Beautylish's new way to shop for beauty products!

Beautylish is basically Facebook for the beauty community - you customize your profile, follow other beauty lovers that inspire you, and talk about articles, videos, and of course ... beauty products! You can read and post reviews (which I think is really helpful for when you don't really feel like trying to find a review of a product on Google - Beautylish gives you several different reviews all in one place!), watch videos, read articles, and post on the message boards. And it's a great way to get word out about your blog or Youtube channel if you're just starting out!

But Beautylish is launching something new - a beauty product store with exclusive offers, limited edition products, and "exciting new ways to shop for beauty products!" I have no idea what to expect and whether or not this shop will be quite as exciting as Beautylish claims, but I decided to check it out anyway. Right now, Beautylish is offering priority access to members who share their invite link with others who might be interested: aka you guys!

So if you want to join Beautylish and check out their new store, sign up here! And if you have a Beautylish account and want to follow me, check out my profile here!

XOXO, Ally

(And before anyone asks me about this - no, I'm not being paid to promote Beautylish or anything like that. It's just a website that I personally use and enjoy, and I wanted to share some interesting news with you guys and get my invite link out there!)

wet N wild Juicy Lip Balm in Raspberry - Review and Swatches

2011 seemed to be all about tinted lip balms. There were sheerer ones, like the Maybelline Baby Lips, and super-pigmented ones, like the Revlon Lip Butters. I adore tinted lip balms, because they combine the two most important things that a lip product can have - color and hydration. So of course, these wet N wild Juicy Lip Balms seemed like they'd be perfect for me.

To start, the packaging on these is cute, although it is a little frustrating that the product doesn't screw all the way down (which can cause the cap to scratch the edge of the balm when you're putting it away). The actual tube is really big and chunky, so it's not really a balm that you can just toss in your pocket, but I do like the fact that it doesn't get lost in your purse if you just toss it in there.

In terms of the actual product, this balm definitely feels hydrating, although I wouldn't say it has any special hydrating properties (not that it claims to or anything). You do get a decent tint with this--I'd say it's pretty comparable to some sheer lip glosses out there, but more hydrating. It's a bright pink-raspberry shade, and on the lips it looks pretty much like how you'd expect it to look in the tube--no surprises here. The one major problem that I have with this is the fact that is has a strange, bitter taste. You would think that it would have a raspberry flavor considering it's a juicy balm and the name is raspberry, but instead it just tastes bad. I still wear this on the days that I want a lot of hydration as well as some color, and just suffer through the taste because I actually like the tint that it gives my lips. But if you are at all sensitive to flavors in your lip products, especially bitter ones, do not buy this.

Rating: 2/5
Recommendation: I can't really recommend this to anyone unless you know that bad tastes in your lip products won't bother you. I personally like the color and hydration that I get from this balm, but there are so many better-tasting products out there that I find myself reaching for this very rarely. If you want a similar balm, try one of the tinted Maybelline Baby Lips balms instead.

theBalm at Marshall's?!

This may not be news to any of you, but I'm not a frequent Marshall's shopper so when I saw this display it blew my mind! The new Marshall's down the street from me had tons of theBalm gift sets, most of them priced either $9.99 or $12.99! There were a few that were in the $24.99 range but they were the sets that included full-sized tinted moisturizers or face primers, so the more expensive price is justified in my opinion. I grabbed two sets for $9.99 and I can't believe what a great deal they were! I'll go through all my purchases in a later post, but I just had to share my excitement with you guys!