CEW Beauty Insiders Award Winner Mass Appeal box by Birchbox.

Every year, the CEW Beauty Awards nominates and honors the best and most innovative beauty products of the year. Last year, Beauty Bar teamed up with them to create a box of some of the best products for a great price. This year, Birchbox took on the task, and they created two limited edition Birchboxes - one showcasing some of the drugstore brand winners, and one showcasing the prestige brands. I had a discount code to use and some  points, so I picked up both boxes!

I placed my order on Wednesday and I already received it today, Friday! Pretty impressive shipping.

This is the Mass Appeal box. This one contains some of the CEW Beauty Insiders' favorite drugstore products.

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain - This is a retractable lip crayon that promises moisture and shiny vivid pigment. I received the color Lovestruck, which is a bright fuschia pink! I've swatched it below. I love this shade.

Olay Pro-X Spot Fading Treatment - This is a serum that helps diminish dark spots and discoloration. I hope this helps some of my acne scars!

Nivea A Kiss of Olive Oil & Lemon Moisture Rich Lip Care - This is a hydrating lip balm. Nivea makes my absolute favorite balms, but I haven't tried this one yet. It smells amazing and I am super excited for it.

Burt's Bees Ultimate Care Hand Cream - This is a nourishing hand cream with baobab and watermelon seed oils. I wash my hands a billion times a day at work, so I appreciate a good hand cream!

L'Oreal Paris Infallible eyeshadow - This is a 24 hour waterproof eyeshadow! It goes on as a shimmery pigmented cream. I received the shade Glistening Garnet, which is a red based purpley pink shade with a lilac sheen. Super pretty!

Simple Revitalizing Roll-On - This is an eye serum that perks up tired eyes. It has cucumber and vitamin B5. I am a big fan of products like this and am really excited to see how this one works out for me!

Here is the Lovestruck balm stain and Glistening Garnet shadow.

And here it is from a different angle so you can see the way the shadow color shifts! Super pretty!

Here is the shadow on bare skin (no other shadows or liner) and the balm stain on bare lips. Forgive the fact that I"m not wearing any other makeup, I just wanted to see how the colors would look!

I am super happy with this box, and every single thing will be used. It retailed for only $12, and the value far exceeds that! I actually found that I preferred this box to the prestige one!

Did you pick up either of these boxes? What do you think?

Veet EasyWax Electrical Roll-On Kit review

I received an opportunity to try the new Veet EasyWax system from Influenster, and I jumped at the chance!

I haven't done much waxing...partially because I'm a wimp, and partially because it seemed like a huge mess. I have tried the wax strips and they are alright, but not always effective.

Veet EasyWax is an electrical roll-on...basically, you plug it in, let it warm up, then roll on the wax, apply the strips, and yank them off. It's super easy and very effective.

I'll be using it all summer! You can find it on their site! :)

DISCLAIMER: I received a product for free from Influenster. All opinions are my own and I was not compensated!

Ipsy - July 2013

Ipsy has been pretty exciting since they started their IpsyMatch system and sending out more product variation! It's fun to anticipate what you might get.

This month, the theme was "Beach Beauty" and as you can probably guess, it is products suitable for summertime and the outdoors, preparing for a day at the beach! There were two products that everyone got, one that came in 3 variations of a similar product (and everyone got one of the variations), one either/or, and one product that you got to suit your profile out of a selection of four. Sounds confusing, I know!

The bag itself this month is transparent clear vinyl - love it! The items I received are actually the exact ones I wanted! 

Coola Mineral Face SPF 20 Moisturizer in Unscented - This is a mineral sunscreen. They sent out this version, a tinted version with rose essence, and possibly the cucumber scented version. I have tried a Coola product before and really liked it, so I am happy to have this, especially as I am trying to move more toward mineral and physical sunscreens as opposed to chemical ones.

Pop Beauty Pouty Pop Crayon in Fuchsia Flirt - This is one of the products that everyone got, though they sent out a few different colors. Ir's nourishing and plumping. The shade I got is great - a nice cool pink! I'll be using this a lot.

BH Cosmetics California Collection eyeshadow sample - BH Cosmetics released 3 different California palettes containing shadows and blushes. This sample has a shade from each of the three! We got a purple, a brown, and a gold. They are nice and soft and pigmented...I'm really tempted to buy the palettes. This is another product that everyone got.

Demeter - Salt Air perfume oil roll on - This is the product I wanted most of all (and it was the main variation, there was only a 1/4 chance of getting it), and I am so excited that I got it! It is a perfume oil that really does smell like the beach. I smell the water, the salt, and the sun...there's a hint of sunscreen. It's really fresh and really different from my usual sweet or fruity scents. 

Sexy Hair Weatherproof Humidity Resistant Spray - This was an either/or item, and of the two, I preferred this one. It isn't really a hairspray, it is meant to be a finishing spray to protect your hair from the effects of humidity. I live in the midwest, so humidity is a big issue. I'm looking forward to trying this!

As always, the sample sizes are great and the value far exceeds the $10 I paid. The perfume roll-on alone retails for $10!

Here is the lip crayon being worn! Excuse the morning hair and the sunglasses (I got them in another sub this week). I love the color!

And here are swatches of the lip crayon and the 3 shadows.

This is one of my favorite months for Ipsy! Everything is great and summery and will be happily used.  IpsyMatch seems to be working for me, as I expressed interest in fragrances and makeup. What was in your bag this month?

Birchbox - July 2013

Wow, I am behind on my posts this month. I received my Birchbox at the beginning of the week (early in the month for me!) This was the first time in ages I got my box before the contents were listed on the site...it was nice to be surprised for once!

This month, Birchbox went with a theme of "Power Play", promising hardworking samples to help us take control of any situation, and they had cast members of the tv show Suits (which I've never seen or heard of, but whatever) pick some of the samples. Interestingly, they had added points to my account before I even got my box letting me know that I was getting a duplicate sample that I had received in a past month. They didn't say what the duplicate sample was, so I was really curious, and hoping that it was one that I had liked.

Here's my box!

Number 4 Super Comb Prep & Protect spray - This was the sample that I had gotten in a previous box. Luckily for me, I loved it, so I was okay with getting it again! It is a leave in conditioner, and it detangles and protects from heat and the sun. It's free of sulfates and has lots of good natural ingredients in it. It kept my hair nice and soft and smooth, and I would buy the full size if it weren't so expensive!

Dr. Jart+ Ceramidin cream - This cream has lots of ceramides! It promises to combat redness, roughness, and irritation as well as being super moisturizing.  I love a good skincare product, so I am really happy to get this! It feels nice and hydrating on my skin, and I look forward to seeing what it does for me with repeated usage.

ModelCo Party Proof lipstick in Get Naked - This is a longwearing matte lipstick in a perfect nude. I actually do not own a nude lipstick and I am really impressed with this one! It is lighter than my lips (which are quite pigmented), but it doesn't look bad with my very pale skin. I am excited to wear this with some of my bolder, brighter eye looks. It has a nice fruity smell and a super hydrating feel!

La Fresh Instant Body Smoother wipes - These are refreshing wipes with a minty scent, made to help refresh and relax you. I tried one after walking home in the scorching sun and it felt amazing!

Birchbox bobby pins - This is the extra this month. They are super cute, and very heavy duty! I love bobby pins for my barely long enough for a ponytail hair. This is one of my favorite extras!

Here is the lipstick on my arm and on my lips. I think it will be great alone or to tone down a bright/bold lippie!

Overall, I think this is a great box, and I am happy to use everything. Birchbox and the cast of Suits did a great job this month, in my opinion. 

What was in your box?

Starlooks Starbox - June 2013

June marked Starlooks' one year anniversary! June's box delivered staple products they thought we could use every day. (I do my makeup differently every single day, because I'm crazy and I get bored, so I don't really HAVE staple products, but, that's beside the point...) The looks book and card featured a mod 60s look that was really fun, and there was special anniversary packaging, too!

The anniversary box is super cute, and the black and white theme matches the theme of the looks book and contents card.

This month, we received three products and a little extra. 

Bronzer in Montego Bay - This is a bronzer with a satin finish. It can be used to contour, and can also be used on the body! Note that it looks darker in the photo than it really is! Now, this product is a scary one for me - I am pale and pink toned, and I have never had a tan in my life, so items meant to make you look tan generally look terrible on me. But, I am going to play with this and try to find a way to make it work for me! Someone suggested using it for contouring under my foundation, and I think I'll be giving that a try soon.

Eye Pencil in White - This is a creamy eyeliner pencil in white. As with Starlooks' other pencils, it is very soft and creamy! It can be used on the waterline to make the eyes look better, or it can be used on the lid as a shadow base. I will likely use it for both! I have recently come to love white liners, so I am happy to get this.

Precision Eye Pen in Black - This is a fine tipped liquid liner in black. This is actually their first repeated product (they generally don't repeat exact items, but to me it makes sense to repeat basics like a black liquid liner after a year or so)  - they sent it out in their very first box, and it is a great staple item. I love that you can get a really fine line with it.

The bonus is a cute peace sign pin. It goes with the mod theme of the month, and while I've seen a lot of people complain about it, I think it's pretty cute and will attach it to a jean jacket or one of my messenger bags.

As always, this box was a really great value. I do have to say that I am a bit disappointed in this anniversary box, simply because there is nothing exciting in it! The liners are nice, and I don't have and have never really used a bronzer so that will be interesting to play with...but it's hard to get excited over a box full of staples! I wish they had included one fun color item! Regardless, Starlooks remains one of my favorite subs and I'm really excited to see what they do for July.