Wantable January Unboxing

This month I tried a new subscription box called Wantable.  I heard about it via YouTube beauty guru Coffee Break with Dani (check her out she's adorable!).  Wantable is really unique in that they give you a choice between three different boxes.  You can do makeup, accessories, or intimates.  Boxes are $36 for a subscription or $40 for a one time box.  You can cancel or skip anytime you like.  That's right, if you find yourself tight on money one month you can elect to skip a month.  Best of all if you get a box and you are less than thrilled you can send it back for a refund, no questions asked!  So after you pick what kind of box you're going with you take a quiz so that your box will be customized just for you.  For each question you pick between love, like, or dislike.  If you say dislike you will never receive anything like that in your box.  I was really surprised at how thorough the style quizzes are.  It's not a simple do you like lipstick.  It's okay you like lipstick now what shades and finishes do you like.  For the intimates you put in your sizes, including weight, height, and bra size, so they know how to fit you.  You can retake this quiz anytime.   

For my first box I got an accessory box.  Accessories are something I like but just don't find myself using money on.  It's actually a New Year's resolution of mine to accessorize more.  Some of the questions I was asked where: What kind of accessories do I like?  What sort of materials do I like?  Gold or Silver?  How big do I like my accessories.  For me I love big, funky, necklaces but I hate huge earrings.  I felt like it was really easy to communicate my style.  

Wantable is not a box in a box.  When you cut open the big box you're right in side.  Everything is packaged, wrapped in tissue, and sandwiched in foam.  On top is a print out detailing your quiz and telling you about each piece, including price.  

The first thing in my box was a pair of earrings.

These are about an inch and a half long.  Dangling but not outrageous.  I also told them I was a silver girl so the tone is right on.  These are a little heavy but on a whole I like them.  

Next  was a necklace.  

Another silver piece.  This is a longer length, hangs just right with a lower cut top or v-neck.  I really like the addition of the turquoise beads.  Just the right pop of color.  

My last item was a scarf.  

This is the one piece I'm not terribly crazy about.  I do like scarfs but I am not a fan of leopard print.  This is, thankfully, not really in your face printed so I am going to try and work it into an outfit.  It's nice and long and other then the print I think it's fab.  

So there is my first Wantable.  What do you think?  Worth the money or a waste?  Let me know if you're interested in the other boxes and I will order one and do a review! 

  

     

Lime Crime Lip Review

Over black Friday Lime Crime released their Pink Velvet lip stain.  They also had a 20% promotion so I thought it would be a good time to try some products.  I know there has been some drama surrounding the company and its founder Doe Deer but from all I could tell they make a good product and have good customer service.  

For my products I picked two lipsticks, a Carousel gloss, and the Velvetines lip stain.  The shipping wasn't the best.  They had some site complications during the sale and that made for slow ship times.  They also didn't send me out an update saying that my items had shipped.  I'm one of those girls who is always fighting with UPS or USPS over where her house is so I do like to track my things to keep them from getting lost.  In the end my box did make it but I wish that they would send out that info.  

Everything came in a cute little box and their packaging is just adorable.  

There was a lot of tissue paper.  I really appreciate a company that takes the time to pack their items well.  Nothing was broken and the packaging was not all beaten up.  

The two lipsticks I picked were Coquette and Geradium.  

Croquette is a pale peachy nude.  Almost too peachy for me.  Kind of make my lips look like I put concealer all over them.  What I do like this color for is layering.  It looks really great with a pretty pink lip gloss or to tone down a brighter color to make it a day time look.  

Geradium is an intense coral pink.  This color is so bright it's nearly fluorescent. This is exactly the kind of color that Croquette looks good paired with.  It is very bold on its own.  I like a really bright pink lip color so I'm very pleased with it.  I also like how on my lips it's more pink then coral.   

I have read that Lime Crime lipstick smells just like MAC.  I don't own any so I can't verify but I plan on doing some MAC shopping for my birthday and I will do a comparison for you.  I can say that it does smell.  Slightly like vanilla.  I found the formula to be very creamy and opaque.  I had read some reviews that complained that this lipstick took many coats to be smooth and cover your lips.  I did not have that experience.  What you're seeing is one swipe over my lips.  What I will give them is that this is a thick lipstick.  It's longwearing but can be a little drying.  It was not enough to bother me and there are a few more colors I wouldn't mind owning.  The most popular colors like Great Pink Planet are often sold out online but you can also purchase them through Urban Outfitters (strange I know) for the same price as the Lime Crime sight. 

I also got a tube of their Carousel gloss in Snowcicle.  I really, really wanted to try Candy Apple but I was afraid of it not being pigmented enough and then just looking like I was eating glitter.  

Snowcicle is a clear gloss with lots of rainbow colored, iridescent, sparkles.  It's a lot shinier in person.  I doubt that I would ever wear this as is but it is good to add a nice pop of shimmer over a lipstick.  This gloss has surprising staying power.  You will be glittery from it for a long time.  

The wand is just a tiny, little brush.  As an applicator it works well I just wish they hadn't made it clear.  You can see mine is stained pink just a bit from putting over lipstick.  I did wipe it off so I wouldn't get any in the tube but color left it's mark.  I may yet by Candy Apple.  

The last thing I got was the Velvetines lip stain in Pink Velvet.  

This is a very pigmented, bright pink stain that dries totally matte.  Once it's dry it doesn't budge.  I find it not to be as drying as a lot of stay put lipsticks and stains can be.  It actually reminds me of Nyx Soft Matte Lip Cream in texture, but with a lot more staying power.  Be warned that if you do put a gloss over this it will rub off and it does stain.

Over all I had a good experience with Lime Crime and was happy with my products.  I'll be interested in pitting the lipsticks against the MAC ones.  MAC sells theirs for $15 (for the just plain lipsticks), verses Lime Crimes $18, and has a much bigger variety of colors and finishes.  I probably would order from them again.  

How do you feel about Lime Crime products?  Has the drama put you off buying them or are you still a futurista?    

   

   

BirchBox January Unboxing

I've been a BirchBox subscriber for over a year now.  I don't think I've ever been wowed by this box.  I've been disappointed by never wowed.  This box will most likely be my last.  I feel like they are going down hill and there are definitely other boxes out there that I could be enjoying.  

Let's dive into what made this a lackluster box.  

As you can see, this box looks pretty light.  The January theme was "Go Time".  It was suppose to be all about trying new things for the new year.  This theme was only vaguely reflected here.  Sure I hadn't tried any of these things but I just wasn't excited to do so by this box.  

My first products where a set of shampoo and conditioner Gilchrist and Soames.  These are from the London collection.  The shampoo has antioxidants and botanicals like red tea and grape seed.  It smells really light and floral and does a pretty decent job of cleaning hair.  It doesn't lather up much but it did rinse color out of my hair so if you have color treated locks I'd skip this.  The conditioner is suppose to be a light formula that strengthens and restores hair.  It smells nice like the shampoo but it is not a light formula.  This stuff is really thick.  That was okay by me due to the fact that my hair is a bit dry right now.  It made my hair feel nice and soft but my day two hair felt a little waxy.  The full sized product is 8oz and they are $16 a piece.

This is also where I had a box issue.  The cap on the conditioner was broken.  

Thanks to the large shape of the bottle my box wasn't swimming in conditioner.  The product didn't seem to be affected at all.  No leaking or drying out, so I was lucky.  

My next product was from 100% Pure.  

This is a fruit pigmented mascara.  I was really interested to see how this would work.  I'm really into natural products and it smells really good.  There's not even a hint of chemical smell, just a nice fruity scent.  They claim that this was going to thicken and lengthen. They were so wrong.  This mascara did turn my lashes black but that was about it.  It was a fairly dry formula and I probably put four coats on but it did nothing to thicken or lengthen.  I will say that it also didn't clump or smudge so it has that going for it. Full sized product is .24oz and is $18. 

My last official sample was from derma e.  

Yay!  Little foil packs!  I can't stand little foil packs.  They are messy and just a pain.  These are filled with Vitamin E Intensive Body Balm.  This was my least favorite sample.  The formula is some how both sticky and greasy and the same time and it smells like old sock.  It did somewhat soften my really dry feet but I could find something more pleasant than this to do the same thing.  Full size is 6.7oz and $15.  

This month BirchBox threw in a little extra they called a BirchBox Find Alert.  This product was the best part of the whole box.

It's a bitty, little pot of Burt's Bees Intense Hydration Day Lotion.  To be honest I thought this was hand lotion.  Turns out it's an anti-ageing face moisturizer for dry skin.  I have combo skin but it smelled so good I wanted to give it a try.  For being for dry skin it was really light.  The formula absorbed right into my skin and didn't leave me feeling greasy or looking oily.  The Clary Sage is just divine smelling.  The full sized product is 1.8oz and is $18.

So there's the end of my BirchBox for January.  What a let down.  I'm going to be canceling my subscription.  I've decided to try out a couple different monthly beauty boxes instead so be sure to look forward to some new unboxings.  

Do you subscribe to a beauty box?  Which ones and what keeps you going back.

   

    

High end VS Drug store: Mascara!

I've decided that I want to do a series on here comparing high end products to their drug store counterparts.  Not as a way of picking out dupes (that MUA speak for duplicates) but as a way of seeing what's worth the money and what you can get for cheap.

For the first verses I picked mascara.  Mascara is an interesting product in that the box claims so many things.  This one product is going to give you voluminous, long, perfectly curled lashes that are the blackest of black.  Is there really any truth to the advertising?  For this I applied two coats to my lashes and did not curl.  I used drug store on my left eye and high end on my right.

For my high end mascara I picked Dior's Diorshow Black Out.  

This mascara runs $25.00 at Sephora.  It comes in a black, metal tube with gold lettering.  The wand is natural bristle and on the large side.  

The package claims, 'Diorshow Black Out Mascara gives your lashes a little more oomph and a lot more drama. Intensified by ultra-black, kohl pigments, the formula glides on smoothly and draws each lash out to show-stopping lengths.'  

It does lengthen and it is really, really black.  When I cleaned this off I noticed how black it turned my face wipe.  It is a pretty wet formula so there is a little smudging under my bottom lashes.  You might want to use the card trick when applying this.  It goes on super smooth.  I love how black it is and how there are no clumps to be seen.  

For my drug store pick I chose Cover Girl LashBlast Volume mascara.  

You can pick this up for about $8.99 (this price is from Ulta).  It comes in a fat, orange, plastic tube.  I've noticed that Cover Girl has a thing for needlessly large mascara.  The wand in this is a large synthetic brush.  

Package claims for this? 'Get a blast of lush, volumized lashes! LashBlast's patented volume-boosting formula and patent-pending brush are designed to max out each and every lash, leaving you with the ultimate big-lash look.' 

You can see that this is not nearly as black as the Dior.  It is, however, lacking smudge.  This is a much drier formula.  You do really need to work at it to coat your lashes.  I'm not sure it lengthens as much as they would have you believe but it does do a nice job.  I've only used two coats here and I feel like if you added any more it would start to clump up.  I did use the water proof version of this and they aren't kidding.  This is near impossible to get off.  

So which one would I pick?  Is going high end worth it for mascara?  I've bought the Cover Girl for years now.  I've tried a lot of other mascaras, both high and low, and I've always come back to this one.  D. actually bought me the Dior on a recommend from a girl at Sephora.  In the end I've got to give it to the Dior mascara.  It's just so black!  I love how it makes my eye lashes look.  I won't be tossing my Cover Girl any time soon.  It's still an amazing product.  I just happen to like the Dior just as well.  

I'd like to do this as a weekly thing if people are interested.  What would you like to see next?  Maybe you have a favorite drug store find and you'd like to see how it stacks up against the high end stuff.  Or maybe you're tired of spending $20 for one eye shadow and you're interested in finding a drug store one that still makes you feel high end.  Whatever your interest feel free to tell me all about it in the comments section.   

  

Purple eyes with Kat Von D

Just a short post to show off a little purple look I did using the Kat Von D Poetica palette.

I used the color Forgiveness in my inter corner then faded in Babe.  To darken the outer corner I used Shiba.  I also blended that in to the crease.  To just give the look at little more dimension I used Wonderland just on the outer V and under my lower lashes mixed with Babe.  Top it all off with Puro Amor liner and mascara.  

It's really nothing amazing but I do love how the purple makes my eyes pop.  I'm thinking about doing another look with the neutral side if anyone is interested in seeing that.

Do you ever use your days off to just play around in your makeup stash?

Kat Von D Spellbinding Look Kit Review

Another amazing Christmas gift I got from D. was the Kat Von D Spellbinding Look Kit.  It retails at Sephora for $59.00.  I had been curious about her products for awhile.  I guess the critic in me sees a celeb marketed item and automatically thinks it's mediocre at best.  I was pleasantly surprised with this set.  The shadows have a great consistency and color payoff and the eye pencils are very creamy. You can buy each of these items separate but I thought it was a nice way to try out a variety of her products.   

The kit comes with the Poetica eyeshadow pallette (which has a mini eyeliner called Puro Amor), a full sized eyeliner in Immortal Love, a Sin-Full lash mascara in Puro Amor, and a Foiled Love lipstick in FTW.  

The Poetica palette has eight eyeshadows in it.  There are two sides, one with neutrals and one with purples.  You'll find two matte, three satin type finish, and three colors that are full of glitter.  The two matte are probably my least favorite in here just because I feel like they aren't as pigmented as the rest.  The colors that are glitter are really nice because that glitter transfers well to the eye.  Sometimes you get a color that's really sparkly in the pan and none of that gets on your eye.  With these shadows that's not the case.  The formula is really velvety and the colors blend very well.  You also get a mini sized version of the Autograph pencil in Puro Amor.  

 The first light shade is a satin like shimmer shade called forgiveness. It's got a cream colored base and gold sheen to it.  Beautiful for an inner highlight color.

Next is one of the matte shades and it's called Sand Timer.  It's a very basic beige color.  While it doesn't offer a lot of pigment I think it would work well in the crease as a blending out color.  

Up next in the neutrals side is Chandler.  I love this color.  It's a very shiny, but not glittery, copper color.  It reminds me a bit of Urban Decay's Half Baked.  This would add just the right amount of glow to an other wise plain neutral look.  

The darkest shade on that side is called Tijuana.  Tijuana is a black shadow that is just loaded full of copper glitter.  I think it would be really fun to use this on a smokey eye or to add a pop of sparkle on an outer v.  

Now the palette works backwards from darkest to lightest.  The darkest purple shade is called Wonderland.  It's a very dark, almost black purple colored shadow with tons of violet colored glitter.  It would be great applied like Tijuana or if you used a light hand even an all over lid color.

Up next a is lovely lavender shade called Shiba.  Shiba is also the third glitter shade in the palette with gold flakes.  It's not quite as glittery as the other two so I feel like it could be a bit more versatile.  

My favorite color in here is this purple one called Babe.  It's a very bright cool toned violet with just a hint of a blue shift.  It does look similar the Urban Decay Betrayal which I also love. 

The last eyeshadow color is called You Alone.  It's an off white, cream color.  I really can't see using this for anything but a highlight color.  

With a mini Autograph pencil and a full sized one you get to try two with this kit.  The mini is a nice, dark black called Puro Amor and the full is a deep brown call Immortal Love.  They both are super creamy and glide right on. 

The last eye product is a full sized tube of Sin-Full mascara in Puro Amor.  Sin-Full mascara is described as, 'A mascara that turns up your eyelash volume by curling, lengthening, and thickening each and every strand.'  I don't know about all that but it is a nice black mascara.  I would say no better or worse than an average drug store brand.  I do really like the big brush however.

The last thing in the box is a full sized, Foiled Love lipstick in FTW.  The Foiled Love line of lipsticks are really interesting in that they are a metallic, foil, finish.  Rock and roll enough to be a Kat Von D lip product but still tame enough for daytime wear.  It's very beautiful when applied. The formula makes the shade just slide on but has enough staying power not to slide off.  FTW is a pretty cranberry shade.  I also really love the packaging.  The tube is etched in flowers and has a clear, acrylic bottom so you can see the color of the product.  

Over all I would definitely say I would buy other things in the Kat Von D line.  I'm really interested in her Lock-It Tattoo foundation and concealer.  She also has several other eyeshadow palettes out, including a new one for Spring called Esperanza.  

What do you think?  Interested in trying?  Or maybe you have and have got some recommends for me to try next!  If you'd like to see other reviews on Kat Von D let me know in the comments.