a clear plastic tube. Although I love pretty, cute and bold packaging, I like how this has simple packaging. Boots is letting the product speak for its self rather than the packaging. It has a screw top lid.


Even though I had high expectations going in, I was very impressed by this mask! I tried it on my weekly face mask night with my mom while we were marathoning True Blood (Anyone else watch? Who's ready for the new season?) . When I squeezed some product from the tube, too much came out. This is due to the watery formula. If you shake the tube before use it does help a little. I do like the consistency, you don't need a ton of product and it goes on easily. Just be careful when squeezing from the tube.

The mask is a dark grey-green color. It dries to a lighter green.

We sat for 10 minutes to let this mask work its magic until it was dried. When I looked in the mirror, I was amazed. There were all of these black dots on my nose where the mask pulled impurities from my pores. My mom had similar results. When I washed it off the spots were gone and my skin looked (and felt) very clean.

The 2nd time I tried it, I got even better results. More crud was pulled out of my pores.

This mask reminds me of a certain high end one, but at 1/6 of the cost! And it really does work. It will make your face feel dry, but apply a good moisturizer and you will be good as new. This is suitable for all skin types, especially those with oily skin.

I love this face mask so much, I may need to have a 2nd face mask night every week just so I can continue to use my other face masks! 

Influenster J'Adore VoxBox Review

Disclaimer: All products in this review were given to me complimentary by Influenster. As always, I am being 100% honest in my review. I was not paid to write this. 

It's been such a long time since I have gotten a VoxBox! I was very surprised when I got the survey email. For those of you that don't know, Influenster is this great website where you can share your opinions on different products. If you're lucky enough, they'll even send you a VoxBox full of products to try. This particular one is the J'Adore Voxbox, a Valentines Day themed VoxBox. Here are all of the products I recieved:

 Here are my thoughts on each individual product. I will be posting a separate review of the Boots Botanical Ionic Clay Mask later today so please check back for it.

Hershey's Kisses

There's not much for me to say about this, everyone knows about Hershey's kisses. They're great when in need of a little chocolate. I love incooperating these into recipes, such as peanut butter blossoms and chocolate covered pretzels. I also love shaving a little on top of whipped cream when I have hot chocolate.

Red Rose Simply Indulge Tea: Crème Caramel and Lemon Chiffon

I love tea. I'm not a coffee person, I always have to have my tea. I love trying new flavors, I was very excited to find some samples from Red Rose's new Simply Indulge line. 3 bags of Crème Caramel and 1 bag of Lemon Chiffon.

Crème Caramel:

This tea has such a great calming caramel aroma. There is a caramel flavor to this tea, but it is light and not overpowering. It has a hint of sweetness without being overly so. It is a fun tea to have when you want to indulge or just a little something different. I tried this two ways: with just steeped water and with a little half and half. When I tried it with the added half and half, it had a creamier and a little richer taste. It was heavenly. 

After having 2 of my sample bags, I had to buy it. I also got a great coupon on my VoxBox to use towards the tea. Sadly none of the stores in my town carried it. I will however keep looking until I can get my hands on a box.

Lemon Chiffon:

This is yet another delicious tea. It has a light lemon candy scent. When I tried it, I tried it without adding anything. It had a light lemon flavor with a hint of sweetness, but not overpowering. I usually drink black tea with just lemon so this flavor was welcoming to me.

With how much I loved the two flavors I was given to try, I can't wait to try the rest of the line.

John Frieda Frizz Ease 3 Day Straight Spray

To be honest I wasn't expecting to get anything from this product. Unless I curl my hair, have it recovering from being in a bun or braids or unless it dried weirdly, my hair is normally straight and I don't deal with too much frizz. 

I used this spray on my wet hair out of the shower, slightly towel dried. It was reccomended to use 7-15 sprays. I did 8 since I have really long hair. I blow dried and straightened my hair as directed.

The first thing I noticed: how silky and moisturized my hair felt! It also was shiny and had a little body. It felt and looked amazing!! As a person that has problems with dry hair, this is definitely a plus for me.

Kiss Looks So Natural Lashes in Pretty

Kiss came out with these new eyelashes and I think they're a great idea! They are meant to look more natural. Something I find pretty different is their tapered end. Most false eyelashes have blunt ends.

They went on just like any other strip eyelashes, but I had to be careful. The band didn't feel very sturdy and I thought I was going to break them a few times. 

I did like that they felt lightweight and not heavy like most lashes. I love the look of dramatic eyelashes. These aren't all that dramatic, but they were longer than my naturally long lashes and they gave me  some more volume. Although they seem too long to look natural to me, they are beautiful and as close to natural as you could get with false eyelashes.

They are good for when you want a little extra oomph, they would be good day time eyelashes.

Unfortunately, I had to trim mine down. I wear glasses and it can be very annoying when your eyelashes repeatedly bump your lenses. I even have this problem when I wear just mascara. Curling the lashes helped a little, but not completely. So if you wear glasses, these may not be the pair for you.

Overall, I did like these lashes. They're pretty and I love how lightweight they are.


Keep an eye out for my review of the Boots Botanics Ionic Clay Shine Away mask, which I will be posting later today. 

Tutorial: How to apply false eyelashes

 I apologize for the lateness of this post, I had it scheduled to post last week, but for some reason it never posted.


All products in this post EXCEPT the false eyelashes were bought with my own money. I was given the false eyelashes complimentary from Influenster.

So many people are intimidated by false eyelashes, thinking they can never apply them. There are a few different types, strip lashes (which is what I'm using in this post) are super easy to apply! Still need a little help? I've got you covered.

First pick out the eyelashes that will work best for you. There are so so many brands and styles to choose from out there. Pick something that will work well with the look you are going for.

In this tutorial, I am going to use Kiss's Looks So Natural lashes in Pretty.

First what you need to do is take the eyelashes out off the box. Then slowly peel one out of the tray. Hold it up to your eye to see how it will sit, how it will fit.

If it seems too big or too long, no worries. Just take a small pair of scissors and cut them to fit you. You can cut pieces from the strip to make it fit you, like so (follow the red lines):

You can also trim the lashes if they are too long. Keep in mind if you trim them like this, you may ruin the effect. But it is possible to do.

Now that you've tailored your lashes to fit you, get your tools ready! You will need eyelash glue and one of the following:


 your fingers (of course)

(Optional) A pair of tweezers

or

(Optional) An eyelash applicator

 Eyelash glue

Many sets of eyelashes come with mini packets of glue. I do not reccomend using these. I reccomend buying a tube, eyelash glue isn't usually expensive.

Pick up your eyelash with your fingers, a pair of tweezers or an eyelash applicator.

Next put some glue on the band.

Wait 30 seconds for the glue to become tacky. Then slowly apply them, starting at the outer corner of your eye. Press them on, hold and wait for the glue to dry.

 Note: putting on eyelashes will most likely screw up your eyeliner, as it did to me below. So make sure to have it handy after the application. I also totally forgot to take a better picture after I fixed my eyeliner -_-'.

There you go! Now you have applied false eyelashes. At this point, you can also apply mascara and curl the lashes to help blend them to your own natural lashes. Also fix your eyeliner if messed up.