Nerd Block: February 2014

Nerd Block costs about $20.00 per month, and they send you a box full of nerdy stuff. There are different themes per month, this month seemed to be space themed, and you get all sorts of little toys, and a tee-shirts, it's like a toy subscription for adults.

This is my second month with Nerd Block, I wasn't very impressed this month, but I just wasn't into the theme. It's nothing against them. I really liked January's Box, and I'm looking forward to March's box.

Here's the Nerd Box, in all its' glory.

This was this month's tee-shirt. I have no idea what the fandom is... It's sort of looks like a combination Futurama and Transformers, but don't quote me. I'm happy it's black. I'll approximate the cost of the shirt to $10.00 because that's how much shirts tend to go on websites like teefury.com and such. I do really like getting a new nerdy shirt every month, I hope in an upcoming month, it's a fandom I recognize.

The first item was an ET Collectible Minature Figurine. According to a google search, it's worth about $1.00

I'm very happy I got an ET figure :) and it's a normal looking ET figure. I still have nightmares about that movie, when ET was sick, and turned white, and the government agents all went into the house to get him.

A Smurf Tag-Athon Collectible Game Figure. They look to be worth about $3.00.

 

I got Baker. I'm indifferent to Smurfs. I used to watch it when I was little, and I remember a pretty epic family dinner, when none of us could remember the name of Gargamel's cat, Azrael.

Minimates Star Trek Figures of Kirk and Khan. They seem to go for an average of $12.00 within the interwebs.

I'm not really a Star Trek fan, so meh, to me. I only like Next Generation and Q.

Power Rangers Megaforce Mashems. They tend to go for about $6.00.

I got the yellow ranger. True Story, I used to be OBSESSED with Power Rangers. I had the biggest crush ever on the green ranger. This makes a good stress ball, at least.

random stickers... worth maybe $1.00?

HALO Action Figures worth $5.99

I don't play HALO, Justin doesn't play HALO, so neither of us have any interest in this.

Here is everything together.

So not my favorite box from Nerd Block, but only because I wasn't into the fandoms. But all the figurines I got, they'll make great D&D tokens.

Wantable: Febuary 2014

 For y'all that are new, Wantable is a customizable makeup subscription. It's a bit more pricey than say Ipsy or Birchbox, it's $36.00, per month, and you fill out a survey, that customizes the products you'll receive. Products that you love, you're more likely to get, products you like, you occasionally get, and products you dislike, you never get. I like it because for the most part, you get things that you might actually use, and they're also always full-size products. 

As always, I'm impressed with Wantable's customer service. They charged me twice, last month, and gave me a 10 dollar off credit, and they totally applied it without me even having to remind them.

I was sort of upset with Wantable last month because they send me a million trillion lip products, and I don't really like lip products, so this week, I took my like for lip products and moved it to dislike, so there was no chance of me getting any sort of lip product.

I liked my box this month however:

Here it is.

As always, they include a piece of paper with all my loves/likes/dislikes, and they give you a list of items they sent you, and how much each one costs, which I like since it saves me a google search.

This is the box revealed.

My first item was a Rainbow honey nailpolish in Oni, it's a very glittery bronze gold color, and definitely a color that will be worn in my collection. Retail Value is $10.00

A Mistura Beauty Retractable Brush worth $18.82 [what a weird cents number after that dollar sign]. The brush is cool, I like how it retracts and gets bigger or smaller, but I'm not sure what I'll use it for. I don't really wear blush or foundation, or any of the makeup that you would use a brush such as this for, but I suppose it's a nice tool to add my nonexistent collection of makeup tools.

A Be a Bombshell Eye-Base in Chrome Sweet Chrome, worth $14.00

I really like this color. It's a very me color. I love any sort of silver eye makeup. This product can be used as an eyeshadow, a base for eyeshadow, or even an eyeliner. It's a color that will definitely be worn. Silver eyeliner was always my thing, especially in college, and post-college before I got a real job, although sometimes I still wear silver eyeliner to teach, and nobody's said anything yet :x Silver is my favorite color.

This is it swatched on my hand with no sort of primer or anything.

A Bella Donna Liquid Eye Pencil in Black, worth $25.00.

I really like the point of this eyeliner, it's very sharp and precise and I could get it very thin on my hand when I swatched it. I've never heard of this brand, and liquid eyeliner is something I'm not at all that familiar with, I tend to prefer pencil eyeliner, but a black eyeliner is always welcome in my collection.

Golden Rose Mascara in Perfect Lash Mascara Blue, worth $10.99. 

It's very blue. I don't think I've worn colored mascara since high school days, and that before the millennium. I love Golden Rose as a brand. Their black eyeliner that I got in my first ever wantable box back in December is my go-to mascara. I'll be very curious to try this, and see how it looks. I have very blue eyes, so it might be interesting to see.

Overall, I love this box. I got 3 eye products, 1 nailpolish, and a tool. Those are definitely the types of things I want to see in my monthly boxes, especially eye products, I love me some products.

The overall value for my box was: $78.81

That's a hell of a lot more than I paid.

I was very pleased with my product selection this month. I thought Wantable did a great job. I highly recommend them. Again, they're on the upper price spectrum of subscription boxes, but I think they're definitely worth it, for the very personal selection of products designed for you, to their full-size products that they send.

So check Wantable out, if you're so inclined.

J'adore Vox Box

Note: I recieved all these products complimentary for testing purposes only. My opinions are my own, but I paid no money for this box or these products. I got them free.

Influenster is a website. It's free to join, or I have some invite codes somewhere, and can invite five of you to join my team, and the points we earn together can add to some prizes. Basically it's a website, where you join it, and you rate products you have used/had and write reviews on them. There are different categories that you can become a part of, and you can do different tasks that earn you more points.

When you've earned enough points, you can earn Vox boxes, which are free boxes, sent to you from Influenster, that you review products for. I was quite surprised, when I qualified for a free box. Though, there was that one night, when I was bored, when I went through the entire chocolate and candy category, and rated every single candy I had had before, so maybe that's what did it. Or maybe I'm just that bad-ass.

Once you qualify, you fill out a survey, and then if your answers are what they're looking for, you can get your Vox Box.

The Vox Box, that I received for free was the J'Adore Box.

This is my box.

This is the inside look of the box.

This is why I can never have nice things.

This is the handy dandy information card that comes with the box. It states that "I received this box complimentary for testing purposes and did not spend any money on it", as well as has a list of products that are included in the box, alongside prices, which is nice. It means much less google to do.

The first item makes me very happy. This chick LOVES chocolate. If it was between my fiance and chocolate, chocolate would win. I got a huge bag too. I got a family size bag worth $5.29. And believe me when I say, we can never have enough chocolate in our apartment.

John Frieda Frizz Ease 3-Day Straight Flat Iron Spray, worth $9.99. I love wearing my hair straight. I just literally don't have the time to straighten my hair. I wake up at 5:30 am, and before it's even 6:05 am, I'm out the door and on my way to school. My straightening iron has also gone AWOL. But I'm eager to try this. I haven't had much luck with any straightening product and my hair, so maybe this will be the miracle product that can finally leave my hair straight. 

KISS Look's So Natural Lashes in Vamp, worth $3.99. I've never had an interest in false lashes, although I do use about four different mascaras in hope that my lashes will gain volume, so maybe false lashes are worth a try considering my klutzy self can get them on without gluing my eyes shut or something. Now... I just need to right occasion to wear them. Teaching 4 years olds for 7 hours certain isn't the right one. 

Boots Botanic Shine Away Ionic Clay Mask, worth $9.39. Other than the chocolate [nom nom nom], this is the item I'm most excited about. It's a hypo-allergenic formula that absorbs excess oil and deeply cleanses skin.  I have HORRIBLY oily skin. Texas humidity doesn't help my skin either. I'm eager to see if this product can make my skin better. 

Red Rose Simply Indulgent Tea, twenty cost about five dollars, each one is about .25 cents, so all four are worth a dollar. I do like tea, I prefer my Keurig K-Cups because I'm a lazy ass, but occasionally I drink real tea. I really like the four flavors they sent me, and I'm eager to try them. I also like that they're black tea. Black teas have a nice amount of caffeine, and I AM AN ADDICT. Just ask my students what happens when I don't have my coffee....

And that is my first ever Influenster Box. Once I actually use the lashes and such, I'll update a more updated review on it. 

I paid nothing for this, I got it complimentary for writing reviews and grading products, and this box was free for my effort, and the total worth of product was $29.66, not too shabby.

So if you're interested, check out Influenster, and if you feel the urge to be a team player on TEAM LYSSA, let me know, I have five invites for anyone interested... because teamwork makes everything better :)

Glamour Doll Eyeshadow: February 2014

Glamour Doll Eyeshadow is an indie company that makes loose eye shadow pigments. They have really cool colors, and their shadows are a really nice quality. They have a Of the Month subscription service. They're limited though. They open up every 8th of the month, and there are different options, from 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 6 months, etc. You can only subscribe to them on that day, and their subscriptions sell out fast. I was lucky enough to snag a 2 month subscription, and I'm really hoping I can snag a subscription, next month, and continue to get their products. The prices are based on how long the subscription is. I think mine is like $7.00 per month, but don't quote me.

This was this months bag, a nice pink silky bag, that's perfect for Valentine's Day. 

Inside the bag was this: sugar baby candies that I've already eaten [yet I haven't touched any of my Valentine's Day Chocolate, at all], the pigment of the month, and a "Shimmer Serum."

"Shimmer Serum" is, and I quote: " a slightly sticky liquid filled with micro fine glitter & inspired by mythological creatures. Appears white in the vial, but shows up a dazzling shimmery gold, when applied to the skin. Can be used on bare skin or over shadows."

The color I got was: Centuar's Wisdom

I attempted to blend it on my hand to show off, but it was very clear, and the gold only shows up a tiny bit. I personally like this product. It reminds me of the glitter roll on tubes that I totally rocked at sleep-away camp in the 90's, and I'm excited to see what it looks like over shadows. 

This month's color was Reckless Devotion, a pale shimmery pink with copper and gold shifts.

This is it swatched on my hand.

I normally don't really like pink, but I like this pink. It's pale enough that it can almost appear as a neutral, and I like the gold shimmer in it, although you can barely see it in my picture. This pink will be worn.

I highly recommend Glamour Doll Eyes. They're very affordable, for those beauty product lovers, on a budget, and their stuff is very high quality. If you're into bright colored eye-shadow, they're really a great place to check out.

Ipsy February

It seems like all my February subscription boxes have been coming early... Or maybe it's just that February is a really short month, so it seems everything is coming quicker than usual. But in my mailbox today, was February's Ipsy bag.

Ipsy is a $10.00 a month subscription makeup service. It's much more makeup oriented than say Birchbox. You sign up, there's a waiting list. The waiting time is about a month, but if you connect it to your facebook account, you tend to skip the line and become a member quicker.

You get 5-6 makeup products per bag, some are full-size, some are deluxe size, some are sample size. You also get a cute makeup bag every month. Your matches are based on a quiz, and they match your products based on a profile. I find Ipsy tends to send better products for me, than other services.

The bag was pink and Valentine's Day friendly, this month. I don't like pink. I was pretty sure it was going to be filled with pink and red and purple girly makeup. So I didn't really know what to expect... But Ipsy spoiled me this month.

My first sampler was Überliss RituOil, which is supposed to help with damaged hair. February seems to be the month of hair oil. A full-size is $19.50, I got a sample, which is worth about $9.25, because it's about a half of a regular size. So I guess this can technically be considered a deluxe sample. I have horribly dry hair with awful split-ends, so any product that will make my hair slightly less awful, is worth a gander in my book.

A 9 Pan Shadow Compact in Behind Blue Eyes from Jessie's Girl, full-size, worth $3.99.

I'm very excited that my entire palette is ice blue colors, medium blue, and silver and gray colors. These are all colors that I would wear. I am so happy I didn't get the Tickled Pink one, or another color combination. This combination is so me. I've never tried Jessie's Girl products before, but I always love eye shadow, so I'm very happy with this. I didn't swatch all the colors because I'm lazy though. 

 

Mally eyeliner in Starshine. Mine is full-size. It's worth $15.00... 

It has a nice tip, similar to the Urban Decay 24/7 eyeliner crayon tips. It's also waterproof like 24/7 is.

The color is a beautiful sparkly silver... I CANNOT WAIT TO WEAR IT, I LOVE SILVEREYELINER!!! It comes out nice and thick too, which is awesome :)

A full-size Zoya Nailpolish in Odette. Worth $9.00. It's an orchid color. It's a light pink purple color. I've heard lots of good things about their nailpolish, and I love purple polishes, so I'm excited to try this one out.

A Pop Beauty Plump Pout in Peony Petal. I think mine is full-size, which retails it at $15.00. I'm meh about lip color.

It's also a very dark and thick pink color and not something that I think I would wear. But I really can't complain... It's the one product I wasn't excited about in my bag, and it's only one product.

Math time. My February Ipsy bag was worth: $52.24 AND THAT'S WAY MORE THAN I PAID FOR IT!!!

I really really really liked my Ipsy bag this month. It wasn't all pink and girly... YAY!!! And I'll use most of the products, minus the lip product. 

For $10.00, Ipsy is really worth checking out :)