December 2014 Favorites

I have a video up on my YouTube channel talking about my favorite products for the month of December.  The video as well as links to all the items I talk about are below.

December Favorite Products:
Too Faced Chocolate Bar Palette
Cargo Blush in Bali
Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment
Eva NYC Therapy Session Hair Mask 
Native War Paints Polish in Canned Cranberries
OPI Polish in Red Fingers & Mistletoes

August Favorites

As with July I put a video up on the Makeup Miscellaneous YouTube page talking about my favorite beauty products from the month of August.

Here are links to all the products I talked about in the video:

Too Faced Natural Eyes Palette
Wet & Wild Color Icon Bronzer in Reserve Your Cabana
Elizabeth Mott Tints & Sass Lip & Cheek Stain in Cherry
Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Peach Parfait
Loreal Colour Riche Lipstick in Julianne's Nude
It Cosmetics Lab Sample Vitality Lip Flush Butter Gloss in News Anchor Blue
Real Techniques Contour Brush (From their Core Collection)
Real Techniques Detailer Brush (From their Core Collection)
Benjabelle Sunflower Brush Tree
Badger Cuticle Care Soothing Shea Butter

Allure Sample Society - August 2014

In July's Beauty Box 5 post I had mentioned that I was going to upgrade my subscription to a quarterly subscription and commit to at least 3 more months.  However, before I did so I kept hearing more on Makeup Talk about the Allure Sample Society Box subscription and how it was improving.  I decided to give it a try this month in addition to BB5 and Ipsy, and then choose one subscription to cancel at the end of the month.

Allure Sample Society is a monthly subscription service that costs $15 and includes 5 deluxe sample sized products that typically seem to be high end products rather than drugstore.  The boxes all ship on the 5th and unlike BB5 and Ipsy they are shipped UPS, so the shipping process is much faster.  I'm not sure how many spoilers they release, but for August I had heard about 2 of the 5 products I was receiving and the rest were a surprise for me.  Currently all subscribers receive the same box, with the exception of color variations.  As with BB5 and Ipsy last month I unboxed this subscription on my Makeup Miscellaneous YouTube Channel and I've also embedded the video at the end of this post.

The first item in my box was a sample of Too Faced Melted Liquified Long Wear Lipstick in Peony.  I've seen a lot about these lipsticks lately so I was excited to try it out and also glad that it came in Peony since that's the color I would have most likely chosen myself.  The lipstick squeezes out of the tube onto a felt applicator and applies much like a gloss but it is very pigmented.  I do think it's a little too pink on its own for my skin tone but I should be able to make it work when paired with lip gloss.  This 5ml sample is worth approximately $8.87.

Next was the Oribe Travel Size Surfcomber Mousse.  I used to use mousse on my hair all the time before I blow dried it but haven't done so lately so I'm interested to try this out and see how it compares to my usual routine of It's a 10 Miracle Leave-In Treatment.  Oribe sells either a 5.7 oz or 2.2 oz size of this mousse so I'm not sure why they shipped a 2.5 oz size of this instead of the 2.2, but for value I'm going to go with the $21.50 for the 2.2 ounce size since it's so close to what I received.

The third item in my box was the Kate Somerville Dilo Oil.  I had never heard of this product before but I have tried a couple of small foil packet Kate Sommerville samples that I got for free and they were nice products.  As for face oils I've only ever tried the Garnier cleansing oil which I didn't like, but since this is a moisturizer it might perform differently.  I'm still skeptical of how it will work for me since I have combination oily skin, but I'll give it a try.  This 3ml sample is worth $6.50.

Fourth was the Jane Iredale Longest Lash Mascara in Black Ice.  A black mascara sample isn't very exciting for me but this mascara is different than others I've tried because it has tiny fibers that are supposed to help both lengthen and volumize.  I am interested to see how well this works and whether or not the fibers stay put.  It's also a pricey mascara at $33 for the full size which gives the 3 gram sample size I received a value of $8.25.

Finally in my box I received a Ciate Mini Paint Pot nail polish in Cha Cha Cha.  I've heard of Ciate before but don't have any of their polishes and I'm always excited to get nail polishes in my subscription boxes.  Cha Cha Cha is a neon orange polish but when I first opened it it came across more pink in the bottle to me.  Once swatched it does look orange, though I think maybe a neon orange-coral would be good description for this polish.  It went on pretty thin on the swatch stick so I think this may be a three coat polish, and as with most neons I'm guessing it would benefit from a coat of white polish as a base.  This 5ml Ciate mini is worth $5.55.

Overall I'm pretty happy with this months Allure Sample Society Box.  It's fun to receive high end products to try, and while I might be less likely to repurchase them, its also nice that if I do discover something I really like that I'll have tried it first before pulling the trigger on a high price item.  August's box had a total estimated value of $50.67.  I am going to continue to subscribe to Sample Society and in September's YouTube unboxing video I will give a more complete review of this months products.  My August unboxing video is embedded below.

Pop Sugar Must Have - April 2014

So this is probably going to be my one and only post about this subscription service because I purchased it for one specific reason this month.  Pop Sugar Must Have is a monthly subscription that isn't specifically a beauty subscription but does often seem to include a beauty item.  This months beauty selection was awesome, which is why it deserves a post here.  The website describes the service as delivering "Hand-selected items in beauty, fashion, home, fitness, and food"  I believe Popsugar Must Have sends out only full sized items.

I've seen unboxings of this subscription on blogs and YouTube vlogs and while it often has cute stuff, at $39.95/month it is too pricey for me to spend on something that includes surprise items I may or may not use.  That said, for April they released a sneak peak that made me sure the box would be well worth the price.  I've been looking for a neutral eye palette and they leaked that April's box would include the Too Faced Natural Eyes palette!  I was also able to find a $5 off coupon code so I got box for $34.95 with free shipping.  The Too Faced palette alone is $36 so it's like I was buying the palette at a slight discount and getting 5 other bonus items.  Signing up for April did automatically sign me up for a monthly subscription, but after my April box shipped it was very easy to cancel online under the "My Account" settings.

The Too Faced Natural Eyes Palette (Retail Value $36) that came with the box is the newly released update that includes 3 new shades.  The packaging also changed from a cardboard box with the old palette to a nice sturdy tin.  I'll do a full review of this palette at some point soon once I've worn it a little more, but for now here's a couple of pictures of the palette itself.

The Blue Avocado Eco Shopper (Retail Value $25) is a cute and very convenient collapsible totebag.  I will definitely be using this and I'm glad it was included in the box, though I don't see myself paying full price for a second one.

The Graphic Image Pocket Notebook (Retail Value $20) is cute but not something I have much use for, I use my iPhone for most notes and reminders, and only use notepads for shopping lists, and for that I prefer the magnetic notepads that I can put on the fridge.

The Fresh Pastry Stand Totally Awesome Tea Towel Set (Retail Value $18) included 2 nice quality tea towels but they are not ones that I would display since they don't match my kitchen decor.  However I do have someone in mind who I think will really like these, so I will be passing them on to that person soon. 

The Caldera Rosewater Driftwood Hand Soap (Retail Value $10.50) is nice and has a pleasant mild scent.  I typically buy unscented hand soap, but I'll use this in the guest bath.

The Naturebox Popsugar Exclusive Must Have Mix (Retail Value $5) has soy in it, which I can't eat unfortunately, but I'm sure my husband will enjoy this.

Overall this was a fun treat this month (especially since it came just a few days before my birthday), but aside from the Too Faced Eye Palette I wasn't overly excited about the items.  The box did have a total retail value of $114.50 so it was well worth the price of $34.95 that I paid since I was considering purchasing the Too Faced Palette on its own.  I might get this box once a year or so, especially if I see a good spoiler, but I don't plan on getting it regularly.  There are a lot of bloggers & vloggers who do though, so if you're interested in seeing other months unboxings Google will definitely help you out.  I think Popsugar only releases spoilers some of the time, so some months it's a complete surprise.  If you want to go ahead and sign up you can do so here and use the code REFER5 to get $5 off your first months box.  That's a referral link but if you prefer not to use those you can sign up simply by going to musthave.popsugar.com.