May Empties

I feel really good about the amount of products that I was able to push out this month. It even out the amount of products that I have brought in. I really have been concentrating on using up samples, deluxe sizes, and almost empty products this month. I am sure there will be just as many empties in June as well from my May efforts. I don’t want to have a crazy backstock of items. I don’t want to have to keep 3 bins in my closet to hold all of my items (hair, body, skin care). I want to hold everything in just one backup storage bin. If by the end of the year I can have two bins, I will be a very happy girl. I think this is more realistic at this point in time. I keep my makeup totally separate, but I would like to have one empty drawer out of my jewelry case for my everyday jewelry to be accessible. I have larger makeup items on top where jewelry is stored, so I’d like to have an empty drawer for that purpose. If I use up enough makeup, I can make this happen. Fingers crossed!

1.DKNY Be Delicious Fresh Blossom

I used up this perfume in my project pan. It was the first item in the project that I was able to use up. I enjoyed this Spring scent, but I am more interested in buying a different Be Delicious perfume than repurchasing this one. I would not repurchase this one, because the scent wasn’t apple-y enough for me and too floral. Glad to have a perfume out of my collection. That is the second perfume used up this year, so I am a happy girl right now. Hopefully, I’ll be able to move out two more by the end of the year and keep up the pace.

2. Smashbox Primerizer Sample

I have no opinion on this product. It was a nice primer to use up, but I notice nothing from foil packets. I’m not interested in trying this primer, though.

3. Sumita Jaipur Gold Contrast Eye Pencil

This came in a subscription box, but has since dried out. It looks great on the back of my hand, but I cannot press it hard enough into my eye lid for the same pigmentation. I am not going to kill my eyeballs for the sake of using up an eye liner that I didn’t even buy myself, so I am happily decluttering this one.

4. Marc Jacobs Velvet Noir Major Volume Mascara

Chunky and clumpy lashes. I just hate that type of look on me. I have naturally long dark eye lashes, so I am just looking for darkening and volume. It was too clumpy to salvage it. I even tried using my lash brush to brush out some of the clumps and I had mascara bits all over my face from brushing out the clumps. I’m glad to be decluttering, because I don’t enjoy using it. The short stubby bristles on the wand are not great for lengthening and gives really chunky lashes.

5 – 7. Moda Oval Makeup Brushes

I hate these with a passion. I don’t like them. I prefer traditional brushes. The only one that was good is the biggest one, but with a flimsy wand, I quickly grew tired of it. Now, I have the ELF blending brush and couldn’t be happier with it.

8. Benefit High Beam Cream Highlighter

I scraped out every last bit that I could. I even cut the tube in half. I enjoyed this by adding it into my moisturizer for a healthy glow. It was perfect for that. I am enjoying using up my cream highlighters in this way. I would rather use a glowy primer when I am done with my cream highlighters though. I still keep a pink cream highlighter in my collection though in case I use a pore filling primer. It would be good to use on no makeup days for a glowy look. Yeah, I think I’ll always have a pink cream highlighter on hand, but that is all the cream highlighter that I need. I will not repurchase this. It was too frosty for what I want to use it for and it is not cruelty free.

9. HIGH Expectation Cannabis Facial Oil Sample

This sample lasted me a week of nightly use leaving me very pleasantly surprised. It sinks in faster than other oils and smells like fruity pebbles. I like other oils that sink in faster and do more for my skin than just hydrate AKA the Sunday Riley UFO oil. I still did enjoy this sample, but I mostly buy main stream brands and I’ve never heard of this one before. Oh and the fact that its cannabis doesn’t bother me in the slightest. LOL.

 

 

10. MAC PREP + PRIME FIX + MINI in Lavender

I don’t see these as a necessary step in my routine if I am already using primer. I feel like I need a pore filling primer or a mattifying one that does something for my skin rather than this one that just adds moisture. This might be nice for dry skin, but I don’t see the point for my skin. I will gladly use my minis up and buy this on sale again, because it is very refreshing and nice. I wouldn’t buy it full price. I’d rather spend money on a setting spray that will lock my makeup in place. I really enjoy the experience of using this though. I can see drier skin types loving this spray.

11. Johnson’s Bedtime Baby Moisture Wash

I bought this for $1 or $1.50 when a Walmart I lived near was clearancing this line out to redo their baby section. I used this as a nighttime bubble bath for Dean. I got a ton of use out of it and it did have a very soothing scent. I would not purchase this full price, but I would buy it on sale again. I usually buy Dr. Teals or the Walmart brand bubble bath. I am not gonna lie, I used this a few times as well. It made quite a few baths and lots of bubbles. Even though technically its not a bubble bath, we used it as such and it performed great.

12. Drunk Elephant Lala Retro Whipped Cream Sample

This was enough for 2 uses on the face. It was nice enough, but I really have no opinion of it. I would need a deluxe size to really comment on it.

13. Josie Maran Whipped Argan Oil Body Butter Unscented

I only used up one of the samples. I’ve had it before. I wouldn’t purchase it. It takes a long time to sink into the skin, so it’s kinda a hassle to use. It was enough for almost 2 full body uses.

14. Magic Bath Crackles

This was enough for 2 baths. Dean ignored it for the most part. It was worth a shot.

15. Crayola Color Bath Dropz

These continue to be a repurchase for us. Dean loves different colors in his bath water. It makes bath time a fun experience for him. They just change the color of the bath water, so there isn’t much to review about it. It doesn’t stain the tub or his skin, so its a winner in my book.

16. Not Your Mother’s Way To Grow Long & Strong Shampoo

I really enjoyed this shampoo. I liked the fragrance and it lathered nicely. I don’t know if it did anything to make my hair grow longer, but I would buy another shampoo from this brand again. It is a great cruelty free drugstore option. I wasn’t blown away by this shampoo, but it is a solid shampoo with good ingredients. I’m not too fussy when it comes to shampoo, but I do like them to clean my hair. I always shampooed my hair twice with this as I felt that once wasn’t enough to strip out all the oil in my hair. I wouldn’t mind repurchasing this again, but I’d rather try another shampoo by the brand.

17. ROLOXIN LIFT INSTANT SKIN SMOOTHING MASK

I am decluttering this to my mom.

18. Mr. Bubble Bubble Bath

My mom put this is Dean’s easter basket and we used it up once our bath was fixed. In a few baths, we finished this bad boy off and I ordered some bubble bath at Walmart. Dean loves bubbles in his tub and I do like it as well when I indulge in a bath.

I am very proud of how much stuff I was able to use up on my birthday month! I am happy that I used up 18 products this month with 8 being full sized, 4 deluxe, and 6 samples. I don’t expect much coming into my collection in June besides maybe another VS bra or something since I do have another $10 gift card. Nothing beauty wise though, so these numbers have put me in a good spot to cut down on my collection while adding to it. I am very happy and proud of what I have been able to accomplish this month. Hopefully, June is just as good of a month. I can see quite a few products hanging by a hair in my collection, so I’m going to take that as a good sign.

With Love,

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April Makeup Bag Monthly

I just wiped off my April eye shadow pick. lol. I totally forgot that I was wearing eye shadow. That is how comfortable it is. I also love the shade with my new hair. Anyway, it is that time again when I swap out my March makeup bag with my April makeup bag. I chose 5 makeup products every month and the bonus 6th product is always a perfume that I am trying to move through in my collection. Let’s recap on March’s bag:

I put a good dent in the perfume. It was full before and now I finished up a fourth to a third of it. I totally used up the sheer glow lotion. I have been all about the glowy look for the past three months now that my skin is more combo than oily. I am still working on the pore-fessional and I have to say, I am not loving it. It is okay, but as soon as I put anything from powder to foundation on top of it, it starts to peel up. I am so close to being done with that lip gloss! I am going to get it back out in the warmer months, because it has a really strong cooling sensation that I wasn’t a fan of this past snowy month. I love using the MUFE blush as an eye shadow. It is super pretty and easy to use for a one shadow look. I threw out the crayon when I dropped it on the bathroom floor at work. I couldn’t bring myself to sanitize and use it.

I have my Marc Jacobs Sugar, Sugar lip gloss that I have been loving in my April makeup bag. One application lasts until lunch at my work. If I am high maintenance enough to wear a liner underneath, I brought my Victoria Secret nude one to work with me. I am working on my deluxe sample of the Black Opium perfume that I got with my Sephora points. I have an Hourglass foundation stick and a foundation sample for when I use up the rest of my Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer in Vanilla that I have been using as a foundation. It was too creasy under my eyes to use as an under eye concealer. I have a duo chrome cream eye shadow that shifts from silver to a yellow gold. I also have Benefit’s Highbeam if I still want a glowy look then I can mix this in or use it to highlight.

The point of my make bags isn’t to use up my makeup, although I do love it when I do. The point is to cycle through my makeup and make sure that I am using everything evenly. I am going to be starting to put my palettes in my makeup bag. I am always forgetting to add them! Four months in a row. LOL. It’s okay. I’ll choose my favorite one for my birthday month.

With Love,

What D Got Me For Christmas

I am so happy to be sharing with all of you the goodies that D got me for Christmas this year. We just traded our gifts in Feb and I am just getting around to posting all of the new goodies that I got. I haven’t touched any of these things yet, because I was waiting to have time to put up this post. As soon as I am done, I am putting on my new MAC lipglass, because I feel like having a purple lip today. I’m feeling dramatic. One a side note, don’t be alarmed, but I deleted a lot of old photos from my blog. I had reached my 3.0 GB limit and now, I’m back down to 1.4 GB or roughly 40% of usage. Now, I have room to grow again!

Russell Stover Assorted Chocolates

I couldn’t wait on these. I took a photo of an empty box. They were delicious!

Assorted Samples

I love trying out new stuff, so samples are right up my alley. I’m in the market for a new foundation, so hopefully, one of these items work out for me. I only have two summer BB creams right now and they are too dark for my Winter skin color.

Mystic Tan Self Tanner

I’ve never tried a self tanner before, besides the Sally Hansen legs. I’m curious to see how this works. I’m going to try this during the summer months, once I get a tiny bit of tan going on to even it out. I have an in ground pool now, so I’ll be spending a lot of time outside in my bathing suit. It would be awkward to self tan now, when my skin gets no exposure to sunlight whatsoever and I haven’t been on vacation.

VersaSpa Face Moisturizing Gradual Tanner

Since this has gradual in the name, I might give it a shot now to give my skin a healthy glow. I don’t want to look tan, but sunkissed. I love using bronzer for a sunkissed look, if this gives me that, I can skip bronzer in the morning. Anything to cut out a morning step I love. I’ll give this a shot and will report back with my thoughts on it in an empties video.

Forever By Judy Blume

I loved Judy Blume books growing up and this will be my first time reading one of her adult books. I’m really looking forward to reading this one by the pool or whenever I can find time to actually read. It’s been hard with working full time, taking a class, blogging, and most importantly, taking care of my son and keeping house. I just never seem to find the time. I want to try to read two books a month again. I am like three to four books behind this year, but I am going to try to catch up and make an effort. I will definitely read this one this year.

Sarah Dessen Saint Anything

Let me start of by saying that I have a love, hate relationship with Sarah Dessen books. I love them, because I get wrapped up in her story telling. I hate them, because they tend to follow the same plot line in every book. I love the predictability, but hate it at the same time. If I want a sweet, sad story, I’ll read one of her books and I know it’ll end happily. I look forward to reading this book, when I need a little pick me up. I’m happy to own another one of her books. I tend to reread her books a lot.

Hard Candy Nail Color in Sky 1123

I have been DYING for a Hard Candy nail polish. I remember when they used to be a high end product and carried in places like Sephora. Now Soap & Glory can be found at CVS? I need to get my hands on that next. Anyways, I love this shade. It has a cool duo chrome quality to it and I cannot wait to paint this onto my nails. I already picked out my nail color for  this week, so maybe, I’ll wear this next weekend.

Shoot For The Stars Starry Night Bath Bomb

I love Lush and I think it is obvious. I’m excited to have another bath bomb to try out and it smells very calming. It will be perfect on a night after I put Dean to bed to relax in a hot bath. Something, I rarely get to enjoy these days.

Lush Shooting Stars Night In! Soap

D thinks that this smells lemony and I think it smells more on the lavender side. Either way, this seems like it is going to be a creamy soap, which is the type of soap that I enjoy the most. The lavender is faint in this, so I do enjoy the scent. I’m trying to use up my shower jelly right now, so I’m going to hold off on using this one. As soon as I use up the jelly, I will be using this. Or if I get sick of that scent and need a change. But honestly, who gets sick of The Comforter scent? It is also covered in glitter. My fate is sealed.

MAC In Extreme Dimension #D Black Lash Mascara

Not much to say about this, since I have to wait to finish my Benefit Roller Lash Deluxe Sample before I can try this one out. I’m excited to have a mini sample though. You can never have too many tubes of mascara. I never seem to buy any because I always get them in subscription boxes. I think I’m down to five now. I’m up to  with this bad boy.

Ulta Tinted Lip Balm in Lollipop

This is such a pretty sheer pink. I have the swatches at the bottom of the page and this color is the top swatch on the right large picture. I can see this being very flattering on the lips, since it is sheer and won’t compete with your natural pigmentation. I love easy balms to throw on at work that I don’t have to worry about. This will be used at work, once I get through an office friendly gloss that I’m working on from B&BW.

PBJ Smoothie Stick Creamy Lip Crayon in Raisin the Roof

I can see using this one at work as well. I love that this is more on the purple/mauve side of the spectrum and it will par perfectly under the MAC Lipglass that D gave me as well. This color is more on the matte side, which I enjoy a matte lip as much as the next girl. I know I won’t be disappointed with this color and I might have to repurchase it when I use it up.

MAC Trolls Collection Lipglass in Glitter Grunge

I love the cute packaging that MAC always come up with. This glitter purple is pretty pigmented as well, which I love. I’m not a fan of dark colors, but if it’s purple with glitter, I am all over that. I’m all about that life. It’s the bottom swatch and it is gorgeous! I am so happy to own this color. I don’t want to use it up anytime soon, because the packaging is so cute! I really wanted to get some of the SELENA collection, but it was always sold out and I only really wanted one of the powders anyways.

That is what I got for Christmas from D. I am so lucky to have a best friend like her!

With Love,

Ultra Soft

For First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream

[foil packet]

What it is: A rich cream for intense hydration for dry parched skin.

Key Ingredients: water, glycerin, shea butter, oatmeal, white tea, licorice root, eucalyptus, cetrearyl alcohol, no parabens, no phthalates, no colorants

How it feels/smells/looks: There was no scent to the thick, white cream. It absorbs fast and left my hands feeling moisturized after using acetone.

Why I like it: I like that this is fast absorbing and didn’t leave my hands greasy. Some might like this to be unscented, but I personally love scented hand creams. It wakes up my senses during the day and you can hear people around you sniffing at the air. This is a decent hand cream though. I would not purchase this, because like I said, I really love scented products. I have my eye on a couple of things at The Body Shop. I’m just waiting until my Birthday, so I can break my ban and restart it again. I really want a peach body butter, some vitamin C drops, and the Ionic Clay Mask. What do you have your eye on?

With Love,

 

Sample Wednesday: Airborne

For Airborne Everyday Immune Support Plus Multivitamin in Berry Chewable Tablets

What it is: Two berry flavored chewable immune support supplements that are also a multivitamin.

Key Ingredients: It is chaulkful of vitamins and minerals. It has no artificial coloring and it is made with cream and sugar like your morning cup of jo.

How it feels/smells/looks/tastes: Square red tablets that taste extremely tart and bitter greet you when you open this packet up. I cringed when I bit into it. It was too strong for my liking.

Why I like it: I like it for all of the benefits it supplies, but the taste of this is preventing me from giving it my stamp of approval. I would try a different flavor or form of this, but the sample that I received was too much for me.

What other types of reviews do you guys want to see from me? Do you want to see more health, food, and/or drink reviews? Let me know!

With Love,

Mini Haul, Challenge, & Sample!

Heya Fellow Gurus!

I recently went out and bought a few basics at the store. Nothing too big or really exciting, but I still thought that I’d share what I purchased with all of you. So, here it goes.

Shadow couldn’t help, but be in the picture. She was more excited to see the new stuff than even I was!

These candies are the best! I only buy them when they are on sale and during that time of the month. They are purely delicious and lifesavers! Oh! I want that candy now, too! Anyways, these usually last me around two to three months. I don’t eat tem often or eat a lot at a time. I don’t really hae a sweet tooth and a couple of these satisfies my cravings for something sweet. The bag was 2.99 US DOLLARS.

These hand towels from Kleenex cost as much as the candy I bought, which I thought was a good deal, because it is only a dollar more than the tissues. It comes with 60 “towels”. I have tried them for two days already and they are very absorbent and strong. I use them to dry my face off after cleansing. I am doing a 30 day <b>CHALLENGE</b> with these “towels”, if my face appears clearer and healthier after thirty days, these will be repurchased. I am trying to see if using an actual towel to dry your face spreads germs and can spread acne causing bacteria on your face. I am not changing any product in my routine that would affect my acne. We will see if that myth is true or false. If it is true, than my face will be clearer and less acne prone. If it is false, then my face will look the same as ever with no difference. After two days, I am not seeing any improvement, but only time will tell.

As women, we have all been there and have purchased these types of things. I love U for its bright pretty packaging. Everyone just thinks that they are kleenex packages, if they have never seen this brand before. I’m not embarrassed to whip this out of my purse to give to a friend in need or if it falls on the floor. (I frequently drop things.) My boyfriend is also not terrified of these when he has to pick some up for me. 😉 This package was 7.99 for 32, which is a really good deal and it should last me awhile. I am very satisfied with his purchase. Don’t mind my cat as the big black blob in the corner.

She’s a show off and would not stop bothering me, until I took a picture of her.

My sample came in from target!!!!

While it wasn’t the sample that I sent out for (it was for an eye cream), I still love that I can get the product that I want with the coupon for 2 US DOLLARS off any moisturizer. The same that I got is for wrinkles. I do have a baby fine line on my forehead. I will be using this for my forehead and will let you guys know the results. Since I am only doing a small area of my face, this sample should last me one to two weeks of use. You will know in the near future what I think. If this is supposed to help major wrinkles, it should improve my baby fine line.

Well, this is it for now, I’ll be blogging tomorrow! Please comment and request to see something specific on my blog. I’m always looking for new things to write about.

With Love,
Hannahxoxoxo