CEW Prestige Box, Bringing Some Fancy to My Routine

As a budget beauty blogger I rarely review the more luxury brands that are out there. So when Birchbox released this years CEW boxes I of course snatched them up as fast as I could. For those unfamiliar, CEW is the Cosmetic Executive Women Insider' Choice Awards, so basically the best products for a given category. This box is all the prestige headliners, so the luxury brands and high end products we all drool over but can't always afford. The actual box was $18, which I think is a fair price for the items that I received. Let's dig into my goodies shall we?

This box came with those paper string confetti to help keep everything secure, which was a nice and fancy touch I thought. My son promptly ran off with them to who know where, so one point for Birchbox already I guess. There are seven items in this box, though one of them is a foil bonus sample I think. But 6 items is still a great box, and almost everything was a great size. If this was my regular Birchbox I'd be the happiest beauty blogger out there.

First up is an item I've been dying to try since it was first released, Benefit's new push up liner. I'm a major winged eyeliner fan so this product appealed to me in that sense. Now I'm sure some of you have done some online dating where you see the perfect person online but when you meet in person they are so awful you're afraid they want to make a person suit out of you. That's my opinion of this product.

First, it was tiny. Like I've had pretzel sticks bigger than this. And instead of being a click or twist up you have to squeeze the product up through the rubber tip, which has to be the worst way EVER to get an eyeliner product out. And to ass insult to injury once you did manage to get the product warmed up enough to squish it out, there's only enough to use it for two days. Two clumpy, thick, messy days. I'm beginning to think Benefit just hates doing deluxe sized samples and gives you the shittiest, smallest ones they can legally make. At this point I am so done with Benefit I will never buy one of their products EVER, thanks to how awful all the minis that I've tried are. So good job there product marketing team.

I was actually surprised to see Coola in this box, I don't really consider them a prestige brand at all. I prefer Supergoop to them, and had hated the only Coola product I had tried in the past. This is just their regular sunscreen, nothing really special about it. It did smell nice, sort of mangoesque I guess. And I didn't get sunburned while wearing it, but I found it a bit greasy feeling for my taste, so I'll stick with my Supergoop next time I need to buy sunscreen.

I apparently only took product still in boxes pictures for some reason, but this is a decent sized glass phial of a Marula facial oil. I've started really loving face oils lately (thanks Jouer!) so I was super excited to try this one out. It has an unusual smell that I can't quite describe, but I like it. My only problem is the opening to the bottle is super small so getting even a drop out is frustrating. I'm going to have my husband pop the lid thingy off of it for me so I can continue to use this oil, but first impression is that I like it. And for those going "why would I want to put oil on my face", this puts good oil and moisture back into your skin, which makes it not produce the bad oil we all know and loathe.

You probably can't see the label on this since it's black on black, but this is a lip and cheek crayon by NudeStix. Now Nudestix is one of those new to me brands I've been super curious about, so this is one of the reasons I got the box. Again, for some stupid reason I only did the bare minimum for pictures but this is an actual wooden pencil (like a giant color pencil) and the shade is exactly like the color shown on the outside. I was worried it would be really drying but it is nice and creamy and I never noticed any drying of my lips. The shade on me at least was a nice neutral nude color, perfect to wear to work or on days I want just really simple makeup. It is a jumbo sized pencil so I'll need to pick up a new sharpener for it. But I'm super pleased with it and would be comfortable investing in another product from this company.

I'm sure most of you have heard of GlamGlow by now, but if now it is an overpriced mud mask that has taken the beauty world by storm. I say overpriced because an actual jar is $69 for 1.7 ounces! Is that not ridiculous? So this sample right here more than paid for the box. I actually haven't tried this yet, my skin is reacting strangely to the chemo so I'm being very careful with how much new stuff I test out at a time. I tried a itsy bitsy sample of their new foaming cleanser a few months ago and I wasn't impressed at all, so I'm expecting this to be like every other mud mask I've tried.

The foil bonus sample was one of GlamGlow's other mud masks, and again I haven't tried it yet but I doubt it will wow me enough to justify a $69 price tag.

My last item came all gift wrapped, which was exciting! It was like a present from Birchbox to me....that I paid for. Ok, that sounded better in my head. I let the kiddo open it because I'm awesome like that (and I can't resist the puppy dog eyes).

This is actually a super cool product. It is a hair perfume/shine spray/frizz fighting spray by Fekkai, a high end hair care company. I've tried some of their shampoo and conditioners and was never impressed, but this item has totally won me over. It is Creme Vanilla and it smells amazing! I've used it almost every single day since it arrived. I do notice less frizz than normal this time of year, but I don't know if my hair is shinier than usual. It looks like there are two other scents as well, a citrus mint one and a rose one as well. I really like this and I know it's not a necessity and who really needs hair perfume but I like it and may buy the set of them and then feel guilty forever because of it. While my hair smells pretty.

While this wasn't a complete hit with me, I did really enjoy the box and I loved getting to try all these fancy and expensive products out. Will I purchase any of them? No (well...maybe the hair perfume), but half the fun of subscription boxes like Birchbox is getting to try things I would never buy for myself. If you got this box what was your favorite item in it?

Nicole Richie Guest Collaborator August 2015 Birchbox

August is the month for Birchbox, with not only the regular Birchbox, but a killer guest box and two CEW boxes debuting as well. As a subscriber I had the option to get a regular Birchbox AND buy the guest collaborator box for an additional $10, which I of course did. I really wanted to try some of the products in the guest box and $10 was a steal (that I used points on, so I actually paid $0), so I opted in. That box shipped before August even started if I remember correctly, I know I received it like a week or so ago after the standard 7ish days of shipping. Let's dig into this box shall we?

First, it was a pretty box for sure this month, though it felt more spring than end of summer to me. Nicole Richie has some new reality show going on, Candidly Nicole if I remember correctly, so obviously using Birchbox to help advertise her show was a smart move. Am I going to watch the show? No, I'm pretty specific in what I watch when I do actually watch TV (Netflix for life), so nothing about the show appeals to me. But I do think she has a great sense of style now and am excited to see what she picked.

Since this was a guest collaborator box I already knew what I was getting, though supposedly there were different colors for the nail polish. This box has two skin care items, a hair care item, a makeup item, and one nail polish. I like mixes like this, I have so much makeup right now that a skin care or hair care heavy box is more in line with what I want.  Nothing was full sized, which is always a bummer, but at first look everything is a good size. And let's be honest, the smaller sized items are easier to travel with and actually finish up. I've got a 4 day trip coming up soon so I'm really looking at travel sized items since luggage space will be tiny.

First up is one of the items that sold me on the box. I love Dr Brandt products and I love facial exfoliants, so a microdermabrasion from Dr Brandt is a match made in heaven for me. Since a little goes a long way with products like this I'll get at least a month of use out of this, which is fabulous. I've used it twice already and I love the fresh citrus scent and it feels great on my face. If you like the Vasanti microdermabrasion you'll like this for sure. And if you are on a budget like I am, check your local Marshall's. I've seen lots of Dr Brandt items there for $10-$15 off, which is a great savings.

This is a hair smoothing cream to use when you blow dry your hair, which would be great for most people but I almost never blow dry my hair. Especially right now with the chemo making my hair fall out I really don't want to do anything damaging to it. So I haven't tested this out and I may actually pass this on to a friend who does blow dry often.

This was the other item that convinced me that I needed to get this box. Laqa & Co has been on my list to try for the last year, they make a ton of awesome lip crayons, which is one of my favorite lip products. SO when they released a line of cheek and lip crayons AND one was in this box I was ecstatic. For some reason I did not take any swatch pictures but it was actually really close to the color of the container.

I will admit nothing makes me crankier than when a company gives me a big package with a teenie amount of product in it. Either give me an amount proportionate to the case or shrink the packaging. That crankiness aside I really liked this as a cheek color. It gave me a great flushed look, applied smoothly, blended well, and seemed to last. I didn't like it as a lip color, but I've been battling some chapped lips so I really should give it another try once I've won that battle. I will probably get the complete set of all 3 colors since I love the ease of this product.

My picture does not do this polish justice, it is such a pretty new penny color with like teenie tiny silver micro glitter in it. I did my nails, my toes, my spawn's toes, and have lent it out to a friend already. It's one of the new OPI Venice colors, which the whole line is gorgeous to be honest. I will so be picking up the rest of the line once OPI goes on sale at Ulta. And how cute is that tiny little bottle? So adorable! And my first polish in a subscription box! According to my husband I don't "need" any more polish, but come one. You all know I need more.

This is another new product, this time by St Tropez. They are a tanning product company and this is their new in shower tanning lotion, which is such a neat concept. The only problem is I'm super tan normally so I really have no need for a bottle of self tanner. But the in shower bit is so cool, I may save this for winter when I get a wee bit paler. Or I'll pass it onto a pale friend in need.

Overall I thought this was a great box with a really nice mix of products. Most people would be able to use all of the products, which makes it a nice safe box to send to people. I liked everything I got, even if it is something I can't use right now like the tanning lotion and the hair cream. The Dr Brandt and the OPI polish are my total faves from the box, and I do like the Laqa cheek crayon, so I feel like I got my $10 out of the box for sure. If you got this box what did you think of it?

Thursday Thoughts

I can't believe it's already Thursday, I think I only managed to get two posts up in the last week so it's like Monday for my blog. But since it is actually Thursday I'm linking up with Jen of Ramblings of a Suburban Mom for her Thursday Thoughts Link Up.

So this is week 3 of being on the Lupron and things have gone downhill fast, which is why my posting this week has been abysmal. Starting Saturday night I was back to throwing up and being super sick to my stomach ALL the time. The bone and joint pain has increased enough to where Monday I literally needed help getting out of bed. I have a good day every once in a while but for the most part I walk around like an old lady for the first few hours after getting up. My hair loss has increased enough that I have an actual bald spot, which is luckily by my temple so easy enough to hide. But I'm pretty sure if the hair loss doesn't slow down I'll be bald before the end of September, which is a pretty depressing thought. My long hair is important to me, so watching it just fall out like this has been extra hard. I've also lost about a third of each of my eyebrows, which is both hilarious and depressing. Guess I don't have to worry about plucking them anymore. And in case this wasn't enough to deal with my hormones have crashed and I'm pretty not ok right now. I spend a good amount of time crying everyday, which isn't healthy from a mental health standpoint. Next week should be my next injection and I'm hoping things will level out a bit or at least not get any worst. The Lupron had better work after all of this, otherwise I'm gonna be pissed!

On a less depressing note, all 4 of my Birchboxes have arrived! The guest contributor box will go up tomorrow, with the rest of them either over the weekend or the beginning of the week. There were things I liked about all of the boxes, and getting so many new to me products to try all at once has really lifted my spirits. There's a reason retail therapy is a things guys. I don't have a favorite out of the four yet, but I think the two CEW boxes are pretty dang sweet and I'm so glad I got them. The actual boxes themselves from the CEW boxes are really plain and boring compared to the two actual Birchboxes this month, so I will either give them to my son to store stuff in or make something craft out of them.

We need to take a vote here. Can you tell a difference between the two legs in the picture? One of them has a leg makeup I'm testing and Instagram swears there's a difference but I can't see it. So I'm putting it to a vote, can you see a difference? Which leg has the makeup/tanner on it? Do I need new glasses? Or in Instagram being ridiculous. I feel like this is that stupid blue and black dress all over again. And yet, the dress was blue and black, NOT white and gold.

Do you guys pay attention to the ingredients in your facial products? I always check for coconut, but outside of that I haven't really cared. Well there's been a big hurrah over these Cetaphil wipes that were in one of the CEW boxes over the ingredients listed. Supposedly they are really bad for your skin and so not gentle like the packaging says. I haven't tested these yet (almost done with a pack of my usual wipes), but a lot of people are really upset about these. I remember a similar deal going down last year with a set of the Yes To wipes (grapefruit maybe?). Makes me wonder if some of the products I love are doing more harm than good for my skin. What are your thoughts on the ingredient matter?

Pain Relief in a Tube or Just Another Gimmick?

*I received this free for reviewing purposes. All opinions are 100% my own*

As anybody who either works out on a regular basis or suffers from chronic pain knows, being sore or in pain all the time is exhausting on a scale most people don't understand. There are lots of options out there ranging from creams, gels, patches, and pills to help deal with your everyday aches and pains, and today I'll be reviewing OxyRub, a pain relief cream, to see if it does what it claims to do or if it will be tossed straight into the junk pile. I have tried just about every "pain relief" cream on the market, ranging from Icy Hot to some Chinese mystery stuff that I thought was going to burn my skin off, so I know what to expect from most creams and when one is all fluff and no punch.

First, this is a what I call a gel cream. It isn't a gel but it isn't a cream like a lotion would be. Icy Hot is what I would call a gel cream if you need a comparison. I've noticed that most products with that consistency tend to be on the lower one of the pain relieving scale, with oils and patches being on the upper end of the scale. I don't mind the gel/cream ones, they're a little easier to put on yourself and they absorb without leaving anything behind like a greasy film. The OxyRub absorbs well and doesn't leave any sort of residue, which I definitely appreciate. That also allows you to put on several layers if you need too, which can be a nice bonus.

As far as the actual pain relieving properties, OxyRub relies on menthol to help with muscle and joint pain, which is....not ideal. Menthol in combination with other things can totally help with a knotted up back, but just by itself and in the level present (1.25%) in OxyRub you really aren't going to get anything out of it. I might find use for it next flu season as a non-greasy chest rub, but for what it is intended as it is a total bust. I applied it to my knees, calves, shoulders, and hands during my testing and I did not feel any sort of relief. Not even a little big of tingle. I was super disappointed in it and can't give it my stamp of approval. I'm so bummed this didn't live up to my expectations, but there isn't anything I can do about it. I won't lie and say a product is better than it is, I always stand by my word. So this gets two thumbs down and a toss into the junk pile. If you want to try it for yourself you can order a tube here, and use the code SAVEOXY2 to save 20% off your order.

Thursday Thoughts

First Thursday of August, man this summer is just whipping by! I am so ready for the fall though, I am 100% done with this summer heat. I live in the Pacific Northwest you guys, so 106 degree weather is some serious bullshit. Anywho, before I ramble too much, I'm participating in Jen of Ramblings of a Suburban Mom's Thursday Thoughts weekly link up!

Firstly, I will be up to my knees in Birchboxes this month! I got a regular one, the guest editor one, and BOTH of the 2015 CEW boxes! The first one should be here today at some point, the rest won't arrive till next week I believe. Stuff from Birchbox typically takes 10 days to get to me since I'm basically other side of the states from them. So many goodies, I can't wait for them to arrive!

I've been on the Lupron for two weeks now, two more weeks till my next injection. I'm bouncing between feeling ok enough and absolute shit. A little worried for how I'll feel next week when I switch some of my pills up, but I'm set to continue the treatments for the full six months. I may not have any hair left by the end of this, so if you are looking for hair tutorials this is not the blog for you.

Every month or so I like to pick out a handful of products to try and use up that month. Sometimes I finish them, sometimes I don't. It's really about forcing me to use stuff I may be neglecting. This month I'll be working on my often neglected ELF eyeshadow palette, an almost done BB cream, a hated eyebrow pencil, a favorite lipstick, a lip balm, an eyeliner that should be finished soon, and a liquid highlighter that only looks good on tanned skin. If I had to guess my progress I'd say BB cream, eyeliner, and highlighter done, maybe 2 pans hit on the shadow, and good progress on everything else. Though I'm tossing that brow pencil at the end of the month no matter what, I friggin HATE it.

Our county fair was last weekend and of course we had to go. I need my cotton candy and my arm length giant corn dog. Every year there is this body piercing booth set up and I'm just like....who does that? At a fair I mean. Like, there's no way that'll be as clean as an actual piercing shop. And what, you're gonna go check out the cows after getting a bolt through your nipple? Nothing about that sounds safe. So my question is, what is the craziest thing you've ever seen at a fair?

That's it for this week, I'll see you guys tomorrow with another fabulous product review!

The Palette to Fix All Your Face Woes

In a perfect world we would have no redness, no acne, no under eye circles and dullness to contend with every single day. This is not a perfect unfortunately, but luckily there are tons of concealers out there to help combat whatever problem you are facing. NYX is a brand I adore and trust enough that I'll try pretty much anything by them. So when I saw they had a concealer palette you know I had to get it and put it all over my face.

The NYX concealer palette contains 6 different cream concealers, each focusing on a different problem your typical person faces. There is a yellow concealer to counter purple under eye circles, which is something I am constantly battling. The green concealer is to counter any redness you may be experiencing, while the purple helps to brighten any dull or yellowed skin. The salmon colored concealer is for blue under eye circles, I really liked that there are two under eye options. And lastly are two concealer shades, a tan one and a darker brown one. I use these mainly to contour since I already have a concealer the exact shade of my skin.

These are a cream concealer, so my first concern was whether they would be blendable and smooth, hard and waxy, or a greasy nightmare. I am so pleased to report these are soft and creamy and super blendable. I haven't had any issues with it being to greasy on my face, and I have fairly oil skin during the summer. Now keep in mind it is blisteringly hot here so the texture may change come below freezing weather, but I have a feeling it will still be pretty creamy.

As far as how long it lasts, it just depends on what you top it with and prime under it with. On days I don't prime I find it does crease under my eyes and fades as my foundation fades. The contouring shades fade throughout the day even if I prime and top with powder, but a setting spray helps there. I'm pretty hard on my makeup since I teach so many Taekwondo classes during the week and as I said it's been 100 degrees here most days. I'd like to think the lasting power will be much improved when I'm not sweating out a gallon a day.

I'm so happy with this purchase and I think you guys will like it too. You can find it anywhere that sells NYX, but I prefer to get my products from Ulta during their big sales. I believe I got this for half off the retail price of $11.99, so a pretty good deal. And if you really like a specific color they sell some of them in individual pots if you aren't ready to buy a whole new palette.

July 2015 Empties

Wow, am I late on posting this! Sorry guys, the weekend left me drained and I really am struggling to find the energy to do everything I need to do at home and this blog right now. Hopefully after injection number 2 in a few weeks I'll start to feel better and get my energy back, but for right now I'm just wiped. Anyways, let's talk trash. I had like 24 empties for July, which is pretty darn impressive! There were a lot of repeats and things I really don't feel like talking about so I'm just going to talk about a hand full of items this time. Maybe for August I'll do a video instead, getting my video space all set up actually, just need to get a tripod now and maybe an external light. But that's a conversation for later, onto my empties!

That is a mighty fine pile of trash if I do say so. A lot of makeup was finished in July, which is always exciting, especially when it's things like lipstick and eyeshadow. I've been attempting to finish up all my extra hair stuff so I'm glad to see a few bottles in the pile.

Of this picture nothing is really a repurchase except maybe the brush. I love the ELF studio brushes but they always fall apart after a year. For $3 they are a great price but it gets annoying to have them pop apart mid-use all the time. The sunscreen is a hubby favorite, I find it to greasy for my skin but I'm sure I'll buy more of it anyways. The Marcelle BB cream was crazy heavy for a BB cream, made my face look cakey and awful. I had to mix it with my Maybelline BB cream just to wear it. The last items, the brush shampoo and the face wash, were alright but just didn't make the cut.

I love love love the Rimmel Stay Matte powder, I've already got a new one I'm using. For just a few bucks you really can't beat them, especially if you have oily skin like I do. The eyeliner was a basic brown one and while I liked the formula I hate the Pacifica brand due to their insistence on putting coconut in EVERYTHING. Seriously, why does eyeshadow need coconut infused into it?!? That Real Chemistry peel was ah-mazing! I'll be buying a full sized bottle of it next time I have extra money to spend, seriously nothing else has made my skin look and feel as good as that did. A+ product. The two eyeshadows were from my ginormous ELF palette that I'm working my way through. One was a lovely plum and the other was a greyish color. The pink mascara is by Essence and is my cheap holy grail mascara. It was like $5 and worked so much better than 90% of the other mascaras I've tried over the years. The only one I like better is the Urban Decay Perversion one, which is $22. I'll probably pick another tube up once I finish testing a few other mascaras I've acquired lately. And lastly is my project pan lipstick. It's gone bad and was starting to give me a reaction, so I'm calling it done for my health and safety. There's maybe half an inch left so I'm pretty happy with how much I actually used up.

Keeping track of my empties like this really lets me know what I'm using up and what I really shouldn't hoard anymore (like lotion, I really need to stop buying lotion). Setting goals either here in my empties or by doing a project pan really helps me to focus on using stuff up before it goes bad. And we all know I have more than enough makeup to last me a lifetime. My goal for August is to finish up the lip balm from my project pan and a whole lot more hair stuff. Anything past that is just icing on my bronzer covered cake.