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Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Boxycharm Unboxing: November

I was so excited when my Boxycharm came in the mail. I checked the shipping update while I was at my second job, and saw that it was waiting for me at home. As soon as I got there (at like 1:00 am) I opened the mailbox to go look at it lol. It was a nice pick me up after a really long day!

If you haven't heard of Boxycharm before, it is a monthly beauty subscription box that costs $21.00 a month. You get 5 full sized beauty items and it comes sometime in the middle of the month. Normally the value is $80+. If you would like to sign up, here is my referral link. (I've heard that if you use a referral link you get off the wait list sooner).

Here is the little box that get shipped to you (on the other side is the shipping label):

Once you open it inside, you can see the card that display the theme & item list, and an "advertisement" card. The theme this month was Sparkle and Shine.


This is the glorious box full of products.


The first product I pulled out was the Kevin Murphy Color Bug in "Shimmer", which is a gold shimmer color that is supposed to add a golden sheen to your hair. It is used just like hair chalk. I haven't had a chance to try this yet, but once I do it'll be on my monthly box review. This item will be worth $25 (However I can't find where to purchase it besides Amazon...)



The next item I received was an OFRA blush in the color "Paradise Pink", which is a darker bright pink with some glitter in it. I received this in the clear packaging. (Everyone got the same blush color, but there were 3 variations to the packaging). This blush is worth $24.95, but is on sale $19.96.


Here is a swatch of the blush for you:

The next item I pulled out was the Mica Beauty Eye Primer. This primer costs an astounding $44.95. It is a pigmented nude cream product. I find it has more of a matte-satin appearance. I used this as an undereye concealer when I was desperate for one nearby one morning, and it worked well for that, I'll have to try it as an eye primer later, but if it keeps my eyeshadow from creasing than it's a phenomenal eye primer (I have crazy oily eyelids that hate eyeshadow)


The next product BoxyCharm sent me was a bellapierre cosmetics shimmer powders in "Exite". This can be used on the eyes or the face. This is a pearlized white with some pink/purple iridescent shimmer. On the bellapeirre website it retails for $14.99. I tried to get a swatch for you, but the coloring is very subtle, like a highlight that it was hard to show up on camera. I think I try this product both as a highlight and an eyeshadow pigment and get back to you on how it works.



The final item I received was the Tarina Tarantino Eyelicity Glitter Liner in the shade "Glitter Mist". Which is a translucent white liquid liner with iridescent pink glitter. This retails for $16.00 on the Tarina Tarantino website.


Here is a swatch for you (its not entirely in focus. I tried, but my camera wouldn't):


I'm excited to try some of these things in my Boxycharm. Right off the bat I'm enjoying the eye primer and the blush. And I'm looking forward to trying the other three products. 

The value of this box is $120.90!!! Which is over 5 times the value of the box. Even without the expensive eye primer (which i think the value of is inflated), this box still has great value.

As always, thank you for reading!

~Rachel

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Project 10 Pan: Update 10!

I know this post is late, but my schedule has been a little hectic lately. The pictures and most of the typing was actaully done on Wed and Thursday. But, both days I fell asleep at the computer doing them. I will warn you that next week there will be no update. My time spent outside of work (which is a total or 60 hours between the two jobs) will be spent with family. (I work in retail and since it's black friday everyone's schedules are crazy long!)

So, on a more positive note, lets go into the progress I've made this week.

#1. The Love & Beauty (by Forever 21) Sheer Lip Color (No shade listed)
                                                       FINISHED ON 11-11-14


#2:  L'Oreal True Match Blush in Baby Blossom
11-12-14                        11-19-14
Amount: More pan is showing! Once this gets to be a lot of trouble to apply I will count this as done (Once it all looks like the sliver closest on the rim)
Opinion: This blush is just fine. It's my favorite drugstore blush; I just prefer my other blushes more.


#3: Therapy Systems Perfect Concealer in the shade 2
11-12-14                        11-19-14
Amount: FINISHED 11-15-14
Opinion: Disliked this concealer (even though I made it work for me), glad it's finally gone :)


#4:  Benefit's "It's Potent!" Eye Cream
                                                        FINISHED 11-12-14



#5. Lorac's Breakthrough Performance Foundation in Shade "SMS 1" 
FINISHED 09-16-14



#6. Maybelline Color Sensational Lipcolor in "Born With It"
                                                                  FINISHED 10-12-14


#7. MAC's Zoom Fast Black Lash
                                                                   TOSSED 10-19-14


#8. L'Oreal Lineur Intense in Carbon Black
                                                                   TOSSED 10-19-14


#9. Bath & Body Works' Honey Sweetheart Lip Gloss
11-12-14                        11-19-14
Amount Left: Just the very bottom of the tube there. I still think I'll be working on this for another 4-5, maybe 6 weeks. Lipgloss takes a while to get through.
Opinion: I really like this gloss. It has a nice sweet scent that's not overpowering. It has a lovely sheer light pink color with subtle sparkle that goes really well with many of my lipsticks.


#10. Bath & Body Works' Travel-sized Body Lotion in Beautiful Day 
FINISHED 9-20-14

Either next update (Dec 3) or the update after (Dec 10), I am planning on calling this project done. And whatever I have left from this project pan I will carry over into the next one. Until next time,

~Rachel

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Project 10 Pan: Update 9

It's Wednesday once again, so here is my weekly project 10 pan update! I'm excited to note there is visible progress! I'm too excited, so here we go.

#1. The Love & Beauty (by Forever 21) Sheer Lip Color (No shade listed)
11-5-12                       11-11-14
Amount: FINISHED ON 11-11-14! I used the rest without the plastic scraping my lips yesterday.
Opinion: I will miss this. It was a nice lip balm to use. I really enjoyed it after I got over being mad that it had absolutely no color it. So, no I wouldn't re-purchase it.



#2:  L'Oreal True Match Blush in Baby Blossom
11-5-12                       11-12-14
Amount:  Not a whole lot to use in here. I had to swap my domed blush brush to my thinner face brush (it's Sonia Kashuk, but has no number and is no longer sold.) This is a denser brush, so it picks up more product.
Opinion: It's a good blush, especially out of the drugstore options. I like the color, but the formula isn't my favorite. 


#3: Therapy Systems Perfect Concealer in the shade 2
11-5-12                       11-12-14
Amount: A tiny bit left along the edge of the pan! So close to being gone.
Opinion: I don't hate this as much as when I started, but I still don't enjoy it and can't wait to throw this in my empties!


#4:  Benefit's "It's Potent!" Eye Cream
11-5-12                       11-12-14
Amount: FINISHED 11-12-14 (While there is a little left. It's not enough for both eyes, so I will be using my other eye cream tonight and calling this done)
Opinion: This was a nice eye cream, but didn't work as well as I remembered. I'm not sure if that's due to time affecting the porduct, or if I was just in love with having it and seeing effects that weren't there.



#5. Lorac's Breakthrough Performance Foundation in Shade "SMS 1" 
FINISHED 09-16-14



#6. Maybelline Color Sensational Lipcolor in "Born With It"
                                                                  FINISHED 10-12-14


#7. MAC's Zoom Fast Black Lash
                                                                   TOSSED 10-19-14


#8. L'Oreal Lineur Intense in Carbon Black
                                                                   TOSSED 10-19-14


#9. Bath & Body Works' Honey Sweetheart Lip Gloss
11-5-12                       11-12-14
Amount: Maybe 1/4 of the tube left?
Opinion: As much as I haven't been loving this product for a while, I have re-instilled love by adding it to my new lipsticks I've gotten. (This way I still get excited by wearing some of my new things). This is a wonderful lip gloss. (It is a little sticky, but that doesn't bother me). I think it adds a wonderful sheen with a slight sparkle. It has a little pigmentation of the light pink color, but not so opaque that I can't pair it with darker lipsticks.



#10. Bath & Body Works' Travel-sized Body Lotion in Beautiful Day 
FINISHED 9-20-14

So thats all for this week. After not finishing a product for about 3 weeks, I have finished 2 more with another most likely going in a few more days!

Only 3 left! I can't wait to see where I'll be with the blush and lip gloss next week. (I'm certain the concealer will be gone!)

~Rachel

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Haul: LORAC, Too Faced, NYX, Maybelline, Rimmel, L'Oreal, elf, Real Techniques, ColourPop

This is the haul that ensued while my sisters were up visiting me. Sorry this took so long so to post, but I've been waiting for my online order to get here so I could go ahead and show you everything.

All of my items are from either Target, Ulta, or the ColourPop website.

Here is the pile of my purchases. (Minus the online purchase)


I'll talk about the one lone wolf skincare product first. This is the Clean & Clear Deep Cleaning Toner. I purchased this item because my current toner is almost gone, and I wanted to try something new. I use a Clean & Clear moisturizer, which I love, so I thought I'd try the toner from the same line.


The next two items (shown above) are the makeup brushes I purchased. The white brush is the elf Essesntial Blending Eye Brush. The other brush is the Real Techniques Expert Face Brush. The elf brush I picked up at target, the Real Techniques brush I purchased at Ulta.

I purchased the elf brush because it is one of my favorites for applying color in the crease, plus for $1 nothing can beat it. The Real Techniques brush is no my official favorite brush for applying foundation. It creates such a beautiful flawless finish in a short amount of time. I keep debating getting a backup of this brush to replace some of my flat foundation brushes that I no longer reach for.

Next lets go to my favorite category: lip products. An area I could have done without purchasing in, but my addiction none-the-less.


Shown above (from left to right) are Maybelline Color Sensational Creamy Matte Lip Color in Touch of Spice, and in "Lust for Blush". The other two are NYX Round Case Lipsticks in "LaLa", and in "Tea Rose". The last product shown is the NYX Cosmetics Slim Lip Pencil in the shade "Prune".


I'm really enjoying all of these products. I do find that I have to re-apply the NYX lipsticks fairly often, but that is because they have a very creamy, glossy consistency. My favorite out of all of these is actually the product I picked up on a whim - the lip pencil in prune. I've been all about berry lips now that its getting colder, and this purpley shade helps transform some of my more red-toned berry lipsticks into a deeper purple toned berry color. LOVE IT!

These are the ColourPop Items I received.


The lippie stix are Colorpops version of a lipstick. The lippie pencils are lip pencils. All the products have a Corresponding color on the base of the pencil/stix; the stix have the name and finish printed on the bottom.


I purchased the "Bichette" lippie stix (a matte red), "Frida" lippie stix (a stain peachy-pink nude), the "Heart On" lippie stix & pencil (a matte bright purple-toned fuschia), and the "Easy" lippie stick & pencil (a glossy light pink). I LOVE these. And I'm tempted to go and purchase more like now. 



The lasting power on these are fantastic! I only have to reapply a little after eating, but during my 7 hour shift the color only fades slightly. Obviously, the glossy one doesn't last quite as long, it wears about 4-5 hours with the pencil with fading. But the satin and the matte both last a long time. The formula on these feel amazing, too. They don't feel dry and go on smoothly.


I also thought I'd do some lip swatches for you!

Bichette                                                                    Heart On                                                    Frida
Easy Combo                                                   Easy Lippie Stix                                          Easy Lippie Pencil





The rest of my products are all eye products, something I've been getting into since this past summer when I purchased my Naked 3 palette.

I'll do the smaller items first.


I saw this L'Oreal Colour Riche eyeliner in "Violet" on clearance at target for like 2 bucks, so I went ahead picked it up. I'm really liking the look of a pop of color in my lower lash line, so I thought this might work for that. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet though. This is a really vibrant blue-toned purple with a smudger on the other end.

The other eyeliner I picked up was the Rimmel ScandalEyes eyeliner pencil in the color "Nude". I love this eyeliner line and the nude pencil I had was drying up and breaking, so I thought I'd get this one instead.

Lastly I have a NYX Nude Matte Shadow in the color "I Have A Headache", which is this very light cream color. I purchased this as an all over lid color or highlight color to go with my MAC single shadows in "Omega" and "Mystery".


Lastly, I have the eye shadow palettes I picked up. Both of these are Ulta Exclusives.

First I got the Too Faced Country Nashville Nudes Eye Shadow Collection. I think part of me had to pick this up because I grew up in Nashville, TN so it struck home. But I do absolutely adore these shades, and the shade names. Everytime I open this palette I start singing various country songs lol.


Some of these shades are very powdery, and I do have fallout with these so I save my concealer for last with these shadows. I do have to use an eye shadow primer with these as they will crease on me (but so do 99% of eye shadows on my crazy oily eye lids).
Here are the swatches:





I think my favorite shades are Nashville (maybe I'm slightly biased) - which is this purpley-blue toned grey, and Paper Roses - which is a peachy pink with golden shimmer. I just don't have any other shadows even close to those colors.

The other Palette I picked up was the Ulta exclusive LORAC Royal Eye Shadow Collection. This collection is from LORAC's holiday sets, and contains four eye shadow palettes with four shades each - a total of 16 shades. The four palettes are Queen, Countess, Princess, and Duchess. The packaging on all of these is a velvet-like material with gold lettering and a magnetic closure.


The queen palette is in burgundy red colored packaging and contains pinkish-toned colors. There are one matte shade, one satin shade, and two shimmer shades.


The lightest shade is a light peachy-toned cream which appears to have a satin finish. The second color is a shimmery light pink with silver micro-glitter. The third shade is burgundy wine color with some subtle gold glitter. The last shade is a matte black (while this one didn't swatch very pigmented, I found it worked much better on the eye itself).



The Countess palette is in green packaging and contains mostly natural colors.


The lightest shade is a shimmery light cream, almost white color with silver microglitter. The next shade is a shimmery dusty rose color. The third shade  is a cool-toned dark brown in a satin finish with subtle gold glitter. the last shade is a matte dark teal-toned blue.



The Princess palette is in yellow packaging and is a natural/gold toned palette.


The first shade is a matte cream color. The second shade is a vibrant shimmery, glittery gold.  The third shade a medium warm-brown with gold glitter. The last shade is a satin dark cool brown with no glitter.



The last palette int his collection is the Duchess palette, and it is in blue packaging. This palette has a very icy cool blue/grey theme.


The first shade is a shimmery white. The second shade is a light blue-toned silver with silver glitter. The third shade is a medium cool grey in a satin finish. The last color is a matte dark navy blue color.



Upon first glance I thought that the matte blue from both the Countess and the Duchess palettes were about the same. But they are slightly different in tonality. The matte dark blue from the Countess palette has much more of a greenish teal tint to it, while the matte dark blue form the Duchess pallet is much more of a true navy.



All of these shades were smooth and butter and a dream to blend. I did find that a few gave me some fall out (the gold one from Princess stands out). However, I can wear this shadow without primer and have it stay decently well throughout the day. I think it's a really nice set, and may be good for eye shadow newbies like me to find colors that collectively make a look.

That all from my haul (as if there it was a small amount...). Sorry if I bored you to death with my purchases, but I thought I'd share my new goodies that I picked up :)

Hope you are having a wonderful day!

~Rachel

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Project 10 Pan: Update 8

So it's been about 2 months since I started my project pan. I almost didn't get this up today! I've been fighting off a cold so I ended up taken a 3 hour nap this afternoon after work (thankfully I dont have my second job today!!) Here's to hoping the extra sleep makes me feel up to par again soon! :)

If you havn't seen my previous Project 10 Pan updates, Click here. Make sure to read the very first post if haven;t heard of this before :) Now onto my progress for this week!

#1. The Love & Beauty (by Forever 21) Sheer Lip Color (No shade listed)

10-29-14                      11-5-14

Amount: Not much more to go. I think I have half of what I had last week. So this might be done by next update! (My prediction)
Opinion: I do really enjoy using this. However, it's starting to get hard to be hard to apply. The remaining stick left isn't attached to plastic holder so I can't twist it up all the way. I'm going to continue using it until it gets impossible to apply via tube.


#2:  L'Oreal True Match Blush in Baby Blossom

10-29-14                      11-5-14

Amount: I can see progress!!! More pan is showing this week! I've still got a ways to go, but you have to enjoy the little victories sometimes. I think I'll be hitting the very edge of that one side here soon. (I guess I swirl my brush in slightly off balance xD
Opinion: I'm using this blush about 5 days a week. The other two days are my "cheat days" to use my other tarte blushes that I love. This blush is okay. It's my favorite drugstore formula. However, I just love my tarte blushes so much more.


#3: Therapy Systems Perfect Concealer in the shade 2


10-29-14                      11-5-14

Amount: I started to get product off the top instead of going by the side. This section was as high aas the pan so there was a ways to go to hit the bottom. I'm hoping If I take some off the top, I'll be able to see more visible progress again soon.
Opinion: I just can't wait for this to be completely gone so I can move on to using my L'Oreal visible lift blur concealer and the Coastal Scents Eclipse pallet I received in my boxycharm this past month. This concealer just doesn't do it to me. It makes my skin look greasy and creases horribly. 


#4:  Benefit's "It's Potent!" Eye Cream


10-29-14                      11-5-14

Amount: Almost on of the side sections is completely gone. This should only be about 2 more weeks tops.
Opinion: Its a nice eye cream. I enjoy using it, but since I'm getting more into skincare I may try another product this next time.


#5. Lorac's Breakthrough Performance Foundation in Shade "SMS 1" 
FINISHED 09-16-14



#6. Maybelline Color Sensational Lipcolor in "Born With It"
                                                                  FINISHED 10-12-14


#7. MAC's Zoom Fast Black Lash
                                                                   TOSSED 10-19-14


#8. L'Oreal Lineur Intense in Carbon Black
                                                                   TOSSED 10-19-14


#9. Bath & Body Works' Honey Sweetheart Lip Gloss

10-29-14                      11-5-14

Amount: I once again have not been all that great at using the lip gloss. It's not that I don't like this product, but I've been leaning more towards a matte-look for my lips this past week. I went ahead and marked both last week and this week on the tube.
Opinion: I really love this gloss. I've just mostly been about a matte lip since we've hit deeper into fall so I'm not picking it up as often as I was before. It's one of my favorite lipstick toppers when I want a beautiful gloss on top of a lipstick. It makes my lips look really full, it has a nice sheer light pink color, and it lovely scent to it.


#10. Bath & Body Works' Travel-sized Body Lotion in Beautiful Day 
FINISHED 9-20-14

Once again, I'm just making further progress as nothing else has been used up. But I'm getting really close on several different products!! Hopefully I'll finish another one soon.

Thanks for reading!

~Rachel
 

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