Influenster Posh VoxBox

I am currently on cloud nine! A few weeks ago I came home to the ever so coveted Influenster Posh VoxBox. The Posh VoxBox, besides reminding me of the very fashionable Spice Girl, was filled with an assortment of goodies and quickly became my favorite box I had ever received! The quality of products that came in this box blew me away! I couldn't believe I was lucky enough to be chosen to receive this box.

The products I received were BROWFOOD Aqua Brow Powder + Pencil Duo, Sigma Beauty Aura Powder, Sigma Beauty F40 Large Contour Brush, Ouidad Advanced Climate Control Defrizzing Shampoo & Conditioner, AQUIS Lisse Luxe Long Hair Towel, Julep Boost Your Radiance Reparative Rosehip Seed Facial Oil and Dermalogica Stress Positive Eye Life.

I had never heard of BROWFOOD Aqua BrowPowder + Pencil Duo and I really wasn't expecting to like this. I’m someone who pays very little attention to her brows, even though people say this is one of the most important parts of the face. “The eyebrows frame the face” Although I have always wanted the perfect Cara Delevingne and Lily Collins… I’ve just never found a product that worked. ALAS, I WAS WRONG! I am unapologetically in love with this product. Anytime I put a face on, this product is used. Out of the whole box, I’m most in love with this product.

Sigma Beauty Aura Powder in Nymphaea is a subtle coral color with buildable coverage. I was a bit nervous when I first saw the color because it seemed like such a bright pink but on the skin it gives such a beautiful light flush to the skin. I prefer a blush with a buildable coverage that way I don't end up looking like I’m back in the 80s!

When I saw that beautiful Sigma F40 Large Contour Brush I was ecstatic! The first brushes I ever bought were Sigma, and I still have them to this day! That being said, a few of them need to be replaced (It’s been over 6 years!). One of the brushes I needed to replace was my Sigma F40 brush so this couldn't have come at a better time!! I use this more as a blush brush rather than a contour brush… I use their F05 Small Contour brush.

The Ouidad Advanced Climate Control Defrizzing Shampoo & Conditioner is the only thing in this box I really felt meh about. I’m pretty stuck in my ways when it comes to my hair. I’ve got long curly hair and what I do now works. After using it I didn't see much difference in my hair. My hair wasn't any less frizzy.  The product is also sulfate free, and I hear that's a good thing… right?!

Seeing as I have naturally curly hair I’m not one to put my hair in a towel, I normally just air dry. There are occasions where I shower right before bed and I absolutely hate going to bed with wet hair. Using the AQUIS Lisse Luxe Long Hair Towel absolutely lives up to its claims of reducing frizz and decreasing drying time. If you’re someone who towel dries your hair, I would confidently say… you need this!

When I saw the Julep Boost Your Radiance Reparative Rosehip Seed Facial Oil I was excited... yet hesitant. Excited because I see people all over using facial oil but hesitant because I can tend to get oily throughout the day. I tend to use this more towards night in fear that this will make me oilier during the day. To my surprise, it leaves my skin with great amount of moisture and doesn't leave my skin feeling greasy! I’m not a huge fan of the smell but that's my issue because I’m not a fan of roses.

The product I was most surprised to see in this box was the Dermalogica Stress Positive Eye Life. I feel like everyone in the world is using Dermalogica products…. but me. Until now that is! This cream-gel masque claims that it minimizes the appearance of puffiness and dark circles, lifts the eye area and helps increase skin luminosity. The directions say you can use it either as an occasional treatment or daily to treat chronic eye fatigue. I love the feeling of the cooling tip on this product! (no so) PRO TIP: Keep this product in the refrigerator for that extra cool feeling!

There you have it! The best VoxBox I have ever received. This box lived up to its name, Posh. The retail value of this box was well over $200 and I still can’t believe I was lucky enough to be chosen to receive this box.  

Hourglass Surreal Light Ambient Lighting Edit Palette

Deep breaths.... I know. Its stunning. Let me start off by saying... I bought this solely for the packaging. The marble... it did it for me. I have never tried anything by hourglass before but have always been intrigued by the hype of the ambient lighting powders.

This is a complete face palette offering everything you need for the perfect glow. This palette includes a finishing powder, two blushes, bronzer, and highlighter inspired by Surreal Light, which is a new shade in the Ambient Lighting Powder family (currently only available in this palette). I've never understood the hype of this palette until I actually used it on my face. I always thought "oh its just a basic powder it won't really do anything" I was wrong. It really gives you such a multi-dimensional glow that blurs imperfections and smoothes over the skin like nothing else I’ve come across.

In this palette there is;

Surreal Light is a yellowish beige all-over face powder with fine (and I mean fine) gold shimmer over a matte finish. This is can be used as a finishing powder to diffuse and soften the look of skin.

Surreal Glow is a light-medium peach with warm undertones and a satin finish. This is my favorite blush out of the two blushes. Its not sheer but its not opaque and is buildable. It doesn't give this out of this world glow that I assumed it would but I'm not a huge fan of glowy blushes because of my oily skin.

Surreal Effect is a light-medium pink with subtle coral undertones and a satin finish. This blush almost made me not buy this palette, thats how much I dislike the color pink. But I was pleasantly surprised by it. It doesn't look overly pink on the face, has buildable pigmentation and is silky soft.

Surreal Bronze Light is a light-medium with warm pink undertones and fine gold shimmer. It has buildable pigmentation and sat well on the skin. When I use it I don't see much of a difference on the skin... I think I may be too dark for this color.

Surreal Strobe Light is a yellowed peach with warm undertones and gold shimmer. I'm absolutely obsessed with this highlighter. Recently my skin has been getting incredibly oily throughout the day so I've been skipping on all things dewy and highlighters. This gives the most subtle highlight. It doesn't build up the an incredible highlighter like Becca, but if you're looking for something subtle this is the way to go.

Overall I really enjoy this palette, but its definitely not worth $80. Breaking down how much product you get in this palette and how much you would normally receive this is definitely not a value palette. The total value in this palette is about $53.30, so honestly I find this to be a total ripoff, but again I bought this for the packaging. 

I would definitely say hourglass products are worth a try, even after using this palette I said I would want to buy more but I don't necessarily think anyone needs this palette. But I would definitely check out some of their permanent products!

The Estee Edit by Estee Lauder

I have seen a lot of commotion within the past couple months about the new Estee Edit by Estee Lauder collection so I was beyond excited when my package showed up at the door!

The Estee Edit is a new beauty line created by Estee Lauder that is a more youth driven version of Estee Lauder. You still get the great products of Estee Lauder but its geared more towards whats on trend. The Estee Edit collection is exclusively sold at Sephora and on the Estee Lauder website.

In my package I received the Metallishadow Creme + Powder, Inside Track Eye Kajal, Radiance Activator Treat + Prep + Glow, and Late Night Eraser Brightening Eye Balm.

The Metallishadow Creme + Powder in Black Star is a stacked pack of two shadows, a high impact matte creme shadow and a lose metallic powder. The duo is meant to be worn on it own or together for an awesome result. I love the packaging of this, theres no better way to store a creme shadow and loose pigment without the mess! It reminds me a bit of the Tom Ford Cream and Powder Eye Color.

The black creme shadow is very pigmented and super creamy! I found the best way to apply this is with your finger. It did leave a stain so I suggest wearing a primer underneath. I have yet to try this out but I bet the cream could also be worn as a liner!

The gray/silver loose pigment is a bit more sheer and could be worn on its own for a more subtle day time look. It adheres well to the creme shadow because of its creamy base. I think these two paired together makes a beautiful gunmetal smokey eye.

The Metallishadow Creme + Powder comes in 6 different shades. 3 are glitter finishes; Wild Cosmos, Solar Blast, and Cyberella. The other 3 are metallic finishes; Black Star, AquaNova, and Scarlet Eclipse.

The Inside Track Eye Kajal in Twisted Teal/Tarnished Gold is a dual-ended super creamy kajal pencil. Perfectly paired shade combinations to give you options galore. I'm not much of a liner girl but wow do I love this product. I think its one of the creamiest liners I have ever felt. I've also fallen in love with the Tarnished Gold color.

The Radiance Activator Treat + Prep + Glow is a 3-in-1 serum for instant, visible glow with long-term brightening and hydration. This can be applied under your moisturizer, mixed in with your foundation or buffed onto the hight points of your face for a natural highlight. It smells really nice and it gives you this glow from within. It contains hyaluronic acid to attract moisture to the skin which makes me believe that if you have oily skin this may not be a great product for you. 

The Late Night Eraser Brightening Eye Balm is a brightening eye balm to improve the look of the delicate eye area, working to add radiance, sooth, and hydrate to give you a more awake look. It says it can be used either during the morning under or over makeup or at night. Personally I feel like the texture is a bit think to put under or over makeup so I feel like the best way to go is to put it on before bed. I love that this product have a metal applicator, its soothing on the skin when applying the product. For the ultimate cooling sensation I suggest storing this in the refrigerator. 

This was my first time trying out products from the Estee Edit collection and I'm really impressed. I really wasn't sure what to expect because I was afraid they were just getting hyped up because of the famous faces of the brand but these products really stand up to the hype. I'm definitely going to have to check out some more products. Have you tried any? Have any suggestion or want me to test anything out?? 

I received these products complimentary of Influenster for testing purposes.

Brand Spotlight: It Cosmetics

I have been meaning to make a post about this brand for quite some time now. I have seen a few bloggers and youtubers talk about It Cosmetics but not many, but enough to spark my interest in this brand. I went to ULTA to buy a few christmas gifts for my sister, while I was there I found a couple sample sizes of It Cosmetics products that I figured I could stick in my sisters stocking. As you may have guessed it... they didn't make it to her stocking. I decided to keep them all, and boy and I glad I did! I told my best friends that if I lost all my makeup in a fire and had to start my collection over I would only buy It Cosmetics products. Yup, thats how much I love these products.

I wasn't planning on doing a review of these products. I really just wanted to rave about this company. But why not... I'll give you a little mini review

The first product I was drawn to from this company was the Bye Bye Redness Correcting Cream. I have really bad rosacea that is very noticeable. I have never really been insecure about it until recently, my foundation just didn't seem to be doing the trick this winter. Once I received this product as a christmas gift it changed my life. Since using this product I have felt so comfortable with my skin. There were even times where I could just throw this cream over my rosacea and I'm good to go, I didn't even need foundation over the cream! I'm on my second pot and soon to be third! I will never stop buying this product. This product shown in the picture is the only fully size product I own.

After trying that product I couldn't wait to dive into the rest of the products! I was pretty excited to try the Your Skin But Better CC Cream mainly because I have seen Marissa Lace rave about this product. Its completely worth the hype. I have never gotten so much compliments on my skin before. I would do a light layer of this over the Bye Bye Redness Correcting Cream. The name completely does it justice, its literally your skin but better! My skin always looked fresh with a healthy glow. This CC Cream is said to be infused with cutting-edge anti-aging technology and is clinically shown to improve skin texture, brightness and increase skin hydration by 79%. I completely stand by this claim! 

The Hello Lashes 5-in-1 Mascara is said to be a best seller for It Cosmetics and I believe it. This mascara made it into my "mascara routine" (yes, I have a mascara routine) I'm someone that has naturally long lashes and I take pride in my lashes. If you got it flaunt it! This mascara helped hold the curl in my lashes, never flaked and gave amazing volume to my lashes. I'm someone who really doesn't like the clumpy lashes look so for a mascara to separate, give my lashes volume and length is a great mascara in my book!

Finally we have the Bye Bye Under Eye Concealer. This concealer is definitely a full coverage concealer, but it is blendable enough to make it a more medium coverage if you prefer. Its thick and creamy and really covers my dark circles. I haven't used this a ton because it is so full coverage now that its summer I go for a more natural look so the crazy covered under eye concealer isn't my look right now. But when I do go for more of a glam summer look this is what I reach for!

So as you can see I have a little crush on this company. It Cosmetics products are just filled with ingredients that is supposed to help your skin, how could you not love that?! I had emailed their customer service with some questions too and they were fast to respond and super nice! They were probably one of the best customer service responses I have ever had. Like I said earlier if I wasn't a broke, post-grad student with no job I would restart my collection with this brand. I have nothing but good things to say and once I finally find a job that first paycheck will be going to them! If you haven't tried any of the It Cosmetic products I suggest you get your butt to ULTA today (or order online) and try out some of their products!

Influenster L'Oreal Ever Cleansing Balms VoxBox

I'm not one to change up my hair products but recently I have been in a little funk with my hair. I have curly-wavey hair (depending on the day/weather/if my hair wants to cooperate). Recently my hair hasn't really been curling like normal and has lost some of it volume. My hairstylist says that as we get older our hair can change, so I could just be losing my curls. I refuse to believe this because as of now I shower, throw some mousse in it and my hairs done. I don't want to loose this routine because its fast and easy and my hair looks presentable in the end. I was lucky enough to be chosen to try out L'Oreals Ever Cleansing Balm.

This is L'Oreals EverCurl 6-in-1 Cleansing Balm for curly hair, this is apart of L'Oreals New #CleansingBalms line. This is my first sulfate-free product I have tried. I have only heard good things about sulfate free products and how good they are supposed to be for your hair. This product is a 6-in-1 cleaning balm, it is said to cleanse, treat, soften, condition, detangle and sine. The instructions say to use this in place of your conditioner and to leave in for 3 to 5 minutes before rinsing it out. Unlike other products it says to use 6 to 8 pumps and more for longer hair. This is a non-lather product so your need quite a bit to wash your hair, I have long and thick hair so I used about 10 pumps. It retails from anywhere between $9.99 at Target to $11.99 at Ulta.

I expected this product to be somewhat thick like the Aussie 3 Minute Miracle, but it really was kinda in the middle between thick and thin. Overall I wasn't a huge fan of the product, my final reaction was pretty "meh". After my hair finally dried it looked a bit stringy, my curls weren't really any different than before, my hair felt dry and I think it kinda looked like horse hair. I don't think it really gave me any more volume than normal. I'm not sure if it didn't work because my hair has just been in a funk or this is how the product worked. Let me know if you have tried it and how it has been working for you. Or even better, let me know if you have curly hair and if you have any holy grail product for it! I would love to get my curls back.

I received these products complimentary of Influenster for testing purposes.