Sephora VIB event Haul!

On November 10th, Sephora hosted its annual VIB holiday party (term "party" taken loosely).  The event included a 20% shopping pass for me and a friend, as well as free chocolates, makeovers and an exclusive Sephora tote. 

I went armed with a $32 giftcard and comfy shoes, only to surprise myself and spend less than the amount of my giftcard, and completely not on what I thought it would be lol.

I went in with a huge shopping list and came out with...

My free Sephora tote, chocolates, a Pure DKNY perfume mini rollerball and the NARS eyeshadow duo in Underworld!

I'd always wanted to try out NARS shadows and I couldn't beat the $26 (normally $33) price tag, especially considering I didn't pay anything out of pocket for it :3 Sephora giftcards are awesome!!  I chose this particular duo because I've been obsessing over smokey neutrals lately and the pigmentation of these is amazing.  Well worth the money.  The only thing negative I can say is that the packaging gets extremely dirty even after only one use and becomes quite unsightly.  I prefer to shameless display my makeup splurges, not hide them away in a drawer cause they're sloppy.

Ironically enough, out of the 3 different mini perfume rollerballs they could have given me with my purchase, the dude grabbed the Pure DKNY.  This was actually one of the items on my list to pick up, but they had been out of stock of the gift set.  This perfume smells so clean and fresh.  Perfect everyday, daytime scent.

I totally anticipated bringing home more loot, but hey, no buyers remorse here!! I do wish I had picked up a bottle of the Taylor Swift Wonderstruck while I was there, instead of having to wait to unwrap it on Christmas.  It's my new scent obsession <3

I hope you got the chance to enjoy the VIB event! If not, no sweat, it's basically just an overhyped friends and family sale (which I had already cashed in on earlier, posted here)

Bye for now!

xoxo,

JessieBear

November Birchbox! (first impression, pictures)

Man was I surprised to see my November Birchbox on my doorstep when I only got the shipping notification just last night!  Usually I have to wait a little under a week for my box to get to me.  I have since eagerly ripped into it and taken a peek.  Here's what I saw!

First item was the Oscar Blandi Protein Mist for Restyling Hair.  This is a rather large sample, with a wopping 60ml inside.  You can use this either on dry hair before heat styling or on damp hair to detangle and "fortify."  I was going to apply this to my damp hair right out of the box but a quick sniff quickly deterred me.  MAN does this stuff stink.  Maybe I'm super sensitive or something but I can't imagine being able to tolerate this scent in my hair for a minute.  The full 250ml retails for $18. 

This is the LaROCCA Skincare Champagne and Shimmer Acai Body Polish.  This is a rather small pot for a body polish.  There's about enough in it to effectively scrub one limb. 

It smells quite nice, not too champagne and not too acai, but actually quite lemony.  This basically appears to be your average scrub with both micro grit and visible granules you manual scrub your body with.  6.76 oz of this retails for $35.

Next is the Klorane Soothing Eye Makeup Remover with Cornflower.

This bottle is the typical "cornflower blue" color I remember from my Crayon days.  It is one solid remover (not bi-face or anything) and smells VERY strongly of florals (the cornflower perhaps?).  I'm not the biggest fan of florals.  This bottle is .8 oz, and the regular is 3.4 oz for $9.  This is one of the cheapest items I've gotten from Birchbox to date (besides nail polishes and hair tyes).

Last official beauty product is another Zoya sample.  I've received two Zoya polishes from Birchbox and have loved those.  But move over other samples, this one is literally perfect for me. 

This is Zoya's Noel.  It's mostly blue with some silver and gold shimmer.  It reminds me of my beloved Absolutely Alice polish from OPI, except the shimmer in this is quite fine, while the OPI was definitely a coarser glitter.  I swatched this over the current blue glitter polishes I had on (which was mostly chipped away).  This polish is pigmented enough you can get away with just two coats, but not so terribly opaque that people like me who prefer jelly consistencies won't be put off. (the picture below truly doesn't do this one any justice because the light catches it at different angles and makes this literally shine :D)

Last two things in my box were more of the "treat" variety.  The first treat is the last true sample in my box.

The Choco Pod that I received is Dark Chocolate with Chipotle, Salt and Popping Candy flavored.  It's shaped like a leaf.  When I first bit it the only thing I really noticed were the Pop Rocks.  They were fizzing away in my mouth as I tried to actually taste the chocolate.  I couldn't taste much salt and very little, if any chipotle flavor.  Until I swallowed.  THIS CHOCOLATE IS SO SPICY!!! It was quite the interesting combo.  If you don't like spicy stuff, stay away.  Otherwise this was somewhat of an interesting treat.  Definitely not something you could or would want to eat frequently.

The last thing in my box is deemed an "unlocked prize" from any referrals, reviews, or purchases I made.  I'm not quite sure if this is something they gave to everyone and deemed a prize as a gimmick or they genuinely went through everyone and gave these to those who participated, but hey.  It's pretty cute.

This is a Bauble Bar bracelet.  I've never heard of them before, but a little $10 off your first purchase card was inserted inside the bag with the bracelet.

Now to some sad news.  Early this month I entered into a new "budget" in which I'd extremely limit my spending with the hopes of moving out in the spring.  With this new budget, I told myself if I wasn't in love with the next Birchbox I received, I would cancel my subscription.  Seeing as I know I will not repurchase any of the products from my November box, I'm canceling.  For those of you totally have the $10 to spend on this interesting and fun service, it's awesome.  But I can't justify spending money on a box that I may either not like, or love so much I will then go and spend money on new products I more than likely don't need.  Birchbox is a gateway spending product lol.  If you don't want to put the money in to the risk of a bad box, or don't want to be suckered into buying expensive products you probably wouldn't have bought anyway, this probably isn't for you.

I will say though, Birchbox did introduce me to my all time favorite hair mask, Carol's Daughter Monoi Repairing Hair Mask ($29). 

Maybe in the future I will resubscribe when I have the free funds.  But for now, it's been a fun ride, Birchbox, but here is where I let you off.

Sephora Friends and Family Sale 2011 Haul

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October Birchbox review!

So if you read my most recent Birchbox post you would know I was quite upset and ultimately canceled my subscription with them.  Wellll after watching everyone else open up their September 1st anniversary Birchbox (with the SUPER adorable friendship bracelet inside) I decided to reopen my subscription with them.  I'm ashamed to say I actually went through Birchbox withdrawals over the 2 months between my cancellation and the October box.

What better way to quench my Birchbox thirst than with the mother of all boxes (so far).  Feast thine eyes on the October box!

The theme for this month is "Prep & Finish"which honestly did seem to structure the contents all that much (or as far as I can tell).

loose contents

wrapped up samples

The first thing I saw caught me by surprise.  Literally the night before I received my box I was thinking about checking out this product.  And there is sat in my box!! Crazy! I couldn't have been happier with my Blinc tube mascara sample :)

 It comes in a little maroonish tube made of what I assume is aluminum.  The sample is .141 oz.  The full size contains .21 oz and retails for $24. 

the inside tube of mascara

 If you're not sure what a tube mascara is, it's not just a mascara that comes in a tube - it's a mascara that uses polymers to coat each lash in a "tube" that removes only with a combo of warm water and pressure.  I've been using this mascara for about 10 days now and haven't experienced any running, flaking or smudging. 

The reason why I wanted to try this product so badly is because of the ease of removal.  I HATE removing tedious eye makeup at the end of the night.  What you see in the photo above are the little spindly tubes that came off of my lashes.  Some people don't like tubing mascara because it looks like your actually lashes come off, but no worries.  You can definitely tell the differences between fallen lashes and these rubbery tubes.  This mascara is farrr more lengthening than volumizing.  Because I tend to prefer volumizing mascaras, I don't envision myself repurchasing this.  It's really novel and fun to be able to just slide off my mascara but it's rather pricey for a "natural" looking mascara.

Next product in the box was the Pangea Organics Japanese Matcha Tea mask with acai and goji berry.  I've used this twice since I've gotten it and LOVE it.  I'm a hugeeee green tea fan and this mask is really gentle, cleansing, exfoliating, and minorly brightening.  My skin feels so good after using this.  I have the full size in my online Sephora cart waiting as I type.

 The sample is 1fl oz.  The full size is 4 fl oz and retails for $40.  It smells very herbal.  I honestly didn't pick up on the acai which I normal don't like, which is a plus.

Here's what it looks like on!  I know, not very flattering, but trust me.  This mask is sooo nice.  The little bits of grit you can see really help slough off an dead skin and add to skin's natural glow.

Next sample is actually a full size tin of the Minteas Resist Lime Mojito mints.  Again, this is made with organic matcha green tea.  It has definite lime flavors going on which I'm normally not a fan of but these are actually really tasty.

  It comes in a cute little leaf tin!  I wish that the lid was hinged or something because it doesn't feel secure enough to just toss in a bag but I do have a mini zip up pocket in my school bag and that's where this is living currently :)

The mints have little green dots in them which I'm assuming are the spots of matcha tea in them.  The mints too are little leaves!  So cute!! And they are sooooo yummy.  One of the reasons why I might not repurchase these are that they're currently selling on Birchbox for 2 for $10, which to me is a bit steep for some mints (90 in each container).  They do keep my breath fresh for a longer than say an Ice Breakers mint or something but that too me is achievable with gums that are so much cheaper.  We'll see.  If I can find these somewhere cheaper I may consider repurchasing.

Inside the little wrapped up satchel were two more products.  The first thing is this BeFine Lip Serum.  I have to say I was scared for a second when I saw the big beet on the outside.  Gross! But you really can't smell or taste it in this product and MAN this is moisturizing.  It also gives my lips the nicest sheen.  And unlike some balms, after repeated application my lips don't start peeling which is a huge plus.

light sheen from the product

The sample is a 10ml tube .  The full size comes in a set of this plus the lip exfoliator for $25, each holding 15 ml of product.  I already repurchased this!! I had $10 off from accumulated Birchbox points and it had free shipping so I couldn't resist.  Best lip conditioning product I've used so far.

The last product was the least exciting for me.  Orofluido is a hair oil, named "liquid gold" in spanish.  It's a thick golden oil scented like vanilla and amber.  The scent is rather pleasant and breaks outside of the box as hair as normal hair oil goes (can everyone stop scenting their things like argan oil please?).  It was so so on my hair.  It moisturized it...temporarily.  My ends felt like they needed more after just half an hour.  I wasn't expecting that from a product like this.  I guess Macadamia Oil has spoiled me.

  This sample is .17 oz and the full size is 3.4 for $29.99.  I won't be repurchasing from the sheer standpoint that I have things like this that work so much better, and for cheaper.


So that's it!! I'm SOOOO glad I rejoined Birchbox.  I really missed the opportunity to test out new products each month and for only $10 a month, you make your money back with the volume of each product and the occasional full size. 

If you haven't joined out you should check it out!

xoxo,

JessieBear

Sugarpill Haul/Swatches/Mini Look!!

So I may be a bit late on this...I got my Sugarpill haul in the mail August 17th and through a series of events I somehow managed to stow everything away in the back of my drawers!  (my makeup drawers that is lol)

I did, however, manage to shoot some quick swatch shots with my iphone.  Which I then uploaded into the abyss of unsorted photographs on my comp.  Can you see where I'm going here?   Basically I'm trying to say you're looking at one of the most scatterbrained and forgetful people out there.

                                                 Yup, that would be me --->

Moral of the story, while I may have forgotten previously, I remembered today JUST HOW MUCH I LOVE THIS BRAND!!!

Gah!! Where should I start??

Packaging perhaps? Gorgeous, elaborate, soooo my style.  Even the box it came in blew me to bits with its cuteness.  See??

 Look at the kitty!! So cuteeee <3

 Amy, the founder of the Sugarpill, also personally signed my invoice.  Personal touches like this are one of the things that definitely set Sugarpill apart!

 PINK TISSUE PAPER!! Those of us addicted to the feeling of opening new mysterious Birchboxes will appreciate this touch as well :p

What I bought:  

• Buttercupcake pressed eyeshadow
• Midori pressed eyeshadow
• Afterparty pressed eyeshadow
• Lumi Chromalust pigment
• Absinthe Chromalust pigment

Each of their shadows and pigments retail for $12 and the shadows are 4 grams (.14 oz) while the pigments are 5 grams.

And now a glimpse of the individual products' packaging.  Wowww.  Super detailed and sweet.  There are lacy touches everywhere which is SO my thing.  And the little asian girl on the front reminds me of a character from an old manga fav of mine, Godchild.  I couldn't love the packaging more!  Unless maybe it were edible lol.

How about quality??  Here's some swatches to show you just how AMAZING these products are.

These three shadows are all pressed shadows.  There are soooo pigmented and smooth!! The far left shadow is Buttercupcake, a matte, very vibrant yellow that leans a little to the warm side.  The middle shadow is Midori, a cool toned green with some sparkle, which I experienced absolutely ZERO fall out  with.  The far right shade is Afterparty, a bright brightblue.  It too has shimmers in it but they are far less apparent than the sparkles in Midori and give Afterparty a nice sheen to it.  By the way, these were swatched without a base, and with one swipe of the finger on the product before swatching :)  Super amazing, huh? 

Here you can see, above and below the swatches of Buttercupcake, Midori, and Afterparty, swatches of the Chromalust pigments in Lumi (shimmery white with blue reflects, top) and Absinthe (yellowy pearlescent green, bottom).  Lets be honest for a sec, I purchased Absinthe mainly for the name.  But as you can see from the swatch, it's actually quite lovely!! I bought Lumi for an inner-corner shade.  The blue sheen to it impressed me a lot. These pigments go on soo smoothly.  For reference, the swatches on the left are dry, the swatches on the right are with a damp brush.  And again, this is without any form of base. 

Here's an up close shot of Lumi.  Again, the left swatch is dry and the right is with a damp brush.  You can't notice the blue here as much as you can in person.  When you turn your hand (or head if you're wearing it lol) you can catch the blue shine to it.  This is great for inner-corners and layering over other shadows or pigments, as it's mostly sheer, but definitely has a white cast to it.

Here are the up close shots of Absinthe! The color just gets me! In my opinion this is the perfect yellowy green.  It works really well as a transition from Midori to Buttercupcake, as you'll see in my look!

This morning I had a lot of time to burn so I finally created a look with these products!   I will warn you, it is very similar to the one I did for the Lumiere Costmetics review because of the similar colors I was working with, however these shades are far more bright and blended a lot better :)

 For this look, I used NYX Milk as a base, inner third of upper and lower lid in Buttercupcake, middle of upper and lower lid in Midori, Absinthe blended between Buttercupcake and Midori, and Afterparty on the outer third of my upper and lower lid.  In the inner tearduct and outer V of the eye I patted on small amounts of Lumi.  I used Urban Decay 24/7 liquid liner in Perversion on my upper and lower lash line, and Maybelline Falsies mascara in black on my upper and lower lashes. 

 As you can see, I've swooped my lower eyeliner up towards my tear duct and back down, a great deal lower than my lower lash line.  The reason I do this is that it makes my eyes appear far rounder and bigger :)

 And that is all!! Fyi, I applied MAC Fleshpot lipstick and MAC Improvise mineralize blush over top the Laura Mercier Creme Smooth Foundation in Blush Ivory for this look.  It lasted allll day long and I got so many compliments!! I absolutely love Sugarpill.  All of their products I've seen have amazing pigmentation and texture, not to mention they're vegan!  They're also relatively affordable, when you compare the size and pigmentation of their shadows and pigments to other brands.  I will definitely be purchasing from them again soon!! (I'm already currently looking at picking up some purple shades)

I hope you enjoyed!! You should totally give them a try.  And so now all I have left to say is...

 

MOOOOSE!!!!

xoxo,

JessieBear