Naked 3

First of all, I'm not sure if anyone actually reads this since I never get comments, which is fine :P But in the case that anyone DOES read this, I hope you've had a wonderful Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanzaa.

Happy Holidays from Tejas :)

Anyhow, before Christmas, I decided to order Urban Decay's Naked 3. Mind you, I've never ordered Naked 1 or Naked 2, so I can't really debate or list the pros and cons or comparisons of 1/2 versus 3. But I ordered 3 due to my new-found lust for nude colored eyeshadow that I can possibly wear at work [because you know, hot purple probably isn't appropriate in a prek setting], and my love for sparkles, and rose gold has a nice sparkle to it.

So here it is, Naked 3, by Urban Decay, this is the box.

This is inside of the box.

Naked 3 came with eyeshadow primer samples:

There are apparently enough of each sample for a week.

There's Original, Sin, Eden, and Anti-Aging. I haven't opened them, but original is normal, it's flesh colored primer that brings out color in eye makeup. Sin is a shimmering formula that I assume helps to keep makeup into place and add an extra shimmer? Eden is a nude matte formula. Anti-Aging apparently improves fine lines and wrinkles.

I think it's awesome that they included primer samples, but the samples are basically in a little plastic package that doesn't let you reseal it after you open it, so I'm not sure how you would keep that from drying out in a week's time. 

This is the primer I tend to use for myself, it's just normal primer. I picked up a tube of it with my order. I like it, I think it does a great job keeping my eye color in place for an extended period of time.

Anyhow...

This is the inside of the Naked 3. It has a nice sized mirror and generous amounts of each color and it also comes with a brush. From l to r: Strange, Dust, Burnout, Limit, Buzz, Trick, Nooner, Liar, Factory, Mugshot, Darkside, & Blackheart.

This is my attempt at swatches:

I have sort of a medium skintone, if it helps. 

I haven't tried to wear them yet. But my first impression of them is good. Some of the colors are a little too pale for me, but for the most part, I will wear a good amount of them, and they have just the right amount of shimmer to make a sparkle, which appeals to me. I especially like the darker end of the color spectrum, from Nooner to Blackheart because they're dark enough that they will bring the blue color out in my eye, and that they show without making a scene.

Again, I don't have 1 or 2, so I can't compare 3 to them, but I am overall satisfied with the colors, I'll have more to say, when I actually try them out, which will probably be tomorrow.

On another note, I got this eyeliner pencil in my Wantable December box. It's a Starlooks Exit to Eden pencil, and I've finally gotten around to trying it, and I have mixed feelings about it. I can't use it with primer, it doesn't show up over primer, I can't use it on my waterline at all because it doesn't show at all, so I need to wear it just as it is, and it doesn't have the best staying power. But it does look good:

Oh and Urban Decay also sent me a free sample:

It's their De Slick oil control makeup setting spray. You're supposed to spray it on your face before you wear makeup, and then after you wear makeup for lasting power. I haven't tried it yet. It sounds interesting.

On another note, Fiance begged me to buy some sort of organization system for my makeup because the cats like to knock my makeup everywhere and they make a mess, so this is my attempt at a start of makeup organization:

Yes, ignore my huge collection of Urban Decay 24/7, I'm slightly addicted to it, and I know I have a problem. It's better than my nailpolish, at least, which is currently all sitting inside a plastic box that used to be in ROY G BIV order, but is no longer :/ 

It's almost 2014, I for one, am looking forward to a new year. I have wedding planning to do [3.14.15 is the date], and lots of other stuff on the agenda. Plus, new month, means a new collection of subscription boxes to review :) 

ANYWAYS, HAPPY NEW YEARS TO ALL!!!!

Wantable December

I had had a really bad day on Wednesday, and decided that I deserved a new beauty box to give myself. I was debating between glossybox, popsugar, sample society, and Wantable, and decided to choose Wantable.

I had heard a lot about Wantable, I liked how you can literally choose the products you want. It's a little more pricey than say Julep or Birchbox or Ipsy, but it's really personal. For $36.00 per month [or $40 for a single purchase] you get 5-6 FULL SIZE beauty samples based on your likes, dislikes, and loves that you put on a quiz that narrows everything down from what type of product to what color products you prefer.

So, for the thought of NEVER getting blush [which I don't wear], and being able to make my makeup samples more me [as in lots of eye makeup and nailpolish], I thought I'd give it a try.

I ordered this on Wednesday night, and it came yesterday, so they have SUPER FAST shipping, and they're very good at updating you on shipping [unlike Julep, when I never know when anything is coming] from the second your box leaves to the second it arrives.

This is the box. It's a nice small box, which unfortunately doesn't fit into my tiny apartment mailbox, but it's very simple.

This is the inside of the box. The top thing is my loves/like/dislikes. For example, I love medium, eyeliner, nail polish, lash product, eye shadow, and tools. I like lip color and complexion products. I dislike brows, blush, highlighter, and blush. You're more likely to get products you love, occasionally a product you like, never something you dislike. Your likes/dislikes are also changeable anytime you like, just go to the website. Below those are the full retail price for the items that you were sent.

This is everything prettily packages in the box, which is protected by foam egg crates.

This is everything I got in this box.

Eye Glaze Fierce from Girlacktic Beauty. True story, in  college, I totally had a thing for eye glaze, it was easy to apply, and the color was usually good. This color is a dark purple shiny color. I like the color. It's not something I can wear every day, I'm sure it's probably not the right look for pre-k, but it is a color I like. I like purples and find with my blue-silver eyes, I tend to look good in purple eye makeup because it really brings out the color. Full retail value: $18.00

Sexy Black Mascara from Golden Rose. First of all, the container is so pretty, it's a pink color, and on the back, which I didn't take a picture of is like black crochet lace. I love black mascara, and I always need black mascara, I will never say no to black mascara, especially in such a pretty container. Retail Value: $13.00

Pot Gloss Honest from FACE Stockholm. I like pot gloss, I find it easier to put on then tube lip gloss. This color is a clear shimmery glitter color. It's a very nude color with a nice shimmer. It's perfect for every day way. Retail value: $19.00

Magnetic Force Nailpolish from Color Club. I like color club, I've gotten some samples from them in Birchbox before, and I find their colors go on well. This is a magenta color with silver glitter. It's very much a me color. Retail Value: $12.00

Kohl Eye Pencil Exit to Eden from Starlook. I love the color of this pencil. It's a silver lime green, and I've always liked crazy eyeliner colors. I love greens, so once again,a very me color. Retail Value: $12.00

Skiin Instant Skin Tightner & Line Filler Sample from Skiin. Free sample. 

Total Retail Value: $74.00 and I only paid $36

I like Wantable. I like how I really do feel they pick out makeup with me in mind, instead of Birchbox, where I may like one sample out of all of them. I also like that these are all full-size. I'm very much looking forward to future Wantable boxes in the future to see what I get. Therefore, I am very satisfied with their makeup boxes.

Naughty and Nice Julep Mystery Box

Wow, the Naughty and Nice Mystery Box came fast. Usually it takes Julep Mystery Boxes about 2-3 weeks to get here, it barely took one week.

Anyways, after a day full of crazy pre-k students, who were way too excited for Christmas Break, and an exhausted Pre-K teacher, I was more than thrilled to get this in the mail:

[one big box, one crazy orange cat]

[The inside of the box]

These were the three colors that were outside the box, so I assume that they're the Mystery Bonus gift I added on when I ordered the box, but don't quote me on that.

From L to R: Lois, Faye, and Jane

Lois is Boho Glam. It's a creamy pearly shimmering pink. I want to say I have it already, but I'm not sure. Either way it's a pretty color. It's a creamy pink with a kick. Retail Value: $14.00

Faye is Boho Glam.  It reminds me of the color of a cafe latte that I would order from Starbucks, and man do I love coffee. It's not a color that I would've bought for myself, but it's not a bad color. It has a nice shimmer that I also like, but you can't really see it in the picture I took. It's a nice add-on.  Retail Value: $14.00

Jane is a bombshell color. It's a bronze glitter color. I love glitter polishes and I think that the more glitter polishes I own, the better it is. Retail Value: $14.00

So, the "Mystery Add-on" was $10.00, and I got nailpolish worth $42.00 so that's not too shabby.

That brings us to the inside of the box.

Blank Canvas Face Primer. I don't wear face makeup. According to one of my co-workers, I have naturally rosy cheeks, so I don't need blush. I also don't like the feeling of foundation on my face, so really I don't have a use for any sort of face primer. This will probably be gifted to somebody. Retail Value: $28.00

Rock Star Hand Creme. I'm a teacher, and my school is an outside school, so my hands and other parts of my body are exposed to all sorts of strange weather. Hand Creme is a good thing. I put some on my hands, just try it out, and it has a really nice scent, that isn't that bothersome. It also really made my hands smooth. So this will be a nice thing to throw in my bag and keep around. Retail Value: $20.00

Kajal Eye Glider and Sharpener. This is a repeat product for me. I got some in another mystery box. I do like their eyeliner, and I am an eyeliner addict. I just wish this was in a different color, I already have the brown/black stick, and it's the only color they make, I'd love to see other color combinations. This will be added to my eyeliner collection because you never know when you might need some extra eyeliner. The color is nice. I don't really do the smudge or blending thing, I've used the colors separately, and the color does stay and it doesn't smear, as long as I use primer with it. The pencil also has a really nice tip and it glides on smooth. Retail Value: $22.00

Lip Gloss in Timeless. I really like Julep's lip gloss, and I'm thrilled to add a third color to my collection. I tried it on, and it gives my lips a nice shimmer and a nude color that isn't overwhelming. The gloss itself, isn't too sticky, it smells like a toasted marshmallow too, which is always a bonus. Retail Value: $22.00

from L to R: America, Joanna, and Nellie. 

America is red, white, and blue glitter. The base polish is red. I like glittery polish. This is a perfect color for Memorial Day or the Fourth of July, or just when you like to support your country. Retail Value: $14.00

Joanna is Bombshell.  It's sort of a lavender and silver color. You can't really see it in the picture, but it has some nice shimmery undertones. I like it. To me it's sort of a wintery color, and I always tend to like the wintery colors. Retail Value: $14.00

Nellie is It Girl. I've never been much of a pink girl, but this a pink I would wear because it's darker and not as girly as some other pinks. I really like it. It's sort of a cross between fuchsia and magenta, which is more my sort of pink than a girly pink. Retail Value: $14.00

from l to r: Alaina, Brenda, and Aviva.

Alaina is a classic with a twist color, which means I have it somewhere, and this is a double. I think I've worn it before. My camera doesn't show the color to well. It's more like a darker gray/purple, more gray than purple, this picture makes it seem more lavender than it really is. But it's a really nice color. Retail Value: $14.00

Brenda is one of the new colors they promised with the mystery box. I love it. It's much more glittery than the picture shows. It literally looks like when you open a door on Christmas morning, and the ground is covered in snow, and the sun is barely up, and the snow glitters and shimmer and sparkles. This color is why I bought the mystery box.  I can't wait to wear it, it's the perfect winter color. Retail Value: $14.00

Aviva is the other color they promised with the box. It's a dark purple glitter with silver glitter. I like glitter color. I like purple. I just like Brenda a lot more than Aviva.

 Retail Value: $14.00

Green Tea Blotting Papers. I love blotting papers. My skin  seems to be naturally oily, maybe because the temperatures in my class are bipolar, and I always feel like my face is sweaty or oily, so I'm excited about getting these. I'm estimating the retail value to be around $5.00.

Tons of Lux Skin Serum and Hand Serum samples. These were free, so I'm not going to calculate a value for them. But I got a lot of them. I got two samples of each, which is pretty nifty.

This brings the totaql value of my box up to: $181 dollars, and I only paid about thirty for it. So I think I did well. No iPad Mini, but I'm very satisfied with the products that I got. I didn't have many doubles, and it's mostly stuff I would use. 

I love Julep. 

The Naughty and Nice Mystery Box was a hit.

December Ipsy Bag

This month was my first ever Ipsy bag. I had heard so many things about Ipsy, and it was all good, that I thought I'd add it to my makeup by mail obsession.

First of all, I love the packaging of it, it's pretty :) and it's small enough that it fits into my tiny apartment mailbox.

I was especially happy that it came today, after a very stressful day in PreK, when my students were driving me nuts because they were ready for Christmas vacation [as is their teacher]. 

I also love that it comes with a makeup bag, and I'll be getting a new one every month, which is great storage for what they send me, or when I go on vacation,and need things to stuff my eye makeups in.

I also really liked this bag because it was black, and it has a texture like bubble wrap.

I got this Julie G Textured Nail Color in Sugarplum Fairy. I love the color. It's purple and blue textured glitter that reminds me more of a twinkling night sky, than the second act of  Tchaikovsky's ballet, but it is such a gorgeous color. I cannot wait to wear it!!! It's also full-size, so score, and it retails for about four dollars.

I got these Pop Beauty eyeshadows in Smokin' Hot, and I LOVE IT!!! They are the perfect colors for me, I am slightly OBSESSED with smokey eye makeup style, and I love silvery shimmery eye color because it brings our my eyes [which are blue-gray], and I could not be happier with this trio. Retail value is 24 for 10, so that's about 2 or so dollars per color, so this is worth about 6 dollars.

A J. Cat Big Lip Pencil in Red Rose. I'm not really a lip color person, so I'm sort of meh about this just because I don't wear lip color, let alone red lip color. But it is full-size. It retails for $3.99. I can probably donate this to some of my more gutsy friends, who are into that red lip look.

A Be a Bombshell The One Stick in Girl Crush, also full-size. I'm meh about this, I don't really wear lip color or blush, and I can't see this as a color I would use as an eyeshadow. It's a pretty color, it's a very pale pink, which is the sort of color that I like, but it's not the sort of makeup I would wear. It's worth $16.00.

So I paid ten bucks, and got products worth $30.00, so that's pretty good. I also liked 50% of the stuff they sent me, which is pretty good odds, so I'm excited about future Ipsy Bags.

Julep has a mystery box for sale, it's called Naughty or Nice, and it's about $25.00 for a box. It promises two new colors: Aviva, which is purple with silver holographic glitter [and Aviva is a palindrome, sweet] and Brenda, which is white with silver glitter, and I'm excited about because it reminds me of how freshly fallen snow sparkles in the moonlight back home in Jersey, and that's the color that sold me.

It promises $125 worth of products, and one lucky winner, who I'm sure will not be me, will get an iPad mini.

I was very happy with the selection of products that I got in my last mystery box, so I do recommend them, and there was free shipping :)  Just an FYI if you're interested :)

Julep: December Secret Store

Nothing makes me more happier than seeing a gigantic black box in the office of my apartment complex with the words JULEP on it.

This contains all the things I bought from the secret store back on December 1st, and considering it's rather cold, by Texas standards, and even for me, or maybe it's the fact that my kitten peed on my North Face fleece and I was forced to wear a hoodie, but all the ice-themed colors seemed appropriate to get in the mail today.

I ordered three sets: Edgy Neutrals, Ice Queen, and Trophies.

Unfortunately I don't really remember what belongs with what, so I do apologize, but I do have colors :)

Logically I suppose I should've kept things rubber-banded together, but that still wouldn't help me know what belongs with what.

The one non-nailpolish item I bought was mascara. I have an obsession with mascara. Therefore, I am eager to try Julep mascara. I like the fact that their tube is clear, so I can actually see how much mascara I have left.

From l to r: Alaina, Gabrielle, and Stevie

Alaina is a repeat for me, I've gotten it before. It's a gray lavender like-color. It's nothing special. But it's not a disappointment either.

Gabrielle is a medium toned purple. I like it. I like purple colors.

Stevie is awesome. It's a shimmery gray-blue color, it reminds me of black ice [and the time I fell on black ice, in Philly, waiting outside a My Chemical Romance/The Used concert]. Stevie will get a lot of use.

another Stevie and a Joanna

I've already fan-girled over Stevie, but Joanna is pretty. It's the color of shimmery icicles. Like a gray white shimmer. This will also get lots of wear.

Icey/Wintery colors are the bane of my nailpolish existence.

from l to r: Sylvia and Missy [and one of my three cats, Ajani, greatly obsessing over my nailpolish collection] 

Sylvia is a repeat for me [I suppose that's what happens, when you go to a website, and just fangirl over pretty winter nailpolish collections without actually reading what colors they contain], but I do like it. It's almost like a dark neon purple, sort of. 

Missy is as silver, as moonlight cascading off of a sidewalk in the middle of a winter night, I love it. 

from l to r: Zelda and Oscar

Zelda is silver polish with silver glitter. Again, I like silver polish, so I can't really complain about having another shade of silver to add to my nailpolish collection.

Oscar is another repeat. Gold glitter. I'm pretty sure these came from the new neutrals.

from l to r: Clio and Missy

Clio is blue/gray/silver glitter, when put together, somehow it has a sort of purple/pink tone, I really do like it. Very winter-like. Very glittery. Two thumbs up.

And I've already talked about Missy.

So overall, I wound up with quite a few repeats, but the new colors that I got, I really do like, and I feel like their the perfect colors for the upcoming wintery season. As for the doubles, I can always gift them. 

Mmm winter... My favorite ever season.