Loose Powder

I got this little sample bottle of Zoya‘s Bevin in a Birchbox.This color was part of Zoya’s True Spring collection.

Bevin is a dusty sage green that is opaque with two coats. With base coat and top coat, I was able to get a little more than a week of wear before I removed it. There was some edge-wear, not no chipping.

I’ve  already purchased a full sized bottle of this color and have passed the sample bottle along for a friend to try.

Zoya nail polish is 5 free, containing no formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin, toluene, camphor, or dibutyl phthalate. The polishes cost $8 each, but Zoya has occasional sales.

This is a quick look at Sinful Color‘s Cinderella nail polish. It’s a light blue cream with golden pink shimmer. Very pretty!

The shimmer isn’t very obvious, but it adds a little something extra to this pale blue. Here are some closer photos of the polish on my nail and in the bottle.

I purchased this at Walgreens for $1.99. This polish wore well for a week with little edge wear.

For the accent nail, I used Skylar, which is part of Zoya‘s True Spring 2012 collection. It’s a dusty medium steel blue with gold and silver shimmer.

I actually originally purchased this because I couldn’t decide between OPI’s I Don’t Give a Rotterdam and I Have a Herring Problem. Skylar is like a cross between the two, so I was glad to pay the $5.99 at my local beauty supply store for the Zoya polish rather than two OPIs.

I’m seriously slacking this month, you guys, sorry! I might start posting twice a day just to catch up with the load of reviews I have lined up.

Right now, though, here is a look at this month’s Brichbox. The theme for April is Natural Wonders and the box features items inspired by nature and that use natural ingredients.

Here’s a list of what I got in my box:

• Befine Skin Care sampler – 2 packets of cleanser & 3 packets of daily moisturizer
• WEI White Lotus Hydrating Face Treatment Pad
• Taylor Swift Wonderstruck Eau de Parfum
• Zoya Nail Polish – Bevin
• Extra: MicrodermaMitt Face Mitt

And some more pictures of the samples:

I’m pretty interested in the Befine cleanser and moisturizer. I like the sound of their products, but the only item I’ve tried so far is a rice & bran night cream that was actually kind of drying. Hopefully these will be a better experience. There’s a generous amount of product for both the cleanser and moisturizer, but I dislike leaving foil packets open so I will probably put this in a lidded pot.

Edit: Birchbox sent an email to current subscribers stating that some customers may have received expired Befine Moisturizer samples. It seems that Befine was supposed to make new samplers for Birchbox customers, but it sounds to me like they just repackaged old stock. Expired items are dated 2009 and 2010! I discovered that mine were expired and following the link in the email, I filled out a survey and will be getting 100 Birchbox points as a courtesy. I appreciate Birchbox taking responsibility for Befine’s error.

Zoya nail polishes are one of my favorite brands and Bevin was a color from the Touch collection I meant to pick up, so it’s great to have received a tiny bottle in my Birchbox!

Wondersrtuck is an okay scent. To me, it’s a sweet floral with amber notes. On my skin, there’s also a slightly tart note. Not bad overall, but not something I’d spend so much money on. The bottle for a full size is very pretty, though.

I’ve not yet tried the WEI face treatment, but I’m looking forward to it as a treat. The MicrodermaMitt looks interesting and I’ll definitely be trying it out, though. You’re supposed to use it after a shower or a steam so that your skin is wet, but you step away from the running water when exfoliating. The one thing I dislike is that a mitt retails for $28 which seems like an awful lot. This method is supposed to work better than using a scrub, though, so if I like it, I might end up purchasing a Hammam glove.

Once again, another great box of item items from Birchbox. I’m still finding it worth the $10 per month cost. As mentioned above, the MicrodermaMitt alone is worth $28. If you’d like to sign up, I believe there is currently a wait list, but definitely register!

Birchbox just announced Birchbox Men – a $20 per month subscription with men’s grooming and lifestyle items. I’ve signed up for the first box just to see what kinds of things they offer and I’ll be reviewing that when I get it.

My Birchbox was a little bit late this month and having seen the goodies my mother got in hers, I was anxious for it to arrive! Their theme for November is Getting Gifty and the box is supposed to include some gift ideas for you.

When I opened my box, I discovered I had a lovely bonus item! The black wood pop bracelet from BaubleBar is a special thanks from Birchbox for referring friends, giving feedback, and purchasing from the shop. Here’s a photo of the bracelet and contents of the box:

So what else did I get in this month’s box?

• Klorane Soothing Eye Makeup Remover with Cornflower water
• LaROCCA Skincare Champagne and Shimmer Body Polish – featuring 24K colloidal gold
• Oscar Blandi Jasmine Protein Mist
• Zoya Nail Polish in Noel (sample size)
• Treat: Chuao Chocolatier – Firecracker Chocopod (dark chocolate laced with chipotle and popping candy)

And some close up photos of the contents:

The Zoya polish I had already purchased in full size, so I’ll probably be gifting this sample, but I do love the color. It’s blue with fine silver glitter – great for winter.

The Oscar Blandi hair mist does have a nice, light scent (which I wouldn’t call jasmine) and works okay to revitalize second day hair. My hair doesn’t tangle much day to day, but it does add some smoothness without being sticky. I don’t use heat tools in my hair so I’m not sure how well this works for breakage. Would probably use the rest of the sample, but not sure about purchasing a full size.

I haven’t yet use the Klorane makeup remover, but I’ll definitely try it out with all these mascaras I’ve been wearing lately. I do like that it doesn’t contain any oils and is good for sensitive eyes.

LaROCCA’s body scrub has a texture similar to Body Shop’s scrubs.. of course the Body Shop scrubs don’t contain 24K gold. It’s a nice sample to try, but I don’t think I’ll be purchasing a scrub that’s so expensive!

I do love chocolate, so when I heard that Chuao samples were making their way into November’s box, I was excited! Unfortunately, I dislike both chipotle and popping candy.

Despite having items I wouldn’t purchase full sizes of, I’m quite happy with my box this month overall.

Zoya‘s Jem is part of the Fall 2011 Mirrors collection. It’s a dark purple polish with pink shimmer and gold duochrome flakes.

I love this polish in the bottle, but on the nail it was difficult to see the gold duochrome flakes even in direct sunlight. You can see a bit of it in the first photo with the bottle, but on the nail you can only see the pink microglitter.

Because I wanted more of the duochrome look, I added a coat of nfu-oh’s NFU 51 to the top half of my nails and it was a much more interesting look – and more what I was hoping for out of the bottle, to be honest.

NFU 51 is a purple jelly packed with large duochrome flakes that shift from orange to gold to bright green. It looks so great on top of Jem!

I added a coat of Finger Paints top coat. The manicure last about 4 days, but I admit to not following my usual application of thin coats and waiting for each to dry before adding more. I will probably try this manicure again – I love the look of the nfu-oh on top of this Zoya color.

Zoya nail polish is available from their site for $8 a bottle. I bought my nfu-oh from Fabuloustreet.com.

Tao is part of Zoya’s Fall 2011 Smoke & Mirrors Collection. It’s described as a, “light smoke grey with blue undertones and a muted, softened metallic finish.” That’s a perfect description of this great color.

I used two coats of polish with my normal base & top coat. The manicure lasted about a week, which is about normal for me and Zoya polishes.

Tao is available from Zoya, whose nail polishes are all formulated without formaldehyde, toluene, dibutyl phthalate (DBP) or camphor.

A quick but fancy manicure that I put together to wear out for Liz‘s bachelorette party!

I started with a metallic silver base – two coats of Zoya Trixie. Once dry, I applied one quick coat of China Glaze Black Mesh Crackle polish. The ringg fingers I left silver so I could apply a floral water slide decal. Finished it off with two coats of top coat to smooth out the crackle.

This manicure was quick to put together, but looks much more complicated. Very fun to wear!

This month’s Birchbox is co-curated by designer Cynthia Rowley. The box comes in a special sleeve and instead of the usual plum tissue paper, it’s a bright aqua!

As always, everything is neatly packaged and the smaller items are nicely wrapped and tied. Let’s see what I got in my box!

• AHAVA Mineral Hand Cream
• philosophy Purity Made Simple One-Step facial cleanser
• Redken Shine Flash 02
• Zoya Touch Collection – Shay (sample bottle)
• Extra: Kind Fruit & Nut Bar – Almond & Apricot

I didn’t get any sample packets in this box, but I didn’t mind that much. The only item I haven’t tried yet is the Philosophy facial cleanser, mostly because I’m still using the Philosophy foaming cleanser I own.

Ahava’s mineral hand cream smells and works great! I will probably keep it in my purse to use. The Zoya polish is nice and not too pink for my skin, but I don’t wear neutrals that often. The Redken Shine Flash works okay to make dull hair shiny and tame some fly aways. However, I thought the smell was unpleasant – reminded me of chemical cleaner. I might finish the sample, but I wouldn’t purchase it again.

My mother just subscribed to Birchbox and this month was her first box. She received a different Zoya polish (hers would have been too pink for me) and instead of the AHAVA hand lotion, she got a guava Korres shower gel (which smells great!). Just goes to show that boxes aren’t all the same!

Can’t wait for next month’s box of fun! 😀

Birchbox is a subscription service. For $10 a month, you get a fun box filled with large sample sizes from various beauty brands.

Here’s another manicure using China Glaze Crackle polish!

I applied two coats of Zoya’s Trixie, a silver foil polish. (I think Sonia Kashuk has a similar silver polish for sale now.)

This is a great polish, but it feels kind of Christmas-y. On top of that I applied a thin coat of China Glaze’s Crackle polish in Crushed Candy – a light turquoise color that is similar to For Audrey.

Like all crackle polishes, apply thickly for larger cracks and thinly for smaller cracks. Brush the polish on quickly and with a minimum of strokes.

I really like this look and got a few compliments during the week I wore it. I think next time I will try this crackle polish with a copper base.

Zoya’s Sam is a very dark red creme that’s almost brown in lower light.

Two coats were enough for bottle color and I used Essie 3-Way Glaze for the top coat. This manicure lasted about a week, which is standard for most Zoya polishes I have used.

Sam is available from Zoya, whose nail polishes are all formulated without formaldehyde, toluene, dibutyl phthalate (DBP) or camphor.