Total Beauty Mystery Collection

This was a limited edition collection on totalbeauty.com and it was titled a mystery collection and it also claimed to be one hundred dollars worth of beauty products and they were charging twenty dollars for this collection. Instantly I heard about this and definitely wanted it, I am pretty gullible especially when it comes to making purchases sadly, and I love me some surprises! 

This however wasn't the kind of surprise I had hoped for... I know that beauty products don't generally have to be makeup but I expected more of that type of product anyway. There was only three makeup items... bleh. Half of that 'one hundred dollar' claim was also a fifty dollar naked wines card. False advertising much? I sent them a few angry emails and never heard back, I had heard some people got replies that also sent angry emails but I was not one of them. 

included in this collection with approximate prices was the following:

Evolvh ultrashine moisture shampoo 2oz.                       $6.00

Evolvh ultrashine moisture conditioner 2oz.                    $6.00

Honest healing balm 1oz                                               $3.00

Honest face & body lotion 1oz                                     $4.00

Juara candlenut body cream sample                              $0.75

This costs about $32.00 for a full size of about 7.5 oz.

7 Eboost daily health boost packets                               $7.00

this is a  dietary supplement powder that is orange flavored and is supposed to contain vitamins and minerals

Alfaparf Milano Cristalli liquidi illuminating serum           $5.00

There was no amount listed on the product but the full size is $15.00 so the price on the sample is a guess

30 Q-tips purse pack                                                     $2.50

NYX color lip balm                                                       $3.00

NYX roll on shimmer                                                    $4.00

Ziaja goat milk eye cream                                              $14.95

Neutrogena naturals lip balm                                          $2.97

Ferro Cosmetics Mineral blush                                      $4.00
the full size cost $17.00 this was just a sample so another guess at the price.

The total of the products themselves besides the naked wine card is approximately $63.17 which is a good deal considering I spent $20.00 they just weren't products I wouldn't have picked. I don't know that I would consider buying another surprise collection from totalbeauty.com especially since their customer service completely ignored me. You win some you lose some.
Thanks for reading:)
xo

June 2013 On the Wild Side Ipsy Bag

       Ipsy is a monthly subscription where you receive 4-5 beauty items in a new makeup bag each month for ten dollars. In this months Ipsy bag I received a NYX creme blush in boho chic, a  Cailyn gel eye liner in iron, a 1.76 Oz. bottle of psssst! dry shampoo, starlooks lip liner in tipsy and finally a J. Cat sparkling cream palette (which most people including this girl were a little disappointed with) Overall I wasn't ecstatic with this bags items and even the bag itself wasn't my taste. Most of the items are products I wouldn't normally use but I'm at least glad the blush didn't come in a totally outrageous color since my very fair skin can only tolerate so much color. I can't be too unhappy since the you get quite a bit for your buck. Ten dollars for all this is quite a steal and the whole point is to try new things right? The dry shampoo will be a new thing for me as well, considering I never wanted to buy it because my curly hair is already pretty dry so there isn't as much of a need for dry shampoo. I'll see how it goes, maybe it'll be a new beauty staple for me. Now lets break down the prices of each product:

NYX creme blush-                 $6.00
Pssst! dry shampoo-              $3.50
starlooks lipliner-                   $12.00
Cailyn line fix gel eyeliner-      $21.00
J. Cat glitter palette-              $4.49

Total worth of the bag-          $46.99

 I love Ipsy just for the surprise I give myself each month and it seems to be quite a good deal. I recommend them for any makeup lover out there who doesn't have the money to splurge on expensive makeup and wants to try new things. Down below is my referral link if anyone is interested. :)
Have a great day:)

http://www.ipsy.com/?refer=u-hdw6t5rrusxl814

The Beauty Of Organizing (Vanity edition)

As you all may know (and if you don't I'm telling you) Vanities are expensive. This is just a makeshift one but I actually ended up loving it for what it is. I grabbed a desk, grabbed a mirror, simple as that. I got these after doing makeup in the bathroom just wasn't cutting it, not to mention there was no room in there for all the hair potions and beauty magic. 

Yes, I did just call it that. 

Generally I try to keep the top of my vanity pretty uncluttered but I don't much space so there's no helping that, but I got this two tiered rack for cheap at Ross and I spray painted it pink. Which made it look less like it was made to hold toiletries... Important. I sort of have an addiction for spray painting furniture and such. I keep the high end products on the top tier, which is some blushes, a bronzer, lipsticks and my makeup palettes. Then below that is a pencil container with my mascaras and then my harajuku lovers perfumes are right next to it. I keep all my favorite perfumes on my vanity so that they are there when I need them. I keep the ones I don't use as much in my bathroom. Its a convenient way to keep all the high end and most used products out within reach and I also like to display them as well so this meets both of those needs.

This is inside my vanity drawer, and I have a few office type supplies to separate by product uses. The two blue cartons are just from Walmart and spray painted blue, they are sold together as a set and I didn't think I'd use them both but would you look at that(: I tried the whole 'I'm just going to throw everything in this drawer thing' and it just was a disaster. Trust me on that. I couldn't find anything I needed. The right office supplies container holds bronzers, blushes, and a few primers and settling sprays are throw in. There is no method to my madness, but the more I talk about it the more it almost seems there is..? Who knew. The next container has my everyday use products for the most part, the brow kit I use daily, setting powders, foundation primer, favorite mascaras and liners, BB cream, under eye concealer and my beauty blender. The The majority of the favorite every day products. I have a box that I cut a side off of and I put all the favorite drugstore eye shadows in, and below that is an empty space where I keep my favorite foundations. Then the long skinny cardboard box (which I think previously was purchased holding soaps) has eyeliners, eye shadow primers, and eyelash curlers. Last of all in the last bit of drawer left I have segregated my daily brush cleaner, drugstore makeup palettes, favorite drugstore lipsticks and favorite high end foundation. Whew, that was a lot to process, sorry folks(: 

I'll sum this up real quick or attempt to. I keep drugstore lipsticks in a watch box from mudd. Makeup brushes are just kept in a cute mug with a lil' birdie on it. Nail polishes that I don't generally reach for are in a cookie jar. The nail art stuff, acrylics, and favorite nail polishes are kept in a sewing hobby type box. The end finally, until next time lovelies.  

The Beauty Of Organizing (Jewelry edition)

           I am (in every sense of the word) very disorganized, but just the same there has to be some order or I go crazy. So I have to try extra hard to get things in a somewhat coordinated fashion. I also have an excess of things, because of the way I am inexplicably pulled in by the shiny and pretty objects that there seem to be so much of out in the world. I have come to own a lot of them. But of course only at good prices;) I'm going to begin with Jewelry and continue on to how I organize my beauty products in a part two blog post. This is in no means meant to brag or anything like that, just meant to hopefully spark some ideas for organizing your stuff because like I said, I struggled a tad.

 

           I always find the cutest, and somewhat unique pieces of jewelry and especially when it comes down to the unique pieces I snatch them right up. In this sense I have came up with a sort of crazy system as you can see above. I pinned up a bunch of cute pictures on this pin board as a back drop to my many necklaces. I usually keep silver necklaces to the left and gold to the right and usually beads and such are kept in the middle. Which for my purposes helps me to navigate a bit better. Usually I keep the most worn, or favorites of the time scattered among the pictures above the rest of the jewelry. Hopefully that helps somewhat with the organization challenged like myself. I looked into other options and they just couldn't hold the bulk of my necklaces. Just can't handle the stash. 

I apologize for the quality of the pictures not being too stellar, but you get the idea, this handy dandy little ring holder works pretty well but its kind of becoming over encumbered ha. It is kind of difficult to see them all but its good for not having too much space to store them so it ended up working for me. These are available at Claires or Icing I believe, I think mine was twelve dollars. I'm sure you could find a good one on Ebay or Amazon though as well. 

This is another one that is obvious- no cleverness needed :) Find yourself a cute earring stand- they make all sorts of types of these, ones you hang up and the ones shown here which are generally ones I prefer although   as you can see I have another cute pin board where I keep my favorites. Since this one isn't so cluttered I used pins with some detailing. 

Stay tuned for the next post

The beauty of organizing (vanity edition)