Venus Embrace Razor

So my baby girl is now a month old and slowly I am getting back to things such as posts.  

A while back I received a box from Influester to review a new product from Gillette. Gillette now has a product available called the Venus Embrace Razor, which the company has deemed perfect for the "on-the-go" woman.

 I have to hand it to Gillette, this razor is compact and ready to go anywhere. Here is a size comparison of the razor next to a quarter. 

   

As far as performance this item does live up to its claims. The item advertises that it can be used on the go and and is perfect for those spontaneous moments and/or the "I missed some hair situations", all you have to do is wet the razor and you are good to go. I was a little skeptical of this, but after trying the product, it works as it says. 

Overall I would recommend this razor for travel, in a purse, or to take to the gym. It is compact and works on-the-go. 

Wet N Wild Balm Stains Swatches

Okay, as promised here are the Balm Stain swatches. I actually did these swatches back in February but am just now getting them up...sorry!

Nudist Colony: An almost concealer colored tan/nude. 

  Pinky Promise: Shimmery/frosty light pink

A Stiff Pink: A bright cool tone pink. This one is pretty build-able and can be made rather bright.

Rico Mauve: A pinkish mauve. For me this is a "my lip but better color".

Red-dy or Not: A classic bight red

Lady and the Vamp: A lighter wine color. This one come out a lot lighter than it looks in the tube (at least on my lips)

Overall I really like these. My least favorites are Pinky Promise and Nudist Colony. I feel that Nudist Colony washes me out and Pinky Promise is too frosty for my liking. My Faves are probably Rico Mauve and Lady and the Vamp.

Influenster: The Annie's Homegrown Real Food Program Product Review

I was contacted by Influenster about trying a food product. I took a quiz and found out that I qualified for this trial offer. Influenster ended up sending me a coupon for a FREE family sized entree from Annie's Homegrown as part of their #RealFoodTastesBetter campaign. After consulting my family, we decided on the Annie's Family Sized Frozen Lasagna with Meat Sauce.

Here is what I got after redeeming our coupon at Target.

Review: I really liked that this product contained 100% real cheese, organic ingredients, and the pasta contains whole grains. It was nice to see so many healthy ingredients, particularly in an easy to make meal. Preparation was simple. The product just went in the oven for 65 minutes.

We also really liked the taste of this product. The noodles cooked perfectly and there seemed to be quite a bit of cheese. The only thing that could have made this meal more enjoyable would have been the addition of more sauce. As you can see from the picture above, sauce was a little sparse for this product.

All in all it was a good experience and I will probably try another product in the line in the near future. 

Thanks again Influenster and Annie's. 

Influenster is an exclusive community for people to share news, products, and reviews with the opportunity to be rewarded by brands. If you like writing reviews and would like to join this community please leave me a comment with your email and I can send you an invite.

For more information about Influenster or Annie's you can follow them on Facebook @Influenster & @AnniesHomegrown

Talk Nerdy to Me...Super Nails Glitter Polish

So about a month ago I participated in and won a blog giveaway from Burning Moon. I saw that she was doing a giveaway on some cool indie glitter polish and had to sign up. My prize was 5 mini polishes from Super Nails. Super Nails, created by KC Mikses makes some pretty awesome glitter polish mostly inspired by comics, holidays, and food. As a bonus, her polish is also 5 Free! As a prego mamma staying away from those harmful chemicals is very important to me.

Here is my prize pack: The Batman and Villains Mini 5-Pack. All glitters are in a clear base. 

Batman: Black micro dot glitter with large black and yellow hexes.

Shown over Rimmel Sunny Days and on a bare nail

Robin: Mostly red and green hex glitters with some yellow hex glitters and some large black circles (not shown in swatches). 

Shown over Rimmel Sunny Days and on a bare nail

The Joker: Purple and green hexes and squares with a few white circles.

Shown over Zoya Trixie and on a bare nail

Poison Ivy: Micro holographic green glitter with medium sized red hexes and some large green hexes.

Shown over China Glaze Pelican Gray and on a bare nail

Harley Quinn: Red and black micro glitters with red and black diamonds

Shown over Zoya Trixie and on a bare nail

All of these polishes were easy to apply and had a great formula. I had no issues with glitter curling or sticking up. Glitters are pretty dense and did not require much fishing (some larger glitters may require some extra effort, i.e. the black circles in Robin).

Overall I really liked these glitters and will definitely be checking out the site for more glitters in the future. My favorites are Harley Quinn and Robin.  

If you would like to get your hands on any of these polishes or any others from Super Nails her shop can be found here. This pack retails at the Super Nails Etsy Shop for $17.95 or if you like a particular polish the minis run about $3.99 each or you can get a full sized bottle for $7.99

Zoya Magical Pixie Dust in Cosmo: Follow Up

With my last post on Monday, you may think it's too early for a follow up, but I will get to that.

So I first graced my nails with Zoya's Cosmo on Saturday, posted on Monday and it was off my nails by Tuesday evening (2/25). Here is why... 

Chipping and flaking started to occur Tuesday morning (after about 3 full days of wear). Chips were pretty sizable. (See pointer finger. It has chips on both sides).

With the added texture of the Magical Pixies these chips drove me bananas! I kept picking at the chips which resulted in half covered nails by midday Tuesday.

Here is what Cosmo looked like on Day 1 again

All in all I think I will use this Magical pixie as more of an accent nail, if I grab for it much at all. The texture was a bit much for me (and usually I LOVE texture polishes). I also didn't like that the polish looked a little spotty in the sunlight. I feel sort of let down by this polish. Zoya's original pixie polishes were the reason I went crazy for Zoya, but these kind of missed the mark for me. I feel like Cosmo did not last as long and I almost wish you could buy the colors of these magical polishes and just add hex holo glitters as a top coat.

I used this polish according to the directions for this review. On bare nails with no top coat. I may try it again with a base color and a top coat to see if I like it any better.

Score:

Formula: 3 out of 5. 

Seemed a bit thicker than most Pixie Dust polishes by Zoya, but I feel that it was still pretty easy to work with for a glitter polish

Texture: 1 out of 5.

While this polish was gorgeous in some light settings, in others you just saw the grittiness of the polish. The medium hex glitters added more texture than I liked and made me too aware that it was on my nails.

Longevity: 2 out of 5.

I felt like I didn't get close to a week with this polish, which is basically the norm for me with the original Pixie Dust polishes. This polish seemed to chip faster and made much larger chips than I am used to from this brand.

Overall: 2 out of 5.

Zoya Cosmo, and probably the whole Magical Pixie Dust line is one of those polish lines that people will either love or hate. For me, as a stand alone polish, it is just not my cup of tea. Maybe I will like it more with a layer or two of top coat, but as is it is not my favorite Zoya polish by a long shot.

Zoya Magical Pixie Dust in Cosmo: Day 1

So I received a bottle of Zoya Magical Pixie Dust in Cosmo after providing a clue for their Tune Tuesday promo on Twitter. For more info on this promotion go to this website: http://tunetuesdays.com/ 

It is SO much fun and they play almost every week. 

To provide a clue all you need to do is have a song or artist in mind who shares a name with a Zoya color and then tag @ZoyaNailPolish and use the hashtag #TuneTuesClues when tweeting your clue. 

If your clue is chosen you WIN a Zoya color of your choice! If you win a round during the guessing of the clues on #TuneTues you win the color of the clue answer and a color of your choice.

Anyways...here is Cosmo!

Cosmo is a textured Zoya Pixie Dust shade with micro silver glitter and small & medium sized holographic hex glitters. Due to the different glitter sizes it is a whole lot grittier than past Zoya Pixie Dust collections.

Due to all the bling, my camera had a hard time focusing and capturing all the shiny holo glitters.

Here is a photo of the polish in low light. Pictures do not do this polish as much justice as seeing it in person.

Here is Cosmo with high noon sunlight. I was hoping to get a good picture of this polish's shine, but instead got a picture of just how textured this polish is. 

Here is one of the promo photos that got me all excited about this polish and had me ordering (from Zoya site)...

First Thoughts:

Well I only ordered one of the three polishes in this collection (although I thought of getting all three multiple times) because I wasn't quite sure I would like that extra texture. I have been completely on board with Zoya ever since I first tried one of their original Pixie Dust Polishes, but one of the things I liked about them was that they were sparkly but also didn't snag on anything.

To be honest...the jury is still out on this polish. I love the sparkle but am still unsure of the added texture. I feel that I could add a top coat but I am pretty sure this polish would easily eat up 3 or 4 coats and one of the best parts of Zoya's Pixies are that you don't need base or top coats and you get long wear polish.

Side note: In some ways this polish reminds me of rocks. Like a silver/holographic version of Fools Gold.

Think this...but on your nails.

Because of this extra grit, I can feel the nail polish if I run my fingers through my hair or across fabric. Also I feel like I got pretty good coverage and opacity when applying indoors, but when in direct sunlight I did not some spots that could have used a bit more coverage. I think I will actually use a base color like Finger Paints Chromatic Creation under Cosmo next time just to see how a minimal holo polish works with this one. 

Anyway, I will let you know with the follow up my final decision about this polish. 

Note: Day 1 with this polish started on 2/22/14.

BB Couture For Nails-Nail Lacquer in Snow Bunny: Follow Up

I think of all the polishes I have tested so far this one had the worst performance. Although I love the color, and it looked fantastic for about 3 days, I don't know if I will go running out for more from this brand.

Here is a reminder of what this polish looked like on Day 1.

Color was great, coverage in 2 coats, pretty good formula.

Around the end of day three, beginning of day four I started noticing issues. While the didn't chip right away I could see lines (almost crack like) in the polish. I tried time and time again to get a photo of this but pretty much failed. Basically up close I didn't have that nice smooth creme finish I was hoping for. As the week progressed chips started to occur more where the lines were and there was visible wear and lifting near the cuticles.

Here is a look at Day 7...

On the positive side, there was no peeling. I have rather oily nail beds and sometimes that is an issue for me. So would I recommend this polish? I am leaning more to the no side. At least for this particular creme. Maybe a glitter polish from this brand would perform better. 

With a price tag of $10.95 per polish  (http://www.bbnailpolish.com/) and claims of being a polish that stands alone with no base coat or top coat required, I feel that many cheaper polishes perform as well or better. 

Score:

I guess I should probably start scoring these polishes.

Formula: 3 out of 5

(slightly streaky on first coat but nice thickness)

Longevity/Wear: 2 out of 5

(really didn't like the lines that happened) 

Overall: 2.5 out of 5

Nail Polish Giveaway

Beauty Fiends is giving away 3 of the new Revlon Parfumerie Nail Polishes! Colors being raffled off are Moonlit Walk, Wild Violets, and Powder Puff.

Enter to win from www.beautyfiends.net

Good Luck Everyone! 

BB Couture For Nails-Nail Lacquer in Snow Bunny: Day 1

As stated earlier today, I recently won a giveaway from The Beauty Clutch. Having some brand new polish I decided to use one of them for this weeks longevity review. This week's polish is BB Couture for Nails in Snow Bunny. Snow Bunny is a light pink creme polish and is from BB's Pastel Bunnies line. 

Snow Bunny Without Flash

Snow Bunny With Flash

This polish claims to have a 4 in 1 formula. The bottle states that it is a base coat, top coat, nail color, and nail strengthener all in one bottle. For this reason I used Snow Bunny on bare nails to get a true test of this polish.

Application: I liked the formula of this polish. It was not too thick or too thin. The first coat was a little streaky, but evened out by the second coat. I also only applied two coats as detailed on the bottles instructions. 

This polish and the photos were taken on Day 1 which was this last Sunday (2/16). Will follow up on this polish later in the week.

In My Mailbox: Spotlight on The Beauty Clutch Shop

The Beauty Clutch is an online shop the offers nail polish, nail treatments, spa bath & body products, hand & foot care, and accessories. From browsing the site, they seem to have quite a few high quality brands at pretty good prices. They also at times carry hard to find nail polish colors that have been discontinued.

I came across The Beauty Clutch while browsing Twitter. At the time, they had a giveaway going for their 1000th like on Facebook. I happened to be one of the lucky winners! Here is what I got in my mailbox from them a few days ago.

The giveaway prize was two glitter top coats from Verity and a creme color of my choice.

Shades left to right: Verity SE38 Royal Glitters, BB Couture in Snow Bunny (a light pink creme), & Verity SE35 Valentine 

 Close Ups of the Glitters

Royal Glitters includes micro silver glitter, small round red glitter, holographic bar glitter and white pearlized square glitter in a clear base. 

Valentine includes small holographic square glitter, small round red glitter, and pink hearts in a clear base  

  

Packaging from the company was very good as you can see. Polishes were wrapped in bubble wrap and then packed with peanuts to ensure safe arrival. 

I had a great experience with this company and would totally recommend them. If you would like more information from The Beauty Clutch or would like to order, you can visit their site here or check them out on Facebook.

Ipsy and Birchbox Comparison

This is just a quick comparison of my beauty box subscriptions for the month of February. Hope you enjoy! 

February 2014 Ipsy Glam Bag

Thoughts-- (for details about the products please see my Ipsy Unboxing post here.)

The Negatives: In the four months I have received Ipsy this was probably my lowest valued bag and had the most items I was not that thrilled about. The shades chosen for me where not what I would have picked. The blush and the lip gloss seemed too bright and I don't wear false lashes. In all, I ended up swapping two products (blush and lashes) with other make-up lovers this month to get two items I would enjoy more. 

The Positives: This bag had one of my all time favorite brands in it! I love Zoya nail polish and it was so great to get a full sized product from them. Also, I did actually try the lip gloss and it is a great color pink, not too bright at all. It has an unpleasant smell when first applied (almost plastic-y) but that fades away pretty quickly, so I guess my review of that product is more mixed than positive. I also really liked the bag and am excited to try the mask. All products in the bag were a good sample size or full sized. 

February 2014 US Weekly Birchbox

Thoughts-- (for details about the products please see my Birchbox Unboxing Post here.)

Negatives: Sample sizes. When I looked at my box it was hard not to notice that there really wasn't  much in there. I have pretty small hands and I can fit all 4 beauty products in the palm of my hand. To give you an idea, the nail polish is about the same height as a quarter. Product price for full size. It is nice to try more expensive products, but it is really not in my beauty budget to purchase them. In this box I received a serum that retails for $75 for the full size and the full size is only 1 oz! The "lifestyle extra". While I love the teas they sent me, I would rather have another skincare/hair care/make-up item instead of a "lifestyle extra". It almost seems like the "extra" is there to make the box appear more full. The fact that this counts as one of the premium samples did not slip past me. 

Positives: Birchbox does appear to have "higher end" samples than most found in Ipsy. While it is nice to try them, even if I loved the product there is a VERY slim chance that I would ever go out and buy them (see above in negatives). This box does seem to give a bigger variety of products I just don't know if it is right for me. 

Breakdown

Cost for both Ipsy and Birchbox is $10 per month

Value of Feb. Ipsy: $30.50

Value of Feb Birchbox: $18.71

 (or $28.66 if I include the US Weekly Magazine Subscription that they are including this month)

So what do I think is the better value? Personally, I would have to go with Ipsy. Although the products are not as "high end" as Birchbox, I get big enough samples in my bag to give the product a good try. Even their smaller samples seem bigger than the average size of the Birchbox samples I received. Also, because the product sizes are so small in Birchbox the value of the box tends to be lower than Ipsy even if the products are more expensive in full size. The value of the box goes up a bit when I add the "bonus" of the magazine, but this is not typical of Birchbox and I honestly will probably opt out of the magazine since I normally don't read them. I probably will also not keep Birchbox much longer because it is not my cup of tea. It was worth a try though!

Links...Just in Case

If you would like to join me on Ipsy and subscribe to the Glam Bag please use my link here. 

If you would like to try Birchbox and subscribe please use my link here. 

With both companies you get 4-5 beauty products every month delivered to your door, for just $10. Pick one or both, up to you!

February 2014 Birchbox Unboxing

Birchbox February 2014 Unboxing

Birchbox is a monthly beauty subscription service. Every month the company will send subscribers 4-5 beauty, grooming, and lifestyle samples of up and coming and/or well known brands. The cost? $10/month for the women's box. Birchbox also makes men's boxes for $20/month. This unboxing is for the women's subscription.

This month Birchbox collaborated with US Weekly. New subscribers received 100 Birchbox points (to use in their shop for products), the subscription box and 12 weeks of US Weekly (a $9.95 value). 

The box out of the shipping label.

First Look

Box Theme: Step and Repeat. This box was geared toward the red carpet season.

Sample Sized, Beauty Protector Protect & Oil: Full Size $25.95 (Approx Sample Value $2)

This hair oil works to defend hair against UV rays, heat, and breakage.

Sample Sized Skin&Co Roma Truffle Therapy Serum: Full Size $75 (Approx Sample Value $12.50)

Helps to smooth wrinkles and restore dull, parched skin.

Sample of Harvey Prince fragrance in Hello: Full Size $55 (Approx Sample Value $1)

Top Notes: Meyer Lemon, Mandarin, and Grapefruit

Mid Notes: Forsythia

Dry Notes: Plumeria, Verbena, Tahitian Vanilla, and Musk

OPI Sheet Tints in Don't Violet Me Down: Full Size $9 (Approx Sample Value $2.25)

This is a tinted top coat and will give nails a wash of high shine. Will also add a layer of translucent color.

Lifestyle Extra Sample

Harney & Sons Fine Teas in White Vanilla Grapefruit and Paris (1 Each): Full Size $9.60 (Approx Sample Value $.96)

Links to full sized products at the Birchbox shop are provided on the full size value of each product on this post. 

Total Box Value: $18.71

If you would like to join me on Birchbox and subscribe please use my link here. You get 4-5 beauty products every month delivered to your door, for just $10. 

February 2014 Ipsy Unboxing!

February 2014 Ipsy!

Ipsy is a monthly beauty and makeup subscription box. Every month they send subscribers 4-5 beauty products (mainly with deluxe samples and full sized products) and a makeup bag for $10 a month. This is my 4th bag and so far I have really enjoyed the service.

This month Ipsy kept with the Valentine Theme and chose "The Look of Love" to build a glam bag around. This bag was geared more toward make up than skin/hair care, which is what I prefer. The bag was pretty cute, featuring an almost canvas like exterior with a pink leopard silky lining.

 To be honest I was kind of iffy about this bag when I saw what I was getting. Some products I knew I wouldn't use, but here is what I got...

City Color Be Matte Blush (full size) in Fresh Melon (Retail: $2.99)

This blush looks a little more subtle on camera than in real life. It has a real orange-y shade to it and looked like it would be quite bright. I ended up swapping this item so I did not swatch or test it.

Skyn ICELAND Fresh Start Mask with Ice Age Mud (sample) 1 Mask Set (Full Size Retail: $39.00 for 6 Mask Sets, Approx. Value $6.50)  

Pop Beauty Plump Pout (sample) .15oz in Fuchsia Freesia (Full Size Retail: $16 for .3oz, Approx Value: $8). 

I actually was really excited to try this. I am WAY into lip products lately, but as I write this, this gloss is still in it's plastic packaging. I am under the weather right now and want to wait until I recover to try it. It looks really bright but since it is a gloss I will get back to you on how pigmented it is.

J. Cat Beauty Eyelashes & Eyelash Glue in style EL 747L (Retail Value: $3.99)

This is the other product in my bag that I will not be using. I never use false lashes. I am swapping it for something more my style.

Zoya Nail Polish (full size) in Odette from the new Zoya Natural (Retail: $9)

Zoya describes this nail polish as a full coverage, sultry orchid maroon cream. I have to say, I never wear purple polish but I liked this color. I swatched it on my thumb (above) and that was only one coat! It has great coverage!

Total Glam Bag Value: $30.50

If you would like to join me on Ipsy and subscribe to the Glam Bag please use my link here. You get 4-5 beauty products every month delivered to your door, for just $10.