Wash’em Wash’em Wash’em

If I had to guess, I would say most of us are guilty of neglecting to wash our makeup brushes. It’s just something that I don’t typically think about.  But it is essential to keep your skin healthy and acne free. I recently got new brushes and I haven’t washed them yet, but come to find out, my sister has some weird skin rash and I did her makeup last night! It’s time to wash those brushes!

I have two sets of brushes right now so I tried out two DIY cleansers. The first was a 2:1 mixture of dish soap and olive oil. The second was equal parts baby head-to-toe soap and rubbing alcohol. The both have their pros and cons.

I used the baby soap/rubbing alcohol first. I took each brush and swirled it against the bottom of the glass dish and then swirled it against my palm under running water until it rinsed clean. I then just left it to sit on my drying mat.

Pros: Dried more quickly because of the alcohol. The baby soap rinsed out much easier than the other mixture.

Cons: It took a lot more of this mixture to clean the same amount of brushes.

Next I used the dish soap/olive oil mixture. I dipped the brush in the thick mixture and then swirled it against my palm under running water, again until it rinsed clean.

Pros: This mixture left my brushes smelling really nice and they were very soft.

Cons: The dish soap was kind of hard to rinse out of my brushes. And these took much, much longer to dry.

Overall they both worked great and got the job done. I think  I am going to stick to the dish soap/olive oil method. It was harder to rinse out but it left my brushes so soft and a little goes a long way.

What do you ladies use to clean your brushes?

September Birchbox…and my grumpy face!

September has not been a great month for my subscription boxes. I just got my Birchbox and I feel like all the reviews I saw were awesome and then I subscribe and the boxes suck!! Sorry that was my little angry rant. Moving on…

 

The theme this month, appropriately, is Fashion Week and Fall Trends. They included a little fall lookbook with trends and products in it.

 So the first thing I got, and the only thing I was excited about in this months box, was 21 Drops|Focus Aromatherapy Blend. This is supposed to be mind clearing and relaxing. It is a blend of rosemary and peppermint oils. The peppermint is the most prominent scent. It smells really really great! I get stress headaches like crazy…everyday. This oil actually calmed my headaches and eased the pain, but it was very temporary. It only helped for maybe 30 minutes at the most. So it’s not very practical but it is very calming. This sample was about $10.

Next was the Color Club Custom Polish. I got “Status Update” and it was like the worst color of all 4 custom colors. It’s a really, really dark grey and I’m not in love with it. I think this is the full-size? If so it would be $8.

I also got some Nexxus Pro-Mend Split End Treatment System. This is a great item for me…BUT, you can’t really make a decision on a shampoo in one use! Come on Birchbox!! I could email Nexxus and ask for a sample and they would mail me this same little foil packet that I paid you $10 for! So that is what really annoyed me this month. This sample has no value.

So to add fuel to my fire…the next thing was another foil packet! Enough with the foil packs! This one was the WEI to Go Sleep Over Kit. I haven’t even used it yet because I am so annoyed with these products! Again…no value!

I also got another one of these stupid twistbands! Let me just tell you why I hate these. First of all, it’s just colored elastic tied in a loop…I can do that myself. Second of all they are over $1 a piece! Is that a joke? Lastly, they don’t even hold my hair! As soon I start to move it slips out of my hair. So yea…

As my “Lifestyle Extra” I got a LARABAR in Bananas Foster. It was not the best thing that I’ve ever had. It had a strong artificial banana flavor and I do not like artificial banana. It also had a lot of walnuts and I think walnuts taste dirty. These are $1.80 each.

There was also a coupon for Madewell, but of course you have to spend money to save money!

So there it is folks! My annoyance wrapped up into 1000 words. My box ended up being about $21. It’s more than I paid but I don’t appreciate all the foil packs! I would rather have 1 deluxe sample that I could make an educated decision about than these 2 foil packs that I will have to go out and buy to see if I really like it or not! I am going to give them another month and then make a decision on whether I am cancelling or not.

Don’t forget to check out my E.L.F post and enter the giveaway!!

Love With Food <3

Another foodie subscription box! This one was the original “donation box” that donates a box for every ordered box and that is why I loved and subscribed to this box. They have already donated over 13,000 meals!! This one is only $10/month which is also fantastic. Love With Food focus’ on delivering 8+ unique, gourmet treats every month right to your doorstep! 🙂 So here is my September box.

I got some Muscat Jelly by Bonne Maman. I am not a big fan of grape jelly. I like strawberry and blackberry jams. This jelly doesn’t seem as syrupy and grape-y though? Does that make any sense? Ha Anywho…

I also got some Almond Butter by Barney Butter and I am overly excited about this! I am in love with peanut butter, but it is really really bad for me…well for anyone. So I have been looking for healthier alternatives. Well here it is and it’s tasty!

San Franola Granola with Raisins was next but I don’t like raisins so my mom is the taste tester for that. We will have to give you an update.

The next item I was really excited about because I LOVE coffee! So Teecino sent me an Herbal Coffee Sampler. Unfortunately, it was a let down. First of all, it doesn’t have caffeine, which kind of defeats the purpose of coffee for me. Second of all, it doesn’t even taste like coffee. It tastes like a forest in a cup. I love that it’s organic and it’s a great concept but this won’t be replacing my coffee.

My mom was really excited about the Balsamic Vinegar by Gourme Mist. She uses balsamic vinegar on her salads. We got a pomegranate, raspberry and barrel aged. There are only 14 calories per packet which is awesome! But of course my mom has slacked on her taste testing duties!

Edamame is all the rave lately! Sensible Foods sent some Roasted Edamame. I’m pretty indifferent to it. It is tasty but not my favorite. It’s a great healthy food though so I am going to look into this edamame stuff!

Lastly, also from Sensible Foods, Tropical Blend Fruit. It has dried apple, banana, mango and pineapple and I downed this! So delicious. It really reminded me of space food though. Like dry ice cream.

I noticed that on the ingredient lists for the Sensible Food products it said, “nothing else” I thought that was a nice touch.

What did I love about this box you ask? Well, the price is great! The concept is wonderful! The samples are innovative and unique, which allows me to try new things without spending a fortune or wasting product. You can also buy the full-sized products on their website and earn points toward products! Chaching!

BUT there is one thing I don’t love about Love With Food. They do charge shipping. $2 a month. That’s not a lot you say? Well it’s actually $24 for the whole year which buys me a lot of makeup from E.L.F. Tangent! Anyway…overall, Love With Food is a winner in my book!

Go get your monthly Love With Food box started! You won’t regret it 🙂

My long awaited NatureBox is finally here!

Lots of exciting stuff in the mail today so I wanted to share my NatureBox with you guys! I have been long awaiting this box because I ordered it right after the cut off for the August box. 😦 But no worries! It is finally here and I would say it was worth the wait.

A bit of background first. NatureBox is another subscription service. The priciest of the boxes I have, at $20. They strive to bring healthy snacks to their subscribers. You get 4-6 snacks each month. You can pause or cancel this subscription at any time which is also really nice! Now on to this months yummy snacks!

I wasn’t disappointed at all with our first month! I was starving when I got home so I tore into these snacks along with my mom and sister and we taste tested everything. Delicious! We did get 5 items this month.

Here is a list of what I got:

Pistachio Power Clusters: These were a really good sweet and salty snack. It has pistachios, which I love, almonds and cashews. They were very crunchy and delicious!

Umami Roasted Nuts: Not anything real special. It is exactly what it says. They have soy sauce on them though so that gives them a bit of a different “salty” flavor. They are great though.

Big Island Pineapple: I was a little skeptical of these at first because I am not big on dried fruits. I think its a texture thing. The smell of these was REALLY strong too, and not in a great way. They actually were really good though. They have a fruit roll-up sort of texture and a great taste. I love pineapple.

Apple Orchards Granola: This was a little different because it is a “soft roasted” granola, not crunchy like most. It was absolutely amazing! My favorite in the box for sure. It has a warm cinnamon-y taste and it’s sweet too! So good.

Toasted Sesame Stix: These aren’t anything new really. But they are really tasty. They would probably be better with some dip, but even alone they were pretty good!

There are so many things I love about this box, other than the delicious, healthy snacks. The information card is packed full of helpful information, not only about the snacks but health tips as well! Everything is also nutritionist approved and all natural. There was not one ingredient in any of my snacks that I couldn’t pronounce! They gave me a recipe as well which is another great way to try something new and adventurous. The bags also seem to be made out of recycled materials. AND on top of all that, they donate a box for every box that gets ordered! How awesome is that?

There are some things I don’t love though. The price is one. $20 seems like a lot to me. I feel like $15 would be more reasonable. But shipping is free so I can’t complain too much. The really big thing that I don’t like though, and a possible deal breaker for me, there is no place for me to purchase these snacks that I have fallen in love with! Please NatureBox, give us the option to purchase more!!

Overall I am happy with this service and I cannot wait for next months snacks! In the meantime I have lots to enjoy with these!

If you guys want to try your very own NatureBox, which I recommend, you can get 25% off your first box with the code REFER25.

Bobbie Brown Eye Shadow Palette!

Here is another CCO purchase! My Bobbie Brown quad! One of the beauty guru’s that I watch a lot, uses a lot of Bobbie Brown eye shadow and it looks so creamy and beautiful! I swatched this palette on my hand at the store and loved it so I had to get it.

As you can see these swatch beautifully! They are super pigmented. I am really drawn to purples so that is why I initially liked this palette, but this teal color is absolutely gorgeous! I wore this today and I thought it looked great. I did use the whole palette today but obviously the teal is the most prominent! This was a splurge for sure but I will get a lot of use out of this palette so for me it’s worth it! I am excited to try more Bobbie Brown in the future! 🙂

Here are some pictures of me with my Bobbie Brown look. This could definitely be darker but since I was wearing it all day I didn’t want to overdo it! What do you guys think?

Does this lipstick make me look old?

So I have always neglected my lips. I have always felt like lipstick was for old people and made me look old. Is that weird? No offense to beautiful oldies! On top of that, I hate the feeling of lipstick. Everything I have tried has been thick and sticky and not enjoyable in the least. Lately I decided that I need to be trying lipsticks and not treating my lips like the outcasts of my face. They are lucky if they get a gloss at the end of my beauty routine.

Recently I went to the Cosmetic Company Outlet. I had such high hopes for this place after all the videos I had seen online. It didn’t live up to my expectations at all, but that’s a whole other post. My goal was to find some lipstick and I did just that. I walked out with the Estee Lauder (makes me sound even older) Holiday Lipstick Collection. I.Am.In.Love.

So it came in this pretty, navy (maybe black?), magnetic box that I will definitely re-purpose. There are 5 lipsticks included.

  

I did a swatch here on my hand for you but of course they are going to look darker on my lips.

The colors from left to right are 36 Black Cherry, 35 Rich Red, 07 Rich Berry, 28 Mocha and 33 Apricot Sun.

Here is a  pic of me wearing the Rich Berry, which I absolutely adore!

The real reason I love these lipsticks, because the colors can be found just about anywhere, was the feeling! It felt like a tinted lip balm, but you get the coverage of a lipstick! They left my lips so soft all day and I didn’t once apply a chapstick. The Rich Berry one has some golden flecks in it to so it gives it a beautiful glossy look.

I honestly never thought I would be a lipstick wearer but now I can see myself wearing lipstick on a regular basis.

What is your favorite everyday lipstick?

Atkins: Low Carb Options

This isn’t a subscription box like my other posts have been, but this was an offer I discovered while looking for various types of box services.

My mom was diagnosed with Diabetes last year. She had suspected for quite a while that she had it, as it does run in our family, but my mom is so stubborn when it comes to going to the doctor. So when she finally went, it became real. She had to start a special diet and really pay attention to what she was putting in her body. To my surprise, carbs are the big thing to watch. So now when we are grocery shopping we are constantly looking at carb and calorie (for me) counts.

When I was researching these subscription services I found several food ones that I was interested and will be sharing with you guys in the near future. They have vegan boxes, gluten free boxes, organic, healthy…anything you can think of EXCEPT low carb. So while I was searching I came across this offer to sample some of the Atkins bars. Many of you are familiar with the Atkins diet, I am sure. For those of you who aren’t, it focus’ on low carbs. Now, we are not going to start this diet because we love variety, but the snack and meal bars that they have will be great for my carb consious mom.

So I signed up for a sample of 3 of their bars. If you want to try these out, it only takes 3 easy steps and it’s COMPLETELY FREE. They don’t take any payment info at all. Go check it out here.

Anyway, as you can see, we got three bars, a carb counter/acceptable foods list, and a quick start guide.

There are 3 types of Atkins bars. The Advantage Meal bars, which are intended to replace a meal when you are on the go and don’t have time to cook. The one we got was Chocolate Peanut Butter. It was packed with protein at 19 grams and it only had 2 net grams of carbs which is GREAT for my mom. The Advantage Snack/Light Meal bars are a little smaller and lighter with only 10 grams of protein and 3 grams of carbs. Still a really great option and we got the Caramel Chocolate Peanut Nouget bar! The last type is the Endulge Treat bars, which are to help control cravings. These are great for bedtime snacks because my mom has to have a little something to get her through the night. We got the Caramel Nut Chew bar that had 2 grams of carbs. All of the bars were really tasty and didn’t have the protein bar after-taste.

The acceptable food list is really really great as well! It gives the carb counts for EVERYTHING. This will come in really handy when we are cooking our dinners and need to know the carb counts of the ingredients.

We will definitely be looking into getting more of these bars to cater to our active lifesyle.

Like I said this is totally FREE. So if you are looking for some healthy low carb options to lose weight or cater to your health needs, definitely check these out!

 

Klutchclub is here!

My Klutchclub box is finally here after much anticipation! This is another fitness/wellness targeted box that I have heard great things about and since I am ADDICTED to subscription box services, of course I had to try it! So let’s get started 🙂

When I grabbed this box from the mail I noticed it was really heavy which excited me! The box it self is really cute when you open it.

Then you pull it out of the sleeve and VOILA! Your samples 🙂

I got lots of snacks this month, which is good because I am always looking for healthy, diet friendly foods to try. So the first thing was GoNola “Wild Berry Wave”. We haven’t tried it yet but who doesn’t love granola. UPDATE: My mom ate this and said it was really great! This is by Nature’s Hand and actually comes in these little 140 calorie single serving packets. They retail for $0.99 a piece.

We also got some POPCORNers in sea salt flavor and I did try these. They were really good! They do taste like popcorn but they are thicker. They don’t really seem that healthy, but I am sure they are better than potato chips. This is definitely a snack I will be purchasing. You can order them on their website in a box of 40 packets for $31.60, making this sample worth $0.79.

The next item was the All Natural Vegetarian Japanese Delight Seaweed Salad. I am a little scared to try this but I will don’t worry. So update coming on this later! You can get a 6 pk of these for $12, making this sample worth about $2.00.

I also got a Twistband. I have seen these in a lot of boxes lately. They are “luxury” hair ties that aren’t supposed to damage your hair or leave a crease. I used this once and I am very finicky about my hair ties. I normally use Goody Stayput High Performance Hair Ties because the little bit of rubber that is exposed really holds my hair well. This hair tie really solidified why I don’t buy anything other than my Goody bands. As soon as I started running it started slipping out of my hair. I hate loose ponytails. So while this concept is great, I will not be purchasing any more of these.

I also got some Biopharma Supplements. There were two different varieties that came. The nanogreens were supposed to have a natural green apple flavor and supply your 7-13 servings of fruits and vegetables for the day. This tasted so bad. It tasted like medicine. I have had other supplements that tasted much better. The other kind was the nanolean, which is supposed to help with weight management. It was a little more tolerable, but it tasted like Flintstones vitamins crushed up in water. lol Not great. So I probably wouldn’t buy anymore of these. The nanogreens come in a month supply of 30 pks. I got 2 of those packets valued at $3.33 for the both of them. The nanoleans also come in packs of 30 but it is recommended that you drink it twice a day. They are on sale right now so they are about $1 a piece, making my samples worth $2.

The item that was making my box so heavy was my Alo drink. It’s called Awaken and it has wheatgrass and aloe vera. Aloe vera is commonly used to treat burns. My mom had one growing in our kitchen window and would always break off a leaf when we got burnt. Anyway, apparently drinking it is really good for you too. There are tons of vitamins, minerals, and amino acids. I was hesitant to try it. I never really thought about ingesting it. But it is actually really really good. It’s not good for people that have problems with texture because there are little pieces of aloe vera pulp in it. It actually tastes really great! It reminds me of the citrus green tea that Lipton makes. You can buy 12 bottle packs of this for $23.64, making it about $1.87 a bottle.

That was the last of my samples but I also got some gift cards. One was to Tieks which is designer flats and also a joke! The gift card was for $50, no minimum purchase required BUT the cheapest thing on the site is $165!!!! For a pair of flats!!! REALLY?! I think not. So that is worthless to me.

What I did enjoy though, was the iBodyFit.com one year trial! They claim it is a $155 value. It’s pretty cool actually. You can watch different exercise videos or workout routine videos. There is a lot of helpful information on there so I look forward to playing around on that site.

The last thing we received this month was a $10 gift card for GoSportID.com Again this has no minimum purchase required and this you can actually use to purchase a whole item. If you already have one of these bands you can purchase 2 of the color packs. Or you can use it for almost all of a new band purchase. I will probably order one of these because it is a really great idea.

So the value of my box only came to $10.68, which isn’t great considering I spent $18 on this box! I don’t feel like the gift cards count since you really have to spend money to use them. I have noticed in the past that Klutchbox does a lot of the gift cards. So I am going to give it another 2 months and hopefully the value of this box will rise a bit. I liked the majority of my products but I can’t justify the pricetag of this box as of right now. So we will see what the future holds!
Thanks for stopping by!

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