Month: September 2017
September Ipsy Bag – Like. A. Boss.
Check out this bad ass, black leather spiked pouch. Don’t worry, no animals were harmed in the making of this pouch – it’s faux.
This month’s theme is “Like. A. Boss.” While the bag is BOSS, I’m not so sure about the contents. The products are ColourPop Cosmetics Ultra Glossy Lip in “ipsy VIP” (it’s weird shade of pink – I don’t know how to explain it – like tongue colored); NEOGEN Dermalogy Real Flower Cleansing Water – Calendula (weird); Eva NYC Zero Gravity Volume Powder (again, no idea what to do with this); Smashbox Cosmetics Photo Finish Radiance Primer (Hmmm, this one might be good); and P.R.M.I.T BeautyGELlusion in “January (Capricorn)” (not a fan of gel polishes – they’re so squishy and weird).
Kind of a weird dud box this month…
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Undead Red
Now THIS is a matte polish.
Or is it? It’s a bit shiny for a matte polish…but there’s a sticker on it that CLEARLY says “Vampy Matte”. Maybe “Vampy Matte” means not really that matte?
Regardless, Sinful Colors “Undead Red” is a helluva polish. It’s a matte-ish red glitter with black flakies. This is two coats over Sinful Colors Base Coat and NO top coat. It’s so deep and beautiful and I can’t stop looking at it. It was so much tougher than that Basketball polish. Yes, it did eventually chip after 3-4 days, but certainly not within 12 hours!
And look at my cuticle! It looks normal now…squeeeeee!
Target Beauty Boxes – September 2017
Do you like my new picture background? I had been using my ratty old IKEA coffee table, but I switched it up when I got this new Sugar Skulls throw from Kroger. It may be displayed as Halloween decor, but for me…it’s year-round decor.
Two generous “New Leaf” boxes were available this month, so of course I snagged both. How could I not?
The box on the left included Acure Ultra-Hydrating Shampoo & Conditioner (yassss); Simple Micellular Water (I thought this stuff was dumb as first, but it’s great for cleaning up shadow fallout); up & up Premium Cotton Round (I buy these three packs at a time, but hey, happy to have 2 more); Covergirl Total Tease Mascara; Garnier SkinActive Moisture Bomb; NIVEA In-Shower Body Lotion (WHY does this exist?); and Sensodyne ProNamel Strong & Bright Toothpaste.
The box on the right included Pretty Animalz by Look Beauty Panda Calming Facials Sheet Mask (adorable!); Curls Blueberry Leave In Conditioner (another one to set aside for my curlytop); Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Moisturizing Body Lotion (I HATE the way cocoa butter smells – gave to my son); St. Ives Invigorating Apricot Scrub (my favorite); Curls Unleashed Curl Defining Creme (setting aside); Chapstick Hydration in “Blood Orange” (YUM!); and SheaMoisture Argan Oil & Argan Milk Shampoo & Blowout Creme.
Two AWESOME boxes this month…and the next one drops Monday, I think.
$7 each this month, plus free shipping and 5% off with my Red Card. And that means TWO $3 off $15 coupons. I am trying to use up all my shampoo samples, but I am running low on face wash, so I’m thinking that’s what I’ll use it on.
I Wish I Was a Baller
One time, in High School, I was skulking around one of the lame after-Football dances, and I was approached by an (obviously new) coach…she tried to draft me onto the Basketball team. Blissfully unaware of my 7th and 8th grade B-team failures, she gave me the whole spiel – as I imagine, my peers thrashed about to ‘The Humpty Dance’ or did ‘Da Butt’. I laughed it off and probably went behind the building to smoke or set anthills on fire or whatever it was that I did at school dances. I surely didn’t dance.
I don’t know what the point of this story is, except that my entire life, my height has attracted and repelled like some kind of magnetic north on a compass. Too tall for the boys, too majestically awkward for sports and DEFINITELY too tall for the stage. Once, I got mistaken for a Drag Queen at The Village. That was one of the fucking proudest moments of my life…so it’s not ALL bad.
I kind of got off course a little bit. ANYWAY, Formula X “Motivated” reminds me of a basketball. It’s a matte metallic orange and I don’t even hate the orange-ness. I do absolutely HATE this polish though, almost as much as I hated playing Basketball. Even though I started with Glisten & Glow Base Coat, this stuff did not want to stay on my nails. This is THREE thick coats and it still started cracking like a crackle polish. In less than 12 hours, it was chipping off my nails in chunks. What the fuck, Sephora?
Saint AND Sinner
When Kat Von D’s new Saint & Sinner Eyeshadow Palette ($62) dropped last Wednesday, I debated for about 30 seconds before I went ahead and ordered it. I wasn’t about to risk it selling out like I did with the Mi Vida Loca Palette…that I bought for my ex-BFF, but she did not buy for me.
ANYWAY, this palette has been a long time coming and it’s absolutely GORGEOUS. It has 24 new colors, modeled after stained glass windows. The Saint side has more muted, natural colors…while the Sinner side has bolder, darker colors. I’ve already worn it a couple of times and have been able to pull from both sides. So far, my favorite is “Rapture”, a transforming pink shimmer from the Sinner side. (I just had to wear it on Saturday, but The Rapture never came – boo.)
So I noticed that there are shades called “Sanctuary” and “Crucifix” on the Saint side…my next task will be to see how they match up with the “Sanctuary” and “Crucifix” Everlasting Liquid Lipsticks. My eyeballs tell me that they match up to the colors, but I have to test them to be sure.
The somewhat random colors remind me of the Urban Decay Vice palettes. I get all excited about them when I get them, but they’re all stuck in a drawer, barely used. I’m feeling like the colors here are more usable together and I won’t set it aside, but only time will tell.
For my regular three samples, I got Caudalie VineActiv Glow Activating Anti-Wrinkle Serum, Ole Henriksen Sheer Transformation Perfecting Moisturizer and black Up Perfecting Mattifying Primer. I’m going all out on skincare these days.
In my quest to never have to buy shampoo again, I used a promo code to get a sample bag of hair samples: Alterna Caviar CC Cream 10-in-1 Leave-In Hair Perfector; Alterna Caviar Anti-Aging Smoothing Hydra-Gelee Nourishing Hair Perfector (why does Alterna have such long product names?); amika Nourishing Mask; Klorane Nourishing Leave-in Cream with Mango Butter; IGK Hydrating Hair Balm; DevaCurl Melt Into Moisture Matcha Butter Conditioning Mask (will be setting aside for a curly-headed friend); rahua Omega 9 Hair Mask; Briogeo Don’t Despair, Repair! Deep Conditioning Mask; Verb Ghost Shampoo & Conditioner (I have a mental block against this Austin-based brand, but maybe I’ll try it); OUAI Repair Shampoo & Conditioner; and Living Proof. Perfect Hair Day Shampoo & Conditioner (if I ever win the lottery, maybe I can afford to exclusively use this brand…until then – samples it is).
Oh, and I just saw today that Kat Von D has a DIVINE palette coming out. I told the husband and he is LEGIT scared…he should be.
And only $221 until ROUGE. I can do it!
Sometimes, Only Walgreen’s Will Help
Sometimes, only a lunchtime trip to Walgreen’s will help you get through the day.
Last Friday, I decided that I couldn’t risk waiting for a sale to get Sinful Colors “Undead Red”, from this year’s Halloween Collection. I passed up the rest of the collection – I don’t need another red creme or another glow in the dark polish with impossible to retrieve glitter. $1.99 well spent.
I also finally tracked down Twix Dark…I’ve been searching for these, every time I check out at the grocery store or go to a gas station. Finally.
I also grabbed a new hairbrush for my son’s glorious locks. His sister wouldn’t let him borrow her brush (I gave her the Tangle Teezer), because he said he doesn’t have a brush. I dug around under his sink and found the EcoTools Brush I gave him and he said it doesn’t work – sorry Influenster. I had to prove him wrong, as I brushed his hair with it…as he scowled like the almost-teenager he is. Whatever, I can afford $3.99 for a plastic bristle brush.
Not pictured, the two Coca Colas I also picked up – “Patterson” and “Christina”.
Hana
Dupe Alert! Julep “Hana” is a pretty close dupe for Sinful Colors “Readie or Not”, which I tried out just a month ago. I’m not even mad though – I love purpley polishes.
Julep “Hana” was the first polish I’ve sampled from this month’s Julep box. I was under the impression that it would be lighter and more rosy from the bottle, but nope.
This is two coats over Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat and under Glisten & Glow Top Coat.
I thought that the cuticle on my index finger was looking better, but it’s not. I need to put some oil on it or something.
September Birchbox – Your Time to Shine
No curated box for me this month, I instead went for sample choice. I chose Daily Concepts Your Facial Micro Scrubber for my “Your Time to Shine” box. I don’t know that it will measure up to my Clarisonic, but I’m willing to give it a shot.
Also in this month’s box: Lollia by Margot Elena In Love Eau de Parfum (an old fashioned smelling floral – needs more rose for me); Briogeo Rosarco Milk Reparative Leave-In Conditioning Spray (unfortunately, the bottle opened during shipping and soaked the inside of my box – ugh); Pixi by Petra LipLift Max in “Honey Sheen”; and Lord & Berry Glow Strobing Pencil (interesting idea – I’m thinking this would be good for highlighting the inner eye).
Interesting box – only one repeat.
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Hot Magenta
After seeing Sally Hansen “Hot Magenta” on one nail, I had to see it on ALL my nails.
This is one of my oldest polishes, pre-dating this site and my current polish madness. It’s at least a decade old and the bottle is less than half full…but it’s still just as good as the day I brought it home. It’s a pearly hot pink, it matches everything.
I started with Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat, then two coats of “Hot Magenta”, then Glisten & Glow Top Coat. I also did my toes.
I thought I fixed the cuticle on my index finger, but it’s still looking a bit sketchy. Argh.
Everlasting Flash – Hazes
I’ve skipped the last few months of Everlasting Flash – either colors I already had or didn’t see myself using…like that set of 3 different shades of gray. But this month was right up my alley.
Kat Von D “Haze” is mauve-y gray, while “Haze II” is the lighter, grayer version. I got both for $36, versus the normal price of $20 each. “Haze” seems like it might be a dupe for Jeffree Star “Androgyny”, but I haven’t swatched it yet.
The best bonus code I could find was for a deluxe sample of Sunday Riley C.E.O. C+E Protect + Repair Moisturizer. For my other three samples, I got Atelier Cologne Clementine California, Pinrose Pillowtalk Poet, and Bobbi Brown Skin Foundation.
Only $283 to Rouge…