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Saturday, March 31, 2012

Samples Samples Samples - March 2012 Eco-Emi Box

I had a nice little surprise waiting for me on Wednesday after I got out of surgery - my March Eco-Emi box!  Don't get me wrong, I like Birchbox and MyGlam, but Eco-Emi is the box I look forward to the most every month.  I like the mishmash of beauty and other items, and I love that they're all green.  It soothes my hippie soul.


This is a prescription for happiness, oh yes.  Yaaaay box!


Christine always packs her boxes in the prettiest ways.  It just makes you feel special, like there was a lot of care put into it.  ... I also always open boxes in the most destructive manner possible.



The first thing my eyes went to was the incense packet.  Champa is possibly my favorite scent for my house to have, and this was a cute little sample size.  There were three baby sticks in it, courtesy of Auromere.  They have loads more scents, and seeing as I've already burned these, I'll be making a purchase soon.


Toothbrush!  It's got a handle made out of recycled material, which is a good idea.  I use a fancy electronic toothbrush, but I'll use this to clean out the bite plate that keeps me from grinding my teeth at night.  This is from Vitacare.



Also from Vitacare is a pack of gum.  I love me anything pomegranate flavored, and I actually don't even hate it with the hint of mint.  I don't know how well it whitens, but then again, I don't think any gum really makes a difference in the whitening department.  As long as it's tasty - which it is - I don't mind.


This is a food bar from Bella Bar in cinnamon nut flavor.  I haven't tried it yet, but it looks to be in the same vein of food bars as my beloved Luna Bars, albeit with fewer nutrients.  I like cinnamon and I like nuts, so I'll probably try this on my next day at work during a break.


This is a bottle of soap oil from Old Post Road Oils.  It says that it's "pear tree" scented, but I don't smell pear at all.  I smell a bit of musk, but no pear.  I rather like it; it reminds me of my grandfather's smell - one part pipe tobacco, one part old spice, one part old man.  I used it to shave my legs, and they are silky smooth.  I like this a lot.

Onto the items in the bag!  Look at how pretty it is!

This is a shampoo/conditioner travel set from Greenbody Greenplanet.  This is a different scent than I got last month - this is Revitalize.  I love the smell; it smells clean and fresh and lively.  It didn't leave my hair as moisturized as my normal haircare routine, but this would probably be great if you have normal hair.  Mine tends to be a bit on the dry side.


This is a Badger Lip Tint.  It doesn't tell me what color it is, but it really is a pretty color on my mouth.  I'm always looking out for lip tints - I don't usually wear lip colors that pop since I'm too busy doing that on my eyes.  This has a nice feeling on the lips - not too waxy, not too watery.  It's pretty easy to forget that you have it on at all.  It's not super duper moisturizing, but it didn't dry my mouth out either.  So that's a nice thing.

Badger Lip Tint swatched


These are two adorable eye shadows from The All Natural Face.  I got warm honey (left) and rose gold (right).  While these containers are adorable, they were a bitch and a half to get open.



This is a pot of gel eyeliner by The All Natural Face as well.  My box ended up sitting in the car for a while, so it ended up melting a bit.  I tried it out after letting it sit in the house and the AC for a day, and it was still pretty liquidy.  I'm used to gel eyeliners that are a bit more firm, so this will definitely take some getting used to.


From left: warm honey eyeshadow, rose gold, black gel eyeliner - no primer used.  I actually love how soft and smooth these mineral shadows are; they feel like they have a bit more substance than some mineral shadows I've used.  They're soft to the feel and super spreadable, and the color payoff is super high.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to get a pot of warm honey.

For fifteen bucks?  I'm super happy with this month.  I found a lot of stuff I'm going to have to buy bigger sizes of, and it cheered me up during post-op.  Do you guys get sample boxes?  What can't you live without?

Friday, March 30, 2012

Nail MADNESS - Random Dancing!

I had surgery yesterday, and one of the pre-op requirements was that I take off my nail polish.  I don't know if you heard me.  They wanted me to take off my nail polish.  I took it off about ten in the evening the day before as I had to be at the hospital at seven in the morning, and that whole night I looked at my sad, unpainted nails in terror.  It was like my hand belonged to an alien!

So while I lay around in bed today in a post-op Vicodin haze, I decided to do my nails.  I wanted to do something fun and punchy, and I did just that.  I painted my ring and index fingers with Pink Voltage by China Glaze, and the rest of my fingers in Purple Panic (also by China Glaze).  On top of that, I used Random Dancing by Dollish Polish.  I got it a few weeks ago, but had not gotten around to using it.  It's got a boatload of glitter in about every color you can think of - mostly rainbow square glitter and some black microglitter.  It's about the same texture as any super dense glitter polish; at times you'll have to fight with it to get the glitter to distribute, but hell, who cares if it goes on perfectly even - this polish is fun.  Now when I look at my hands, it looks like a Lisa Frank binder, like being a kid - kind of like iCarly in general.  (And shut the hell up, I love that show.  Sam is my hero.)





I haven't cleaned up my cuticles yet - I'm all shaky and Vico-stoned, but you get the idea.  And that idea is FUN.  This would be awesome over a black, too, or really any color that's punchy.  As long as it's in the spirit of random dancing  and fun and joy.  So I leave you with this (and can we just talk about how fucking adorable Michelle Obama is?  I love her so much.)  Be happy, internet!


Saturday, March 24, 2012

Nail Madness - Deborah Lippmann "Candy Shop"

This is an old color; I think it came out last year at Christmas.  I had really no desire to try it then - I'm not usually a bubblegum girl.  Usually I squee over greens and blacks and puples.  But my mother had bought this because she is indeed a bubblegum girl and thought it was the prettiest thing ever.  But then she remembered how much she hates glitter polish and asked me if I wanted it.  I'd heard good things about it, and heck, free polish, why not?

I was pretty dubious about the application, but it honestly wasn't that bad.  The pink is a jelly, but after enough coats to get a decently even amount of glitter dispersion, the pink is pretty decently opaque.  I think the saving grace that keeps this polish from girlie overload is the variety of glitter in it - it's got every color in the rainbow, and all of it shiny.  I've actually gotten more compliments on this than any other polish I've ever worn.  It's just so damn interesting - I find myself looking at it periodically and just smiling.  For that reason, I'm sure I went overboard taking photos.  Enjoy anyway!







These were taken after about three or four days of wear.  I used China Glaze strong adhesion basecoat, three coats of Candy Shop, and two coats of Seche Vite (it was kinda bumpy after just one).  If you're not as lucky to get a freebie from a compulsive shopper in your family, you can get Lippmanns at a lot of places.  I like Zappos.com, if only because they have a really liberal return policy.  How do you feel about glitterbombs?  How do you feel about pink?  Do you have a crazy shopaholic in your family?

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Samples Samples Samples - March Conscious Box

I'm a bit of a hippie.  No, I don't smell like patchouli, but I did fuss and worry a lot over the MPG when I was deciding what car to get.  I also have a reusable lunch bag that I pack with reusable containers, little cloth bags, and reusable silverware every day for work lunches.  I use cold water to wash my clothes.  I am a tiny dictator when it comes to turning lights off when they're not in use.  You get the idea.  A lot of it just saves me money, but I'm all about saving resources now so that when I'm eighty, gas isn't 255 bucks a gallon because we can't find it anymore or whatnot.  That being said, I was so excited when I saw Susan talk about a sample box service I hadn't heard of - Conscious Box.  It's not just makeup products, but "a variety of unique pure and natural products every month".  It's 12.00 USD a month, plus 7.00 USD shipping, so a total of 19.00 per month.  I figured I'd try it for a month and see if I wanted to keep it.  This was month one for me, so here's what I got!




Right from the get go, they're walking the walk - 100% recycled shipping box / container box with veggie inks.  I love that they didn't use a whole lot of packaging for the box either.  It makes me happy.


Here's all the loot I got!  It's an exciting amount, really, and to my eyes, well worth the 19.00.

 First off was a package of seeds from Baker Creek.  I've been debating if I should try growing some flowers on my patio, and this just sort of hung it for me.  Next day I have off, I'm going to go to Target and get a little pot and some soil and start to diggin'!


This is a single serving packet of Tera's Whey.  It's got 22 grams of protein mixed with real fruit and low glycemic stevia.  It's meant to help people get more protien in their diet.  Pomegranate cranberry is pretty much my favorite flavor ever.  I'm going to take this to work and mix it with some water like it instructs and hopefully it'll help me stave off the munchies I always get between my lunch and my last break.


This is a bag of non-GMO, all natural, gluten free tortilla chips from a company called RW Garcia.  This variety is called Mixtbag.  It's a single serving, and who can't use tortilla chips?


This is a one glass sample of liquid coffee extract called Java Juice.  Allegedly you just pour this into some water and then enjoy some coffee.  I don't love coffee, but this makes even me dubious.  But hell, I'll try anything once, and since this box came with a sample of natural powdered creamer, it's game on for you, sketchy ass coffee packet.


Natural powdered coffee creamer!  Good Kind makes this, and I can't thank them enough.  Ever since I saw that episode of Mythbusters where they used CoffeeMate to make a cannon, I stopped using their powdered stuff.  (Anything that could kill a dude, probably shouldn't be swallowed.)  No, seriously, watch that clip and tell me if you want to use your powdered non-natural creamer for coffee or for BURNINATING THE COUNTRYSIDE.  I'll wait.  ... yeah, the countryside is the obvious choice, good on you.


Oh, acai, you're like the weird friend that keeps showing up to parties without me inviting you.  Why are you always around?  How did I meet you?  How did anyone meet you?  Why do you smell funny? Anyway, this is by Healthy To Go!, which kind of makes me sad that they have an exclamation point in their name.  But you know what, I'm going to ignore my hatred of acai and overuse of punctuation (you only use an exclamation point when you are exclaiming something, and if you use more than one in a sentence, may god forgive you) and just drink this.  It's got antioxidants and vitamins and junk, and I do enjoy me some tropical punch flavor.


These are Minteas by Tea Forté in their ginger pear flavor.  Allegedly they're supposed to help you focus.  Now, I don't know how many I'm supposed to nosh before I get the uberfocus of an owl looking for food in a field.  I do know that they're pleasantly zingy, which I'm sure is the ginger, but still vaguely sweet.  Thank you, pear!  They have other flavors that make other nifty claims, but at this point, I'm just glad for some zingy mints.  Also, the word zingy.  Note to self: use it more.


These are Crunchmaster Gluten Free crackers in sea salt.  I'm not going to lie, but these were fucking delicious.  Each cracker tasted like a big mouthful of perfectly popped popcorn, with just the right amount of salt.  I kind of want to take a bath in them.  A crunchy, delicious bath.

 Next up is a single lozenge from Olbas.  I thought it was Olba's at first, but nope, it's plural for Olba.  I don't know what an olba is, but if you're Swiss, please let me know.  It's a cough drop, and with the hacking plague the girl who shares my cubicle at work has, I'm sure I'll be using this sooner rather than later.


EBoost Natural Energy Booster in pink lemonade.  I feel like a douche, looking my sorta gift horse in the mouth, but ffff, I hate lemonade.  Pink, yellow, white, neon green, lemonade is disgusting.  My roommate will be getting this as a gift soon.


Next is a sample of Olivella eye cream.  I don't usually use eye cream as I have fairly oily skin and don't really need anything super hydrating under my eyes (seriously, it gets oily even there), but I'll try anything once.


This is a 15.00 gift certificate for mineral makeup from Mineral Hygenics.  That's enough to try one eyeshadow, or put a dent in a foundation and bring it to half off.  I haven't ordered it yet, but I'm sure I'll get there eventually.


Free cookie!  Granted, it's a Morning Sunshine Breakfast Cookie, but hell.  It's a cookie.  I'll try any kind of cookie once!

I also got a code for 5.00 off from Hip Mountain Mama.  That, I'll probably use on some arm warmers or something.

All in all, I'm super stoked about my Conscious Box, and I'm already looking forward to the next one.  It's going to be for Earth Day, so it should have some awesome stuff.  I know this wasn't very beauty oriented, but with all the sample boxes going around, thought I should review it.  I'm in so many of them (BirchBox, Julep Maven, Eco-Emi, this, and I'm debating Sample Society.)  Do you like sample boxes?  Dish in the comments.



Friday, March 16, 2012

Nail MADNESS - Electrify

I am the one person in America that hasn't read the Hunger Games trilogy.  (I know you fans out there were wondering who hasn't read it yet - that person is me.)  The thing is, everyone tells me it's a super awesome, super fresh premise, and then I don't have the heart to tell them that it reminds me an awful lot of one of my favorite books, Battle Royale by Koshun Takami.  (If you've seen the movie, this is the book that's based upon.)  Of course, I didn't like Harry Potter after the Chamber of Secrets either, and I read one chapter of Twilight before ranting about how Bella is a wuss and needs to toughen her vagina.  I'm a teen lit killjoy.  It's my thing.  It's what I do. 

However, I also love nail polish and covet and horde it like a weird narcissistic dragon.  So, when I heard China Glaze was doing a series of polishes for the Hunger Games, I said "whatever, are the colors pretty?".  Last year they released pictures of the swatches, and only three colors appealed to me - Agro, Luxe and Lush, and this one, Electrify.  I'm not normally one for glitter bomb polishes; usually when I glitter, I just want a little bit in a color that's strong on its own.  So I was pretty dubious about application of this girl.  But the red and gold microglitter in this polish is so damn dense, it doesn't matter that it's in a clear base.  I only needed two coats to get the blingin' off the hieze (I promise to never do that again, don't worry) nails shown below.





One thing I will say about this polish is you may want to do two coats of top coat; I did one coat of Seche Vite after polishing, and two hours later the annoying sandpaper-like grit of my nails started to bug me.

If you're a completionist or a Hunger Games fan (what are you guys calling yourselves?  Hungry Hungry Fangirls?  Hungies?  Gamehards?), I know finding Luxe and Lush in storefronts has been a pain.  I ordered it from Ulta.com, and it's en route to me now.  They usually have a coupon for 3.50 off of any purchase over 10.00 USD on their main page too, so happy shopping!

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Julep Maven - March "It Girl"

So, it's a new month, and that means a new Julep box!  This month they included a polish that was intended to be layered over the other polish in the box (or polishes if you got the It Girl / Polish Lover box).  The three girls below, from top to bottom are Charlotte, Melissa (the layery polish), and Jodie.  I already had Jodie, so I gave it to my erstwhile roommate.







Melissa's a bit more opalescent than you can see in these, and has a bit of different shimmer to it.

 As you can see, Jodie's already got loads of shine in it.  Charlotte is more of a creme.


I don't know if I like Jodie more with Melissa on top.  Charlotte's pretty on its own, and always will be no matter what's on top.  All in all, I don't know how much I'll use Melissa.  I'm kind of meh about this box, except for Charlotte.  Her, I'll use and love and call George.