Slice Tweezers

I saw these at a friends house and thought, "hmm, what an interesting looking tweezers," so I was really excited to try these when Slice said they'd send them to me for review.

The packaging is very nice, but not overly excessive!

These tweezers have a very nice coating and that along with the shape allow for an excellent grip, which is important when tweezing.  They are also an incredible red color!

Now, this folks is the MOST impressive part.  These tweezers were developed over two years by an architect, each pair is hand-filed, resulting in perfectly aligned tips.  Don't beleive me?  Look at the picture!  Those tips fit together so seamlessly, more so than any other tweezers I've ever used!  I've used a wide variety of tweezers from Revlon to Sally Hansen to Tweezerman at a range of price points from $5.00 all the way up to $30.00, but these are the BEST!

I love when a company puts so much thought into the products they are putting out and therefore does a smaller number of products, but does them all really well.  I feel like that is what Slice does.

What's more?!?  These Tweezer sell for $19.99 on their website!

I would easily pay double that for a tweezer that works this well.

What to get your very own pair?!?  Check out Slice Products Here!

Happy Shaped Brow Primping!


*Disclaimer:  This product was sent to me for review consideration; however, I am under no obligation to them to create a positive review.  Any opinions expressed in the blog post above are my honest and true opinions of the product.

Subscription Review: Glossybox August

My much anticipated August Glossybox arrived today.  I'm having mixed feeling about the products inside, but I'll get to that a little later on.

 Here is the awesome cover of the GlossyMag!  How huge are her lips with all that neon color on them!?!  I love the photography on the GlossyMags!

 The theme this month was Pure Luxury. (Sorry about the picture quality, I'm not sure what happened.)  Basically the theme is to use prodicts to that are good for you in great colors that preserve your sunkissed summer beauty , leave you looking healthy and radiant and be luxurious.

 The first item is this ExquisiteOil.  I love hair oils in the fall when my scalp is less oily, so this one will have to wait, but that's just because I'm in Texas and even though it's on the brink of September, it's still over 100 degrees out.

This is the smallest sample in the box which is worth about $1.14.

 The next item is this Ole Henriksen Truth Serum.  This serum uses Vitamin C to combat line fines and wrinkles and keep skin healthy.  It has a slight citrusy scent and absorbs really quickly.  My skin felt smoother afterwards.  I like that this serum didn't dry to a sticky finish or drag the skin during appliucation like many do.

This sample is valued at $24.

 The next product is one I actually tried from Ali's box before I even received mine, and I really liked it.  It's the Touch in Sol Feel Like Honey Moon Skin Base.  This product claims to work as primer that firms and revitalizes skin to allow for better makeup application.  I really like it and felt like it provided a good base for my foundation.  It also has has flecks of gold in it that isn't prominent when you smooth it on, but makes it seem really luxe!  I like how it smooths on and that it doesn't drag the skin upon application.

The value of this sample is about $18.75.

The next product is one of the most anticipated items, the Illamasqua Nail Varnish.  Now, common perception of these colors is that these are reject colors, from the poop brown named Taint to the off white called Load and I've seen my fair share of lime greens in the clearance bin, so I'd have to agree.  I think I got one of the better of the evils in this green.  I'll have to see how this applies and wears.

The value of this sample is $14.00.

 The last item is the Ellis Faas Ellis Lips.  The texture is nice, the application is nice, but the color is "ehh."  It's not the poop color I was expecting, it's more of a rusty, orange color.  It's not super flattering on my but I think I might can work with it.

Here's a heavier swatch on my hand.

And here it is on the lips.  I'm getting better at these lip swatches, but this lip color was not cooperating.  I'd say I've had worse colors and might try this with a liner or something to make it more flattering.

The retail value is $35.00.

So the total value of this box is $92.89!

This is by far the most valuable subscription box I have ever received.

If you would like to get your own GlossyBox subscription, check them out at Glossybox!

Happy Glossy Primping!

Smackdown! Mascara: Part 1 - High End Mascaras

I am enjoying doing this Mascara Smackdown!  I realized that I'm a little bit of a mascara junky and have accumulated many a mascara.  I have so many in fact that I'm going to have to do this Smackdow! Mascara in at least two parts.  Before I get started, I think it's important to know how I apply mascara.  I start by curling my lashes and then apply mascara to the lower lashes.  When I apply mascara to the top lashes I place the wand at the root of the lashes and "wiggle" it back and forth to ensure the roots are coated, then I pull the wand toward the tip while rotating the wand.

So here are my lashes totally nude, no makeup, liner or mascara.  I realize I have dark circles and puffiness, so don't judge! ;)

tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes!

 This is what the wand looks like.  I traditional brush-style wand, and the bristles are just long enough.  I am a fan of the brush-style applicator for mascara, as opposed to combs or rubber bristles.  The formula is a little thick and dry but not too much.  The thickness and driness of the formula caused me to have to put a little more effort into making sure all my lashes were coated.

 And last but not least, the mascara on my lashes.  Again, no makeup or concealer, just mascara, so no judging!  So you can see, it coats each lash well and lengthens just a bit. Throughout the day, it kept the curl in my lashes, but there was a small amount of smudging in the lower outside corner, which is not unusual for me.
This mascara retails for about $19.00 for a 7ml/0.24 fl oz tube.

tarte Gifted Amazonian Clay Smart Mascara

This is the mascara that came in the tarte Perfect & Treat Set.

 

 So here's the wand.  It's the same wand that's in the Light, Camera, Lashes! but I'm ok with that because I like that wand!  The formula I prefer the formula of this one to the Lights, Camera, Lashes! as it is a little easier to work with.  The formula is a little wetter than Lights, Camera, Lashes, but isn't too wet to work with either.

As you can see, Gifted is much more lengthening, but a little more clumpy.  I don't think it's too clumpy and if I decide to repurchase one of these, it will be Gifted over Lights, Camera, Lashes!  It wears a little better too and held the curl the whole day.  There was minimal smudging under my lower at the end of the day.
This mascara retails for about $19.00 for a 7ml/0.24 fl oz tube.

Too Faced LashGasm

I love when cosmetics companies use tarty names for their products that make you giggle!

 Here is the brush.  It's a rubber bristle brush, which is not my favorite, but it's not the worst mascara brush I've ever used.  The formula is on the wet side, but it's pretty easy to work with.

Here it is on my lashes.  You can see it's very lengthening and very dark.  It maximized the curl I originally put in my lashes, but lost a bit of curl during the day, which put it down to a normal amount of curl.  There was minimal smudging but nothing too noticable.
The mascara retails for $21 for a 12ml/0.4 fl oz tube.


Bare Minerals Flawless Definition Volumizing
I received this one in a beauty box, but ended up using it almost until it was gone.  Luckily, I still have enough to do this Smackdown!

So here's the brush.  It's a huge bristle brush - probably the biggest I've ever used!  This brush is a little hard to work with on the short wand, but it was a sample so I made it work.  I felt like the formula was really wet when I first used it, but upon the second use I really liked the consistency, and I don't think either the formula or the brush alone would have worked as well as they worked together.

And here it is on the eyelashes.  Not as much separation as others, but it is definitely volumizing.  I would be interested to try a lengthening version of this mascara.  There was no smuding under the lower lashes that I noticed.
This mascara retails for about $18.00 for a 0.33 fl oz tube full sized.


Clinique Lash Doubling Mascara

This was another deluxe sample that came with something, though I don't recall what.

 This one has a weird brush.  It's one of those brushes that you end up contorting yourself to get just the right angle to avoid making a mess.  I love the top skinny part, but find the larger bottom part getting in the way. 

You can see several spots where I lost the battle of this brush.  This formula wasn't especially lengthening or volumizing and it took the curl right out of my lashes!  Now I remember why I don't use this more often.  There was major smudging at the end of the day and even little smudge dots above my eyes.
This mascara retails for $16.00 for a 0.28 fl oz tube full sized.

Laura Gellar At Long Lash
I'm not sure this one is available any longer, but just in case you run across it, you should know about this one.

 The brush on this is CRAZY!  It is not crazy in a good way.  The bristles spiral around a curved brush, and if there's one thing that will have you standing on your head to get the correct angle and keep from making a mess, it's a curved brush.  If that wasn't tricky enough the formula is SUPER wet, and you can see that because of the curve of the brush product gets globbed right and the tip, where you'd need the least amount of product!

This is the mess that I ended up with.  BLAH!  I even removed this and wore something else this day.  Thank goodness I was doing this review, because I would have been super ticked off had I applied this at the end of a full face of makeup!
This one can be grabbed for about $4.00 on Amazon because it's no longer available, but I say don't waste your time.

Beauty Addicts Show Off
I received this mascara in my very first Glossybox.  Since then, I believe it was June, I've used it twice - once when I got it and once to take photos.

 We know from the Laura Gellar above that I'm no fan of the curved brush and this is no exception.  Though I like the bristles a little better, that curved shape causes so much globbing of product on the brush, it's just a mess.  This is after wiping several times on the end of the tube to remove the excess, but there's still a ton of blobs of mascara on here.

You can see by it on my lashes, that despite my best efforts, my lashes are still stuck together and there are little blobs on my upper lids.

So, the winner of round one is tarte gifted amazonian clay smart mascara!

Also, I will be throwing away the Beauty Addicts Show Off, the Laura Gellar At Long Lash, and the Clinique mascaras now that this review is done!

Stay tuned for Smackdown! Mascara: Part 2 - Drug Store Mascaras

tarte gift with purchase at Ulta

I dropped in Ulta to spend my Ulta rewards, which I was not really pleased with, but more on that later, and saw tarte had a gift with purchase, so I meandered over to see if there was anything I wanted to spend $35 on to get the cute gift.  Of course, there was!  I came across these little beauties and I wanted to share.

 I know I've said it before, but it bears repeating, especially with this gorgeous baby, tarte really knows how to put out some beautiful luxe packaging!  This is the tarte Maracuja Lip Exfoliant. 

 It's a sugar scrub for your lips.  The product itself is a clear, glossy balm, that comes in the most beautiful lip balm tin I've ever seen, and it smells of peppermint.  It has fine sugar granules that exfoliate your lips and then the Maracuja Oil goes in to hydrate them, making them appear healthier and fuller.  This is the perfect prep for any lip, but especially a red or dark lip!  

Retail for the tarte Maracuja Lip Exfoliant is $19.

 The next item I picked up is the tart Clean Slate 360 Creaseless 12 Hour Smoothing Eye Primer.  Now, does tarte know how to give their sutff names you're unlikely to remember all of in a million years or what?!?

 Be that as it may, I have heard good things about this primer and had high hopes, and this thing payed off!  It starts out a but white, but blends to no color and is smoothing and the tiniest bit tacky, which means it will hang on to my eyeshadow pretty well.

For the whole reason I got into the tarte section in the beginning, the gift with purchase.  It's an adorable travel size of their Maracuja Divine Shine Lip Gloss in Blissful and a matching makeup bag.  This lip gloss is so nice and not at all sticky and it's the most beautiful peachy-orange color.

The value of this gwp is $10 just for the lipgloss!

And here it is swatched on the lips! So pretty!

So, all in all, I think that this was a pretty good haul with some amazing products from a company I love!

Happy "freebie" Primping!

L'Oreal Infallible Shadows

 I am absolutely in LOVE with these L'Oreal Infallible 24 Hour eyeshadows.  They are soft and creamy and last for ages, even on me, which is quite a chore.  I have fairly oily eyelids and most shadows crease even with a primer, but these last all day.  I use the Endless Pearl, which despite the name is actually mate, under almost all my eye-shadows.

The colors I have are Sultry Smoke, Bronzed Taupe, Endless Pearl, and Smoldering Plum.  This is the package from the bottom where you can see the shadow through the pot.

Here they are swatched using a brush, with no primer.  From top to bottom: Sultry Smoke, Bronzed Taupe, Endless Pearl, and Smoldering Plum.  How delicious are these colors?!?

 These are really unique, they are like a pressed pigment and even come with a presser peice that needs to stay on top to keep the shadow from coming apart.

 Here's the presser.

And here's what the look like inside.  Again, look at the gorgeous, velvety color!

The claim is that these last 24 hour, but I don't know that I've ever worn a shadow for 24 hours and don't intend to just for the sake of testing these!  I can say that they go on super smooth and wear all day, which for my is like 12-14 hours, without creasing.  You do have to be mindful of fallout when applying, so when using the darker shades, I usually do my eyes first and then clean up the fallout and do my foundation.

These retail for about $7.99 in the drugstore (they're usually least expensive at Walmart!)

Happy Infallible Primping!

Fortune Cookie Soap

If you haven't heard of Fortune Cookie Soap, you really should read on!  Fortune Cookie Soap makes adorable and awesome smelling bath and body products that use only safe "gunk free" ingredients.  "Gunk free" means: no parabens, no sodium lauryl sulfate, no synthetic preservatives, and no animal testing!  I received a Summer Fortune Cookie Soap Soap Box, which is their quarterly subscription box.  The soap box gives you 8-10 sample items (my summer one included a full size of their namesake Fortune Cookie soap and a full size bath bomb) in the not yet released scents of the upcoming season.  You also receive a code for $10 off your next order, and the box itself is only $19.99 for US customers, so it's an excellent deal. So I got a couple things I was wanting to try with my coupon code.

 Isn't this packaging adorable!

 The first thing I got was this Solid Smell Good!  Fortune Cookie Soap's website says "Lotion Bars are the most convenient lotion your will ever own. One or two swipes on your dry skin is all you need. Don't worry that it is too greasy, it will sink in after a few minutes. 100% all natural; made with only the finest, top-of-the line ingredients (several of which are also certified organic) it leaves your skin feeling smooth and smelling super yummy!"  And it lives up to all that!  I  actually was concerned that it was too greasy when I put it on my hands, went to pick up my camera to take a picture and threw the camera across the room, but by the time I retrieved my camera and had taken pictures of these beautiful products, it was absorbed, leaving behind soft, sweet smelling skin.  As for the scent, this is one I tested in the Summer Soap box as a dry shampoo (LOVED!) so I knew I had to get it in something else!  The scent is called Wish You Were Here and FCS says that it smells of smells of mango and tropical pikaki.  It is very summer-y and maybe my favorite from the Soap Box.

The Solid Smell Good retails for $7.99 for .75oz.

The other item I got was a bubble bar.  These bubble bars are a solid bath foam, that you just crumble under running bath water for a tub full of bubbles.  Depending on how much of a bubble-freak you are, you can throw the whole thing in or use just half.  They are enriched with Cocoa Butter and infused with whatever scent you choose.  I got this one in Pinky Swear, another scent from the Summer Soap box, which is described as a blend of pink sugar, banana, strawberry, and bubble gum.  I find it heavy on the strawberry and pink sugar, and think it's very sweet and girly!

It looks a lot like some other high end brands, but is about 30-40 cents and ounce cheaper!  The beauty was $5.99 for a 5 oz bar.

Fortune Cookie Soaps calls they fan Fortune-freaks and I am definitely one!  I love that they make a variety of wonderful smells in good for you and the environment products, that you can feel good about using!

Check them out at Fortune Cookie Soap!

Happy Fortune Freak Primping!

Subscription Review: August Beauty Box 5

I got a surprise in the mail today!

 It's Beauty Box Five!  I was so excited to see this cute little blue box in the mailbox.  So, why prolong this any longer?!?  Let's just jump right in to the goodies!

When you open this box, this is what you see!  It's packaged well, so that nothing was broken or displaced, and had a cute little thank you card on top.

 The first item in the box was this Pssssst! Instant Dry Shampoo.  This product is from Freeman Beauty, which doesn't have the best rep when it comes to the facial masks, but I have heard some chatter about this dry shampoo, so I'm excited to try it.  I love me some dry shampoo!  The scent is really clean and doesn't smell like much of anything, which I think is a good thing.

This is the on-the-go size and retails for $2.99

 The next item is a full size mineral blush from Everyday Minerals in the color Girl Friday.  This color is described as a soft matte plum berry shade. 

 

This shade is beautiful and I cannot wait to wear it!  The blush itself is soft and applied very easily.  I think I'm really going to enjoy this blush.

They have two sizes on their site, BIG and MINI.  This is the MINI and retails for $6.99.

 The next set of items are these LA FRESH Eco-Beauty Waterproof Makeup Remover wipe.  These wipes are 100% biodegradable and alcohol-free.  I'm a sucker for face wipe, because as the working mom of a toddler, it's often the only thing I can bear to do to remove makeup before falling into bed exhausted.  With most wipes I then usually wake up with raccoon eyes, so I'm excited to try something formulated to remove waterproof makeup!

A 24 pack of these wipes is $9.99, making the value of this sample $1.26.

The next item is this Becca Eye Tint.  This is an creme eyeshadow that claims to glide on as a creme and sets to a powder, and it claims to be long-lasting, water-resistant, and crease-resistant.  We all know how tough I am on creaseless, waterproof eye makeup so I'm excited to give this a whirl!

 The swatch did go on very nicely and I was impressed with the pigmentation.  It set up very quickly, which is important for me as I generally have limited time to get ready in the morning!

The best part, this is also a full size product and retails for $24.00!

 The final product is this evie evan hydrating vitamin cream.  evie and evan is a cruelty-free compnay that makes this loveley moisterizing and anit-aging facial lotion that has Vitamin A, C, and E.

This is their mini or travel size and it retails for $22.00.

I'm super impressed with this Beauty Box 5!

The total retail value of this box is $57.27!

What's the cost of this awesome little box, you might be wondering?!?  $12!

Sign up at Beauty Box 5 for your own monthly box of goodies!

Until next time,

Happy Super-Surprise Beauty Box Primping!


*Disclaimer: This product was sent to me for review purposes by the aforementioned company; however, this is my honest opinion about the product reviewed.