ELF Products

Recently I ordered a few things off the elf website.

http://www.eyeslipsface.com

I think this brand is pretty hit or miss. Some of the stuff is great, and some is crap. I've learned to stay away from the eyeshadow and eyeliner products. Neither of them have any staying power, and the pigment in the eyeshadow is kind of sad...you have to apply it like 400 times before you can see it on your lid.

I tried a few non-cosmetic products.

The first product I got is the Daily Moisture Stick.

 I had read good things about it on another blog, and I have read that it's comparable to a much more expensive product.

This was $6.

It's a moisturizer in a swivel-up stick form. It's very light, has no scent, and is filled with god stuff like shea, avocado, aloe and chamomile. It's clear and apparently is full of antioxidants.

I love this product. I use it a number of ways. I use it to swipe over my eyebrows to keep the unruly strays in check. (have I mentioned that if I wait too long between eyebrow waxes, I look like Bert from Sesame Street? It's true. I do.)

I use this on a scar on my hand that I've had for a few months. Keeping it moisturized seems to make it look a little more faded.

I use this on my elbows. Yes, my elbows. See, a few months ago I heard someone on TV say "If you want to know a woman's true age, look at her elbows. A woman always uses anti aging products on her face, neck and chest, but they all forget about their elbows." Let me tell you what, since I heard that gem I have been paying MUCHO ATTENTION to moisturizing me elbows. I don't want old elbows!

I have also used this on my cheeks. I have a dry patch on my cheek, and using this before makeup helps the makeup to lay more smoothly over the stupid dry patch.

In my opinion this was totally worth the $6.

The next thing I tried is the Eye Refresh. I paid $3.



This is another one I love. It's a rollerball applicator, and it's filled with a fluid meant to refresh your eyes. The rollerball itself feels great, like a mini massage. The fluid is unfragranced and very light. It contains rosemary, green tea and cucumber. It feels even better if you keep it in the fridge.

The last product I tried is the Lip Exfoliator. This was also $3.



With this you are supposed to apply it, then wipe it off with a tissue and follow with lip balm. It's pretty grainy, and is supposed to scrub off dead skin on the lips.

It works pretty well. I don't love the taste, it's a little chemical-y.

Mine is already a little dried out and I have only had it for about a month. So, I don't see this lasting a real long time.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the three products I tried, and I'm especially happy with the price. Buying from Elf is always a great way to try some new products without dropping a bunch of cash.

L'oreal Total Repair 5

I read about this product in a magazine. I spotted it at Target and picked it up for $5.99. It's a hair mask by L'oreal that supposedly erases a year of damage in one use. The full name is L'Oreal Total Repair 5 Damage Erasing Balm.

My hair is disgustingly damaged right now. Once it gets to a certain length, it starts breaking off at the ends. Well, it's been at that length for like 4 months now. I DESPERATELY need a haircut. You'll all be happy to know that it's happening next week. I'm tired of looking scraggly and gross.

I looked on the jar to see why it's called "Total Repair 5".  It's supposed to instantly repair the 5 signs of damage, which are Split Ends, Weak, Rough, Dull, and Dehydrated. My hair is certainly all of these things.

The directions say to apply to wet hair and let set for 3-5 minutes, then rinse. It has a nice fruity smell to it and goes on nice and thick. It's in a jar, which I like. You can really scoop it out that way. I probably used 3 times the recommended use, but I felt like I needed 3 times the help.

This is good stuff, but it's not miraculous. My hair was definitely smoother, softer, and shinier after use. It didn't really last, though, even until that same evening. I understand that these products aren't designed to offer permanent results, but I at least expect until the next shampoo, especially since I didn't even do any heat styling between shampoos.

In my opinion, the H2O hair masque is a much better product. Must be that extra "Q".

Soap and Glory Reviews

A few months ago, I read about the Soap and Glory brand in a magazine. It's a UK based company that has become very popular over the last few years. I decided to try a few of their products.

I ordered the Calm One, Calm All Bubble Bath, the Great Kisser Lip Balm, and the Fab Pore Facial Peel.

Let's start with the Fab Pore peel. As you all know, I have recently become obsessed with my pore size, so this is the product that I tried first. This cost $25, and it's a tub of 1.7 ounces. The word "peel" makes you think of a product that you peel off. This is not the case. I don't know why they call it a "peel", it's not formulated to remove a layer of skin or anything, like an alpha-hydroxy peel.



This is what it looks like...

It's creamy and it has little green beads in it.



  It has a really fresh and clean smell.

The directions say to use a grape sized amount, and massage it on your face until all the green beads are dissolved, paying special attention to the T-zone. After that, you leave it on for up to 15 minutes before rinsing.

It takes a few minutes for the beads to dissolve, so it kind of forces you into a nice little spa-like facial massage.

The formula felt nice, not too dry or too goopy. The smell was pleasant. It didn't tingle or anything. It actually didn't really feel like anything, which made me question how well it would work. When I rinsed it off, my skin felt a little tighter. I didn't notice an immediate difference in my pores, though. They didn't really look any smaller.

My skin felt nice and soft and smooth, though, so I guess it wasn't a complete loss. I'm going to try using it every other day, and I'll see if there's any noticeable difference in my skin.

The next product is the Great Kisser lip balm. I love this stuff. I have it in my purse all the time and I use it multiple times per day.



The price for this is $10.

This has a very sheer pink/coral tint. It's a little bit sticky, but after it soaks in for a minute or two it's not a big deal. It makes my lips feel super moisturized. It has a nice fruity taste. I can tell it's going to last forever, I'll probably lose it before I use it up, that's how it usually goes. It has mango butter, pomegranate extract, apricot berry and lingonberry oil. It's like a goddamn smoothie in a tin.

The last Soap and Glory product I tried is the Calm One, Calm All Bubble Bath. This costs $16 for 16 ounces, and I don't normally spend $16 on something that's going to go down the drain after 20 minutes, but I had just gotten my tax refund back and was feeling rich. I'm glad I got it, because I really like it. The smell is so nice. It's hard to explain the smell, it just smells really mellow and relaxing. The description of the scent online is bergamot, strawberries, mandarin, musk, amber, floral, and warm vanilla. Uhhh, so basically they threw everything possible into the pot and stirred it up. It worked, though! They say this has built in body lotion. I don't know about that. My skin felt soft after the bath, but I used lotion anyway, because I always do, and it would be weird not to.

 

Overall I was pretty happy with the Soap and Glory stuff that I tried. Someday I'd like to try the Butter Yourself body butter.

MARCH GLOSSYBOX

I'm sorry I haven't posted for almost two weeks...I got pretty busy and then went out of town for awhile. Now that I'm back, let's get started with the March Glossybox. Honestly, after January and February, I had pretty much decided to cancel. In addition to a somewhat lackluster January box, I experienced some poor customer service from Glossybox in the month of March. This box was pretty awesome, despite a ridiculously long shipping time, so I might give them one more shot before I pull the trigger and cancel.

Here's what was in it.


We'll start with the least impressive. A soap from the company Prestiche. It smells fine, I just don't use soap all that often, and I still have the Bvlgari soap from the last Glossybox. Maybe I can slip it into a gift at some point. I also got a $40 gift certificate to this company. I looked online, and a body scrub is $59.99 with $10 shipping. So I think it's safe to say the gift certificate isn't going to get used. I didn't even look to see what this retails for. Let's say $10 because it seems like the company overcharges for everything.


Next we have a full sized Pixi Catching Shadows Eye Crayon. This is pretty awesome. The color is neutral, which means I'll use it quite a bit. The picture makes it look really shimmery, but it's not. This retails for $18.


Now we have a 1.5 ounce Sebastian Shaper Fierce hairspray. Awesome for travel. The full size is 10.6 ounces and retails for $12 on Amazon.



Here is a full sized Elite liquid eyeliner. It's brown, so I'll wear this. This apparently isn't available in America yet, so I don't have a retail price.



Best for last...this is a product I have heard about and was thinking about buying anyway. Love when that happens! It's Model Co. Cheek and Lip Tint...full sized, in Rosy Red. This retails for $24!

This month won me over. I'll stick around to see what next month brings!

I have a bunch of reviews to catch up on...I hope to get the majority of them posted by tomorrow. ALSO, stay tuned for another giveaway!

Boscia BB Cream SPF 27

I got a packet of this with my most recent Sephora order. I wanted to wear it out last night.



I put it on in my main floor bathroom. In the vanity lights, it looked GREAT. I was thrilled.  My skin looked flawless and smooth, and there wasn't a heavy or greasy feeling. I was thinking that perhaps I had finally found a BB cream that works for me.

Then I went upstairs.

The mirror that I have upstairs is flooded with natural daylight.

From my neck up, I looked like I was auditioning for Jersey Shore, or maybe an Oompa Loompa. I was ORANGE, with a distinct mask-like effect where I had put the cream on. I had to scrub it all off.

This product doesn't have different shades, it says "self-adjusting shade for all skin". Yeah right. I have pretty light skin, and this stuff was WAY too dark. It did not appear to "self-adjust" even a little bit.

So, another BB cream bites the dust!

If the shade happens to work for you, though, I highly recommend this. It has SPF 27, and is oil free. It feels very light and it makes the skin very smooth. As long as you don't have really light skin, you should give this a try.

It retails for $38 and is available at Sephora.

New Bag

I picked this up at Target yesterday.....a new handbag for spring. I love the pop of neon, yet it's still neutral enough to wear with anything. I couldn't find a picture of the bag on Target's website, so I took a picture with my phone at my desk. Also please enjoy the picture of a tank that my son painted for me.




Isn't it pretty? It was $29.99.

I currently have my eye on a Botkier bag, but I don't have $400 to spend on a bag right now, so this will have to do in the meantime. Possibly forever.

Snail Mask Review

OK, folks. This morning I tried the Super Aqua mask by Missha from the February Glossybox.

It was kind of an odd experience.

I read the instructions first. It said to take the two pieces of mask out of the package, and peel the backing from each half. There's a half for the top part of your face, with eye holes, and a half for the bottom part with a mouth hole. And good GRIEF are they slimy. It actually kind of grossed me out pulling it out of the package.

I soldiered on, and managed to peel the backing off the top half. Easier said than done. I made kind of a mess. You have to kind of press the slimy mask onto your face and then press down to adhere it.  I finally got both halves on my face.



Hello! (also please note my earrings from Ruche! Love them._

This was the best I could do. Turns out I'm not adept at pressing slimy things onto  my face.

The instructions said to leave it on for 20-40 minutes, then remove and discard and "massage remaining slime into face". OK, it didn't say slime, but it might as well have.

I left it on for 20 minutes, and that was all I could handle. It doesn't smell like anything or burn or tingle, but it just feels so heavy. There's a lot of snail slime involved.

I took it off, massaged the goo into my face, and honestly all I wanted to do was wash the snail off my face. I held off for an hour....my skin doesn't feel especially soft or moisturized. It just felt like I had snail goo remnants on it. So I washed it.

Can't recommend this one, people. Wasn't the best masque experience.