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!

NYC New York Color IndividualEyes Custom Compact - review

Eye shadow is my absolute favorite makeup item. I can't get enough of it. So the most exciting item in my Beauty Blogger VoxBox from Influenster was the NYC New York Color Individual Eyes Custom Compact.

These palettes are all in one compacts. Each contains primer, luminator, and four shadow shades. They come in a variety of shades designed to enhance your specific eye color.

I received the "Dark Shadows" compact, which is shades of black, gray, and white. Obviously this is a neutral palette and not one specifically for my green eyes, but grays are my neutrals of choice, so I am okay with it!

The quality is decent for such an affordable brand - the shadows are decently pigmented and over primer, they last all day for me. The primer isn't the best I've tried, but it does it's job. I especially like the two lighter shadows, they are nice and the silver is just the right amount of shimmery. The illuminator also acts well as a base and is very creamy.

There is a bit of fallout, especially with the darker shades, but it is easy enough to clean up.

These retail for $5 and for that price, I think they're a great buy. I might pick up another one!

Disclaimer: I received this product for free from Influenster. I was not otherwise compensated, and all opinions are my own.

Not Your Mother's Kinky Moves Curl Defining Hair Cream - review

I have thick wavy hair that is currently growing out years and years of coloring and damage. So, babying it with treatments and creams is a must! I was happy to receive Not Your Mother's Kinky Moves in my Influenster VoxBox!

This is a curl defining cream that contains grapeseed and jasmine, and that is exactly what it smells like to me! It's a fairly light cream with the consistency of a lotion. It is easy to work through the hair, and I found that it does eliminate frizz and flyaways without weighing hair down!

My favorite way to use it is to apply to wet hair after shampooing. I then braid my hair and sleep on it. When I wake in the morning, I have neat waves with no frizz. It's truly a great product.

Not Your Mother's has a whole line of styling products, and I am very interested in trying more of them. This product works well on my light waves, but would probably be even better on truly curly hair!

Have you tried anything by this brand? What are your favorite haircare brands?

Disclaimer: I received this product free from Influenster. I was not otherwise compensated. All opinions are my own.

Bath & Body Works Fall Mini Candle review

I absolutely love candles, so I was really excited to receive a mini candle from Bath & Body Works for free in my Influenster Beauty Blogger VoxBox!

I've used candles from Bath & Body Works for years, and they are probably my absolute favorite candles. They are highly fragranced and made of vegetable wax. They also have lead free wicks. Their candles come in 4 sizes ranging from these minis to their large 3-wicks. They sell candles made by both Slatkin and White Barn, and both are very high quality. They come in a huge variety of scents! They have regular year round scents and they also have a huge assortment of seasonal scents, as well as limited edition collections.

The scent I received was Nutmeg and Spice by White Barn. This scent is described as "a cozy concoction of spiced caramel and nutmeg", and it is a nice, warm, sweet, spicy scent. This is a new scent to me and I really love it! It made my entire apartment smell warm and homey and welcoming. If you like warm, cozy, spicy scents, I definitely recommend this one!

Other scents that are currently available that I have personally tried and loved are Cider Lane, Leaves, Marshmallow Fireside, Frosted Cupcake, Creamy Pumpkin, and French Baguette.

You can get these mini candles for 2 for $5 at (http://www.bathandbodyworks.com. I think the fall and winter scents are the best ones, so I plan to stock up before the holidays!

Have you tried these candles? What are your favorite scents?


*Disclaimer: I received this product free of charge. I was not otherwise compensated and all opinions are my own.

Influenster Beauty Blogger VoxBox

I was super excited to receive another Influenster VoxBox yesterday! This one is for beauty bloggers and was full of fun beauty products to try.

If you haven't heard of Influenster, it is a program that provides free VoxBoxes of products in return for reviews and word of mouth sharing! It's a lot of fun, and I still have three invitations, so if you're interested, please leave me a comment or send me an email!

This is what I got in the Beauty Bloggers VoxBox.

The shipping was super fast on this one! For once, I was one of the first to receive it, and it arrived here the day after my tracking email came.

It was full of lots of fun things to try...I was surprised by how many items there actually were. And happily, they were all new items to me (besides the candle...but that is at least a new scent for me!)

This is a NYC New York Colors IndividualEyes Custom Compact. The shades I got were Dark Shadows, and as you can see, it's a black, gray, and white palette. I love that it comes with the primer and illuminator in the palette...this will be handy for keeping in my bag. I've never tried this brand, but the prices are super reasonable so I'm excited to see if I like it!

This is a Kiss Ever Pro Lashes Starter Kit. These are super dramatic and thick! I love that they come with the glue and an application tool. I haven't mastered applying lashes yet so I am happy to get these to try. These will be great for a fun Halloween look.

This is a White Barn mini candle from Bath & Body Works! I absolutely love these candles, I think they are the best ones out there for the price. This scent is Nutmeg and Spice and it smells ridiculously good and cozy. Also included is a coupon code for $10 full sized three wick candles, which is about half price. Awesome. I can share this code with you, as well. If you enter the coupon code F126566 while making an online purchase between now and 10/28, you can get up to 5 candles at the discount price.

This is EBOOST drink mix. It's full of natural ingredients and promises to boost your mood, energy, and immunity. Sounds good, I will try it today!

These are Goody Simple Styles spin pins. They are meant to make a simple updo easy. They also come with directions for three different styles to try. I LOVE THESE. I wore them yesterday and they are awesome and held my bun in place. Once you get the hang of using them, they're truly awesome. I had never even heard of these before but I'll be buying them.

This is Not Your Mother's Kinky Moves Curl Defining Cream. This is full of grape seed and jasmine and promises to encourage natural curls and waves while getting rid of frizz and flyaways. My hair is more wavy than curly but I am excited to see what this does for me. 

This is an either/or product...some boxes got Frizz Control cream by the same brand.

And finally, I was lucky enough to get a couple of bonus products. In some boxes, Influenster includes products that are offered only to some recipients, based on score or demographics. This month, there were two such possibilities, and I was lucky enough to get one of them (it's actually a set of two products.)

This is the Beautiful Skin Cleansing Lotion and Night Cream by Boots No. 7. The cleansing lotion is a waterless cleanser that dissolves makeup and leaves the skin clean without needing rinsing or a toner. The night cream is a hydrating moisturizer. I'm always on the lookout for a new cleanser and moisturizer, so these are a very welcome addition to my box!

Some other ladies got a Vitabath Fragrance mist instead of this bonus.

All in all, I am pretty blown away by this VoxBox. I will use and enjoy every single item in it! 

Have you joined Influenster yet?

Influenster - Bride-to-Be VoxBox

I've posted before about Influenster. Basically, they are a company that sends out free "VoxBoxes" to members. They do several different VoxBox programs a year, each one targeted at a different group or demographic. There have been seasonal beauty boxes, Latina beauty boxes, Natural boxes, Valentine's day boxes, Mom boxes, and more. This one is meant for future brides! It offers products to make you look and feel your best on your big day! Here's what was in it!

These are three full sized products by Schwarzkopf Professional! They include shampoo, conditioner, and split end sealer!

I  have been using these for about a week now and I really like these products!

The shampoo is nice and foamy. It doesn't have much of a scent, just that clean soapy smell. It rinses clean and leaves my hair soft and shiny.

The conditioner has a thin consistency and is very easy to distribute through the hair. It leaves my hair so soft and smooth and easy to manage!

The sealed ends product is wonderful and leaves my ends soft and silky.

I will be interested in trying more products by this brand in the future! 

This is Rescue Gum by Bach...it is a homeopathic stress reliever! The flavor is nice - orangey with just a bit of a medicinal taste to it. I have found that it does seem to help me relax a bit when I'm feeling stressed!

It's a cool concept, and I love anything homeopathic and natural. A nice way to relieve some pre wedding jitters!

This is a natural sleep aid! Similar to a bottle of Vitamin Water, it contains melatonin and natural ingredients to help you fall asleep and stay asleep. I tried it and I did sleep very soundly. I woke up feeling refreshed and not at all groggy. Pretty impressive.

And finally, these pretty lashes by Kiss! I have never been able to apply false lashes before...I'm just not coordinated enough. But these have these awesome strings attached to them to make application a breeze! I'm pretty sure even I will be able to handle these! So excited to try them out!

There was also an invitation card to IvyDate, which is a dating site for singles! I already passed that along to a friend. 

This is a box full of great products...and did I mention that it's FREE? I can't wait to try the lashes, and I will continue to use the gum and hair products. This box will definitely help you look and feel your best on your big day.

As always, I recommend Influenster to absolutely everyone! If you're interested in an invitation, either leave me your email here or send it to me via the email button on the side of my blog!

Influenster

So, it seems that Influenster has undergone a makeover! They've completely revamped their website and the way the program works!

 If you haven't heard of Influenster, it is a really cool program - basically, you first unlock certain badges related to your demographics and lifestyle. Then, periodically throughout the year, they offer boxes called VoxBoxes to people who fit a certain profile. The boxes can contain many types of items, and the boxes are always 100 percent free. I received a Spring Beauty box this year, which I  posted about before here. They have also offered boxes for moms, Latinas, fans of natural products, and more. 

The only thing they ask in return is that you spread the word and share the products you receive on review sites, social media, and reviews on Influenster itself. It's a really great way to try new things, and I've discovered some really great products through Influenster.

So, if you'd like to join Influenster, I have 5 invites for people to be on my "team". Leave me your email and I'll send you one! 

Sally Hansen Salon Effects

So, I'll just be honest with you - I'm super lazy when it comes to my nails. I work a job that requires me to use my hands a lot, so manicures and polish in general never last long for me. As such, I just never bother to attempt nail art, no matter how much I love the looks.

I had seen the Sally Hansen Salon Effects nail strips in the stores before, but I assumed they were just stickers, and I didn't pay them much mind.

Then, I received a box in my Influenster Spring Beauty VoxBox, and upon further inspection, I was excited to discover that they are not stickers after all, but strips of real nail polish. I got Kitty Kitty, which is a cute golden leopard print.

I finally tried them, and they're nice. They're easy to apply - you just peel them off, stick them on, and trim/file them to size. They are smooth and shiny, and I have found that they last me longer than traditional nail polish. I like to use them alternating with solid colors, or as accent nails!

There are two things I don't like about them. First, each box comes with 16 strips, which is just an odd number. I realize they probably include a few extra strips in case of screw ups, but I'd just prefer either 10 or 20, because with the odd number, I always end up with one extra, even after using some as accent nails.

The other issue is the price. They cost $9.99, which is a bit more than I'd generally spend on a couple of uses of a product for my nails. I prefer to wait until they're on sale or I have a coupon.

In all though, these are a really cool product and they're worth checking out!

Below is the Kitty Kitty print shown with some very sloppily applied Color Club polish in Disco Nap.

*Disclaimer: I received a product free of charge from Influenster. I was not compensated and all opinions are my own.

Bath and Body Works Fine Fragrance Mist

I've been a fan of Bath and Body Works for as long as I can remember. I recall riding the school bus in elementary school and sharing my Country Apple lotion with my friends, and always carrying 2 or 3 hand sanitizers in my purse. It was what I always asked for for holiday and birthday gifts and my first foray into fragrance.

Even now, I always have a stash of BBW products (as seen above!) I regularly stock up on the Pocketbacs for work, and I adore the triple moisture cream for my dry skin.  I also always loved the fragrance mists, and the fact that they smelled great but were not too strong or overpowering for school or work.  I like the variety of scents offered by Bath and Body Works - a great selection for someone like myself, who appreciates fresh fruity scents as well as sweet and girly ones.

A couple of months ago, I saw that they were introducing a new Fine Fragrance Mist, which promised a finer and more even mist application and a more delicate fragrance experience. I was really excited and made a mental note to pick some up the next time I needed to replenish my fragrance stash.

Much to my delight, I soon found out that I'd be getting a Spring Beauty VoxBox from Influenster, and that one of the products included was a full sized Fine Fragrance Mist! I was so excited to try it out.

The Fine Fragrance mists are available in all of their Signature Collection scents - there are more than 20 available. They retail for $14 for an 8 ounce bottle. You can buy them inshore or online at http://www.bathandbodyworks.com .

After trying it out, I am really impressed with the Fine Fragrance Mist. First of all, the packaging is adorable. I think it's a big improvement over the previous bottles - a cylindrical bottle with a clear cap and pretty design. It looks adorable sitting on a vanity, shelf, or cabinet in the bathroom or bedroom.  I think it looks classier and more expensive than the previous packaging!  It seems like a small thing, but I am a sucker for packaging. The traditional packaging of other body sprays and mists from other companies reminds me of the cheap body sprays everyone doused themselves with in middle school...not the most pleasant association for an adult! The cap attaches securely, so I can throw it in my bag without worrying about leakage, as well.

More importantly, I love the way it applies. The mist really is light as air, and covers the body evenly without any large droplets. I find that it is as long lasting as the prior mists, if not more so - I can still smell it on myself after a full shift at work. I currently have the mist in both Pink Chiffon (pictured) and Twilight Woods (not pictured, as it's in my locker at work) and I have been reaching for them more often than both my other mists and my perfumes.

I find the Fine Fragrance mists by Bath and Body Works to be a pretty great product, and I can't wait to try more of them. Have you tried them yet? What's your favorite scent from Bath and Body Works?

*Disclaimer: I received a free product for review from Influenster. I have not been compensated and all opinions are my own.