BEAUTY BOX | June Glossybox Review

Welcome to the new Cosmetic Proof where I play beauty box catch up just like last year. I was so proud for doing all that writing last week so that you guys could come here to a new post every day, but then work and late nights caught up with me and we’re back to this unscheduled and impromptu way of doing things. Now, onto June’s Glossybox* which featured some brands that I know and love and some that I had never heard of, but that is sort of the fun with these boxes isn’t it? Discovering new product loves!

ACI Beauty Event Spring/Summer 2014 Preview (Picture Heavy!)

Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the Spring/Summer preview for Stila, Cargo Cosmetics, Ceramic Glaze, Seche, Anna Sui and Ardell Lashes held at the beautiful Rosewood Hotel Georgia. This hotel is serious stuff guys and is one of the most luxurious places to stay in Vancouver. The event showcased some amazing products and really got me excited to share them all with you!

Sample Sundays–Third Edition

This segment of Sample Sundays is coming to you a little bit late because as I suspected, I was a quite optimistic in the last edition of Sample Sundays and it took more than two weeks to get through even half of what I had chosen! Let’s see what’s on the sample menu this week!

Recent Winners Damage :(

I’m sorry this post is going to be so short, but I’m not feeling very well today so I’m just going to be staying in, curled up with a cat and possibly Diablo 3…? These are just a few things that I couldn’t resist buying from Winners over the last few weeks:

Cargo Lip Gloss Quads ($8.99 each) in Ibiza (left) and Naples (right) and from what I’ve seen, you cannot get these particular combinations anymore from the Cargo website, so I’m guessing they are discontinued. I also saw on both the ebeauty and Cargo websites that there is even a Vancouver lip gloss quad which is all sparkly! Totally not what I would have imagined a Vancouver palette to look like! I must have gotten to the Cargo display pretty early in the game because you can see that these lip quads have no little finger marks in them!

Next up, is a ginormous tub of Lemon Cupcake Smoothing Body Scrub from Cake ($8.99) which smells ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. Lemon is another one of my favourite scents and when it is paired off with “cupcake”, it’s a winner in my books! The last things I picked up were two bottles of my new favourite Out the Door Topcoat. This is where Winners can really ruin in for you. I purchased my bottle of OTD from Nail Polish Canada for $11.50 so when I saw it at Winners for $4.99, my eyes almost fell out of my head! I really should have bought out the entire display at the rate I go through topcoats! Does anyone else find that once it gets to the halfway point, you don’t feel like slanting the bottle to the side so that the ENTIRE brush gets coated with topcoat?

I have been trying to be good and limit how much I’ve been shopping at Winners so these four items over the last 2.5 weeks is actually not bad for me! I keep forgetting that I have this *ahem* wedding to save up for…

P.S. For those of you who wanted swatches of the NYX Crimson Amulet Palette, I’ve got them up now

May 2012 Luxe Box

Hello Hello!

This month’s Luxe Box was extra special because of a complimentary Bath and Body Box for Mother’s Day so yay for two Luxe Boxes!

In the Bath and Body Box was a Gilette Venus Razor with Olay moisture bars on each of the 5 blades (oooh!) and a sample tube of Olay Regenerist Wrinkle Revolution Complex so I guess there was a little bit of an Olay partnership for the month of May.

In the May 2012 Luxe Box I received:

Cargo Lash Activator Mini Duo

Excitement Level: Included in this duo is the original LashActivator mascara and LashActivator Night which is supposed to be a lash-enhancing elixir and can be used as a volumizing mascara primer. When used together, I should have longer, thicker lashes in about 2 weeks. If you’re like me, I’m not sold on products that claim to make my lashes grow longer. Unless it’s Latisse, I don’t think this product is going to work for me. I’m not opposed to trying it though, so I guess I’ll keep everyone posted if I suddenly from little Asian lashes to those of a Greek goddess.

I Received: *FULL SIZE*

Full Size: $15

Orlane Active Hydration Body Care

Excitement Level: I do like Orlane products and all I have tried so far are face products so it was nice to receive one for body. The only thing is, the sample size is perfect for a face product, but for a body moisturizer? I’m not a big person, but I definitely have more surface area to cover than what this sample will provide! Also, I’m almost scared to like this sample because the full size is so expensive!!

I Received: 7mL/$2.94

Full Size: 250mL/$105

Paco Rabanne Black XS L’Exces For Him and Her

Excitement Level: I always like trying out new scents, but unfortunately, Paco Rabanne tends to always be a little bit too strong for me which happens to again be the case with Black XS. This is no one’s fault though, the scent just isn’t for me.

I Received: FOR HER: 1.2mL/$1.78 and FOR HIM:1.2mL/$1.87

Full Size: FOR HER: 50mL/$74 and FOR HIM: 1.2mL/$78

Goldwell Dual Senses Rich Repair Shampoo and Conditioner

Excitement Level: Oh my, more shampoo and conditioner samples in my oh so favourite packaging. This s&c is for dry, damaged hair or stressed hair and promises to restore it to a healthy shine with silky smoothness. I have not heard of this brand before, so I guess that will be something to look forward to. It was also nice that I received more than one sample pack of each.

I Received: SHAMPOO: 20mL/$0.75 and CONDITIONER: 20mL/$0.85

Full Size: SHAMPOO: 750mL/$28 and CONDITIONER: 750mL/$32

Coupon Card for Panty by Post

I don’t think I will be using this because La Senza has given my enough underwear to last a couple of lifetimes! It’s a nice addition though for someone who would like to try the service.

Total Value of Luxe Box: $23.19 although the razor is at least $10, so with the Olay sample, we’re probably looking at around $35 for this month’s Luxe Box.

As a side comment, from the sample boxes over the last couple of months, I have never in my life tried so many different shampoo and conditioners! Unfortunately, I didn’t really have a favourite product in this month’s Luxe Box, everything was just sort of okay. I guess the LashActivator was probably the most interesting so we’ll see whether it works or not. I’ve seen some AMAZING Luxe boxes with nail polish *sob* but that’s alright, it’s all part of the beauty box game! Speaking of games, my fiance and I just got the full version of Diablo 3, so I’m off to play!

Glymm “Bag” May 2012

Hello Beauty Boxers!

I will try not to repeat what a lot of other bloggers have said about this month’s change in Glymm packaging and pricing, but very quickly, Glymm –> Green so Box –> Bag and $10/month –> $12/month. The price increase is probably one the more surprising moves in this soap opera of beauty boxes. I suppose I should be glad that the $10 rate will still apply as long as you keep your subscription…Come to think of it, out of all the beauty sample subscription services we have available in Canada, Glymm is probably the only one that could have changed their packaging from a box to a bag because they don’t even have the word “box” in their name!

Instead of a pink cardboard box this month, we all received a pink makeup bag in a renewed effort to be more “green”. Now, while I do think this is a very cute bag, I don’t really believe this is more green than having a recyclable cardboard box…this makeup bag is only “recyclable” in the sense that I can reuse it, but once I have more than three of these guys, am I just supposed to give them away? I don’t mean to be difficult, but I don’t really understand the rationale behind this. I guess the real question is what the makeup bag is made of? Anyway, onward to the main attraction!

 

Here is what I received in this month’s Glymm bag:

CK Shock for Her and Him

Excitement Level: I’m feeling a little overwhelmed with perfume samples now although I do enjoy discovering new scents. Unfortunately, I already received a rollerball version of the woman’s scent in a previous Luxe Box, so there wasn’t much to discover this time! I thought maybe my fiance would like the men’s fragrance, but he found it to be quite feminine-smelling…

I Received: 1.2mL/$1.08 good for 35 sprays (new feature on Glymm’s product info card. Useful!)

Full Size: 50mL/$45.00 both His and Hers

Coola Mineral Matte Cucumber Face Sunscreen

Excitement Level: Yay! I have been looking for sunblock specifically for the face so this will be fun to try! I love that it’s paraben free and hydrates with shea butter too!

I Received: 5mL/$3.60 good for 4 uses

Full Size: 50mL/$36.00

NuMe HydroPunch Hydrating Conditioner

Excitement Level: Shampoo and conditioner samples seem to be a running theme in beauty boxes! At least I can use this month’s NuMe product! How many of you actually wore the feather hair extensions?The thing I really love about this sample is the fact that it’s in a tube and not a plastic packet. I will probably try this product over one in a packet just for the convenience!

I Received: 20mL/$2.00 good for 4 uses

Full Size: 250mL/$24.99

Cargo Eye Shadow Duo in Vienna

Excitement Level: Is it weird that I’m not a fan of Cargo eye shadows? I just find the pigmentation to be not quite as good as some other brands. This is an interesting shadow duo though in terms of colour combination so I’ll give it a try and see how it goes.

I Received: *FULL SIZE* good for 36 months!

Full Size: $25.00

Caudalie Vinexpert Anti-Aging Serum Eyes and Lips

Excitement Level: I really loved the Caudalie samples I have received, but I haven’t bit the bullet yet to buy a full size product of theirs on my own because the skin care line can be quite expensive. I’m almost scared to love this serum!

I Received: 7mL/$15.40 good for 40 uses

Full Size: 15mL/$33.00

Caudalie Vinosource SOS Thirst-Qunching Serum

Caudalie Moisturizing Sorbet 

Excitement Level: Same sentiment as above plus awwwwww! Such cute packaging! What does the sample look like inside? Is it encased in something else? I’m too scared to open it! This duo are meant to be used together.

I Received: Serum – 1mL/$1.60, Sorbet – 1mL/$0.95 each good for 3 uses

Full Size: Serum – 30mL/$48.00, Sorbet – 40mL/$38.00

Total Value of Glymm Bag: $50.71

I liked the assortment of what I received this month although I totally had my fingers crossed that I would receive the Caudalie body scrub that some other girls got. The scrub looked so good and came in such a cute little jar. Oh well…I still enjoyed the variety of this month’s bag as well as the apparent rebirth of Glymm!

April 2012 Topbox

Hello!

So, I am exhausted from seeing Cats because I went directly after work via bus which turned out to be not a great idea because the Vancouver Canucks were playing and the buses were either non-existent or full. The show was great, I got chills hearing “Memory” live! Some parts didn’t really make sense to me and at one point I whispered to my fiance if I was high at all because there were scenes with lights and colour that didn’t seem to relate to the story at all! The only thing I felt badly about was that no one was home all day so because we saw Cats, we forgot to feed our own cats! They were sooo hungry when we got home at almost midnight!

Anyway, here is my April Topbox! Some Topboxers received a Principessa Dry Shampoo so I was wondering if I would receive it since I had already gotten one in a previous Topbox, but Topbox kept track and I received something else instead! This month’s box is also in honour of Earth Day so you can see that this month’s box has a design directly printed on the box instead of the usual label. I cannot stress how much I love this idea!!! I’m a recycle freak so this packaging is a huge plus! I will definitely opt for this box instead!

Here are the products I received this month:

Bella Pella Tropical Flowers Body Lotion

Excitement Level: I was quite pleased to receive a Bella Pella product this time since I did not receive the bar of Bella Pella soap from the December Topbox. Being based only in Montreal, Bella Pella decided to only include the soap in Topboxes in the Montreal/Toronto areas so I am VERY happy to be part of the action now! The lotion is smells delightfully light and fresh and is paraben-free.

Full Size: 175mL/$15.95

I Received: 30mL/$2.73

Misa Nail Lacquer in Pretty in Pink

Excitement Level: Oooooooh! This was the personalized product for me. As you can see from my little nail polish counter on my side bar, I love me some nail polish! I’ve never tried this brand before and what’s nice is there is also a little 20% off coupon on the side of the bottle on your next Misa purchase! Misa’s formula also has “nano-silver particles” that are meant to reduce chipping and keep the shine. I’m not a lacquerologist so I don’t really know how this is actually supposed to work. This colour isn’t one that I would normally buy mostly because I have nail polishes that are quite similar to it and let’s face it, for me glitter iz da bomb.

Full Size: 15mL/$8.99

I Received: *FULL SIZE*

Lisa Watier Hydrasmart

Excitement Level: This wasn’t at the top of my list, but I’m glad I got a sample of this to try because I’ve been curious about how hydrating this product is for something that might possibly be an alternative to foundation. It almost sounds like a BB Cream, but not quite…the sample is a little small, but I hope I can get at least a few uses out of it.

Full Size: 40mL/$35

I Received: 2mL/$1.75

Benefit the POREfessional

Excitement Level: I have been dying to try this product out so all I can is YAY!

Full Size: 22mL/$34

I Received: 7.5mL/$11.59

Cargo blu_ray Pressed Powder

Excitement Level: I’m not a pressed powder user so this was sort of meh for me. This powder is meant to reduce redness and hide fine lines, so maybe if I’m blotchy one morning I’ll give it a go.

Full Size: 8g/$32

I Received: Unknown. I’m guessing under 1g.

Total Value of Topbox: $25.06

As usual, I’m happy with my Topbox, there hasn’t been one that has disappointed me yet! There was a bit of everything, something for the body, the nails, the face. All in all, a well-rounded Topbox!