Influenster Holiday Vox Box 2012

My Holiday Vox Box from Influenster recently came in the mail. Inside was the Goody QuikStyle Hair brush (outside of packaging since I have already tried it), Eboost Energy Supplement, Quaker Medleys Summer Berry Oatmeal+, Kiss Nail Dress stickers and NYC Liquid lip shine in Nude York City. The box also included a coupon code to use on solesociety.com INFLUENSTER25 will give you $25 off your first purchase through January 31, 2013.

So far, I haven't noticed that the hairbrush dries my hair any faster but I tend to let my hair air dry. I'm not sure if it would be more helpful with a hairdrier. The oatmeal is coming with me to work on Monday!

Disclosure: Items received through the Influenster program. Anyone can join though, you don't have to be a blogger.

NOTD: OPI Designer... De Better!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas, whether you celebrate traditionally or like my family with Chinese food and the movies. Unfortunately, I'm feeling rather ill and was not able to partake in the normal festivities but my dear husband did go out to get me some wonton soup in the spirit.

I'm not the biggest fan of OPI polishes as they tend to chip on me more than other brands; however, this glittery, almost chrome polish has been on my nails since Sunday and so far no chips (no top coat either)! I love this shade from the OPI Muppets collection. Designer... De Better is really neat, it's very fine micro-glitter/shimmer in golds silvers and a bit of red which makes it look different depending on the lighting. Underneath the lights at work, it almost looks like a silver chrome, just without the brush strokes that chromes usually have. These neutral glitters are easier to get away with at the office than some other glitters. I really like this shade and it was opaque in 2 coats.

Review: Sircuit Skin Cosmeceuticals Choc Lip Chocolate Moisturizing Lip Balm

I've been a fan of the Sircuit Skin Cosmeceuticals line for sometime now and a few months ago, this popped up as a Bloom bonus so I quickly added it to my order. The Sircuit Skin Cosmeceuticals Choc Lip Chocolate Moisturizing Lip Balm is your standard lip balm twist up packaging. It comes with .15oz of product and retails for $7.50. It has a nice short ingredients list, convenient see through packaging (is it weird that this is the major selling point for me?), and smells like cocoa butter.

Sircuit Skin Cosmeceuticals describes it as an "intensely moisturizing and emollient lip balm" which "restores silky softness while helping to prevent dry, chapped lips". It is very emollient and quite soft. I actually prefer my lip balms a bit more waxy than this but it isn't a bad one. I always find that with new balms, I need to use them a few times as like them more as time goes on. While I wouldn't go out of my way to repurchase this one, I have few complaints. Major selling points again for the clear packaging so I can see how much is left!

Ingredients: Sunflower Oil (Helianthis Annus), Beeswax (Cera Alba), Coconut (Cocus Nucifera) Oil, Chocolate Flavor Oil, Vanilla (Vanilla Planifolia) Extract, Aloe Vera (Aloe Barbadensis), Tocopherol (Vitamin E).

As an aside, did I mention I'm done with my graduate program, you may now all call me Jeweled Thumb, MS ;)

December Birchbox

My December Birchbox finally arrived in the mail and I am quite pleased with the contents this month!

Included was a full size ModelCo Shine Ultra Lip Gloss, a nice deluxe sample of the Benefit It's Potent! Eye Cream and chocolate!

Benefit Cosmetics It's Potent! Eye Cream .1oz (full size .5oz $32)  worth ~$6.40
Model Co Shine Ultra Lip Gloss full size $16
Kerastase Nutritive Nectar Thermique Protect 2x .34/10ml sachet (full size 150ml $42) worth ~$5.60
Juicy Couture Juicy Couture perfume sample
Emily's Chocolates Dark Chocolate Peppermint Holiday Fortunes 1 cookie (full size 6 cookies $5.99) worth $1

I've already eaten the chocolate and it was delish.

NOTD: Essie Bordeaux

Technically, I suppose I should call this weekend nails as the polish went on my nails on Friday. This is Essie Bordeaux, a deep red-wine color, perfect for the fall and winter time. It's one of those slightly jelly-ish reds that looks different in different lighting. Very fitting name and part of the regular line. I cut my nails down quite a bit and I think it works for this color. Now off to write my final paper of my Master's degree!

Review: The Body Shop Coconut Beautifying Oil

I don't recall when The Body Shop launched these but they are fairly new to the product line. The Body Shop Beautifying Oils are dry oils that can be used on hair, face and body. To be honest, I haven't tried this on my face as according to the ingredient's list, there is added fragrance, but I have used it on my hair and body.

The Body Shop Beautifying Oils come in a 3.3oz flip top bottle and retail for $14. They aren't cheap full price but if you ever shop at The Body Shop, you should know that they have crazy deals fairly often and you can usually get their products 40-50% off at least once a month. I'm not the biggest fan of the container, but it's light weight and does the job. The opening is small enough that a quick shake gets the right amount of product out but given the delivery method, the bottle does get oily so bear that in mind if you are clumsy!

The line currently has 11 different scents, most of The Body Shop's popular scents are included. The Coconut one is a nice, light tropical scent. It's not overly strong or overpowering. It does stick around for awhile which some may like more than others.

I've been making a point to moisturize while my body is still slightly damp as my skin in general has been super dry with fall and winter upon us. Because this is a dry oil, it sinks in super quickly and doesn't leave a greasy residue. As long as you're careful with the bottle, it's great for those of us that want to quickly moisturize and not wait eons for super heavy creams to sink in. All in all, it's a nice product and I've enjoyed using my bottle. 

Ingredients: Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride (Emollient), Dicaprylyl Carbonate (Skin-Conditioning Agent), Sclerocarya Birrea Seed Oil (Skin Conditioning Agent), Parfum/Fragrance (Fragrance), Cocos Nucifera Oil/Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil (Emollient), Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis Oil/Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil (Skin-Conditioning Agent), Aleurites Moluccana Seed Oil (Emollient), Tocopherol (Antioxidant), Pentaerythrityl Tetra-Di-t-Butyl Hydroxyhydrocinnamate (Antioxidant), Coumarin (Fragrance Ingredient), Linalool (Fragrance Ingredient), Limonene (Fragrance Ingredient), Helianthus Annuus Seed Oil/Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil (Emollient), Ascorbyl Palmitate (Antioxidant).

October and November Empties

So today I present you October and November empties! To be honest, I was expecting there to be quite a bit more in this post but apparently I have a cleanser and scrub that just won't die. Anyway, onward!

Nuxe Micellar Cleansing Water - This is a really nice micellar water. It does take off mascara and it was pretty successful with harder to remove mascaras too. My one complaint, as I mentioned in my review is the added fragrance. Nonetheless, it is gentle on the face and eye area. I'd repurchase.
Nuxe Reve De Miel Lip Moisturizing Stick - This I was less enthused with. I didn't find it moisturizing and while I prefer this to the delivery method of the pot, it isn't something that I would go out of my way to try again. It does smell like chocolate oranges which is very pleasant but I wasn't the biggest fan.
Eve Lom Cleansing balm sachet - I did really like this, but I doubt I'll repurchase due to the price.
Babor Anti-Stress Anti-Jetlag Cream - Babor is the only brand that I've ever seen do heavy glass sample jars! This 1/2 ounce deluxe sample came in one of my beauty boxes. I think it was Beauty Army. I liked this cream but I wouldn't go out of my way to repurchase, especially since the full size is over $70! I found it nice and moisturizing but light on the skin. I've enjoyed everything I've tried from Babor so far.
Nuance by Salma Hayek Detoxifying Cleansing & Toning Towelettes - You probably shouldn't be surprised to see another one of these in my empties posts. I buy them if I can manage to get them under $5.

Softsoap Pampered Hands Foaming Hand Soap in Pampered Plum - This came in an Influenster box. I liked this hand soap but the scent wasn't my favorite so if I repurchase, it would be a different "flavor".

Abba True Curls Curl Enhancing Conditioner - Someone remind me to stop buying liter containers for hair products! This lasted forever. It smells like lemon heads and has oregano and rosemary in it which are great ingredients for temperamental scalps. It has no chemical preservatives, sulfates and is DEA free. It's nice but I had it for far too long and I am looking forward to using a different conditioner!!

Philosophy Vanilla Birthday Cake shower gel (3-1) - This was last years Sephora birthday gift. I'm not a huge shower gel person in general but I've been making a point of using up some shower gels I had laying around. This was creamy, smelled good and produced a nice lather. I used this with my exfoliating gloves and the combination was nice. In fact, I've actually started using shower gel over soap in the shower lately. Shocker!

What have you used up recently? I recently hit pan on my MAC Studio Fix powder and I sincerely hope my face wash is gone by the end of December since I'm getting tired of it!