MyGlam vs Birchbox September 2012

Hello my lovelies!

I'm back! I'm sorry I've been away for awhile. The end of school got in the way and I've been adjusting to life post-undergrad for the last month or so. But I'm here with a brand new comparison post for you!

My Birchbox arrived yesterday, a day later than the tracking had indicated, but it did arrive safely with all its features intact.

This month's birchbox was based on a magazine issue type theme it seems, and the birchbox team came up with a fall lookbook that they included with the usual literature. Very Cute. It's sort of like advertising with tips scattered in, but the layout is easy to follow and attractive. 

In my box this month came

• An exclusive nail polish by Color Club. I received the color "Insta-THIS" which is a beautiful blue cream with a glossy finish. I painted it on last night and I love how the color is dark yet vibrant. It also matches my computer cover!
• A small sample of the Jouer Matte Moisture Tint. This sample is housed in an adorable yet TINY little tube. I'm looking forward to this sample because I generally like the matte look over a glowy one, but this doesn't look like it'll last me more than maybe three uses at most. Enough to see if I like the finish and the texture, but not really enough to see how my skin reacts to it. 
• A fragrance sample of kate spade new york's "Twirl". I have no idea why the company name is in all lower case letters, but that's how they wrote it. It's described as "A blend of fruity and floral notes, this modern classic feels joyful and carefree." I look forward to sampling it. 
• A sizable tube of Soy Body Whip in Poppy by Skin, An Apothecary. I really like the smell of it. It's noticeable but not too overwhelming. My hands were unusually dry last night and this worked wonders. They claim that it doesn't leave behind a greasy feel, but I found that the residue lasted for maybe ten minutes. Not a problem since I was going to bed, but I wasn't keen on typing on my keyboard.
• A hair tie from twistband(r). This is cute. I've seen pictures of these and they're designed to go well around your hair and cute as a bracelet as well. I can say that on the wrist it the elastic doesn't dig into the skin and yet snaps back into shape well enough. I haven't tried it on my hair yet, but I don't think I will without a traditional hairband underneath so it doesn't stretch out too much. (My hair takes two hair bands to hold up into a semi-stable ponytail. and those get stretched-out/broken in no time.)
• The lifestyle extra was a sample of some Fashion tape from Hollywood Fashion Secrets. (not pictured because it was under the tissue paper, oops!) This was an interesting thing to put in, but I feel that a lot of times even though they're 'extras', they really improve my opinion of the overall box. This one certainly did.

I have to say that my initial impression of the box was disappointed. I got all excited after watching the sneak peek video that the company put out for this month. I REALLY wanted the rose gold polish and the brush guards. But the blue polish is actually very pretty and quite unlike any thing I have so far in my collection (which is growing far out of control...). The polish and the body whip are the stand outs of this box. I suppose you could say in that way that this box was better than last month's, but I think mostly I was psyched that they sent a Gillete razor in that box (which I promptly lost when I moved back home. =(.) 

Overall this box is OK. I guess I think the $10 is worth it, but it didn't get me all that excited. Will I purchase any of these in the full-size? Unlikely. The Jouer sample isn't really big enough for me to invest in something that important. The hair tie is a novelty but overpriced, I think, for what it is (basically a cute elastic ribbon). I purchased a few packs of similar hair ties at the Dollar Tree before I ever saw this trend (mind you- I was just looking for elastics for a quick fix for my car, they did become quite useful as hair ties too). The color of the blue polish is amazing I admit, but I rarely, if ever pay more than $3 for a bottle of polish, and have enough nail polish that I won't miss this one particularly, I think, if I ever DO use it up. I have enough perfume in my cabinet at the moment to last me ages and I want to be able to use SOMETHING up before I invest in anymore (for fear of something going off). The Soy Body Whip is nice, but I think far out of my normal body products 'acceptable price point', especially since I generally only by things on sale, I MIGHT go for it later as a gift for a friend though. As for the fashion tape- if I really needed the stuff, don't you think I would already have invested in it? 

End story- for the purpose of the box- that is to get cool stuff and try new products to invest in, this month's failed. Spectacularly. I got the 3-month anniversary coupon this month too. That's rather disappointing. I'm always looking for that next wonderful thing. 

~+~+~+~+~+~

ON TO MYGLAM!

I was subscribed to MyGlam first before I got a sub to Birchbox, and have been a subbie since their 2nd or 3rd month and seen them go through some ups and downs. After the last few boxes though, I gave in and got the annual subscription. I hope that they keep coming out with good packets! This month definitely did not disappoint!

Note that MyGlam recently changed their company name to Ispy. I'm going to continue using the term MyGlam for the while. The bag is still called the Glam Bag and us fans (as far as we know) are still called Glammies. 

This month's bag arrived early! I was surprised because it wasn't supposed to arrive until tomorrow! Well.... This month's bag is very... pink.

• We got a brush! First thing is a smudge brush from London SOHO New York. I love getting brushes. This one is pretty soft and has a lovely metallic pink handle that is nice to hold. It's also small enough to actually be good crease brush for me, although maybe too large as a smudge brush. I assume that it is a synthetic hair brush, but I don't know for sure. 
• This month's CIRCUS by Andrea's Choice nail polish was a vibrant (probably neon) purple color called Tightrope. I know that it seems to pull pink in the photo, but its undertones do run decidedly more pink than blue. About these polishes... I have to say that I don't know about the neon. It's a fun and interesting trend, but also last two times the polish practically peeled off, in great big chunks, and not too long after application. I'll try this one on MAYBE after a few days of the blue, but it might end up going to my sister. I just don't feel too comfortable with neons while job hunting, especially because I naturally tend to gravitate to darker colors. It is a very lovely color though...
• A sparkle gloss by jane.(r) in Sparkle Pink. This is pretty. Another thing I love receiving is lip products. Especially since I've only seen jane products sold at one Rite Aid, and then they pulled out of Rite Aid so I was never really able to get a hold of their products. I heard though that the brand recently underwent a whole repackaging of their products, so hopefully they'll come to some local drugstores soon. 
• A sample of Carol's Daughter's Monoi Repairing Split End Sealer. Definitely an interesting thing to include. I don't know how much use I'll get out of it because I have course thick asian hair that doesn't really split, even though it hits mid-back on me and I get it trimmed rarely. But the packaging is very pretty. I think fine-haired ladies would get better use out of this.
• An eye shadow! by Mirabella in Semiformal. This was an exciting find! I missed out on their very first glam bag when they included an eye shadow but I find myself excited. They also sent a loose eye shadow last month, but I haven't a chance to try it out yet. This is a pinkish brown color. I have to track down one of my ELF palettes to stick it into, but this has potential!

A very nice glam bag overall. Did I mention that I LOVE the black bag? It's another thing that MyGlam/Ipsy has been improving on, and I really really like this one. The zipper works, and the bag just looks and feels good overall.

Overall I really like this month's Glam Bag. I have to say that there are some things that can be good and some I might not use. But this bag overall gets me more excited than the Birchbox for this month. So I have to say the prize goes to MyGlam's bag for the excitment factor, and Birchbox for the 'things that are actually useful/I will use' factor. I think I prefer the glam bag more though because I really felt like the products are sizable enough to actually use or get the feel of the product to see if I'd want to repurchase.

I'll have to try the products to see if I like them enough to look into the other products by the company. Something I appreciate about MyGlam/Ipsy is that they actually give us full-size (or at least sizable) products more often then not, and encourage us to explore the rest of the products the company is offering, which I think is much more effective than the Birchbox system- which is to get us interested in specific products. More than that they're promoting beauty and they're promoting companies, not quite like Birchbox who has their own store (and in consequence seem to be promoting their own bottom line.) I'm for sure going to check out other brushes from SOHO and the Mirabella beauty products. For this month- WIN for glam bag!

I hope this post was helpful for those of you trying to decide between the two subscription services, or for those simply interested in what people got. I love reading and writing haul posts and for me this counts as quite a haul. It's quite wordy, but that's just how I roll.

Ta for now!

To buy or not to buy

As many of you know, a makeup addiction is as much an addiction as a shopping addiction. The power to curb lemmings is one I have passing acquaintance with.

One of the beauty bloggers/vloggers I follow regularly is DivaMakeUpQueen. She goes by Wing and she's just such a beautiful and inspiring person. I wish I had the courage to do YouTube makeup videos, but alas I do not.

For a special treat to celebrate America's Independence Day, Wing worked with Ofra Cosmetics to bring to her YouTube subscribers an awesome sale. One of the big highlights of this sale is something called the Window Palette.

If you were on the YouTube makeup scene last fall, or at least following a few of the beauty gurus there, you probably know when Urban Decay came out with their 15th Anniversary Palette, lots of people went a little nuts over it. I admit that I was swept up in the hype. I had a Sephora gift card from my last birthday at the time and I got it when Sephora did their Fall Beauty Insiders Sale (20% off). The Window Palette from Ofra is somewhat of a dupe to this palette.

It is truly is a beautiful palette. Unfortunately for me, I tend to be more of a buy/collect type of person. My palette has seen not nearly as much use as it deserves (read: practically no use at all).

I'm also a sucker for a deal however.

By passing up this deal, I would be admitting that the difference in price between the palettes (the difference being ~$30 between retail of the UD palette and the sale price of the dupe) is worth the name, the jewelry box type packaging and the hype associated with the UD palette versus the magnetic palette and the additional bronzer, highlighter and blush the Ofra dupe brings to the table. [Which admittedly is kind of painful.] Ahh, I am soo tempted.

I also however finally got to sign up for Birchbox today, and I got the yearly subscription. Yay! Hopefully what I gain from Birchbox will make up for what I lose by passing this deal by.

Bye bye dupe palette. I wish I had waited. I guess there's nothing for it though.

For those who WOULD however like to take advantage of this sale, the link is here, and the accompanying video from Wing is here. I've learnt that they recently expanded the sale to international buyers as well, and there is a coupon code: TWITTER for $10 off $50. Happy Shopping.

I guess this would be an ideal time for me to revisit the palette and attempt to start using it again.

Happy July 4th! Fireworks have been going off in my area literally for three weeks now, but it has especially crazy tonight.
I look forward to the makeup.

Haul! Physician's Formula!

I definitely spend wayyy too much money on makeup. I also have more than I use (which is easy considering I usually wake up late, roll out of bed, brush teeth, dress and drive to school; brush hair in car- makeup? what makeup? where's the sunscreen?), but thus is the life of a makeup addict. Unfortunately I've been bad about blogging. Ooops.

PF makeup was on sale at CVS for $7 off each item's retail price. Now CVS runs $7 ECB sales on PF fairly often, around once to twice a month sometimes, but with THIS sale, it is an immediate discount so you don't pay the tax on the seven dollars. There's also no limit to how many times you can apply the discount, and you don't have to spend $10 to get 7ECB. With that system you spend AT LEAST $3.80(including tax) if you manage to find something $10 exactly, which is never.  (I don't know if $9.99 products count). I'm kind of kicking myself for falling for the 40% off sale a few weeks ago, because face it, as long as the products' retail price is around or under $14, which all of my purchases were, that's savings of AT LEAST 50%.

So yay! I admit I went a little crazy. I've also only gotten to try only one product so far (the concealer 101 in green/light), but I think a good portion of these will end up in my 'back up stash' which is where I store excess unopened cosmetics that mostly get gifted away- so maybe it isn't THAT bad? Haha, no it is that bad, oh well. I feel only a little regretful because in my excitement, I settled for quantity and not necessarily quality. CVS has a great return policy though, so as long as I keep the receipt (which I'm bad at doing, but getting better!) and the packaging, I can return the product within 3 months (around that...) if I end up not liking it, even if it's been used. I think this is a great way to try out new PF products on the cheap (relatively cheap....). =). Also lets the impulse buyer in me run wild, and then read reviews after. Will I go back for quality products then? Probably not- my wallet is crying already.

Sorry for the rambling.

Considering savings, I'm going to consider this an EPIC haul. At least for me. =)

Now- handmade excel sheet:

Then again with these prices, perhaps I can be greedy and keep all of it for myself. I look forward to the makeup.

February MyGlam bag

I finally got a MyGlam Bag! MyGlam is a new company put together by five of YouTube's beauty gurus, based on the increasingly popular sample box idea used by companies such as Birchbox. I've been subscribed since late December and should have gotten a bag for January, but due to a mishap with shipping, the company failed to give several subscribers their packages, myself included (a full refund was issued).

The bag costs $10/month and shipping price is included. Every month you receive 4-5 sample to full-sized products in a reusable makeup bag.

This month's bag included:

• X Out Shine Control (sample)
• NYX Roll On Shimmer (full-size) (I got mine in the color Walnut)
• Premier Dead Sea Cinderella Mask (sample)
• NuMe Professional Styling Tolls and Hair Extensions- $100 Gift Card
• Freeman Facial Mask Sachet- Goji Berry (trial size)

(swatch of NYX roll-on shimmer in Walnut)

Overall I think this month's bag was OK. It's not nearly as exciting as January's bag, which I unfortunately missed out on, but for $10, I suppose it's nothing to scoff at (assuming ~$3 shipping). I'm looking forward to finally trying out the Freeman masks, and maybe put in an order. I was looking forward to see if NYX would offer a good discount, but the discount is only available towards more roll-on shimmer, which I won't be buying more of. I've never heard of X Out or Premier before, but I look forward to trying on the samples.

Overall: I think it was interesting, but I definitely would have preferred January's bag. I'm not sure yet if I'm sold on this type of try-it, buy-it sales pitch with the random products. $10/month seems an awful lot to put towards things you might not end up using. The only thing I really know I'll be trying is the Freeman mask... retail about $2 probably? (I just put it on... it smells yummy) The only other monthly subscription I follow using this sales pitch is the GouletPenCompany's InkDrop, and with that I can wait until the second week of the month to see what is in that month's bag... and still order that bag and get the discounts on those products if I want what I see. I'm still subscribed to MyGlam, but if I don't like what's in March's bag I might drop from the program.

A color comparison: Maybelline Color Tattoo Teal with others

  I recently purchased the Maybelline Color Tattoo in Tenacious Teal while on a random trip to Target. They retail at target for $5.99 and it was the only place in my area I've seen the Color Tattoos yet. The only colors left in this particular stand was this teal color and the brunt orange looking color.

It's a little silly to admit, but I have a lot of blue cream eyeshadow, and I don't wear it all that often. Of course my definition of 'a lot' differs from everyone else's. It's a lot to me because I don't feel that my blues don't get pulled out as often as I might like. My current favorite cream blue shadow is a trade off between 'Teal Party,' a studio cream shadow by ELF and 'Tidal Rave,' a creaseless cream by Benefit. I actually like Teal Party a little bit better because it has a lot of pigmentation. With a primer and some translucent powder on top, both last about the same amount of time on my lids. Without either, the ELF will crease first, but the Benefit will crease eventually, and after 13+ hours at school, it definitely does.

I started out to compare the two, and then ended up swatching almost all my other blue creams along with them.

After the first swatch of Tenacious Teal next to Teal Party, I could see that the color profile of the two were actually really different. Teal party is much more metallic, with no shimmer; and leans more towards the indigo end of the spectrum. Tenacious Teal is extremely bright, more of what I think of as teal, with a slightly metallic base and shimmer. For those two, each had one swatch, and then were blended in a line across the arm. All were swatched without primer. 

The ELF shadow is much more mousse like. If you have tried the Maybelline mousse products (foundation, blush, etc.) It's like that texture, but more dense and dry. They are nevertheless quite easy to manipulate. They crease on my oily lids without primer, but on the arm or with primer they do not crease or smudge. This retails for $3 on eyeslipsface.com and has a plastic case.

The Color Tattoo, by comparison is much creamier, denser product. They are also slick feeling, making them easy to blend, but a drier and thicker formulation than my Benefit Creaseless Cream. The one swatch is quite pigmented, more than I expected, but you can sheer the color out on the lids quite easily. I was afraid at first that they might be hard to sheer out. This is packaged in a glass jar with a plastic lid. 

Once I swatched the Color Tattoo, I felt 'hmmm, that's not the same, but I've seen that blue before...'. I keep all my makeup pencils on my desk, and the NYX one was easy to find. Admittedly though, my NYX pencils have been getting neglected of late. The product was drier to swatch, and the one in the photo is two times across, then sheered out for even pigmentation. The glitter in the Electric Blue pencil is much larger, while compared to the one in Tenacious Teal which is a shimmer. The base colors are quite similar, and while a little bit different in the swatches, I think one would be hard pressed to tell them apart on the eyes. 

For the heck of it I then swatched the Rimmel Eyeful pencil in 'Talk to Me' which is closer to the ELF than the Color Tattoo in color, but is more of a satin finish leaning on metallic, with no shimmer or glitter, then the long discontinued Maybelline Metallic FX in aqua which leans even more purple and has large shimmer particles. Not pictured is the Creaseless Cream in Tidal Rave, which swatched sheer, but the color is mostly made of multicolored blue shimmer with a light blue base, and when layered is quite close to the Rimmel color, although not quite as purple. The Rimmel and NYX are packaged as jumbo pencils and are encased in wood. The Metallic FX is also a jumbo pencil but is packaged in clear plastic (yeah, I have no idea how to sharpen that, maybe I'll end up depoting it....). 

The Benefit is packaged in a glass jar and plastic lid, like the Color Tattoo packaging. In fact they run almost exactly the same in diameter. However the glass bottom for the Maybelline is thicker, almost 2mm worth. While I feel this may end up helping with keeping the product from drying out, the result is that the Color Tattoo is heavier than the Creaseless cream. You get 0.16oz, or 4.5g for $19 in the Benefit from online, at a counter, or Sephora. And the MSRP for the Color Tattoo from the Maybelline website is $6.99 for 0.14oz, or 4g; prices will vary by location. 

After a few minutes, a rub test showed that the ELF and the Color Tattoo and the Benefit did not smear at ALL after a few seconds of rubbing, while the other three did. Those three also quickly dried down to a smooth dry feeling whereas as I'm typing this up, the other swatches are still a little bit tacky. 

Final thoughts on the Color Tattoo: Do I like it? Yes, I suppose I do, but I think it's a little too bright for wearing on it's own everyday, like I can do with the Benefit or the ELF ones. However the Tattoo doesn't need to be set with anything and dries quickly, which is awesome. Technically the Benefit doesn't need to be set, but it doesn't have as fast of a dry time, especially when layered for more opacity. 

If you're planning on using the Color Tattoo ONLY as a base compared to a wash of color, then I suggest instead the NYX pencil in Electric Blue, it's cheaper and in a more compact and travel friendly form. You also get more: .18oz or 5g for ~$3, depending on your retailer. (I also firmly believe that wood pencils keep creams longer than jars, there's less product exposed to evaporation.) The colors are similar enough and won't make that much of a difference if you're planning to layer shadow over it anyways. I always recommend the NYX jumbo eye pencils over a primer though, in a very sheer wash, other wise it might crease. If you set it with translucent powder the effect could be very similar, I haven't tried that yet for comparison. 

Note: Color Tattoo's drying time may actually be too fast to layer with though. Even blending must be done as you put the shadow on, you can't wait on it. Which is good or bad depending on how you put your eyeshadow on. It's a great convenience for me because as a student, sometimes I need to just put it on and run out the door, and usually I do! It seems to have a problem with some primers, or so I've heard; but I use it without primer on it's own and it works fine. I doesn't last the whole school day, I go to college from about 9.30am-5pm or later, but that's ok; I don't overly mind, although some people will. Maybe over primer or a setting powder it will last even longer! But I'm lazy... I'll try it eventually, but I'm content for now.

Overall I like this, and I plan on getting more colors eventually. Meanwhile, the ELF studio ones tend to be my 'go-to' for other cream shadows. 

(I am not affiliated with any of these companies and I paid for all of these products with my own money.)

Haul: Japanese fake eyelashes

While in Japantown shopping for some EXTREMELY late Christmas shopping, I wandered into Ichiban-kan and Daiso. Daiso is kind of like the dollar store, except everything is imported and Japanese, and the price point is $1.50, unless otherwise labeled. Most of the things in the store are made for the company and are Daiso branded. Ichiban-kan is kind of like Daiso in what they carry, except the price points are a little higher at times and there's a wider variety of home supplies. I also find that the quality seems to be a little bit better. In Japantown, San Francisco Ichiban-kan is a smaller store, but they've been in the building for much longer than Daiso has. Daiso moved into Japantown in the last few years and recently expanded their store when the store space next to them, formerly a furniture store, opened up. Both stores offer a lot in the way of Japanese snacks and also kitchen supplies, with some area dedicated to beauty and school supplies.

What I brought today might be called frivolous spending, because I've never really used false eyelashes before. I vaguely remember buying some ELF falsies at one point, but I don't recall what happened to them. Either one of my sisters took them, or they've disappeared into the abyss of stuff in my school apartment. I am interested though, and at this price point, they really weren't too bad. 

From Ichiban-kan, among other things, I got three duos of eyelashes and an eyelash case.

At Daiso, I got one duo of eyelashes and eyelash glue. Also some plant soap. I'm always searching for the perfect soap for face, but if this ends up too harsh, I can always use it as body soap or hand soap.

All products featured in this post were brought for $1.50 (+TAX) each.

I'm excited. Hopefully sooner or later I'll post some photos with the falsies on! :)

WnW Megashield lip color SPF15

I stopped by the Walgreens in Union Square after a movie a few day before New Year's. I just happened to find a WnW endcap with a bunch of things that are new for 2012. These lipsticks had 'instant coupon' peelies. The stand said that they retail for $2.99, but they rung up for $1.99, as you can see. The cashier also helped me take off the peelies: meaning more savings!

I grabbed two colors: "Pink Champagne", and "Ring Around the Rosy"(the darker color). I originally had grabbed two different ones, but I found the Rosy one tossed in a different stand and I liked it better.

The actual lipstick product is pretty skinny and about the length from the silver ring to where it ends in the cap. It doesn't retract all the way into the plastic, which is mildly annoying because it means you have to be careful when you take off the cap, lest you nick the product. The packaging seems a little in excess because the whole bottom black part is empty, but without it, I think the package might be a little too short to easily grab in your bag. Overall it is a little longer than your typical square or round packaged lipsticks, but smaller in diameter.

As you can see, I've already used the Rosy one before this photo, but it helps show the bits of glitter in the product. Both colors have some micro-glitter in them, but they aren't really large enough to be seen on the lips. They just impart a pretty shine. The only time you see them is in photos like this, and when you've rubbed the swatch on your hand. 

These swatches are not completely color accurate because I didn't get a chance to photograph them under natural light, but I'll replace this photo once I do. "Ring around the Rosy" is not really that dark, but it is a wonderful rose color. A nice 'my lips but better' color for me, will also probably work well as a creme blush on those days when I'm feeling particularly lazy. Then again, it might be too shimmery on the cheeks. The "Pink Champagne" color imparts a lovely sheen when worn as a stain, and can probably work as a nice highlight on the cheeks. These are not particularly pigmented when rubbed out.

The formula is smooth and very moisturizing. I haven't yet tried the Revlon Lip Butters but I can't imagine these are too far off. However they are dry enough to stay on your lips. I've had some lipsticks that are just TOO smooth, like some from NYX, that leave me thinking that it's too slick that they'll just slide off my lips without a pencil. 

Just a note: these things are wrapped pretty securely, which is a good thing because then people can't randomly swatch instore and contaminate the product. However it makes for lots of sticker residue once you try to get them actually off. The ingredients peelie was on the base. It was a peelie, but who really wants the clear plastic sticker that those leave behind? (Which also, incidentally, serves to further secure the cap to the base). I'm going to try to find some Goo Gone next time I'm in a store. 

You get .10oz of lipstick in one of these, which isn't a lot, but is pretty nice for the price point and the formulation, in my opinion. Compared to 0.13oz in a Revlon Colorbrust lipstick, it seems almost average. It just looks particularly small compared to the packaging. The added sunscreen element makes lip balm underneath really optional.

Random thing: The title of the product is imprinted in silver type on the cap, however in the french title SPF15 is typed "FPS15". I've taken french, but I've never seen this before. Can anyone explain this to me?

Value for Price: Good!
Recommend to a friend?: Yes!
Rebuy?: Yes.