BONKERS--no other way to describe it. The (current) story of my life. Work is beyond busy, deadlines seem to approach at the speed of a bullet, and I'm annoyed that we've been having weather in the mid to upper 80's for the last couple weeks. Can we please get some sweater weather, So Cal?!!! Geez! I live for a break (Saturday and Sunday) from the madness. I want to curl up in front of the fireplace in a sweater and cozy blanket and catch up on all my "reality" TV shows (my very guilty pleasure). But naw, those plans are just not happening! Instead, I'm catching up on emails, reports, and lesson plans while listening to podcasts (Thank you to Slow Burn and This American Life for keeping me company lately). Once my work chores are completed I've kept myself busy with decluttering, reorganizing, and moving things around in the house for a "new" fresh look. I've taken time to do some good cooking and attend church weekly--which is a HUGE accomplishment for me. I can be the queen of excuses but I truly am trying to live up to my New Year's intentions--with attending church more regularly being at the top of that list! I also thought it would be good fun to have a Bachelor viewing party with a few friends every Tuesday night. And just to add one more thing to the crazy, I wanted to make cute little valentines for my (adult) babies just to remind them of all things "love" as we lead up to Valentine's day. It's more work (in a good way) then it sounds remembering to write a love note each night for each kiddo. But it is cute and worth it if I know these little hearts make them smile :)"What does this have to do with Beyond Blushing Beauty Blog," you ask? Nothing, which is why there hasn't been an update to the blog in a few weeks! Ugh, I SO wanted to be able to update weekly with a fun beauty update....sigh.....Especially ending the month with my "hits" and "misses" for the month and review of subscription goodies. Goals and fingers crossed that I can do this in February!!
So even though this review is a bit delayed, I want to write about my January Birchbox. It was pretty decent with one STAR product, if I do say so myself. Let's start with my proclaimed "STAR"! Eyeko Skinny Liquid Eyeliner! Ahhhhhmaaaaazing! It's got a felt tip and the liquid eyeliner glides on SO smoothy and dries to a perfect opaque matte black. It stay put (no smudging or flaking) and added to creating an easy, simple winged eye!! I haven't been this excited about a liquid eyeliner since I discovered Blinc (many, many moons ago!!) Hip-hip-hooray!! Two thumbs up!!
It was kind of fun testing out my birchbox products since they all went very well together. I was able to give myself a modest mini facial and also do my makeup and hair!! I added a couple of other items Santa Baby put in my stocking that I was wanted to test out too (like the Juice Beauty Stem Cellular Instant Eye Lift Mask). But first things first-- After quickly cleansing my face with a Nuface towelette, I started my little facial with Vasanti Brighten Up! Enzymatic Face Rejuvinator exfoliator. Man, this stuff had some GRIT!! And it left my skin as smooth as a baby's bottom! I liked it....alot. I followed it up with Real Chemistry Luminous 3 Minute Peel. I didn't like it. For some reason I thought it was a mask that you leave on and then PEEL off. Doh! So there I was scrolling through my social media accounts waiting for this "mask" to set so I could peel it off and it never did!! After about 10 minutes (when I thought I should have only needed to wait 3) I washed the product off and was underwhelmed to say the least.--More on this in a sec. I just shrugged my shoulder and figured, you win some; you lose some.
I moved on to my Juice Beauty Stem Cell eye lifting patches. I was totally into the process. I geek out over stuff like this!! You open the kit, lay the algae patches out, shake the capsule of "activator" and then poor over the patches soaking them in what ever magical eye lifting ingredients the product comprised of. As I lifted the patches out of the kit they were EXTREMELY delicate and one ripped in several areas as I went to apply it to my face. The other didn't and all was good. I figured I had another 10 minutes to wait while my patches were getting happy and decided to open my phone and read reviews on the Real Chemistry Luminous 3 Minute Peel. Immediately I felt dumb. The first sentence in the directions literally says, "This is not a mask" followed by very specific directions on how to properly use the product. AWKWARD, even though I was the only one who knew I used the product wrong I still felt like an "ass" assuming I knew what the product was and how to use it properly. Since then I have followed the detailed instructions:"This is not a mask. Cleanse skin and leave slightly damp. Spread gel thinly and quickly over your forehead, cheeks, chin, neck, and decollete. Quickly begin massaging these areas in a circular motion with slightly damp hands using light to moderate pressure. After 15-20 seconds, solids should form under the fingertips. This means the peel is activating correctly as the gel is now combining with your dead skin (proteins). Massage for 2-3 minutes or until all of the gel has combined with dead skin. Cleanse area again."I must say, when used CORRECTLY, Real Chemistry Luminous 3 Minute Peel is quite awesome!
I continued my process of getting ready by removing my eye patches. Honestly, I didn't notice ANY difference after using the algae activated eye patches. I must say, I was disappointed. Literally NO DIFFERENCE.....and I promise I followed those directions perfectly. Maybe I just got a bad batch? I don't know, and I probably won't know since I doubt I'll spend the money on the patches after my first impression. WaaaWaaaaah. I figured I'd give my face a few minutes to just sit, clean, without any products on it and focus on my hair. It's no secret that I only was my hair twice a week, maybe three times if it's been styled or has more product in it than usual. I LIVE by adding dry shampoo on the days between washing so I was definitely happy to see that a dry shampoo was added to my birchbox. I knew, without a doubt that this product would not go to waste!! Amika Perk Up dry shampoo delivered. It passed the "Smells Amazing" and sprays on cleanly tests! I hate a dry shampoo that lives a white residue on your hair. Nothing attractive about that!! With my hair straightened and styled I was finally ready to put on a light, fresh makeup look before setting out for my day!
There's not much more that I love then a tinted moisturizer. Coola Mineral Face SPF 30 matte tint is FOR REAL!!! I loved how smoothly it glided on adding the perfect "blur" effect. I knew I would be out in the sun for a good part of the afternoon and was 100% satisfied by the coverage and the SPF protection I knew I would be getting. I will definitely be repurchasing this product for Spring/Summer this year!!
That pretty much completes January's BIRCHBOX goodies with a few extras thrown in there too! Overall, *****FIVE STARS***** in my book!
One last thing I want to share my excitement about is this LaColombe Triple Draft Latte that I picked up at Trader Joes last week. First, this little latte has a whole lot of zip! It's equivalent to two and a 1/2 cups of coffee!!! I'm a coffee lover (but a light weight). But honestly this stuff is BOMB!! And just a cute side note story, minutes after snapchatting this picture of my beverage, my daughter had a customer come in holding a coffeeshop cup with the La Colombe name on it. She told the lady, "My mom just added a picture of a product from that brand on her snapchat! Where is the closest La Colombe coffee shop?!" Apparently there are FOUR locations in Los Angeles!! Just another reason to plan a trip sooner rather than later to see my little lady and head on over to La Colombe!
So, what subscription goodies have you gotten recently? Any hits or misses? Any embarrassing "lack-of-following-directions" stories you can share with me so I don't feel dumb and alone? Would you travel two hours to try a new coffee shop?? I want to hear from you!!
Till next time.....xx
#JanuaryBIRCHBOX #HecticLife #Valentines #Eyeco #NuFAce #Vasanti #RealChemistry #JuiceBeauty #Amika #Coola #LaColombe
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