Author: Lara
Mermaid Vibes
As disappointed as I was with Beach Vibes, I am really digging these Mermaid Vibes!
Julep “Maureen” is totally inspired by The Little Mermaid – it’s like a shiny version of her tail. It also matches my living room walls. I could wear it forever…
This is two coats of “Maureen” over Julep Oxygen Bonding Base Coat and under Glisten & Glow Top Coat.
Beachwave Me
I have a love/hate relationship with my hair. I’m always looking for the next product/styling aid that will give me perfect hair…I try something new, get excited…then back comes the ponytail.
That being said, my current Revlon curling iron is probably older than my son (13!) and didn’t get very hot last time I tried to use it. I’ve been drooling over the Beachwaver Curling Iron, but at $129 – that’s a steep price for a curling iron! How can I rationalize spending that much money on a styler I’ll use just a few times a year? Well…I found a way.
First, you save up your Ulta Platinum Points for nearly 2 years – the last time I used my points was on the Alice Through the Looking Glass Palette! I had saved $67.50 in points. Then, wait for a 20% off coupon. Last week, the stars aligned and I snagged the Beachwaver S1 Curling Iron for just $35.70. Woo! I tried it out and it’s just as amazing as videos make it look. You literally just grab your hair and press the button and BAM – perfect waves. I haven’t done my whole head yet…but coming soon!
I also found a promo for a free 18 piece Beauty Bag with $30 purchase on RetailMeNot – check out the amazing contents: NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in “Milk” (already have one, but sure); Smashbox Photo Finish Primerizer (have some, but I like it); Bosley Professional Strength Ultra Boost Styling Creme (Bosley, like the hair plug people?); Clairol Hair Food Moisture Shampoo & Conditioner Infused with Honey Apricot Fragrance (Mmmmm); Jimmy Choo L’eau; First Aid Beauty Facial Radiance Pads (huh?); Hempz Original Herbal Shampoo for Damaged and Color Treated Hair; Yves Saint Laurent Black Opium; Philosophy Amazing Grace; Living proof. restore mask treatment; goodol Wash Up Deep Clean Pore Glacial Clay; Nyakio Maracuja & Yangu Soothing Oil; Perricone MD Cold Plasma Face Serum; Rituals Hand Balm in “Indian Rose & Sweet Almond Oil”; Philosophy Purity Made Simple (love this stuff for when I travel); Hey Honey Good Morning Honey Silk Facial Serum; Estee Lauder The Smoother Universal Perfecting Primer; Organic to Green Coco Oil; and a $5 off $15 Ulta Collection coupon! I have finger cramps now!
My usual samples were also good – NARS Powermatte Lip Pigment in “American Woman” and HASK Biotin Boost Shampoo & Conditioner.
I don’t plan on hitting the beach this summer, but my hair will be ready just in case!
Astros Nails
I can be a baseball fan, just for one day.
There are few sports as boring as baseball, but as soon as I found out that my son’s Junior High School Band was invited to play the National Anthem, I got uncharacteristically excited. I don’t own any Astros gear, but I do have fingernails…
I don’t normally mix brands like this, but it was necessary to get the colors just right. I started with Sally Hansen Double Duty Base & Top Coat, followed by two coats of the brightest orange I own – Sally Hansen “Sweet Nectar”. I then painted a swipe pattern that my daughter had done on her own nails last week. I used Julep “Brigitte” for the white and Julep “Dyani” for the blue. I painted the swipes freehand, with the nail polish brush – so they are far from perfect. I wanted some stars, so I then topped with Sinful Colors “Star Studded”. The finishing touch was Glisten & Glow Top Coat.
Since I used the brushes from the nail polish bottle, there was far too much polish pooling in the edges, by my skin. Oh well.
I was gonna hold a baseball in the pic, but I couldn’t find one around the house. I used my mom’s opal egg instead. This might be my new nail pic thingy.
YAYROUGE, Part 1
It’s that time of year…the Sephora Spring Bonus discount is here!
This year, VIB Rouge gets a 15% discount not one weekend, but BOTH weekends. I hit my closest Sephora during lunch on the first day of the sale. (Only 14 minutes from my office to Sephora!) I was after this year’s Sun Safety Kit, but the store had already sold out…I’d have to check online.
I wanted the gift with purchase, so I wandered around, looking for a summer skin product. I tried new foundations from Sunday Riley and First Aid Beauty, but was unimpressed. Then I came across Milk Makeup Sunshine Skin Tint SPF 30 in “Fair” ($42). I tried it on my wrist and it actually blended into my skin, instead of just sitting on top. What the hell. I bought a tube. 15% made me not feel bad about it. I tried it both days this past weekend and it is more similar to a BB cream than a foundation, but it evened out my complexion without looking thick. AND I didn’t break out. This foundation will be my summer jam.
Not only did I get a cute “Lips” Card Case, but I got a sample bag. Inside the special sample bag: Buxom Big Tease Plumping Mascara; tarte Drink of H2O Hydrating Boost; Clinique Beyond Perfecting Super Concealer Camouflage + 24-Hour Wear; Beauty Blender Liquid Blendercleanser (it works SO much better than Baby Shampoo); Caudalie Vinopefect Radiance Serum; Josie Maran 100% Pure Argan Oil; Algenist Genius Ultimate Anti-Aging Cream; and Fresh Umbrian Clay Purifying Mask. Yeah, it’s mostly foil packs, but it’s high end brands.
Oh, I also got to smell REPLICA Music Festival, which is purported to smell like patchouli and “fresh bud”. I’ll be damned if it didn’t smell just like a hippie that hadn’t bathed in a month.
…and then I started ordering online….
oVertone – Rose Gold for Brown Hair
I think I’ve found it – the holy grail of semi-permanent hair color!
Growing up in the 80s and 90s, all we had was Manic Panic. Don’t get me wrong, it did the job…but it was hard to apply and stained EVERYTHING. Good luck not staining your scalp, your forehead, your clothes, your bathtub, your towels – everything. Manic Panic was somehow permanent and not permanent at the same time. Even though it permanently stained everything it touched – it tended to fade quickly (and unevenly) from your hair. I spend more time than I would like to admit with half pink/ half bleached blond hair than I would like to admit. Oh, did I not mention that Manic Panic was useless without bleach? But in your teens and twenties, who gives a shit, right? Hair grows…
Now in my 40s, I definitely give a shit about my hair. Women don’t want to admit that our hair thins, too, as we age – it fucking DOES. (Just ask my husband about our shower drain…) There’s got to be a better way to add adventurous color than bleaching and dying forever…
And then I discovered oVertone. I admit it, I first saw it on Facebook and Instagram ads. They were hyping a new color called “Rose Gold for Brown Hair”, which was my color goal the last time I got my hair professionally colored – and I ended up a bit disappointed. I clicked and the product sounded really amazing – a duo of semi-permanent products that promise to keep your hair bright and tight. I then saw that samples were available, so I decided to try them out…
I ordered samples of “Rose Gold for Brown Hair” Deep Conditioner ($11) and Daily Conditioner ($8). A bit pricey, but if it works and keeps my hair healthy…it will be well worth it. Full Size prices are $28 for the Deep Conditioner and $17 for the Daily Conditioner. If I got two uses out of the sample Deep Conditioner (I used less than half), the full size should last a few months at least.
The sample Deep Conditioner is to be used first – you put it on your hair for 10-15 minutes and then rinse. That’s IT. The Daily Conditioner adds a color boost between weekly Deep Conditioning Treatments. Best of all, no harsh chemical odor – it smells like Wintergreen!
I was surprised at how deeply pink some of my hair turned. This is because I had chunky highlights last summer, so those highlights sucked the color right up. The picture to the left is immediately after application, but I got the perfect rose gold color after the first washing.
In addition to “Rose Gold for Brown Hair”, there’s original “Rose Gold” AND the whole rest of the rainbow: red, orange, pink, silver, blue, purple, teal, green and yellow. I don’t see myself going nuts – it’s taken me nearly 18 years at the same company to dye my hair slightly pink. This is probably as much as I can get away with right now…Baby steps…
The most recent similar product I’ve tried is L’Oreal Colorista…and it doesn’t even come close on quality. It’s ~$8-~11 a tube and even though it promises 4-8 shampoos, it’s gone after a single shampoo. There are lots of other semi-permanent products on the market right now, but I’ll pay extra for oVertone.
If you’d like to try oVertone, this referral link will get you $10 off your first order (and $10 for me, too).
April 2018 Birchbox – Feed Your…
Back to the Curated Box option this month – any time I see Davines, I go for it!
Despite the disparity in sizes, I’m quite thrilled to get a deluxe sample of Davines LOVE Smoothing Shampoo and a single use foil-pack of Davines LOVE Smoothing Conditioner.
Also in this month’s “Feed Your…” Box: Eyeko Skinny Liquid Eyeliner in “Black”; jane iredale Just Kissed Lip and Cheek Stain in “Forever Pink”(I got “Forever” Peach a few years ago – it was OK, I guess); Acure Organics Brilliantly Brightening Facial Scrub (Acure is really good); and Clarins Multi-Active Day Cream SPF 20.
A so-so box…
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.
Beach Vibes
Sometimes, the idea in your head just doesn’t materialize…and that’s OK. Not every nail polish look is going to be perfect.
Even though it’s not perfect, it’s not bad. It’s giving off definite Summer Beach Vibes. I wanted to try the new polish I got in one of my gazillion Target Beauty Boxes this month – Sinful Colors “Galax-sea”. But it is a glitter with a clear base, so what would I put under it, to hide my stained nails??? Sinful Colors “Coco Bae”!
Starting with Sinful Colors Base Coat, this is two coats of “Coco Bae”, one and a half coats of “Galx-sea”, and finishing up with Glisten & Glow Top Coat.
Sugar Flamingo
Can you believe Julep “Cadance”? It looks like pure, pink sugar.
“Cadance” is another sugar textured polish from Julep. There’s a subtle glint of gold underneath the flamingo pink – this might be the most perfect textured polish I’ve ever used.
This is two coats of “Cadance” over Julep Oxygen Bonding Base Coat. Oops, I’m running low on Base Coat! I better add to my next box!
By the way, There’s a My Little Pony named Princess Cadance…but she’s light purple, not flamingo pink. There really isn’t a pony that’s this shade of pink – Pinkie Pie is a cotton candy pink. Why do I know this???
April 2018 Julep Maven Box – Bold Confection
So. Much. Polish.
April’s theme is “Bold Confection” and brings bright polishes with fun textures. I decided to go all polish. I chose Classic with a Twist “Cadance”, flamingo pink textured glitter; It Girl “Maureen”, seafoam oasis iridescent; and Bombshell “Samma”, frozen lilac iridescent microglitter. I also got a tiny roll of white nail tape. I wonder if it will be as hard to use as the nail tape I got from China…
No candy this month, but a free polish! I got Boho Glam “Della”, misted blackberry microshimmer. When I opened the box, I was sure that “Cadance” must have been the free polish – I couldn’t imagine myself choosing it…but I checked my confirmation email and choose it, I did.
Not a Julep Maven? Click HERE to join – I’ll get a $15 credit and you’ll get your first box free!
Target Beauty Boxes – April 2018
What witchcraft is this? FOUR different Target Beauty Boxes this month? (There was an extra box that dropped the last week of March, but since it was all curly hair products, I skipped it.) When it rains, it pours! The boxes have unique designs and a different coupon set-up than the usual $3 off $15 – each box has coupons for the specific products in the box.
I’ll just start with the top left and move clockwise…the “Be You(tiful)” box is the heaviest and highest value box. It includes e.l.f. Gotta Glow Up Tint in “Perfect Pink” (I suspect it’s like the Winky Lux balm); Simple Water Boost Micellular Makeup Remover Eye Pads (itty bitty!); Nexxus Keraphix Shampoo & Conditioner (ugh, the shampoo came open in the box – at least it made everything smell good); L’Oreal Pure Clay Cleanser – Detoxify and Brighten (picked this up several months ago – LOVE it); OLLY Beauty Vitamins; Sinful Colors Nail Polish in “Galac Sea” (Not a dupe!); and Honest Beauty Younger Face Deep Hydration Cream. This box included $9 in product coupons.
Next up is the “Treat Yourself” box. It includes Bodycology Free & Lovely Coconut & Rose Body Butter (smells good); Dr Teals Pink Himalayan Foaming Bath (ugh, I want a bathtub so bad); ME!Bath Bath Bomb (Ditto); Luxe by Mr. Bubble Bath Meltaway (jeez); Burt’s Bees Tinted Lip Balm in “Red Dahlia” (finally, a product I’ll use); Olay Regenerist Whip Active Moisturizer (I’ve been dying to try this); and Honest Beauty Refreshingly Clean Gel Cleanser. This box included $11 in coupons.
Directly underneath that box is the “All the Masks” box. It includes Neutrogena Hydro Boost Hydrating Gel Mask; Que Bella Multi Mask Trio; Yes to Carrots and Kale Single Use Paper Mask; Masque Bar Luminizing Charcoal Peel Off Mask; and St. Ives Soothing Oatmeal Sheet Mask (I busted this one out the night I opened the box – I’m still smooth several days later). This box only included a single $1 off St. Ives coupon.
Last, but not least, is the “Wakeup and Makeup” box. It includes Sonia Kashuk Brush Cleaning Wipes; e.l.f. Beautifully Bare Blending Brush; e.l.f. Beautifully Bare Face Palette; Dove Dry Spray Invisible Sheer Finish Deodorant; Dove Dry Shampoo in “Coconut”; CoverGirl Peacock Flare Mascara in “Extreme Black”; and Honest Beauty Refreshingly Clean Makeup Remover Wipes. This box included $5 in coupons.
So…four boxes at $7 each, AND I remembered to use my $3 off coupon. With another 5% off with my Red Card and free shipping, that’s $24.25 for the whole shebang! If I manage to use even half of the $26 in coupons, I’ll be a happy camper.