Winter FabFitFun Box

I've been remiss is posting about my last two FabFitFun boxes, although I enjoyed quite a few items in both of them.  The winter box looks like it has a nice mixture of treats, so let's take a look!

I signed up for a year's subscription, which gives me the ability to customize my box on some items.  For the winter box, those items were the fingerless gloves (black or gray), the Frends earbuds (Black & Gold, Black & Rose Gold or White & Silver), and the reed diffuser (Cinnamon, Pomegranate, Sugar Cookie or Lavender).

EJH Brand Diffuser in Pomegranate ($37)

The pomegranate has a clear bright scent that is good for small spaces like my bathroom.  I've never really been a fan of reed diffusers as I find them hard to detect in larger rooms, but maybe I'm expecting more than I should.  As a subscription box item - this is quite nice.

Fingerless Gloves by Whitney eve x FabFitFun ($28)

I second guessed myself once I received the black gloves as they tend to show every speck of lint, but these are soft and comfortable.  Plus they work really well when I'm walking the dogs and needs to detangle leashes.  So, I'm happy.

Frends Earbuds ($80)

I don't know if I have small ears or what, but these are a bit uncomfortable for me.  Sound quality is good, however, and I'll use them.  Are they $80 good?  I should probably compare them with my Ipod earbuds as a comparison, as I'm not really sure.

Candlenut Body Creme by Juara ($35)

I was probably most excited to see the Juara Candlenut Body Creme because I love this stuff (you can see a full review here).  If I was a good daughter I'd give it to my mom for Christmas, but I'm keeping it for myself even though I already have one.  Yep.

I've been on more of a skincare than cosmetics kick lately, so this Dermalogica trio ($45) is another welcome item, although I've got a cue of new skincare items waiting to be used.  Trying to remember if I've used Dermalogica products before, and I'm coming up blank.

As soon as I saw Zoya's Blair ($9) in the box, I though "that's what I'm wearing Christmas day".  So, expect to see more of it soon.

Every time I see these I think "man down".  The Wine Stomper and Charms Set by FabFitFun ($15) is cute, and I'll definitely use the wine stopper, although the charms will probably get tossed.

$40 gift card

Per usual, there where several gift cards in the box (Shoptiques $25, Sweet & Spark $40), which I'm really bad about using even when they are true gift cards as opposed to discount codes.  Hopefully I'll remember this time before they expire.  On the other hand, I'm decluttering my house so buying new stuff seems counterproductive, especially considering they are not items that I need.  So, there ya go - I can forget about them and not feel guilty :-)

The value of the winter FabFitFun box was a whooping $314, which is fantastic for a $49.99 box.  I believe I have one more box coming my way, and then I'll have to evaluate if I want to renew this subscription.  Overall it's been very good, but like I said, I'm decluttering....

Melted Kisses and Sweet Cheeks: Fig and Your Love is King by Too Faced

Disclaimer:  I purchased this, links are for convenience only.

The plums are what tempted me first with the Too Faced Melted Kisses and Sweet Cheeks set, and I've got to say both Fig and Your Love is King are lovely!

Fig was a surprise hit, as I wasn't sure how I would feel about it. Turns out the rosy plum is a great color for me and perfect for fall. Just love it.

The liquid lipstick formula is not particularly hydrating but I do find that exfoliating my lips and applying a matte lip balm goes a long way in giving me smooth lips and comfortable wear for a good 3-4 hours.

I also found the applicator to work quite well and did not feel the need to use a lip brush for precision.  That's a plus.

I'm not really into matchy lips/cheeks with a darker color, so below I'm wearing Fig with Makeup Geek's Secret Admirer blush.

Fig

Your Love is King is the first of the Too Faced Love Flush blushes I've tried, and so far I'm impressed. This is a talc-free formula and it applied smoothly and was easy to build color without looking patchy or powdery. There is a fair amount of powder kick-up but it doesn't seem to affect application.

These mini-pans are just big enough to fit the brush head in and will no doubt last a long time given the nice level of pigmentation I was able to pick up with just a few swipes. I'll never make it through a full sized blush in this lifetime, so I love the option of getting mini's like this.

As for the long-lasting claim, nothing is going to last on my oily skin for 16 hours. My benchmark for long lasting blushes are Hourglass's Ambient Lighting blushes (something about that formula works really well with my oily skin), which last a good 8-9 hours for me. Your Love is King was comparable, as I still had nice color on my cheeks that had not gone blotchy after the end of a work day, so thumbs up!

Your Love is King

A palette of all the mini's called Love Flush Blush is now available, and if I didn't have the Melted Kisses Sweet Cheeks set I could've seen picking it up. However, I'm going to content myself with what I have. I did an expired/gone bad makeup purge on Saturday, and I definitely need to focus on what I have :-)

NOTD: I Only Shop Vintage Sephora by OPI

Disclaimer:  I purchased this.

Gold in all it's many variations seems appropriate for this time of year, so I Only Shop Vintage was my polish selection this week. It's from the now discontinued Sephora by OPI line, which I really liked.  The new Sephora line of polishes haven't really tempted me, as I think I've only bought one and have yet to try it out.

I really don't even need the excuse of Christmas holidays to break out a gold polish, as it's a color that I think looks good year round.  This one is more of golden amber and I love the glass flecks which give it a glowing shimmer that is not over the top but still plenty festive.

Today is my last day of work before my "Christmas sabbatical" of 2 weeks off.  Joy to the Earth :-)

Loving Your Unloved v. 5: EmphasEYES Cream Shadows by Tarte

Here is something I don't understand:  why do cosmetic companies discontinue good products?  Because the emphasEYES cream shadows by Tarte were really good.

I was able to accumulate five of them a few years back, and sadly they are starting to get hard and dry.  I was still able to create a couple of really pretty eye looks with them, but it took a stiff brush and some digging into the pots, so these lovelies are gasping their last breath, sadly, and will be tossed after this series.

My favorites were Champagne Pink, Shimmering Taupe, and Shimmering Golden Beige.  Plum Smoke saw the least amount of love from me, but I'm just not a purple shadow wearer in general.  I try every once and a while, though.

Shimmering Taupe

 Champagne Pink made for an effortless nude eye look.

Pink Champagne (flash)

Champagne Pink + Plum Smoke

Rest in peace, EmphasEYES cream shadows.  I probably should have loved you more, but you will be missed.

Kevyn Aucoin The Contour Book Volume II

Kevyn Aucoin's Contour Book Volume II was my big ticket VIB sale item, and after using it for the past few weeks I thought I would share my impressions. Here we go!

This compact contour palette packs a surprising amount of the Candlelight and Contour shades - much larger than the first version with .17 oz of the Candlelight and Contour powders and .16 oz of the Candlelight and Contour creams. Considering the single compact of Candlelight contains .11 oz and costs $44, it made the price of the palette ($65) seem like much more of a deal.

Candlelight was the main draw for me, having read such positive reviews on it, and it lives up to it's reputation.  It's actually quite a subtle highlighter, with finely milled powder that gives a soft pale champagne shimmer.  There is a slight difference in color between the powder and cream versions of Candlelight, with the cream running slightly cooler in tone.  I did a comparison of other similarly toned powder highlighters in my collection, and Becca's Moonstone is very close, albeit with slightly more intense shimmer.

The four eyeshadow shades were a bonus for me, but also where the palette started to get a bit lackluster.  The Brighten and Starlight shimmer shades are very nice, but the matte Cool Tan and Ruddy Earth have some sticking points. Literally.  They have a tendency to "grab" the skin and are difficult to blend out. At first I thought it was just that my less than smooth lids were contributing to the problem, but the arm swatches showed me that nope, it's the shadows.

With the exception of the two matte eyeshadows, this palette is a winner for me. I've been using the cream Contour shade under my cheek bones and along the sides of my nose and find it very easy to work with.  I use the powder Contour shade on top of the cream to set it, and find that they are both hard to overdo. Pigmentation is definitely there, they just blend so nicely and look quite natural on.

Sadly, this Sephora exlusive appears to be sold out, but I'm glad I focused in on it during the VIB sale, it was worth it!

All Night Long and All Done Up: Julep December Maven Box

All Done Up

I'm still on the $19.99 Julep subscription plan, which means I don't have the ability to customize my box as much as those who opted for the $24.99 plan.  In general I don't mind, although occasionally I waver regarding which box to select.  This month I opted for the "All Done Up" box, which featured new makeup as opposed to nail polish. The overall theme for December is "All Night Long", a la Lionel Ritchie.  Yep, there were a few snippets of the lyrics on an enclosed card.

The featured makeup item this month is a new matte lip mousse, and I was able to chose the color I wanted.  I went back and forth before deciding on the fuschia pink hued Pucker Up ($20), which is described as a "Violet Verve" on Julep's site.  I'm wondering if it darkens on the lips, as the Julep site pictures make it look darker.  Regardless, I think I made a good choice, and I'm super impressed with the container.  It has nice heft and feels and looks like a high end product.  The cap clicks shut, another nice detail.  Now, I just need to try it out:-)

Pucker Up

There were 4 new shades of the Multidimensional Orbital eyeshadow, but they are all new to me as I skipped these when they first came out.  I chose the pale gold Luna ($18), thinking it was be a nice eye brightener/inner eye highlighter.  After swatching it I'm also wondering how Luna would look as a cheek/face highlighter.  We shall see.

Last, but not least is a new Gel Eye Glider called Smoky Taupe Shimmer ($16).  Julep has really nice gel pencils - as good as any I've tried.  And I've got quite the eye pencil stash.

Here are swatches of all three products, and I think the colors really work well together.  I'll be playing with these pronto.

Using my points, I chose one add on this month, a box of the One-Step Polish Remover pads ($8).  That brought the total value of my box to $62, and considering I only paid $20, quite the value. There was also a cinnamon candy stick in the box, which you'll never hear me saying no to.  I see I had a smudge of Pucker Up on my fingers which transferred to the box top.  Side note:  Pucker Up smudges out beautifully, which has got me thinking it could be a nice cheek tint....

Lastly, my apologies for the pictures only post up earlier.  I've been swamped at work (end of semester stuff plus wrapping things up before my 2 week (!!!) Christmas break, and thought I'd have time to write up the post last night.  But I forgot, including that I'd already scheduled the post. Whoops.