Unboxing: Influenster Spring Fling VoxBox May 2014

Hi guys, long time no see! i know its been forever since I’ve updated, so I’ll just hop right into it.

In my VoxBox this month, I received 6 products.

Rimmel London Scandaleyes Retro Glam Mascara ($5.99)

If you know me at all, you know I’m obsessed with mascara. I’ve used it a few times and I’m different towards it. The wand is pretty large, a little too large for me, and has a curve to it. Right now, I feel like it’s a little too wet and does more clumping than anything else. Also, I does a fairly decent job lengthening, but as of right now, I’m not impressed with its volumizing capabilities.

Kiss Everlasting French Nails ($6.49)

This is the second Kiss product I’ve received from Influenster, but unlike the lashes, I’m not looking forward to these. I personally hate fake nails, so I won’t be using these. Instead I’ll either give them to a friend or cousin.

Peach Pie Car Freshener from the Labor Day Movie

This cute little extra gift is probably going to end up in my mom’s car since I don’t drive… Still…

Playtex Sports Fresh Balance ($3.99 – $4.99)

If I liked wearing tampons, I would have been thrilled to see this in this month’s box. The box is a set of 16, which is a really good number. Unfortunately, this is another item I will be giving away.

NIVEA Skin Firming Hydration Lotion ($2.49)

I haven’t tested this lotion out yet, but I hope it works. Since I’m only 18, I don’t need much help with “skin firming,” but I’m 99% sure I have Keratosis Pilaris, aka chicken skin. I’m hoping that the ingredients in this lotion will keep my skin moisturized and minimize the appearance of the “dots” on my skin. Unfortunately, this lotion isn’t the most pleasant smelling thing; it kinda smells like sunscreen and bug spray.

Softlips Cube ($3.49)

Generally, I’m a Chapstick person, but I’m still looking forward to test this out. This product is a 5 in 1 that is supposed to hydrate, replenish, smooth, protect, add shine. After coming back from Austin and floating on the Comal River for 4 hours, my lips were extremely dry. Since I’ve been home, I’ve been using this product, and I haven’t seen any changes to my dry lips. The scent of this reminds me of Smackers lips products, which isn’t bad, but gives it a kiddie feel(but hey at least it tastes good). One thing I do like however, is that it makes your lips tingle a little. With this product, I feel like Softlips tried to create something to rival the ESOS lip balms, since they’re all the rave lately. All in all, I’m not too impressed.

So that’s it for this quick unboxing. I know it’s a may box and we’re a week into July, but I’ve been really unmotivated lately. It really is a problem, but hopefully, I’ll get back into the groove of things soon.

♡ Melissa

What did you enjoy the most from your Spring VoxBox? Answer in the comments below!

Disclaimer: I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.

Unboxing: Influenster J’adore VoxBox February 2014

Hey guys!

I hoped to do a cute v-day nail look and put it on here, but I never got to do my nails. What’s even worse, all my nails are breaking in the worst way. Once they get healthy again, I’m looking forward to getting a post out. Until then, I have two unboxing posts. This first unboxing is from Influenster. I heard about this FREE program on Youtube and decided to give it a try.

Hershey’s Kisses Milk Chocolate ($3.28)

I was really happy to see these included in the box! It wouldn’t be Valentine’s Day without Hershey’s Kisses. I remember when I was younger, actually, up until my sophomore year, I would make little goodie bags with Hershey’s Hugs and Kisses. No joke though, I could eat these everyday and never get sick of them.

Boots Botanics Shine Away Ionic Clay Mask ($9.39)

 

Of all the items in this month’s box, I was looking forward to testing this one out the most. This product is a clay mask that “actively removes impurities and deeply cleanses” and should be used weekly. It also has a surprisingly watery consistency. If you shake the tube, you can hear it sloshing around, and it comes out more liquid-y than solid and creamy like most clay masks.  I’ve used this mask twice now and I must say it makes my skin feel really soft and doesn’t dry it out. I’ve only used it twice, and have yet to see any improvements to my skin.

Frizz Ease 3-Day Straight Flat Iron Spray ($9.99 for 3.5 fl. oz )

 

I normally have stick straight hair, but then I cut it. Now that my hair is shorter and I have shorter layers, my hair does flip out a bit instead of laying straight. Though I have more of a reason to use it, I’ll probably just end up giving this product away because on “day 2”, my hair becomes naturally straight.

Red Rose Simply Indulgent Teas ($4.49 for 20 tea bags)

 

Before this year, I was never much of a tea drinker. If I ever did drink tea, it was green because of all the antioxidants it provided. Now, I’m slowly but surely becoming a tea person. Unfortunately, it’s starting to get hot again in Texas, so my tea drinking will dissipate some, but hopefully the cold front comes in soon and I can keep cozy with a cup of tea and a book. When that time comes, I’m really looking forward to testing out these two flavors, Créme Caramel and Lemon Chiffon, because they sound absolutely delicious.

Kiss Looks So Natural Lashes ($3.99)

I’ve only worn fake lashes once before. I wore them for my senior portraits, and they were actually Kiss lashes. They looked beautiful in selfies, but looking at my actual senior pics, they were a little too heavy and dramatic. That makes me happy to try out these… maybe for prom…? As you can see, I got the lashes in Vamp, and they’re nice and long without being too much.

Overall, I was really happy with my first VoxBox! I enjoy that they send a variety of products, unlike other subscription services I use. Hopefully, I’ll get to test out more products in the future. How do you feel about this month’s VoxBox? Want more information about this service from Influenster? Check out my sidebar for the link.

♡ Melissa

 

 

Disclaimer: I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.

 

Procrastination at Its Best

What should I be doing right now? School work. What am I actually doing? Sitting on my computer, jammin’ to some some country music. I don’t know what brought it on, but I got into a really big country mood today. I blame Youtube. Or Pandora. Just today, I downloaded Some Hearts and Carnival Ride by Carrie and Same Trailer Different Park by Kacey Musgraves, who actually inspired today’s post.

I heard Kacey on the radio a while back, but recently saw the music video for “Follow Your Arrow.” After watching the video, I was inspired by these screenshots to make a nail look.

With that, I present to you the nail look of the day!

I saw Ms. Musgraves  take out the arrow fortune, and thought it was the cutest thing! After the MV, I tried my best to come with an arrow that would be simple enough for me, but still looked cute. I’d say I was marginally successful. For my thumb and index and pinky fingers, I used Wet N Wild’s I Need a Refresh-Mint.

For my middle finger, I applied one coat of Julep’s Eden. On my pinky is 2/3 (I can’t remember) coats of Essie’s Beyond Cozy. And then for the arrow, I used Reverso from Circus by Andrea’s Choice, which I’m not really a big fan off.

Unfortunately, there was a little bit of smudging. I’m not sure if I didn’t wait long enough before applying my top coat (but really though, I waited over 30 minutes), if I didn’t have enough product on my brush, or if my top coat (Out the Door) just smudges easily.

What music are you currently really into? What top coat do you like best? Let me know in the comments!

♡ Melissa

What’s Cooler Than Bein’ Cool? Stone Cold!

In Texas lately, it’s been getting colder. So cold in fact that I didn’t have school last Friday (resulting in a 3 day week!) or today. While this only means that we will lose Memorial Day or Good Friday, or maybe even have a shorter Spring Break, I can’t bring myself to care. I’ll have to deal with that when the time comes.

In honor of this cold, snowy-but-not-really-snowy-but-snowy-enough-for-Texas weather, I decided to paint my nails with China Glaze’s Stone Cold, which is from their Hunger Games line from a couple of years ago. I got this color when the first movie was coming out, but kinda forgot about it.

It’s so hard for me to take these pics. I can never get the angle or placement of my hand right.

This color is a charcoal matte with teeny tiny pieces of glitter, that almost gives it a chalkboard feel.

The color was created for District 12, and is easily one of my favorites from the line.

This is the first matte polish I’ve ever owned, and it was strange for me to use in the beginning. It dried surprisingly fast, and still gives me trouble from time to time (as you can tell). Besides that, it’s gotten a little goopey since I keep my nail polish in a cabinet near my shower- which I know is bad because the steam and heat will ruin them, but I currently don’t have anywhere else to store them. Though it’s not my best, I wanted to get a post out because I have just fallen in love with the color all over again.

That’s it for another quickly-thrown-together update. I’m hoping to get a more cutesy/fun post out tomorrow, but we’ll see how it goes… It depends how much patience I have.

Do you have any colors from the China Glaze Hunger Games line? And, I know it’s wayy late, but what did you think of Catching Fire? I personally liked it much more than the first one, and am actually looking forward to the next one!

♡ Melissa

Ipsy Bag: January 2014

I was going to put out a post for my November and December 2013 bags, but I figured that it’s been so long that I would just let it go. Instead, I’ll just hop into this January bag and hope that I can finally get a good schedule with getting some blog posts out!

This month’s theme? 19 Reasons 2014 Will Be Amazing

Proactiv Mark Fading Pads 

I’m really excited about this product! I have acne prone skin, and a bad habit of picking. This horrid habit has led to many hyperpigmentation spots. These wipes contain 2% salicylic acid and are apart of Proactiv’s new skin care line. I haven’t tested them out yet, but I’m a little disappointed that I only received two (I know LePooke on Youtube received four). I’m hoping that even though I only got two packs that it’ll be enough to see results.

Nourish Organic Face Lotion

It’s been colder here in Texas lately, and I was glad to be able to test out a new moisturizer. This one has a very lightweight formula and also contains moroccan aran oil, rosewater, and shea butter. When I used this lotion, it absorbed into the skin quickly and my skin feel  soft despite the cold weather. Unfortunately, I think it has caused me to break out, so I’ve discontinued use.

Briogeo Deep Conditioning Mask

I’ve never been much into hair masks. Even when I had long hair, I never really cared about maintaining it. Whenever it happened to get dry or I would get split ends, I would just cut it, which I did on Sunday. Now that my hair has been chopped off and is now healthy, I don’t think I’ll be reaching for this product much. It contains avocado, almonds, argan oils, rosehip oil, and hair essential vitamins. The plus side is that the directions say to use it specifically after shampooing, so it’s really more of a conditioner that has mask-like benefits. This seems to be a lower maintenance hair mask, so I’ll be more likely to give it a go.

MicaBeauty Tinted Lip Balm

This is probably my 4th or 5th product from MicaBeauty, and I’m not sure how I feel about the brand. This product I suppose I’m indifferent to. I received #6 Fiesta, and  the only good thing I have to say is that it’s very pigmented, especially for a “tinted lip balm.” Besides the pigmentation, I don’t have much else to say. It’s a lip balm, but it offers no moisturization. When applying the product, it doesn’t feel like anything, just that you’re rubbing your finger on your lips. I would say that it even sinks into cracks and makes lips look worse. Whenever I wear it, I apply Buxum’s Dolly lip gloss on top of it and that makes things better.

Elizabeth Mott Smooth Shadow Pencil

Right off the bat, I was excited about this product. I got the color Pearl and anything nude-ish/champagne-ish I’m down to try. This product surpassed any expectations I had. I really love it. I haven’t used it as a shadow base but as an eyeliner. I use it on my inner corners and bottom lash line. I also tested it on my lower waterline, but it doesn’t stay put. It’s the first product that I’ve used in a while that lasts all day around my eyes. It’s shimmery, but not too shimmery and the perfect color for my skin tone. It really helps you look more awake and gives you that bright-eyed Korean look that I love! I’m considering repurchasing this when I run out.

So that’s it for this month’s bag. Overall, I give it… a B-. Though I’m not crazy about all the products, I’m happy that their doing more than just cosmetics. I’ve received skin care products before, but never two in one bag!

If you’re subscribed to Ipsy, let me know what products you got this month!

♡ Melissa

Ipsy Bag: September and October 2013

Again, I know I’m really behind on getting these Ipsy posts out, but I’m having a really hard time prioritizing right now. I’m trying to get these out so that my blog isn’t neglected, but I also need to do driver’s ed, study for the SAT, write college essays, and do my regular homework on top of that. With that being said, instead of giving a review of each product I received in each bag, I’m only going to mention the ones I especially liked or just the ones I was able to test out.

September 

• Cailyn Cosmetics Tinted Lip Balm
• Freeman Beauty Facial Paper Masks
• NYX Single Eyeshadow in Nutmeg
• Starlooks Obsidian Kohl Eye Pencil

Cailyn Lip Balm 

I enjoy this product. I’ve used it a few times, around the house and for spirit week. It’s relatively easy to use, but it’s hard to distribute the color evenly. I don’t know if I don’t pack enough product on the brush, but it can sometimes come out a little streaky, and I’ll have to go over it. Another thing, is it wears off a little weird. The color stays on the center of my lips, but wears away on the sides. This isn’t really that big of an issue, but if you like to make weird Snap Chat faces, then it’s noticeable. I would also say that this is more like a lip stain, then a lip balm. It’s not very moisturizing, but has decent lasting power and stains the lips some.

https://www.instagram.com/p/f-zugiow-q

A day in the life.

Freeman Beauty Paper Masks

Of the three masks, I have only used the Rose one. I love the idea of paper masks, but to be honest, I’m often too lazy to deal with them. And, the standard face shape is so different from mine, so it has hard to get the mask to say sealed to skin without ripping the mask or getting into my eyes. It doesn’t help that I was trying to read with it on. It was just a disaster.

https://www.instagram.com/p/ejQxWCIwwo

Starlooks Kohl Eye Pencil

This pencil is really large, basically a full sized product, which would be amazing if I liked it. I think I tried it once, and had high hopes since I loved their Lip Pencil, but this product fell short. The day I wore it, it transferred to my undereyes. I already have dark circles as it is; I don’t need help enhancing them. I do have to say that the pencil is pigmented and buildable, but just not suited for my oily skin.

NYX Eyeshadow

I haven’t gotten the chance to wear this color yet, but I had to share it! It’s absolutely bee-eee-aye-yootiful!! Not only that, but it is incredibly smooth. Unfortunately, I dropped it in my excitement :/ It was a bummer, but almost everything was still intact, so it was okay.

Swatches

Please excuse the dry skin, but as you can see, the lip balm is a very red/artificial cherry color.

The bottom three are all swatches of the Starlooks pencil. As you can see it’s buildable and pigmented. The top one is one swipe of Urban Decay’s Perversion for comparison.

This color is a little too light to show up on my arm, but it really is gorgeous. Als you can see, it’s very buildable.

The swatches in different lighting. You can really see the color of the eyeshadow.

Again, different lighting.

October

• Zoya Nail Polish in Mason
• Coastal Scents Medium Shadow Brush
• La FreshEco-Beauty Oil-Free Face Cleanser Wipes

Zoya Polish in Mason

When I saw this baby in my bag, I got excited. This is my second Zoya polish. This polish is sooo pretty. It’s a nice, jewel tone purple with small pink glitters. I haven’t put in on yet, but I can’t wait! I’m buzzing with anticipation. Gahh it makes me so happy. I also think it’s the perfect fall/winter color.

Coastal Scents Shadow Brush

I’ve used this brush a couple of times. It’s nice. The hairs or “natural fibers” are soft and don’t seem to shed. It’s a medium sized brush, but I have really small eyelids, so it basically covers the whole thing. I use it to pack color onto the lid. In general I like it, but I probably wouldn’t have purchased it myself since it reminds me of the E.L.F shadow brush.

La Fresh Wipes

I’ve received this brand of wipes before, and I complained. I think I said something about wanting more “special” products, or some garbage like that. Little did I know that those La Fresh wipes were some of the best ones I ever tried, and I was happy to see that I got more! First off, these wipes smell amazing! Well that’s probably an exaggeration, but I enjoy the smell. They contain “a luscious blend of Aloe, Cucumber, Papaya, Pineapple, Marshmallow, Jojoba, Vitamin C & Vitamin E.” I’ve probably used up half of these wipes and what I like the most about them is that they don’t sting my face or eyes. They do a fairly good job at removing my makeup, though I don’t like to use them on my lashes.

Whew! I’m finally caught up! I said previously, I think, that I would do more in depth reviews on things that I’ve “unbagged.” Instead of sticking with that, I think I’m going to do first impressions/thoughts, and then post a more in depth review of things that I particularly enjoy. Hopefully, this will help with the scheduling of these posts.

♡ Melissa

Ipsy Bag: August 2013

I’m definitely more excited about this bag than I’ve been about any other one so far this year!

This month’s theme is “Glamour Academy” and the products I received were:

1. Michael Todd True Organics Jojoba Charcoal Facial Scrub
2. Chella Dazzling Dark Brown Eyebrow Color Pencil
3. Pacifica Alight Multi-Mineral BB Cream
4. Noya Cherry Lip Balm
5. Pixi Lash Booster Mascara

Michael Todd True Organics Jojoba Charcoal Facial Scrub ($5.40)

This is the product that I was most excited about this month. I know Annie has been raving about this line, so I was looking forward to testing it out myself. After trying it, I wasn’t crazy about it. I didn’t find that it did anything spectacular for my skin.

Chella Dazzling Dark Brown Eyebrow Color Pencil ($18.00)

I’ve been using this brow pencil every day instead of my cheap NYC one, and I do like it. I like that I don’t have to worry about sharpening it because it’s a crayon. I also like the color; it matches with my brows perfectly and looks great with the Chella brow gel, which I got from a previous bag, over top. The only thing about this pencil is that it is easy to go a little overboard. Overall, I like this pencil, but probably isn’t one I’d repurchase since it’s on the expensive side.

Pacifica Alight Multi-Mineral BB Cream (≈ $5.40)

This is the other product I was excited to test out, and I’ve been wearing it every day. The first time I used it, I wasn’t impressed because it didn’t help my skin at all. It offered no coverage, and didn’t even out my skin tone. Thankfully, with some time for it to oxidize, it came out looking nice. It really did adjust to my skin tone, which I was skeptical about, and added some nice, subtle sparkle to my face. It has has a surprisingly nice scent. A little of this product goes a long way. I use a slightly larger than pea size amount for my face and neck, and there seems to be plenty more in this sample. The only downside to this product is that it doesn’t contain SPF, which is strange since most BB Creams do. I do like using this product, I use it everyday, but the name is really deceiving. It doesn’t act like a BB Cream at all, there are absolutely no skin benefits to it.

Noya Cherry Lip Balm ($3.99)

This lip balm has the scent of a Smackers lip balm, the taste of cherry candy, and the moisturizing power of a ChapStick. It’s very smooth and smells great!

Pixi Lash Booster Mascara (≈ $8.50)

I’m not too crazy about this mascara. It isn’t bad, but it isn’t the best mascara I’ve ever tried. It doesn’t add much volume, but gives decent length. The biggest downside is that it makes my lashes crispy. I think this might be from my primer, but without it, the mascara doesn’t stay; it smears under my eyes.

TOTAL BAG PRICE: ≈ $41.29

I’m sorry that this has literally taken months to get out! I know all of this info is kind of irrelevant because it’s so old :/ I wasn’t even going to post all of this in an individual post, but I already had it saved up as a draft, so I thought I might as well. I just received my November bag in the mail today, so I’m probably going to just highlight the products that I used the most in the other bags so that I can get caught up.

♡ Melissa

Manicure Monday: Konad m95 Plate x3

I hope that the title of this post isn’t deceiving… I didn’t use the plate three times in a single manicure or anything like that. I was just trying to be cute and clever and thought that since this is my third time using the plate, I could pull off a vague, poor musical reference (Yeah x3 by Breezy). Plus I didn’t really know what to call this manicure, and this is all that came to mind.

The Prodcuts

• Base Coat/ Top Coat- L.A. Colors Calcium Treatment/ Wet N Wild Fast Dry
• Wine Red/Purplish Polish- OPI No Spain No Gain
• Silver Polish- Sally Hansen Silver Sweep
• Glitter Polish- Essie Beyond Cozy
• White Stamping Polish*- Claire’s Stamping Kit
• Konad m95 plate, stamper, gift card (scraper), and a napkin or piece of paper

*Instead of using a stamping polish, I usually go with a standard white polish, but that won’t EVER happen again! I’m not sure if you can tell, but in comparison to my other manicures, the white this time around is much more vibrant and opaque! People aren’t lying when they say to invest in a quality white/black stamping polish.

As you can see in my manicure, I didn’t let the stamping polish dry enough or the thin fast dry top coat smeared the design. I found that when I used the base coat, which is thicker, first, there was less smearing. Evidently, I have some serious issues with this, so if you have any recommendations on the best top coats to use or any techniques, let me knowwwww!!

Again, sorry for getting this post out a week late (on the bright side, it was posted on time on insta ;))! School’s just been crazy and so freaking demanding D:< I hope everyone enjoys the next few days of the week and has a great weekend!

♡ Melissa

Manicure Monday: Pink October

It’s been a long time comin’, but I’m here now. And I’m ’bout to set your… computer on fire (I’m sorry, I just had to). It’s  been October for some time now, and in honor of that, I came up with a Breast Cancer Awareness manicure! This manicure is quick and easy, and is actually from last last last Monday, so I’m sorry it’s just coming out now.

My school’s H.O.S.A bracelet! “Big or Small Save Them All”

The Products

• Base Coat/Top Coat- L.A. Colors Calcium Treatment/ Wet N Wild Fast Dry
• White Polish- Circus by Andrea’s Choice Reverso
• Light Pink Polish- Sinful Colors Beautiful Girl
• Dark Pink Polish- Love & Beauty
• Dotting Tool
• Nail Polish “Palette”

The Procedure

1. Apply a base coat and paint all nails, except the accent, dark pink.
2. Paint the accent nail white.
3. Wait for the white to dry completely.
4. Take your palette, a plate or a lid, and add a few dabs of the light pink polish.
5. Turn your hand towards you, where the cuticle is facing away from you.
6. Using the dotting tool, dab it into the light pink polish and make an “X” shape on your nail. Once that is done, connect the top of the “X” to create the pink ribbon.
   • If your curve connecting the line looks too thick and closes the “gap” in the ribbon, wait for it to dry some and then apply a small dot of white polish.
7. Wait for the design to dry completely and then add a top coat.

I’m sorry I don’t have pictures to accompany this tutorial- it’s impossible to do it with a single person, but hopefully my instructions are clear enough if you decide to try it out. If the there are any questions, feel free to comment and I’ll try to help you out!

♡ Melissa

Manicure Monday: Mixed Pattern Fall Nails

I meant to have this up Monday, but I was really exasperated with this manicure. And then I ever had time to get around to posting it until now.

The Products

• L.A. Colors Calcium Nail Treatment- Base/top coat
• N.Y.C In a New York Color Minute in 248B Manhattan- Base Color
• N.Y.C French Tip White- Stamping Polish
• Konad Stamper and Scraper
• Konad m95 Plate
• Tools for clean up

The Procedure

Part of the reason I was annoyed with this nail look is that I couldn’t pick up the design at all. No matter how hard I pressed, it didn’t transfer onto the stamper. No matter what polish I used (I tried 3 different ones), I had no results. After realizing that I wasn’t working fast enough, my frustration cleared and I was able to do my nails in minutes.

1. Paint nails with a base coat
2. Paint nails two coats of a base color. If you’re using a fast dry polish like me, and it gets thick, try closing the bottle and shaking it after every couple of nails.
3. Let that dry completely.
4. Take a white polish and paint it on the design.
5. Using the scraper, quickly remove the excess polish.
6. Immediately after that, roll the stamper over the design and pick it up.
7. Transfer the design onto your nail. Since you already have the design on the stamper, which is the most crucial step, you can take your time in stamping on the design.
8. Repeat on all nails.
9. Wait 5-10 minutes and apply a generous amount of top coat.
10.  Using a polish remover and synthetic brush or q-tip clean up around your nails.

As you can see from the picture above, this isn’t my best work. The design is in no way even, but by this point, I was kind of fed up and just wanted to finish them.

Overall, I thought this design was perfect for fall because I used a dark, wine color. It also, has flowers, lace, and polka dots, which I feel like are always in,

I hope everyone has a great day!

♡ Melissa