Author: Lara
March 2022 Sucreabeille Mini Subscription Bag
How is it April already? Didn’t I just get this bag the other day?
I don’t mind a delay in posting my Sucreabeille sub. It takes me a while to work through all the scents and sometimes I even have to wear them multiple times to really understand a scent.
March’s unreleased scent is called “Agent of Chaos”. It mostly just smells like patchouli to me, but there’s a note of something in there that I cannot quite explain.
BY FAR, the best scent of the month is “Brienne the Beauty”, which I believe is a Game of Thrones themed scent. It’s a masculine citrus scent, which I LOVE. It reminds of the Atelier Cologne scents I tend towards. I’m glad I found a possible substitution since I recently learned that Atelier is no longer being sold in the US. Tragic!
Also in the January bag: “Assbutt” (a marshmallow-y scent from the Supernatural themed collection); “Crafty Witch” (which I’ve already tried); “Infamy” (this one has a heavy tuberose vibe, reminding me of B&BW’s “Velvet Tuberose”); and “Forest Witch” (just smells like the Garden Center at Lowe’s to me).
I am not loving this month’s bag as much as previous ones, but I am not quite ready to call it quits yet.
I subscribe to the Mini Subscription Bag at just $15/month (shipping is extra), but there’s also a Medium Subscription Bag for $40/month and a Full Size Subscription Bag for $70/month. Click here for a $5 off coupon (for you AND me)!
Save the Bees!
No, for real – SAVE THE BEES!
Also, this nail polish is Sinful Colors “Save the Bees” from their new Honey Flake collection. I am not the biggest fan of yellow nail polish – they make me feel like Marge Simpson – but this one is different. It’s got FLAKIES. I love flakies.
I started with Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat, then painted two coats of “Save the Bees.” It has amazingly full coverage for a jelly-flaky polish. I finished with Glisten & Glow Top Coat on all of my nails, except the pinkies. My pinkies were topped with Glisten & Glow Matte Top Coat. I LOVE matte flakies even more than glossy flakies.
I snagged “Save the Bees” and her sister “Buzz Off” at HEB – I think they were $2.98 each…and they were worth every penny.
March 2022 Ipsy Bag – Power Moves
“Power Moves”. Hmmm…that makes me think of a character’s special combo in Soul Caliber or Mortal Kombat. Makes me want to blind someone with razor sharp mascara…
Anyway…My product choice this month was Eleman Beauty Matte Liquid Lipstick in “Madrid”. I cannot sugarcoat it – the color looks like baby poop. Not newborn baby poop (greenish black) or breastfeed baby poop (stone ground mustard)…no, this is a baby already starting soft foods. Yeah, one of those NASTY poops. I really liked it and it had great staying power!
Also in this month’s bag: Araceli Beauty Tequila Highlighter in “Reposado” (are highlighters over yet? I’m SICK of them); First Aid Beauty Hydrating Eye Cream with Hyaluronic Acid (I haven’t tried it yet, but soon); Shaina B Miami B. Sultry Pressed Pigment Duo in “Vino & Bae Harbor” (this is my favorite item in the bag – not just because of the flamingos embossed in the pigment…the shimmery “Bae Harbor” is a perfect taupe gold shimmer); and Firma Beauty 202 Angled Blender Brush (I admit, I took this out of the package and used it with the pigment right away).
This month’s makeup bag is a little lame. It will probably end up full of Barbie shoes or something.
I subscribe to the basic ipsy bag for $13/month and Glam Bag X for an extra $43/quarterly. If you’d like to try Ipsy – click here. I’ll earn 250 points if you sign up through my referral link.
St. Patrick’s Day on Bruton Mews
Since my “Pistachio Praline” didn’t last, I got to do another set of green St. Patrick’s Day nails.
I started with two coats of Nails Inc. “Bruton Mews” over Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat. This is the darkest, most luscious dark green polish I’ve ever seen. (It’s been chilling in my “untried basket” since I received it in a BB5 back in 2016.) I wanted a few fancy accent nails, so I used Sally Hansen “Fanta-Sea” on my thumb and ring fingers. I remembered to use Glisten & Glow Glitter Grabber this time! I finished off with a thick coat of Glisten & Glow Top Coat.
…and since I am not British, I totally had to Google what a “Mews” is. “Mews” is a fancy name for stables, in case you were wondering.
Pistachio Praline…again.
Yes, I know St. Patrick’s Day was last week. I am WAY behind on posting.
I started off St. Patrick’s Day Week with Sinful Colors “Pistachio Praline” – no base coat, no top coat, just two coats of “Pistachio Praline”. It looked lovely for a day or two, but then it started flaking off BAD. I think I only wore it three days last week? I did not even make it to St. Patrick’s Day.
I loved the gold shimmer in the green – why does it look so familiar?
I’ll tell you why…because I wore this polish less than two months ago. Ya’ll…between work and school and two teenagers and COVID-19 and WWIII…my head is barely screwed on straight. I feel like it’s the apocalypse, but I still have to do my day job. Fuck.
Black Honey
I’ve fallen in love with Clinique Almost Lipstick in “Black Honey” ($20) over the past year…but I couldn’t buy a full-size tube because the rest of the world is in love with it, too!
It finally came back into stock online, so I snatched it right up. Who even am I, spending $20 on a barely tinted lipstick?
I also picked up two new Freeman Beauty Exotic Blends Masks at BOGO 40% off – Detoxifying Japanese Matcha Cream (VERY similar in texture to the Canadian Hemp Seed mask) and Exfoliating Indonesian Coconut (VERY similar in texture to the Charcoal & Black Sugar Mask). I added a HASK Color Care Color Protection Deep Conditioner packette ($2.99) – why should my face have all the fun?
My Zoya Remove+ is now $12 – fuck inflation! Good thing I had that $3.50 off $15 coupon…
$765 to Diamond in 2023…
Pisces
It’s Pisces season…so why not pull out Julep “Passionate Pisces”?
This is a simple manicure – just two coats of “Passionate Pisces” over Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat and under Glisten & Glow Top Coat. I love how super shiny this polish is.
Coincidentally, BOTH of my children are passionate Pisces.
Hair Vacuum
That’s right…I bought a fucking vacuum for my hair. I FINALLY bought the Dyson Airwrap Complete Styler ($549.99). I’d been watching and waiting for it to come back in stock and I finally snagged it!
Owning a Dyson vacuum, I was skeptical about their foray into hair products…until my stylist used one on my hair. I used to DREAD blowouts – they take SO long and I get so HOT. That’s not even a thing anymore with Dyson. I mean…the dryer is still hot, but not nearly as hot as a regular hair dryer. The Airwrap itself is barely hot at all! It just sucks your hair around the rod and BOOM! Waves for days. Even the drying brushes are better than my trusty Revlon One-Step – the previous gold standard for at-home blowouts.
I’ve only been able to use the tools a few times…my children have used it more than I have! Regular styling tools have been useless on my daughter’s super-fine hair, but the Dyson tools handle it just fine. My son played around and put waves in his hair, making him look like the offspring of Gilderoy Lockhart and Severus Snape. Highly recommend!
All in all, I don’t regret my purchase at all…but maybe that’s because I was able to apply $250 in Ulta points towards my purchase. Don’t get me wrong, $299.99 still hurts, but it’s not quite as bad. I actually had $378 in Ulta points saved up, but Ulta limits redemptions to $250 a pop. Oh well, I guess I get to shop more.
Oh! I also received a free Brow Sampler with my purchase. The sampler included: Ulta Ultra Slim Brow Pencil in “Medium Brown” (just one tic lighter than my usual “Dark Brown”, but let’s give it a shot); Revolution Makeup Soap Styler (I don’t think I have fluffy enough brows to even try this); Anastasia Dip Brow Gel in “Medium Brown” (interesting); It Cosmetics Brow Power in “Medium Brown”; NYX Micro Brow Pencil in “Espresso” (now we’re talking); Too Faced Brow Wig in “Dark Brown” (Brush on hair? I feel like I will mess this up!); and Benefit Precisely, My Brow Pencil in “Medium Brown”. I kind of wish there was more consistency in the shades of this sampler, but I should be able to use about half of the samples!
Just $804 to Diamond in 2023!
February 2022 Sucreabeille Mini Subscription Bag
February feels so long ago…but I’ve been super busy with work, school, kids and being exhausted all the time…but it’s Spring Break, bitches. Since I’m back in school – Graduate School – this is my first REAL Spring Break since…1998? You better believe that I am taking the whole week off.
February’s unreleased scent is called “Sleep Paralysis” and holy shit…it smells like cookies and…well, poop. Underneath the somewhat Snickerdoodle-like initial sniff, there’s an underlying scent of indolic poo. I kinda dig it.
Like January’s bag, February’s bag also included a scent I’ve already tried – “Black Honey” – but I’m not even mad, because I love it. It just happens to be my scent of the day today. Also in this month’s bag: “Water Witch” (a musky, mermaid-y scent…but I like “Sea Hag” better); “Don’t Be a Lady, Be a Legend” (their site says the main note is raspberry lambic, but it’s been decades since I’ve drank it, so I’ll take their word on it); “100% That Bitch” (ooooh, cotton candy!); and “Bleeding Heart” (strawberries in champagne, I love this one).
I would wear every single one of the scents this month, but if I had to pick a favorite…I’m torn between “Black Honey” and “Bleeding Heart”.
I subscribe to the Mini Subscription Bag at just $15/month (shipping is extra), but there’s also a Medium Subscription Bag for $40/month and a Full Size Subscription Bag for $70/month. Click here for a $5 off coupon (for you AND me)!
Extra AF
Why yes, I AM “extra AF,” why do you ask?
Sinful Colors “Extra AF” is a sheer shimmer neon from 2019’s Neon Collection. Have I really been sleeping on this polish almost three years? I specifically went looking for a sheer yellow polish, because not only are my tips a bit stained from several weeks worth of dark polishes, but I wanted to show off my freshly cut nails. Sheer polishes look like ass on unevenly trimmed nails!
This is two coats of “Extra AF” over Glisten & Glow Ridge Filling Base Coat. The polish has a demi-matte finish, so I decided to go au naturel – NO top coat. The first few days went well, but by day 5, large chunks were flaking off my nails…I HATE when that happens.