Unboxing the March 2023 Scentbox

As many of you may recall I am a big fan of scent. I am not really a signature scent sort of person. I know a lot of people who are, but I am more of a scent library sort of person. I wear fragrance for me and I use it to match my mood, frame of mind, season or simply because on this day THAT scent smells like something I want to surround myself with.

I am also the sort of person who can very easily fall in love with perfume descriptions. I love how some whisk you away to exotic locations, or whisper thoughts of a life far more exciting. Don’t get me wrong. I love the thought of racing across the desert sands or walking on moonlit beaches on tropical islands as much as the next person. But those sort of things are not my everyday life. Scents that can make me feel like I am there when I am really at home making sure the laundry gets done so I don’t run out of clean socks mid week are actually the perfect escape. A momentary transportation.

And it makes me happy.

However I have read enough perfume descriptors to know that what they describe isn’t always what my nose picks up. Especially when the fragrance hits my skin. There are some scents that are amazing when spritzed into the air and some that smell fantastic when someone else is wearing them. But sometimes it just smells different when I apply it to my own skin. There is ascent my mother wears that smells amazing on her. I tried it on my skin and the result was not pleasant.

Which means that you have to try a scent on yourself before you can decide if it is for you. Once of my favorite methods is through scent subscriptions. Each subscription offers a little something different and many of them have changed as of late. So I am trying out a few to get the feel for them and see the pros and cons of each. While I will discuss this perfume when I get around to trying it, i wanted this post to be about the subscription itself.

So this is Scentbox. There is a deep discount on your first order. I believe the current offer is the first month for $9.72 and then after that it is $16.95 per month. Oddly this seems to be the current cost for almost all of the scent subscriptions I have seen. There are a few cents difference here and there but that does seem to be in the middle of the range. Scentbox charges on the seventh of the month and ships out on the 14th of the month. I always receive my scent within four to five days. This month it arrived on the 17th.

What do you get for that price? You get a one month supply of scent. It is ).27 oz. You can choose the one scent a month option or expand to two or even three scents per month. If you choose two scents per month it is $28.95 per month and if you go with three it is $40.95.

Scent box also has three categories to choose from. There is the Standard ($16.95), Premium ($21.95), and platinum ($30.95) categories. I understand that there are perfumes in different price ranges and that it is going to cost more per sample for those, But I have to say that I am not a big fan of this sort of break out. I have the Standard subscription and there are plenty of scents that i want to try in that category. I have no issues with the selection. There are however scents in the other categories I wouldn’t mind trying as well. I wish that they would just put a small price increase on the Premium and platinum scents instead of having the category break out. I would rather pay a one time fee for a higher cost scent than have categories.

The reason is that I get to search the available scents and pick which one I want each month. I know that if I start to see perfumes in the premium category I want to try and then switch to premium, I will never again choose a scent from the standard selection because I am already paying the premium fee. I don’t think they give you a discount if that month you made a standard selection even though you have a premium subscription. I would rather pay a one time fee if I found a scent in one of the other categories that I wanted to try.

What I do like is that with each order I do earn Scentbucks which can be put towards the purchase of a full sized item or more scents. This too has changed, It was $2.24 and it is onw $1.70 for the monthly Standard subscription. The amount of scent bucks you receive is based on what you spend. They don’t expire so you can save them up and thus lower the cost of purchasing a full sized bottle of something that you tried and loved.

I also like that they have body care as well as home scents (Like candles) and if you decide you have enough perfume at the moment you can swap out one of your fragrances with something else, like a candle that month.

With each scent you get a metal travel case. You get a new case each month which is really nice. And it is not an extra cost. As I will often reuse these and put scents from other places into the container for travel I really like that. I really do like having a case with every scent. While it is good for travel or just adding a scent to your purse, it also makes storing the scents a lot easier. Some scents I use up faster than others so some stay around longer than the month intended. It is really nice to be able to store them in the case.

This month is a sleek gray and silver which I really like the look of.

In addition to the scent you will get a Scent of the month card. Each month Scent box chooses a scent of the month. If you have no scent lined up in your roster, that would be what you receive. I rarely go with the scent of the month, preferring to make my own selections. I have occasionally gotten one of these cards and like the description enough that I have added it to my list for later. I do which they would also include the card for the scent I actually ordered that month.

This month’s selection for me was L’Extase by Nina Ricci. The info card I received was for Selena Gomez EDP on one side and Jimmy Choo Man on the other side (for their Cologne of the month) I have to say that the Jimmy Choo Man sounds more like something I would like than the perfume of the month and there is the possibility I will put it on my list. And as I would have honestly just passed it by had I not seen the card, then I am glad they put it in with my subscription.

Also included in my box is a return label. I am in love with this facet of Scentbox. The return. If you get something you thought you might like and you absolutely hate it, you can return it. As long as most of the scent is still in the container there are no questions asked. You just send it back and they will send you the next item on your list.

When I first started my perfume journey I would occasionally fumble with my selections. Part of my issue is that I can take both patchouli and bergamot in small doses or as part of a blend but if there is too much of either then it doesn’t matter what it smells like i will be sneezing my head off the entire time i wear it. As both are very common ingredients in perfumes I have to kind of watch my selections. I didn’t actually realize that until I started trying out more scents so it was something I learned about myself as well.

I have had to use the return policy a couple of times but each time it was easy and had no issues at all.

As with any subscription there are pros and cons. In the case of Scentbox, the pros definitely outweigh the cons. It is a good subscription with a wide variety to choose from and if you are just starting out on a scent based journey it is a great way to try scents you may not try otherwise. I have taken risks on scents I might not have purchased if I had to pay the full fee and been surprised by what iI did like as well as what I didn’t. It has been an experience getting to know the scents I like in an affordable way and it helps build my confidence so that I know what I look for in a perfume when i go shopping. it is an education in scent. And something I really enjoy.

Is the IPSY Beauty Boost worth the money?

Back in December of 2022 IPSY announced their new Beauty Boost Category. For $15 per month ($16.46 with all additional tax) you could get one full sized item added to your bag, I believe this was available for all tiers of the bag. While there are four months total that this subscription has been active, I could not find the Item I received for December. I will mention it, but it isn’t tin the photos.

My plan was to try out the beauty Boost for six months and then evaluate. I figured a six month check in post would do well. However IPSY recently announced the full merger of the IPSY and Boxycharm Boxes so I thought a four month check in might be helpful for those trying to decide if it is worth adding on. If you are a Boxycharm Premium Member then I believe your subscription will now be the Ipsy Glam Bag Plus (renamed Boxycharm) plus the beauty Boost. And for those of you who aren’t then this may be a chance to add it on, or avoid it if you want. According to IPSY…

Here are all the deets on Beauty Boost and how to get started: Glam Bag Plus members can opt-in to receive one additional high-delight, full-size product (worth $40+) for only $15 more a month (a guaranteed savings of 60% off or more). Basically, you get a premium, splurge-worthy pick for the cost of a few lattes.

IPSY is usually pretty good about matching items to your profile. Mine essentially has that I like skincare as much as I like makeup. And for the Beauty Boost, IPSY has alternated between Makeup and Skincare. December I received the Kate Somerville Retinol and Vitamin C moisturizer (retail $110 for the large, I think it was a smaller size that retailed for $60 but that is from my notes, I didn’t see it on the site). I was very pleased with this selection for me. At the moment I put the moisturizer in a safe place as I was finishing up another moisturizer and now i can’t find it, which is irritating me, but it is a product i am very much looking forward to.

January was a makeup item and it was the Fenty Beauty Sun Stalk’R palette (retail $48). I am usually a little on the fence with Fenty as they are usually just okay products, but when they get it right, they really get it right. Their gloss bombs are amazing and this palette proved to be really well thought out. It has the bronzers I can use, plus shimmer shades so it isn’t just that you are using a bronzer as an eyeshadow. Technically the shimmers can be used as highlights but I wasn’t impressed with how they worked as highlighters. With the shimmers you can create a good quick look. it has proven to be a really nice addition to my collection.

With February came skin care again and this time it was with a brand that hadn’t been in IPSY before. It was Drunk Elephant. Specifically the F balm Electrolyte Water Facial masque Hydrant. (retail $54). I have not used much Drunk Elephant before. Actually the only item I used was a protini moisturizer and it was a sample size. It was fantastic though so i am very much looking forward to giving this a go. At the moment I am trying to clear out some of my sample sizes before opening full sized products. So I have to wait, but soon…soooon.

And then in March we went back to make up and my Beauty Boost this month was the Better than Chocolate Eyeshadow Palette from Too Faced. (retail: $54 although currently on sale on the site for $24). I remember the chocolate palette rom Too Faced but I don’t remember this one. It could have been around for a while though. I like too faced but I have to admit I haven’t dipped into their product releases in a while. They are coming back to mind though. I don’t know if they expanded their ads or something but I am more aware of them now than I have been for a while. I used an eyeliner from them last week and I do find myself looking at the Too Faced Palettes in my collection more. They had a bit of a slump where their quality kind of went down, but the last thing I tried from them was really good so I am hoping this is a good formula, especially as I really like the shades in this palette. It is a very me palette for right now.

As of February, IPSY did introduce a trading option in the Beauty Boost. If you don’t like the item they have selected, you can deselect it and chose one of the other items. In both February and March there were five other options to choose from if I didn’t like their selection. As the items they chose were actually what i would have chosen from the offered choices I kept the choice they made.

So after four months do I think that the beauty boost is worth it? Yes I do. I very much enjoyed the options chosen for me and I am looking forward to hopefully having that category expanded as the new joint box is created. I am hoping for really good things from the Beauty Boost. In a few months I will do a check in and we can compare the pre merge to the post to see if it is still worth it. If you are looking to add this to your subscription or if it was added by the merge I hope this helps you out with your decision making.

Unboxing the IPSY Glam Bag Plus for March 2023

For those of you who don’t know, IPSY and Boxycharm officially merged. The first merged box will be in April so this is the last of the IPSY Glam Bag Plus boxes. In the future this subscription will be called Boxycharm. Personally i find that a little confusing, I wish they had just given it a completely new name, bit I am not in charge of such things. They did rename the Glam Bag X which is quarterly. It and the Boxycharm Luxe will now be the same thing and they are calling it the Icon Box. I suppose since IPSY got to keep the regular $13 glam bag as Glam Bag they wanted Boxycharm to be represented in the merger, despite the confusion. For those of you who had Boxycharm Premium you will get the new Boxycharm Box (Currently Glam Bag Plus) plus the Beauty Boost. I do get the beauty boost, but I am going to put up a second post about that later today covering the past few months of Beauty Boost so those of you who are thinking of signing up can see what it looks like.

I figured I would post the last IPSY Glam Bag Plus so that it can stand as a marker while we watch the subscription change. I am hoping the change will be a positive one. For the past year one of the complaints I have had was that i would get some of the same items I got in IPSY that I got in Boxy. Hopefully that will be a thing of the past and I will be able to get back to unabashedly loving this subscription.

Before we look at my items, a brief bit of details. The subscription is $28 per month, This is not changing. With all of the tax and shipping I pay $32.91 each month. The beauty boos is an extra $15 (actual cost $16.46). In this box you get five full sized items. Two are chosen for you and three you get to choose from a limited selection. This month’s selection was not the greatest but I did manage to find three products that interested me. I also picked up two items in add ons that i believe were choices for other people but weren’t on my list of options. Which I am okay with. I know they have to balance the cost of the boxes and This month the spoilers I was excited for that didn’t make it to my selection were in add ons so I added them. They were the Saturday Skin Yuzu Vitamin C Sleeping Mask and the Porefessional Tight and Toned Pore Refining AHA + PHA Toning Foam. I have been wanting to try out the new skincare options from Benefit cosmetics since they were first released a month or so ago and I was tickled I could puck it up on add ons.

But now On to the Last ever Glam Bag Plus!

First we look at the two items chosen for me. The first was a set of brushes from Beauty for Real (retail $42). It is a set Five full sized brushes and they look like a really well thought out kit actually. All of them are brushes I will use. I have to say I am thrilled with the liner brush being included. I used to have one exactly like this and I used it until it fell apart. With it gone I did steadily fewer and fewer eyeliner looks so I am hoping having a new one will encourage me more. They look like they are decent quality. I will no more once i start using them, but I am looking forward to giving them a go. I haven’t had a brush set from IPSY for a while so I am pretty excited.

The second Item Ipsy chose for me this month was the Wander Beauty Island Hop Getaway Eye and face palette (retail $42). It has a row of eyeshadows a blush, a bronzer and a highlighter. I have to say all of these colors work for me as a daily kind of scheme. I love the formulas for Wander Beauty Shadows but I have never tried their face products. I live that this is the prefect travel sized palette too. I am really looking forward to trying this out.

Shall we look at the first product I chose?

The first up is the Bobbi Brown Long Wear Cream Shadow Stick in Vanilla. (retail $32). I have the champagne shimmer shade of this shadow stick and I absolutely love the formula. I was thrilled to add another one to my collection. I also adore the fact that it is matte. Almost all of the shadow sticks in subscriptions are shimmers. I know they have more pizazz, but personally i want some matte shadow sticks. I think I would use the shimmers more if I had more mattes. But maybe that is just me. I am happy to have this one and I hope to use it a lot.

The next item I chose because I found it interesting and wanted to give it a try. It is the Farsali Skintune Blur Perfecting Serum (retail $22). I think it is a primer that has a serum consistency. At least that is what I got from the description. I’ll find out more when I start to actually use the product, but it seemed interesting enough to give a go, After all I like serums and I like primers. Perhaps I will like this, sort of the skincare version of the Reese’s Peanut butter cups. I was a little disappointed that this wasn’t the full size. On the website they have two sizes. This is the smaller of the two. Technically I don’t think it is listed as a mini, but it is a bit smaller than I would have liked to have seen in this subscription.

And finally the last item I chose this month was the Selfless By Hyram Retinol and Rainbow algae Repair Serum (retail $24.50). I chose this because I always love a good retinol. I also have never heard of Rainbow algae and thought it would be interesting to learn about. I know I like products with red algae so hopefully that will work for me. I am also curious about the line as I used to watch Hyram’s skincare videos. So it will be interesting to see how his skincare turns out.

And that was my IPSY Glam Bag Plus Subscription this month. I will be covering the beauty Boost separately, for those interested. I just figured it was less confusing to keep things separate. If you are tallying up the retail value of this bag it comes to $162.50. Which is not a bad return for the bag. While I appreciate the monetary value I think it is more important to have items I will use or that i want to try out. I will certainly use the brushes and I am looking forward to taking the Wander Beauty Palette on my Near -Easter trip next month. I will play with it before then though. I’m not brave enough to travel with an untested palette. Over all, even though the selection wasn’t great (I really chose the one product that interested me in each category) I did get products that I find interesting and want to try out. I am hoping with the merger the selection will be better and that I will have fewer duplicates as there aren’t two subscriptions pulling from the same pool of products.

I have had my ups and downs with IPSY but over all I love the subscription and can’t wait to see what it becomes as we move forward.

Unboxing the Dermstore Beauty Fix box for March 2023

I know I took a break from posting unboxings for a while, but I am really happy to be back posting them. I know part of the enjoyment is that I am trying out several new boxes and so I am still trying to figure out how I feel about them, but still I like these posts. I hope you do too. I like to think it might help someone else decide if this box is right for them.

This is my second Dermstore Beauty Fix Box although I do purchase from Dermstore on my own quite a bit. They have really good prices and a nice selection along with lots of sales, Currently they have the Spring sale going on if anyone is interested. You get 20% off with code REFRESH. The link will take you to the site.

As for this box it is $24.95 per month and you get a mix of full size and sample items. I am on the month to month plan and with taxes and shipping I pay $27.38 per month. You can sign up for six or twelve months but you do have to pay in one lump sum. The advantage is that the cost is less in general, but also they waive shipping on orders over $100 and even six months is over $100 so that makes it even less. If I decide I want to keep it i will probably end up going with one of the six month or annual plans, but for right now I am just testing the subscription so month to month it is.

Shall we see what this month brought?

As this is a company that tends to focus on skincare it isn’t surprising that there is mostly skincare inside. There is one makeup item in this box though. It is the Jane Iredale Glow Time Blush Stick. Mine is in the shade Balmy. I don’t know if there is only one shade or if shades vary. I tested this on my hand and it looks like it is going to be a nice flattering shade on me. It felt soft and creamy on the hand.

I did blend out the swatch on my hand and it gave a nice light flush to the skin. I tried the Jane Iredale tinted lip balms a while back and absolutely love them It was actually a summer staple one summer and I think it was the only lippie I reached for that summer. They are (I believe) a clean ad vegan brand. I’ll have to do more checking as I look into them but I know their tinted lip balms were fantastic so i am looking forward to trying this out. This blush is a full size and retails for $38 which more than pays for the box.

There is a second full sized item in the box this month it is the Tula Skincare Purifying face cleanser (retail $34). It is a massive 200 mL tube. I remember trying one or maybe two items from Tula and i remember the scent being so strong I couldn’t take it. I have a moisturizer in my skincare drawer from the brand that i keep meaning to try but keep putting off because I worry about the scent.

I do want to try it out and see if it was just the one product from the brand that I didn’t like or if the scent is all over the brand and something I need to just pass on when it shows up in subscriptions. I am glad I received this because putting it with the moisturizer I will feel a stronger impetuous to try it out and make my opinion more concrete with regards to the brand. I know many people love it, so if it turns out I don’t I do know several people I can pass the items to.

The next item in my box kind of made me laugh when i saw it. It is the First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream. It is a travel sized tube and FAB packs their tubes with product so it is all the way full. Here is the reason that I am laughing about seeing it. A while ago I tried this in a full size and it is one of my favorite items from the brand. Because I know I like it and because I know it works with my skin, when I received a travel size of it in another subscription I put it to the side as something to use when I travelled.

As you may know at the moment I realized how many travel and sample sized products I have so I decided to start using them up. This weekend when my moisturizer ran out I pulled a new travel sized moisturizer to use. Want to guess which one? Yup, I decided it had been in my travel kit too long so I might as well use it. So I am currently using my travel size of this Ultra Repair Cream from FAB and now I have a replacement for it. Which I am thrilled about, It is a really good moisturizer to have on hand. Life just sometimes makes me giggle.

While First Aid Beauty is known for packing their samples full of product, in general I find the Caudalie sample sizes feel very light and aren’t always full. It is always disappointing because I always like their products, but they just don’t contain a lot of product. Their full sized ones are completely full, just not their samples. There is a Caudalie sample in this months’ Beauty Fix and yeah it does feel suspiciously light. It is however something I haven’t tried before. It is the Premier Cru The Eye Cream. I have had many tubes of the Vino perfect serum in subscription but never tried the eye cream. I really like Caudalie and am looking forward to trying out however much eye cream is in this tube.

You can tell spring is just around the corner as sunscreen has now started cropping up in subscription boxes. I actually found one of my favorites in a subscription box. (If you get a chance to try out the Coola Sun Silk Drops go for it. Great protection and fabulous feel on the skin. Not an affiliate, just a fan) The sunscreen Sample in this Beauty Fix is the Supergoop Unseen Sunscreen. It is SPF 40 which is nice. I have never tried this version of Supergoop before. To be honest it isn’t one of my favorite brands if sunscreen as it always feels a little waxy/greasy to me, but it has been a while since I used Supergoop and I haven’t tried this version so perhaps it will surprise me. Even if it doesn’t it has reminded me that I need to order sunscreen. I knw it is something to wear year round but in the winter I tend to make do with spf infused products if i know I am not going outside for more than an hour. In the summertime our sun laughs at anything under SPF 50. So good reminder if nothing else.

There are two more products and I have to say I am thrilled for both of them The first is the Dr. Zenovia Hyaluronic Acid + Peptide serum. My cousin uses this and she can’t stop raving about it so I am thrilled that I can try a sample of it. Plus you know I love hyaluronic acid.

The final item in the box is the Eve Lom Radiance Repair Retinol Serum. I tried this in another sample and I loved the sample a lot. It went immediately on the to be purchased in the full size list. Then I saw the serums I had in the drawer and couldn’t justify purchasing it until I used up a few more products. So I haven’t purchased it yet. But I am thrilled to have another sample. Plus it has been a while so I can see if it is as fabulous as I remember or if I talked it up in my head once I convinced myself i couldn’t repurchase it right now.

Which can happen, bit I do remember it being pretty fabulous.

And to that is my Beauty Fix for March. Do I consider this box worth keeping for another month? Yes. First, I like to test boxes for at least three months before I decide and this is only month two. Second is that I really enjoyed this box and I loved the February box so there are already two tic marks in the positive column. At the moment I definitely consider this box worth keeping and am happy to see what April brings.

I also need to remember to reorder sunscreen.

Up to 65% savings on the Best of Dermstore!

Unboxing the Cohorted Beauty Box for February 2023

I have been curious about this box for a while now so I thought it was time to give it a try. Cohorted is a UK based subscription box so there is an international shipping fee attached. The box cost $51 and the shipping fee is $16 for a total cost to me of $67. This is my first box and it was…interesting. First off, you pay for the box a month in advance. So I signed up January 21st and was charged immediately for February’s box. Then on February 1st I was charged for Marche’s box. I’ll admit I am not entirely thrilled with being charged twice before I get my first box, but as I planned to try this out for at least three months to get a feel for it, the complaint is minor. I will say that I do like their subscription account page. It has a button you can press so that you can skip a month, or certain months. With the cost I could easily see how someone might choose to skip a couple of months. They are good about letting you know the theme o the upcoming month in advance. For example I already know that the March box is a female Founders box and that there will be a Kate Somerville Goat Milk Cleanser in the box. I have no idea if the entire box is Kate Sommerville products, or if they are all products from female founded companies. It will be interesting to find that out.

This box was The Stylist X Cohorted Ready Set Glow box. Here is where it gets interesting. There is a card with the box. t has a QVC Scan code to get to the Cohorted App where there is information about all of the products. I am okay with that actually as I like the on-line booklet. The info however is part of the CULT magazine. And while it does give you many fabulous articles, finding information about the box isn’t the easiest as it is set up like a magazine page and less like a booklet for a subscription box. According to the info there were supposed to be fourteen items in this box. I have no idea how many items are usually in this box as it seems to vary. I received ten items. I didn’t think this subscription had variations so I was a bit confused. Also some of the items I received in my box weren’t listed as items on the site. Needless to say, I have put in an e-mail to customer service and hope for clarification when they get back to me. I’ll keep you posted on that.

For now, we are just going to see what actually came in this month’s box. We will start with the item that was the sneak peek for the February box. It is the Pixi Skin Treats Overnight Glow Serum (retail $24). It is an exfoliating Gel you wear over night, hence the name. I have seen this a couple of times as I passed it in the store and was planning to pick it up and test it out so I am thrilled it was in the box. I am currently testing out an exfoliating toner so I want to wait for that for a little while. A girl can have too much exfoliation. So I’ll finish one before i try the other.

There is a second exfoliator in the box as well this month. It is the Nip + Fab Exfoliate Fix Scrub Triple Action Face Scrub.(retail $17.90). It has Glycolic acid in it and I think there is a physical exfoliating element to it as well so it is a little different from the Pixi (which is 10% glycolic acid). I am leaving it sealed until ready to use so that will be a later surprise. I’ll never be upset about an exfoliator and this is one I haven’t tried. I’ve seen the brand before but I haven’t tried anything from them either so it will be a new product, new brand for me. which is sort of the point of getting a subscription box from a different country, trying products you might not normally stumble across. It is a glow themed box so both products make sense with the box. It is slightly strange to have two exfoliators in the box.

Keeping on the Glow theme, there are two full sized items from OFRA in this box. One is an All of the Lights highlighter (retail $35). I have this in and it is a fantastic product. Well, all of OFRA’s highlighters are fantastic. In the one I have the pink and bronze are worn down because those are the shades I use the most, the others less so. But I am more than happy to have a replacement for the well loved version I own. Mine is also still in the old packaging which tells you it is old enough that I really should think of decluttering it. I was just reluctant to let it go. Now I have a replacement and I can.

The second OFRA product is a shimmer body lotion called Dew the Dew in Moonstone (retail $39). I will admit, shimmer body lotion is not really my thing. I tried it on my hand though and the skimmer is minimal. There are still some sparkly bits but it is far more subtle than I anticipated. It is something I can wear without feeling like I have gone too over the top. And I have to admit the scent is divine. It has an almost peachy scent to it that I really like. It smells luxurious and we will now just have to see how it performs.

The last full sized item in the box is the West Barn Co Soap Brows. (retail $18). I find this in interesting product. I’m not entirely certain how to use it so an investigation will be launched and we shall see what it does and how it works. I received a brow gel product from West Barn Co. in an advent calendar and have not tried that out yet. When my bangs get long I tend to forget brow products in general. Although with my bangs long it might be a good time to try out some new brow products. Either way this looks like it could be something fun to play around with.

In this box there were three L’Occitane products, two 30 ml sized hand creams and a sample sized serum. The first hand cream I know well it is the L’Occitane Dry Skin Hand Cream with 20% Shea Butter30 ml (retail $12.50). This hand cream was a life saver when I first started using hand sanitizer like crazy. My hand became sandpaper dry and cracked and this was the hand cream I dove into. It is non-greasy and it was fantastic on overly dried skin. It is extremely hydrating.

The second Hand Cream is the L’Occitane Delicious Hands Amande 30 ml (retail $12.50). I had not tried this before but I do love the scent of almonds. I did open it and it is a very light hand cream with a delicate almond scent. It absorbed quickly and I am happy to have it. Here is the thing, two hand creams is a bit much for one subscription box. Especially as there is already the OFRA cream. I am willing to admit that it is a shimmer cream and put it into a different category. On the website though only the Delicious Hands cream is listed, the Dry Skin Hand Cream is not so I believe this might have been a mistake of some sort.

The L’Occitane serum is the Immortelle Reset. (5 mL sample so no retail value) The Full sized version retails for $65 but is currently on sale for $52 on the Look Fantastic Website if you are interested. It claims that results can be seen after only one night. As I might be able to get three to four nights out of this serum, I can at least test that theory. The bottle looks familiar, but i can’t say that I remember trying the serum before. In all fairness it does look like something I would see and think “Oh pretty” but I can’t remember the product so I might have just passed it by.

I did try out a sample of an item from the bareMinerals Skinlongevity line and really loved it. So I am happy to have a second one to try. This is the bareMinerals Long life Herb serum. This is an 8 mL sample and the full sized retails for $65. I really like bareMinerals and am happy to try out more of their skincare. For the most part I know them for their makeup so it is nice to see something else.

And finally the last sample in the box is the Laura Mercier Pure canvas primer. The full sized retails for $47. This is a hydrating primer. While I love primers, the hydrating ones aren’t usually the ones I go for. Mostly, I use my Empryolisse lait creme as a pre makeup burst of hydration so I can use a pore filling primer, but I am always happy to try out a new to me primer. At the moment I have several sample sized primers I have been meaning to try out so I should probably start shifting them to the front to use and see if full sizes need to be purchased. But I do like the Laura Mercier products I have tried and will happily try out the primer.

Without trying to figure out the value of the three samples sized products (Immortelle Reset by L’Occitane, Bareminerals Long Life Herb Serum, and Laura Mercier Primer), the retail value of this box comes to $159.90. So it was definitely worth the value. More importantly i will use every single item in the box. Knowing that makes me more comfortable continuing the trial. To be honest, I really do like this box. I find some of their choices a little strange. I can see where everything leaned into the glow theme. Although to be honest the themes of the box are less important than the usability of the products within. The only thing that really threw me was the number of products differing from the list, and receiving some items that weren’t on the list while I didn’t get some of the items that were listed.

As I said towards the top I did send my questions to their customer service and will hopefully get an answer soon. Perhaps I misread something. It is always possible. I have been wrong many times before. This might be one of those times. However it turns out, I did enjoy this box and look forward to using the items. I am also excited to see what the March box brings. Hopefully I will et an e-mail response well before I get my March Beauty Box from Cohorted. I’ll post an update when I know something, if not before, then with my March Review. So stay tuned my darlings.

Unboxing the February 2023 Dermstore Beauty Fix

Dermstore is one of the places I routinely shop for skincare they have a really good selection and they are really good about rotating in sales so I can usually find good deals on what I want. I have seen this Beauty Fix Subscription box offered for quite a while. It has always intrigued me but I also always thought that I had enough subscription boxes at the time and I would come back to it later.

This year I am shaking up my subscription game. I am letting some of my long time subscriptions expire to see how much (if at all) I miss them and if it is actually time to let them go or if I want to get them back. For several I had an annual subscription i am letting wind down. While i felt it was a good time to do a major reevaluation,. I thought it would also be a great time to give some new subscriptions a try and this one immediately popped to the top of my list.

The details: if you go month to month it is a $24.95 beauty box. There is also $7.00 for shipping. If you sign up for a six month subscription it is $22.95, and for an annual one it is $21.95. For the longer subscriptions you have to pay in one lump sum instead of per month. The benefit of this is that even the six month subscription is over $100 for the six months and if you spend more than $100 at a time on Dermstore then they waive the shipping (at least that is what they are doing now.). So the subscription is less because of that. At this point I am trying out the subscription as a test un so I am just going month to month so with shipping i paid around $32.

So let’s look at what was inside my first box. We will start with the fur All Body Wash. It is a full 8 oz size and oddly enough retails for $32 which makes it the cost of the box. Which I find kind of fun. I know that fur is a clean beauty brand. I have seen it around for a while now and I haven’t gotten a chance to try anything from them. so for me this is a win. Because there is no scent description on the label I opened it up to see and there is no scent to the body wash which means it can be used by pretty much everyone. I already know that if it does a good job washing then my babydoll will be claiming this one. He likes his scents, but he also really likes having an unscented body wash around for when he has to deal with the public. Most of the time he works alone, but occasionally there are people and he hs found it better if those days he smells like nothing. So I suspect after my trial it will shft shelf space to his side of the shelf. But i am glad I will get to try it.

Isn’t this a nice start?

The second item out of the box was the Babor Ampule Concentrate Perfect Glow( retail $39.95). This is a set of seven ampules and I believe it is a full sized item. I am going to have to read up on it before I use it but I believe it is like a serum. I used the hydration ampules from Babor before and that was how they were used so i suspect they are too. The ones I tried were fantastically hydrating so I look forward to giving this a go.

Next up is a Slip pure Silk Skinny scrunchie. I could only find them for sale as packs of two and this is a single but the two packs are $16 so this would have a retail of $8. I love these skinny scrunchies and I love the silk as a material for them. The silk doesn’t tangle in my hair and the skinny ones are perfect for work outs. I generally stock up in the spring and wear them all summer. They go in the wash with everything else because after a workout they need to be washed. I know I am really hard on these, but I generally get a four pack each spring and just sort of kill them with use. They are fantastic. They do last longer if you don’t beat them up with workouts and the washer but I am okay with buying four and just using them over the year. They do last the whole year. This one is a bit fancier than my usual ones. It has sparkles so it might not be designated for the walking cycle but I am sure I will get a lot of use out of it.

The rest of the items are not full sized, but they are items I am pleased to have. The first it the Good Genes Lactic Acid Treatment from Sunday Riley. I love this formula. I know not a surprise I think most people do. i have used this in a full size, I have used this in many, many sample sized and I will always be happy no matter what size it comes to me in. It makes my skin look amazing. So I will happily use the sample.

I am also happy to have the Vichy Liftactiv B3 Serum. It is for dark spots and wrinkles. I have wanted to try this but not gotten around to it. I will happily give the sample size a try and see if i want to pick up the full version. For me that is one of the best reasons to pick up samples. Especially with skin care. Even if you don’t see massive results with the sample size because you dont have enough product to show results, it will give you an idea of the product and how it works on your skin. I have tried some samples where I knew I wanted the full sized right away and I have tried samples where I knew that even if it gave fabulous results I would talk myself out of using it because of scent or texture. So I find it better to try the samples.

The next sample sized item I am looking forward to trying out is the SkinCeuticals Resveratrol B E Antioxidant Night Concentrate. It is a very pricy serum that I really wouldn’t buy without trying first. Whether I will buy later has yet to be determined. but we shall see. I have tried a few items from Skinceuticals and while they are expensive every item I have tried has been absolutely fantastic. So I am looking forward to seeing what this night concentrate can do.

I know absolutely nothing about the brand Beauty Stat. They sound familiar so i may have picked up something form them before but if I have I can’t remember it. The name does sound familiar though This is the Beauty Stat Universal Pro Bio Moisture Boost Cream. It is supposed to be for all skin types. I always find that a little suspect, but I am willing to give it a try. I am always looking for a good moisturizer and I will happily try this one. Even if I am suspicious of the for all skin types line. We shall see Beautystat, we shall see.

And finally, there is a 1 ounce tube of Olaplex No.3 I believe it is a pre shampoo hair mask. I have never tried anything from Olaplex. I have heard people who adore it and I have heard people say they can’t stand it. Since all of the bottles of Olaplex that I have seen seemed really large and the opinions so polar opposite, I really wanted to try out a sample before I committed to a full size. And to be honest that is one of the reasons I decided to try this month’s Beauty Fix. I really wanted to try the Olaplex for myself. And this seemed about perfect timing.

So this was my first Dermstore Beauty Fix box. I am really happy with it to be honest. The first item paid for the box and the second item doubled the value. I didn’t try to figure out the value of the samples. Since the Skin Ceuticals Night Concentrate is $110 full size I’m sure even this small sample I have is costly. But for me with samples it is less about figuring out that actual cost of the product in the samples and more about having samples that i know I am going to use or that i want to try out. while i don’t know enough about Beauty Stat to say much about them I am very excited to try out the other samples so for me they are worth it. with the two full sized items and the scrunchie i feel that I certainly got my money’s worth and am happy to continue receiving this box for a while to find out if I got lucky with the first box or if it is a subscription i will want to keep for a long time. February however was a good Beauty Fix box.

Unboxing the Orly Color Pass Spring 2023 Subscription Box

That’s right my darlings, it is time for a news subscription box. Well new to me anyway, Orly has had this subscription box around for a while now. The Orly Color Pass is a quarterly subscription coming out once a season. The subscription box costs $36 per season. (FYI I am not an affiliate, this is just a subscription I am trying out. All of the links are just to the site where I found the subscription, I get nothing out of it.) It is worth noting, if you go to the ORLY website, you need to click on the menu and click Color Pass to find the subscription. It is not labeled subscription box or anything like that, just Color Pass.

Personally I love doing my nails at home. while I pick up nail polishes from pretty much everywhere and am always willing to try new things with my nails, it has been a while since i have picked up any new polishes. (The last was the trio from IPSY). I recently cleaned out my older and repeat polishes and discovered that I had far fewer in my collection than I thought. So I decided to try out this subscription.

Each box contains a six polish collection. The collections are usually a part of the subscription box before they are released for general sale so it is a great way to get a collection before it is released. Plus it is the entire collection so if you want the entire collection, it is a great way to get it. I like that they are released ahead of time because it means you can have your polishes before the season begins. It is now February and I am getting the Spring collection. My next subscription will come in April and it will be a collection for summer. Since I do change my nail polish colors weekly and with the seasons as well as for events, I love the thought of having seasonal colors already lined up and ready to wear.

Orly nail polishes typically retail for $10.50. Sometimes they have special releases, like the Lisa Frank Collection that sells for $11.50, but the $10.50 is pretty typical from what i have seen. I am a little late signing up for this subscription so this Hopeless Romantic Collection is already up on the Orly site. Each of the polishes in this collection retails for the usual $10.50. which means that to get them all would cost me $63. So for me the $38 is a great price tag.

This Spring’s collection is called Hopeless Romantic. Three of the shades are Matte and three are shimmer polishes. While the mattes are the pink, red and peach i would expect from such a collection, the shimmers are a purple, a blue and an aqua. It is actually a really nice range of colors. I have never been too big a peach polish fan, but my Aunt loves the shade so if I decide to pass it along I know exactly who to give it to. All of the others look like polishes I would certainly wear. Si for shade range they get a good two thumbs up. The different finishes is also something I like. It will be interesting to see how they perform.

Included with the collection are a few little additional items. From what I have seen some of the items are new releases, some are small trinkets, tool and occasionally an exclusive item that you can only get in the subscription box. One of the reasons this subscription came to my notice was that I saw a review and saw one of the polishes and wanted it but because it was an exclusive item for the subscription, it was not available anywhere else.

This quarter, in addition to the six polish collection there is the new release of the Orly One Night Stand Peel off Base coat. The Orly Base coat is one of the main reasons that I decided to give this subscription a go. Yes the exclusive polishes are a good draw but I love the Orly base coat. It not only smooths out all the ridges you may have in your nails but it I found that when I used it under any polish it was a great base and my nails were healthier with the base coat on than when I just used polish on it’s own.

The One Night Stand is a new version of their Base coat and it is designed so that if you need a color for one night you can apply this base coat and then the polish you need over it and then later simply peel the polish off with out needing nail polish remover. I have no idea if it works or not but I am looking forward to giving it a try and I am thrilled that it was an addition to this subscription.

The final item in the box this quarter was a Long Detailer brush. I have flirted with the idea of doing designs with my nail polish but to be honest i wasn’t really sure what sort of tools I would need. Plus I wasn’t sure if i would be any good at it so I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on tools only to realize it was something I really ought to have a professional do. Now not only do I have a brush to try out and play around with, but on the card there is a nail art tutorial showing me how to create a look with the polishes in my collection. This way I can try out the design they offer and then once I am comfortable branch out on my own.

Because let’s face it, you know the first time i try something beyond polka dots it is going to be a hot mess. so for me the simple step by step for a simple look is really helpful.

This was my first quarterly box from Orly. Was it worth the price I paid? Definitely. I also think quarterly is about right for this kind of subscription. Once a month would be fat too many nail polishes for me, but one box four times a year? That is a great way to build my collection. With the added value of the base coat and the nail art brush it is for me a very good value and something i will use. Since I paint my nails once a week this is a very useful subscription for me.

I was planning to get one box and see how I liked it before deciding, but to be honest I like this subscription enough that i will be keeping it for a full year. I think after a year, I will either adore this subscription and want to keep it long term, or I will be swimming in nail polishes and need a break. it will be interesting to see where that ends up and how much I like or dislike the rest of the 2023 collections. To be truthful it could go either way. For now I really like this box. If Orly keeps this up, then the Color Pass Subscription Box could be a great subscription for me. Only time will tell.

The Daily: February 2nd, 2023

Good afternoon my darlings. Today feels just a little strange. Every time I look out the window there is a different weather pattern going on. It was raining , then it was sleeting, then it was snowing and then it was raining again. At the moment we are getting a rain sleet mix where the droplets his as they make impact with the glass of the window but melt to rain right away as though the ice was just kidding.

It is like the weather just can’t make up it’s mind today.

I did make a choice today though. No a big one, it was my IPSY Glam Bag X choice. At the moment I am doing the IPSY Beauty Boost. For $15 per month you get one extra full sized item. I think it is supposed to be worth $40-50+. I’ll have to look at the exact details. This is the third month for the boost. December was first and IPSY chose the Kate Somerville Retinol that is currently in my skincare line up. It was actually a really good choice for me. Last moth they chose the Fenty Beauty Sun Stalk R palette. I wasn’t really enthused with it as I am usually on the fence about most Fenty products. They are never bad actually they are usually just okay and pretty forgettable. I am however liking the palette much more than I thought i would and will probably get a lot of use out of it. And it was certainly something I would not have picked up on my own. I also liked that they were switching between skincare and makeup. And yes I know two times wasn’t enough to tell, so I was really curious as to what they picked.

Interestingly they did something different this month. They chose an item but then they had a section in choice where if I didn’t like what they selected then I could trade it out for one of the other items. The Item they chose for me was the Drunk Elephant F-Balm Electrolite Waterfacial which seems to be an over night mask. Since I have only tried one sample from Drunk Elephant and know nothing of most of their products (other than that everyone was raving about them a few years ago) I kept the selection they made. However I really like that they are allowing you to swap out items now as that was the one thing I wasn’t crazy about.

I actually didn’t mean to talk about IPSY so much, but I felt it was worth mentioning. I also liked the rest of the bag this month as well and I am more excited for this month’s IPSY than I have been for a while. I know it is an X month so those are always a bit over the top, but last month’s box was really good as well so thus far they are really hitting 2023 strong.

This is the year I am really reevaluating all of my subscription boxes to see what I really want to keep. I am even trying a few new ones out to see what combination of products I like and what I am willing to let go. I actually signed up for the Cohorted Subscription box. February will be my first one. It will be interesting to see if it is worth it. and since it is a new subscription I’ll probably go ahead and do a full post here instead of just posting the box on IG. Anyway, enough with the subscriptions, lets move on to what I used today…

Today’s Look:

Primer: Tatcha Liquid Silk Canvas Primer

Foundation: KVD Vegan Beauty Good Apple Balm Foundation

Bronzer: Milk Makeup Bronzing Stick (from the use up box)

Blush: Cotton Candy Champagne Blushlighter palette from Beauty Bakerie

Currently Beauty Bakerie is having a massive sale up to 40% off for the next two days. the product links will take you to the site.

Eyeshadow: Urban Decay Naked Honey Palette

Mascara: Benefit Cosmetics They’re real magnetic Mascara

Lips: Beauty Bakerie Liquid Lip Whip and Illamasqua Lip Liner

Today I started with the Tatcha Liquid primer. I really enjoy it. It is one of my top primers. I still love the balm formula of Tatcha just a little bit more, but then I just really love Balm style primers. This is a really good primer and on the skin it feels a lot like the balm version a you put it on. I wanted a primer that I know and love when I started playing with the KVD foundation so that is why i chose it.

This Good Apple foundation is interesting. It has been a while since I used a foundation that oxidizes. This one does. It looks a little light on me when I apply it, but after a little while (an hour or so) it oxidizes and then looks like it is the right shade for me. It isn’t a perfect shade match, but it does okay. I think I notice it more because I have gotten really lucky with shade matches recently. It makes the not quite shade stand out more to me. while this foundation looks good on most of my face after a little while I really start to notice it settling into fine lines. I had a phone conversation about an hour after I applied the makeup. the conversation lasted about 20 minutes. When I was done I had to use the restroom and I looked in the mirror and I could really see it settling around my mouth and emphasizing the lines. it is something I am going to have to watch.

The Milk Makeup Bronzer is from my use up box. It is a sample and I want to purchase the full size but won’t until I use up the sample. I am trying to use one item from the box each day so this was my choice today. it is an easy choice since I really like it.

I also really like the Beauty Bakerie blush in the Blushlighter palette. Oddly it has enough shimmer for me that I don’t really want to reach for the highlighters. i like the highlighters, and i will use them with other blushes, but just the blush from this palette was good for me. I also couldn’t resist the Beauty Bakerie Lip Whip. If you are looking for liquid lips that dry down enough not to leave lip prints everywhere but not so much as to dry out your lips then i would suggest checking out the line. I did use the Illamasqua lip liner to smooth out the edges but that was mostly because I noticed a not so smooth bit after the lippie dried. It was just easier to correct with lip liner and I really like the Illamasqua formula. I also like that the color blended well.

My shadow was from the Naked Honey palette. I love this palette. it applies well, blends well and looks good. I think the trick with Urban Decay is to find whichever palette they offer that suits you and go with that. I loved their original Naked palettes but a lot of their others just don’t have a color story that appeals to me. Admittedly I may still pick up their Prince palette. On the other hand I have a friend who adores their Cyber palette and doesn’t like anything else. I think once you find the palette from them you like, it is a great palette to use. Mine happens to be the Naked Honey. I can wear the brown tones every day and I have a weakness for the bronze shimmers.

And so i used the palette today.

and that my darlings is me today. Over all it is a quiet one. Phone calls and e-mails but mostly just me and the computer at my desk. There is a whole lot of editing going on. nd now, I must get back to it. Have a great afternoon.

Unboxing the IPSY Glam Bag X for November 2022

That’s right folks the big purple box from IPSY has arrived. This Glam Bag X is a quarterly upgrade to the IPSY Glam Bag Plus subscription. Inside you find eight full sized items. I believe it is officially listed at $60 for the box. With all of the taxes and shipping charges it ends up costing me $65.84 each month. For a while there every time I checked my e-mail there was some sort of increase so I am not entirely sure what it is officially listed for on the site and what is actually taxes, but that is my charge.

While recently IPSY and Boxycharm have had some issues with repeat items for me, there was only one repeat item in this box. I’m sure some of the items were featured in other boxes, but I never received them so getting them now doesn’t bother me. And truthfully the one repeat item I received I don’t mind getting because I know I’ll use.

So let’s start with that. It is the Anastasia Beverly Hills Translucent setting powder. It is a nice setting powder and one that I will definitely use. The ABH Powder is really good actually. However I use so little each time that the container lasts a really long time because it is so large. I will either keep it and know I will eventually get to use it, or pass it on to someone I knw will absolutely love it. Either way repeat or not, I am thrilled to have it.

The second item in my box is an interesting one. It is the FARAH Retreat Set. It is a set of three skincare brushes. They feel nice and look nice. I am happy to have them as my silicon masking brush has seen better days and is in need of a replacement. Two of the brushes I know how to use. The third I’m guessing you use in a similar fashion to a jade roller. The learn more about it section had this to say about the set…

“Use these tools to apply your favorite clay masks mess free, do a lymphatic drainage massage, cleanse your skin, and soothe tired under-eyes. Just be sure to wash them between each use.”

The paper insert where things are broken down had nothing more to add, nor did the Farah website and there was absolutely nothing that came with the set. No paper instructions or description of the tools. Nothing. Which means on the lymphatic draining tool I am flying blind. Since it isn’t a standard masking tool item, at least not that I’ve had before some instructions would have been nice. I’m going to play around with it like I would a jade roller, but some thought would have been nice. I actually really like the set but I do like instructions for things I have never seen r used before.

The third item I am sure has featured in a box before, either here or on Boxy, but I have never received it and am thrilled to have it now. It is the Herbivore Pink Cloud Moisturizer. I have heard such fantastic things about this that I am really looking forward to trying it out. The jar is glass, pink as one would expect. It feels nice and luxe in the hand. I know that isn’t important but as it is skin care I am not opening it until I am ready to use it so outside packaging is all I have to go on.

I am also excited to try out the Byroe Rose Tea Eye Cream. Byroe is an interesting brand for me. I absolutely adore their Bitter Greens Toning Essence. while the other items I’ve tried from the brand have all been good, none of them have reached that level of fantastic-ness for me. They are still good though. which means that I am pretty sure that even if this eye cream isn’t as super fantastic as the Bitter Greens it will probably still be really good. Ans as I am still working on an eye cream that is similar in price but only so-so in results it will be nice to compare the two so close together. But still, until I use it, this eye cream is staying sealed.

The last skincare item in the box this month was one I chose. It was the Beauty Bio Bright Eyes Depuffing eye Gels. I love under eye masks and can always use more in my collection. None last long. I remember trying something out from Beauty Bio but I can’t remember what. I do have a positive mental recollection though so hopefully these will do well for me. Either way, under eye masks are always a win for me.

The next item in my box this month is the Stila One Step Correct color correcting primer. You know I love primer. It is why my collection is a bit shameful. I also really like Stila products. I loved their souffle primer and in fact just decluttered a very old and almost completely empty jar of that a few weeks back (it was kept for looks I could no longer wear it but the jar was lovely)I have seen this product and I always thought it was interesting, but I never tried it. I am kind of looking forward to seeing how it performs.

The next item is not a new release wither. It is the Too Faced Sweet Peach Eyeshadow Palette. It smells like peach and has some interesting looking shades. It has been a while since I have used any Too Faced Shadows. I like the look of them and am happy to give the palette a go. I will say though it doesn’t really seem like a November palette though. There are light pinks and purples in it and it seems like a spring or summer mix from first glance. I would have thought they’d lean more into the fall shades. But I am pleased to give it a try,.

And finally this month, I received a perfume. The Pinrose Secret Genius Perfume to be exact. While always dicey picking out a perfume from a description, from the description I decided that it would either be something I enjoyed or something I could give to my mother. while I haven’t tried it yet, I will spray once. If the scent is something I like then i will give it a go. If the scent isn’t something I like then i will pas it on. with sample sizes I don’t mind using the sample for a week even if it isn’t my favorite because sometimes it will grow on me. Plus it uses most of the sample up. With the full size, if I don’t think it is for me then i like to pass it on without really using it. So time will tell.

Over all I was really please with my IPSY Glam Bag X this month. For me at least it was a really good selection of products that I am excited to see. Fir a while now there has been little excitement. And in fact I was skipping the months between the Glam Bag X months. I will be going back to reviewing them in December though. This month they sent out an e-mail where you could sign up for something called Beauty Boost. For an extra $15 you get one additional item in your box that is guaranteed to be worth more than $40. I did sign up because I am curious to see if this is indeed going to be a good thing or if they are trying to use this as a way to eliminate extra stock. It has the potential to be a good thing. It also has the potential to be a complete waste. Which one it will be has yet to be determined. Either way, I’ll let you know how it all plays out in next month’s box.

Unboxing the Look Fantastic Beauty Box for November 2022

This month’s Look Fantastic Box has the theme of Party Prep. Usually i don’t pay too much attention to the themes but this month it seems to relate. This Box is $19 a month if you are on a month to month plan, I get it for less with an annual subscription. So I pay $16 per month ($17.59 when all is said and done) and while some boxes are better than others, I have always felt the box is worth what I pay.

The first item out of the box this month was hard to photograph because it is metallic and just reflects light like crazy. It is the Color Wow Dream Coat in a travel size. It is a product i really enjoy using to smooth down my hair and make it glossy without flyaways. I will say though that i have thick hair and I spray very little. If you have fine or thin hair, it can weigh down your hair if you use too much so go cautiously. Because my hair is so thick it works fantastically well for me. I love that it is travel sized too because I tend to use this sot of thing when i am traveling more than I do at home.

I think that might be because I travel for holidays though. And holidays have lots of events. regardless, the travel size is fabulous.

The next item in my box, I can’t say i am all that excited by. In fact i will probably pass it along to someone else. It is the Bondi Sands Pure Sleep Tanning Mask. My skin picks up the sun well. Occasionally I will use a tanning product on my legs so they match the rest of my body but there is no point in me using a tanning product on my face. I simply don’t need it. I do like Bondi Sands though and when i use tanning products on my legs, they are the brand I go for. So good brand, just not something for me.

The third item in the box is a primer. And you know how much I love primers. This one is from Avant. I am not entirely sure how i feel about Avant to be honest. Their products are usually really nice but usually very over priced. And I never see them anywhere but in subscription boxes. Don’t get me wrong their lip balm was fantastic and I really enjoyed their moisturizer. I am also really looking forward to trying out the Avant Pro Perfecting Collagen Touch eclat Primer that is in this box. I am just not sure how i feel about the brand in general. I am pleased to have this in my box though. Especially since it is a makeup item and I have never tried anything but their skincare.

Next up we have a six pan Mini Reloaded Velvet Rose eyeshadow palette from Makeup Revolution. I really like the browns and golds in the palette and looking at it I can see several looks that would be quick and easy to create with it. (I opened the lid so the plastic wouldn’t glare). I also think this small palette would be good for travel as well so I am very happy to see it,.

The final two items in the box this month are tools. The first is an eyeshadow brush. There were options this month. I received the Luvia Cream Shader brush. I have used brushes from this brand before and find them quite nice. Plus I can always use another shader brush It is the final item that I am really happy to have in my box this month.

It sounds silly but I use (and tend to lose) these clips a lot. These are the Brushworks No Crease hair Clips. While I haven’t tried the Brushworks versions I have these creaseless style hair clips from about four other brands floating around my house. They are amazing for pulling back my bangs while I am doing my makeup. They are also an item that no matter how many times I purchase them, they always seem to disappear. I really like them and am thrilled to welcome two more into my collection.

And so that was my Look Fantastic Box for November 2022. Pretty much everything goes along with the theme of party prep, but to be honest it is less about the theme and more about the fact that besides the facial tanning mask every other item is one that I will definitely use. For me that is way more important than the actual theme. For me this was a great box this month. Was it worth the cost i paid for it? Definitely. Well done Look Fantastic.