November Glossybox Product Review

Tis the season to be Glossy! Or at least that's what the card says :) The products they picked were designed to "make you standout among the crowd of little black dresses".

I loved the amount of products in this month's box as well as what they chose. Let's get started with the reviews!

 

First up is this Truffle Serum from Skin&Co Roma. This stuff smelled really yummy, like coconut and vanilla. It is kind of cloudy and just a pea size covered my entire face. This serum is very moisturizing and made my skin feel very soft. I wish there was more than just 1/4 of the tube because I really like this stuff!



Kryolan did another product for Glossybox for this month. Back in September, there was a pink lipstick, and this month they did a pink blush. This picture doesn't really capture it, but it's a rose color. It is very flattering shade and has a great texture for a blush as it was easily blended. This was one of the full sized products and was valued at $9. Maybe I will try that lipstick again with this blush....

Up next was this Illamasqua Medium Lip & Eye Pencil in Devotion. This is only the second product I have tried from this brand (the other is a nail polish) and I was not impressed. First of all, I can only think to use this as an eye liner. Secondly, this pencil has a terrible texture. It is very hard and not highly pigmented so I had to go over and over it to build the color not to mention that you really need to heat this pencil with your breath if you want ANY color to come off. This brings me to my third complaint, which is that the pencil flakes as you use it. Little mint green flakes were in my lashes and then in my eyes.  This full sized beauty blunder is valued at $20. I say save your money and hit up Sephora to find a dupe.

 

I have tried a ton of Argan Oils but this Arganics by Nume Style is weird. It says it is a combination of Argan oil and Vitamin E and that it is not greasy. It says that you can use it both in your hair and on your skin, but I will suggest using it solely on your hair. When I tried this on my hands, it is not greasy....but it has a weird serum-like texture and made my hands VERY glossy. In my hair, that would be fantastic, but on my hands it was just weird. It does have a wonderful clean, soapy smell to it and a little goes a long way so this dropper bottle will last for quite a while.

 

I was really excited to see these Nail Polish Strips from Incoco for the sole reason of not being worried if I messed them up! I have 2 boxes of Sally Hanson nail strips and one envelope of butter London nail strips that I am dying to use but I am too scared :( With these little beauties, I can practice getting my technique down and if I mess them up I won't be upset (red is NOT my color for my nails). These are kind of neat though, because each strip has a base coat, polish, and then a top coat and they are supposed to last for 14 days. I did not get 14 days out of them, but I did get about a week wich is not bad. One envelope, which is a full set, is valued at $8.

This little card has a code for $100 off the NUME website....and you will need it! The styling tools are all over $100 so I headed over to the brushes (which were all sold out) and then to the hair products, of which I chose 3 of the repairing line. When I went to the check out however, it said my coupon code was invalid. I emailed Glossybox to see what the problem is....I will update if they get back to me with a solution!





This month's box is valued at $37 in full sized products! I can't wait to see what they have in store for December!

 

Jenn

 



Marilyn Minter Presentation

I had so much fun doing my presentation of Marilyn Minter's art for my Modern Art Appreciation class, that I thought I would share it here.  I hope that this very basic presentation of my favorite artists inspires you to check out more of her work at MarilynMinter.net

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

POPSUGAR Must Have Box- November

Yay! So PopSugar ended up rearranging things so now the box comes around the middle of the month and not at the very end :) I am very thankful for that this November!

They were also offering Luxury Boxes for both men and women for December. I went ahead and ordered the one for women for myself and since they only did 1,000, they went quickly. I will have 2 awesome boxes to report on for December!

Now on to November's goodies:

I first opened the box to find this Stonewall Kitchen Cinnamon Sugar Doughnut Mix. My mother loves this brand and has all sorts of goodies in our pantry but we had never tried the doughnuts.....maybe because you need a doughnut pan! This box of mix sells for $9.95 and I guess we will be checking out TJ Maxx for a doughnut pan some time soon. Even if we don't make them this month, I think that they will be awesome for anytime this winter.

I was really excited about this Gorjana Parker Bracelet. It has little gold details and it is the perfect burgundy-brown color. On their site, similar bracelets are going for $65. I am not quite sure why they are charging so much though. While the style is cute, they bracelet was too small (see picture below) and the leather is unfinished (which you can see in the picture to the left). I am going to have to go to a craft store to get something to extend this so I can wear it. (UPDATE: I made a comment on the Gorjana Facebook page and they instructed me to email them about fitting the bracelet. I did send in an email and I have not yet received a reply....will update again when I do!) UPDATE: 12/13/12 I never received a reply :( I have not been able to wear the bracelet and I am afraid to give it away as a gift to have the same fate fall on some one else.

Here you can see that I do not have huge wrists, but that it will not make the final loop to close. I love the wrap bracelet style and the Sadie Style Bracelet is the perfect wrap bracelet with no hanging toggle. I will have to keep my eyes open at TJ Maxx or Charming Charlies for a knock-off :)

Perfectly paired with the Thanksgiving theme for the month are these adorable Thank-You Cards from Snow and Graham.  These cards go for about $4.00 on their site and are made of 100 lb. heavy card stock. There is just something nice about sending and receiving an actual written card. I like to include them when I mail things to people and I love keeping ones I get in my office on a cork board. Oh how I miss having an office.....and a cork board.....

Oh I am really liking this brand! This French Vanilla Lip gloss Macaroon by MOR Cosmetics that was in the box smells and tastes divine and after perusing the website I now have a wish list of about 20 things I want. The lip gloss has vitamin E and beeswax and is not tested on animals. It comes in at $10 and other products on the site are reasonably priced. Oh, when I get a job, this website is in for an order!

Spices! I have not been cooking much lately, but it seems this box is trying to change that. There are 3 different types of spices and ideas for each of them. I also looked on YumSugar and there is a recipe for caramelized apples a la mode....yum! I think I will have to try that one. And, did you know that "la boite" means "the box"? Yep, that's 4 years of French for ya :)

Here is the card that was included to go with the spice mixes with a recipe for each one. Looks like I have a long weekend of cooking ahead of me!

Work out DVD! I loved the last one that as sent, and my mother has been trying to get me to do yoga, so I was happy to see this Yogalosophy DVD in this month's box. It goes for about $6 on Amazon and its said that this DVD teaches the basics, which is what I need. I may have to break this one open tomorrow morning before my interview to help relax and stretch me out.

Bleh. The Olsen twins. I was already turned off but for the sake of the review I logged on to Stylemint.com to check this out. Ugh. I was not a fan of the style of clothing on this site. Basically, its like a monthly subscription and every month you are charged $29.99 for one "credit" where you can choose one item (just like shoedazzle.com). I found a hoodie that I liked and I will be using this credit to order it once I can figure out how to access it. I will be PROMPTLY cancelling because this is one site that is simply not my style. They do have other sub-sites though like shoemint, jewelmint, and intimint.      UPDATE: I tried to use this code several times and it said "unable to redeem". I did email PopSugar about it but I am not that disappointed. After more research, their clothing looks incredibly cheap. I will not be that disappointed if I am not able to try this. UPDATE #2: Still no email from PopSugar but I got another email from stylemint so I checked the site and I had a credit on there. Checked my attached bank account and no charges have been made so I know its the code. Ordered a mint green hoodie. Check out my review on the hoodie here.

 

 

I about died when I saw this coupon for $30 off on CanvasPop.com! I have been wanting to try one of those transfer-picture-onto-wood crafts I have seen on Pinterest and this just seems so much easier LOL. You can order an 8x10 canvas not on a frame for $30 so this coupon can essentially cover my costs and I think I would just have to pay for shipping. 

I submitted my order and it ended up costing me about $24 on top of the $30 coupon. I ended up using and Instagram photo and that gives you only 2 options for canvas. The 12x12 was on sale for $39.99 so I chose that one and then it was $14 for shipping. Here is My CanvasPop.com Review!

 

Last up is a gift for you! Not getting the monthly PopSugar box but want to try it? Included this month was a code for $5 off for my friends on their first order! Click HERE and then use the code REFERFRIENDS to get your $5 (which makes your first box only $30) and start enjoying your monthly box of awesomeness with me!

 

That is everything for November!  This box comes in around $125 in product value. I did not include the spices or the stylemint.com code.

Thank you to PopSugar for another great box, thank you to my readers, and thank you to my dog who whines while I write these blogs. I hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

 

Jenn

 

 

 

 



November Birchbox

The November Birchbox is here! I was not disappointed with this month's box and I loved the fact that this month they are supporting The Art of Elysium which is a non-profit organization that encourages actors, artists, designers and musicians to dedicate their time to children who are battling various medical conditions.

On to the products!

I will start with the "lifestyle extra" which is a Chuao Chocolatier ChocoPod. I got the honeycomb flavor which is a yummy chocolate in the shape of a leaf with caramelized little crisps of honey in silky smooth chocolate. It was seriously heaven :) It is larger than a piece of Dove chocolate and only has 50 calories. So sad they only sent one! Even more disappointed to see that these little suckers are more than a $1 a piece! You can get a 7-pack of assorted ChocoPods for $7.95......or if you are on a budget like me you can just raid the left over Halloween candy for fun-sized packs of M&M's.

This was in the box this month as well. It is a little box from Birchbox where you can put a little gift in it and give it to some one you appreciate. On the back it says"a little something for you!" and then has boxes you can check like "Because you are the cat's pajamas"  and "P.S. XOXO". Cute idea. I may have to save this and brighten some one's day with this. Also, I saw on this on pinterest where you can do this with toilet paper rolls :)

This was my only full sized product this month. It is a tube of Model Co. Fibre Lashxtend Lengthing Mascara. This mascara has tiny lash extending fibers to add length.  I was seriously WOW-ed by this mascara! It had a nice fluffy brush, the formula went on well with out being clumpy and my lashes look very long and natural. This would be a great every day mascara. I am going to try to layer this mascara with another one for the faux-falsies look to see the result. Model Co is starting to impress me! Check here to see the lip duo from Model Co that was in my October Glossybox :)

Here is a close up of my eyelashes with the Model Co Lashxtend Mascara. The look LOOOOONG! Its a light formula and after 2 coats this was the result. You can see the little fibers that add length in the brush and they line up nicely with your lashes. 

 

This was the product I was looking forward to! I love Stila and was excited for this All Over Shimmer Liquid Luminizer. I got the Pink Shimmer Color and you can definitely see the pink. I applied this to my cheek bones and brow bones and it was light and easily blended.  The shimmer pieces are a bit larger than I expected, but I like it. I can see other colors like blue and purple in there, but it does not look like children's play make up. This is great on bare skin as well as over tinted moisturizer and BB cream. It really adds dimension to the skin and keeps it from looking flat. Yet another great product by Stila! And think this little travel tube will last quite a while.

This little tester of the Jouer Fragrance Cornucopia was adorable. It is a little roller ball and the product is a perfume oil.  Its a mix of gardenia, jasmine, and honeysuckle. Not really my type of scent but I tried it. It s VERY floral and smells just like fresh flowers. My little roller ball doesn't really pick up enough product so I really have to shake it, but a little bit of this product is very potent.  Gardenia must be the smell this season because I got a gardenia candle in my September PopSugar box.

Here we have a sample of Curly Hair Solutions Curl Keeper. This product kind of scares me  because in the directions it says not to move hair in the first few minutes after application so it can work on the frizz. I gave it a try and followed the directions. This serum is clear and has a light, clean smell. I applied it all over and did not touch my hair for over 15 minutes. Then I used a diffuser to finish drying my hair. It definitely helped with the frizz I get when my hair is curly and made it glossy. It did not help define my curls or help shape them.

Here is a picture of my hair after blow drying.  Unfortunately the curl did not hold and about an hour and half later the curls were limp and unrecognizable. I will give it another try and see if I have better results. 

 

And lastly we have this card for Chromatic Gallery. This is a company where you can design your own heels! You can choose your heel height, color, material, or even choose from collections like "cocktail" or "bridal". Each pair of shoes is $88 and here is a code for $15 off. Feel free to take this code and try them out! It is BIRCHBOX15. If you do try them out, I would love for you to let me know about your experience in the comments below!

And there is the November box! I can really only value this month's box at $24 for the mascara as I can not find a value for the luminizer. I love a great mascara so it was worth the $10 this month. Maybe Birchbox is getting their stuff together and working towards great boxes like they sent out over the Summer.... hopefully :)

 

Jenn

 

 

 

 

 

 

November's Goodies Box

 

 

Goodies Box!!!!! Whoooo! After my first box I was very excited to see what they would send for the next. I think they did an amazing job with the choices and the theme which is "Entertaining Made Simple" which is perfect for November.

 
There was this little extra in the box. Its a canvas tote made out of 100% organic cotton! I love a good tote I can leave in my car and have for when I need to run to the store or when I am at the farmer's market.

 

The first item I tore into was this bag of Oogie's Gourmet Popcorn in White Cheddar. Delicious! It was potent with out being overbearing with flavor and the popcorn was light and crunchy and did not have a stale texture. This large bag was 150 calories and very satisfying. Skip buying the popcorn in the huge holiday tin and go for a bag of these instead!

Next I had the pack of Bobby Sue's Nuts.  The original flavor immediately reminded me of going to wine festivals with my mom and getting the spiced and toasted almonds in the little funnels. This mix of almonds, pecans and cashews was perfectly spiced and had just a touch of sweet. They were crunchy and buttery and amazing. One ounce is 160 calories and the ONLY ingredients are the nuts, sugar, egg whites, water, salt and spices. I love it when a company keeps it simple and lets the food speak for itself :)

Yummmm, pumpkin..... I wish there was more than one of these Bigelow Pumpkin Spiced Tea bags in the box! I only steeped this for 3 minutes, but I wish I had let it sit for 5. The flavor is fantastic! It is spiced with out being spicy and the pumpkin is sweet. I put half a packet of Truvia in it and a little condensed milk and it was creamy and smooth. Definitely a great Fall treat.

This bar of Alter Ego Dark Quinoa Organic Chocolate was to die for! The chocolate was dark and rich and flavorful. The quinoa in the bar was crunchy and nutty and reminded me of a Crunch bar. One square at a time was enough to satisfy my chocolate craving because the flavors and textures were so potent. When I looked up the other flavors online, it made me want to buy them all!

Wine biscuits by The Cracker-Snacks?!?! Well, it says wine so it must be good right? I first tried one by itself, but it was not that good. The shallot was definitely noticeable. I chopped up some smoked gouda and tried that with these biscuits and they were much better! With the cheese, you get notes of white wine, the shallot is still noticeable, and at the end you get this spicy after taste which is the cayenne. These were not my favorite item in the box, but they were okay. (could not find a link online for this company...)

I keep forgetting about this! I have not tried Biscoff cookies before, but this spread is supposed to have the cookie flavor. It says its good for dipping apples, topping toast, or adding into desserts. I tried this with granny smith apple slices for breakfast. It smells like cookies, and by itself it tasted like cookies....but paired with an apple it just didn't have a strong enough flavor. I am not sure I would like this on toast or a bagel. I think I will just stick with Nutella :)

This souffle kit looked like the most awesome item in the box....until I saw how labor intensive it is! Just reading the directions made me tired....is that bad? LOL. I liked that it was flourless/gluten free and all natural. I think this dessert will be a project to try this weekend when I have time to focus on following the directions. Update and pictures when I do!

 

 

 

 

 And there is the November Goodies box! Loved the selection this month and looking forward to December.....hopefully it will have peppermint!

 

Jenn