Monday, March 18, 2013

Wantable Subscription Box - Review, Photos, Swatches

You may or may not be aware of my obsession with subscription boxes; this is not limited to beauty boxes, either - lifestyle, food, fitness... you name it, I'll try it! Today I have a have a review of my very first Wantable box. The cool thing is that Wantable tries to send products according to your preferences, based on a fairly thorough questionnaire that the customer is asked to fill out prior to purchase. Wantable promises to never send you products you mark as a 'dislike'. For example, if you indicate that you don't wear liquid eyeliner, don't expect to receive it; likewise, if you say you aren't fond of nude lipsticks, you won't be sent any in that color family. I automatically went through my survey to 'dislike' all skincare products offered as I've got enough of those from my now defunct Birchbox subscription. Overall I tried to guide my box to include a large amount of colorful makeup products, especially lip products, nail polish, and eyeshadow and liner. Each box costs $40. So what did I get? Let's take a look!

The items come directly inside the shipping packaging, with no second inner box:


Here are all the items included in my box, unwrapped:


































The items you see are: Color Club nail polish, Be A Bombshell eye shadow, Be A Bombshell eye liner, 29 Reserves lipstick, Benecos eye shadow, Cailyn lipstick, and Milu Amber Sugar Scrub. Everything is full-size apart from the scrub (which I believe is a bonus item).

Here are the eye products:

Left to right: Be A Bombshell eyeliner marker in Provocateur (deep blue), Benecos Natural Baked Colours in Amazing (shimmery teal), Be A Bombshell Eye Shadow in Tease (shimmery teal).

I'm familiar with the BaB eyeliner marker as I've gotten the black one in an Ipsy (I believe) box some months back and have used it often for its precision and staying-power. I think the color included in this Wantable package is a very pretty one, and I've no doubt I will be using it with some regularity. I'm mostly pleased to have gotten this! Now let's move on to the painted elephant in the room, shall we? Tease and Amazing are very, very similar hues. Tease is a bit more intense, more pigmented, and softer in texture. Like some baked eyeshadows, the Amazing cake is hard and a tad difficult to get into with a brush. Besides that, it's on the sheer and powdery side, definitely not as smooth as Tease. I do like teals, though, and I expect to reach for Tease when the mood arises; I am, however, miffed that I got two shadows that are, for all intents and purposes, the same color! :/ Boo, it's disappointing.

Moving on to the lipstick:
Left to right, we have 29 Reserves Moisturizing Lipstick in Expressive Rose, and Cailyn Mineral Lipstick in #1 Lovely in Pink. 29R is a bright raspberry and Cailyn is a light peachy pink with fine, sparse glitter. I've yet to wear either of the shades, but I can tell you that these colors are right up my alley and I'm excited to try them. Wantable was pretty bang-on with this one!

Finally, I received a nail polish from Color Club's recent Fiesta Collection - Flamingo, an uber-bright neon pink:


Hmm... I suppose I'll take it! I do like Color Club polishes, generally, though I don't wear pink all that often. I am a sucker for neons, though, and this vibrant color will fit in well with the summer weather, if it ever decides to show its face (my area is having an unreasonably chilly late March, so far!).

Total value of my box -

Cailyn Mineral Lipstick - $15
29 Reserves Moisturizing Lipstick - $25
Be a Bombshell Eyeliner Marker - $14
Be a Bombshell Eye Shadow - $14
Color Club Nail Polish - $8
Benecos Natural Baked Eyeshadow - $12.99
(I'm not including the Milu Amber Sugar Scrub, both because I believe it's a 'bonus' item and because I've no idea how much product was included in my sample; for reference, however, a 250g jar is listed at $43.72.)

Total, excluding the Milu scrub: $88.99. Not bad, eh?

To summarize:

Yes, Wantable is more expensive at $40 than other beauty box services such as Ipsy, Birchbox, Glossybox, Beauty Allure, and Beauty Army; however, the biggest distinguishing feature is the ability to fairly thoroughly customize your package, short of choosing the exact items. I felt my products were as a whole decent and fit with what I expected from my questionnaire answers. Additionally, the value of the box was more than twice the price tag. The big, glaring negative is, of course, getting basically two of the same eyeshadow colors! I assume the samples were pulled randomly without any check. Still a bummer, though.

I'd be willing to try another box, and I do recommend checking Wantable out if you love these kinds of subscription services. It's a pretty neat service!

You can sign up for Wantable here! What do you think/what have been your experiences with Wantable?

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Hard Candy Nail Polish in Crush on Amethyst, Crush on Caribbean, Crush on Lava, Piece of Papaya, Crush on Tin - Photos, Review, Swatches

As soon as I set eyes on the new Hard Candy nail polishes, I knew they were bad news... for my wallet! D: Luckily they made my hands VERY happy, which is how I justified purchasing a dozen or so ;) Anyway, here is the first part of my haul. I'm pretty thrilled with these!

Crush on Amethyst, a brilliant medium purple with complex (and stunning!) gold accents -




Crush on Caribbean, a shimmering turquoise blue. Again, more beautiful and complex than my photos can show -




Crush on Lava. Gah, you know how people describe things as having the color and gradient of beetle wings? This really, really does resemble that, and it's gorgeous. Crush on Lava is a violet red that shifts orange/gold/brown. Beyond. Words.




Piece of Papaya, a warm coral/pink with gold flecks -





Crush on Tin, a baffling but intriguing mix of slate, forest green, gold, and brown -



WOW. I'm impressed with all of the shades shown above! I had no issues with the formula (all swatches are two coats) and the texture is smooth and pigmented. These new Hard Candy lacquers are high-quality, affordable drugstore options for nail fanatics seeking unique, non-traditional shades and at $4 a piece, they're practically a steal! It's damn near impossible to choose a favorite, but if pressed I would say my heart belongs to Crush on Lava and Crush on Tin. All are fabulous, though, and I will no doubt put them to good and heavy use. Now to prevent myself from scurrying off to buy all 48 hues in this new Hard Candy release... 8D

All 48 new Hard Candy polishes are available at Walmart for $4 each. Have you checked these out yet? What do you think?

Thank you for reading, and please consider following me if you enjoy the contents of this blog :)

Monday, March 11, 2013

Disney Jasmine by Sephora Magic Carpet Ride Palette - Review, Photos, Swatches

Truth: Aladdin was my favorite Disney movie as a child! (Sword in the Stone was a close second, it must be said.) I was never a huge fan of the iconic princess trifecta (Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella) as they were a bit too frilly for me, but was drawn to Aladdin for its music, entertainment value, exotic setting, and fun plot. I wanted to live in the Arabic country the story took place; I wanted my very own Aladdin to sweep me off my feet; I wanted Jasmine's outfit and her pretty, long hairstyle (never happening, with my fine, naturally blonde hair!); I wanted a well-mannered pet tiger and kleptomaniac monkey; I wanted a singing Robin Williams to follow me around in my daily life, cracking jokes. 

Considering this, imagine my nostalgic delight when I read the Sephora Beauty Insider email about their Disney Jasmine collection release! Ultimately I purchased a couple of carefully selected pieces. One is the Magic Carpet Ride Eyeshadow Palette:

L to R, Top to Bottom: Carpet, Wonder by Wonder, Splendid, Diamond Sky
Beautiful, fitting packaging. Carpet is a rosy taupe shimmer; Wonder by Wonder is a deep matte burgundy purple with glitter; Splendid is an orange peach shimmer; Diamond Sky is a turquoise shimmer.


Overall, quite a nice little set. A surprising favorite was Carpet - such a flattering, interesting neutral that has gotten the most wear from me thus far. Wonder by Wonder is, however, the problem child - it's patchy and sheer, and took about 5-6 coats to build up to what you see in the photos. It's a shame, as I really enjoy how this hue relates to the palette's color story. Splendid and Diamond Sky were of good quality as well, similar to Carpet.

This Jasmine quad retails for $30 and may be purchased from Sephora stores and online.

I'm loving Sephora's Disney collaboration and can't wait to see what else they dream up! What do you think? Have you purchased anything from either the Jasmine or Cinderella collection?

Friday, March 8, 2013

Revlon Nail Polish in Girly, Heavenly - Swatches, Photos, Review

Still reeling and recovering and rebalancing from vacation, but trying very hard to slip back into the blogging routine (Blogger Act II: Back in the Habit? 8D).

I have surprisingly few Revlon polishes, but when I saw the new display I decided to pick up these two beauties -

L to R: Heavenly, Girly
Girly is a bubblegum pink with blue, purple, silver, and holographic hex glitter (two coats):





 Heavenly is a clear topcoat with translucent square and hex glitter. Shown is one coat over Zoya Wednesday:



These two lacquers are a fun departure from Revlon's usual classic hues, and I'm glad to see them diversifying their collection. Girly's texture is a bit thick and it dries gritty, requiring a generous layer of topcoat, but it's very much workable. Heavenly is pretty solid; the glitter density is neither too heavy or too light, and the particles disperse evenly. Not bad for one of Revlon's first outings into the wonderful world of unique glitters and colors!

Girly and Heavenly are available in many drugstores for about $4.99 each, and also online at drugstore.com.

Bonus - I'm so pleased with my vacation that I can't help siccing photos on unsuspecting bystanders whenever I get half the chance. It's my equivalent of sitting guests down for a slideshow ;) Anyway, here you go, enjoy (or.. something 8D), and thanks for reading, following, and commenting!!


View from the top

Monkeh! :D

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Sugarpill Sweetheart Palette - Review, Photos, Swatches

I'm back from a looong vacation! Thanks for hanging in there with me :)

Picking up right where I left off, here is the last of my Sugarpill palettes, Sweetheart: 
The shades are Dollipop (hot pink), Afterparty (bright blue), Midori (vibrant green), and Tako (white). As you can tell, the quality, consistency, and pigmentation is (surprise, surprise), SUPERB.

As with all Sugarpill products I have reviewed thus far, I have absolutely no criticisms. Such a lovely brand with an equally lovely line. For a more detailed review, you can check out my Burning Heart palette post. You may also want to check out Heartbreaker!

Aren't these shades gorgeous? You can purchase Sweetheart and other palettes in Sugarpill's online shop for $34 each. For that price you get a very generous amount of high quality eyeshadow; you can't go wrong!