Influenster Spring Fever Voxbox

I received my first Voxbox today through Influenster. This was the Spring Fever Voxbox. I was expecting this box and was surprised with the size when I received it. The box was much smaller than I expected.  The whole box fit into my mailbox along with the mail. Influenster surprisingly fit a lot of stuff in this box.

First Look!

FULL SIZE 0.35 oz. Schwarzkopf Professional Osis+ Dust it Texturizing powder I attempted to use this as a volumizing powder, but it ended up being used as more of a dry shampoo. I didn't see any volume in my hair - but I have really long hair and it's pretty weighty. I could feel the stuff in my hair all day and maybe if I had shorter hair it would work as a volumizing powder. This stuff did however work as a dry shampoo. I saw a difference in my 'end of the day, second day dirty hair.' At the end of the day my hair didn't look greasy. But I don't think I can justify the $24.00 price tag on a dry shampoo, when my $8.00 batiste will do the same job. 

Retail Value: $23.50

FULL SIZE 1.7 oz. Secret Outlast completely clean clear gel

Retail Value: $4.95

FULL SIZE Tasty Kake Candy Bar Kakes in S'mores Glad to have received this flavor. I love s'mores. The other flavors that I could have received were peppermint and peanut butter. I would have been happy with the peanut butter one and would have given away the food if I got the peppermint one. They are all made with a candy bar (Hershey's/York Peppermint Patty/Reese's)

Retail Value: $4.95/box

FULL SIZE NYC Applelicious Glossy Lip Balm in Big Apple Red I love lip products so this was a nice find. The stick of the lip balm has a light pink apple on the core. It left a faint hint of red on my lips. You probably wouldn't even notice that there was any color unless you saw it being applied.

Retail Value: $2.99

FULL SIZE imPress Press on Manicure in 'Just Say Yes' This is a product that I have always been curious about, but never really had the urge to purchase them from the store. I am happy that I received this to play around with and see what its all about. If they are anything like the press on nails from my childhood I don't expect these to stay on my nails longer than an hour before falling off or sticking to strands of my hair and getting stuck. The claim is that it will last for up to a week. We'll see about that one...

Retail Value: $6.99

Total Approximate Value: $42.43

**I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.

30 Day Snap!

I follow Louise at Sprinkle of Glitter both on her blog and her You Tube channel. She posts different things on both of them and as I was browsing her blog I saw that she is doing a blog challenge starting next month. I have the challenge link here.

Basically all you have to do is take a picture every day in the month of June and post it to your blog/facebook/twitter/instagram/whatever.  I will be taking a vacation overseas at the end of June so it should be pretty easy for me to take a pic a day then. The hard part will be if I will have internet access on vacation. Either way I will be taking a pic a day and will post it to this blog.

I have seen the tags on You Tube and have thought they were interesting. So I'm excited to try out this challenge. I hope that I will be able to keep this up all thirty days, I think the taking pics part will be easy. The sitting down and posting the pic will be the hard part. But I'm going to give this a try and see what happens.

I will be adding this button to all of my 30 day snap pics. 

Try out the challenge yourself!

Haul: Sephora Sun Safety Kit

So apparently Sephora puts together a baggie each spring with different products to protect your skin from the sun. This year is the first year that I have heard about it and I knew that it tends to sell out fast. Once I heard that it was up for sale I immediately ordered a kit.  I am going on a trip to Thailand in the next month and I need some sun protection. Plus with all the new flight bag rules ($100 for a second bag?!) I am trying to pack light so that I can go crazy with the shopping and not have to worry too much about the weight.

The bag is $30.00 plus shipping - unless you purchase $50.00 worth of product which makes the shipping free. $20.00 of the purchase of the bag goes towards the Skin Cancer Foundation. The claim is that the bag contains $210.00 worth of product.

Click on this link to purchase the bag for yourself. Hurry, it's sure to sell out fast.

One side.

The other side.

The bag. Plastic on the main parts. The outer sides are in a metallic gold color with metalic pink piping. The inside of the bag is a muted pink. Double zippers. The zipper pulls say 'Sephora' as well as embroidered pink on both sides. 

All the items I received in the bag.

0.5 oz. Lancome Bienfait Multi-Vital Sunscreen Cream Broad Spectrum SPF 30

Full size: 1.7 oz. for $45.00

0.5 fl. oz. Tarte Brazilliance Skin Rejuvenating Maracuja self tanner

Full size: 5.5 oz. for $37.00

0.5 oz. Boscia Self-Defense Vital Antioxidant Moisture Broad Spectrum SPF 30

Full size: 1.4 fl. oz. $36.00

0.16 fl. oz. Miracle Skin Transformer SPF 20 face in Medium I received an exact same sample of this in my last New Beauty Test Tube.

Full size: 0.85 oz. for $18.00

0.64 oz Shiseido Ultimate Sun Protection Cream + Broad Spectrum SPF 50+ for face

Full size: 2 oz. for $35.00

0.03 oz. Bare Minerals Mineral Veil Broad Spectrum SPF 25

Full size: 0.3 oz. for $20.00

Bare Minerals mini Flawless Face brush

Full size: $22.00

0.3 fl. oz. Clarins UV Plus HP Broad Spectrum SPF 40 

Full size: 1.7 oz. for $40.00

0.14 oz. Too Faced Chocolate Soleil Matte Bronzer

Full size: 0.35 oz. for $30.00

.25 0z Dr. Brandt Flexitone BB Cream with broad spectrum SPF 30

Full size: 1 oz. for $30.00

0.169 fl. oz. Sephora Age defy moisture cream SPF 15 Sunscreen

Full size: 1 oz. for $15.00

1.69 fl. oz. St. Tropez 'One Night Only' Instant Glow Body Lotion

Full size: 5 oz for $15.00

.25 fl. oz. Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation Primer Broad Spectrum SPF 20

Full size: 1 fl. oz. for $42.00

0.5 oz. L'Occitane en Provence Brightening Hand Care

Full size: 2.5 oz for $30.00

0.5 oz. Peter Thomas Roth Max Sheer All Day Moisture Defense Lotion oil free SPF 30

Full size: 1.7 oz. for $42.00

0.5 fl. oz. Josie Maran Argan Daily Moisturizer

Full size: 4 fl. oz. for $54.00

0.5 fl. oz. Ole Henriksen Protect the Truth SPF 50+

Full size: 1.7 fl. oz. for $35.00

0.5 fl. oz. Origins A Perfect World SPF 25

Full size: 6.7 fl. oz. for $27.50

I also am signed up for the Beauty Insider program and with the purchase I made of the Sun Safety Kit, I was able to get a 500 perk point gift. I have been hearing that Buxom lip glosses are really good and the 500 point perk was a Buxom Glow and Tell gift set. The set included: 

0.2 fl. oz. Lash in Blackest Black

0.23 fl. oz Divine Goddess Luminizer

0.07 fl. oz. Full-On Lip Polish lipgloss in Tonya

0.07 oz. Hot Escapes Bronzer in Tahiti

There was also a coupon code for a deluxe sample of your choice. You could either choose from a mascara, Murad cleanser or a Shiseido lip gloss. 

.06 oz. Shiseido Lacuer Rouge in RD 607

And lastly, as with every Sephora.com order I picked my three samples. 

.33 fl. oz. Living Proof frizz nourishing styling cream

0.33 fl oz. Soap and Glory The Righteous Butter

0.03 fl. oz. hourglass Immaculate Liquid Powder Foundation in Nude

New Beauty Test Tube May 2013

In my last post I mentioned that I heard that New Beauty Test Tube was changing their shipping schedule from a quarterly beauty box to a bi-monthly one. I did receive an email that this would be the new schedule and I received the first box on that new schedule today. 

Price: $29.99

Ships out: Every other month

First Look!

Celebrity Beauty Secrets Book Normally the Test Tube comes with a copy of New Beauty Magazine, this month I received a book written by New Beauty's Beauty editors. I usually just throw away the magazine each month, but I think that I might actually look through this book. 

Retail Value: $14.95 

1.7 fl. oz. Bliss Body Butter in 'Lemon and Sage'

Approximate Value: $4.33

0.85 fl. oz. Ahava 3-in-1 Mineral Toning Cleanser

Approximate Value: $3.00

.17 fl. oz. Josie Maran 100% Pure Argan Oil So excited to try this one out! I have heard some really great things about this Argan oil and I keep hearing that Josie Maran's is the best. I was eventually going to purchase a little bottle to try out, now I don't have to!

Approximate Value: $5.35

FULL SIZE 0.15 fl. oz. Bare Minerals 'Marvelous Moxie' lipgloss in 'Spark Plug' This is a new product that Bare Minerals just came out with. 

Approximate Value: $18.00

0.5 fl. oz. Lumene 'Vitamin C+ Age Defying Artic Cloudberry Day Cream'

Approximate Value: $5.88

15 Packets ( 0.02 fl. oz. in each packet) of Hydroxatone 'Instant Effect 90 Second Wrinkle Reducer on the go singles'

Approximate Value: $39.98

2 fl. oz. Ojon 'Damage Reverse' Restorative Conditioner

Approximate Value: $10.00

1 fl. oz. Philosophy shampoo, bath and shower gel in 'Love Sweet Love'

Approximate Value: $1.50

1.9 oz. Living Proof Full Thickening Mousse

Approximate Value: $10.40

This month I received an extra bag of Bonus Products. I have never received these extras in any other Test Tube. This might be a special for the change in their company. It came in a clear plastic bag - perfect for airplane carryon items. 

0.16 fl. oz. Miracle Skin Transformer SPF 20 Face in 'Medium'

Approximate Value: $4.52

.052 oz. Colore Science Glow and Go Travel Puff in 'Pearl Powder' This product intrigued me The directions state, "Just pat this luxurious puff against your skin to release the pigment.  Then blend gently across the face for sheer even coverage.  Pat two to three times to release more pigment.  Apple more pressure on the sponse to get heavier coverage." The product can be reused and after the product is gone you can use and wash the puff for other products. Apparently Colore Science does not make this product anymore. I was excited to try this out on a trip that I will be taking next month and see how I like it. I guess that's the only time I will be able to use this product...

Approximate Value: $10.00

0.4 oz. Dr. Brandt 'Pores No More Vacuum Cleaner blackhead extractor' 

Approximate Value: $7.33

0.14 fl.oz Lumene Sensitive Touch 5 Minute SOS Cream

Approximate Value: $1.65

.68 fl. oz. Kneipp 'Sleep Well' Herbal Bath Valerian and Hops

Approximate Value: $5.50 

Total Approximate Value: $113.39 for the tube and the book. Total for the bonus items were $29.00. In total this month's tube had a value of $142.39.

I am pretty sure that the bonus items are just leftover stock from previous Test Tubes. The Lumene cream and the Miracle skin transformer were in a Spring 2012 Test Tube. This explains why some of the products are no longer made and the packaging on the Kneipp bath oil and Dr. Brant blackhead extractor is different now. Despite this I still think that it was nice for the added bonus products bag.

I wish this bag had more makeup products in it, but the Test Tube has historically been mostly skincare products. I am much happier with the products that were in this month's tube than the dismal tube I received last time. This definitely makes up for it.

Every other Test Tube also has coupons for Spa Look.  This was the first tube that I did not receive those coupons.  I'm not too upset about the lack of coupons because I have never used them before. I just checked the Spa Look website and they currently have a promotion on the site that is very similar to the coupons that were sent out in the Test Tubes.

Also this month New Beauty started a referral program. If you refer a friend you will receive a free tube and the friend will receive a discount of $5.00 off their next shipment. I checked out the referral program on the New Beauty site and the referring individual needs to submit the name and email address of the friend to get this discount. If you would like for me to get you this discount, leave a comment below with your name and email address. If you would prefer a little more privacy, just email me.

Review: Palmolive® soft touch

I am signed up for a product review program called Influenster.  How it works is that you sign up on the website and review products that they have listed on the site.  You earn badges for the reviews and this will increase your Influenster badge score.  You can also link up your other social media contacts to increase your score also. Most of the products for review you probably have heard of and most likely have used.

Every so often companies will reach out to Influenster with new products that they want tested. You will fill out a pre-qualification survey and based on that information you may be selected to test the product. If you are picked, Influenster will send you an email to let you know that you have been selected and to keep your eye out for a package from them. Once you receive the package, you must review the product or else you will be disqualified from any further boxes.

Interestingly enough, I did not fill out a pre-qualification survey for the product that I received. I filled out a survey for another product, wasn't selected, and received an email letting me know that I was picked for this program. 

First look!

I received two bottles of Palmolive® soft touch dish soap.

Left: Vitamin E

Right: Aloe

 

You could receive two of three different formulas of this product, Vitamin E, Aloe and Coconut Butter.  I am happy with the two formulas that I received. Influenster  and Palmolive sent two full sized bottles - one for you to try and one to give to a friend to try. I'm planning on giving this to my sister when I see her next. They also sent a bunch of coupons for $1.00 off future purchases of this product - or to distribute to your friends. 

I tried out the Vitamin E bottle first - strictly based on the pink color. The scent was nice. It was light and fragrant. The product suds up well and seemed to remove the grease and food easily.  I really noticed that my hands were moisturized while washing the dishes. It was like my hands were coated in some kind of oil protecting my hands from drying out in the water. Despite this feeling, it didn't remain when you stopped washing the dishes and dried your hands. 

I have really dry skin and washing my hands or doing dishes dries my hands out really badly. This dish soap helped to stop my hands from drying out. I will definitely be repurchasing this product. I just saw that CVS has this on sale for $0.99 this week, so if I use the coupon that was provided I will just have to pay tax on the bottle. I will probably go pick up some more of these bottles and spread the love to all my friends.

**Disclaimer: I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes

IPSY May 2013

I received my IPSY bag in the mail today. Keep reading to see what I got!

Price: $10.00 (free shipping)

Ships out: Every month.

Extras: Each month the products featured in the bag have special subscriber discounts.

This Month's theme is 'Spring Fever'

The bag this month was shades of orange and green - almost like a Missoni print. 

Each bag has discounts on the month's products, which included a coupon code for $110.00 off hair styling tools and hair extensions, plus a free thermal pouch at NuMe. 

FULL SIZE .33oz. Pacifica 'Island Vanilla' perfume roll on. Really warm,vanilla-y scent. It's described as "Tahitian vanilla, loved for its fruity and slightly floral aroma, is anchored with rich Bourbon vanilla notes." I think this would be nice to wear in the fall. It's a great size to throw in your purse. 

Approximate Value: $12.00

 .14fl. oz. Juice Beauty lipgloss in 'Pink' Nice color in the bottle. The gloss is really thin, I applied it and it felt very watery. Color wasn't very pigmented. It left a slight hint of color, and a good amount of shine on my lips. Don't think it lasted on my lips for even an hour.

Approximate Value: $7.50

Yaby Concealer refill in 'Buff' When I first took this out of the bag, I thought it was an eyeshadow. I tried to swatch the color and noticed that the product was creamy. It wasn't until I went to the website where I found out exactly what I got. Bonus - I think this color might work for me. Don't know if everyone got the same color or if it was personalized to a color that might fit my skin tone. This product would fit nicely in the Glam RX pallet that came in the March bag. Unfortunately I was still on the waiting list when this bag shipped, so I don't know what I'm going to do with this sample. 

Approximate Value: $4.85

FULL SIZE Zoya nail polish in 'Neely' It's a nice sea foam green color. I immediately painted my nails. The color is nice and the polish dries quickly. I would purchase from this brand again. I checked out the website and it says that this color was originally created for the runway show of designer Peter Som. 

Approximate Value: $8.00

10ml. NuMe Finishing Serum I have received a sample of another NuMe product from another sample box in the past and it worked really well. Like impressively well. But this brand is soooooo expensive. I have high hopes for this sample. 

Approximate Value: $20.34

Total Approximate Value: $52.69

I'm horrible at math, so I'm not confident that I did all the calculations correctly on the approximate values of these samples. However, if I did do them correctly - that's a really high value for this bag! In all there are a few products that I am excited to try out and overall this is a great bag.

Love with Food April 2013

If you happened to see a previous post, you know that I signed up for a six month subscription to Love with Food from FAB. I received my first box - the April box that was curated by Andrew Zimmern from Bizarre Foods on the Travel Channel.

The Price: $10.00 a month

Ships out: Once a month

The Extras: For each box purchased, Love with Food donates a meal to someone in need. 

This month's theme was Weird, Wild, Wonderful Foods.

Fennel Pollen from Pollen Ranch

Approximate Value: $0.54

Not quite sure what I'm going to do with this...

 5oz. Somersaults in Salty Pepper These were really good. I liked the taste, although it was really peppery - which make it slightly spicy. I will probably repurchase these.

Approximate Value: $0.33

2oz. Buffl Lo Dip in Creamy Buffalo Ranch

Approximate Value: $0.64

1.1oz Oloves  in Lemony Lover

Approximate Value: $1.59

2.50z. The Good Bean all natural chickpea snack in Smoky Chili and Lime These were okay. It has the texture and crunch of nuts. I liked the flavor, but didn't love it. It was a little spicy, I can handle most of my spice, and this one had a little kick to it. 

Approximate Value: $4.59

1oz. Mini Pops Air Popped Sorghum Grain in Itty Bitty Butter This tastes like unsalted, unbuttered mini popcorn.  I didn't really like the flavor because it tasted like there was no flavor. Because the grains were so small it's really clumsy to eat. You either have to pour a bunch of this in your hand and smash it into your mouth or grab a bunch of these grains in your fingers and put everything in your mouth. Messy with each technique. Plus lots of fallout because it's so small. This stuff got everywhere. I only got through a third of the bag. I think I might experiment with flavors with the rest of the bag. 

Approximate Value: $1.21

2 Cocomels Coconut Milk Caramels (1 in Sea Salt, 1 in Original)

Approximate Value: $0.98

Total estimated value: $9.88

I think the value for this box is a little low, but it's at least higher than the price that I paid using the FAB deal. Without the credits that I had the 6 month subscription deal comes out to $7.77 a box.