Happy New Year! POPSUGAR MUST HAVE review

Hello everyone! I am back, and hopefully, I will keep consistent with the blog this year. Lots has happened in the last few months with me; My husband and I are in the process of buying our own place, changes at work that have been keeping me extra busy, hmm... those seem to be the biggest things that have happened as of late. 

I've decided to start this up again, but not just as a cosmetic and product blog, but a lifestyle blog. 

So, I'll start this New Year with a subscription box that contains a little of everything- Beauty, Fashion, Home, Fitness and Food. 

POPSUGAR MUST HAVE!

I started with a December box. This is what it had inside:

Bodum Bistro Mugs (2)

Tea Forte Sampler set

Jaboneria Marianella Soap

Pinch Minimergency Kit

Bogdon's Peppermint Poles

GoSwype

$30 to Rent The Runway

Okay, so I love love LOVE the mugs. They are so delicate looking and fancy! I have not used them yet, since I am trying to save my good stuff for when we move, BUT I've heard many good things about these special mugs. They keep your hot drinks hot for a long time. I am always having a temperature issue with my drinks, so this is something I really like. The bad? They seem to be pretty fragile. Although they are dishwasher safe, I will be hand washing mine.

The tea is fabulous. So tasty! I am trying to not use it all right away, but it's hard! I just love tea!

The soap I got smells beautiful. Also saving this one for when we move :) But is not an overwhelming, old fashioned smell like I thought it might be. 

The Minimergency kit has already come in handy at least 3 times since I've received it. YOU GUYS... you need this item. It contains the following 17 (!!!) items: 

Hairspray, clear nail polish, nail polish remover, emery board, lip balm, earring backs, clear elastics, mending kit, double sided tape,  stain remover, deodorant towelette, pain reliever, tampon, breath freshener, dental floss, and an adhesive bandage. 

The peppermint poles are delicious. I don't much like candy canes, so the chocolate dipped mint sticks were a great alternative this holiday season! 

The GoSwype and the Rent the Runway $30 coupon did not "wow" me, but I still thought that the rest of the items received were well worth the $35 I spent on this box. 

So, get yourself on the waiting list! This box sells out fast! 

Here's a referral code for you: 

POPSUGAR MUST HAVE REFERRAL CODE

And, since you've used my code, here's a $5 discount!

REFERFRIENDS

Enjoy!

Let's talk about Little Black Bag... and my mission trip!

Well, I will start by saying that my recent mission trip to Nicaragua was an amazing, scary, sad, happy, painful (physically and mentally,) AWESOME experience. My husband and I went to work on the children of a small town called San Marcos, and fixed some teeth. We had to unfortunately extract quite a few teeth from these poor children, but it was all for the best. In the end, the children were really grateful, and even gave me a gift!

 

A group of the older girls came over to me on our last day there to give me these totally cute earrings. I wear them quite a bit!

Here are some more images from the trip with me and the kids: (WARNING. You're going to see me bare faced! EEK!)

Being a brat.

Managua, Nicaragua

It's rainy season in Nicaragua, and boy did it rain! We were SOAKED here!

Beautiful church we passed on our way to La Granada

My husband and a patient

This was one of my husband's biggest challenge. He was very successful! :)

This sweetheart's name is Angelica. She followed me around the whole time we were there :) I really miss her!

Presents for our awesome patients!

  

I was distracting her while her mom got work done! :)



Touring Lake Nicaragua



FREAKIN MONKEYS! YAY!



The Colegio Bautista group. AMAZING people. 5 of them are 1st year dental students, including my husband!

Anyway, on to other things. While on my most favorite Style and Beauty forum yesterday, the topic of littleblackbag.com came up.

I am totally addicted. Here's what you do:

Pick out your favorite item. Pay $49.99 for it (I paid $49.99 for a $80 bag.)

Then, the "stylist" picks out 2 more items for you, totally up to $150, for $49.99 out of pocket.

Awesome, right? WAIT... there's more!

You can trade with other members for better liked items! Your bag stays "open" for 7 days,

and it that time, you make offers to trade, or accept current offers, until you are completely satisfied with what you've got.

I started with 4 items (I had a code to get an additional item.)

This bag:

Nila Anthony, $80

plus a nail polish, a colorful bangle, and a kabuki brush. Total retail value was $109.

I got rid of the polish, brush and bangle for the following items:

All The Rage Wire Earrings, $12

and

RJ Graziano, $45

So far, if this is what I end up with, I will be happy. I went from a retail value of $109, to $137, for $49.99! YAY!

I plan on keeping this subscription for a few months, since I have a lot of birthdays coming up! Can't wait to see how this ends up! I have 6 more days left to try and trade anything, and I really only want to trade my necklace for a matching clutch to my new purse.

Check it out! And use my code while doing so, would ya?

LBB REFERRAL LINK

Thanks, you're a doll.

Daddy's Eyes video (Makeup by ME :) )

Hey guys!

So a few weeks ago I got the privilage to work on a music video cover for The Killers song, titled Daddy's Eyes. Well, here it is! Enjoy!



Directed/Written/Produced: Carlos A. Hurtado

Producer & Sound Designer: Charles Sedghi

Lead Actress: Mary-Kate Fitzpatrick

Lead Actor: Ky Mahone

Supporting Actor: Ruben Chavez

Makeup for Mary-Kate Fitzpatrick, Ky Mahone and Ruben Chavez by Me

Shout out to Beauty & Charm Artistry, & Owner Clarissa Martinez.

Additional credits at the end of the video ;)

Highlight of this shoot was making my pretty subject a dead girl. That was really fun!

Cover up that battle wound! (Bruise/Black eye/hickey... whatever. I won't judge.

On the Style and Beauty forum I frequent, a question came up about how to cover up a fat lip due to a fall. I found this to be the perfect opportunity to create a simple tutorial on how to cover bruises, and even tattoos. Okay, hickeys, too. But, come on... don't get hickeys, K?

So, here we go.

I stained my hand to a bright red. Obviously your battle wound won't be as red as this (at least I hope not,) and if it isn't well, that's a good thing :)

"Wound" brought to you by Maybelline Color Sensational lipstain in Cranberry Crush. Super long lasting stuff, here.

Now, I used this:

Color Tattoo in Tough as Taupe (Maybelline)

to neutralize the "wound". Taupe colors have always been my personal go-to color for tattoo/black eye/bruise cover ups. Green corrective concealer will also help, but this works as well. Taupe eyeliners are a cheap alternative. Although, these are pretty cheap as well, and long lasting.

Here is the "wound", with the Tough as Taupe dabbed on, focused on the center of the wound. Not blended yet.

Here, I've blended it from the inside out.

Foundation used: MAC Studio Fix Fluid in NC 25

Add the foundation, again focusing on the center, and blending outward. Dabbing every step of the way, BTW. Fingers in all of this works just fine (I used no brushes at all)

Dabbing the foundation all the way around...

Here it is blended.

Now I've set it with powder. It's not covered as much as I'd like it to be, yet.

Powder used: Bare Minerals foundation in Golden Medium

So I added a tiny bit more taupe, then foundation, then powder, until I got the right coverage.

Repeated the process 2 additional times for desired cover-up

That's it! Like I said, it's a lot of work, but it's the only way to get a decent coverage. Foundation won't do it alone.

Oh, and just so you're convinced that the red stayed on the whole time:

That stain is strongggg, it wasn't going anywhere.

So, there you have it. Hopefully, if you're in a bind, and need to do some kind of cover up, you'll have the 3 cosmetic items required for a quick cover up. Practice makes perfect, so I'd try it hours before you need it done, just to make sure you got the steps down.

Remember, this also works for tattoo cover ups.

 

Test Tubes by New Beauty. (Farewell, Birchbox!)

Well, my time with Birchbox has ended. It was a tough decision to make, but I wanted to give other programs a try. I've enrolled myself in 2 new beauty sample programs, and will now talk about the first one I've received: my Testtube by New Beauty.

This subscription is different in a few ways; you get your tube every 3 months instead of once a month, you get full sized items along with your deluxe samples, you get a magazine and a booklet describing your items,

everyone gets the same thing, and lastly, you get coupon codes for SpaLook.com.

 For almost the same price as Birchbox,($29.99 plus $8.95 shipping,) you certainly do get more for your money.

My full size items included a Moroccan Oil Frizz taming spray (love!),

YBF Plum Noir eyeliner (love!!),

Memoire Liquide lotion (pictured with 2 of the sample fragrances that came with it,)

and a Mally's eyeshadow stick in Platinum.

Here are some of the other items I got in the Testtube:

So far, I am happy with my decision to switch. When I get it, I will review my second subscription, which is with Sample Society.

Stay tuned!

(Please note, this is the first time I'm blogging from my phone. Forgive any wonkiness that may or may not be going on here! Thankkkks.)

(WOW! I need to correct my phone Blogger settings! Everything is now fixed and makes sense. Ha ha!)

Flora by Gucci fragrances, and Bzz Agent

Check this out!

This is the new Flora by Gucci perfume collection!

As a BzzAgent, I am given product kits to try and rate. I was lucky enough to be chosen to rate this wonderful fragrance collection.

A little about BzzAgent before I get into my review:

It's a program that you sign up for online, you take surveys, you let them know how you are able to spread the word, (for instance, blogs, Facebook, Twitter, or simply just word of mouth.)

Based off of your survey answers, and over all interests, you are given assignments, and get a bzz kit with products, coupons, and samples to give to your friends and family. Cool, right?!?

Ok, so onto my review.

Gracious Tuberose



Gracious Tuberose was the mildest scent out of the three. Very light and fresh smelling. I do smell a lot of violet in this scent.

Glamorous Magnolia

Glamorous Magnolia is very sweet, and you can really smell the Freesia that it talks about in it's description. It's a good everyday scent for the spring.

Gorgeous Gardenia

Gorgeous Gardenia is very fruity, but surprising not as sweet as the description would lead you to believe. I think it has a great balance between sweet and fresh. Of the 3, I would say this scent is the one you want to wear for a night out.

Overall, my favorite of the 3 is Glamorous Magnolia. Close second would be the Gorgeous Gardenia. I am not a huge violet lover, but I still really liked Gracious Tuberose.

Flora by Gucci is available at Macys and Sephora.

Urban Decay 24/7 Eyeliners and the Rollergirl Palette

Hello!

I wanted to share my recent UD haul from their SALE section.

I have no shortage of eyeshadows, primers, mascaras... but the one item that I, for some reason, am always low on, is pencil eyeliners. Until now...

At $19 a set, the 24/7 eyeliner sets in Naked and Electric were a steal, when you think about how much they are ($19.00 a PIECE), I think this is a great deal.

Here are the colors:

Pretty, right?! I also bought the Rollergirl Palette (on sale for $13.00) because, come on, I wanted free shipping ;)

Now, I know what you you might be thinking, Pink eyeliner? But, yeah... it's cute when used moderately...

I used neutral shadows (MAC's Vanilla and Kid), used both Eyeliner and eyeshadow in Woodstock, and lined my waterline with Whiskey eyeliner and Darkhorse eyeshadow.

My cheeks are blushed with a coral color, and my lips are MAC's Myth lipstick, with Bare Minerals Dolly Buxom gloss.

Everything very neutral, with a pink pop.

Anyway, I just checked, and you can still get all sets online.

Urban Decay Sale

Happy Shopping!