BzzAgent Paula's Choice CLEAR Acne Kit

Hello!

I'm sure most of you are familiar with testing panel websites like Influenster and BzzAgent, if not, they are basically websites that you sign up to, fill out some surveys to get your score high and connect your social media accounts, and then they send you products to try and review! Pretty cool, right?

I had signed up to Influenster back in October (2013) but hadn't really committed to doing much. Recently, though, I have been trying to really keep up with my profile and since I connected my blog, I have been getting invites to take pre-qualification surveys. Pre-quals just ask about your demographics and try to see if you are a fit to who they are trying to market the product to. For instance, a week or two ago I took a pre-qual survey for a shaving campaign, though I disqualified out from the type of razor I use (though it wasn't totally accurate. Just because I'm a woman, doesn't mean I only use women's razors!).

Recently though, I joined BzzAgent! I figured the more test panel websites I sign up to, the more free stuff I get to sample. And I was right! Because after I finished filling out ALL of the survey's and got my "buzz score" high enough, I got an invitation to a Paula's Choice Skincare campaign!

From BzzAgent's website,

"ACNE, YOU’RE CLEARED FOR TAKEOFF

Part of loving the skin you’re in is being conscious of what you put on it. Paula Begoun overcame her battle with acne by making sense of which ingredients truly helped or hurt her skin, and today, she’s the author of 20 best-selling books on the topic. Since deciding to use her decades of research to create the Paula’s Choice line in 1995, thousands have turned to her smarter skin care solutions when nothing else worked"

I have been using the product line for a few weeks now and I am so impressed! My skin showed great improvement almost immediately. It looks brighter and feels so smooth. Plus its super gentle on my sensitive skin! The trial is for 2 weeks and I will post my after skin shot at the end with my full review!

Birchbox May 2014!

Hey guys!

Sorry it's been so long since my last post. I was waiting to get my may Birchbox and because of some shipping complications they were having this month, I got it a little later than usual. I finally got it though and had a chance to test all of the products and snap some pictures.

I'm sure most of you have heard of Birchbox or other sampling brands (like Ipsy, Glossybox, etc) and if not, simply they are a monthly (though you can gift 3, 6, or 12 month subscriptions to yourself or others) subscription box that gives you 3-7 samples of beauty and lifestyle products for only $10! Birchbox is amazing because they have a points system, which you receive points for every $1 spent on their website and 10 points for every product that came in that month's box you review. 100 points is equal to $10 to spend in the Birchbox shop! Plus, they have a womens AND mens box!

They sample both drugstore and higher end brand products and the samples vary in size. You fill out a profile which says what kind of skin and hair you have, if you prefer make up, hair or fragrance samples and anything else to try to personalize your box. They're are usually 40+ different box combinations and though they may not always match your needs exactly, its fun to play with things you may not have considered before!

This month Birchbox teamed up with Kate Spade Saturday and you had the option to "add on" a Kate Spade mirrored necklace to your box for an extra $20. They also sent everybody a one time $15 off of a $75 purchase in the Kate Spade Saturday store!

This month I got a 5 item box which equals 50 points from reviews! I am really happy with this box because I LOVE Beauty Protector products and I got a make up sample (looks to be close to full sized too!). The Beauty Protector smelled like their classic scent, which is absolutely AMAZING. I can't even describe what it smells like... just awesome. The shampoo was a tad more fragrant than the conditioner though. As for how they worked in my hair, meh. Don't get me wrong, they made my hair clean and smelled good and everything but they didn't give me the silky smoothness I was expecting. I was a bit disappointed because these were NOTHING like the Beauty Protector Protect and Detangle (so amazing! its a leave in conditioner plus a heat protectant and leaves your hair soft and gorgeous and smelling AMAZINGGG). Over all I wouldn't purchase the shampoo and conditioner but would (and plan to) invest in the detangler.

The Cotz Natural Skin tone SPF surprised me. I am not a fan of sun blocks and especially "fancy" ones. This one came out of the tube a dark brown and I did not think it was going to match my skin. When I rubbed it in it completely blended to match my skin and evened my skin and made it SO silky soft! It's not something I'd wear every day (since its SPF 40), but I would absolutely wear it to a beach or park wear I don't want to really wear make up but still want to look good.

I was excited about the PIXI as well, though I am not a fan of the color. I am not sure I really like coral's on me that are this bright but it's not horrible. It smells super pleasant and is sooo silky on my lips. It has really good lasting power, too! I love this product just wish it was a different color!

I am so happy that I got a lifestyle product this month! I LOVE candles even though I rarely buy them and this one is SO fragrant, I could smell it before I even opened the box. The First Blush scent is described as "fresh poppies over white musk" and its AMAZING. Unfortunately, as fragrant as the candle is by itself, when I lit it, I could barely smell it.















*****If you're interested in joining Birchbox, the link is in my sidebar! Also, I am not receiving any incentives for my review. It is my 100% honest opinion.

FOTD- 5/3/2014

I didn't think I would be doing this, but I may start posting random looks I do? No tutorials or anything (because let's be real, I have no idea what I'm doing), but just fun looks I decided to try!

To commemorate spring and this amazing weather we've been having, today's look features a little pop of color!

Face: Physician's Formula BB Cream, Maybelline FitMe powder.

Eyes: NYX Jumbo eye pencil in Milk, Lorac Pro Palette (Lt. Bronze and Sable), BH Cosmetics 150 Eye Shadow Palette (a blue shade, not sure the exact palette or the color), e.l.f's brightening eyeliner in black and Benefits They're Real mascara.

Brows: e.l.f eyebrow duo in Medium


Just a simple, quick look with browns and blue. Also, please excuse my crazy brows, they're over due for a grooming and I lost my tweezers for a bit lol.

e.l.f Haul

Hi Guys!

A little while ago I had a little e.l.f shopping spree that I was really excited about because of a promo they had going on at the time. I took picture of the things I received but didn't have a blog or anything created yet to share, so I decided to do it now!

So if you're not familiar with the brand e.l.f (stands for eyes lips face), it is a extremely inexpensive make up brand that sells everything from make up, make up brushes/tools, and now they even have a subscription plan! In their own words,

 "e.l.f. cosmetics is the premier retail source for all your makeup and beauty needs. Our products offer affordable and high quality design to enhance your natural radiance. We offer an entire line of luscious lip glosses, with various shades and styles to choose from, as well as intensive hydrating lipstick for long-lasting color and shine. Our natural mineral makeup will help you on your way to healthier glowing skin, without parabens, preservatives or chemical dyes".

So the promo they had going on which motivated me to purchase some more products was if you bought $20 worth of product, you would receive a free bundle worth $25 of popular product. This is the perfect kind of deal for me because not only can I stock up on essentials, but I can try the "popular" items that maybe I normally wouldn't have bought.

The items I purchased were:

Moisturizing Foundation Stick: $6
Clear Lash and Brow Mascara: $1
Concealer Brush: $3
Pressed Mineral Blush in Cabo Cabana: $5
Eye Refresh: $3
Cream Eyeliner in Metallic Olive: $3
total: $21.00

Items in free bundle:
32-Piece Geometric Eye shadow Palette 2nd edition: regularly $12 (on sale for $6 right now)
Make up Mist & Set: $3
Jumbo Lip Gloss Stick in Summer Nights: $2
Super Glossy Lip Shine in Pink Kiss: $1
Brightening Eye Liner Pencil in Black: $1
Nail Polish in Lilac: $2
Mineral Blush in Peach (I think): $5
Blush Brush: $3
total: $30!!!

Overall it was a pretty awesome purchase! I'm glad I got to try out some products I wouldn't have normally tried. Some were a hit, some a miss, and some were "eh".



Hit list (not how it sounds... lol!):
Concealer brush, pressed mineral blush,  make up mist & set, Jumbo lip gloss stick, Brightening eye liner pencil, and the blush brush.

The brushes surprised me and were better quality than expected. I think it's because they were from the studio collection, because the one I got before from the essential collection was awful quality. The brightening eyeliner pencil doesn't seem like anything special, but it lasts a pretty long amount of time and applied easily. The pressed mineral blush is a really pretty pink with gold flecks, which reminds me of CARGO water resistant blush in Los Cabos and NARS' Orgasm. It was also really blend-able and the color pay off was nice, too.

The make up mist & set was a product I had already tried and loved, so I was happy to receive it in the surprise bundle. Its great for spraying after make up application to set it (obviously) and to help any cakiness. The jumbo lip gloss is also a pretty pink/peach with gold flecks. It applies so smoothly and is super pigmented. It does have a little too many sparkles in it for my taste, but not enough to keep me from wearing it and it wasn't sticky at all!

"eh" products:

Products I don't necessarily hate, but one's that didn't impress me that much either. The first is the cream eye liner in metallic olive. It is a really pretty color and the formula is very creamy but it wipes off way too easily and the brush that came with it didn't apply well.

Another on the "eh" list is the Eye Refresh. It is supposed to "brighten and refresh the eye area to help alleviate under eye puffiness and dark circles". Well, to me it feels like a light gel you roll under your eye and then dries. I don't have a lot of trouble with puffiness or dark circles, but I figured it could help with brightening. It didn't exactly seem to work, but from the reviews people said that putting it in the refrigerator helps a lot. but who wants to do that? Not me. I'd forget about it most of the time lol. The mineral blush (loose powder) is okay, but the color I got doesn't give off a whole lot of color payoff. I could barely see it on my skin, and I'm pretty pale. The eye shadow palette feels the same. The color payoff is just not there and they just don't blend all that great. The darker and more colorful colors showed up nicely, its just the lighter colors that don't do much.

The lash and brow mascara are another product that just doesn't do much for me. For the lash part, it says to apply OVER mascara and that did absolutely nothing and neither did applying under it. If anything it made it harder to apply the actual mascara. For the brow part, it was okay but it kind of felt hard,though it did keep my brows in place. Definitely not my favorite brow gel. Lastly, the nail polish. I love purple but I'm not totally a fan of this purple. It applied super streaky and it chipped within hours of applying it even with a good top coat.

My hate list:
The foundation stick was pretty bad. It was an unnatural color and didn't blend well into my skin. It melted into my creases and seemed to enhance my larger pores instead of masking them. Not a fan AT ALL. The other product I hate is the Super Glossy Lip Shine. It was so sticky that I had to immediately wipe it off. The color was okay and it smelled nice, so that is pretty much it's only saving grace.

So out of all the products I got, I'm happy with most of them! Plus most of them were free so I am absolutely not upset with some of the "miss'" that came.

(in this pic I used all of elf's products. The foundation stick, eye shadow, blush, and jumbo lipgloss stick. Eye brows were also from the elf eyebrow kit which I actually like better than Benefit's Brow Zings)

Favorites!

Hi Guys!

I wanted to begin by first showing you guys my current favorite beauty products and my general beauty routine. Unfortunately, I completely forgot to snap pics of my skincare products, but I will just list the products I use instead.

First off, I use my Clarisonic to clean my face. I use either the face wash that came with it or Acne brand face wash for sensitive skin. I apply moisturizer (I swear by St. Ives Timeless Skin) and let it sit for a few minutes, usually when I do my hair, and after a face primer (currently obsessed with Dr. Brandt pores no more pore refiner (I love it more than Benefit's Porefessional!). Next I apply my concealer and use Revlon's Photoready Concealer and/or Benefit's Boing Concealer. 

For my foundation, I either use Revlon Colorstay for days where I want heavy coverage or Physicians Formula Super BB Cream for lighter, more natural days. Next I apply my powder and use Maybelline Fit Me Pressed Powder to set my concealer and foundation. Then I fill in my brows with either e.l.f's Eyebrow Kit or Benefit's Brow Zings. I then prime my eyes with NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk or Lorac Behind The Scenes Eye Primer and do whatever to my eyes. Usually using my Lorac Pro Palette and simple eyeliner. I finish off using Benefit They're Real Mascara, e.l.f Blush in Pink Passion, and Loreal Colour Riche Balm in Rose Elixir. 

 

Hello and Welcome!

Being my first post, I wanted to share a little about myself and what my blog is all about! I started this blog as an outlet for my passion for beauty and fashion (whew, rhyming already!).

So! First off, I'll tell you a little about myself. My name is Sarah; I'm a 21 year old mommy, wife, and make up obsessee! I live in a little suburb of Philly (Philadelphia to those not familiar) in Pennsylvania and am currently a college student (though taking a current hiatus from classes) and babysitter.

I have pretty recently taken a particular interest in updating my beauty routine and over all skill (which trust me, is not that impressive; but I'm learning!). I have always loved buying and trying make up but have only recently started really experimenting and bettering my make up routine until about a year or so ago. It really started when I was introduced to something I never knew existed, but was exactly what I needed. A subscription box! The first subscription service I joined (somewhat unknowingly, I thought I was getting the first box for 1 cent and that would be it!), was Julep. I thought it was the coolest thing to have a box of beauty items shipped directly your house! Then I started looking into other boxes and discovered a whole new world that eventually turned my whole beauty routine on its head. After looking into a few more and trying to decide what other subscription service I wanted to join, I decided on Birchbox. Let me tell you, I was not disappointed and am still subscribed to this day (Not Julep though, I, for one, can only have so many nail polish's at one time. I will post reviews later).

Discovering subscription services then motivated me to adventure into the land of blogging and I started finding beauty and fashion blogs and new websites and my online shopping addiction took a turn for the worse. But through all of this, I discovered a love and passion for beauty and fashion. I am still learning and discovering and hope you enjoy the journey with me!