Thursday Thoughts

Oh man, I feel like I need about 10 extra hours a day lately to keep up with everything that's going on in my life right now! So let's dive right into my Thursday Thoughts Link Up with Jen of Ramblings of a Suburban Mom.

So over the last week I've been hired for several jobs, which is awesome (yay paying work!) but is keeping me SUPER busy right now. I'm going to try and keep posts coming on a regular basis, but right now I'm basically going from job #1 to job #2 to home to do my blogging while juggling a 4 year old. I think busy might be an understatement, but I'm currently happy with what's going on and the exciting news that extra money means.

My hair is growing back nicely, I can actually style it most days now. I think once it gets a wee bit longer I'm going to do one of those half shaved hair cuts that have been so popular lately. I think it will look super cute, and if I hate it I can just shave it all off no big deal. DO any of my readers have short hair like this? Gimme all you styling tips please!

I mentioned in my January Birchbox post that my original box went MIA sometime during shipping, well guess what just showed up out of the blue? My original, slightly battered box! Since 90% of the box is single use items I'm pretty happy to have double now, but it is kind of funny that is showed up basically the day after I posted about it being missing. Hopefully there will be no issues this month with my Birchbox orders. I'm planning on ordering a few items this month, basically either things I need (no really, I do actually need them) or some stuff I've been drooling over for months now.

 My Pan that Palette is going super well so far. This (above) is my starting point, and the picture down below is what progress I've made. If you can't tell I've completely finished one, almost finished another, and hit pan on three different shadows. I'm hoping by the end of February to have finished two more shadows and hit pan on two more. I haven't been wearing a ton of makeup lately just because of how busy I've been but I'm pretty sure I can at least finish the two shadows I have planned.

January 2016 K-Beauty Birchbox

I know this review seems really late (I can't believe its the end of January already!), but I have a really good reason for being so delayed. This isn't actually my original box. My original box got lost somewhere between the Birchbox Warehouse and the first shipping checkpoint. After contacting customer service when it became obvious my box was super lost, they sent me out a new one ASAP. But it did mean my box has only been here for a little bit and I've only now finished testing everything out. So let's jump right in before any more time passes by.

This month I chose to just get the guest editor box, which was a k-beauty themed box! For those unfamiliar with that term, k-beauty stands for Korean beauty and typically is more skincare and natural looking makeup based. I've been wanting to try some k-beauty stuff for a while now but was unsure of where to start so this was a perfect introduction sort of box.

Technically there are seven items in the box, but two are bonus items so they don't really count. Only one real makeup item, everything else is basically skincare stuff. No hair items at all, which was a little strange. Don't know if I've ever gotten a box without at least one hair item in it.

This is the only item I haven't tried yet, and that's because I'm testing out another primer right now. While I've heard of this brand before, I've never used anything from them before so I have no idea if they are a good brand or not. This is the 3D effect Flash Cream Radian Primer by IPKN NEWYORK. My understanding is that it's a face primer with SPF 15 and illuminating properties for that glowing, natural face k-beauty products are known for. I'll let you know on Instagram when I use this and what I thought of it, but for right now it'll go into my stash.

I'm a HUGE fan of face masks, I do one probably 4-5 times a week. Clay masks are my usual fare just because I own so many of them (so so many, I may have a problem), so I was really excited to get a new to me brand of clay mask. This is the re:p (real elemental practice) Bio Fresh Mask with Real Calming Herb. There are no parabens, mineral oils, alcohol, animal ingredients, or other nasty for your skin products in this, which is awesome. It left my skin feeling nice without that tight feeling you sometimes get from clay masks. According to the packaging it should help soothe and hydrate your skin, which I'd have to agree with for the most part. I'll continue using this one for sure.

The other mask in the box is actually one of the reasons why I picked this instead of the regular Birchbox. I always see sheet masks on Instagram or at my local Asian store and I've been really wanting to try one. These are basically like one of those no stick gauze pads that has been soaked in skincare goo and cut into the vague shape of a face. You put in on and leave it there till the sheet dries out. These aren't washed off like a clay mask, any residue left on your skin once you remove the sheet should be patted into you skin.

So I said vaguely like your face for a reason. This mask at least fit horribly. I don't know if I just have to skinny/small of a face or what but it felt about 2 sizes too big and none of the holes really matched where my eyes or mouth was. I will admit that I really liked how my skin looked and felt once I took the sheet off but it wasn't a particularly comfortable experience. I'll give sheet masks another try just to see if it was a brand specific issue, but I probably won't become a sheet mask collector anytime soon.

One of the major differences between k-beauty and the skincare stuff you see here in the states is a difference on the focus. Take toners for example, most of the ones you buy here are for oil control or to help get rid of acne. Korean toners seem to focus more on hydrating the skin and giving it a boost of ingredients to help it look plump and radiant. This Waterest First Essence by Goodal is the perfect example of that. This is a toner (I think) that you are suppose to pat into your skin instead of wiping with a cotton ball like my usual toner. I'd call this almost a gel moisturizer it was that hydrating. I really liked this, it may be my favorite item out of the whole box. My skin always feels amazing after I use this, I need to pick up a full sized bottle for sure.

The bonus items were also from Goodal and both are a facial cleanser mostly. I say mostly because one of them is kind of halfway between a treatment and a cleanser. K-beauty seems to blur the lines between categories I've noticed. The pack on the left is the Yerba Mate Cleansing Foam and I'm not the biggest fan of it. It goes on like that old Noxzema cream stuff we all used as teens to combat our acne, but once you add water to wash it off it foams...and foams...and foams. I swear it took me longer to wash it all off my face than it took to open the pack with my teeth, squeeze some out, and rub it into my face. I spent so much time bent over my sink trying to wash all the foam away that my husband actually checked in on me.

The other pack is the Yerba Mate Bubble Peeling stuff. None of the instructions were in English so I had to look them up online, which was a bit annoying. You'd think Birchbox would have included some. This is a slightly gritty gel you rub onto your face, let sit for a bit, them rinse off. The gel foams up (think baking soda when you put vinegar on it) and is suppose to remove all your dead/dry skin. I don't think this is anywhere near what we call a peel here in the states, but the bubbling was pretty fun and made my 4 year old laugh so I guess it wasn't a total bust. I won't be getting either of these items, really not worth the price tag.

The last item is also another reason I got this box. Tony Moly products seem to be taking the beauty world by storm with their adorable packaging and I've been dying to get some of their items. This is your basic red lip/cheek tint, which I'm a total sucker for. I already own a giant bottle of red tint so I really didn't need this, but I wanted anyways.

See what I mean about cute packaging? The cap is in the shape of a little heart! I didn't even notice it at first, my kiddo pointed it out to me.

 Blended out this will give your cheeks a nice flush, or you can apply it to your lips for that "just ate a cherry Popsicle" look. It actually does smell like cherry candy, and taste like every other red lip tint I've tried. Honestly, there's nothing special about it at all, but I like it anyways. I'll probably keep it in my makeup bag since it's such a cute little size.

This box overall didn't really do it for me. I'm glad I got it and got to try everything in it, but none of the products minus the essence wowed me enough to want to get more. I think these products would be awesome for other people, but I have different skincare needs than what most k-beauty items focus on so I may just skip that trend. If you adore k-beauty and think there's something I need to try ASAP or know of a sheet mask that will fit my little face please let me know down below in the comments.

December Birchbox #2 2015

I love the months that I get two Birchboxes, it just makes me so happy for some reason. And if I get a bad box or a few items I don't like between the two I'm guaranteed to have a box full of stuff I like typically. I reviewed the Winter Essentials box the other week, and it was a decent box for me minus the screw up with my eyeshadow color, so I was excited to see what was in my regular box. I'm always hoping to get two fabulous boxes, that's my ideal situation. Instead I got a groan worthy box that was full of stuff I can't use.

While it is a nice full box, you can probably see why I'm disappointed in it. First, two hair care items NOT designed for short hair, and two repeats from my Winter Essentials box. Granted, the eyeshadow wasn't suppose to be a repeat, but since they sent the wrong color in the other box this is a repeat. The breakdown of the box is two makeup, one skincare, and two hair care items. Since I reviewed the Juarra nail balm and the green/gold shadow duo in the other box I won't talk about them again. They are getting passed onto a friend and I'll keep the green/gold one I swatched already.

This is the duo that I was suppose to receive in the other box, and as luck would have the replacement Birchbox sent arrived a day or two before this box so I though I would do the review now. The shade on the left is a matte pale pink color and the one on the right is a shimmery metallic pink.

This is a quick swatch with my finger on bare skin (no primer), and I'm already in love with the right color. The left color is a bit chalky and I have similar colors in my Revealed 2 palette, but that shimmery pink is gorgeous! I will be comparing it to my Revealed 2 palette though since it seems a bit familiar. I'll be buying the set of three palettes these duos are from no matter what, but I want to see anyways.

I was really surprised to see a L'Oreal product in my Birchbox, they're more of a drugstore brand and not what Birchbox usually carries. This is from their Professionals line, which is suppose to be like salon quality hair care items. Normally I'd be all over a decent sized sample of a hair mask, but my hair is literally an inch long right now. I'm really not using deep conditioners right now, maybe twice a month max. And I'm side eyeing some of the ingredients, like rubbing alcohol. Why is there rubbing alcohol (a very drying ingredient) in a deep conditioning hair mask? A full sized tub is also $37, which is batshit crazy you guys. A tub of Amika deep conditioning hair mask is only $24, and Amika is a really nice brand. I'd rather buy a nice brand than a drugstore brand pretending to be nice.

Ah, the major fail. Pre-chemo me would have loved this to pieces for sure. This is the Serge Normant Dream Big Instant Volumizing Spray. What exactly am I suppose to volumize? My inch long hair? Not going to happen, unless the q-tip look is in fashion right now. This will go into the box of stuff I can't use yet and maybe next December I'll have enough hair to justify using this.

While this isn't a fail it did earn an eye roll from me. This is a new product from Benefit, I'm not actually sure if you can buy it yet or if we are the first to use it. It's a tinted mascara primer. Yup, you read that right, a tinted mascara primer. Supposedly you can wear it alone for a "natural" look or wear it under your mascara for added length and separation. Here's the problem I'm having with it, shouldn't the mascara I use do that? Like I buy specific mascaras because they make my lashes into the drama queens they deserve to be, so why do I need to add yet another step into my beauty routine to do what my mascara already does? Granted, I haven't tried this yet and it may be a fantastic product, but I'm a little over the whole "everything needs a primer" trend of 2015. Primer for my face and eyeshadow makeup sure, but my hair does not need primer, my lips do not need primer, and my primer does not need primer.

At least my other box was pretty decent, otherwise I'd be really upset. This box for me wasn't even worth the $10 I spent and I'm not excited to try a single thing from it. The only winner was the eyeshadow that didn't even come in this box. Hopefully my January box will blow this one out of the water and I'll be less cranky.

Winter Essentials 2015 Birchbox

Winter is that time of year where everything is decorated, music is playing on every speaker, and cold, dry air to dry out your skin and hair. Nothing quite like below freezing temperatures to make you stock up on lotion. The editor box from Birchbox this month is called the Winter Essentials box and is full of products to help keep you looking and feeling good this holiday season. I love these themed boxes, they always have the best curating I think. And since the weather here has been super cold (well below freezing some days) I was more than ready for some Birchbox help.

This box has 6 items in it, though the sixth item is more of a treat than a beauty product. There are two beauty items, two skincare items, a hair care item, and the bonus treat. That's a nice ratio of items, I hate getting boxes that seem to be all one thing. The box itself is pretty, but a bit plain compared to the November box (which is in my top 5 designs for sure). And as a bonus I got this box ridiculously fast. As in two days after I ordered it, even though I used standard shipping. So kudos to Birchbox for being awesome.

Let's start with the eyeshadow duo I received. Some of you may be looking at the picture and thinking "that's not the shadow that comes with the box." And you would be right, I was sent the wrong one by mistake. I've already contacted customer service about it and they have the correct one being shipped to me as we speak. All the boxes this month are getting an eyeshadow duo from Coastal Scents's new palette set, you just had the option to pick which duo you got. I actually picked this green and gold duo for my regular box and a pink set was suppose to come in this box. I'll be gifting the extra green/gold duo to a friend when it arrives.

Aren't these gorgeous swatches? I LOVE how pretty they are and I know my picture doesn't do them justice. Coastal Scents has great eyeshadows so I know I'll be picking up their new palettes after all my Christmas shopping is done and I have money again.

Chuao is a tasty chocolate company that makes some super unique chocolate bars, like this one. It's a chocolate pod (aka individual sized bar) with pieces of cinnamon toast cereal in it. I don't like cinnamon cereal but that's my son and husband's favorite so they split it. Hubby said it was alright, the kiddo loved it though. I've had other bars from them and I do like them. If you don't want to order them online I have seen them at Target. This was a fun little perk for sure, I love it when we get bonus items.

I normally love getting things like this, but my hair isn't quite to the length I need to really use and enjoy a leave in conditioner. I haven't tried eSalon before, or even heard of them to be truthful, but I'll stick this into the box of stuff to use as my hair gets longer. It is a decent sized tube though and does smell nice, so it can't be awful.

This was the one item going in I knew I'd have to pass on. Juara makes some great skincare items, but I'm dealthy allergic to coconut so this coconut hand and nail balm is getting passed onto the same friends who are getting the extra green shadow duo. I'll let you guys know what they thought of it, but I'm expecting good things for sure.

How adorable is that little tube? I put a regular sized tube of lipstick next to it for a size comparison. It is soooo cute!

This tiny little baby is by Jane Iredale and is their Just Kissed Lip and Cheek stain in Forever Peach. I haven't tried it on my cheeks yet, but it did give my lips a nice and bright glow to them. And it smells so good, I want to eat it.

There's just a nice peachy tint to it, and according to the info card it will adjust to your skin for a natural, customized shade. This is a very Spring/Summer feeling color, which makes it a nice little perk up in dreary December. And since it's a baby sized lippie I can probably actually finish it before 2017 rolls around.

And last we have one of the items I was most excited about. Derma e is an awesome skincare line that I pick up from time to time at Marshalls for pennies on the dollar (love their clearance section) and I've been wanting to try their microdermabrasion scrub forever.

While the jar looks pretty nicely sized the bottom is false and there is really only two uses in their. I hate when companies do that, it just feels like they are lying to me. And at almost $33 a pop I want to know if it actually works before I buy it. I'm testing out a bunch of other skincare items right now so this will have to wait for a bit. But I'm going to enjoy using it even if I did get lied to.

Overall I really liked this box. I thought the curation was great, the items picked were perfect for a winter essentials box, and I'm really happy with my items minus the few hiccups. And for $10 the value is there for sure just in the lipstick and face scrub. Add in everything else and the value goes up fast.

Thursday Thoughts

Hi everybody and welcome to another week's edition of Thursday Thoughts, which is my weekly link up with Jen of Ramblings of a Suburban Mom. Let's dive right in shall we?

Oh my giddy aunt can you guys believe it's December already?!? This is always such a busy month for me and with my added medical stuff going on this month may be the (figurative) death of me. But I love the holiday season, so I really don't mind. All the Christmas stuff comes out of the closet this weekend so I'm trying to deep clean and rearrange some furniture this week in preparation. Have you guys put up your holiday decor yet? I have some friends that do like 4 trees, which is crazy. Sorry friends, I love you but 4 trees? That's a whole lot of Christmas tree stuff. Although they do look pretty, and I might be a tad bit jealous.

So if you aren't following me on Instagram (which you totally should be), I'm making awesome progress on my Project Pan. I finished another product the other day and I'm super close to finishing a few more items. I won't get every single item done but I'm pretty happy with my progress. Love doing these Progress Pans, they really force me to use stuff up and basically shop my stash. I find I rarely buy anything besides the stuff I'm actively using up, like shampoo and soap, when I do a Project Pan. Maybe its because I'm so focused on those products I don't want to even think about other items? For 2016 I'm going to do a Pan That Palette instead of a few monthly Project Pans just to both shake things up and so I can use up that ridiculously huge 100 eyeshadow palette I have from ELF cosmetics.

Thanksgiving was awesome, my husband's family is always fun to be around and are just wacky and crack me up. We always end up playing some weird game that ends up being one of those "OMG what are you doing" moments. Like last Christmas I have a very vivid memory of someone shoving bread into their shirt during a game. I hope all of you had an equally awesome Thanksgiving if you celebrate it. If not then I hope you had an awesome Thursday.

I finally painted my nails again after like a month of naked nails. Does anybody miss Mani Monday? I really miss Mani Monday and I'll have to start doing them again for December. Full holiday themed nails are just what the doctor ordered. I also have a giant nail polish haul/review that should be up this weekend, so stay tuned for that.

I have two Birchboxes coming this month plus two Birchbox hauls (didn't I just say I wasn't buying things?), although one of them is basically full of stuff for my Husband. But I want to talk about some of the stuff I got him for reasons I can't tell you yet without spoiling the review. Hoping I get some really good mystery sample packs in those orders, someone on my social media just posted theirs and they got two full sized items. And I remember one gal got a Beauty Blender last year in her sample pack! I want a free bonus like that!

And I saved the most exciting news for last, Best Beauty for my Buck is now on YouTube! You can watch my very first video here, and please subscribe to my channel as well. I'll probably put new videos up sporatically, I don't have plans right now for a strict schedule, but I'd like to put a few up a month. Video number one is my October and November empties and is about 15 minutes long. What kind of videos would you guys like to see? I know I want to do tutorials on my channel for sure, but I'm open to suggestions.

Thursday Thoughts

Hello and welcome to another installation of Thursday Thoughts, my weekly link up with Jen of Ramblings of a Suburban Mom. Let's jump right in shall we?

First, Happy Thanksgiving to my readers who celebrate Thanksgiving! I'll be spending the day with my husband's family and making way to much food. Not really planning on doing any shopping but we'll see.

After not finding a planner I liked for a price I liked (seriously, who pays $60+ for a planner?!?) I decided I'd make my own this year. I'm about halfway done with it I think, if people are interested in it let me know and I'll add it to the download section once I've finished it. I've also been making a bunch of cute stickers for it, though that picture is seriously bad. And upside down in retrospect. But whatever, it happens.

I still can't get over how pretty the November box was, I wish all the boxes were this nice looking. Some of them are super ugly, sorry Birchbox. And speaking of Birchbox, I have some Black Friday codes for you. If you are Aces you can use the code ACESONLY to save 30% off your order, and if you are just a subscriber you can use the code BIGDEAL to get 25% off. I'll be taking advantage of that 30% off code for sure.

I don't know about where you live but here it has been FREEZING! And I mean that literally. Right now it is 24 degrees F, which is 8 degrees below freezing. I have a heater set up a literal foot away from me just so it's warm enough to type up this blog post. Sometimes I regret setting my desk up by the giant window in my 70's era apartment.

November Editor Birchbox 2015

I've been on a no buy for the most part lately thanks to both budget constraints and trying to focus on finishing up my Project Pan by the end of the year, so getting two Birchboxes this month was a treat. While I already know what I'm getting when I order a Guest Editor box, they're still really fun to get and I typically enjoy them. Plus at $10 you really can't beat the value (and getting travel friendly items is always a plus). Let's dig in and see what I got.

The box itself was kind of boring to me. Felt very business casual for some reason. I don't know, I just like the fancier looking boxes, especially since I save and use mine.

Five items in the Editor box, which is standard I believe. One makeup, one hair, and three skin (I'm counting the Jouer lip thing as skin), so a really skin heavy box. There was no overlap between the skin items so I don't mind but I'd rather have had two makeup items.

The Living Proof dry shampoo was a great item to get and I'll be saving it for when my hair is long enough to need dry shampoo, but for now it's going into my extras box. I've heard great things about this (expensive) brand though so I'm sure I'll like it.

This is kind of a weird item, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. This is the Jouer Lip Enhancer and is a lip balm/lip tint/fine line filler/lip plumper according to Birchbox. On the lip balm front it is a pretty decent one, but there are other ones I like for a fraction of the cost ($16 for a full sized tube). I call total BS on the lip tint aspect, there is no tint happening at all. It's suppose to be a light pink color but unless you have the worlds palest lips you won't see any difference. On the line filler and lip plumper front I'm ambiguous as to whether it actually does anything. There is no tingling or anything, and my lips didn't really look different. The thing I really don't like about it is it tastes like soap to me. I'll finish it up but I'm calling this one a miss.

I have been wanting to try this product for months now and it was one of the reasons I bought this box. This is the Shiseido Ultimate Eye Gel and is suppose to be a really great eye cream. Obviously it takes about a month to see any real changes with things like this, but I am happy with what I've seen so far. Does it replace my favorite eye gel? Nope, but I'm still glad I got to try it out. It is a little sticky feeling so this is a night time only item for me.

Speaking of sticky, night time only products, the Avene serum I got is really awesome but soooo not usable under my makeup. I love how bright my skin looks after I use it, but it leaves me feeling tacky no matter how little I use of it. Wearing it under my makeup just made my skin feel gross, so I use it at night before bed. It hasn't broken me out and my skin is looking pretty nice minus the trouble spot on my chin I've been battling for the last month. This is a pretty expensive brand though, so I won't be buying a full sized bottle.

And lastly we have the other reason I bought this box, the LOC eyeshadow stick. I got the lipstick in my regular box, but I also wanted to try out their shadow sticks before I commit to buying the whole set. The shade I got is Day Trip and is a super gorgeous shade that isn't really everyday appropriate.

So for holidays and special events I can totally see myself busting this shade out, but for work or out running errands this is way to fancy. The formula is great though and this swatch lasted and lasted. The day I wore it to work (so fancy) it lasted through my day as well, so I'm really impressed with these. None of the other colors really call to me right now so I may wait till the next collection comes out. Or use a coupon code to get the whole set at a good price. One stick is $10, which isn't bad but I'd rather get them at a discount.

Overall this was a good box, with only one miss in it. I would have liked a more wearable eyeshadow color, but with holiday parties right around the corner I'm sure I'll get plenty of use out of it. I'm excited to see what December holds for us, the last December box had some great bonus items like a $10 gift card. If you got this box what did you think of it?