Glossybox-November

Epionce Restorative Hand Cream
Sample was full-sized (2.5 oz). $19 at www.epionce.com/shop (I found this for $10 with free shipping at www.lovelyskin.com)

I am a CNA at an assisted-living facility so I wash my hands a lot. My hands tend to get very dry, in winter-time especially. I am constantly slathering on hand lotions and find that most of them wash right off again the next time I wash my hands. This hand cream goes on so lightly, absorbs quickly (I found it a little greasy at first but it absorbed in a couple minutes), and has a light citrusy smell that I love. More importantly, my hands felt immediately softer and when I washed my hands later I could tell that the cream was still there and didn’t just wash off. I haven’t used this long term yet, as I’m still using up another hand lotion I have, but I love this product and am seriously considering buying it.

Illamasqua LTD Lip & Eye Medium Pencil
Sample was full-sized; $20 at www.sephora.com

I have to confess, I did not actually try this pencil out. The color I received was Devotion which is a very light green. I am not very adventurous with my color palate when it comes to make-up so I gave this to my 16-year-old sister who will wear any color of eye-liner from white to purple to glitter. In hindsight I should have at least tried it so I could give an accurate review but here is her take on it. She said that she usually doesn’t usually like pencils but that it was “good if you like pencils.” She also said the color was so light that she could hardly see it on her eyes. I couldn’t get anything more specific out of her. She’s 16, what do you expect? Some things other people have said about them is that the pencils go on smoothly, blend well, and last. I can’t see myself spending $20 on eyeliner but I do wish that I had gotten a neutral color such as black, brown, dark gray, even a dark blue I would have worn. Light green not so much. I noticed on the Glossybox reviews several other people said that they wished they had gotten a “more wearable” color, as one woman put it.

Arganics by Nume Argan Oil
Sample was 10ml ; full-sized is $59 for 4oz at www.numeproducts.com/arganoil (I found comparable sized products for as little as $8 although I don’t know how the quality is)

I am really on the fence about this product. On the one hand, it does make my hair very shiny and soft (although it doesn’t do much for my flyaways). I should mention however that I use very moisturizing shampoo and conditioner (Garnier Fructis Triple Nutrition if you must know) so my hair tends to be very shiny and soft anyway. I’m really not sure how much was the Argan Oil and how much was the shampoo and conditioner. It absorbs quickly and isn’t greasy but my hair did feel greasy several hours later. Bottom line, it’s an okay product but definitely not worth the whopping almost 60 bucks. I also found a rather scathing blog post about the ingredients in this product. The blogger seemed to think the smoothing and shining was more from heavy man-made substances than from actual argan oil. There are other products that do as good or almost as good of a job without emptying out your bank account (try the Garnier Fructis Sleek and Shine line which uses Moroccan argan oil and is only about $5 or less a product).

Perfumies Solid Perfume Stick
Sample was full-sized; $7 at www.perfumies.com  (select scents $6 at www.amazon.com)

This perfume is available in 95 different scents and is all natural and not tested on animals. The scent I got was Love Always which the website describes as “a lush summer floral with delicate hints of musk and lime, sweetened with sweet juicy apples, luscious pomegranate and tropical ylang ylang.” I’m pretty picky about my perfume scents but this one is lovely. I’m sure my nose palate isn’t as refined as the perfumiers or whatever they call them at Perfumies but I would say their description is pretty spot on. It is light, fruity, and flowery at the same time. I love it. The sticks are small enough to carry in a purse or a pocket and the labels are beautiful and colorful. Just a little dab is enough so it seems like the stick would last a while. And at only $7 this is cheap by Glossybox standards. I think next time I’m shopping for perfume I may check them out again.

Skin & Co Roma Truffle Serum
Sample was about a half-sized tube; original size $36 for 1.01 oz at www.skincoandroma.com

I loved this stuff when I first tried it on. It goes on very light, absorbs almost instantly, and has a wonderful, almost coconut-y smell. My skin is very smooth and soft after using it. But I’ve been using it for a couple weeks now and my skin is soft, smooth and well-hydrated but I haven’t seen any difference in the evenness of my skin tone and in the last couple days I’ve started to break out. I am PMSing so I’m not sure how much of the breaking out is hormones and how much is the truffle oil in the serum but I’m going to hold off a couple weeks on ordering the serum until I see if my skin clears up.

Overall I am really happy with my Glossybox. Three of the five products were full-sized, three of the products I loved, and one I will at least use. Plus there was that $100 gift certificate that I did use. This was definitely worth the money. If you want to get your own Glossybox here’s the link: http://www.glossybox.com/referal?Cl=MjYwMzM=. (You have to include the last equal sign).

Ta ta
Stacy