Influenster Jolly VoxBox

I am so excited! I just got my first VoxBox from Influenster! I only found about Influenster a few months ago and I love how it works. Instead of your typical subscription box, Influenster chooses you to receive a box for free. You qualify by writing reviews for products you already use and you earn points and badges and then Influenster can evaluate you to see which products you would be best at reviewing. I received an email in early December with a pre-qualifying notice and survey. I had to complete a survey about various product types and brands and wait to see if I qualified. On the 13th I received an email that I had been chosen to receive their Jolly VoxBox (Happy Birthday to me!)



I just want to reiterate that this box was totally free and I was chosen to receive it. This does not impact my review in any way and does not guarantee a positive review.

I tend to prefer unhealthy options in healthy moderation, but these Skinny Cow Chocolates are really good. They have a light peanut butter creme that are lighter in texture than a Reese's cup. You can tell they are a little healthier, but they still taste really good. Each pack has 3 chocolates inside and I've been keeping one in my purse for when I get a sweet tooth craving.

I haven't tried the NYC eyeshadows before, but I do like the colors in this palette. The swatches to the left are done with no primer and just a swipe of my finger. There isn't huge color payoff, but it is better than some other drugstore brands. I think it could really benefit from a primer underneath it. I do wish the medium brown shade was a little darker, but these shades could be good for a very natural look.

I love that this tape is called a Duckling. It's so cute and small! Every time I need Duck Tape I don't have any and when I have it I don't need it. This actually came in handy for sealing up some Christmas boxes that were shipped out. I like that it has the strength of Duck Tape without the size. The tape itself is skinnier and the roll is nice and small, it's very convenient.

I was wondering what I was going to do to test out the Puffs Plus Lotion tissues and then Santa brought me a head cold for Christmas. So needless to say I have been using these and they are wonderfully soft. Often times I will just grab some toilet paper to blow my nose, but with the cold weather and constant sniffling, under my nose is a bit chapped and these feel much better.

 Okay so I know this isn't the best picture, but I was running out of the house for work and wanted to try this out. This is the Rimmel Show Off Lip Lacquer in Aurora. I love the name because Aurora is my favorite Disney princess. The photos on the left are with flash and the ones on the right are without. It's sort of a deep watermelon color. It goes on very smoothly and is not sticky or drying. I really loved the texture and it had great pigmentation and held up well. My only complaint is that I kept finding it on my teeth, even before eating or drinking anything. Other than that I really did like this lip lacquer. Just know that it is a lip lacquer, not a lip gloss and therefore it is a whole different type of product. I saw a lot of people reviewing this as a gloss. This is great if you want an easy lip product that will hold up well throughout the day. My lips felt very soft while I had it on.

FabFitFun VIP Winter 2013

The UPS guy just knocked on the door and had my first FabFitFun Box in hand. I have to say I didn't expect any deliveries on Christmas Eve, but I'm excited! I've been looking at the FabFitFun box for a while, but was apprehensive because of the price. However I ended up signing up for a year (4 boxes) for $179.99. A big deciding factor was one of the items in this box. They had leaked a couple of items to entice people and it worked. I've been following the Giving Keys on Instagram for a while and I love their product and message. The necklaces retail at $55 so that already made this first box worth it. Everything in the box is new to me so I'm really excited. I've heard of some of the brands, but never tried these particular products so I feel like I got my money's worth.

Check out the photos below.

Each quarter is usually $49.99, but with the promotion I signed up with, it's equivalent to $45 per month. The value of this month's box is $271.47!

Sign up for yours today!

Snowed In

Hope everyone in the NorthEast is doing okay. My house is one of the few in my city that still has power and I am really grateful, because in my house, no power means no heat. My family’s house unfortunately doesn’t have any power and they are heating up their food as much as they can by the fireplace and are still waiting to find out when power will be restored. During the blizzard I actually went outside to play with some friends (yes, I am 6 years old) and started getting some snowboarding lessons. Despite the cold and horrendous wind, we actually had a blast.

Now I’m tasked with digging my car out of the pile it was plowed into plus the 2+ feet of snow that came down. Once the car is free though, Greg and I are going out to play. As adults we never get snow days, so we have to take advantage of the only one we have.

In other news, I got to finally try my Oatifix mask from Lush and my face feels very soft and much less dry. My skin had definitely taken a beating from the cold wind and feels much better now. The fact that it smells like banana bread certainly doesn’t hurt.

Hope everyone is safe and that if you lost power, it gets restored soon.

Have fun in the snow!

I’m off to build an igloo.

*Edit: So I just realized that this didn't post when I wanted it to. My power ended up going off and on a few times so it didn't post. Also stay safe this weekend. In the NorthEast we are supposed to get snow again Thursday, Saturday and Sunday

New Year's Resolutions

Hope you guys are as excited for the new year as I am. 2012 was not a good year for me at all. I had 5 deaths and various other incidents throughout this past year that I would rather not repeat for this coming year. 13 is my lucky number and 2013 will also be a Year of the Snake (which is my year) and hopefully only good things will come this year. I am moving into a new apartment which I am super excited about and I want to make some positive changes to my lifestyle. I used to eat much better than I have this past year and I want to get back into that habit. I also want to make more time for myself and try to be less stressed out than I was this past year.  I also want to really get this blog up and running and I'm going to try to make a least one new recipe a week and post it here. Other than that I really want to get all of my bills paid off completely this year, since that will also get rid of a lot of stress. I want to take this year as it comes and not stress about everything and not worry about things before I need to, it's unnecessary stress that I want to be free of. 

Hope 2013 brings nothing but wonderful things for all of us.

What are some of your resolutions?