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December 2011 Birchbox

21 December 2011 by

My December Birchbox arrived last week, but I’ve only just had the chance to take photos of the contents. This month’s theme is the holidays, of course, and the usually pink outer box had festive white snowflakes! Inside the box, the plum tissue paper was replaced with one that is white with very fine pearlescent glitter. Very pretty!

So very pretty! Definitely saving the tissue to reuse for gifting. Inside the box were five items that should all be fun to try out:

I haven’t used these products yet, but the Jouer samples I’ve gotten in my Birchboxes have all been great. The fashion tape could come in handy… if I ever wear a fancy dress that would need them, of course!

The Harvey Prince perfume is a light, fruity scent with notes of pink grapefruit, pomegranate, mango, and jasmine. I also love that these luxe perfume samples are now tiny sprayers instead of the traditional stopper tops which could get everywhere when you try to open them.

I don’t usually drink any of those energy boosting solutions, but perhaps I should give this a try as I’ve been feeling kind of run down lately.

Not super-wowed by this month’s box, but I’m still loving the monthly box of treats so I’m keeping my Birchbox subscription!

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Benefit BADgal Lash Mascara

9 November 2011 by

Next stop on my mascara tour is Benefit‘s BADgal Lash mascara!

This mascara is advertised as one that will give you full, voluminous lashes. I don’t know if this mascara is waterproof – I can’t find anything on the site that says it is, so I’ll assume it’s not.

I like the printed text on the tube – the pink scripted text on the gloss black tube looks great! One thing I dislike is the giant brush. I’m a big fan of the plastic brushes as I feel they work better for my lashes. This brush is way too big for me and it’s difficult to get an even coat.

For me, this mascara was a bit messy to apply. You’ll see the smudges on my eye lids in the photos below. It did add a fair but of length and some volume, but my lashes also got kind of spidery and clumpy. It wasn’t terrible, though, so I’d be okay going out with this look.

Here are before and after photos from a few angles:

I had applied three coats and once they were dried, my eyelashes were kind of stiff. There was a little flaking but nothing serious and it still looked good after 8 hours. Removal was pretty easy with my regular makeup remover (philosophy’s release me). For me, this was average performance and I might end up using the rest of the tube, but I probably won’t repurchase.

Benefit BADgal lash mascara retails for $19 and is available at many retailers including Sephora and Ulta.

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Benefit: Gee that was Quick!

31 August 2010 by

After finally using up my old eye makeup remover, I decided to try the bottle of Benefit’s Gee… that was quick! oil-free makeup remover I had lying around.

This makeup remover is advertised as “oil-free makeup remover for eyes & face”, and it does live up to its advertisement of being oil-free. When I wipe my face with this remover, my foundation is easily cleaned off and my face feels fresh and clean without any oily residue left behind.

However, this remover is not good for removing waterproof eye makeup. It removed my eye shadow pretty well. I’ve read reviews about this remover having problems with waterproof eyeliner. I used Urban Decay’s 24/7 glide on liner and Physician’s Formula gel liner, and I didn’t have too much problems in removing those, but it did take a bit more remover than when I used the oil based removers to clean everything. The main problem came from waterproof mascara. I usually only wear one coat of waterproof mascara and I was having problems removing the mascara. Even after adding more remover and wiping my eyes a couple more times, I still had some mascara cling to my lashes and I ended up with bad raccoon eyes that need more cleansing.

But this remover worked great when I only had regular mascara on. I recommend this makeup remover because it is great for removing foundation and non-waterproof makeup and some waterproof eyeliners, but if you want a good remover for waterproof makeup, then move along.

I got Benefit’s Gee… that was Quick! oil-free makeup remover as a free gift from Sephora. At retail, you can get the 8 oz. bottle of remover for $21.  That is pretty pricey for a makeup remover, especially one that doesn’t really remove waterproof makeup. But if you like Benefit, don’t mind the price, and just want an oil-free remover for your face, Gee… that was Quick! is a decent choice since it does make your face feel very clean and refreshed.

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