One of my favorite subscriptions is the Jersey Shore Cosmetics Lip Balm Subscription. Mostly because I really love The Jersey Shore Cosmetics Lip Balms. What I generally tend to do with this subscription is to keep it for a few months and stock up and then cancel it while I work through my stockpile.
Then of course once my stockpile drops low, I open my subscription back up. The subscription itself is through Cratejoy. I found it while poking around one afternoon several years ago. The subscription has changed a little bit over time. There used to be tiers (1, 2 or 4 lip balms per month) but now they only seem to have the one tier.
It is $5 per month ($8 with shipping) and you receive two lip balms each month. The subscription always ships out by the 7th of the month and you are charged on the 11th of the month for the following month’s package. They are usually really good about sticking to the listed dates. The lip balms sent are the same lip balms they sell on the Jersey Shore Cosmetics website. Those retail for $10 each, which makes this a great deal actually.
Yup, my frugal senses are tingling, Batman.
Or whatever superhero is in charge of savings.
Accountancyman? The Budgetator?
Actually, the Budgetator sounds like a potato with a coupon clipping habit.
I’ll work on my super heroes later.
In fact last month we received two of their newly released Spritzer Lip balms. The Peach Apricot Spritzer is one of my favorites and I think it is one I will end up reordering at some point. It smells just like a peach Bellini (sans alcohol of course). The spritzer part keeps the scent light and stops it from becoming too cloyingly sweet, which I like.
This year when I signed back up for the subscription (having worked through my stockpile once again) I realized that because I generally run out of lip balm in early spring, I tend to do my stockpiling in the spring and summer so those are the scents I end up using. My plan this year was to wait a little longer, possibly use up some other lip balms and then get some fall flavors/scents.
August is that strange borderland between summer and autumn. There is a great deal of longing for fall, or at least cooler weathers. Especially as you gather school supplies and realize that over the summer your desk has become a strange place where notes lay have buried under reports and where your Humidity control hair products mingle with your spray sunscreen. But at the same time, the heat has hit what we generally call The Dog Days. Where the heat and humidity combine to make you feel like you are in some strange giant’s stew pot.
Or at least that is how I think of August.
Oddly my lip balm subscription sort of reflected that. The two scents I received this time were Watermelon and Peppermint. Watermelon is most certainly a summer scent and one I have used quite frequently from Jersey Shore Cosmetics. I really enjoy it and am happy to have another one around. The peppermint I have had before and also enjoy. It is cool and refreshing, although peppermint seems to be associated with cooler months. Or at least that is what I am told when I question why peppermint scented body wash is only available for a few months out of the year. I love the scent of peppermint. I find it far superior to spearmint. I find it rather rude that peppermint gets restricted to the cold while spearmint gets to frolic throughout the calendar.
It is an injustice.
So I was happy to see the peppermint lip balm. I didn’t get to keep it however. My babydoll looked at it and said, “Is that for me because I ran out?”
I said yes. Because getting him to use any lip product has been quite the battle. He seems to believe that lips aren’t actually dry enough to need anything until they actually hurt. So if he will use the peppermint lip balm, I will happily give it over to him.
So that was my August Jersey Shore Cosmetics Lip Balm Subscription. I enjoy the two products I received and think they are well worth the price. I have already paid for September’s subscription and have my fingers crossed that there will be some fall scents just around the corner. If you are interested in this subscription, I would recommend that you go through Crate Joy to get to it. It is much easier to find. I have been all over the Jersey Shore Cosmetics website and it tends to be really hard to locate. With Crate joy it is quick and easy, plus it is easy to cancel when I have reached sufficient stockpile levels, and renew when levels drop. Plus, I can always poke around and see what other nifty things are on Cratejoy.
I’m also interested to see what changes Jersey Shore Cosmetics has going on. At the moment they have a sign on their website saying that big changes are coming. So that too will be something to watch.
Oh yes, it is that time again. It is time for the Jersey Shore Cosmetics Lip Balm Subscription. At just $5 (plus $3 shipping for a total of $8) this is currently my least expensive subscription box. For your low subscription price you receive two lip balms per month.
I have tried to find the subscription link on the site but even though they talk about it on the blog I tend to have a hard time finding it there, so I go through Cratejoy to find them. It is super east to sign up for Cratejoy and I have to say I find myself poking around on there often just to see what new subscriptions appear.
The Jersey Shore Cosmetics one is a subscription that I sign up for every year, and keep for a few months before letting go while I work my way through the lip balms. How long I keep it depends on me. Sometimes I use the lip balms fast, or accidently leave them in my pocket and send them through the washing machine, or lose them in a purse, while other times I keep it on my desk and slowly work through them.
I generally keep the subscription until I feel like the lip balms are accumulating faster than I can use them and then I take a break. When I last subscribed, the subscription cost more and sent four lip balms in a package so I kept it around less. Two balms is actually more my speed and I might actually use them enough that I won’t feel overwhelmed.
Summer is usually the time when I sign up and then I end up leaving the subscription just as they roll fall flavors and scents out. Last year i missed the spiced pear and was annoyed, but as I was swimming in lip balms I couldn’t justify it. With only two per package, I don’t think I’ll be swamped as fast this time and will get to linger in the subscription until the fall.
I personally like the formula of the Jersey Shore Cosmetics lip balm formula. It is soft and hydrating. It is also vegan and both paraben and phthalate free. It glides on easily and smoothly without tugging at the lips, fairly melting into them, and even when it is gone from the surface, my lips feel hydrated. On the Jersey Shore Cosmetics website their vegan lip balms are sold for $10 each, so getting two for $5 or even $8 is a really good value. Plus, I know I will always go through them.
I think one of my favorite things about the subscription though, is that it never feels like left overs. The two lip balms I received in this month’s subscription are Peach Apricot Spritzer (which smells a lot like a peach bellini) and Strawberry Lemonade Spritzer which still smells of strawberry, but has a slightly more effervescent scent to it than the regular strawberry lip balm making it lighter and fresher in scent.
The Spritzer line is one of the latest released for Jersey Shore Cosmetics. Which means that the balms included in the subscription are among their newest releases, not the products that failed to sell last season. How cool is that?
Plus, they are really good lip balms. I can’t wait to see what the next few months bring.
Since I find it easier to locate the subscription on cratejoy, the links are to the cratejoy subscription site. For those interested Cratejoy just started a mega sale. It is the Summer Christmas in July Sale. If you are looking for something new to try, now might be a good time.
Welcome my darlings to the weekly makeup bag where I discuss all of the products I used throughout the week. This week I wanted to test out one of my liquid eyeshadows and the one I tested was the Eye Dazzle in the shade Leona from Josephine Cosmetics.
No matter how this shade looks on line, it is a lovely coppery shade in real life. And you know how I love my coppery shades. The link will take you to the full review post, but over all my experience with this liquid shadow was a positive one. Last week I tried out the black eyeliner from Josephine Cosmetics and that too was rather positive which tells me I might want to take a bit of time and look more into the brand.
As The coppery shimmer of the eye dazzle was so bright, I paired it with the all matte palette of The Balm’s Meet Matt (e) Trimony. I really like the formula of The Balm’s eyeshadows and I have to say even though the palettes in metal tins seem to get all the press, I really like this flat style palette better. I found the tins hard to open and a bit frustrating even if they are cute. This opens easily, has large usable pans of shadow and blends well. I was very happy to use it this week
While I will be doing more separate tool reviews in the future I wanted to just add just a few I used with my shadows this week. I adore my color switch tin and it is probably one of the best purchases I’ve made in a while. Mine is from Sephora, but you can get them from a bunch of different brands. It helps me use fewer brushes each time I apply shadow and thus put off the giant shadow brush wash for a little bit, which I think helps keep the brushes lasting a bit longer.
The three shadow brushes I leaned on the most this week were The Shadow and Eye Crease brushes from Shaina B (Black handles) that came in an IPSY a while ago and a tapered blending brush from a Lavash brush set (Pink handle). While all worked really well, the Lavash brush is starting to look a little worse for wear. This week it lost a number of bristles. It isn’t beyond use, but it is getting there. As I think I’ve had the set about a year, it doesn’t speak well to the longevity of the brush. Thus far the other brushes in the set are holding up better so perhaps I just use this one more. I have been impressed with the Shaina B brushes. They are both frequently used, but neither has lost a single bristle yet.
Along with my shadows I pressed my Eyeko skinny liner into service this week (it is pictured below with the lip products and swatches). As always Eyeko’s formula worked brilliantly. Whether it is in the skinny or fat form, their eyeliners are simply amazing. They don’t fade, stay in place all day and never seep into the fine lines of my skin. In addition, they are decently priced, always a win in my book.
To wrap up the eyes, I again used the They’re Real mascara from Benefit. It is a sample size and after two weeks of use it is almost used up. While I will keep it in the Makeup bag a third week, I believe the sample sized tube will run out of product before next week runs out of days and so I will probably add a second mascara to pick up where it leaves off. I have a second unopened tube of They’re Real in my dressing table, but I’ll leave it rest for a while until I manage to work my way through a few of my already opened products. While I prefer the volumizing of Bad Gal Bang, this is a really nice lengthening mascara and I am glad that when this runs out, I still have a back up to reach for.
Speaking of Benefit, I also used a Benefit Primer this week. I went for the pore filling fabulousness of The Pore Professional (the link will take you to the full review). While it has been around for a while now, it is still a hard product to beat and one that I really like having in my dressing table and rotating into my makeup bag.
It worked very well this week with my repeat use of the Ulta Beauty Youthful glow foundation (link is to the full review). It remains a really good light weight foundation and I am really glad that I used it a second week. While I will still be testing out new foundation products, I want to make sure to use the foundations I already have rather than just automatically purchasing new for the sake of trying new products (although I love trying new products, especially foundations, I really hate wasting product). However this will be rotating back into the dressing table this week and giving another product a chance at being used. One thing I find really fun about circling back through foundation products is that if I didn’t like a foundation, I didn’t keep it after my first round. I have a cousin I trade products with periodically as some products I don’t like, she does and visa versa. That means that when I open the drawer all of my choices in foundations are products I actually liked enough to keep.
It makes choosing my foundation each week a delightfully difficult task with no really bad outcome.
But Youthful Glow from Ulta Beauty will be returning to the dressing table this week so another can be chosen.
Decisions, decisions, my darlings.
No. 7 Pressed powder and Kristofer Buckle loose setting powder
One product that hasn’t gotten any rest has been my No. 7 Pressed powder. This week saw more and more of the silver pan exposed. I’m guessing that by New Years at the latest the compact will be completely empty. I kind of suspect it won’t last that long actually. It is a really great powder and, if you couldn’t tell by the amount of product used, I really like using it. While it will be repurchased, I want to concentrate on using up at least one of the other pressed powders in my dressing table first. So I am going to try to resist the urge to go out an immediately repurchase this powder once it is gone. I’m not sure how well I will do at resisting. It will however be staying in the makeup bag until it is completely used up.
Hourglass Blush and Space Case Bronzer
My bronzer this week was the Fakeation on Mars from Space Case Cosmetics. Because of it’s size I tend to overlook it when choosing products from the drawer and that really is a shame. The formula is very buildable. Putting on too much of it actually takes a bit of effort. Also as my skin loses its tan and goes winter white, it lets me adjust to the amount of product I use quite easily. I like that as too much bronzer can make your face look a bit dirty. That has never been a problem with this. I really like that on a light makeup day I can still use it to bring a little definition to my cheeks without going over the top.
My blush this week was also one that I found easy to blend out into a low makeup look, or build up for something more glam. That is the Hourglass ambient light Blush in diffused heat. I really like both the formula and the bendability of the product.
And then we get to the highlighter.
This week, we had a bit of an issue.
First of all, I would love to say that I love my babydoll. I really do. Occasionally, he just doesn’t realize his own strength and tends to be a bull in a china shop. He also grew up with two brothers, a father with only brothers and all male cousins. His mother had her own bathroom which all of the boys were forbidden to enter. Having met everyone as adults, I think it was a wise decree on her part.
This week my babydoll needed tweezers and I told him there was a set in my makeup bag. So he went to retrieve it. There he saw several compacts (pressed powder, blush and highlighter). Since he thinks all compacts hold powder, he was surprised there were three compacts as he felt there should be only one. So he opened one of the compacts to look inside.
My poor Ciate London highlighter
The compact he opened held the Ciate London Confetti highlighter. As you can probably tell from the picture, the product is composed of lots of little balls in varying tones (like confetti) pressed together to form one solid. Mine was fairly thin in the middle because I really like the golden tones this highlighter produces. That is also where he pressed to see if they were individual balls or one polka dotted lump. You can see the results in the image. There is now a chunk of pan showing and the compact must be held flat so that little beads of highlighter don’t spill out. He was very apologetic.
So while I will need to take more care when I use this highlighter moving forward, I do like this highlighter and the golden glow it gives my skin. Actually I am fond of a lot of Ciate Products. At this point I think I am only lacking a bronzer to be able to do a full face of Ciate products. I think that when I do get around to ordering a bronzer, so that I can do a full face, I may pick up a new highlighter as well. Of course at the moment every time i go to the Ciate site I look at the Miss Piggy Collection they now have out. I adore the muppets and that Miss Piggy hand mirror is calling my name hard. Don’t get me wrong, the make up sponge with the pig nose imprint is adorable and the makeup looks good too, but that mirror is just calling to me. And it is calling to me in Miss Piggy’s voice.
Now that the center has been breached in my highlighter, I’m not certain how long the rest of the product will hold on to the pan before crumbling. with the top layer gone, it seems to have lost structural integrity. So I suspect a Ciate London order is in my near future. I’ll have to keep you posted.
My final face product was the loose setting powder from Kristofer Buckle. (Currently it is on sale if you want to check it out. Normally it is $24 but the sale puts it at $18. There is a lot of powder in it and it is a really good value for the money). I really like using this powder. It is very finely milled and settles well on the skin. My only issue is that when you open the inner lid, there is usually a puff of product that hits the air. It isn’t a lot, but you just have to remember not to breath in or you will be tasting powder for about an hour. It is a consequence of it being so finely milled. It is also what makes the powder so nice to use, but the small product puff is just something to remember.
The lips (and Eyeko Eyeliner)
My lips this week were coated in three lipsticks (although not at the same time) an one lip liner. The vegan lip liner was from RealHer and it was the shade 20218 Be Yourself Be Real Her. It is red enough that it went well with my Dose of Colors Date Night liquid lipstick. It is also red enough that when my lines weren’t perfectly straight it showed and my lips looked lopsided. It was easy to fix, as long as I caught it.
Which I didn’t always do, so a few times this week my lips looked a little crooked.
It is however a fabulously creamy and easy to work with lip liner, It stayed in place, even when I placed it wrong, and corralled my lipstick well. It is just a shade where any crookedness shows. I tend to have that with any dark shade of lip liner. I’m just not good with straight lines. Its why with lip liner I generally stick to more forgiving shades. I was just so pleased to hav one that matched the Dose Date Night that I forgot my wobble. I am working on the lines though so with practice there is less wobble. It also means that on the days when I am working alone at my desk with no possibility of a video call I tend to have very red lips.
Practice makes perfect, my darlings. Or at least a little less wobbly in my case. With luck anyway.
So there was user error, not product issues. I have to say the more Real Her products I try, the more I like the brand. Thus far I think their eyeliner turned out to be good, but not one of my favorites, but everything else has been fabulous. I have really been impressed with this brand as a whole, at least in the products I’ve tried.
swatches: Top Eyeko Liner, Bottom RealHer lip liner, Left to Right between them, Fluide, Dose of colors, and Elf.
The Dose of Colors in Date Night dried down well and stayed in place all day with no problem. (At the moment Ulta is having a sale on this particular liquid lip. you can get it and a neutral lip as a duo for $12.50. It is an online only offer I believe. The above link will take you to that page on Ulta.) It left my lips a little dry, but with my Jersey Shore Cosmetics Lip Balm handy, that wasn’t a problem. The Fluide Liquid Lip in the shade Candy Bar wasn’t as drying, but it didn’t dry down all the way, left a few lip prints on my coffee mug and needed to be reapplied after lunch. It is the cost of a non-drying formula. Both formulas are very comfortable to wear and they are lipsticks I do reach for often. My final lip product was the elf Black Cherry sheer slick. What can I say? It is a great formula, a wonderfully sheer wash of color and over all fantastic product.
At the end, finally there was my Laura Geller Spackle Mist. It sets the make up well and is more coconut water scented rather than coconut scented so the aroma is light and fresh which I enjoy. I am about half way through the bottle so it will be going back to the dressing table while another product is rotated into next week’s makeup bag.
And with the setting spray, this week’s makeup bag is complete. This week I had a good set of products to work with and aside from the highlighter debacle no major issues. And really, there was no way to predict that sort of highlighter issue. I did learn though that next time my baby doll needs something I have in my makeup bag, I need to get it for him instead of letting him retrieve it himself. Apparently his mother was onto something with her banishment.
The Make up Bag used November 30th – December 4th, 2020
Welcome my darlings to the weekly makeup bag post where I go through all of the products I chose to use throughout the week and let you know how I felt about them.
While the foundation and eyeshadow palette each had their own posts yesterday I will recap them here again for you (with links to the full reviews). The foundation this week was the Ulta Beauty Youthful Glow Foundation serum Drops. It was an early test in my foundation trials and I forgot that I actually had it. I took it out this week and remembered exactly how much I really enjoyed using it. To be honest, now that I have it out, I am thinking about keeping it around for another week before returning it to the dressing table to choose another foundation.
The eyeshadow Palette was the Tuscany Palette from Nomad Cosmetics Italian line. I liked the colors and loved the way they stayed around all day, but was less thrilled by the powdery fall out from all of the shades. Once the fall out was dealt with, I really did enjoy using the palette.
My primer this week was the Stila Sheer Illumination lingerie soufflé primer. I like this primer. The whipped texture made it very light weight against the skin and it turned my skin into a nice smooth canvas for my foundation. The pink melted away blending my skin into a more uniform color rather than just giving it a pink hue which I really liked. And of course the decorative jar is delightful.
It worked fairly well with the Ulta foundation. It is more moisturizing than pore filling, but it does a decent job with the pore filling as well with creamier foundations. The Ulta Foundation needed a little more pore filling than the Stila offered, but it was almost there. If I keep the Ulta foundation out for another week I may try a more pore filling primer. But I was pleased to use this primer and look forward to the next time it leaves the dressing table for my makeup bag rotation.
Becca highlight, NARS Bronzer, Benefit Mascara
My bronzer this week is the NARS Laguna Bronzer (it is the small pan in the photo to the left). It is a sample size that I have been working towards using up. I try to stick to the rule of not purchasing a full size until I have used the sample size up completely. I really love this bronzer, and even rotating it in and out of my makeup bag it is starting to get a very noticeable dip in the center of the pan. I’m not certain if you can see it in the photo, but you can certainly feel it. Not picking up a full sized one during the Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales has been so difficult. But I feel I can finish this sample up this year as I suspect with a few more uses I will start seeing pan and then it (or something comparable from Nars) will be at the top of my list for next year’s sales.
I had to do the same talking out of purchasing with my lipstick this week. The one I used the most this week is sample sized as well. It is the Bite lipstick in the shade Rhubarb. I love this lipstick, but the sample size means that it often rolls to the shadows and hides. It is a fantastic color on me and it doesn’t dry out my lips. It is a regular bullet style lipstick so it won’t last the entire day without touch ups, but I don’t mind that. I have to add that the lipstick smells good and even tastes good. I know that sounds strange to say, but as it is a product that goes on your lips, it does matter. It is a comfortable formula and I really enjoy it. I also suspect that once I break and buy one, I am going to buy several. I have two liquid lipsticks from Bite that I enjoy, but this color and formula of the bullet lipsticks are just fantastic. I am almost out of the Agave lip mask from Bite as well and will need to re order soon. At the moment I am testing out a different lip mask and thus far it has only sharpened my appreciation for Bite Beauty’s night time lip mask. But that is a different story (the lip mask review will be posted next week if you are interested.) I will easily be able to use up this lipstick. And I will be keeping it out on the dressing table so that I don’t forget it. Then when used up, I will reorder it and possibly some of it’s friends so that it doesn’t get lonely. I wouldn’t want my lipstick to get lonely. I just hope it is still available. When looking into the Bite Beauty Lipsticks, I found a lot of lip crayons listed on their site and I found an entire section dealing with a create your own custom shade of lipstick, both at the factory and at home, but I couldn’t find the lipsticks. This will require some research. The Bite Beauty sale is still going on (the link will take you there) so I may have to pick up a lip crayon and test it out. Regardless I will be looking into the lipstick further and get back to you. Fingers crossed it is still available.
While we are on lips, the other two lip products I used this week were the Dose of Colors Liquid lip in stone that I have been trying to use up. It is getting there. I think I have a few more weeks of steady use and then it is done. It is a pretty old liquid lip and I do actually have a replacement already waiting because it is one of my go-to nude shades. At the moment I am wishing I had ordered a Bite Beauty replace ment and just held it in the wings until I finished the sample but I am more worried about the clean and natural ingredients in a bullet lipstick going bad if kept to long than in a sealed liquid lip. so I didn’t.
My third and final lip product this week was the Jersey Shore Cosmetics Lip balm in the scent Pomegranate. It is a really good lip balm. The Jersey Shore Cosmetics Lip balms tend to be the only lip balms i really keep stocked. Others show up from subscription boxes, but this is my staple.
I tend to periodically sign up for the Jersey Shore Cosmetics Lip balm monthly subscription through Crate Joy (the link will take you to the crate joy subscription info). I have a hard time finding the subscription on the JSC website, but it is super easy to find on Crate Joy. It’s a subscription I keep for a few months to stock up on lip balms and then cancel while I work my way through them. I’m pretty sure I am covered through January on lip balms so I will probably re subscribe in either January or February. It is a really good subscription and a great product, it’s just not a subscription I need to keep all the time. I have been using the subscription off and on for the past four or five years and have never had a problem with them. And each subscription comes with a little surprise. There was a stick of sunscreen one month this past summer and once the pandemic got started, a free mask was tucked in. Speaking of masks, this lip balm has been a really good thing to wear under them too actually. Surprisingly as my face is getting the masknee from the mask, my lips are feeling oddly dry. This lip balm has really helped and it doesn’t get all over the inside of my mask which is also nice. And if you are looking to support a black owned brand, this is a good one to go for. Of course even if that isn’t a factor for you, it is an excellent lip balm and I usually have one within reach.
No. 7 Pressed powder and Josephine eyeliner
This week the pan is showing a lot more in my favorite No. 7 pressed powder. I’m keeping it in my makeup bag until it has been completely used up. Mostly because I know it is starting to show pan and there is always the temptation to have it last a little longer by using other products in between. It isn’t a terribly expensive product so I replacing it isn’t a hardship, but I have several other powders open at the moment, several of which I tend to forget I have in favor of the No. 7. So I am going to try, and try very hard, not to replace this immediately after it goes so that I can make some headway in using up other products. It is really the danger of favorites. The fact that it I know on sale is making it even harder to resist. At least with the sample sizes I still have the product to use, which makes resistance easier. But I am going to do my best to try.
e.l.f. setting powder and Julep blush
My loose setting powder this week was the elf HD powder. It is a good translucent setting powder that sets the makeup and doesn’t cause a white cast in photos. At least it hasn’t ever done so on me. I also like the twist top so that you can seal up the holes the powder shakes through when you aren’t using it so that the powder stays in the base of the container until you are ready to use it without spilling everywhere. I have to say, this year, elf has been killing it with the products. Those Bite Sized palettes alone are worth giving the brand a look over if you haven’t done so in a while. Personally I ordered several items as I was putting together small makeup bags for some of the just getting into makeup girls in my family this year and I also got pulled into their gift sets. Those gift sets are rally a good deal. I picked up several for others and was so tempted by the Rose Gold Matte Lip Vault for myself. I resisted during my gift buying spree, but I suspect i will circle back once the last holiday package has been sent to its destination via post. Its the lips, my darlings, the lip products get me every time.
For my blush this week I went with Julep’s Your Happy Look Pore Minimizing Blush in the shade Rosewood. I really like the buildability of this blush. It goes on fairly softly and lets you layer until you reach the desired pigment level. I really do like the darker color and I thought that as my tan faded I would be less able to wear it. But that proved not to be the case, the shade still looked flattering on me so I think this is one that I might be able to wear year round. As I really like the blush I am very pleased to learn this. I was almost certain the darker shade would look more clown like than I wanted and I am very happy to be proven wrong. As a quick note, while the link above will take you to the Julep site (and they are still having a large sale you might want to check out) when I poked around looking for this blush I couldn’t find it anywhere. I send an e-mail to Julep but have yet to hear back. I will keep you posted on it (also I’m checking because I really like the blush) There were more skin care related items advertised which actually distracted me for a while as I haven’t tried any of Julep’s skincare and the only thing that pulls me in more than lipstick is skincare. But I will keep looking for the blush so an update will hopefully be arriving soon.
For my highlight this week I went with a highlighter I completely forgot I had. It is the Becca Bronzed Amber Shimmering Skin Perfector (pictured with the Bronzer near the top of this post). The name makes me think that it was probably designated for some other use than highlighter but on me the bronze tones work really well as a subtle highlight. I really love the subtle golden highlight. I do it’s like candle light against your skin rather than a spot light. Perhaps I’m just more of a candle light sort of person. Regardless, I really enjoyed using this and I am sorry I forgot I had it. In fact I enjoyed it so much that i really want to check out some of their other tones. they have quite a few. I know they have been around a while and as I generally like Becca products I have seen them, but highlighters, while beautiful, never drew me in like other makeup categories so I don’t have as many of them.
The eyeliner I used in this week’s bag was the Josephine Cosmetics black liquid liner that came in my November Petit Vour Box. The point tapered down and let me do either thin or thick lines with ease. The pen was smooth and didn’t skip. The product didn’t sink into my fine lines and it stayed in place all day. Over all I was very impressed with it. Until November I had not heard of the brand before so I had no expectations. This performed really well. I have a liquid shadow from the brand that I think I might try out in next week’s bag so I can get a better feel for the brand. If it performs as well as the eyeliner, it may be a brand I keep my eye on.
This week I skipped the eyebrow products as I had an ingrown hair and irritation. I really miss Jasmine, the lady who threaded my eyebrows. I should not be left alone with them. I am fairly certain I am the cause of the damage. So I just used a clean spoolie to keep them in line. Luckily my bangs need a severe trip at this point so my eyebrows weren’t really visible. I am going to have to trim them soon. Hair cutting is not my strong suit, but needs must.
Finally we wrap up the eyes with a sample size of the They’re Real Mascara from Benefit Cosmetics. It came in my Birchbox for November (and a second one in the Birchbox Advent Calendar. I hadn’t actually tried this one. Which shouldn’t come as a surprise as I generally just pick up the Bad Gal Bang and don’t look at the others. While this won’t replace Bad Gal in my affections, I did actually really like it. It did a great job of lengthening the lashes and it didn’t flake or smudge once dry. I am happy to have it and a back up. As it is a sample of mascara, it will only last two to three weeks so I might just keep it around for a bit to use it up. With sample mascaras, I tend to use them and then lose them in the depths of the drawer. Then several months have passed and I find I have several half empty trial sized tubes and have to play the game “Which of these products is too dried and clumpy to use?” I know, not the best game show name. I’ll work on the title before pitching it to the network.
To finish, I used the Farsali Setting spray. The Rose Gold Skin mist is beautiful to look at with shimmering gold flakes and it does a decent job setting the makeup. The scent is not my favorite, which is why I often leave it in the drawer instead of using it. But as my setting spray rotation now includes a setting spray that smells like fresh paint, I now find the scent less problematic than I once did. It is a good product, and I don’t mind using it. I will be keeping it in rotation for the moment so it will get used. Because of the scent I probably won’t be repurchasing it, but the product works well.
It seems that with the setting spray we have reached the end of the Makeup bag for the week. It was a surprisingly good week. Not one of the products I used were problematic and several exceeded expectations. I love when that happens. Next week while I am keeping my powder and foundation I will be trading out everything else. It may be a strange mix as I think I want to give my odd collection of liquid eyeshadows a try. Since most of them are on the dazzling metallic side, I suspect one of them will end up being part of my New Year’s glam look so I want to see how they perform. I’ll have to choose the rest of the bag around them.
And speaking of makeup bags…Kusshi has a new one out for the holidays. It is red on the outside and leopard print on the inside (they also have a black one with leopard print on the inside (which is the one I ordered for my mother as she isn’t a huge fan of red – personally i adore red, but there you have it). While animal prints aren’t what i tend to be drawn to (I have been eyeing their signature makeup bag for months trying to decide between it and the Vacationer though). My mother adores leopard print (ADORES IT!) and as she has been using the same make up bag for longer than she can remember, I picked it up for her this year. (Seriously, I asked her how long she’d had it and she couldn’t remember. the zipper toggle had been replaced by a safety pin and the inside so stained it looked spotted – there was a liquid liner incident. She wasn’t holding on to it for sentimentality, she just hadn’t gotten around to replacing it. I checked to make sure I wasn’t causing issues by ordering a new one.) I checked out one a friend owned and they are good quality, long lasting bags that are designed to keep things organized. So I know she’ll be happy for a long time to come. Now I just need to make my decision between the Signature and the Vacationer.
This month’s Ipsy bag contributed a couple of items to my selections for this week’s Make up bag. I’m not upset about it as I got to try out a whole bunch of new to me products. I find it surprising because most Beauty subscriptions lately have been very skin care heavy so having a makeup up heavy box this month was a pleasant surprise. Not that I’m abandoning my first and dearest love, Skincare, but it is nice once in a while to flirt with someone new.
Aside from one or two high points in the Doucce palette it was a fail for me. One of the highlights was the physical palette itself actually. It is a nice magnetic case that I will be reusing. The highlighter in this shadow palette was also nice and I will be using it again as well.
There were a couple of repeat items this week. I again used the Ciate Everyday Vaccay loose translucent setting powder. I really like it and I’m sure you will be seeing it again, even if it does make me crave macaroons. Also making a return was the No. 7 Perfect Light Pressed powder.
I am really enjoying using it and am really glad I forced myself out of my Rimmel Pressed powder constant. Don’t get me wrong, Rimmel will return as it is my favorite standby, but I have to say, I think I actually like the No. 7 better. I know, shock and gasp.
Also returning this week was one of my favorite mascaras and that is The Expert Mascara by Kevyn Aucoin. The formula doesn’t flake and it doesn’t sweat off. The shape of the brush is a curved hook shape that curls my lashes and isn’t too big to use on the lower lashes.
However it has been used two weeks in a row and I need to rotate it out for another open mascara. Parting is such sweet sorrow, but I know you will return again. I just also know that a couple of the open mascaras I will be choosing from this week aren’t in my top five favorites. But that is okay.
The last weekly return was the Thrive Causemetics lipgloss in Ashley. It is a good light lipgloss to grab on a summer day and I enjoyed using it. This week it will return to the dressing table and a new product will take it’s place. It will however be returning.
While it wasn’t used last week, the Brow Contour Pro from Benefit returned this week. I enjoy having all of the products from pencil to highlight from Benefit because they are all good products. I’m just not sure about the all in one pen issue. I’m a big fan of benefit brow products, I would prefer them as separate items if that makes sense. I enjoy using it even if it is an all in one contraption though.
Plus I also made a deal with myself that I can’t replace my Precisely my Brow Pencil from Benefit until I’ve used this one up. So as a consequence you will be seeing it in the make up bag until I use it to the point where I feel justified in placing a Benefit order. Although it is really hard to resist the current sale going on. I’ll set it aside if I end up testing other brow products, but for now, I am focused on using this one up.
My contour and bronzer this week came from the Tarte Park Avenue Princess Palette. I really liked using this palette. The palette feels and looks lux. I know it is shallow of me but I feel fancy using it and that makes me happy. Of course adding to this week’s fancy feelings was my early birthday present of a new kimono style robe which I’ve been wearing in the mornings (I know my birthday isn’t until the 27th but it came early and I opened it. I regret nothing.)
The Park Avenue Princess palette is nice as well. I really do like the products. I also like that there are several different shades for me to choose from so I can adjust for my look that day. I really enjoyed using it this week and will be using it again.
This week I also chose another IPSY product. This was the Betty Boop blush trio palette. I like the slim packaging and quite frankly that is what saves it for me. I only really like one of the blushes, and even then it isn’t my favorite.
It’s a color thing, they all actually perform fairly well. I do think I am going to end up eventually using the one blush I like down to pan and then stripping it out to use the case for other products. I don’t know how successful I will be, but I will try. Well, I will try sometime in the future. I believe it is a limited edition item from Ipsy, but if it was available, I wouldn’t repurchase it. It’s fine but not great and I like the packaging more than the product. While I think it is fine to appreciate good packaging and to enjoy the beauty of makeup, it’s never a good sign when the packaging is the best part.
One of my new products for the month was the pores no more Luminizer Primer from Dr. Brandt. This is definitely a Luminizing primer. It is very glowy. Many of my primers I like because I can wear them without foundation and only a dusting of powder over on light makeup days. This isn’t one of those primers.
I didn’t find it to be very pore filling, but I did find it luminizing. As I put a matte foundation over it, I didn’t have too much of a problem. I had a light glow to my skin showing through my foundation which lightened up the matte look a bit, but without the matte foundation, it would have been too much. I will continue to use this primer, but I can’t say it is my favorite.
Speaking of primers, this week I used the Pretty Vulgar eyelid primer. When using it for regular lid priming, you really need to let it dry down for a moment before applying powder shadows or you will have a rough time of it. The primer is somewhat sticky. As I was already working with patchy shadows, this didn’t help. Because it was my first time really using this primer, I tried it with a couple of different shadows to play around with it. It is a good primer if you wait for a moment to let it dry down. It is excellent if you are doing a cut crease and using a glittery shade. That is where this primer shines. That is what it was built for. I believe this will not be a regular every day primer for me. I think it will be a hold in reserve for the days when I am going for the drama. Personally I don’t mind that. I am perfectly happy to use my concealer as an everyday primer and to bring this out when I need the big guns. In fact, I like having it in my arsenal. It’s kind of like having a bazooka even though you know your weapon of choice is a bow and arrow.
Not that I actually have a bazooka. Me having one would just be a bad idea. I know I’d try to reach something on a high shelf knock it over with my hip and take out the neighbor’s shed. Or windmill. Speaking of, I think my neighbor is actually trying to use that strange little windmill he put up to run a small grain mill instead of generating electricity. His entire back flower bed has been planted in wheat. Apparently the roses died. Yeah, I’m not sure of that thought process either, but the end result is that he has a four foot wide, six foot long raised flowerbed full of wheat. Emmer wheat no less, for that extra old timey touch.
But that is beside the point. No bazooka for me, just an imperfect metaphor and a neighbor with a new hobby. Back to the makeup.
Although I didn’t mention it, I added a wet ‘n wild liquid eyeliner to the bag this week, the megaliner to be exact. While pen style eyeliners have become my go to, I started with the inkwell style liquid eyeliners when I first started wearing makeup and I forgot how much I enjoy the brush and pot of liquid.
It took me a little while to get back in the habit of keeping my eyes at half-mast and fanning myself until the liquid dried enough not to transfer when I blinked, but I soon was back in the swing of things. I liked using the eyeliner and I have to admit, I picked up the a Maybelline version to try as well. I don’t know if it is true or not, but I always felt like these inkwell styles dried out less than the pen styles.
Who knows, if I get back into liking them maybe I’ll branch out into some colors other than black. I do know that the wet’n wild one didn’t seep into my fine lines and once applied if I didn’t want a sharp line, I could use a small brush to smudge it out a little. It I did want a sharp line, I could just apply it and fan my face until dry (which doesn’t take that long). I really enjoyed using this. Wet ‘n wild is really stepping up their game. Plus I am really glad to see these style of liners on shelves again. I know KVD Beauty has a line of them as well, so I may have to try some of those out soon.
And this brings us square to the lips. I covered the Thrive Causmetics Lip gloss so we are left with three products. The first is the Hydrating Lip Balm in the shade Nudist from Jersey Shore Cosmetics. Normally I love Jersey Shore Cosmetics lip balms. They are in fact my go to lip balms. I did not care for this one. Shocking I know, it is the first lip balm from the company I didn’t like. It performed as well as the others and had a lovely little shimmer to it. It smelled nice, but it tasted awful. It just tasted slightly chemically, almost like sunblock. It does have an SPF 10 on it so maybe that’s it. I was beginning to think there was no product they had that I didn’t like, but I suppose there is always one. So I will be passing on this lip balm and going back to using the others.
This week I also had one bullet style lipstick and one liquid lip. The bullet style was from Colourpop’s Disney Villains collection in the shade Evil Queen. It is a true red and I have to say, I really like a bold red lip on a minimal makeup week. And this one performed. I do really need to pick up a red lip liner that matches it, because it needs one and I noticed that while I have a plethora of pinks, I have no red lip liners. This makes me sad and is something I will soon be remedying. I also need to remember to take my lip liners into the make up bag with me so I don’t have to go hunting in the morning, but that is another story. I picked up the Colourpop Villains trio and I tend to reach for the Hades one more often, in fact I actually forgot I had this one as it rolled to the back of the drawer.
This is one of the reasons I am really liking doing this makeup bag post each week. I get to find all sorts of things I love, yet forgot about as well as try new things. I’m glad you like the posts too, but I think even if I didn’t post on them I would still set up the makeup bag each week. It is really reminding me to use products I like and forcing me to get rid of the ones I’m just not going to wear.
The liquid lip I chose this week was Matte Dreamy 411 from Il Makiage. The official title is the Infinity Long Wear matte lip cream. While I own a boat load of their lip liners, this was the first liquid lip from them that I have tried and it did not disappoint.
The packaging is super lux feeling. It is heavy in the hand and feels really good. The wand is a little thin and plastic on the end of the tip. It could use a little bit of padding but it wasn’t bad. I also think I might have expected more because of the exterior packaging. While the color wasn’t exactly right on me, the formula was great.
It dried down almost all the way but not quite. It is slightly drier than the Nars Powermatte formula, but not by much. Which means it dries down enough not to smudge everywhere and leave a trail of lip prints behind all day, but not dry enough to make your lips feel parched. I am sad that I don’t care for the shade all that much, but I will be looking into picking up other shades in my next lipstick purchase.
Finally, we come to the Laura Geller Spackle Mist Restore. It is the Coconut Water Prime/Set/Refresh. I didn’t use it to prime, but I did use it to set and on a couple of sweaty days, refresh. It worked well for both. It has a very fine mister which I appreciated. In addition while it is somewhat coconut scented, it is not over the top coconut. It is in fact the scent of coconut water and not the artificially sweet coconut scent. Personally I appreciated that.
So that was this week’s Make Up bag. There were some winners, some returning favorites and some ‘thanks but no thanks’ in the mix. Next week the returning products will be the Laura Geller Spackle Mist Setting spray and the Benefit Brow Pencil. Everything else will be changed out for something else. Won’t that be fun?
I have to say as an aside, I’ve been using the Ipsy make up bags as the bag I pack and take from the dressing table to the bathroom. The one I’ve been using it is simple zip top bag. While these are fine for traveling because they hold a great deal in a relatively small space, I am finding it hard to work with as a daily make up bag. When I travel if I am going to one place and staying there for the duration, I unpack the makeup bag and line things up in the bathroom.
For that sort of travel this is an okay bag. For working out of on a daily basis, it is kind of a mess. Especially with brushes thrown into the mix. Recently I’ve been intrigued by the Kusshi make up bags, especially with the separated brush compartment. I keep circling it trying to make up my mind. Since I have been working out of a makeup bag, and plan to do so for the foreseeable future, I know I am going to have to find something soon. I’ll link the Kusshi site for anyone interested in checking them out. I have heard great things about them. One of my friends is in love with the way they perform in the wash, which lets face it, is a pretty big deal if I’m going to use it daily.
While the Kusshi might be an option, if anyone has any make-up bags or kits that they like working out of instead of just using for transport, let me know. I’d like to hear about them. I suspect I’ll end up looking into a whole bunch of them and then just get annoyed one morning and order the best one in the collection I’ve investigated, so the better the collection the better chance of getting a good bag. So let me know your favorites, if you have one.
For now, I am going to get on with my day as always my desk is cluttered with the things I’ve been putting off all week and need to do before Friday ends and the weekend rolls around. It’s been a little crazy so I haven’t had a chance to choose next week’s products yet, so with the exception of Laura Geller and Benefit, the rest will just be a surprise. Happy Friday everyone. I’ll see you this afternoon for the Friday Face mask.
This week I received two of the subscriptions I have through Cratejoy. The first is the From Korea with Love Sox Box. For $12.95 per month you get three pairs of Sox. This month they came in a small box wrapped in tissue paper instead of the little cardboard tube in a bubble mailer.
As the box is easier to recycle, I’m okay with that. I suspect recent pandemic protocols caused the mailing change. The socks fit my feet with a little extra room to spare. I wear a US 7.5 and I think they are supposed to fit size 6 -8.5 US. The subscription charges on the 11th of the month and ships between the first and the third and they ship out of California.
This month I have to say the penguins are my favorite. Seriously, how stinkin’ cute are these? Pretty stinkin’ cute that’s what. And they make me happy when I look down at my feet. I know, they are just socks, but I have to tell you, I really like socks. I think one of the reasons I like them so much is that with my weight and weight loss, all of my clothes feel temporary and somewhat ill fitting. All clothing has been going from too tight to just right to too baggy for the past year. Or if my weight loss stalls I wonder why it isn’t getting too baggy. And then I worry that I’ve plateaued and start to rethink my entire work out plan.
This does not happen with socks. They are just cute and I am happy.
Also arriving is my Jersey Shore Cosmetics. This month I am adding to my stockpile. After this month, I may be cancelling this subscription for a while, or I may keep it one more month, then cancel. I love lip balm, but there is only so much lip balm I can use. It takes me about a month to go through one tube and each subscription comes with four lip balms. It is a really good deal actually. The subscription is $10 with a $3 shipping charge and comes with four lip balms from Jersey Shore Cosmetics.
As each of their lip balms costs $12 each, it is a great value for the price. So what I tend to do with this subscription is keep it for a few months, stock pile lip balms and then cancel until I’ve gone through my stock pile. Then I re-subscribe and the process starts all over again. I may not keep this subscription every month, but I will always return.
This month I received my four lip balms. They are a lip balm in watermelon and another in cherry. These are their standard formula for lip balms. As in only the scent varies as opposed to highlight or tint. The third lip balm was the Quattro H2O Pure Hydration Ultimate Hydrating lip balm. I have never tried this one before. As I am almost through with the pomegranate lip balm I opened last month, I am just going to mark this as next in line so I can try the formula.
Okay that is a long winded way of saying I opened it even though I try to keep only one open at a time. As a spoiler, I also opened the fourth one too. The Quattro feels a little firmer than the regular lip balms and I put it on to test it out and it actually stayed on my lips longer as well. If I venture near a swimming pool this year, this is the balm I’ll take. For now, I’m wearing it on my walks outside. I think it is designed for the summer and I look forward to wearing it and seeing how it does with my lips.
The fourth hydrating Balm I received in my subscription this month is called nudist. I opened it becuase it seemed to have a tint to it which made it more like a lipstick than a balm, so of course I had to open it and see. First off, it smells like candy. It actually reminds me of Tarte eyeshadows. Its that kind of scent. That vanilla-esque scent. Personally, I love it. There is a little bit of a bronze shimmer to it, but it is very subtle and when I tried to take a picture just looked like lip balm. Even though I normally plan to stockpile my lip balms I may try this one out in my make up bag next week.
In addition to the lip balms, Jersey Shore Cosmetics sent a stick mineral sunscreen as a free gift this month. It smells oddly like oatmeal. In the best possible way of course. I love oatmeal. In the spirit of fairness I should point out that my baby doll does not think it smells like oatmeal. He also thinks I am crazy for thinking it smells like oatmeal.
But it smells like oatmeal.
At the moment I just started testing out a Volition sunscreen so I will be putting this to the side to try at a later date, but I really appreciate having extra sunscreen around.
Both of these subscriptions are through Cratejoy. I really enjoy having the one system to manage several subscriptions. It’s really easy to log into my account, see what subscriptions I have that are active, which one’s I’ve cancelled and when the next payment date for the subscription is. It’s especially useful with subscriptions like Jersey Shore Cosmetics that I only keep for a few months at a time, but then return to after a break.. They are easy to find, easy to cancel and easy to reactivate. It helps me to keep things organized. Plus I get to poke around and see what other new subscriptions I think might be fun to try out for a while. I always seem to find something interesting.
The May Jersey Shore Cosmetics Lip Balm Subscription
I know I have mentioned it time and time again, but my favorite anti-snacking device involves lip products. Currently, as outside time is limited, I have a selection of lipsticks, lip glosses, lip oils and limp plumpers arranged on my desk in front of my computer monitor.
While I love lip products, sometimes the choices I make when shopping (or what comes in a subscription box) aren’t the colors I gravitate towards when actually applying my makeup for the day. As a consequence what I have started doing is lining up the shades that just don’t work for me, but whose formula I would like to test before investing in the purchase of another from the company, on my desk. These off colors are my test subjects. I apply them while looking into my compact and then forget the color while seeing if I like the formula. As I have some really interesting colors in this selection there have been some interesting reactions when my baby doll asks if I want to join him for lunch.
It also keeps me from just using my Kristopher Buckle Cashmere Lip (Bardot, fav everyday color hands down) down until it is nothing but a nubbin when it is just me and a computer monitor. So that’s a plus.
Oddly enough this makes my lip balm even more important.
In the morning after applying my skin care, my final touch is to apply some lip balm to my lips. At the end of the day, I apply another coat after my final tooth brush of the day. While I also use masks, scrubs and oils on my lips, I generally find that a morning and night application of lip balm helps my lips recover from whatever drying effects some of my tester lip products have had during the day.
This is only one of the reasons the Jersey Shore Cosmetics Lip Balm subscription is one of my favorites. For $10 (with a $3 shipping charge) they send you four lip balms per month. Sometimes they’ll include a pigmented lip balm, sometimes not. The subscription is mailed out between the first and the fifth and renews on the 11th of the month. So if you ordered on May 14th for example, they would charge you immediately, but you would get the June subscription and then on June 11th they would charge you for July’s package. As their lip balms usually cost about $12 each, it is a pretty good deal.
This month was an exceptional one as in addition to my four lip balms, I received a small silver heart necklace with the word Mom inscribed on it for mother’s day and a reusable (non-medical grade) face mask. I appreciate both the sentiment and the safety concern. My baby and I will soon make a trip out to the grocery store to forage for fresh veg and I will be wearing both the lip balm and the face mask then.
Then of course there are the lip balms.
Two are plain lip balms, one scented like strawberry and one scented like pomegranate. They are both perfect scents for this early spring when warmth is still a fleeting thing. They bring to mind long days in the sun (although for me with an extra layer of sunscreen to prevent a burning repeat).
The third lip balm is the Super Sativa. I have to say I am getting more and more enthused by some of the CBD products lately. While there are several products out there that seem like a stretch, I have found a few that I really like using lately. The Yensa CBD infused cleansing oil comes to mind actually.
I tried this same lip balm last fall and through the winter. It was a little more solid than the other formulas but once it warmed up a little it was one of my favorites. The Jersey Shore Cosmetics lip balms do tend to be a little soft, but the Sativa one was stout enough that I could keep it in my pocket when running around outside, so it was close to hand all winter. As a consequence it was used up first. Because of this trait, I suspect I will save it for winter again and have safely sequestered it in my dressing table for later use.
What I tend to do with this subscription is keep it for a few months running, building up a stash of lip balms and then once I start to feel overwhelmed by my stash, I cancel the subscription for a few months and work on using up the lip balms I have. Then when I run low again, I rejoin and start the process over again. While some disappear in the wash or in the bottom of a purse never to be seen again, I am generally pretty good about only keeping one open at a time.
The fourth lip balm in this subscription is usually something a little fun. This month it was the Moon Glow Silver Lip Highlighter. It can be worn alone or with lipstick and it has a little shimmer to it. It smells like peppermint actually and tingles slightly on the lips. It isn’t glittery, just sort of a lip balm with a little extra shimmer. Because I was curious, it was the first one I opened and I have no problem using it as a general lip balm. I love that it has both Argan oil and aloe in the product so even though it is a shimmer product it is super hydrating. I’ve actually been paring it with some of my dryer liquid lipsticks. I find if I put it on, give the lip balm a minute or two to settle and then apply one of my more drying formulas of liquid lips over it, my lips don’t dry out as much. The highlight is actually covered by the matte of the lipstick so I still get a matte lip. Unless I put the highlight over the lip again after the lippie has dried down. I’m actually finding it super helpful in making some of the lip formulas I wasn’t very enthused by work for me.
highlight on hand
Admittedly, my baby doll thinks I look fancy when I wear this one to bed at night.
But he doesn’t have a problem with the texture when I kiss him, so it’s all right.
That is one of the other reasons I keep coming back to this subscription. There are many products that my baby thinks feel slimy when I wear them and then kiss him. And yes he makes the scrunched up face when he says it.
Every time.
He doesn’t think that these feel slimy so I don’t get the ‘Oooh slimy,’ comment. It’s a small thing, but to me, it matters.
Incidentally, while it is easier to find than it once was, sometimes it is hard to find this subscription on the Jersey Shore Cosmetics Home page. I tend to sign up through crate joy for this one (partially because when I reach my cancellation stage it is super easy to deal with).
If you don’t want to use cratejoy, I’d still suggest going through them to the Jersey Shore Cosmetics Site because oddly that has proven the easiest way for me to find the subscription link on their site. It’s sort of a strange back door, but it works and is worth the effort.
Anyone who has been reading this for any length of time knows I have a deep affection for lip products. Last winter when I began to seriously make an effort to lose weight, lipstick and lip balm were my go to anti-snacking defense as well as a fun makeup product.
In our household January is a big birthday month and as one of the family bakers, I end up making all sorts of cakes and sweet treats for various celebrations. As I began my weight loss attempts I had to convince myself not to nibble on the extra birthday goodies. Since I don’t eat for a little while after applying lip products, I became compulsive about applying lip balm as a snack reducing technique.
Over the course of the year, my urge to snack has diminished a lot. Part of that is the fact that we don’t keep a lot of snack foods in the house. It is much easier to ignore a craving if satisfying it requires a lot of time and effort. As a result, I became less compulsive with my lip balm application. The end result? As the weather cooled, my lips began their annual chapping.
So in order to maintain kissable lips (or at least not painfully cracked ones) we bring forth the lip products.
ELF lip scrub in Sweet Cherry
First we have three lip scrubs and then we have two lip treatments. The first lip exfoliator is from ELF and is in the scent Sweet Cherry (retail $4 at Target). I mentioned this in my end of the year review and I have to say I really like this one. When you first start it, the product feels like a lip gloss, but then you wear off the covering of gloss and find the exfoliator underneath. The exfoliator is a good one, just make sure your lips are damp before you start using it as it needs a little moisture to get going. The highlight of this exfoliator is its shape. It is in the shape of a lipstick so you don’t have to dip into a jar with your fingers and clean up is super easy. If you get the scrub in your mouth, it is sweet but has no real taste. The downfall is that after you wipe it off you definitely need to use a lip balm right after or your lips feel a little naked.
The Kismet Buff Sugar scrub in Bright and Bubbly (retail $12) does require the fingers in order to apply, unless you have a spoon from another product standing by and even then you need to massage it with fingers as well as rubbing lips together. I believe it is supposed to be a champagne flavor/scent. It smells like it is attempting to either be strawberry or raspberry, but not quite reaching either. It is not a bad scent, but I would never sniff and think champagne. I sniff and think sweet and fruity. The scrub works well, but it feels a little rougher than the other two products I tried. It is my least favorite of the bunch and one of those that I will use until it is gone, but will not be repurchasing.
The third scrub I tried is hanalei sugar lip scrub (retails $25 on official site but seems to be offered for less on many other sites so I’d shop around if you are looking for it.).It smells of lemon lime and is a very good exfoliator. It too comes in a jar so it is a little messy. While the scrub itself is comparable with the ELF formula, where this product shines is the oil in which the sugar is mixed. After the scrub is removed, the residue left behind is far more hydrating than any of the other products making this my top lip scrub of the batch. With the ELF product it is recommended that you use lip balm following the exfoliator. With the Hanalei scrub, this is not needed. The ELF is a standard lip scrub I will always have on hand, its form more of a convenience than any other, but truthfully the Hanalei is a better over all product and despite its expense, the large jar lasts a really long time as you never use all that much of it.
Despite not needing any additional products after using the lip scrub, I did purchase a hanalei lip treatment (retail travel set of three for $20 which is what I got. They have a single full size for $20 as well but I really like the travel ones) to try. It is a tube that is essentially a lip mask. I often use it in conjunction with the hanalei lip scrub when I apply it before bed as an extra measure. It works well as a lip mask set. This lip treatment also works well as a lip balm, especially if you are planning on spending a lot of time outside in the cold and wind. It is more intense protection than regular lip balm and really helps in preventing chapping in the first place (which is kind of my goal to be honest). The one I’ve got is in mauve pink and it gives a slight pink tint to the lips that makes them look super healthy rather than like you are wearing a heavily tinted lip gloss.
The bite night time lip mask
The final lip product I tried in my effort to keep winter chapping at bay is the Bite Agave Lip Mask. (retail $22 and I think it will last a really long time because you use so little with each application) While it does come in a jar, it also comes with a small spoon/spatula. This product is technically called Nighttime lip therapy and that is where this product shines. I love putting this on my lips just before bed and letting it soak in over night. It feels a little bit like vaseline at first, but it sinks into the skin of my lips well over night and I found that when I have chapped lips, applying a layer at night really helps me wake up with soft lips. Thus far as soon as I feel slight chapping, I apply the mask at night and wake up with no chapping the next morning. Doing this has helped me avoid the painful chapping that I tend to get in the wintertime. I will definitely be ordering this when it runs out however I have been using this off and on for several weeks now and have barely dented the top of the product so I doubt a reorder will be needed anytime soon. It will certainly last through the winter and probably into the summer.
Interior of the Bite Lip mask
Now of course we are starting the January birthday run. Tonight I am baking the first of the cakes as tomorrow starts the first round of celebrations.Soon my counter top will be littered with cupcakes, cakes, and the freezer will be filled with a cornucopia of ice creams as no one can agree on their favorite flavors. With this will come the return of the lip balm anti-snacking defense. I will be applying my lip balm compulsively for the next month running through more product than I usually use in about four other months.
My current favorite lip balm
My favorite for this task? Jersey Shore Cosmetics. (retail $10 although they are having a package deal of some sort if you follow the link – I am in not an affiliate, just a fan and I saw the deal when I linked this post) My super favorite is the peppermint. The scent is nice, but not overwhelming, and the hydrating formula means that I will not need any form of lip mask until February when the birthday season ends. For now, I am putting the masks back in the cabinet and rotating through the scrubs with a once a week application and while I have my currently open Jersey Shore Cosmetics peppermint lip balm at the ready, I also have an order in for several more to get me through the season. Not only will my lips remain kissable soft all year, but I will avoid the multitude of cakes and snack foods whose arrival in my house is imminent. So kiss, kiss Darling. I’m ready, are you?
Affiliate codes: I may receive some compensation if you use the links listed below in the purchase of a product.
Its really hard to take a good pic of just two lip balms, but this was August 2019’s selection.
First, the basics. This is a bag that sends lip balms monthly to your mailbox. For one lip balm it is $2.50, for two it is $5, and for four lip balms it is $10. There is shipping added. I get the two product bag for $5 and with shipping it comes to $8 per month. Since each lip balm they send retails for $10 each, I think it is a pretty good deal.
Normally, I really like the products they send. This month, I’m a little on the fence. Usually a card with the monthly theme comes with the bag. It is little more than a business card. This month, it was missing completely. There was nothing but the two lip balms in the package. A little odd, but as the card doesn’t really tell you much it wasn’t a huge loss. Just odd.
The first of the lip balms was the SUPER SATIVA MEDICINAL HYDRATING BALM. It is:
… formulated using 100% natural, organic, and Non-GMO ingredients. This soothing, medicated formula contains nutrient-rich cannabis sativa seed oil and 100% natural, organic ingredients, including hydrating coconut oil, nourishing cocoa butter, lavender essential oil, natural menthol, and vitamin E.
The green color in hemp seed oil is a result of the high level of chlorophyll which is naturally present in the seeds. All natural certified organic and Non-GMO ingredients. Paraben-free. No THC. Nourishing, hydrating and soothing.
I know CBD oil and other cannabis based products are really hot right now. Personally, I have never tried anything in the skin and health care line. The hype around the products reminds me of the way people flocked to kale, touting it as a super miracle food that will fix all your woes. I’ve always been leery of fads, especially the kind that promise miracles. I also don’t like kale. I’ve tried it in pretty much every form at this point and had to just admit it isn’t for me. I don’t like the taste and it makes my tummy bubble. I am kale intolerant.
I’ve always been a big fan of pot though.
(Yes, I know there is a difference, in case you are thinking, wow she’s about to be super disappointed in ways the company never intended.)
Additionally, so far I have liked every lip balm Jersey Shore Cosmetics has sent me.
I have to admit though; I don’t particularly care for this one. I like the scent of it. It smells really nice. And I really wanted to like it as I want to like all nice smelling products. However, on my lips it feels waxier than their other lip products. I don’t know if it is just a modification of their usual product to include the cannabis sativa oil or what, but it doesn’t have the same feel on the mouth.
Also when I lick my lips with it on, it tastes green. I don’t have another word for it. Sometimes tastes and scents hit my brain in colors. This was one of those times. This tastes green, a weird sea foam green if you want particulars. Like a bad 1980s prom dress.
Reading the description though, I think that perhaps the extra chlorophyll might be to blame. I certainly felt better about the taste after seeing the description. Still I don’t care for the taste or the way it feels on my lips, so I doubt I will be getting much use out of this.
The second product in the envelope was the MONGONGO ORGANIC
LIP CONDITIONER which is…
…paraben-free, petroleum-free, and are formulated using 100% natural and organic ingredients. Mongongo oil has hydrating, regenerating and restructuring properties and offers a unique protection from UV and environmental pollutants in skin applications. Mongongo oil is rich in calcium, magnesium, zinc, copper, and anti-oxidants. Leaves lip silky smooth, supple, moist, luscious and hydrated. Lips feel amazing.
I admit, it feels really amazing on the lips and I will use it. I don’t however care for the scent of it. While they have various scents, the one I received is the vanilla coconut cream version. While I like vanilla and I like coconut cream, something about the way it smells is like canned coconut frosting that has gone slightly rancid in the heat.
My lips do feel amazingly hydrated with it on, and luckily the scent dissipates fairly quickly. I will use this one, but I can’t help feeling that if I was able to take the decent scent from the first lip balm and swap scents with the second, but keep all other properties of the second, I would have gotten one really good lip balm instead of two I’m not particularly crazy about.
I suppose they can’t all be winners. And if I don’t like them, the most I’ve lost is $8 instead of the retail $20. Although I will use one of them so I guess I only gambled and lost on $4, which isn’t all that hard a loss to bear. Especially since they have a really good track record. Fingers crossed for next month. If you are interested you can check out these products or the lip balm bag by following the links below.
Last month I went for the one lip balm as I was unfamiliar
with their products and wasn’t sure I’d like it. I did and June’s Lemonade balm spent the
month living on my desk, fighting my urge to snack and keeping my lips from
being dried out in the sun.
The balm certainly got a workout.
We got enough rain here that pulling weeds in the garden was more or less a daily chore and tying up the tomatoes to keep them out of the reach of roving rabbits required constant vigilance as they seemed to grow a few inches every time my back was turned. (the tomatoes not the rabbits)
The rabbits of course multiplied and were out in force. After losing the majority of my lettuce to them defeating the Bunny Patrol has become a minor summer obsession. Don’t worry, there will be no Elmer Fudd like blasting, and certainly no chemical warfare.
I will admit to turning the hose on full blast and aiming it into the bushes where I knew they were hiding and then chasing them with the water as they scattered for safety. But I only did that the one time and I just found my eggplants gnawed to nubs so I felt justified. A little crazy, but justified.
It was my attempt to inspire fear.
As they came back in the night and took the lettuce, I would
have to say it failed miserably so I’ve stopped wasting water. I mean I stopped
scaring the poor little darlings.
Who are plotting evil behind their fluffy little faces.
Evil.
In addition my love decided there were so many new flavors of chips out there that he had to bring the more interesting ones home to try. So I used the lip balm to resist the salty temptation sitting in the kitchen while I worked.
All this means that my one lip balm was worn to a nub by the time the new ones arrived. So, since I like the product and will use it, I upped my subscription to two lip balms a month. That subscription is $5/ month, but with shipping it comes to an even $8. As each of their lip balms are usually $10 a piece, I am okay paying $8 for two.
For those interested, one lip balm is $2.50 (adding shipping brings it to $5.50), two lip balms are $5 (Adding shipping brings it to $8) and four lip balms are $10 (I haven’t ordered this one, but I would guess that shipping would be about the same and bring it to $13). The subscription bag information I was unable to find on the regular Jersey Shore Cosmetics website, but I did find it through Cratejoy. I’ve posted both links below for anyone interested.
Now, on to this month’s selections. The first one I pulled out of the bag was the Arabica mineral lip tint. At first I was a bit concerned because it looks so dark, but the tint goes on fairly light and just slightly deepens the lip color. Which is great for me, since I tend to put the lip balm on at the desk without the aid of a mirror and didn’t want it smearing everywhere. If I try keeping a saturated color on the desk I look like a drunken clown post bar fight by the end of the work day. Not my best look. If you are looking for more saturated color though, this is probably not for you. Personally, I like it.
Tinted Balm
Which is a good thing, as it turns out.
The second balm in my bag was the Peppermint moisture rich
hydrating balm. It is stark white and smells like peppermint. I got to try it once and it is a good
formula. I’m sure I would have used it
just like I did the Lemonade from last month.
Yup, would have.
My potato chip loving baby has been working outside for the last month as they try to complete a project, which is probably why he is craving salt. His lips are dry and his winter only, no scent extra strength, manly, no frills, medicinal because the doctor gave it to me on my last checkup, lip balm is nowhere to be found so he absconded with my peppermint lip balm. His review when I asked was ‘not as waxy’.
Yeah, I’m not actually sure if he meant that as a positive or negative to be honest.
To give you a gauge, he has no sisters only brothers and no close female cousins. His mother wears no makeup so his only experience with make up was his grandmother who only wore a 1940s-50s red. Which means really red lipstick is referred to as ‘lipstick colored’ and every other color is ‘that weird color’. It it is one of my favorites (I favore dark berry tones) then it is ‘that weird color you like’.
So yeah, I’m not really sure if ‘not as waxy’ is a positive or negative.
As his doctor will no doubt give him another lip balm in the fall (they are imprinted with his name and number and he gives them out like a dentist gives out toothbrushes), I suspect I won’t know how they compare until then. I probably won’t know even then as questioning will probably just get me an answer of, ‘it’s lip balm’ since like red lipstick, it is the standard.
Not all that enlightening, I know. But at least I know it will be used, just not by me. So I will be using the tinted lip balm to stave of snack cravings and dry lips for the month of July. All in all, I’m glad I switched to the two pack. Maybe next month, I’ll get to use them both.
If interested in the brand or the subscription bag, check out the links below.
Ms. Mimsy Reviews 