Yes To Blueberries Age Refresh Firming Eye Treatment- Beauty Army January

Sample- foil packet

Full-sized- $19.99 for 0.5 oz at most drugstores (and WalMart)

I am in the process of trying to settle on a good eye cream I love so I was really happy to get this. And I’m okay with the foil packet because I’ll get plenty of uses out of it. I have super puffy eyes and dark circles so I need some help. If I can find an affordable eye cream that works I will be so happy.

 To start of with this company has several full lines of beauty products that are tailored to specific things. The Yes to Tomatoes (which you have seen all over my blog) line if for acne, Yes to Cucumbers is a refreshing and soothing line for sensitive skin, Yes to Carrots is hydrating, Yes to Blueberries is anti-aging, and the new Yes to Grapefruit is for brightening. All their products use naturally derived active ingredients. I was pretty excited to try this cream. . .but ended up being a little disappointed. The one thing I can say is this is a very healthy sample of eye cream. I compared it to some of my other eye cream foil packets I’ve gotten and this sample was 30% to even 60% larger than some of my other samples. This will probably last me a good month or so. Right there that is a plus. Next, lets talk about the smell. For a “natural” product, this has a very chemical smell. It does have a little fruitiness (not necessarily blueberry though) but it’s pretty chemical. I thought that was strange. The formula seems like a pretty standard eye cream. It’s a pretty thick white cream that does feel a little greasy to me. It doesn’t really absorb very well. My under eye area still feels kind of greasy and it doesn’t get that smooth, dry feeling that my L’Occitane Precious Eye Balm gives me. After using it for about two weeks (which should be plenty of time to test an eye cream) I can’t say I see any difference in my eye area. It hasn’t helped at all with the puffiness or dark circles and the fine lines under my eyes are still there. Plus, I got it in my eye by accident a few days ago and it burns! That is never a good thing. So overall, I will use up the rest of the sample but I don’t recommend this eye cream.

OPI Liquid Sand Nail Lacquer in Can't Let Go- Glossybox January

Sample was full-sized- $9 at your Salon

O.P.I.’s Liquid Sand Line is a brand spankin’ new line. It was developed in conjunction with Mariah Carey although her name is not anywhere on the packaging. I found information online that said it was launching in January of 2013 so it should be in salon’s now. I also found a lot of bottles on Amazon for $5. The whole line is matte polishes that have glitter in them and dry in a bumpy texture. There are 8 shades.

Can’t Let Go is a matte purple with lighter purple glitter in it. I used a topcoat, just because I always automatically do, before I read online that you aren’t supposed to use a topcoat because it will effect the matte-ness. Oh well. It is more shiny than it normally would be but I like the look. As far as the quality of the polish, its OPI so if you’ve used that before, you know what to expect. It went opaque in two coats.

So, what do I think of this? I really didn’t know at first. Its very different and I didn’t know what to think of it. I couldn’t quite decide whether or not I liked it. I definitely liked the color but I wasn’t sure if I liked the texture or not. But after wearing it for a while, and getting several compliments on it, I’ve decided that I like it. It wears fairly well too. I’ve been wearing it for four or five days now with only minimal chipping on the tips. That’s pretty good for me. I’m hard on nails. 

January 2013 Top 5 Favs!

Here's my top 5 favorite products of January!

Revlon Nail Enamel in Scandalous & Stunning

$4.99 at most drugstores

I bought these both on sale from drugstore.com and was actually planning to make a fantastic New Year’s look but I never got around to it. I finally dug them out of my nail polish box and used them a week or so ago. 

I’ll start with Scandalous. When I bought it I thought it was purple glitter in a clear base but its actually purple glitter (both fine glitter and larger chunks) in a clear black base. I’m a little disappointed in that but I still love it. The black isn’t quite as clear as I thought it was actually. It only took three coats to be opaque. I do like the effect, although I would prefer to be able to have just purple glitter without the black. 

Scandalous is on the accent nail

Stunning was everything I imagined it would be. Its silver glitter (both small and large chunks) with some fine blue and green glitter in there too. I didn’t test how many layers it would take to make just opaque glitter but I would imagine its four or five. Its great as an effect over another color though. I used it over Sally Hansen’s Diamond Strength in Black Diamond (not a true black, more a really dark smoky gray with superfine silver glitter) and I love the effect.

Stunning over Black Diamond

These last above average for nail enamel. I had some miniscule chipping on the tips at two or three days and finally took it off after about a week but I could have left it on longer. My Sally Hansen Diamond Strength is about the longest lasting nail polish I have and the nail I had painted with just the Revlon Nail Enamel lasted as long as the rest of them. Overall I really like this nail enamel and would try other colors.

January Glossybox First Impressions!

If you don't want to read this click here to watch my video. Otherwise here's a summary of my January box.

First of all this is super late because its curated by The Man Repeller and her fans went crazy over this box and Glossybox was overwhelmed. Second of all, I got four boxes for some bizarre reason. Here's what was in my box:


Estee Lauder Sumptuous Extreme Mascara in Extreme Black
Sample was a small tube (about half-sized)
Full-sized- $25 at esteelauder.com
I'm excited to try this but I hope I don't like it. I don't want to fall in love with it and then miss it after its gone because I'm not going to spend that much on mascara.


Fresh Umbrian Clay Mattifying Serum
Sample was 1.7 oz
Full-sized is $35 for 1 oz
This is something I'm also excited to try. I've never tried any of the Fresh skin care products so we'll see how this works. I have oily skin so if this works this will be good.


Sebastian Professional Potion 9
Sample was 1.7 oz
Full-sized is $19 for 5.1 oz through Sebastian Professional Salons
From what I pumped out of the bottle already, this is an orange cream-gel that smells like coconuts. Its supposed to be a pre-styling lotion that conditions and smooths hair and helps hold your style.


Le Metier de Beaute Daily Replenishing Daily Solution
Sample was a dinky foil packet
Full-sized- $225 for 1.7 oz exclusively at Neiman Marcus
This is something else I hope I don't like because its ridiculously expensive and is not something I'm going to ever buy.

Tarte Glamazon Pure Performance Lipstick in Fierce
Sample is full-sized-$26
This lipstick is very smooth and creamy and I really wish it was a better color but unfortunately its a bright, orange-y red. It doesn't look good on my skin tone and makes my blemishes more obvious. Its just a little bright for my tastes.

O.P.I. Liquid Sand Nail Lacquer in Can't Let Go
Sample is full-sized- $9
This nail polish has a unique texture. It dries matte with glitter in it. Its a pretty purple color. I'm very happy with this.

Narciso Rodriguez for Her Eau de Toilette
Sample is a small spritzer
Full-sized is $25 for a rollerball, $52 for 1 oz, $77 for 1.6 oz, or $104 for 3.3 oz
I don't love this smell but its not awful. It is floral, musky, and has a touch of powder. It smells kind of grandma-y but not the worst I've ever smelled.

The total value of this is $77.21. Well times four because I have four boxes. I can't say for sure because I haven't actually tried most of it yet but I feel like this might be worth it. I really wish the lipstick was a different color. If it was more wearable I definitely would say this is so worth it. But I'm gonna try everything and review everything individually and I'll get back to you.

Whip Hand Cosmetics Special Forces Loose Pigment Eyeshadow- Beauty Army January

                          

Sample- 0.03 oz

Full-sized- $14 for 0.1 oz

Special Forces is the third installment of Beauty Army’s exclusive collection with Whip Hand Cosmetics. Before I say anything about the actual color of the eye shadow, a word on the packaging. This is in a teensy weensy cute little bottle. The directions on beautyarmy.com say to use the shadow out of the lid. I can see why because I ignored them and dipped my brush right in the bottle (it barely fits) and out came the brush, along with a puff of shadow that went everywhere. I also had to just shake off the excess powder in the sink because there was no way to really tap it off into little bottle. With such a small amount anyway, I felt like this was kind of a waste but oh well. Okay so for the color. It’s a nice peachy color with a touch of orange and a little bit of gold shimmer. Once it goes on the lids the shimmer really wasn’t that noticeable. It wasn’t that pigmented either. It was okay but for a limited edition color I didn’t think it was spectacular. The touch of orange really doesn’t do much for my skin tone but I used this as a lid color with a shimmery, chocolatey brown on the outer lid into the crease and a lighter shimmery pink on the inner corner and it turned out alright. I tried it again with a cool taupe-y color and it really didn’t work out. It needs a warm, deep color to make it look decent on me.

It's swatching darker than it looks in real life just FYI.

So bottom line, not that unique of a color, crappy packaging, lasts decently but not that pigmented. So its okay but not something I’d buy.

First Video!-Glossybox November and December- Was It Worth It?

So this is my first video attempt! I apologize for the crappy awkwardness of it. For all you Negative Nancy's out there, yes I know I said um and like way too many times and I played with my hair too much and the angle is weird but I will try to get better about my videos. Here it is!

Okay so I couldn't get it to upload but I uploaded it to YouTube so here's the link. Ugh. I just watched it again and its really just awful so I apologize but I promise I will try to get better at this.

And just a update on my January Glossybox. . .I checked the tracking today and my box is currently two states away. I'm hoping to get it Monday or Tuesday. If anyone cares.