July Birchbox - The Senses

this months birchbox theme is “the senses”. when i first heard that this was this months birchbox theme is was confused on what they were going to do products wise, then i heard they were teaming up the glamour magazine and got excited because i love glamour! i got my box this morning and opened it right away, i was immediately disappointed. i got box 4 and the shipping said the weight of box 4 was 0.4620. this is my third birchbox and i honestly don’t know how i feel about it yet. i just went through looking at all of this months boxes and really wish i got either box 2 or box 6! box 2 got a beauty blender that i have wanted for months now and box 6 had the most beautiful color club nail polish and the stila lip gloss i wanted! 

in this box was: 

• boscia green tea blotting linens (seeing)
•  eyeko skinny liquid liner in olive (seeing)
• jouer luminizing moisture tint (touch)
• oscar de la renta live in love perfume sample (smell)
• larabar uber (taste)
• birchbox exclusive earbuds (hearing)

the blotting linens isn’t to bad because i use oil blotting sheets now so its never bad to have more. i would have been really excited about the skinny liquid eyeliner if it wasn’t in olive and came in the blue color. the jouer luminizing moisture tint isn’t even the size of my pinky, i don’t even know if there is one use in that sample. the oscar de la renta perfume is alright, its a floral scent which i’m not very fond of but it doesn’t smell horrible. i just hate getting perfume samples because i never use them especially if they don’t have a pump on them. i can get a free perfume sample if i order something from sephora so i think those are really pointless in birchboxs! the lifestyle extra larabar is whatever i’ll eat it because its food. the ear buds are actually kinda cool i just wish i got the blue ones because blue is my favorite color but i will still use them!

overall i expected more in this box, other boxes actually didn’t seem that bad so it was probably just my box but oh well it was only $10. i’m going to stay with the subscription because i like these surprises each month. so far i haven’t really liked any of the collaboration boxes they have done. hopefully next months will be better. did you get a birchbox this month? did you like it? message me and let me know!

if you want to get a birchbox of your own click the link here. it will help you skip the waiting list!

Stila One Step Bronze Review

in last months birchbox i got a full size of stila’s one step bronzer illuminating serum and i love it! the directions on the box just say to blend it into the skin all over the face, well i don’t do that. first i mix about a pump in with my foundation because right now my foundation is a little to light for my skin so when i mix it with my foundation it becomes the perfect shade! when i apply it with my foundation i notice a more “illuminating” aspect to my skin. i normally don’t like anything “lumi” because i like more of a matte finish to my skin because i do have combination skin, but with this product i really don’t mind it! after i apply all my powder and bronzer i then take a little half pump onto the back of my hand and apply it to the tops of the cheek bones, down my nose and around my temples with a stippling brush. the product does seem to have some shimmer in it but doesn’t make you’re face look like ke$ha. i actually didnt really notice it had shimmer in it until i whipped the excess product off the back of my hand and saw it. i use this product about every day and o have noticed a significant dent in the product. its worth $36 and i’m still not 100% sure if i’m going to “repurchase” it (seeing as i didn’t really buy it the first time). i really like it and it works amazingly but i’m not sure if its worth $36 dollars!

product: 9/10 longevity: 8/10 application: 10/10 packaging: 10/10 

grade: B+ (would be an A if it wasn’t so expensive)

Monday Mentionable: Fashionably Broke

[photo's are taken from their blog and all credit goes to them]

I recently discovered fashionably broke through facebook I believe. I went to high school with erika, i believe she was a junior or senior when i was a freshman... we didn't know each other but somehow are friends on facebook. I think she was friends with my best friends brother but either way if i ever saw her in school she always had an amazing sense of fashion, i always thought she could pull off anything. (wow this totally sounds creepy and is not meant to be creepy in any way!) So when i saw that her and her sister were starting a fashion blog i thought it was an amazing idea for them because if her sister was anywhere as stylish as erika they would be a big hit and let me ensure you she is. Over the past few months i have been following their blog post by post, they have the most amazing sense of style that i admire! they have definitely become a "daily read" for me. i wish i could pull of half of the things they do! They just finished a giveaway on their blog but also recently announced another giveaway which you can find here. They occasionally have guest bloggers from other blogs that post on their blog! if you love all things fashion i suggest you check out their blog they have great style and give out some amazing tips! 

follow them:

blog: fashionably broke

twitter: @NatalieandErika (if you follow me on twitter i have tweeted natalie before and she seems so sweet!)

facebook: /FashionablyBrokeGirls

Trying Not to Outshine the Bride

yesterday was my uncles beach wedding and it was absolutely beautiful. if you saw my outfit post about the rehearsal dinner you would remember that i said i wish i wore this dress to the rehearsal dinner... well i lied. i was so happy i wore this dress because i forgot how much i loved it! i hadn't tried it on since i bought it which was a few months ago. seeing that i hadn't tried it on a drew months ago i totally forgot that it needed to be hemmed shorter! i'm pretty short so i like to get most dressed hemmed so they don't looks so long on me, especially this one it made me look like an "oompa loompa" as my sister told me. So about 15 minutes before i had to leave for the wedding i was pinning this dress up so i didn't look like an oompa loompa and it ended up looking great! The fact that it was a beach wedding i didn't wear those wedges on the beach... right before you walked onto the beach they had multiple baskets of flip flops you got to choose from. I didn't choose any because my mom made me a pair of sole-less sandals, which i find to be incredibly pointless but whatever i was on the beach and i didn't want to wear actual flip flops so these would do! 

they matched my dress perfectly so for the 15-30 minutes on the beach these things were cute. once we got off the beach it was time for the reception! it was absolutely beautiful, the venue looked over the water and we could watch the sun set. the night was filled with food, friends, and great family and i know everyone had a great time! i'm super happy i wore this dress because it was easy to move in and it had pockets! how great is that? i didn't straighten my bangs because they are getting so long that i need to get them cut so they are just in my way and since i knew we were going to be outside i didn't know how well it was going to hold up if it was windy or just the humidity was going to make them curly anyways, thank god they are at a point where they are long enough not to look super weird if i don't straighten them.

Target Xhiliration dress, Love Culture Wedges, Urban Outfitters Peace Sign Necklace, Target Chevron Rings

Perfect Summertime Clutches

I recently discovered gigee marie clutches through natalie & erika over at fashionably broke (a post about them coming tomorrow!) I decided to check out her website since she was a part of her giveaway and I fell in love! I have been looking for the perfect summer clutch for months now and haven't been able to find on I love. I always saw pictures of girls with cute envelope purses and clutches and I wanted one so bad! well I finally found my perfect clutch! Since I was so madly in love with these clutches I did the only thing I knew how to do... stalk every social media website she was on! For natalie & erika's giveaway we had to like her on facebook and follow her on twitter! So I went over to facebook and looked at her page (can be found here) and saw that she was coming out with new clutches... I fell in love with the sunstone clutch and the mint clutch! each clutch retails for about $36-$38 and each mini retails for about $18-$20, which I don't think is that bad! Especially since all the clutches are handmade! The hard part is deciding which clutch to buy! I'm trying to decide between the sunstone clutch and the mint clutch, both perfect for summer but as a college student on a budget I can only buy one... but I will most likely talk myself into buying the other one in a month, its how i justify my spendings... buy one one week buy the other another week. still buying them both but just not at the same time! I have tweeted a few time about/to gigee marie (her twitter here) and even though i haven't had a full on conversation with her she seems like a very nice woman, with a great since of style. Everyone should check out her clutches they are perfect for a pop of color in any outfit! She even has metal/leather looking clutches that would be awesome for fall so you could have a clutch for each season! you can find the clutches on her website here.