FOTD- Pink and Gold

Products I used:

FACE

Estee Lauder Double Wear foundation in Shell

Cream white foundation (generic and crappy)

Makeup Forever Full Cover Concealer in #1

Rimmel Match Perfection concealer in #125 Fair

Mac Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in Light

Nars Douceur

Flirt! Love and Matteness Pressed Powder in 07- Nude Envy- Warm

EYES

MAC Sushi Flower (lid)

MAC All that Glitters (inner third)

MAC Cranberry and MAC Antiqued (outer third and crease)

MAC Naked Lunch (brow bone)

MAC Carbon (upper lash line)

Maybelline Chic Naturals in 15s Linen (clean up around the eyes)

LASplash Mineral eye shadow face and body Glitter in 16618 Exquisite (lid)

Rimmel Exaggerate Waterproof eye definer (tight line and water line)

Benefit They’re Real Mascara

LIPS

Ulta lip liner in Flesh

MAC Crème sheen lipstick in Shy Girl

NYX Mega Shine Lip Gloss in Beige Pearl

March Birch Box

I told you I would be back! Last week, I received my Birch Box for March. A few weeks prior, they sent out an email giving you a choice between the Teen Vogue Box or the standard box. I did not reply in time but I was extremely lucky to receive the Teen Vogue box. I know I am not a teen, far from it actually, but I am so excited about the products inside the box. With anything you receive, there is always hit and misses but this box is a huge improvement from last months. As always, I love the actual boxes the products come in. They are so cute and I can’t wait until a get a few more so I can actually do something creative with them. Any ideas?

The first product was the Fresh Sugar Rose Tinted lip treatment. I have a full size of these in a different color already and I do love this product. I have never been crazy about the smell/taste but it feels wonderful on the lips. The packaging is so cute and it is the perfect size to throw in my bag. I did try to swatch it for you but it doesn’t show up on my skin. I have a picture below but you really cannot see anything but did I mention how wonderful it feels?

The next item is the Kerastase Elixir Ultime. It is hair oil used to hydrate, smooth and sleekify your strands. I haven’t tried this yet but the cost of the full size product is crazy. It is $54! I don’t think I could ever spend that much on hair oil. It just seems so wrong. I do like the smell of this product. It is a very light smell and it felt great on the back of my hand. LOL. (The picture below is awful, sorry)

I receive another perfume sample. What is with all the perfume samples? The sample I received this time was Petite Cherie by Annick Goutal. It is obviously a French perfume. It is classified as a sexy, floral mélange of peach, vanilla, fresh grass, and musky rose. It is not bad. Definitely not my kind of scent. I can pick up on the rose right away and the fresh grass but I cannot smell the vanilla or peach. I would never by the full size but it is an ok sample. I will probably end up giving it away.

I am so excited about this next item! It is a full size Essie Luxeffects nail polish. An Essie nail polish is $8 and the box is only $10! It is so worth it. I swatched it below but it doesn’t really do the color justice. The color I received is A Cut Above and it is a pink glitter polish. The glitter is in all different sizes.  I love it and I cannot wait to wear it!

The last two items are nothing to write home about and I won’t spend any time talking about them. I received a red Twistband hair tie. It is supposed to be snag free. I also received a discount code for ModCloth. Honestly, I look at the site briefly and it is not cheap. Even with the discount, I am still going to spend quite a bit. I am also not completely comfortable buying clothes online either. I will let you know what I decide. LOL. Apparently today is not the day to make any decisions if you saw my last blog post.

That’s it for my March Birch Box and I must say they stepped it up a little. I would like to have more makeup products but it was not as bad as last months. Improvements are appreciated.

I hope you all have a great night or day and I will be back soon!

March GlamBag

Hello  everyone! I am back again. It seems like forever. Work has been so busy and I meant to post this last week but my parents were in town and there was just not any time. I received my March Glam Bag about two weeks ago. I am not particularly amazed by what I received. I saw a lot of videos on YouTube that hated this bag and I don’t blame them. I have already used a couple of the products in the bag so this can be somewhat of a tiny review. The theme for this month’s bag was repair and restore. The bag itself is not my style but it seems sturdy.

Included in this month’s glam bag was the DermStore care package. Inside was a $25 gift card to Dermstore. However, you have to spend $50 to receive the$25 off. The fine print says it cannot be used on every brand. I haven’t spent a lot of time looking at this site but I better because it expires in May. The second item in this package was the Murad Eye Lift Perfector. I have used this already and I am not impressed. This product is supposed to visibly lift, hydrate, and de-puff around the eyes while minimizing dark circles to restore a youthful look. Honestly, I didn’t notice a difference and it wouldn’t have been so bad but the tint was just awful. It was not meant for us fair skin girls. It said it had a “natural” tint but it was much darker than my skin tone. It was very noticeable and I had to blend it out with my foundation which defeated the purpose because I must have wiped most of it away. I am sure it works just fine for girls with a “natural” skin tone but for me, it just didn’t cut it. The last product was the Pur-lisse Pur-tect Essential Daily Moisturizer. It has SPF 30 which is good for me. I haven’t tried this product out yet. I am still searching for the perfect moisturizer so I am planning on trying this soon.

Next is a product I probably won’t use because I just dyed my hair. It is the Keracolor Color Enhancing Leave-In Treatment. It is designed to enhance, protect, strengthen and hydrate all hair types. Maybe I will try it once my color fades. I believe this includes two one- time use samples.

I received another Murad product and it is the Absolute bronzing boost. Now if you are reading this, I am sure you have seen my picture by now. I am extremely fair and I am not into bronzing and if I was, this product is just way TOO DARK for me. I included a swatch below. Now I know not everyone is fair like me but I am tired of receiving products I cannot wear unless I have a darker skin tone. It is very annoying. I guess I can try to sheer it out with moisturizer and put it on my neck. I will have to play with it but I am not in any rush. Why is it that I always have to find a way to “sheer” foundation and bronzers? Why can’t anyone make the perfect color for me!!

The last thing in the bag was the My Glam exclusive Classic Crease brush and case. I know a lot of people think this brush is crap but you know what, I love it! I have used it every day since I received it. It blends my shadows so well and it hasn’t shed once. It is my new favorite blending brush. It is too big to be used just on the crease but it blends like a dream. The brush case, however,  is crap. It smells badly and it doesn’t stay shut. I like the color but it is low quality. I am still trying to decide what to do with it. I don’t want to trash it but I am not sure if I could really use it. I am afraid to put any brushes in there because I don’t want them to smell. Decisions, decisions.

That’s it for the March Glam bag. I am not overly impressed but I don’t hate every product so that has to be a good thing, right?

Don’t go anywhere! I will be back again with my March Birch Box!

Makeup and Skincare Haul

Hello Everyone! I am back. I know I have been gone for awhile. Unfortunately, life sometimes gets in the way and things get thrown of course. Since I last posted, I haven’t been doing much in regards to beauty but today I did buy a few things. I needed a pick me up since the last couple of weeks have been hellish. Plus, after this weekend, the money spending is stopping for awhile. May is going to be an expensive month (too many birthdays) for me so I need to start saving now.

My first stop today was Target because they carry ELF products and I wanted to see if they had a certain product which they did. I absolutely love the ELF studio powder brush. It has a flap top and it can be used for foundation, powder, blush, and bronzer. This is my third one. I had to throw one out because it was so hard to get it cleaned and since it was only $3, I didn’t hurt me to buy a new one. If you think about it, $3 for a brush doesn’t suck and it is surprisingly a really good brush. I never experienced any shedding with this brush in the past. It is a great bargain and it something I would always buy again. I also had to get the ELF brush shampoo. I have tried a few others including baby shampoo and I think the ELF shampoo is definitely the best and it is only $3. You cannot do better than that especially for something you use on a regular basis. Now for the reason I went to Target. I was looking for an inexpensive makeup setting spray. I knew ELF had one but I didn’t really want to order it online unless I had to. I was in luck because they had it there. I plan on keeping this in my purse so I can refresh my makeup during the day especially when my foundation will not stay in place and it needs a touch up. The setting spray has aloe, green tea, cucumber, and vitamins A, C, and E in it. 

So I cannot go to Target without looking at all of the cosmetics and I made a few impulse buys. The first was a new nail polish. I have really wanted to try an Essie polish for so long but I always changed my mind since they are not cheap. I broke down and picked up Chinchilly. It is a gorgeous grayish, brown color with a slight purple undertone. I guess you can say it is Taupe. I can’t wait to try it out. 

I have been hearing nothing but good things about the Revlon lip butters and I just had to pick a couple of them up. I had tried to purchase these before but they always seemed to be sold out but they must have restocked today because every color was available. The two colors I chose were #050 Berry Smoothie and #025 Peach Parfait. I will include swatches below as well so you can see how beautiful the colors are on the skin. I haven’t had a really chance to try them out but I do hope they are better than the Maybelline Baby Lips collection. They dry my lips out so badly and they are too pigmented for being a lip butter/chapstick. I wanted subtle color, not in your face color. :)

My next stop was Ulta and I had a purpose when I walked in there. I wanted to pick up a new brush head for my Clarisonic. I have been in desperate need of one and I couldn’t wait any longer. My skin has been suffering from lack of use. The brush I use is the Deep Pore Cleansing. I love my Clarisonic and I really need to start using it more. I just get lazy and it is easier just wipe my makeup off and then be done with it for the night. I have to stop doing that because I am not getting any younger and my 28^th birthday is approaching way too fast! (Insert sad face) The only other thing I bought at Ulta was the Real Techniques Stippling Brush. I have wanted this brush since they came out but Ulta is always sold out. I had the MAC stippling brush previously but it fell apart and I was so disappointed. I am excited to have this one and it was only $9.99 and the MAC brush was over $30 so you really cannot beat the price.

So I was planning on being done for the day after Ulta. I even went home and had a nap but then suddenly I decided I needed to go to CVS. I heard they carry a good selection of NYC products. NYC has really had quite the comeback lately. I remember being 12 and buying NYC because it was so cheap and I knew nothing about quality at that time. Well 15 years later, they have really turned around. I hear great reviews on YouTube and beauty blogs. So I splurged and bought a couple of items. I bought three eyeshadow products and one brow pencil. I will have pictures and swatches below of the shadows but not of the brow pencil because I just realized it is not in my bag. It is on my receipt but not in my bag. I searched my car and purse and the cashier never put it into my bag. Seriously? It was only $0.69 but I am very disappointed because now I have to go back tomorrow. I am not sure if the $0.69 is worth the gas or not. LOL. I am however really impressed with the shadows. They are very smooth and highly pigmented. I am excited to use them! 

So that concludes my makeup/skincare purchases for the day. I do have a few things to shop for this weekend for work and I am also getting my hair done on Sunday which I am so excited about. My roots are showing like crazy and my hair needs a trim badly. Maybe I will add pictures this weekend.

Well that is it from me. I hope you all have a great day/night and you will see another post soon!