April Vegan Presence Review

The Box: Vegan Presence

The Cost: $20/month

The Goods: 3-5 vegan goodies with at least one full sized product.

Stella was extremely interested in this package.  I have a dozen pictures like this.

Everything in my shipment was very prettily wrapped.  They use only biodegradable, recyclable, and/or reusable shipping materials.

Authority Cosmetics Nail Lacquer - Khloe: ($14)  All of Authority Cosmetics' polishes are 5-free.  This is a gorgeous opaque royal purple.  Look for it in a manicure post soon!

Juniper Seed Mercantile Night Time Eye Serum: I haven't tried this yet, but I'm excited that a full size bottle is only $13. All of their products are very reasonably priced and I might be placing an order with them soon...

Glamour Doll Eyes Eye Shadow - All Nighter:  ($6) In the sea of neutral eye shadows I've been receiving, this is a nice surprise.  It is a really pretty purple with fine blue shimmer. 

Sjaak's Chocolate Half Foil Egg: ($5.95)  The eggs are actually peanut butter filled chocolate and the purple egg holding them all is solid chocolate.  The chocolate is really soft and silky and I was surprised how smooth the peanut butter was.  

Total Value: $25.95 (not including the eye serum)

I was pleased with my first Vegan Presence shipment, but it came with some sad news.  June is going to be their final shipment!  However, if you're interested in signing up you can get May and June for $40 total.

April LootCrate Review - Dragon

The Box: Loot Crate

The Price: $13.37 plus shipping

The Goods: 6-8 items perfect for a geek or gamer with a total value of $40+.

I was SUPER excited when they announced that April's theme was going to be Dragon.

D20 and Stress Ball: J used to collect dice, so he thought these were cool.  I'm not sure how balanced the stress ball would be, but I'm tempted to actually use it in game play.  I have a tendency to roll dice off the table and across the room.

Dragon Shield Screen Cleaner:  We've gotten a few screen cleaners as free promotional items, but this is by far the coolest one.  I'm not sure if J has stuck it on his phone yet or not, but I might try to steal it.

Dragon Jerky:  I'm not sure if you can tell, but it's green!  J hasn't eaten this yet, so I can't report on the taste, but it's still a cool novelty. (Also, "Fus Ro Yum" kiiiiiiiilled me.)

Dragon Slayer Dog Tag: J has a nickle allergy so I know he won't wear it, but I might stick it on a key ring.

Elder Scrolls Nord Figure: AAAH!!  He's so cute!  You can switch out his weapons and take his helmet off, too.

Game of Thrones Vinyl Figure Blind Box - Joffrey: ($6.99) For the first time EVER, J actually got the one he said he wanted!  His facial expression is perfection.

Total Value: My conservative guess is somewhere around $25.  Most items are exclusive so I have no real idea.

While it's awesome that so many of the pieces were LootCrate exclusive, I feel like this box was a little lacking.  The theme was GREAT, but the box itself needed one more item, I think, to round it out.

Disclaimer: This post contains a referral link.

April Bulu Box Review

The Box: Bulu Box

The Cost: $10/month (less with a longer subscription)

The Goods: Choose between Weight Loss or Regular options and you'll get 4-5 health and nutrition product samples. You can also earn points to spend in their shop by reviewing the samples you receive. 

The back of the info card has a place for you to log the before and after results of the items you received. 

Rally Hangover Prevention Capsules: ($2.99)  I almost never have hangovers, so I'll pass these on to someone who parties more than I do.

Rainbow Light Advanced Enzyme System: ($2.33) Fortunately, I don't regularly have digestive issues.  It never hurts to have things like this on hand just in case, though.

Promax Low Sugar Bar - Peanut Butter Cookie Dough: ($1.89)  The flavor certainly sounds appealing, though I'm a little scared of the "low sugar" part.  Hopefully this won't have the weird aftertaste a lot of these bars have.

WhiteShield: ($1.32) So, apparently you add this to your coffee and it keeps your coffee from staining your teeth.  They also claim that with regular use it will remove old stains.  I'm a little skeptical, to say the least.

fruit.0 - Mango Pear Pineapple: ($2.29)  I've been getting fruit packs like this to put in J's lunch for work, so this will for sure be eaten.

Grandma's Lye Soap: ($1.25) This soap has three ingredients: lard, lye and water.  It's apparently good for dry, sensitive skin so I'm handing this off to J.  (It has a standard clean soap smell.)

Total Value: $12.09

The value isn't extremely high, but you also get what works out to be $1 worth of points for every product you review so technically this box could be worth $18.09 if I review everything.  Their shop has everything from supplements and protein powder to toothbrushes and scales.  I wouldn't have bought most of these things on my own, but I'm interested to see what else Bulu Box will send me in the future.

Disclaimer: This post contains referral links. <3

April Popsugar Must Have Review

The Box: Popsugar Must Have

The Cost: $39.95/month

The Goods: Hand-picked food, fashion, beauty, home, and/or fitness items.

Naturebox POPSUGAR Must Have Mix: ($4)  This is a mix of edamame, cranberries, toasted corn, almonds, pumpkin kernels, and wild rice sticks.  Not my favorite, but I don't hate it.  It's one of the saltier Naturebox snacks I've had, but not overly salty by any means.

 Too Faced Natural Eyes Palette: ($36)  I've gone from having no neutral eyeshadows in my collection to having a TON thanks to my subscription boxes.  I really like that this came with a mini look book.

Fresh Pastry Stand Totally Awesome Tea Towels: ($18)  Yes! I've actually been wanting new tea towels because I've randomly been wanting to bake breads recently.  This etsy shop has a ton of cute designs, too.

Blue Avocado (eco) shopper Tote Bag - Ivory Roses: ($24.99)  I love totes that fold up into something compact.  J is constantly stealing my Baggu to go book shopping, but this one I'm definitely keeping all for myself.  It totally makes me want to find a farmer's market around here!

Graphic Image Pocket Notes: ($20) This is another Popsugar exclusive!  I have a seemingly endless supply of notebooks, so this will be gifted to someone.

Caldrea Rosewater Driftwood Hand Soap: ($10.50)  Because we live next to a Bath and Body Works Outlet and have an impressive backstock of hand soap, I wasn't very excited when I pulled this out.  The scent totally won me over, however.  (For some reason I really like the label too!)

Total Value: $113.49

I'm pretty pleased with this month's box.  Only one item is going into my gift stash and everything else will get used.  I'm mostly excited to play with the Natural Eyes looks!

Disclaimer: This post contains referral links..

Polka Dot (Egg?) Nails

I was shooting for nails that were Easter Egg inspired, but what I wound up with remind me more of Dino Eggs for some reason.  (Not that that's a bad thing!)

Base coat is Zoya Purity.  I used a dotting tool for the polka dots.  Colors used, top to bottom: Orly Lemonade, Orly Cotton Candy, Orly Gumdrop, Orly Lollipop and Orly Snowcone.

Happy Easter!

Thursday Thoughts

It's been a long while since I've done it, but this week I'm doing the linkup that Jennifer hosts over on Ramblings of a Suburban Mom.

- I've been trying to figure out how to put more of "myself" into my blog.  I originally wanted to do a mix of product reviews and personal ramblings, but I've wound up doing mostly reviews.  I guess I'm having a hard time figuring out how to mesh the two.

- After complaining about needing to "get away for a while," my dad bought me a tent and air mattress as a random present!  We really need to find somewhere to go camping before it gets unbearably hot.

- It wasn't an official resolution by any means, but I've wound up posting every day on my Instagram.  I did it by accident for the first couple weeks of the year and now it's fun to find the perfect moment to capture every day.

- Fitbit has THE best customer service.  Our Aria scale stopped working and they sent us a brand new one to replace it.  I really need to get J a Fitbit but I know he'll completely crush my step count - not that it takes much!

- I've seen two or three ebay listings using photos taken from my blog.  I don't understand why someone would do that!  If you're too lazy to take your own picture, at least steal a higher quality stock photo.  (This is also why I've been slapping my blog name on things lately.)

- My hair desperately needs a trim.  I haven't gone since October!  I'm reluctant to go because I have pretty bad roots and I'm too lazy to touch them up and too embarrassed to see my stylist with them.

Aaaand that's it.  Thanks for stopping by! <3

April Ipsy Review - Beauty Rocks!

The Box: Ipsy

The Price: $10

The Goods: 4-5 full and deluxe-sample sized beauty products chosen based on your beauty profile.

April's theme was "Beauty Rocks."  I would have LOVED the bag if they had left the words off, but it's not bad as it is.

Big Sexy Hair Mini Root Pump: ($6)  I have fine hair so I'll take any source of volume I can get.  I tend to like Sexy Hair products, if I recall.  

Dr. Brandt Microdermabrasion: ($9.75)  I've always wanted to try out this line.  This exfoliates, polishes, and diminishes fine lines and acne marks.  I assume I'll love it since all of the full-size products are pricey. 

Urban Decay 24/7 Velvet Glide-On Eye Pencil - Black Velvet: ($15) Urban Decay is, without a doubt, my favorite cosmetics brand.  Any time Ipsy sends out an UD product is a win for me.

I drew a line on my hand and rubbed it pretty vigorously with my finger and the sucker didn't budge.  If it has this kind of staying power on my lids, I'll be stoked.

Mary Kay At Play Lip Gloss - Teddy Bare: ($10)  Apparently this line is Mary Kay's attempt at appealing to a younger demographic.  I was not a fan of this gloss.  The color was fine but it was suuuuuper sticky.  I can't even imagine wearing this out on a windy day. /shudder

Rainbow Honey Nail Polish - Midnight Fountain: ($3.33)  Rainbow Honey is another brand I've wanted to try for a while.  I'm not crazy about this polish, though.  I always have a hard time with chunky glitters and this one seemed to be a bit gloopier than average.  

 Here's three coats, outdoors.  No top coat, because I've somehow lost all of mine.  I still have 4 bottles of base coat though.  Base coat for daysssss.

Three coats, indoors.

Total Value: $44.08

Overall, I'm pleased with this month.  The Urban Decay alone is a winner, plus I got two brands I've always been curious about.  The only product that isn't cruelty-free is the Mary Kay gloss, which I wouldn't be using anyway.

Disclaimer: This post contains a referral link.

April Wantable Intimates Review

The Box: Wantable Intimates

The Cost: $36 with subscription, $40 one time purchase

The Goods: Intimate essentials chosen based on your preferences.

When you sign up, you fill out a quiz of loves, likes, and dislikes.  These are the mine:

St. Eve Lace Knot Front Chemise: ($36)  I received the magenta version of this in my February box.  I'm not sure that I needed the same chemise in two colors, but I'll wear both of them anyway since I have them.

K. Bell Crew Socks: ($9) I think I've mentioned it before, but I have a weakness for socks.  These are comfy, but holy crap there are some amazing styles on the K. Bell website.  I'm really tempted to buy their mystery bag.

St. Eve Tunic Cami: ($15)  I'm not a fan of this cami.  For some reason, it looks really young to me - I probably would have worn it in middle school.  I might wear it to work out in, but the colors aren't really me.

Nina Sensoy Tank Top: ($22.95)  I'm a firm believer that there is no such thing as too many black tanks.  This one is super soft and fits really well.  It's a bit sheer but the good news is that when I tried it on, all these wrinkles were non-existent.

Total Value: $82.95

Well, this is probably my least favorite intimates box so far.  I was a little disappointed to see the same nightie, but the tank and socks will probably get enough use to more than make up for that and the cami.


Disclaimer: This post contains a referral link!