Sunday, December 23, 2012

Julep New Years Mystery Box: For a Glittery & Colorful Celebration

This week has been full of surprises in my mail box.

First, my December Glossybox arrived and now I have my Julep New Years Mystery Box.


Julep advertised their mystery box like this:



Of course, when I opened up my box, I was hoping that ipad mini was included. Unfortunately, I was not the lucky winner. However, I still received a little over $100 (retail value) of product, which made the box definitely worth the $19.99 that it cost.






The colors that I received from left to right are Eloise, Courteney, Mystery Glitter, Sandra and Matte Top Coat.

Now the only problem of getting these mystery boxes is the possibility of a dupe. Unfortunately, I have three of these colors already (Eloise, Sandra, and Matte Top Coat). No Worries! I'll just have to swap for other colors I have been coveting.

The other products I received was a Julep bag, Age Defying Hand Brightener, a silver glitter pot, 3 one step polish remover pads and 2 hand scrub samples.

This is only the second mystery box I ever purchased, but I'm happy with what I received.

Has anyone else recived their box? Did you receive something similar or were you the big winner?

Saturday, December 22, 2012

December Glossybox: Glamour All The Way

Today I was so excited to find my Glossybox in the mail. According to their tracking number, it still wasn't even close to where I live, but their tracking number is always way off.


For those of you who don't know what Glossybox is, it's a beauty sample subscription box service. Every month, you get samples from a variety of different companies that include products for skincare, hair care, perfumes, etc. If you would like to check it out or join, you can click HERE

Anyway, back to the Awesomeness  that is December's GlossyBox. This box's theme was Glamour,  Glitz, and Gloss.


I believe December was my favorite Glossybox that I have received so far.



 The Christmas themed tissue paper with the red ribbon was very cute and a nice touch for the holidays.


These were all of the products that came inside. It included :

- .03 fl. oz sample of Ecru New York Cosmetic Hair Care- Acacia Protein Oil 

- 3.38 fl oz  sample of Forest Essentials Luxurious Ayurveda: Madurai Jasmine & Mogra Bath and Shower Oil

- 5.5 oz sample of Heartland Fragrance Co. - Bath Salts

- .75 oz sample of Oscar Blandi- Pronto Dry Heat Protect Spray

-.03 fl oz sample of Pleats Please Perfume by Issey Miyake

-Full Bottle of Zoya's Storm nail polish

- A beautiful, long necklace from Jewelmint called the Opera Pearl Necklace

I'm the most excited for the necklace because it is so beautiful. Even my mom loved it.

Here is a picture of it:

To take a look at better pictures, here is a link to the Jewelmint's website that has this close-ups of this gorgeous necklace - http://www.jewelmint.com/jewelry/opera-pearl-necklace


I'm also excited about Zoya's Storm nail polish because I've been wanting a dark glittery nail polish. I was even looking into Julep's Patti, but I didn't really like the swatches, so I was excited to find this color in my box. It was exactly what I was looking for,  black but with colorful glitters.

Because I've been on a relaxing, long bath type of mood lately, I also can't wait to try the bath oils and bath salts.

All in all, this box is amazing and I think I will use every product, except for the perfume because it is a little but too strong for me.





Friday, December 21, 2012

Makeup Organization with Mrs Claus' Help

I got an early Christmas present today from my favorite Mrs Claus, my mom.

She knew how much I wanted a makeup case to organize all of my makeup, so she purchased the one I had been eyeing, which was Pandora's Beauty Box from Justfab.com ($39.95)

I had my makeup in a couple of different makeup bags. I was completely disorganized and never knew where my favorite gloss was or where my face powder had gone off too.

When the case came in the mail, I knew I had to get my makeup out and start putting it neatly in the case.

These are the pictures of JustFab's Pandora's Box before I started filling it up with all of my colorful goodies:



This is after I put all of my ELF, Mark., Bare Minerals,  etc makeup products in my case.


 
I love my new Christmas present.

Now I just need to figure out a way to organize all of my nail polishes. Hmmmm.....

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Julep December's Glitter Goodness!

What is glittery, shimmery , and pretty all over? The Julep December Christmas collection.

Julep did a really great job this month. It was one of my favorite months and I was soooo tempted to upgrade and get the entire wardrobe, but I stayed strong and got the It Girl Box.

Warning- All of these colors are so much more prettier in person then in pictures. 

My favorite polishes are Ivy and Harper.


Julep's Ivy is a beautiful blue with purple shimmer. It's really pretty in the sunlight. 



Julep's Harper (index finger) is a green glitter polish that looks exactly like a mermaid's tail.


Since Julep was having Christmas sales, I decided to purchase Julia and Barbara as well.

Julia is a purple base with gold shimmer and Barbara (index finger)  is a bright pink glitter. 
Julia is my favorite of the two. Just like Ivy, it looks great in the sunlight.


 
I'm in Love with these polishes. I can't wait until tomorrow to find out how their January collection will look like. (^_^)




Sunday, December 16, 2012

A Few of My Favorite Things: December Edition

I'm sorry I haven't been here in awhile. I actually was on vacation. Nothing better than a Caribbean vacation to give some color to my face and get me rejuvenated.

Although I ended up with a cold a couple of days after returning. (>_<)

Well, the pictures of the vacation cheered me up while I was feeling crumby.


Yup, that's me in St Lucia after I climbed Gros Piton, which took over two hours to climb. I was super excited until I realized I had to take the same journey back down, which was a bit scary at times.


I'm in such a great mood that I want to write about 3 of my favorite things this past couple of months. They are in no specific order .

For hair care, my new favorite line of products is Ouidad. I have wavy, curly hair and sometimes it becomes a very frizzy and unruly mess.

I have been using Ouidad's Climate Control Heat and Humidity Gel for awhile now and it gets my hair more under control. However, I only noticed greater dramatic changes recently after I purchased the Climate Control Shampoo and Conditioner during Cyber Monday. It was 25 percent off with free shipping, so how could I say no.



After only a couple of washes, my hair already looks so much shinier and the Frizz....What Frizz? I asked my boyfriend what he thought about my hair (I didn't tell him I had changed shampoos) and he said that he had noticed that my hair looked nicer. My mother and other relatives have also complemented me on my hair recently.

Another big improvement was the fall out of my hair. Before using the Ouidad shampoo, I would finish taking a shower and when I combed my hair, a bunch of my hair would come off on the comb and my fingers. Now only very few strands fall out.

I'm super pleased with these products and when I get the chance, I'll be wanting to try out more products by them.


You can find Ouidad products at Ulta, Sephora website and select Sephora stores, and at Ouidad's website. 

Another line of products that made it to my favorites list recently is AHAVA. This is another product I purchased during Black Friday/ Cyber Monday Sales. They were having an amazing 40 percent off sale with free shipping.




I purchased their Bath Salts (Euclaptus),gentle eye cream and mud mask.

I've used FAB and Benefits eye cream, but I think this one tops both of them. Although the cream feels very light, it does a great job in hydrating the skin under your eyes.

The mud mask is amazing. You only need to have it on for 2 minutes. It makes me skin feel very clean without any irritation.

The bath salts I used once and it did relax me. I told my mom to use it one day when her muscles were hurting. I asked her for her opinion and she told me that she did feel much better afterwards.

After using these products, now I definitely want to try their cleanser, moisturizers, etc. I'm hoping that they have another great deal coming up so that I can snatch more products.

You can find Ahava on their website and at Ulta

My third favorite thing this week is  bags. More specifically, it's two bags I recently purchased.

The first bag is from Justfab.com and it is called the Law Bag. Here is a picture from their website:





This tote is big, beautiful, sturdy and just plain fabulous! You can put in your books, tablet, last night's leftovers, a change of clothes...you get the point. It's also really good quality for the price. I use it for work, but it is also great for school and for traveling.






You can find this tote at Just Fab's website. New members now get 2 items for $39.95.

Shameless plug Invite to Site : You can register for the site here:
 http://www.justfab.com/invite/9393584/

Warning- Justfab is a monthly subscription Service, such as Julep, Little Black Box, or any shoe of the month type of monthly service. You can purchase an item every month for $39.95. However, if you do not want them to charge you $39.95 for a certain month or you just don't want to purchase anything for that month, you MUST SKIP before the 5th of that month. If you do not skip, you will be charged, but you can use that credit whenever you find something you would like to purchase. 

The other bag I'm currently in love with is by Mark. and it's called the Cross Over Bag.
 You can find this cross body bag at my E-boutique: http://sbernardes.mymarkstore.com/ and here is the picture from the website:




 However, this bag is so much more beautiful and detailed in real life. 


It's a gorgeous navy color. I love to use it on casual days with jeans and a t-shirt or sweater. However, it's detailed enough that I can wear it with a cute red dress as well, like Alicia from Help Licia Blog did here :



This bag is $34 and if you purchase it through my Eboutique : http://sbernardes.mymarkstore.com/
you can use the Promo Code WELCOME at checkout for free shipping for first time customers.



What do you guys think about my top favorites this month? Have you used any of these products or have been wanting to use any of them?