Ipsy: March 2014

Tomorrow, is ONE YEAR to my wedding. Yes, I'm getting married on "Super Pi" day. That's what happens, when you decide to marry a nerdy high school math teacher. 

First of all, I'm surprised Ipsy beat Birchbox here. Usually Birchbox gets here first. Not that I'm complaining. I mean... who doesn't love that hot pink bubble envelope in your mailbox?

Ipsy costs a mere $10.00 a month, and send you a variety of makeup samples. They're loosely based on a quiz, you supposedly take, and they send you 4-6 samples per month, including some full-size makeup. 

There's a waiting list, but if you sign up through a referral link, or post it to your facebook wall, it tends to cut your wait shorter. If not, it's usually about 1-2 months before you're cleared for a subscription, it depends how many people are in the queue, at the time.

 

This was this month's bag. It sort of reminds me of pictures of one-celled organisms, going through mitosis... which isn't a bad thing? Just a thing?  It does, however, smell like a inner tube that you'd use a pool. 

This is what was inside, only 4 samples this month, which is less then I've gotten in my past three bags, but whatever. For just ten dollars, that's still pretty Gucci.

Nyx Eyeshadow in Love In Rio. Worth $5.99.

I like the colors. They're very neutral, and I can never have too many neutral eyeshadow colors  because they're acceptable to wear to work at a school. I really like the charcoal gray color at the end. 

Pix! Flawless Beauty Primer, worth about $9.00.

Here it is just gooped on my skin.

Here it is blended it. I'm not a fan of it. I don't really wear primer because I don't really wear makeup other than eye-makeup and lip gloss. I also don't like how it's glittery. I don't need my skin to glitter and glow. It's already oily enough, I don't need an extra shine.

Eh, ya win some, you lose some with ipsy.

Chella eyeliner pen in Indigo Blue, full-size, worth $24.00.

Here it is on my hand. It has a very nice and precise point. I'm beginning to really like these felt-tip pen like eyeliners that I've been recieving in these bags. They're great for a very thin and defined look. I also really like this color. Dark Blue eyeliner is a great color for me because I've got blue eyes. I was very happy with this product.

bareMinerals Marvelous Moxie Lipstick in Get Ready, worth maybe $3.00? Feel free to use that coupon/code, I surely will not.

Here it is swatched. I'm not a fan. I just don't like lipstick. It's too dark for me. Nothing personal against the brand or anything. Just meh to lipstick.

So... the grand total of my March Ipsy bag is: $42.00 [I rounded the .99 up to a dollar], which is pretty damn good for just ten measly smackers, a month.

I liked about 50% of the items this month, which isn't a bad percentage.

So, if you like makeup, you have ten bucks to spare, and you like getting mail, Ipsy is a pretty good deal :)

Glitter Guilty March 2014

Glitter Guilty is a monthly subscription box that's new to me this month. It's an indie nailpolish company that makes very glittery polish. How it works is, when you sign up, you fill out a profile, and tell what colors you really like and what colors you dislike. Every month you get a full-size "monthly me" nailpolish color that's made specifically to your own tastes, and a mini polish that goes to all subscribers. There's also a nice guilty pleasure, such as chocolate, in your box... because seriously, who doesn't want chocolate?

It costs about $16.00 a month.

It got to me quickly. It's only March 7th, so this months box only took about a week to get to me. 

So let's take a peek at the goodies:

I was completely surprised to find this in my mailbox today because in all the craziness that is happening, I had totally forgotten about it.

This is the first peek into the box. 

This is my monthly me. This the color specifically designed based on my likes, which are generally "cool colors" such as teals, purples, pinks, silver, etc. I tend to dislike very much "warm colors" like red, orange, and yellow, and that's what I specified on my user profile. I could also specify food allergies, so I was able to tell them that I was allergic to nuts, so they knew not to send me anything with nuts.

This is my monthly me color: Mardi Gras

 This is a closeup of the color... Isn't it pretty? It's a black base with purple, teal, pink, green, and gold glitter/sequins. I can't wait to try it out. It's very much a Lyssa color :) IT GLITTERS AND SPARKLES, MY TWO FAVORITE THINGS!!!

The mini color that all subscribers got is "feelin' lucky." It's a sparkly green color, and the bottle is a very generous size for a mini color :)

This was the bonus.... Chocolate Caramel Covered Pretzels, and I can't wait eat them. I'm so full from dinner, or else they'd be gone already.

So check out Glitter Guilty if you want personalized unique nailpolishes. I like them already. I can't wait to see what my April color is like :)

You can also check out their facebook page :)

Julep: March 2014

This appeared in my mailbox today, or maybe it came yesterday, the mail came very late yesterday, probably via the crazy rainy icy weather. Either way, it came.

Julep is a nailpolish/makeup subscription box that costs $20.00 a month. Based on your profile, you either get nailpolish, a mixture of nail polish and makeup, or just makeup. However, you can change your profile every month, if you're more interested in the other products, I changed mine this month.

Normally, I'm a classic with a twist, but I really really hated the colors this month for classic with a twist, and I didn't need lip gloss since I barely wear lip makeup, as it is. And if I did want to wear lip makeup, I already have tons of unused lip product that I could use,

So, this month, I went It Girl, which is three nail polishes, no makeup.

This is the first look. 

Three colors, from l to r: Lizanne, Princess Grace, & Margaret. Also, a nifty old-fashioned candy stick, cotton candy flavored. I love old-fashioned candy sticks. When I was younger, and my family would go to Lake George, for the summer, my brother and I would always buy tons of those candy sticks, and we'd eat them the entire trip. I still buy them at cracker barrel. Needless to say, it's gone already.

Lizanne is a gorgeous shimmering teal green color with a teal glitter sheen. It's so gorgeous, I can't wait to wear it.

Princess Grace is a bright orange color. It sort of reminds me of orange sherbert or a creamsicle.  I'm not much for orange colors, but it's not a bad brand of orange, 

Margaret is a pastel blue. It's very similar to the color my mother imagined my bridesmaids dresses being for my wedding, next year. It's a nice color though, very much a spring color. 

Overall, I'm happy with my three polishes. I'm glad they're colorful instead of boring dark colors, or basic colors like reds or pale pinks. I prefer colorful polish to boring polish. 

So, if you're a nail polish addict, like me, feel free to check out Julep. I've been a member for about a year now, and I've never been disappointed.

Starbox: February 2014

I loved my Starbox so much more this month then last month.

FYI, Starbox is the subscription box service of Starlooks. I had gotten some Starlooks samples in one of my Wantable boxes and was curious about their products, so I subscribed to their service.

Starbox is about $16.00 per month, and they sent you ONLY full-size products of their own brand. There's usually 3-4 products per month, and there tend to be several different colors of whatever product they send.

I've found their customer service is great. When I had my billing issues due to the Target Credit Card Scam and had to contact them, they responded right away, and they were very nice and helpful.

I wasn't too pleased with their January Box, but I give each subscription at least a three month chance before I cancel it, and I really liked what I got in my February box, so I'm glad I kept with it.

This is this month's box. It's gold with a holographic logo. I like holographs.

First look inside of the box.

Item number one... A Hairband? They advertise this as something to use when you're putting on makeup to keep your hair out of your face, when you do your makeup, but to me, it's just a simple hairband. Value: maybe... $2.00?

A Starlooks Cream Shadow in Phaser. It isn't even on their website since it's a brand-new product. I'll price it to the same price their long-wear eyeliner pots are because they're of similar design, so about $12.00

It's a very creamy shimmery lavender color with some hints of silver. This is it on my hand with no primer or anything. I don't wear much purple eye makeup, but this is a color that I could get into because of the silver sheen, and it's eye makeup and I like eye makeup.

Starlooks Pigment in Wall Street, worth about $12.00.

I love it. It's black with silver sparkles in it, just like my favorite oil slick 24/7 eyeliner from Urban Decay. I wore this yesterday, and a little bit goes a long way. It also had GREAT staying power. It lasted through me sweating through the Houston Zoo, a shower because I was sooo damn sweaty from the zoo, and a night out at the pub with my friends without me ever having to reapply it. I used it as a highlight color and I loved it.

Starlooks Lipstick in Drew, worth$12.00.

I'm not really a lipstick type gal, but I can get by with this. It's so pale that it barely leaves any color on my skin, which makes it more like a lip gloss to me, and it's a very neutral color that I would wear, if I ever feel like wearing lipstick. So I'll keep this, in case the opportunity ever arises, where I want to wear lipstick because it is a "me" color.

swatches of all three products.

So, I was ever so satisfied with my Starbox this month, and I'm excited to see what they'll include in the next box.

I paid about $16.00 for this box, and got $38.00 worth of makeup from this box, which is more than half of what I initially paid. So the price is worth it.

I really hope I get some of their eyeliner pencils in an upcoming box because I am eager to try those out. I really like their eye products a lot.

Starbox is a good subscription box. You always get more than what you put into it, and the quality of their products is really good, so check them out, if you're so inclined, they always send a variety of different products every month, so there's always something new to try.

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.