Bisous Darling

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Brichbox : March 2014

It appears to be that time again; Birchbox review! I'm a bit torn on this box and I think you're going to be able to tell by my review, but let's just get into it because anything I write in the intro will probably be negated below.

everything was white... so hard to photograph

What I received:

Control Corrective Oil Free Healing Lotion
Vasanti BrightenUp! Enzymatic Face Rejuvenator
Keims Cleanshine Energizing Shampoo
Coola Tinted Matte SPF 30
Control Corrective Cucumber Bead Cleanser
Air Repair Rescue Balm

My Thoughts:

I was happy to see that I got six items this month, despite one being that stupid Coola SPF Tinted Moisturizer thing, because it means that I get 60 points this month for review. I was not happy because everything is tiny and I mean tiny. The shampoo and the Vasanti cleanser are decently sized, but everything else is under .2 oz, so barely even one use in each one of them. Granted, for the Air Repair Balm, you don't need much, so I guess that there are actual multiple uses.

The shampoo smells like a hospital, but I'm not writing it off yet because I haven't used it and you can't always judge a product by its scent; it could be amazing, so I'm more than happy to test it out. I already know that I love the Vasanti because I got it in a mystery pack from Birchbox about six months ago; that is the thing I was most excited about in this box.

The Coola is a duplicate which they didn't catch. Last month, I emailed them about my box to let them know that the oil had leaked in shipping and had coated everything with a nice, glossy coat of oil. They immediately responded that they would send me a new box, which I was fine with, but it was all new products and it replaced my old box online. Therefore, there was no record of me receiving the Coola and it left me open to get it again. What a let down. I hate this product; I don't like any of Coola's products and I seem to keep getting them...

The Air Repair balm does not have a nice scent and although it should feel really good on the skin, it leaves my hand feeling greasy on the palms and dry on the back. I think I would just stick with Aquaphor for travel and intense moiturizing. And last but not least, the two Control Corrective products. You know, it would have been really cool to get at least one of these in a larger size because these intrigue me the most out of everything. I don't have much of an interest in the cleanser, especially because it has environmentally bad micro-beads in it, but I think that the moisturizer sounds great for someone with oily skin like me. Unfortunately, there's one use in the packet, so I can't truly test it out.

And then there's two more general things that are really starting to grate my nerves. The only thing that I have checked on my Birchbox profile for "I can never have too many" is makeup. There is no makeup in my box. None. And then there's the monetary value, which you'll see down below.

Monetary Values:

Control Corrective Lotion: $1.40 for .1 fl oz (full size: 2.5 fl oz/$35)
Coola Sunscreen: $3.60 for .17 fl oz (full size: 1.7 fl oz/$36)
Vasanti Brighten Up: $5.71 for .71 fl oz (full size: 4.23 fl oz/$34)

Keims Shampoo: $1.90 for 1.69 fl oz. (full size: 8.45 fl oz/$9.50)
Air Repair Balm: $1.30 for .1 fl oz (?? no size on botttle) (full size: .9 fl oz/$12)

Control Corrective Cleanser: $0.55 for .14 fl oz (full size: 6.7 fl oz/$26.40)

Full Monetary Value: $14.46

Final Thoughts: Let me repeat what I said last month: Birchbox. I kind of hate you right now and I sort of wish I could break up with you. However, I have this lease with you right now, so I guess I have to wait until that's up. Crap.

But seriously, the monetary value along with the usefulness of my boxes have just gone way down. At this point, there is no question in my mind that I will be cancelling my subscription after my year is up. Unless Birchbox sends me magical god damned fairies in my next seven boxes, it's over.

If for some reason, you still want to subscribe to Birchbox, you can follow my referral link here or visit birchbox.com

Monday, March 17, 2014

The Body Shop Honey Bronzer : Product Review

Hey guys! Happy Monday (said no one ever). While we walk back into what is known in my circle as the hellish work week, I'm bringing you a product review that will hopefully make you happy; a bronzer review! Maybe it's just me, but whenever I start using bronzers again, it means that it's finally spring time and it will soon be summer AND even though I'm not a student any more, summer will always equate to freedom. So, hopefully this bronzer review can at least warm up the dreary winter thoughts that many of us are, unfortunately, still having. Let's dive in.

The Facts

Price: $20 Monday ONLY 40% off & Free Shipping on thebodyshop.com with code SAVE40

Amount of Product: .39 oz.

Number of Shades: 4, which whoa, holy crap, that's an amazing number of bronzer shades for a non high end company

Claim: "Give your skin an even, bronze matte finish with a honey-enriched pressed powder."

Shade that I used: 02 - Light Matte

Shades and the powder itself: Like I mentioned above, there are four shades, which is pretty damn spectacular when you take into account that The Body Shop isn't really known for their cosmetics. The shades are Fair, Light, Medium, and Dark Matte. As I've mentioned numerous times, I'm ~~deathly~~ fairly pale, but I found the lightest shade (fair) to be too orange on my skin. I didn't spend a massive amount of time checking it out after I swatched, but it might be a bit pink based, which means that it could show up orangey on my very yellow skin. Regardless, I found 02 - Light to be the better match for my skin tone. The powder itself is soft, but not so soft that you get a lot of kick off from swirling your brush in the compact.

Finish and Effect: I've been on the lookout for another matte bronzer ever since I got rid of my Too Faced Milk Chocolate Soleil due to its ability to turn my face orange. I ended up finding out about this product on Reddit and waited for a sale and purchased it. I am happy to report that it does live up to its matte name; no shimmer in this bad boy which is great for someone with larger pores (like me!). The bronzer gives a really lovely warmth to the face without being overly obvious. It's hard to build this product up to a point where someone would look at your face and think, "Oh, wow, that's a lot of bronzer", unless you were wearing a shade far darker than your skin.

Wear Time: I hated to even include this as a category with face products that aren't foundation because I tend to touch my face a lot and that means that I'm responsibly for blushes, bronzers, and highlighters not lasting on my face. This lasted on my skin for a good while when I could resist touching my face, but with most powder products that you apply over foundation, the longevity will be determined by the longevity of your foundation!

Does it deliver on its claim? Well, the claim for this product wasn't too lofty, it just said that you could get an even, bronze matte finish and yes, this bronzer does do that. It applies evenly and it's matte, so check and check.

Top is blended out, bottom is swatched really heavily

Final Verdict? Like I said in my review yesterday, my final verdict question to myself is always: Would you buy this again? Unless some miracle product comes out on the market that is going to revolutionize the world of bronzing, I would definitely buy this product again. However, I don't use bronzer all that often, so that repurchase might be a few years away. If you're on the market for a matte bronzer, head over to you local mall and take a look at this one.

Sunday, March 16, 2014

By Terry Terrybly Rouge Lipstick : Product Review

Welcome to the land of $50 lipsticks! I have ventured over to the dark side and entered into the world of very expensive cosmetics. The real reason for this is because I saw multiple people talk about this lipstick and I was curious if it could really live up to its $50 price tag. In all honestly, I got this for practically no money at all because this happens to be sold in the Birchbox shop and I had $40 in points and a coupon code; schwing. I picked up the shade Terrybly Nude because let's face, I'm constantly on the search for a nude lipstick that doesn't make me look incredibly odd (...and approaching death). Let's dive in.

The Facts

Price: ~$49

Amount of Product: .12 oz

Number of Shades: 20 (I believe; there could be more, but this is what I found)

Claim: Rouge Terrybly Age Defense Lipstick is the first volume and firmness lipstick enriched with By Terry’s exclusive anti-aging Lumilip technology. Available in an array of silky colors, this extra-comforting lip color rejuvenates and embellishes every smile, while offering a “push-up” effect. Wrapped in a satin bag, it’s perfect for a beauty touchup any time of day.

Anti-aging lip color
Rejuvenates and embellishes lips
Delivers a “push-up” effect

Shade that I used: Terrybly Nude; a pink based nude shade that appears quite mauve.

Coverage: Opaque

Application: This lipstick is crazy silky feeling, which means that it just glides onto the lips. Imagine Linda Richman saying it glides on like buttah, because that's exactly what it feels like. I don't own a lot of extremely expensive lipsticks, but dare I say that this is the nicest feeling lipstick that I've ever glided onto my lips.

Packaging: One major thing to talk about when it comes to high end lipsticks (and cosmetics in general) is the packaging. The box that the lipstick comes in is a shiny, laminated box; nothing amazingly special there. The lipstick itself comes in a little silky feeling bag, but again, it doesn't feel like anything that amazing. It has By Terry printed all over it, just in case you were to forget that you bought a By Terry lipstick. The lipstick case itself is a little silver bullet; very compact and nice feeling. It has a nice weight to it; not overly weighty and not plastic feeling. The lid does close via a magnet, but I store it in my purse in the silky bag that it comes with; I think the case would scratch easily and the lid might pop off otherwise.

(on my face from Friday's FOTD)

How it wears: Lets go back and talk about the price tag again; $50. For that much, you should pretty much expect your lipstick to feel like butter on application (and it does) and then continue to feel like luxury, which this does fairly well. The buttery slip sticks around for a substantial amount of time and my lips only began to feel dry toward the end of my work day, which is because I never reapplied and didn't put any balm on the entire day. It doesn't settle into your lip lines and it doesn't dry your lips out, which is pretty fantastic since I have deep lip lines and fairly dry lips. I did line my lips for the picture above, but I've worn this without liner on multiple occasions and it has never bled into my quickly growing fine lines.

Wear Time: I've read mixed reviews on this shade, but let me tell you that this wore pretty damn evenly on my lips for a full 8 hours, and that includes eating and drinking. There was no white line on my mouth that sometimes accompanies light colored lipsticks and the only area with an extreme amount of fading was the moist part of the center of my lips. Just so you guys can have an idea of how much eating this lasted through, I'll tell you what I ate and drank: a banana, oatmeal, yogurt covered raisins, chocolate easter egg, two glasses of water, bagel thin, hummus, baby carrots, lemon bar, and pretzels. I'm also a pretty intense lip licker (a huge cause of lip dryness, unfortunately), which is why it wore off so heavily on the center part of my lips. By the end of the day, my lips were feeling dry, but I never reapplied balm and that feeling went away as soon as I ended my hour test.

(after roughly 8.5 hours of wear)

Does it deliver on its claim? I don't really understand their claim of a "push up effect", but I don't think that my lips really looked like that. Other than that claim, I will say yes. Since this is technically an anti-aging lipstick, it's really moisturizing and formulated not settle in your lines too much; perfect for someone like me.

Final Verdict: I think that to make a final verdict, you have to ask yourself, would I buy this again at full price? The answer for me is yes, I would purchase this again. The price is high, but this lipstick has already joined the ranks of my favorites and I've been wearing it on a fairly steady basis since I bought it. I think that this will likely be the first lipstick in a long time that I use up completely. I am already planning on buying another color to test a wider range.

If you want more information on these lipsticks and want to see more swatches, I highly recommend going to the blog Shameless Fripperies; Karima owns multiple shades and does some great reviews.

Questions or comments? Let me know down below!

Friday, March 14, 2014

FOTD 3.14.14

And we've made it to the end of the week, once again. This daylight savings stuff has been kicking my ass and is part of what I would like to blame my lack of posting on. I have been completely exhausted recently and I think it's the DST and trying to fight off a cold. Regardless, I got the video for this week up (check it out down below if you haven't seen it yet) and I have another review ready to go this weekend.

Face