February subscription un-boxing-palooza

I've been really lazy about sharing my subscription box stuff this month but I got the necessary kick in the butt to get it out there via an unexpected gift box. As a result you get the motherlode of unboxing posts!

February Glossybox

Yesterday I received this box quite mysteriously as an unannounced gift from a dear friend. I know she's been exceedingly happy with the stuff she has gotten so I had been thinking about subscribing to Glossybox for a while. I'm taking this as a sign and I finally took the plunge to subscribe this morning.

I'm pretty psyched about the stuff in this box and the sample sizing is clearly VERY generous.

Included:

• Unwash Bio Cleansing Conditioner
• Royal Apothic Tinties Lip Butter in Pink
• Rituals Cosmetics Foaming Shower Gel Sensation in “Yogi Flow”
• Julep Polish in “Heartleigh”
• Dr Lili Fan Probiotic Eye Serum

Misses- I think the only item I'm passing on here is the shower gel. It smells interesting (very reminiscent of the Nubian Heritage Honey & Black Seed line) but I've found my chemistry tends to make smells like that unbearably strong. I also have to avoid cleansing products with ALS or SLS because I have eczema and if my skin dries out too much I get hives.

Hits- I'm extra psyched for the cleansing conditioner because of exactly the same skin sensitivities! The nail polish seems to have a nice dense glitter concentration and I like the giant red heart glitters. The lip balm is a really intense shade of deep bubble gum pink and though I'm not sure if it will work on me I'm always up for a new shade, and moisturizers are always fun to play with.

February Birchbox

Included:

• Juice Beauty® Blemish Clearing Cleanser
• Gilchrist & Soames Spa Therapy Body Wash
• theBalm® cosmetics Read My Lips™ Lip Gloss in BAM! Rose pink
• beautyblender + mini solid cleanser
• BeeKind™ Conditioner

Misses- One definite and one maybe miss here - the body wash is another formulation my skin would not like and while I do tend to like TheBalm products I feel like I get a gloss in roughly the same colour every other month!

Hits-VERY psyched about the beautyblender since I've been considering picking one up for a while, and the conditioner and face wash should be fun to play with. I am a little annoyed I can't smell either one without unsealing them.

February Glambag

Included:

• CARGO Cosmetics Mini Lip Gloss in Anguilla
• Eva NYC Up All Night Volumizing Spray
• Luxie Beauty Large Angled Face Brush 504
• ModelCo BLUSH Cheek Powder in Peach Bellini
• "Pencil Me In" Cosmetics Natural Eye Liner Pencil in Amethyst

Misses - the Cargo lip gloss. Remember what I said above about lip glosses? Yeah, enough with the warm pink glosses! Also not too psyched on the purple eye pencil. It's a nice purple, but between my preference for crisp liquid liners and my oily eyelids I don't get much mileage out of them.

Hits - Hair styling samples are always welcome so I'm happy about the spray though since it does seem pretty strongly scented I'm not sure how much use I'll get out of it.  I have no idea if the blush is going to work on me, but its a colour I don't have so it should be fun to try. The angled brush is made specifically for contouring and that is going RIGHT into the tool kit as I've been kind of making do with other brushes so far.

Jan 2015 Ipsy Glambag

My Ipsy Glam Bag for this month came the other day and I have to say I'm not terribly thrilled.
(once again I get points if you sign up via the link - this is a standard Ipsy user situation)

I received
Astrida Naturals Orange Mint Lip Balm with Shea Oil
(MALIN+GOETZ) Mojito Lip Balm
LashFood Phyto-Medic Eyelash Enhancer
Probelle Into The Blue Nail Lacquer
Pacifica Natural Mineral Coconut Eye Shadow in Treasure
a sort of plasticy nautical flat zip top bag - the opposite side is white

My thoughts in brief - all products untested
I don't like mint so I suspect both lip balms are out. The ingredients on the Orange Mint one look okay but I don't like that "perfume" is practically the only recognizable ingredient in the Mojito one.

The eyelash enhancer is intriguing but I'm going to have to research it a bit before I'm willing to put it near my eyes.I hate removing mascara so a product that gives me more lash with less grindy rubbing at the end of the day is okay by me.

The polish looks nice and I like that it's 3free, but it's pretty blah as shades of blue go. Just sort of an enh greyish sky blue. It really wouldn't stand out against my skin tone very well at all and in fact I think the pedi I got for my wedding was almost exactly the same shade because that's all they had (I painted over it with a better blue when I got home).
I don't see myself ever reaching for it to wear on its own, but it may get some use in nail art.

The shadow is a pretty enough shade, but I am BEYOND set on coppery sand toned shadows, thanks.

The bag is a good size and seems sturdy, thought I do generally prefer the fabric ones,


So yeah, mostly more stuff for the trade pile... not that I ever get around to trading stuff out anyway! Though I do think that contemplating my Ipsy stuff has given me an idea as far as nail polish goes. I think I may have just solved the "what sort of flakie mani do I want" question.

Mini Update

These are very very tall heels.
Yep, very tall.

It's a pretty good colour for me now, but these will look *amazing* on me when I am tan. Maybe I'll toss a pic up here when I'm not wearing the sad remains of a two month old pedicure.

I probably could wear them mismatched as is, but I think I'd be better off in the smaller size. I will update here again when I hear back from Fashion Project.

I showed the bag to a friend who has a bit of a *thing* about designer bags and he says the bag is vintage (1975 in fact) and agrees that it has probably never been used, which explains why the leather is a touch dry, but otherwise perfect.

Boston, we have a problem.

Shoes and bag arrived today from Fashion Project and they ARE quite lovely and in good repair.

The shoes are a lovely rosy pink with a decided iridescent golden sheen and NO sole wear (even on the heel) and while the bag could use some leather conditioner and some time with padding in it, I'm pretty sure that it has never been used. The inside is pristine.

BUUUUUUUUUUUT...

The shoes are two different sizes and show different amounts of (extremely light) wear (closet aging maybe? Mostly I noticed the leather on the sole is different colours).

One of these things is not like the other. One of these things just doesn't belong.

Now admittedly I wear either a six and a half or seven depending on the shoe, and the size difference DOES match up side-wise with the slight size difference in my feet, so I wouldn't be terribly surprised if I could just wear them as is... but this is just silly.

On the plus side it gives me the opportunity to try on both of my usual sizes and see which works better! The shoes are so open I suspect it will be the six and a half (i.e. the size I actually ordered), but you never know. I'm just glad I didn't get these *for* anything so the time delay with whatever shipping I'll have to do won't mess me up.

I'm actually looking at a Tadashi Shoji dress on the site for an event in the Spring but I think we'll see how it goes talking with customer service before I buy anything else.