Influenster - Summer Beauty VoxBox

Hey girls and guys! Sorry I've been MIA for a while, I've been busy with finals, moving home from college, and moving into a new house with my family! But I got a really exciting package in the mail today, so I thought I'd share it with you guys and hopefully kick-start this blog again!

My Summer Beauty VoxBox from Influenster finally arrived! For those of you who don't know, Influenster is a free service that sends "VoxBoxes" filled with samples to people who have the most "influence" - from what I've experienced it's pretty easy to earn VoxBoxes if you're active on the site, and you get a lot of cool samples in each box. I'd definitely suggest signing up just to check it out, since it's totally free and you have nothing to lose - give it a try here!

I've received one VoxBox before, the February Love VoxBox, which I really liked (and my birthday is in February, so it felt like an Influenster birthday gift!), but I was really pumped to finally get one that featured beauty products. I was actually really impressed with the products in this box, and a few of them I've actually tried already! I also like how generous the sample sizes are - no little packets here!

The card with all the information on the products - let's get started!

Hawaiian Tropic Silk Hydration Lotion Sunscreen SPF 30 ($8.99 for 6 oz, available in SPF 12, 30, and 50. Sample size is 2 oz.)

I was really excited when I saw this lotion in my box - I've been seeing it all over drugstores and it looks amazing. The lotion has this really cool swirl effect in the bottle, and it probably has no extra benefit but it looks really neat. It's a combination of a sunscreen and a lotion, so it's supposed to protect you from the sun while ago being moisturizing and non-greasy. I tried applying this when I first saw it and it definitely felt moisturizing, although I'm still going to reach for an actual body lotion if my skin needs hydration. It smells nice - a combination of a fruity, tropical scent and the normal sunscreen scent. I kinda like the sunscreen smell, it reminds me of the beach, but if you don't then this may not be the product for you.

 Sally Hansen Nails and Cuticles Hand Creme ($5.99 for a full size bottle, sample size is 1 oz.)

 

I'm really awful at taking care of my nails and cuticles, so a cuticle cream doesn't really appeal to me, but this does make a really nice hand cream. The product is made with shea butter claims to give "24 hour moisture," which I do kinda doubt, but I applied it on my hands when I first opened the box and they do still feel relatively smooth. The cream has an interesting scent - kinda lemon/citrus-y, which I like. All in all, although I may not use this product on my cuticles a lot, I do like it as a hand cream.

Sally Hansen Magnetic Nail Color in Red-y Response ($9.99, full size.)

 

I haven't used this yet so I can't say too much about it but I've been wanting to try these polishes for a while, so I love that we got one in the VoxBoxes! I have one of the nails inc. magnetic polishes, and I really like it, so I can't wait to see how this one works in comparison. The magnetic polish trend is so cool...it's like nail art with minimal effort!

(If you haven't used this type of nail polish before, basically it's a polish with metal particles in it, and you apply a thick coat and then hover the included magnet over your nail to create a neat 3-D pattern effect.)

 

Clear Scalp & Hair Beauty Therapy Shampoo and Conditioner ($4.99 - $5.99 for 12.7 oz and 12.9 oz bottles, sample size is 3 oz.)

 

Again, I haven't tested these yet but I've been hearing a lot about the new Clear brand so I'm excited to see how these work in my hair! The sample size is very generous, although the information says "stronger hair is just 7 days" and I don't think I have enough for 7 days - but if it works well, I guess I'll have to spring for the full-size product!

 

Tampax and Always - Radiant Collection

 

This sample is another one that really impressed me - it came with a really cute little pouch, two tampons, a pad, and three panty liners. Obviously I haven't been able to test these out yet (it's not exactly something I can use any time I feel like it!), but so far I really like what I've seen. The actual packaging of the products is colorful and fun, although I don't really buy pads of tampons based off of what the packaging looks like. It may attract some people, but it honestly seems a little useless to me. Cute, though. The tampons have plastic applicators, which I know aren't good for the environment but I still prefer them to the cardboard ones - ladies, do you agree? ;] The tampons also have a little resealable flap on them; at first I thought it was to reseal the package if you open but don't use the tampon, which seemed a little unsanitary, but I realized it was actually used to hold waste if you don't have a place to dispose of your waste right away. I love this idea - I've been in countless bathrooms without places to throw out pads or tampons, and no one wants to walk out of the stall carrying an old tampon! Gross! This way you can discretely carry out your waste and throw it out in the garbage can without having to dangle it around. Brilliant!

 

I was just super impressed with the presentation of the Tampax/Always sample...they included enough samples that you can feel like you really tested everything thoroughly, and the pouch was so cute (I may just use it as a tampon case in my bag!). They also included two $.50 off coupons, and had tons of information and instructions, which I think is really great for any younger girls who may receive this box and not have any experience with using tampons.

The box also came with a snack - the Quaker Soft Baked Bar in Banana Nut Bread ($3.29 for a package of bars). I absolutely hate anything that has to do with bananas...I think their smell, taste, and texture is disgusting. Sooo I didn't eat the bar, but I gave it to my little sister who likes banana, and she was super excited to help me test out products from my VoxBox! The bars have 5 grams of fiber and 6 grams of protein, so they're definitely a great option for a quick breakfast or a filling snack.

That's all for my Summer Beauty VoxBox - I love that I got the chance to try all of these products, and I think it's really amazing that Influenster sent out so many new products - maybe that's the point, but I still appreciate the thought. Definitely check out Influenster and sign up if you haven't already, and hopefully their future boxes will be just as great!

XOXO, Ally

 

(Disclaimer - in case it isn't obvious already, Influenster sent me these products to test. I am not getting paid or compensated whatsoever to post about these products and all opinions expressed are 100% my own.)

Walgreens Haul!

I snagged a few cool things from Walgreens today and I wanted to share them with you guys before I actually reviewed them!

First is the new Wet n Wild Color Icon Bronzer in 743A Reserve Your Cabana. I had heard that this was the same shade as the discontinued Acapulco Glow over at Nouveau Cheap (which is one of my favorite blogs, by the way!) and though I've never used Acapulco Glow, I figured that if it was so beloved, I might as well give it a try! You get .46 oz of product for $3.99 (in comparison, a MAC beauty powder is .35 oz and a NARS blush is .16 oz), so the value is pretty great, and the shade looks absolutely gorgeous!

I picked up another shade (40 Purple Pizzazz) of the Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear polish, since some of these polishes were on clearance for about 80 cents. I've really been loving this galaxy nail tutorial, and I thought this dark, glittery purple would be a perfect shade to use for that!

Also from Wet n Wild, I got a Megalast lipstick in 901B Think Pink (you'll see why later!) and one of the Juicy Lip Balms in Raspberry. I've been loving the Maybelline Baby Lips tinted balm, so I wanted to see if this Wet n Wild one would give similar pigmentation. Fingers crossed!

Finally, I got one of the new Kate Moss Lasting Finish lipsticks in 08 from Rimmel. I'm absolutely in love with the packaging on these, and the little signature reminds me a lot of the signatures on the celebrity Viva Glam lipsticks from MAC. I really wanted to try the nude shade but Walgreens only had one left, and it had been used, so I went for a different color instead (08 is more pink than nude, almost in the mauve family). And the last thing that I picked up was the Rimmel Exaggerate Lip Liner in 063 Eastend Snob. I got the Wet n Wild lipstick in Think Pink because it looked like it would pair well with this lip liner, and I really wanted to try out a light pinky-nude lip.

So that's all I got during this haul, but I'm really excited about everything. Hopefully all these products live up to my expectations...I guess we'll have to wait and see!

XOXO, Ally

The Most Wonderful Day of the Year - the CVS Beauty Clearance, of course!

Guys, I'll admit it - I have a bit of a makeup addiction. That euphoria when I come home with a bag full of beauty goodies...it's the best. So obviously the CVS Beauty Clearance is my favorite event of the year, period.

I just hit up my first CVS (I have two or three more to go!) and I grabbed a bunch of 75% off (and a few 50% off) products. I'll try and do actual reviews on some/most of these products later on, but for now, I'll just show off my first haul out of (hopefully) many!

First is the Physician's Formula Bamboo Wear Bambuki Brush. I've never actually used any Physician's Formula brushes, but I do like a lot of their other products so I thought I might give this kabuki brush a try. Plus it's made out of 100% natural hair and fully sustainable bamboo, and having just watched two documentaries on climate change for my international relations class, I'm all for using renewable resources when making beauty products.
Original price: $10.79
Price after 75% off discount: $2.69

Next, I grabbed two nail polishes - mostly because they were already really inexpensive, and the 75% discount just made it too good of a deal to pass up. The first is the Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Nail Color in 05 Diamonds, which is a sheer, sparkly color that's actually a little more yellow-toned then this picture seems to show. I've never tried any polishes from the Diamond Strength line before, but I do think that the little plastic diamond on the bottle is super cute! The second color is the Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Nail Color in 14 Plum Power. I have a few other Xtreme Wear polishes and I like them quite a bit, and with the 75% off discount this polish ended up costing about three quarters. That's even cheaper than doing a load of laundry in my dorm...
Diamond Strength Nail Color 
Original price: $5.49
Price after 75% off discount: $1.37
Xtreme Wear Nail Color
Original price: $3.19
Price after 75% off discount: $.79

Since we're talking about nails, the one other nail product that I grabbed was the Sally Hansen Quick Care Growth Treatment. Now, I normally wouldn't spend a lot of money on a product like this, unless I knew for sure that it worked well and would grow my nails. But since it was on clearance, I decided to go for it. After all, if it doesn't work, I only wasted around $2, instead of around $10. I'll let you guys know how it works for me - I tend to bite my nails (even though I'm trying to stop!) so they're perpetually short. Hopefully this treatment will encourage them to grow a bit and I can have nice, long nails!
Original price: $9.99
Price after 75% off discount: $2.49

I didn't get too many face products, except for the Physician's Formula Mineral Wear Correcting Concealer set thing. I've tried green correctors before (my face has some redness issues) but they never seemed to make a noticeable difference. So I figured I might as well give this one a try (I got the green corrector shade, they make one with yellow as well) and if it sucks...well, at least it was 75% off. The packaging is pretty cool - the little containers snap together, which would probably be neat if you had more than one set and wanted to organize them (it reminds me of their Gel CreamLiner sets that also snap together - more about those later, *wink wink*). The set contains a corrector, a concealer, and a highlighter, so it seems like it would be ideal for traveling or on-the-go touch-ups.
Original price: $8.99
Price after 75% off discount: $2.25

I also only picked up one lip product - the Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Siren. It's a bright orange/coral color, and while it may not be the best color for the winter, it's definitely a gorgeous color for spring or summer. I'm already a huge fan of this shade and I can't wait to get more chances to wear it - I'll probably break it out during December and January even if it's not totally appropriate for the season, because it's such a great color.

Original price: $8.79
Price after 75% off discount: $2.19

Ah, time for the eye products. First up are the only two things that I got for 50% off instead of 75% off - two Wet n Wild Color Icon Eyeshadow Palettes in Vanity and Greed. I don't think i need to tell you guys how good these are - they're definitely fantastic! I have one of these palettes in Lust and I use it all the time, but I really wanted to try their more neutral palettes as well. I have really high expectations for these two since Wet n Wild has some great quality products out there, but I'm sure they'll live up to my expectations! 
Original price: $4.99 (x2)
Price after 50% off discount: $2.49 (x2)

Next is a bit of a spur-of-the-moment purchase. I've never used any Almay eyeshadows before, but I saw that their Intense I-Color shadow palette for brown eyes was on sale, and since I have brown eyes, I figured I might as well kill two birds with one stone - test out some Almay shadows, and test out whether or not the shadows actually make my brown eyes look any better! I normally ignore all that "for blue eyes!" and "for brown eyes!" stuff at the drugstores, but who knows...maybe they're onto something! The shades look really pretty, so I'm super excited to test this one out and let you guys know what I think! 
Original price: $8.99 
Price after 75% off discount: $2.25

We've made it to the Physician's Formula eye products, which means we're almost to the end of the haul! Now, I don't have hazel eyes, but I still picked up the Physician's Formula Shimmer Strips palette for hazel eyes because...well, look at those colors! Gorgeous! I actually have one other Shimmer Strips eyeshadow palette and I'm not a huge fan (it's from the Smoky collection and for green eyes, and I don't wear a lot of grays or greens so I really have no idea why I got it...it was probably from the CVS Clearance last year). But I wanted to give the range another try, this time with colors that I use more often, and there are a lot of beautiful colors in this palette. So fingers crossed that this one works out for me! 
Original price: $10.99 
Price after 75% off discount: $2.75

Lastly, I was really excited to grab two more of the Physician's Formula Shimmer Strips Gel CreamLiners. I have the liner set for brown eyes from the original collection and I use them a TON, so I thought it was definitely time for me to pick up some more. Ironically, all three of the eye products from Physician's Formula are for hazel eyes, but I have brown eyes...I guess hazel eyed people just get the best shades of these things! It was really hard to get a good picture of these while they were in the packaging, because their plastic lids are so reflective, sorry guys! Anyway, I got one set from the core collection (it comes with taupe, pink, and black with pink shimmer), and one from the glam collection (it comes with antique gold, metallic amethyst, and black with gold shimmer). I love love love the one set of these liners that I already have, so I'm super excited to try more. And I adore the fact that they can stack together - I'll never lose any of the little pots! Plus, the brush that comes in this set is actually pretty useful. All in all, I love these liners and can't wait to test out some more of them!
Original price: $10.99 (x2) 
Price after 75% off discount: $2.75 (x2)


I had a $5 extrabucks coupon, so that made my discount even better - in the end I spent $23.60 after tax and the $5 off coupon, and I saved $76.92. CVS Beauty Clearance ... I honestly love you.

I still have a few other CVS's to check out next Monday, when I'm home from college, so expect more hauls soon!

XOXO, Ally