Subscription Box Smackdown (November 2014)

This month's Ipsy box was a mix of hits and misses. The lip gloss by Starlooks is just ok, the travel size hair spray will be good for travelling (duh), the mini microdermabrasion face scrub will go unused, because I'm super particular with my skincare, and don't want to risk it.

 The cream eye shadow by Be A Bombshell (sidenote - what's up with the brand Be A Bombshell? It seems like they have a product in every subscription bag, just about every month. I digress....) Anyways, it's a really gorgeous, shimmery bronze, called Submissive. I'm excited to try it out and see if it stays all day!

 The real winner in this box was this teeny, tiny powerhouse! It's the full coverage concealer by It Cosmetics. The TINIEST bit goes a very long way, lasts all day and truly doesn't crease once it's set. I will be buying the full size version!

For only $10 I'm pretty happy with this box - that concealer is awesome, and I'm excited for the cream eye shadow too. If you want to give it a try, you can subscribe HERE.

This month's Boxycharm was the first I've been disappointed with. Monetarily it was a good value, but there's really not much I'll use.

There was a full-sized Mica brand (again, I only ever see this brand in subscription boxes....) eye shadow base. On the card it says it was worth $45, which seems crazy for a kind of random brand. I happily pay $20 for my Too Faced shadow insurance because I know it works incredibly well for me. But $45 for this?? Hmmmm...There was also a really pretty purple eye shadow pigment by Bella Pierre (another constant in subscription boxes), and a super bright pink blush by Ofra. Both are very pretty.

 Next up is an odd, iridescent glitter gel liner by Tarina Tarantino. Not a fan.

 And then, a color bug from Kevin Murphy. I have owned the purple, pink and orange color bugs and was stoked when Boxycharm announced that everyone was getting one. But white?! Who actually wants to add white to their hair?? Least cool color I could have possibly gotten. Womp womp.

Most Boxycharms are great, but this wasn't my favorite. If you want to give it a shot you can subscribe HERE.

 This month's Glossybox had one product in it that is my new favorite....it also had a mini sized lavender herbal bath by Kneipp (love!), a mini size green apple moisturizer by Juice Beauty, a travel size hair treatment by 12 Benefits, and a limited edition full sized pale pink nail polish by OPI.

....and then there was the blush! It's by a brand called So Susan Cosmetics, which I'd never heard of. This blush is their Universal Blush and it is obscenely gorgeous!! I instantly tore into it, and started playing. The color is kind of hard to describe - almost a mauve, with peach and pink undertones, with just enough shimmer to give you a healthy glow.

Pardon the goofy face, Leila insisted on taking a picture ;)

The blush alone makes this month's Glossybox worth every penny! You can subscribe HERE.

French Box was kind enough to send me one of their boxes to share with you guys, and I'm so grateful they did! It's a monthly subscription box ($24 a month), filled to the brim with goodies from France! It features of variety of things - gourmet treats, beauty items, things for your home and more! What struck me immediately about this box was the smell - the day it arrived my mailbox smelled heavenly! The source of the smell was some amazing little guest soaps by the brand Durance. In my box I got a set of three and the scent was Vanilla Ylang Ylang. I also got some little French candies - calissons by Couleur Calisson that even though I tried to like I didn't ;) Leila didn't either, but Coco was a huge fan! I also got a huge size of herbs de provence, which is one of my favorite cooking spices, along with a recipe sheet with some ideas of what to make with them. A mini perfume, which again smelled heavenly, a travel sized makeup remover from Caudalie (everything I've tried by Caudalie I've loved!), some green teas scented hand towels which make me feel like I've flying in first class, and an absolutely gorgeous cream eye shadow by Sothys!

The color is gorgeous (at first glance it's similar to the one from Be A Bombshell, but it's much prettier!) The application is simple - just pat on with your fingertips - and it lasts all day! I am so impressed with it!

French Box is a super fun, new company, which you can find here: SUBSCRIBE // FACEBOOK // INSTAGRAM

This month's winner????????

I loved EVERY single thing in the French Box! I'm going to give Glosybox honorable mention with their fabulous blush from So Susan too, though. What would YOU have chosen as the winner??

Any other boxes I should check out? Let me know in the comments section!

Subscription Box Smackdown (October 2014)

Hey, beauties! I'm back with another Subscription Box Smackdown! I had a lot of fun with last month's and thought I'd try to make it a monthly thing. I will give you my thoughts on the three I (currently) subscribe to, Ipsy, Glossybox and Boxycharm. Let's get started!


Ipsy is the most inexpensive of the bunch, coming in at only $10 a month. It's a mixture of drugstore and high end products, deluxe sample sizes and full sizes. Here's my October box:

The little hand cream is mango and mandarin - I'm not a huge fan of either of those smells, so I'm leaving it closed so I can give it to someone who might enjoy it. The little mascara (by Model Co ) and the Skyn Iceland cleansing cloths will be great for travel.

It also came with a cream highlighter by the brand Doll 10. It looked really pretty in the little compact, and I was excited to try it out, but was disappointed. It's super greasy and does not have a good color payout. Womp womp.

 It also came with a matte lipstick by City Color is kind of a 90's mauvey/rose shade that is really pretty, but I have someone in mind to give it to!

Overall I wasn't a fan of this box, but for ten bucks I'm not too broken up about it. If you're interested, you can subscribe HERE

Glossybox is $21 a month for a mixture of deluxe samples and full sized high end products. Here's what came in my October box:

 A hydrating mask by Sesha ($9 value), which I'm excited to try out tonight! With the weather going from hot to cold, to warm, to cold, back to hot and back to hold my skin is all over the place. It also came with a full-sized matte nail top coat by Nails Inc. ($10 value), a $40 gift certificate to Hello Fresh, a full sized UV Protecting hair spray ($12 value) by Proganix, a mini perfume by Vince Camuto, which is not my favorite smell, but is packaged beautifully, and a full sized Power Pigment (lip color) by Tarte, in the color Awakening ($24 value)  The lip color is beautiful, and I'm already wearing it! This month's box was awesome! If you want to subscribe to Glossybox you can HERE

Boxycharm is $21 a month and (I think) supposed to be all high end products (deluxe samples and full sized) but truthfully, I've never heard of a lot of the brands that come in the box. Here's what I got this month:

The "major" thing in this box was the Eclipse concealer palette by Coastal Scents ($20 value)

It's a range of 15 colors, for correcting, concealing, highlighting  and contouring. If I were still actively freelancing I'd maybe be excited about this, but it will likely go unused by me. I'm not a fan of everyday contouring (um, hello, contouring is GREAT for pictures, not for real life. This is a mistake I see so many people make. Just say no to over contouring, ladies!) It also came with a little nail polish duo ($21), a full sized collagen serum ($48 value), an eye shadow by Be A Bombshell in "halo" which is a very, very bright color that's almost between a silver and a pearly white. It also came with a gorgeous, shimmy olive green eyeliner by Starlooks ($14 value) which in my opinion was the best thing in the whole box. This month's box technically had a good value, dollar-wise, but I think the only thing I will use is the eyeliner. If you want to try out Boxycharm for yourself you can subscribe HERE.

This month's winner?? GLOSSYBOX!!

What do you think of this month's boxes?? Do you subscribe to any? If so, which ones?? I want to know!

Subscription Box Smackdown (September 2014)

Happy hump day, everyone!! Today I have a post for you that's been on my mind for a while now - a
beauty subscription box smackdown! Since subscription boxes have really become a "thing" I've subscribed to quite a few. A few months ago I decided I had way too many tiny, samples of things I'll never use* (hello random skincare!) that I unsubscribed to all but two - Ipsy and Glossybox. Ipsy has been pretty consistently good, especially for only $10 a month. They feature a lot of drugstore brands, but they often have high end brands too. For $10 a month you can't beat it. Glossybox, on the other hand is $21 a month and features high end products. When Glossybox first started in the US (I believe they've had it in Europe for a while) the boxes were consistently good - heck, amazing even! I couldn't believe all of the great stuff I was getting for only $21. Then a few months into my subscription the full sized, high end products started getting smaller. No biggie, I still felt like it was worth the $21. But the last few months the boxes have been underwhelming to say the least. Random skincare I'll never use, perfume samples I could get for free and Nordstrom, and odd lipstick and nail polish colors from brands I'd never heard of.

A few weeks ago on my Facebook page, I asked what people's favorite beauty subscription boxes were. I'd decided to quit Glossbox and go for something new. The name that popped up a few times was Boxycharm, which had also been recommended to me by my friend, and hairdresser, Lindsay, so I subscribed. (I also decided to give Glossybox one more month to redeem itself....) Here's the content of my September boxes:

This month's box was just ok, but again for only $10 I'm pretty happy with it. My favorite thing (BY FAR!) is the dual ended eye brush by Crown Brush! Crown Brush is actually kind of a hidden gem - every type of makeup brush you could think of, incredibly high quality (ie: THIS is the exact same brush as the Stila #24 brush. EXACT same!!!! Same hair, same quality. All that's missing is the label.) Seriously, next time you need makeup brushes check them out! Anyhoo, I also really like the hand cream from the brand Mitchell and Peach. The eyeliner by Pacifica looks like a pretty, metallic grey. The lipgloss is by a brand I've never heard of (Cailyn?!) and super dark/not my style. I will also not use the Nourish Organics facial cleanser. I've finally found a skincare system that works for me, and I'm sticking to it! 3 out of 5 products were winners, and two I won't use. Not bad for $10. (Also Ipsy always sends their stuff in cute, little pouches! I rarely use them, but Leila always enjoys stealing them! This month's was gunmetal grey, with silver pyramid studs.) // Ipsy - Subscribe HERE

So, even though I was going to cancel Glossybox, I decided to give it one more month to redeem itself, and boy am I glad I did!! This month's box came with a deluxe-sized sample of "They're Real" mascara by Benefit. I love this mascara, and will pop the little one into my travel makeup bag! It included a full-sized Essie nail polish, in the new shade "Madison Ave-hue" (it's a gorgeous, bright pink), firming night cream by Vichy, which I will not use (again, happy with current skincare), a Bulgari hair conditioner, which smells great, but is super random. They couldn't have sprung for a shampoo too? Weird. But the product that alone made this box worthwhile - a full sized OCC Lip Tar in the new Fall color, "Authentic". This color isn't one that I'd normally pick up for myself, because a metallic finish on my lips isn't my favorite, but I'm stoked that I have it! It's this really rich, metallic bronze copper that is just gorgeous on! The thing with the OCC Lip Tars is you only need the tiniest, tiniest bit. This stuff goes a long way, and lasts forever. I really like this color on it's own, but even though it's not dark it makes a statement. I like it when the rest of the face makeup is minimal - nude blush, lots and lots of mascara, and maybe a bit of deep brown or plum eyeliner. This box was pretty great - only one product I'll do nothing with. // Glossybox - Subscribe HERE

This is a brand new addition to my subscription box love! This one is $21 a month, like Glossybox, but features a mix of high end and drugstore products. What's cool about this one, though is everything is full-sized! Here's what I got:

First off, I have to say I liked what I saw right off the bat!! This box came with a 16-color eye shadow palette from the brand Coastal Scents, which is in the drugstore category, but actually has some great products. These eye shadows are really pretty, but work best when used with an eye shadow primer underneath (my favorites are by Too Faced and Urban Decay). It also came with a Tarina Tarantino mascara, which is really nice! I've been using it for about a week now, and it's comparable to the mascaras by Tarte and Benefit that I love. I also received a perfume called "Hello" which has a really nice scent, but fades quickly. Then a plummy grey nail polish by NCLA which is beautiful, and a full-sized lip gloss by Tarte in the shade "Tipsy"

This shade is SO pretty on it's own (a sheer, but buildable peachy/coral) and it looks incredible layered over the lip tar I got from Glossybox! That's the combo I'm wearing as I type, and it's pretty, pretty, pretty!! I've mentioned Tarte several times on my blog, and there are very few things I've tried from them that I haven't loved. This gloss is a happy addition to my Tarte collection, and such a fun thing to find in my box! // Boxycharm - Subscribe HERE

SO, of those three boxes, which was my favorite? ............the Boxycharm box! Every single product was a winner! I think I'll keep subscribing to all three ;)

*Now what about all the random products I don't love? I have a huge sliding storage bin under my bed filled with all of the things I haven't used/don't think I'll love. I pull things out to use as additions to gifts every once in a while, but whenever the box gets full I bring all of the products to a local women's shelter. Those random unwanted items seem to accumulate quickly, and I'm always happy to make a special delivery to he women's shelter!

Do you subscribe to any boxes?? Please let me know in the comments!