My First Starlooks Box

Hello ladies!!! I hope you're having a good week, we're almost halfway through!  Today, I wanted to share with you something exciting!  A new subscription service.  Well, it's new to me and it looks like this may only be the 2nd box.

The box cost $15.00 US ($18.75 to Canada with shipping.) The difference with this box is that you get all full sized makeup products from this companies collection.  So, I thought I would give it a try.  I'm not 100% sure yet if I will keep subscribing.  I'll have to try another box or two.  My issue is, that it is quite pricey for Canadians.  I know that $3.75 is not much for shipping. But nearly $20 for a "sample box" is to me considering it's one brands makeup that you have no control over getting.  

The box is a StarBox from the company Starlooks. You can also just purchase your cosmetics from them, outright.

If you decide to try it yourself, I'd love if you used my name as a referral where they ask for it.  Hopefully they will have a referral link set up at some point. Until then use Aleksandra S. in Winnipeg! Thank you and XO

The box came in a bubble envelope.  I wasn't even sure what I ordered when I saw it, lol! Inside the bubble envelope the box comes super pretty, like this:

When you take the ribbon off and open the lid, you're greeted by the product card. The theme of the box was season of the sun.

This is what it looked like once I pulled the tissue paper back.  My initial reaction was, hmm..not too excited.

This was a little extra surprise.  It's really not a big deal, it's a plastic dollar store type mirror...but a good one to throw into your purse that you don't have to worry about dinging up.

Also, in every box there is a mystic quartz crystal.  Now, I'm not sure if they mean every month or what?  I think they're kind of cool....I'm not really into crystals but they have a great idea of using them in a glass jar to create a brush holder.  I love that idea.  I think it would be cool if there was a different gem every month!

The first product is the gold dust eyeshadow. It retails for $9.  At first I was like meh, then I looked at it a bit more and thought, okay..it's pretty. But, my final result after applying it was a big fat NO.  I looked jaundiced.  I really wasn't happy with this colour at all.  I will try it again a little differently with other shadows, but I'm not really excited to.  The colour just doesn't work well with my skin tone at all...which already has yellow undertones.

This is a swatch, it doesn't look too bad, here.

On my skin..you can see it's not really that great...it's more yellow than gold to me.  I don't know.  What do you think?

Next is the Classy Blush Compact.  It retails for $15.   I can't find this product on their website, so I'm not sure if it's been released yet.  Now, it's labelled a blush but really it's a highlighter. I gotta say...I adore this product!  Really, just sweep some on your cheekbones when you're done applying all your makeup...but don't be too heavy handed. You'll notice a bit of bronze..but when you go outside the sun will light up your face and you will twinkle like the sun just kissed your cheeks.  Don't worry the glitter is ultra fine!

Here is a nice representation of the colour.My husband didn't even say anything, but when we were driving he did a double take and said... "Wow, I love the shimmer on your cheeks, that's really subtle but attractive" <3

It was really difficult for me to try to get a good image of it.  Trust me when I say this is amazing! It will definitely make it into my top 5 summer products! I'll try to get a review of the product on a sunny weekend. It's just one of those things you wish you could show the world, but don't know how to photograph.

The last product was a Tender Gloss Lipstick in Citron.  I thought the packaging was really sleek and cool.

My first reaction when I opened the lipstick was, "Whhhaat? What kind of colour is this?" To be honest, I was expecting a yellow tinted lipstick because it's called citron (lemon in French), and was in a panic before opening it. Anyways, it really looked quite orange.  I rationalized in my mind that I just bought a coral lipstick (actually my husband did, but that's a story for another day lol) so this should work...

Here is a pretty accurate representation of the colour.  I hope you can see the gold shimmer amongst the orange.

On my lips it was fairly sheer, with a nice coral colour and flecks of gold that are subtle but special.  I actually quite like this lipstick and wore it this morning.  It's very moisturizing.  It's not dry at all and I just overall like it.  The colour doesn't last as long as I would like it to, but it's forgivable. :)

So, there you have it! I give the Starbox a 4/5.  The only thing I wish is that they offered free shipping or cheaper shipping to Canada, then I would for sure stay on permanently.  As it stands right now...I'll wait for the next box and decide if I'll keep going then! What do you think?

Have a nice night, and remember to come back tomorrow evening as I will be posting my 50 follower giveaway!

XO
~A

50 followers and a blog hop!

HOORAY!!!!!!!!!

I am at 50 followers!!! Thank you to everyone following my blog! Thanks for supporting me, visiting, leaving comments and friendships that have been created because of the awesome group of women that comprise of beauty bloggers!  To celebrate I will be posting a GIVEAWAY!!!!!!! Hurray! :D  I'll need a couple days to get some things together and I'll post it on August 1 and it will run for the whole month of August!

Now, I wanted to try and participate in the Beauty Bloggers Unite Blog Hop..so I've posted the link for you to check out a whole whack of Beauty Bloggers!  It's a great concept and a great way to find some really cool blogs and possibly get some people following who would be interested in your blog!

Hope you had a better weekend than I.  Sadly, I've already replaced my work phone and I'll most likely be replacing my smartphone. *sighhhh* boys!

XO
~A

NOTD and Julep Order

Good evening! I hope you are all well.  Myself, I've had a terrible headache all day! Boo.   If that wasn't enough, while I was hanging out with my daughter on the sofa watching the Olympics, my 4 year old son decided to Febreeze the whole upstairs!  It wouldn't have been so bad if he wasn't actually aiming it at electronics! He decided my smartphone AND my work cell should be doused!!! GRRR!!! I have it all in rice now, but I'm not holding my breath!  

So, I thought I would come and post some pretty things to make me feel a bit better. ;)  I wanted to share my nail of the day post with you.  This is Orange by Billie Cosmetics... it's so fun and vibrant I don't even know if it come across that way in the photos!  When I had this colour on I got compliments all day long and now it's my go to summer colour!  I bought the polish at a Dollar Tree for $1.25.  It's made in the USA if anyone is wondering. ;)

Here is a shot my husband took for me outside... it's incredibly orange!

It was a bit darker outside..but you can still see how orange it is at night! I could totally land planes with these hands!!

Next, I want to share with you my recent Julep order.  I decided to pick up a couple maven boxes that had colours that I wanted.  The first one is the June Boho Glam box which has Julep Daylight Defense with SPF 30 for hands and face, two polishes and a Julep Daylight Defense lip balm with SPF 15.

The two colours are Daisy; a bright lemon yellow creme and Robin; a robin's egg blue creme.

The second one is the June American Beauty box. It also had the daylight defense products and 2 nail colours.

The two colours are Courteney; a keylime green creme and Lily; a sizzling fuchsia creme.

The Julep Daylight Defense with SPF 30 is a one step solution for beautiful hands, nails and skin. It is fortified with Vitamin E to hydrate skin and strengthen nails.  The SPF helps to protect against fine lines and sun spots. I haven't opened it yet, so I couldn't tell you much about it, except that I should be using it. ;)

The lip balm smells like chocolate chip mint and has a nice minty feeling.  It helps to nourish, hydrate and protect your lips.  It has a really nice consistency and should work well beneath glosses and lipsticks.  Just don't try to eat it! Yes, it smells that good! ;)

Enjoy the rest of your Saturday, I'll be on pins and needles waiting to see if I have to replace not ONE but TWO phones. *sigh* Little boys...

XO
~A

BH Cosmetics $30 June Weekend Steal

By now, it's no secret to the readers of my blog how much I adore BH Cosmetics.  I can't tell you enough how excellent the quality is.  Watch for sales and snag these palettes when you can! I think by now I have almost all of them, all the edition palettes and limited edition ones for sure!  The brushes are AMAZING as well. I'll keep this short and sweet...but back in June they had the deal for 1st Edition, 3rd Edition palettes and a liquid liner for $30.  Great price!!!  I didn't have these two palettes so it worked out perfect. If you want to see closeups of the GORGEOUSNESS click on the images to enlarge!

Yay..I have the first one, now!

120 gorgeous colours!

This is the top tray. They stack inside their case.

A peek of the colours to the left.

A peek of the colours to the right.

Here is the bottom tray... I just love all the shades of purples/pinks which I use the most.

A closer view of the left.

A closer view of the right.

Also, got the 3rd edition! I was so happy it was 2 I didn't have in this deal!

Here is all the colours...WOW, I think this one is my favourite!

This is the top tray. Very pretty, useable colours!

A view of the left side.

A closeup of the right side.

This is the bottom tray, that I am super duper excited about.  There are a lot of metallics here.  Ladies ALL BH palettes are highly pigmented and last ALL day.  I kid you not when I tell you the quality is top notch! Don't be fooled by the low prices!

Ooooh look how pretty the left side is!

Ahhh..the right side is just as pretty!!!

 And...a liquid liner.  It works fantastic!! I have one already and since I don't use liners very often this one will be added to my 50 followers giveaway coming up soon!!! 2 more people to join us!!! :D

If you are interested in trying any of their palettes it THE perfect time right now!  All their 120 palettes are on for $17 each!  Canadians you can buy up to 2 palettes and the shipping will remain the same.  Anymore your shipping will be bumped up to the next level.  But, you can order as many glosses/brushes as you want.  I HIGHLY recommend their lip glosses.  Gorgeous pigmentation on those as well.  They are on sale for $2.96, WOW!  I have all of them. I LOVE all of them!  Go check them out and try for yourself!! At these prices you really can't go wrong!

Hope your weekend is off to a lovely start!!
XO
~A

Avon Anew Reversalist Review (& 2 giveaways to check out!)

So, I never really considered using "wrinkle" products until a few years ago... actually I never even bothered with any kind of moisturizer.  You know what though, once you get that first wrinkle you look again and there is another!  Now, most people think I have pretty good skin.  However, they don't see it magnified x100 like I do!

So, I had this lovely friend Monique, a lady who would be my mother's age. She used to load me up with freebies from Avon whenever I bought.  She always wanted me to review for her customers.  Sadly, this incredibly beautiful soul lost her battle to cancer this past April. It was quite sudden and quite shocking.  So, now whenever I use anything Avon I *always* think of her.  She loved being beautiful..she was inside and out.

She had given me this Anew Reversalist Illuminating Eye System to review as I had expressed interest in eye creams.  This one is actually aimed at 40+ age group, so it's not something I would repurchase. I am 31. It's a 2 part system..the bottom is the cream, the top is the illuminator.  These are the product claims:

 Eye cream: visibly repairs dark, circles, fine lines and wrinkles over time. Use twice a day all over eye area

Sheer veil with potent skin brighteners. Illuminates undereye area instantly. Use after eye cream and reapply as needed.

A Prevention Defy your Age Beauty Award winner for the Eye Cream category. Brightens even your darkest undereye area. Two-part eye system with Activinol Eye Technology. Helps reactivate skin’s repair processes and dramatically reverse visible wrinkles. Instantly: eye area appears more luminous. In 4 weeks: dramatically reduces the look of fine wrinkles.

Whoa...empty!! This never happens! I've got too many things always on the go.  Now, I finished this because I wanted to remain true to one eye cream for some time.  Do I think it did anything it claimed it would? Not for me.  I didn't notice any difference.  I felt like I kept waiting for something to happen.  This jar is actually quite big at 15g.  You know you don't need a lot for your eye area.  The whole time I used I kept thinking..."Oh no, I'm making my eyes worse because this product is advertised in the 40+ range!"  I don't think it did that, though. ;)  I'm currently using the Anew eye system for 30+ and I think I'm enjoying it more.

This is the veil.  As you can see it's hardly been used.  I tried it once after applying my makeup and it was so in your face!  I don't know if it wasn't blending with my skin tone or what... it actually accentuated my dark circles!

This is how it looks swatched!  Now that I've thought about it a bit..I'm going to try to use this on my cheek bones the way High Beam (Benefit) would be used.  What do you think?  It does have shimmer in it.  Probably another reason I didn't like it under my eyeballs!

So, overall I would give this eye system a 2/5 because I didn't really see any difference.  The eye cream is a nice consistency and smell is pleasant.  There is a lot of product, it lasted me about 6 months of morning and evening use. Wow!  It's always good to moisturize under the eye anyways, right?  Have you tried any Anew products?  I have some AWESOME Anew reviews coming up! :)

HEY!! Before I go...wanna checkout some giveaways from some awesome chicks?!


Check out Crazed and Caffeinated for her awesome 50 follower giveaway!  In one week she went from 50 to over 100!! Wow!  It's a great giveaway and she has a great blog!  I discovered her blog when she posted on my Beauty Tote post and then came back to kindly tell me she linked me up since she heard about it from me!  Isn't that incredibly thoughtful?!  I've said this before..but I just adore the Beauty Blogger community!

Now...go check out Industrial Dime Store Magic for her 1 year anniversary/22nd Birthday giveaway!  She's such a lovely girl!  She's been working at her blog for a year now and she's 1/4 of the way to 100 followers! Go show her some love.  She does great detailed reviews, uses tons of pictures (girl after my own heart heh) and she's as sweet as can be!

Go, enjoy...it's the weekend!!!!! Yahhh!  I desperately need it! :)

XO
~A

A Quick Post of Bits and Baubles!

Good Evening!  First I would like to say WELCOME to all my new subscribers and a big THANK YOU to my regular readers/commenters (is that a word? lol) for making writing this blog something I truly enjoy!!! I appreciate all of you, very much!!! 

I just want to make this post short and sweet since the last couple have been pretty large!  These are just a few pieces of some costume jewelry I picked up recently.  I love earrings, I have a nice collection of them.  I must have a thing for silver leaves because this is like my 3rd pair!  Aren't these cute! They're long and dangly. I love that!

This is a really sweet necklace of a large heart holding a smaller heart.  I totally adore this one.  It's covered in fingerprints from me holding it...this shows up on the camera but not really when I'm wearing it.  I've already purchased a new chain for this (snake chain) because this one is very thin and cheap..I don't like it at all.

The last piece is this REALLY cute bracelet.  I LOVE it... I bought it because it was supposed to be 8 inches...but it's more like 7 inches... I can close it but it's tighter than I want. *pout*  I'll have to keep working at losing a few more pounds...  I don't wear a lot of bracelets because of my thicker wrists.

Well, that's all! What do you think?  Do you love jewelry?  I've always been most partial to silver and 2nd place goes to rose gold.  What kinds of things do you like to wear?

Have a nice evening!
XO
~A