Month: January 2018
Sephora Play January 2018 – Happy You Year!
It’s January 31st, I had major surgery and I am still managing to cover all my January boxes in January. High Five!
This month’s “Happy You Year” bag is filled with products to revitalize. The first thing I squealed over is the GlamGlow SuperCleanse Clearing Cream-to-Foam Cleanser – I LOVE GlamGlow!
Also in this month’s bag: Briogeo Don’t Despair, Repair Deep Conditioning Mask (just a foil pack, boo); Lancome Cils Booster Super-Enhancing Mascara Booster (don’t care); Smashbox Photo FInish Primerizer (primer AND moisturizer – genius!); Ole Henriksen Hygge HydraClay Detox Mask (I love me some masks); and Clinique Pep-Start Eye Cream.
No fragrance though – boo!
If you don’t get Sephora Play, sign up TODAY. Sephora Play is only $10/month. You can sign up at sephora.com/play.
True Blue
I’m back! After a full mastectomy and reconstruction, I thought I’d be out of commission longer. Don’t get me wrong – I walk about as fast a turtle and can barely move – but sure can paint my fingernails.
Before I got started, I went ahead and trimmed and buffed my nails, so that I’d have a good canvas to start from. My ringer finger and pinkys were getting long, so those took the most trim.
My daughter had already picked a color for my toes, which she would be painting for me later. She chose LVX “Haitus True Blue” – a special edition polish released at Hiatus Spa + Retreat. I think one of my aunt’s gave it to her for Xmas, so I guess that’s how she ended up with it? I’d never tried LVX polishes before – this one is pretty nice. It’s a bit thicket than I’m used to, but still workable. The first coat had streaks, but the second coat leveled out and gave beautiful coverage. I started with Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat and ended with Glisten & Glow Top Coat.
I wanna say that this blue is the same “True Blue” as the Madonna cassette. For real, I have the cassette tape underneath my bed, but I don’t have the mobility to go check. If I ask my husband to look, he’ll want to start trashing the stuff I have hidden under there. I checked Google though and Google agrees with me.
Milk Chocolate
Even though I know I have to take off all my nail polish and toenail polish tomorrow – for surgery – I had to freshen up my nails last night. I can’t not paint my nails on Friday night. It’s like I have some sort of psychosis.
Julep “Jenn” is a creamy milk chocolate polish. It’s like Willy Wonka’s chocolate river!
This is two coats of “Jenn” over Julep Oxygen Bonding Base Coat and under Glisten & Glow Top Coat.
January 2018 Ipsy Bag – Game Face
I gotta get through these boxes before they cut me open!
This month’s “Game Face” ipsy bag is totally 80s! The products are anything but retro. The first product that caught my eye was the F.A.R.A.H BRUSHES Z-Tweeze Dual Ended Tweezer – I’ve never seen a product like this before and I consider myself a tweezer aficionado. One end has the usual wide slant tweezers, but the other end has pointy ones. I cannot wait to start attacking ingrown hairs with these!
Also in this month’s bag: CAKE BY CAKE BEAUTY Heavy Cream Intensive Body Balm; DIRTY LITTLE SECRET COSMETICS Eyeshadow in “Sangria” (sparkly red eyeshadow – yes please!); THEBALM COSMETICS Mary-Lou Manizer; and ANDALOU NATURALS Argan & Shea Styling Cream.
If you’d like to try Ipsy – click here. I’ll earn 250 points if you sign up through my link.
January 2018 Birchbox – Find Your Happy
Even though I forgot to pick the products in my Julep box, I did remember to pick for my Birchbox. I picked the curated box, of course. Not that any products stood out to me, but the sample choices were either lame or repeats.
Of all the brands I get in Subscription Boxes, I’d have to say that I get Smashbox the most. I get a Smashbox product every single month. I’m not mad about getting another Smashbox Photo Finish Radiance Primer – I actually like this pearly primer. (I got it in September’s ipsy.)
Also in this month’s box: Oribe Gold Lust Repair & Restore Shampoo and Conditioner (So glad I got equal sizes of BOTH products); Laura Geller New York Fortifying Lashes Eyelash Primer (why?); and Clark’s Botanicals Age Defying Radiance Cream.
If you would like to try Birchbox, click on my referral link – https://www.birchbox.com/invite/5453f – I’ll get 50 points if you join.
Dorothy, DUH
If I was one of the Golden Girls, I would OBVIOUSLY be Dorothy. I have the fierce wit and I have the height. The only thing I don’t have is a sketchy ex-husband with a dumb mustache. (Don’t worry, honey – that’s isn’t a hint.)
Fresh Paint “Dorothy” is a fierce metallic pink. At first, I thought it was a dupe of Zoya “Bobbi”, but “Bobbie” is darker and brighter. Phew, I didn’t end up with a dupe. I’d almost call “Dorothy” a rose gold, but it’s more like a rose silver. Is rose silver even a real thing?
I started with Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat, then painted two coats of “Dorothy”. I topped with Glisten & Glow Top Coat.
I fixed the cuticles on my thumb and index finger with Julep Vanish! They look so much better now – color me relieved.
Snow Princess
It’s fucking cold. I feel like I can’t get warm…until I get into my car. For some reason, my car is hot. Then I’m driving and trying to take my jacket off. Dangerous, I know. This weather is going to kill me.
ANYWAY, I did Snow Princess nails. They are NOT Frozen nails, they are Snow Princess nails. There IS a difference.
After Sinful Colors Base Coat, I started with two coats of Sinful Colors “Tokyo Pearl”. I think “Tokyo Pearl” is my most used polish – I’ve used HALF the bottle. That’s like…$1 worth of nail polish! I topped them with Sinful Colors “Flake Out”, which is a silvery microglitter, with matte blue glitter and holographic star glitters. There weren’t enough stars – I was fishing for each one. It was so fucking annoying. I only got one star per nail, before I gave up. I finished up with Glisten & Glow Top Coat.
My cuticles need help. Please don’t even look at my index finger – it’s like my cuticle is taking over my whole fingernail – I need to melt and scrape it. My hands are dry, but I’m keeping them hydrated and lotioned up…but the hangnail struggle is real. I’m gonna try working on them before my next manicure…
Target Beauty Boxes – January 2018
Ooooh! Another two box month!
The first box – “Hello Staycay” – has a wide variety of products. Even though I’ve gotten them before, I was compelled to use the Pretty Animalz Tiger Sheet Mask immediately. The cat ran away, but it super-hydrated my skin – I’ll be using more of these masks soon. Also included in the Staycay box: Nexxus Humectress Hair Mask; Dove Gentle Exfoliating Body Polish “Crushed Macadamia & Rice Milk” (I bet this smells SO good!); OGX Biotin & Collagen Shampoo (where is the conditioner mother fuckers???); Mrs. Meyer’s Body Wash in “Basil” (this is WEIRD); Vichy Mineral 89 Face Moisturizer; and CoverGirl Melting Pout Lipstick in “Evan-Gel-Ical” (obviously a dupe of Too Face Melted – yay!). I will use every single thing in this box – and hopefully, the $3 off $15 coupon, too. I only used one of the two coupons I got last month.
The second box – “Hello Jetsetter” – is all products from across the pond – the best that Boots (an UK store) has to offer. I was pumped to see a full eyeshadow palette from Sleek MakeUP – 12 matte and shimmering colors. Also inside the Boots box: No7 Restore & Renew Serum; No7 Airbrush Away Primer; Soap & Glory Righteous Body Butter; Soap & Glory Pillow Plump Lip Gloss; and Botanics Shine Away Ionic Clay Mask. Again, another box that I will use ALL of…except maybe the coupon. This coupon is $5 off $20…but only on the brands included in this box. We shall see…
Both boxes were $7, with free shipping and 5% off with my Target Red Card. Both were chock full of good stuff – I wish they were this good every month!
January 2018 Julep Maven Box – Advantage Point
I totally fucking forgot to “curate” January’s box. Oops. I remember looking at this month’s collection, but I guess I forgot to go back in and finalize my selections.
What they sent me is fine though. I’m not out of love your bare face Detoxifying Cleansing Stick, but it IS a product I use and enjoy, so I ain’t even mad. The colors they sent me are plain, but not dupes of shades that I have. I got Classic with a Twist “Jenn” – Mahogany Creme – and Wonder Maven “Geri” – Blushing Beige Creme. See – very “naked” polishes!
No candy or treats in my box. Boo.
Not a Julep Maven? Click HERE to join – I’ll get a $15 credit and you’ll get your first box free!
Double Troublemaker
So my first Sephora order of 2018 actually turned out to be my last order of 2017. So I ended up placing a second order for the Urban Decay Troublemaker palette (normally $39, on sale for $24). But why???
I wanted to take advantage of the “Sale on Sale” – an extra 20% off on sale items (bringing the price down to $19.80)…but I wanted my sale to count towards 2018 and going Rouge. So I was fucking around on my phone on New Year’s Eve, but after midnight….in Texas. I figured I could place my order and it would count towards 2018…nope. I got my order summary and it said December 31, 2017. Fuck. I emailed customer service and asked if they could fix it. Sephora Customer Service actually answered on New Year’s Day, but gave me the dumbass answer that they could not modify the sales date on the order and that I should just reorder the palette and return the first one. So I did. I figured that I could get three extra samples and just take the extra palette back…but there were no fucking samples in either box. what the FUCK, Sephora??? I emailed customer service – still waiting to hear back. At least I got another 2017 Rouge gift…not sure why.
…now about the palette itself. Troublemaker was released as a companion to their new Troublemaker Mascara, a deluxe sample of which is also included in the box.
The palette has just 9 colors, with matte and shimmer finishes. The colors lean warm and all mesh rather well with each other. I’ve used the palette for the last two days and have found the colors to be standard Urban Decay quality, although I noticed that the shimmers shifted darker on my eyes than in the pan – oxidation?
The middle shade, “Clash” is a dupe for “Furious/Anger” from the Pulp Fiction palette. I’m not mad or anything, just pointing it out.
The Troublemaker Mascara is nice – I like it better than the Perversion Mascara. It’s less clumpy and I feel like it defines my lashes better. That being said, the Deluxe tube is annoying – the wand is too short and I feel like I am in danger of stabbing myself in the side of the nose.
I would hesitate to pay $39 for this palette, but $19.80 is a fair price. Now to decide what to do with the other one…to return or to gift???
$970 to Rouge…can I do it?