June Favorites!

I can't believe June is over already, wow. I don't have a ton of favorites for the month to share, as I've still been trying to clean out my sample stash. But here are a few things I keep coming back to!

I'm about as pale as I can be, so a good sunblock is a must. I got this one in the summer Target beauty bag, and I fell in love with it. I hate the way most sunblocks feel on my face - they're either too chalky, or too oily, and they make my face feel disgusting. This one is nice - it really is weightless and dry to the touch. I've been using it every day under my makeup (and/or on its own). As soon as this runs out, I'll be buying the full size.

Similarly, I've been using this lip screen by Lavanila every day. I hate sunburned, chapped lips. This is really nice for a lip screen. It's light and smooth, and has a vanilla minty scent and flavor. I like it both on its own and under or over other lip products. The texture and flavor are much nicer than most I've tried, and I love that it is all natural ingredients, as I try to avoid chemicals and petroleum on my lips.

I get bored easily, and I have to change up my scent often. Right now, I'm really loving Vanilla Grapefruit. It's got a citrus zing, but the soft warmness of the vanilla. It's nice and clean and not too strong, and just sweet enough. I love the rollerball, and I keep it in my purse. As with the lip screen, I love that this is all natural and chemical free.

I got this sample from Jouer and I love the shade so much I've ordered the full size. It's called "tender" and it's the perfect peachy shade for me. I love Jouer glosses, they actually last a decently long time for glosses and I like the way they feel on my lips. Love these minis for my purse, too.

I love Zoya polishes - I find them to have the smoothest application and best finish. This shade is my current favorite! It's Kristen, and it's actually from the Feel collection from this last winter. I personally think it's equally pretty for summer, though. While it looks more grey in the bottle, it looks more blue on the nails. It's gorgeous!

And finally, the Cargo color palette in Toronto. I am really into silvery greys and blues right now, and Cargo shadows are my current favorite. The texture and pigmentation is great and the packaging is freakin' adorable. 

So, that's what I'm loving for June. Have you tried any of these products? What are you really into right now?

The Look Bag - June

Well, after weeks of waiting, I finally got my June Look Bag! This sub normally ships out by the 12th, I believe, and in past months I always had it by the 15th. This month, I got a shipping email on the 15th, and then nothing came. Emails were ignored. Then I finally got another shipping email on the 26th. I'm not sure what exactly went on, but I know many others had the issue as well. Things happen, but the fact that they did not send out an explanation and apology really irked me, and so this is my last Look Bag for a while. I have enjoyed the service, but I value honesty more than products.

That said, it is a good bag and I will use everything in it! Here's what I got.

The card talks about the importance of taking care of your skin in the hot summer months. I love good skin care, so I'm cool with this!

The first thing I pulled out was a Korres eyeshadow. This is the sunflower and evening primrose long wear formula, which contains sunflower oil to care for the eyelids. I received the shade "Golden", which is a pretty champagney gold color. It feels nice and soft and velvety.

I'm glad to get this shade...it's great for summer and will be amazing for the brow bone. I do see that Korres has discontinued their eyeshadow line. I don't mind getting discontinued products from services like this, and I think it's a great way to distribute these products rather than letting them go to waste, but it is something to keep in mind. I know some people hate to get discontinued products.

The original retail price of these shadow singles was $16.

I was pleased to get a sample of Atopalm Intensive Moisturizing Cream. I had seen other ladies get samples of this and I wanted to try it. It replaces lipids in your skin and helps restore your skin's protective barrier. I love things like this for my hands and feet - I wash my hands about a billion times a night at work and they get so dry, and I'm on my feet all night, so they really get a workout. 

3.4 oz of this cream retails for $32.50, so this .25 oz sample is worth about $2.39.

The card lists Snowberry Cellular Regeneration Night Cream, but I actually got a sample of Snowberry Intensive Renewal Face Serum, which I'm perfectly okay with. This serum promises to repair stressed skin and ward off wrinkles and fine lines with peptides. Sounds good to me. 

This serum retails for $102.00 for 1 oz, so this little .14 oz sample is worth $14.28.

This is a lip and eye pencil sharpener by Prescriptives. There's not a lot to say about this, as it's a sharpener. It's always great to have another of these around. I like that it can accommodate both thick and thin pencils. You can get one of these for $3.

And finally, my favorite item in the box. The 5th item was different for a lot of people, and it's just listed on the card as "your personal item". I got the Too Faced Sparkler Glamour Gloss in Pink Bling. It's full sized and SO PRETTY. It goes on clear, but with a ton of tiny pink sparkle and sheen. It has great pink flash, which is hard to photograph. It's plumping, and only slightly tacky.

Here's what it looks like on bare lips...super shimmery. This is another discontinued product, but it retailed for $18.50. I really love the applicator and want to seek out a few more of these before they completely disappear.

In all, I love the products I got from The Look Bag this month. This bag had a total value of $54.17 when considering the original value of the two discontinued products, which is pretty awesome.  I have unsubscribed for now due to the shipping and communication issues, but perhaps in the future I'll give them another shot. 

GlossyBox - June 2012

By now, most of you have probably heard of GlossyBox. They've been around in many other countries for a while and are probably the best known subscription service. They just launched in the US a couple of months ago, though, so they're still a new service for us!

I waited for a bit sign up, wanting to make sure the boxes seemed like they'd be worthwhile. This month, I finally took the plunge!

GlossyBox, like other services, sends out around 5 beauty samples a month. GlossyBox promises truly deluxe samples of both US brands and worldwide. The US GlossyBox does promise at least one full sized product per box! It is more expensive, though, at $21 a month. They have begun to send out different box variations as of this month, so I'm really interested to see if the beauty profile plays a part with this one.

Here's my June box!

I love the outer packaging - so cute and different with the little GlossyBox logo all over it.

Inside, I found this GlossyMag. It's basically a beauty and trend guide. This one has the theme of "Summer's Natural Beauty" and I'm excited to really look through it. I think this is a nice addition to the box.

LOVE these boxes. So pretty and sturdy and perfect for storage.

Cute! The card tells me that this month's theme is Summer Simplicity. This month's GlossyBox is meant to allow you to treat yourself to lush products to revitalize your face, pamper your body, enrich your locks, and add an aroma of summer notes. Sounds good to me!

Ooh, there's quite a bit of stuff in here...

The first thing I pulled out was this perfume sample by A Perfume Organic. The scent is Urban Organic - it is fresh and citrusy, with notes of grapefruit, lavender, lemon, bourbon, lime peel, basil, ginger, and vetiver. This is a certified organic product. It's not my usual type of scent, but it smells nice! The vial is tiny, but it's a bonus item and not a main one, so I certainly don't mind. The full size retails for $65 for .41 oz.

This is a skincare trio by VBeaute! Included is a brightening serum, an everyday creme, and an eye creme. I love skincare, and I am super excited to try these. These are definitely luxury products - the full sized products retail for $150, $135, and $85. Definitely out of my general price range, but I can't wait to try them out.

This is the thing I'm most excited about in this box! It's a Mineral Botanic Hibiscus & Fig Velvet Cream Wash. It includes dead sea minerals and it smells amaaaazing, sweet and fresh. Plus, the sample size is huge - 3 oz! This retails for $16.50 for 6.8 oz. Cannot wait to try this out.

This is my full sized product this month! It's OFRA Cosmetics Eye Shadow ICE cream shadow. It actually has the primer built in. The texture is great and creamy and it has some major staying power - I swatched some on my hand and even after only a few seconds, had a hard time getting it off! My only complaint about this is the color - I'm not sure how or when I'll wear a black cream shadow. I might try it out as a cream liner and see how that works for me! This retails for $14.95.

This is the Enrich Moisturizing Treatment by Wella Professionals! I've tried and enjoyed Wella skincare, so I'm excited to try their haircare as well. This promises to create free flowing hair and contains silk extract. My hair has been dry lately, so I'm excited to see what this does for me. This retails for $12 for 5.07 oz.

And finally, another great sized sample - First Aid Beauty Smooth Shave Cream. This is gentle and unscented and it feels nice and creamy. I've managed to scratch and bruise my legs all up this week, so I'm excited to see how truly gentle this is. The full size retails for $16.50 for 6.8 oz.

In all, I'm very happy with my June GlossyBox. I love the product sizes and the variety...I got something for the face, something for the hair, something(s) for the body, a makeup item, and a fragrance. That kind of range is what has been missing from some of my other subs lately. I am impressed enough with this box to keep subscribing for a while - and if the boxes stay this good, I will likely say goodbye to some of my other subs.

So, have you tried GlossyBox yet? What do you think of it?

Final Giveaway reminder!

I just want to remind you guys one last time to enter my giveaways if you're interested!

The NatureBox one ends tonight at midnight, and I'll be announcing the winner first thing in the morning!

The Conscious Box one ends tomorrow at midnight. Good luck ladies!



Enter here to win a July Conscious Box full of earth and body friendly goodies.

Enter here to win a July NatureBox full of healthy snacks.

Little Black Bag #5

I know I just posted a bag a couple of days ago, but I have another one to share...ha.

A friend had a birthday today, and she was eyeing some speaker bags, so I thought a good choice for her would be one of the Fydelity bags from LBB...so I got her a gift and got myself a couple of goodies as well!  I didn't have time to photograph the Fydelity tote (though it was cute and pink and she loved it...sound was good too), but here are the other two items I got for myself!

My favorite thing to find on my porch. Not only because it always has fun things inside, but because I'm moving soon and I need the boxes, dangit. 

The hat and mustache necklace by 'ZAD. It's not actually crooked, that's just the way it was sitting against my chest. I love this, it's so cute and funny. The quality is similar to other 'ZAD pieces, which is great for the price, in my opinion!

And this is the large buckle satchel by Street Level! LBB's site listed it as yellow, but the tag itself says "mustard" and that's a far better description. I love this bag. I had my eye on it and was excited to finally get my hands on it.

This is my first Street Level bag and I'm impressed with the quality! It feels soft and buttery like real leather (except for the lighter croc-like pieces...they are obviously a rougher texture, as intended...) The handles are sturdy and the hardware is as well.

I'm glad it came with a cross body strap, as I walk a lot and I love to be able to sling my bag on and forget about it.

This bag has several pockets, which I appreciate. These small pockets are on both sides, and they have a magnetic snap closure. 

There is a zip pocket on the back, as well.

The inside is super roomy. It has a zipper pocket on one side, and the main compartment is divided in half with another zipper pocket. The other side has two small cellphone sized pockets.

Love the cute polkadot lining, too! You can see how much space there is in there...a water bottle, some makeup bags, sunglasses, iPod, lotion, and still plenty of space. Yay!

And there it is, yet another LBB I'm happy with. Especially considering the Fydelity bag I got for a gift alone was worth the cost, so these were basically happy bonuses for me. And this is now my new favorite summer bag!

Giveaway reminder!

Hey guys!

Just wanted to remind you guys to enter my two giveaways if you haven't yet! These are both awesome services and I recommend them.

Enter here to win a July Conscious Box full of earth and body friendly goodies.

Enter here to win a July NatureBox full of healthy snacks.

Good luck!

Little Black Bag #4!

Well, my addiction to Little Black Bag continues. I blame it on the fact that I had let my accessories collection get down to literally nothing over the last few years and Little Black Bag is just straight up ADDICTIVE.

If you don't know what Little Black Bag is, you can read about my first experience with it here.  If you haven't signed up yet, but think it sounds like fun, you can do so here (Note that this is my referral link!) If you sign up using my referral link, I'll get an extra item in my bag to play with.

So, all that said, here's what I scored this time. In my past 3 bags, there were several items that I would get in my bag and adore, and then trade away for other things. I would later regret trading these items. So, my goal for this particular bag was just to get those few items I had been regretting losing, and keep them. I succeeded!

This bag is comprised of a few smaller items, I didn't go for a handbag this time. No worries, I have a couple of those headed to me when I ship my current bag!

This Cargo eye quad in Toronto has been haunting me. I had it three times in my past bags and traded it  up every time. This was the number one item I absolutely had to get back with this bag.

And it is so freakin' GORGEOUS in person. It is more cool blue toned than it looks on the site, which I love! The shades are as smooth and creamy as the 3 other quads I have, and they go on perfectly. I love the two top shades, especially - the lighter one is a perfect icy silver blue, and the navy shade complements it perfectly. This is actually probably my favorite of the 4 quads I have gotten. Like the other Cargo quads, it retails for $30, and would be worth every penny even at full price.

This is another thing I regretted trading away - the 'ZAD dove necklace in silver. I love that it's a good size, but still quite delicate. I took a quick shot of it on with my crappy webcam so you can gauge the size. It's on a short chain, which is nice - most of my necklaces are longer, and I love shorter ones with delicate pieces.

It falls at a good length, easily visible with any style top (forgive my ratty pajamas...) So cute. This retails for $20.

I love owls, but I wasn't interested in this little owl necklace by 'ZAD until I saw a picture of it in person. It is SUPER tiny and delicate and sparkly...I had to have it. It is very small, the chain is actually a bit shorter than I'd ideally like...but it's cute enough that I'm keeping it. I've worn it several times and gotten lots of compliments.

LOVE (Again, forgive the ugly pajamas...). I wore this with a simple little black dress and it was adorable. Great subtle accent, and much needed in my jewelry collection, as I tend to go for louder pieces. This retails for $14.

After breaking my lone pair of sunglasses, I knew it was time to hold onto a pair on LBB. These are the square framed glasses by Betsey Johnson in the brown/tortoise color. I had a hard time deciding on the sunglasses I wanted, but went with these because I loved the color and the cute hot pink pouch. 

They feel nice and sturdy for plastic glasses, and they have Betsey logos at the temples. After trying them on, I do wish they were a bit wider - I prefer slightly larger frames for my face. However, I like them enough that I will be keeping them and wearing them regularly.

Yeah, I look like an idiot, but you get the idea. These cute glasses retail for $60.

In all, I am really happy with this bag! Though I didn't go for any big ticket pieces, I'm happy to finally get all of these things I've been trading away and regretting. The value of this bag is about $124 and they are all items I will be using. Hooray!

Have you joined yet? What are your favorite accessories for summer?

Conscious Box giveaway!

So, some of you guys may remember me talking about Conscious Box in the past. Basically, it's a monthly subscription service that focuses on green, eco-friendly, ethical, and natural products. The amazing thing about it is that you get such a wide variety of items - everything from makeup to skincare to cleaning products to food.

Plus the packaging is just adorable...

Well, Conscious Box has been kind enough to allow me to give away a July box to one of you! Get excited...who doesn't love getting a box full of earth friendly, body friendly, and soul friendly goodies in the mail?

Enter via the Rafflecopter!

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NatureBox - a healthy food subscription service review and giveaway!

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by a company to try one of their boxes. I am a sucker for subscription services, and this one sounded great, so I jumped at the chance! I hadn't heard of them before, and it turns out they are a new company, and have only been around for a few months. NatureBox is a company that delivers healthy snacks to your door for $19.95 a month.

The difference between this one and some of the other snack services I've seen is that NatureBox creates their own branded snacks and sends out 4-6 full sized packages, not samples. They promise that the snacks will be wholesome and nutritionist approved!

They also promise the following:

• No High Fructose Corn Syrup,
• No Partially Hydrogenated Oils
• No Trans Fats
• No Artificial Sweeteners
• No Artificial Flavors
• No Artificial Colors

This was exciting for me to read, because I have been making a conscious effort to eat and snack more healthfully, and sometimes it's hard to find a variety snacks that are truly healthy. I was also excited to read that they donate a meal to feed hungry children for every box sold. As someone who has, in the past, had to rely on the kindness of others and food pantries to keep going, that's a very big perk to me and something close to my heart.

I received my box last week and, man, was I excited to tear into it! I'm happy to say that everything inside was delicious and has been demolished!

First of all, I was excited because this box is huge. And it's cute! The box itself is very sturdy and I actually saved it because it's a perfect size to store papers and important items in. It arrived to me very quickly - I was told they were shipping them on the 10th, and it arrived to me on the 13th. Very impressive.

I opened it and was excited to see that it was packed full! The card included lists the items in the box, which I always appreciate. The theme this month is Healthy Fun in the Sun - wholesome snacks that are perfect for travel, camping, hot summer nights, and active days in the great outdoors. I love travel friendly snacks that I can keep in my bag at work, so that sounds great to me!

Included is a referral code - if you want to try NatureBox, enter "REFER25" or "SUMMERFUN" to receive 25% off your first box. Or, if you sign up for a 6 month subscription, "SUMMERFUN" will earn you 1 free month, or 3 free months with a 12 month subscription.

Now, onto the goodies.

The first thing I pulled out was this Harvest Fruit Granola. This was so good! When I think of granola, I generally think of something crunchy and fairly bland. This one is soft and naturally sweet and full of fruit and nuts - it even includes whole pecans...my favorite.  I love that it's sweetened with agave! I had this a couple of different mornings as a pick me up.

Each packet has detailed nutritional information on the back and they all come in a resealable pouch.

As you can see, the granola is full of good things.

The next thing I found were these Sun-ripened White Peaches. I love peaches, and I really enjoy dried fruit when it's done properly. I can honestly say that this one is done properly! The peach halves are still plump and soft and sweet.

They're a great size. I took these to work with me and had them as a snack at break time!

These are another dried fruit item - Apple Rings!  I was a little bit skeptical of these - I love apples, but I've had dried apples in the past that had the taste and texture of cardboard. These are wonderful! They're soft and super sweet and full of apple flavor. They're also huge!

These ended up being one of my favorite items in the box!

These are my absolute FAVORITE item in the box. I may or may not have eaten every last one myself. Nearly in one sitting. They are THAT good! These are the Citrus Kick Almonds. Now, I love citrus and I love almonds, so it's no surprise that I like these. But the almonds themselves were a surprise! Hearing the name, I envisioned almonds with a bit of a sweet citrus coating on them. They're actually complex and savory, with flavors of orange, lime, ginger, and garlic. NatureBox compares their flavor to a tangy marinade and I definitely agree with that. These are amazing and addictive.

Each one is coated with yumminess. Looking at this picture, I am so sad that I don't have more of these!

And finally, this is the Organic Mighty Mix. This is just what it sounds like - a really good trail mix! I love that the texture is nice and clean and non-sticky. It includes a great mix of nuts and dried fruits. I took this with me on a hiking adventure and it made a perfect snack.

I love that it's naturally sweet and a great combination of textures.

I'm really impressed with NatureBox - look at the great size of these packages! Each one is 4-5 servings. (Except for those almonds...those are so good that I would consider a bag five times that size to be a single serving! HA!)

If you're a fan of healthy snacks, or just trying new healthy foods in general, I definitely recommend NatureBox. For about $20 a month, you not only get delicious snacks, but you also get to help hungry children in America.  It's worth noting that they are a new company, so they cannot yet meet specific dietary needs (like nut allergies, gluten intolerance, and vegan) but they are working on these options in the future, so keep your eyes peeled.

The great news is, NatureBox is giving me the opportunity to give away a free month to one of you! The box will be July or August's box (depending when the giveaway ends and all the information gets passed along), so it will not be the exact box I got, but it will contain 4-6 full sized packages of healthy, delicious snacks. Yum! Enter to win via the Rafflecopter!

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