Clubs

I'm not talking about the kind you go to to fist pump the night away.  I'm talking about monthly clubs that send you goodies.  My clubs of choice?  Beauty and health.  I subscribe to 2 different monthly clubs: Ipsy and Bulu Box.  

I've talked about Ipsy before.  Last month I left off initially unhappy with my Ipsy Glam Bag.  Then I tried the Tarte bronzer.  

How I achieve this look:

Tarte bronzer is by far the best bronzer I have ever tried.  While it has a hint of shimmer,  which I don't tend to like, don't let the shimmer scare you.  The color goes on super shear and is not only buildable, but is waterproof.  The finished look is lit from within radiance.  I find that matte bronzers can make me look dirty and flat, but this bronzer gives me a beautiful glow.  I'm loving it!  This reminds me of my favorite bronzer I had years ago from Fresh.  It has been discontinued.

Bulu Box costs me $15 for 3 months of weight loss boxes and is well worth that price tag.

This box included Movit Energy Gummies, Shapeology Garcinia Cambogia, Runa Guayusa Tea, Quest Protein Powder in Peanut Butter, and Earth's Care Anti-Itch Cream.

The Anti-Itch cream is amazing.  I get random rashes and tend to have itchy, dry skin and the Earth's Care Cream instantly soothes my skin.  The Runa tea was also a hit.  The mint taste was refreshing and it provided me with a noticeable increase in energy.  Guayusa has more antioxidants than green tea so I am definitely purchasing this tea to consume for its energy and antioxidant benefits.  And the Quest powder is so of my favorite protein powder on the market.  I had never tried the peanut butter flavor so I was super excited to get to test out the flavor.  

Bulu Box offers a ton of perks.  Some of these perks include discount membership for renewing the club.  Also you get the option to add on items to your monthly box for a reduced rate.  Additionally when you review the products you receive on bulubox.com you gain points towards future purchases of items that you can buy from Bulu Box and the items are not just limited to what is sent in your monthly box.  Bulu Box offers everything from the items you see in the image above to DVDs and vitamins.  

To spend $5 on a box of health instead of a fancy coffee is worth it.  I've been exposed to some awesome stuff with Bulu Box.  If you are interested in Bulu Box use code FANTASTIC to get your second box for free.  

Looking good - Adore Me and Vinylux

While picking out my April order from Adore Me I realized that I did not show off my March bra set.    

Susanna Push-Up and Cheeky Thong and Vinylux in Topcoat and Wildfire

The Suzanna Push Up is super cute, delicate, and feminine .  It reminds me of something you would see in Victoria's Secret, but for a fraction of the cost.  Plus Adore Me VIPs get any monthly set for $39.95.  For those of you who don't know what Adore Me is you can check out my other posts on Adore Me here and here.  

Adore Me gives you the option of purchasing an extra pair of underwear in the style of your choosing for $9.95.   The first time I ordered I made the mistake of not buying an extra pair of underwear with my bra set.  I have since learned my lesson and now always purchase an extra set of skivvies.  Often there are different styles of underwear to mix up your ensemble, but frankly I buy the extra pair of undies because I'm a fan of matching sets.  Nothing is quite as sexy to me as knowing you look damn good under your clothes.  

Well the perfect red nail also does it for me.  I have fond memories of my great aunt who always had perfectly bleached blonde coiffed hair and freshly painted fire truck red nails.  Maybe that is where my obsession with the perfect red nail started?  All I know is you haven't met red until you try Wildfire by Vinylux.  

Not only is Wildfire the perfect red, but Vinylux is also my absolute favorite nail polish.  Vinylux can last for up to a week chip free and dries in 8 minutes.   If I do get a tiny chip, however, I can touch it up during a commercial and it is dry by the next commercial.  I know it sounds too good to be true, but this product is awesome.  I personally buy it from Amazon because you can't go wrong with free 2 day prime shipping, but there are many online retailers who also sell this product.   I love this nail polish so much that I recommend it to everyone and will never go back to gel nails (they ruined my nails!).  If could be their spokeswoman I would be.  Vinylux call me!

Ipsy Match Glam Bag Review

In early March I wrote about Ipsy. At that time I was excited because I received a sneak preview of what I would receive in my March Glam Bag and I thought the color of the NYX Butter Lipstick was fabulous.  Little did I know, however, I would not receive the pink color pictured, but instead a dark purple colored lipstick called Hunk.

I'm not afraid of taking makeup risks, I think that is part of the fun of beauty, but the purple looked clownish on me.  Let's put it this way, when your husband who knows enough to tell you that a new lipstick looks, "great," even if he doesn't "really" think so, but for once says, "well..." with a long pause, you know that the color is a miss!

Lucky for me a friend of mine also receives Ipsy Glam Bags and she did not like her color either.  So we swapped and I got to try out the color I had originally wanted, Little Susie.

From left to right: the two eyeshadow swatches from Pixi by Petra in Apricot Glow and NYX Butter Lipstick in Little Susie

Little Susie is definitely Barbie pink, but I find it a much better Spring color than Hunk.  The third NYX Butter Gloss color some folks received in their Glam Bag was Pops, a nice mauve, which I would have loved, but you get what you get.  These lipsticks retails for $10.

I definitely was not crazy about this month's Glam Bag.  Frankly the only items I really liked were the:

• Coolway Glow Oil Treatment - Normally hair oils make my fine hair greasy, but this manages to tame flyaways without weighing down my hair.  And my hair never looks greasy!  I loved this product.
• Crownbrush Infinity Shadow / Crease Duet Brush - You can never go wrong with a crease brush.  The quality is good.
• The Ipsy bag, which is super cute and I love neon.  

I wasn't impressed with the:

• Pixi by Petra Mesmerizing Mineral Duo - While I like the color selection, the eyeshadow is not very good quality.  
• skyn Iceland Hydro Cool Firming Eye Gels - These did not feel like they did anything for my sensitive, under eye area.  Last month I received a sample of GlamGlow under eye mask and I would highly recommend that product instead.  
• NYX Butter Lipstick - I am undecided about this item.  I'm not the biggest lipstick fan, but the color is pigmented and it does feel somewhat moisturizing.  I found this product just OK.  

Overall I still love receiving my $10 personalized, surprise Ipsy Glam Bag and I would still recommend it.  February's bag was awesome and I hope April's bag will be even better!  

Ipsy is for beauty lovers...

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Here is a glimpse of my Ipsy Glam Bag and I already know I am going to love the NYX Butter Lipstick!  The color to me screams Barbie pink.

The other items in my personalized Glam Bag are:

A super cute floral bag

Coolway Glow Oil Treatment

Crownbrush Infinity Shadow / Crease Duet Brush

Pixi by Petra Mesmerizing Mineral Duo

skyn Iceland Hydro Cool Firming Eye Gels

Not bad for $10 a month.

But for those of you who haven't met, let me introduce you to Ipsy.  Ipsy is a great website that brings you a vast assortment of high quality cosmetics to sample each month.  After taking a quiz to personalize products to your preferences, hair type, skin type, likes, and dislikes you get a cute makeup bag filled with 5 products each month.  The products are chosen for you and many of the items you receive are full size.  To top that off, the cost for this service is $10 including shipping.  (It's a splurge that I am willing to indulge in since I don't buy Starbucks everyday like some of my friends.  If you do the math, that is way more expensive.  End rant.)  Ipsy offers discounts for most of the monthly glam bag items if you want to buy full size products through the manufactures website.  In addition, Ipsy also offers special beauty deals for members only on products from brands like Cargo to It Cosmetics.  And you can cancel at any time, but why would you want to?

My favorite item I received last month was a Luxie blush brush.

Luxie Rose Gold Large Angled Face Brush 504

The Luxie brush retails for $16!  That was a steal.

Ipsy is a great deal, fun, and an affordable way to be exposed to new products that you might end up falling in love with.  Give it a try and sign up here.  You won't regret it.  You'll just regret not signing up.

Candy Contour Update and Wick Candles

So my intention was to start a new blog so I could blog more frequently, but unfortunately a lot has been going on lately and it has been difficult to find any free time.  I will say though, that I finally had a chance to try on the Candy Contour bra by Adore Me that I wrote about in my last post and it is a winner!  

The longline fit is very slimming and, while the style makes you look Va Va Voom, it is very comfortable.  Now, however, I must patiently wait for the design to be made in some new colors...  

The weather here on the East Coast has been awful and I have never been, nor will I ever be, an outdoor, winter weather kind of gal.  And frankly I have way too much work and studying to do to find any time to take a moment to go have fun.  This is my life for a while and I accepted it.  Since I have no choice, but to be a homebody, I have been burning a lot of candles lately.  My sister in law turned me on to WoodWick candles when she gave me one years ago as a gift and it was blessing and curse because a) they are awesome, b) they have a loud crackle that soothes my soul, c) I became addicted to candles, d) they are expensive (for for a candle).  Campfire Marshmallow is amazing!  

Eco Wix

Another brand I like that is a fraction of the price ($7.99) is Eco Wix.  You can find them at Home Goods and they burn for hours longer than the WoodWick candles, however, their crackle is significantly quieter to the point that sometimes you do not hear the noise at all.  I personally prefer the ambient noise of the WoodWick candles for studying and like I mentioned earlier I'm addicted to Campfire Marshmallow.   Eco Wix is a decent alternative, but I say shell out the cash and go for the WoodWick!  

Je adore Adore Me

And let's face it, he does too.

Adore Me is one of my new guilty pleasures (but patience my darlings...one at a time).  So what is this new pleasure of mine?  Well Adore Me is a website that features lingerie, sleepwear, swimwear, and robes, which you can buy outright for comparable prices, or you subscribe to their monthly plan and pick out any bra set, lingerie, sleepwear, etc. on the website, regardless of cost, for a flat fee $39.95.  This cost includes shipping and returns.

I first found out about Adore Me through Gilt City, where I got a great deal and was able to buy two items or sets from Adore Me for a steal ($20 each).  The only downside of this deal was that I could not return these items with the Gilt City promotional credit.  So I did what any sensible shopper would do and purchased first through Adore Me's own website  to see if the quality was good and if the bra would actually fit me, because most bras don't fit me.  Valentine's Day was coming up and I bought this little number:

Mandy Unlined

I'm not normally one to wear unlined bras, but this is beyond comfortable, flattering, and offers support for a large chest, while not making my headlights show.  It is the perfect amount of sexy, which still making me feel classy.  I ordered my regular bra and underwear sizes and both fit like they were made for me.  Wife tested, husband approved.

So then I went ahead and used my Gilt City credit to buy another bra and underwear set and pajamas:

Candy Contour

Matilda

Candy Contour bra is being saved for date night and I'm sure it too will be husband approved.  There is something about the vintage bra look that I find terribly sexy.  I'll report back once I try it on, but I'm too comfy in my Matilda pajamas.  The Matilda are soft, comfortable and keep me looking sophisticated while I get my lounge on.  My old target pajamas are going to have to go to donation heaven because these are here to stay and I have my eye on them in blue aka "Justina."  Good thing I have a $15 credit.  Whoop there it is.

The quality of these items seems to be on par with Victoria's Secret.  I can't comment on how these items will hold over the long term as I've only had them for a short period, but the pajamas alone are more substantial than my Victoria Secret pajamas, which are of similar material and style.  I will say that the Mandy unlined bra is more comfortable then any of my Victoria's Secret bras, but then again, Victoria's Secret doesn't target girls that are my size.  I'm normally one that buys Felina bras, but those get very pricey.

With the monthly plan you can:

• cancel at any time
• skip a month as long as you contact Adore Me by the 5th of each month.  If you forget to skip a month by the 5th, however, you get a credit to your account
• get a free item after you purchase 5 items 
• refer friends and receive $15 for each friend that signs up...your friends will get their first set for $20 if they sign up with your referral (you can sign up with mine by clicking here or below)
• shop for lingerie from the convenience and privacy of your home even if you are plus size or have a weird bra size like I do (Adore Me doesn't discriminate)
• take advantage of many specials that Adore Me offers (once again, see below)

I'm giving you the chance to sign up with my referral link and get your first item (bra set, corset, sleepwear, etc.) for $25 and hopefully you will be as happy as I am.  

Additionally, as of today, Adore Me is offering a special.  When you  buy 1 item you get 1 sale item free when you use code 2FOR1.