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April Beauty Box 5 – Take a Hydration Vacation

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This is it – the last straw! As soon as I saw this lame box, it was over. I emailed Beauty Box 5 customer service to cancel my subscription last night.

April’s theme is “Take a Hydration Vacation” and it is full of brands I have never, ever heard of. Inside the box: Soapbox Sea Minerals Body Wash (smells like fabric softener); Jelly Pong Pong Paradise Pigments (hot pink cream blush – just what I needed); Maskeraide All Eyes on Me Hydrating Eye Gels; Chella Passionate Pink Moisturizing Lip Pencil (very pink); and Global Beauty Care Green Tea Makeup Remover Wipes (they send wipes every other month at least). I wanted to love this box – I gave it over two years – but I just don’t.

I’m not sure how many months are left on my subscription, so this might not be my last box…ugh.

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Furious Poisonberry

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After years of painting, I’ve finally found THE polish that matches my car perfectly. And I didn’t even find it myself – it just appeared in my last Target Beauty Box.

This is Sinful Colors “Poisonberry” – two coats over Sinful Colors Base Coat and under “HK Girl”. Just…wow. The first coat was smooth, not streaky – and totally opaque. The second coat self-evened perfectly.

It’s very similar to Kat Von D “Bauhau5”, which is slightly more berry colored.

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Mystery Revolution

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Honest…I didn’t expect to be placing another Makeup Revolution order so soon. But they offered an Easter Mystery Bag worth £25 with a £30 purchase, plus 20% off for downloading their new app…so…

I ordered on Thursday, March 24th and got a notification that it shipped on Monday, March 28th. I received my package on Tuesday, April 5th. Just 8 days to get from London to me! Sally lives in Scotland and ordered the day after I did and got hers the same day I did – what is that about?

I had to have the new “Fortune Favours the Brave” palette, since it’s unlikely to be released stateside. I am addicted to this palette – I’ve used it for three days straight and haven’t tried any of my other new palettes. The included brush is shit, but the quality of the shadows is top notch. I also got the new “Chocolate Vice” palette. I decided to try the new Lip Amplification in “Epic Love” – I was expecting a dustier rose, but again – bright ass pink. It’s wearable though. I’m not too much of a blush person, but I had to snag two of their newer blush palettes – “Blush Queen”, which is reminiscent of the Laura Geller Baked Blushes I love and “Golden Sugar 2”, which is beautiful rose gold shades.

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And then there is the free shit…OMG….so much stuff. I’m most excited about the “Colour Chaos” palette – my husband was horrified by the prospect of me using these bright ass drag queen shadows. Also included in the bag: Ultra Velour Lip Cream in “Move Your Mouth Forever” (nude) ; #Liphug Lipstick in “Let’s Move the Bar” (orange); Radiant Lights “Glow” (an illuminating powder); Amazing Sheer Lip Gloss in “Hey Girl” (peachy); Vivid Blush Lacquer in “O’ Boy” (pink); The One Blush Stick in “Malibu” (rust); and a Mono Eyeshadow in “Adore Moi” (buttery brown).

A lot of interesting stuff to try in the mystery bag – and each one was different. Sally got totally different stuff!

Normally, I like to try most of the stuff I buy before I post, but there’es really too many goodies to try. I’ve let you down…and I am truly sorry for that.

So basically, I ordered all of this quality makeup from overseas and STILL paid less (less than $50 USD with shipping) than buying a single prestige palette – Too Faced or Urban Decay, etc. I am HOOKED on Makeup Revolution.

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Vivid Sheers

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I couldn’t wait to dig into my new Julep polishes this month’s “Brights + White” Collection.

I decided to experiment…after busting open my new Julep Oxygen Bonding Base Coat, I did two coats of Julep “Brigitte” on my thumbs and pinkies. I used my dotting tool to dot “Brigitte” on my index and pointer fingers. I left my middle finger as is. I then layered Julep “Ari” and “Delaney”, overlapping to create purple in the middle. After the first coats, I did more dots on my index and ring fingers, also adding some on my pinkie. Then another coat of “Ari” and “Delaney”. I finished with “HK Girl”.

The white did make the sheers pop, but that was just too much polish for my my nails. It was so thick that is became like dried acrylic paint – peeling up at the edges, as you can see on my pinky. I also didn’t paint my nails very neatly, which exacerbated the peeling. Lessons learned.

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I couldn’t stand it anymore – I had to take it off and try something else.

This time, I decided to do a simple pond mani with Julep “Gigi”. I didn’t start with white base, just Julep Oxygen Bonding Base Coat. I did “Brigitte” dots, then “Gigi”, then dots, then “Gigi”. In retrospect, I might have done one more set – the dots on my thumb and middle finger are bit too aligned and should be more random. Again, I finished with “HK Girl”.

I really like the way these turned out – nice and summery.

I am craving a dreamsicle SO BAD right now!

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April Julep Maven Box – Brights + White

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Julep’s April collection is very, very interesting – “Brights + White”, a collection of vivid sheer polishes, meant to be layered.

This month’s beauty product is Love Your Bare Face Cleansing Stick. It’s like a stick of deodorant, but oils and enzymes to clean your face. I also got the Kaolin Clay Konjac Sponge (it even came with a little suction hook to hang it to dry – LOVE that) to go with it. I tried it last night – it was weird, but my face felt very clean and impossibly smooth after using them.

I couldn’t pick just one of the vivd sheer polishes, so in addition to It Girl “Ari”extreme fuchsia vivid sheer, I got It Girl “Delaney”blue atoll vivid sheer – and Boho Glam “Gigi”zesty mandarin vivid sheer. The collection came with Classic with a Twist “Brigitte”bright white creme – to use under the sheers to make them pop. I used more jules and also added Julep Oxygen Bonding Base Coat – I was out! Since I added three products, I got a free bonus – Classic with a Twist “Lulu”wisteria mist soft focus (demi-matte).

My only complaint was the candy in the box. Sour Apple Air Heads. I HATE Sour Apple ANYTHING and Air Heads are asking for a visit to the dentist.

Not a Julep Maven? Click HERE to join – I’ll get a $15 credit and you’ll get your first box free!

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Endless Love

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I’ve had this polish nearly two years and I am just now getting around to trying it. I can’t believe it has taken this long to try this amazing polish.

RUFFIAN “Endless Love” is a chrome pink dream. I started with Orly Bonder and really could have gone with just one coat. I did two. Even though it goes on smooth and gives full coverage in one coat, it is very unforgiving of any ridges or peeling in your nails, so it looks best when your nails are in their best condition. It didn’t bubble as badly as the other RUFFIAN polishes I’ve tried, but I’ll chalk that up to user error – that was before I was using a base coat and a good top coat. I used “HK Girl” this time.

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Rhymes with Delores

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I am so in love with Julep “Delores”.

“Delores” – iris linear liquid holographic – is the perfect cool purple. I cannot believe how smoothly the formula went over Julep Oxygen Bonding Base Coat. It was full coverage in one coat, but I did two to make sure the color popped. It dried somewhat matte, to my surprise. I finished with “HK Girl” and WOW! It is ridiculously shiny.

You got any more of those holographic polishes? More, more, more!

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Ulta Gifting

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I placed another Ulta order the Wednesday before last…because there were GIFTS I needed. Really, I had a reason.

Besides the gifts, I also order some stuff for myself – the Makeup Revolution Redemption Palette “Unicorns are Real” and new Lip Euphoria “Fate”. Lip Euphoria just launched and Ulta got it quick – there’s hope!

I also qualified for the Bare Minerals Beauty Break, which included 5 in 1 BB Advanced Performance Cream Eyeshadow; Lash Domination Volumizing Mascara; Lash Domination Volumizing Mascara for Short Lashes (They make special mascara for short lashes? How is it different?); Marvelous Moxie Lipstick in “Get Ready” (I got this in my first ipsy bag – great color!); and BareSkin Sheer Sun Serum Bronzer (weird). I also got some weird samples – Escada “Joyful” and Herban Essentials Lavender Towlette (what the fuck do I do with this?)

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And then Saturday, I went to Ulta to get my hair did…and buy some more gifts. All gifts must come from Ulta!

I liked my neon eyeshadow and pink eyeliner combo so much, that I wanted more liquid eyeliner options – red and blue! I got NYX Glam Liner Aqua Luxe in “Azur Glamour” and NYX Vivid Brights Liquid Eyeliner in “Vivid Fire”. They were BOGOHalf and I figured I would try both formulas. I also grabbed a pack of eyeshadow sponges from the bin by the checkout…sometimes the cheap stuff works best.

…and my receipt told me that I am only $5 away from Platinum status for next year. WHOOP!

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Southwestern Mermaid

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It’s Easter…but I was already sick of pastels, so I just went with something I’d had in mind with a while.

When I first got Nicole by OPI “Pick of the Glitter”, I tried it over a nude. I decided to try it over a turquoise to bring out the turquoise glitter. After Sinful Colors Base Coat, I did two thin coats of Sally Hansen “Marine Scene”. “Marine Scene” is one of my older polishes – not quite a decade old, but quite a while, since it’s only half full. My husband really likes this polish and just rolled his eyes at me when I started to put glitter on top of it. HE DOESN’T UNDERSTAND.

I topped with “HK Girl” for a smooth finish.

The turquoise glitter is a bit darker than “Marine Scene”, so it stands out. I like this a lot – it feels very Southwestern Mermaid.

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One & Done

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I was surprised to see the UPS Man pull up today – what was he bringing? Why…it was the Sephora order I just placed on Wednesday – that was FAST!

It’s been available via Urban Decay’s website for a few weeks, but I wanted to wait until either Sephora or Ulta got it – points! Sephora had it first, so I ordered immediately. I’m talking about Urban Decay Naked Skin One & Done Hybrid Complexion Perfector in “Light Medium”. I loved their Naked Skin BB Cream in “Light”, but it was discontinued and “Medium” is a bit too orange for me – unless I kill it with a lot of powder. I was excited to see the range of shades. I was wishing and hoping that that it would be even better than the BB Cream.

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As soon as I was done working, I ran into the bathroom and washed my face with Fresh Soy Cleanser. I tried it on my bare skin, with my hands – no primers or moisturizer and…it was okay. It was a bit more coverage than the BB Cream, but not full coverage. It somewhat hid the pores on my nose, but didn’t affect the ones on my cheeks. It seemed to get hung on a few skin flakes. The color was right. I was slightly disappointed, but I think I need to experiment with exfoliation beforehand and maybe spot applying primer or pore perfector. It’s not a trash product, but I’m not convinced that I’ve finally found my holy grail foundation. Sigh.

By the way, my husband HATES my eye makeup today. He said I look like Divine, which I thought was a compliment – he said it is not. I wanted to play with my new Makeup Revolution “Dia de los Muertos” palette – when else am I gonna wear neon yellow eyeshadow, but at home? I layered Urban Decay Liquid Eyeliner in “Woodstock” over it – I LOVE the way the colors look together. I completed the look with Kat Von D “Sexer”. I really need a better lighting set-up than standing in front of my bedroom window…ugh.

Oh…and I also used a code to get a free sample of Boscia Charcoal Pore Pudding Intensive Wash-Off Treatment. Pore Pudding. Heh. Unfortunately, the other samples I chose didn’t make it into the box. Sad clown. I would be more bummed, but it was all foundation samples – that’s all they had this week. Get your shit together Sephora!