Boxycharm November 2014 Unboxing and Review

Hi everyone! This is my review for the November Boxycharm box. This is my first Boxycharm and I have to say that I’m very impressed. If you don’t know Boxycharm is a monthly beauty subscription service which gives you deluxe to full sized samples each month. The cost per month is $21.00 and if you live in Florida you have to pay taxes (I live here so I had to pay taxes). If you have not received your box and you want to be surprised please stop reading here. 

The first thing I saw and grabbed out of the box (because it was huge) is this Keven.Murphy Color.Bug. This is a full sized product and retails from $20.00 - $25.00. This is a color chalk which you wipe on and wash out easily at the end of the night. My bug is in silver and while I have not tried this yet I’m really excited to try it. 

I was so excited to see this MicaBeauty Eye Primer(who am I kidding when I opened the box I was excited – I really need to get this lighting fixed so I can video my facial reactions). This is a full sized product and it retails for $44.95. This is a waterproof primer for eye shadow. The consistency is really nice and it goes on smoothly with no creasing. I used this for some eye shadow and it worked perfectly. I’m a huge Urban Decay Primer Potion fan but this outperformed that. I think I may have found a new primer. 

I smeared this bellapierre Shimmer Powder on my hand as soon as I opened it. This is a full sized product and retails for $14.99. This is a mineral powder and adds a really nice shimmer to your eyes (or like me wherever you want to be shimmery). 

I continued my boxgasm with this TARINA TARANTINO Eyelicity Glitter Liner. This liner is full sized and retails for $16.00. I almost bought a similar product at The Makeup Show this past weekend and I am so glad I did not. I love this shimmery eyeliner. You can use a little to make your eyes look larger or completely glam your eyes up to the high heavens. 

I saved this one for last on purpose. This is the OFRA Cosmetics Pressed Blush in paradise pink. This OFRA Blush is full sized with a retail value of $24.95. This color looks a bit dark in the pan and if you’re very light skinned it won’t work for you (or maybe it will depends on the look you like). I however, love the tint and again, almost bought a blush in the same tone this weekend. Boxycharm was psychic for me this month! 

Here is a swatch off all the colors blush, eye liner, and the shimmer in that order from bottom to top.

I am in love with this box. If this is the type of product’s I can expect from Boxycharm then I am going to be having a boxgasm every month. They hit this one out of the park for me and I can’t wait until December's box. 

November 2014 Ipsy Bag Unboxing (bagging?) and Review Spoilers

Hi everyone! This is my review of the Ipsy November 2014 subscription bag. There will be spoilers. So if you want to be surprised please stop reading – smile. For those who do not know Ipsy is a monthly beauty subscription service that sends 4 – 5 sample to deluxe sample size products. I did receive a full sized product this month but from what I’ve been seeing full sized products are not the norm. The bag is only $10.00 per month. This price includes shipping and a cute accessories bag that holds the products. I’ve done something a little different with this bag. Usually, I do an unboxing (bagging – I’m going to keep doing this I think) and do a quick review and/or first take. This time I’ve actually used the products in the bag. 

Please excuse the horrible lighting for the photos. I'm rectifying the situation as we speak and I promise they'll be better next month. Let’s get to it!

November is my first Ipsy bag and I like it. The theme this month is glitter EVERYWHERE (actually it’s called Girl Meets Glitter but I like my title)! What I like about this bag is that the glitter is not actually on the bag. Glitter and I have a problem with each other. It seems to hate my eyeballs and I hate it in my eyes. The problem is if there is glitter on it, it’s going to find a way into my eyeball. Since we know I already have needles jabbed into my eyes, I’d like to avoid the glitter. So, the fact that the glitter was not glued on the bag was a plus for me. 

The glitter bag is not really something I’m going to keep. It seems good for a tween or teen and I’ll be giving it to my God daughter the next time I see her (I say that but look at my matching nail polish). 

I was excited to receive the ITcosmetics Bye Bye Under eye. I wasn’t sure how I felt about this but I used it this past weekend. I attended The Makeup Show in Orlando and I decided to see how the concealer held up to hours of wear and walking through a convention floor. It worked really well. I’m actually going to buy this concealer I was that impressed. For me this sample was worth the bag itself. 

This is the Starlooks eyeliner in Ultra Olive. The color is nice and I also used this. This eyeliner also has glitter. See my above comment about glitter? The eyeliner went on well and blended great. I also got great wear out of it. I’m not sure I want myself to look totally glittered out on a day-to-day basis, but it’s something fun to use for a special occasion.

The next is this J Cat Wonder Lip Paint in Red Potion. Great pigment, great color for me, looked good on my lips, and isn’t overly sticky. Not much more to say other then I liked it (smile). 

This is SeaRx Birch Sap Moisturizing Lotion. I have not used this. I’m really picky about what I use on my skin so I cannot give you a review. However, this is such a small sample I’m not sure I would even know if I did like this product before it ran out. 

The last thing is the Marc Anthony - Oil of Morocco Argan Oil Volume Shine Hairspray. Meh. It’s fine as a hairspray but I didn’t see any volume or shine when I used it. This is a great travel sized hairspray though so I’ll get some use out of it. 

That’s my bag. Overall I was happy with what I received. In my opinion the eyeliner, lip paint, and concealer sample was worth the $10.00 price tag. I can’t wait to see what I get in December. 

Just Keep Swimming

Today (tomorrow really because I'm writing this on the 9th) I will have my 31st eye injection. I feel like this is some kind of milestone for me. I don't know why it seems that way to be honest. I do know that I would like them to stop - laugh. They do work very well and are worth the twice monthly pain (two eyes). I mean it's that or be blind. So it was pretty easy to make the choice to have needles jabbed in my eyes (seems pretty anti-vision to me actually).

Why am I posting this? Well, I'm glad you asked! I wanted to let everyone know that even though I have Multiple Sclerosis, I've battled cancer, and I have needles jabbed into my eyes monthly - I still love my life. I love every stinking minute of it. I've made great friends (have great friends) have great family and continue to enjoy my life. 

Am I the same as a year and a half ago? Not by a long shot, but changing is part of life. Change is exciting and scary all at the same time. 

I want to say that things get tough; things can suck so badly that you don't know if you can handle it. I get it. I've lived it, but I'm here to say that you can handle it. You can laugh. You can have fun. You can just keep swimming - smile.  

November 2014 Birchbox Unboxing and Review (spoilers)

First off, I have to say that this box was much better then my last. This time I did opt for the special box this one was The Happy Holiday Hacks Featured box. Now, I hope (maybe) that next month I won't be tempted to get a special box and I'll actually give you a review on the general box (but if it's to good to pass up - I'm apologizing now). Now, if you haven't opened your box and don't want to know what's in it don't continue reading (smile). 

The first product out of the box is the amkia Nourishing Mask. Full sized cost - $28. This is a paraben-free treatment that conditions and repairs your hair with see buckthorn berry. The smell is very fresh and not to over powering, and we know that’s an issue for me. At first I was not sure what this was. I thought it was a face mask and I was thinking “Oh no, something my face won’t be able to handle” but I was happy to note that the card said it was a deep treatment for your hair. THIS I need. My hair and I are at odds all the time. Now I will say I don’t treat it very well (did you see the running photo from last post?) and since I’ve been trying to be more proactive about treatment (angry face) and my hair (I have thin hair but that’s for another post) I really am looking forward to see if this helps my dry hair.

The next sample that excitedly pulled out of the box was Not Soap, Radio Joy Inducing Body Wash (seriously read the bottle). Full sized cost - $16. Not Soap, Radio is lemon-scented cleanser which will brighten your outlook while you later (according to the lovely card Birchbox includes). It is also paraben-free. I love the smell of this. It’s not to strong (so it does not smell like floor cleaner) but still gives a nice fresh smell of lemon. I love citrus smells (Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue!) and I can’t wait to use this with my Lush Ocean Scrub.

Now we come to the dr. brandt pores no more vacuum cleaner. Full sized cost - $45. I’m not opening this product because I won’t be using it. I am lucky that I do not have black heads (yay for something not on ma face). I will be gifting this to a friend and will let you know how it works for her.

I did not notice this product until after I opened the pillow box but I’m going to mention it before I talk about the pillow box. This is MAKE Silk Cream Lipstick & Lip Primer. Full-sized cost - $36. I am 100% going to try this. Since I opened this box late in the day I will put it on tomorrow and give you an update in a future post. I’m not sure about the lip primer because I’ve never used one before. So, I will look it up and see what it’s supposed to do and tell you guys if it works (yes I know the basics behind it – laugh).  I am severely lacking in the lipstick department (I will rectify this soon – Sephora is having their 20% VIB sale right now). So, this MAKE sample is perfect timing for me.

Now onto the pillow box contents which included a RUFFIAN Nail Lacquer in RUFFIAN Naked. Full sized cost - $10 and a bonus! The bonus is a Firecracker ChocoPod. First let me talk about the chocolate. This is so funny to me. I was just looking at this at World Market (a store with lots of chocolate and other things from around the world). It has pop-rocks in it people! It’s great!

The RUFFIAN Nail Lacquer is a great nude color. It’s very opaque and looks like it will be a one coat application. I just did my nails before I opened this box, so I will show you a swatch on my nail as soon as I change my color.

Overall this box, to me, is amazing. I love every product in it (even the dr. brandt). I can’t wait to try my products and to tell you all how much I liked or hated them (smile). 

OK Eyeballs, You Need to Chill

If you've been reading my blog then you'll know that I've been having issues with my eyes since my cancer diagnosis. It started the second or third day of my lovely hospital stay at then MD Anderson (now UFHealth Cancer Center). As a side note, the room next door to me was haunted. My mother and I would hear someone dragging one of those heavy hospital chairs at night around 10:00pm (bedtimish) only to be told by the staff that no one had been in that room for a month. So...yeah...but back to my eyes (creepy music). 

My vision started to slowly get blurry from starting from the peripheral (my temple or side of my face) vision. It was slowly creeping along my vision towards my nose and I started to complain loudly about the fact that "HEY, I like my VISION check me". Since I also have MS they decided that I might have optic-neuritis, which is when your optic (vision thingy) nerve gets swollen (this can also happen with diabetics). So, sick me who can't breathe well, cause I was having a reaction to the medication no one knew of yet, with a mask on, because I had one gimpy white blood cell trying not to kill itself left, had to get shoved into a tube the size of a toilet paper roll for am MRI. 

MRIs don't bother me usually but as the table slowly started to slide in I had to stop them. Something about the mask on my face threw me over the edge. So, risking my one depressed gimpy white blood cell, I took the mask off. We find out it's not ON and the nothing else is done for six weeks until I get to see an eye doctor when I'm released from the hospital. 

First eye doctor says I have diabetic retinopathy and my vision is 20/200 which means I'm legally blind. I argue that I don't have retinopathy. Why you ask? Because I have MS and I have a Neuro-Ophthalmologist that checks my eyes out. I also wear glasses and have yearly exams. See look glasses. 

This is me looking psycho before a run. I had been up since 4am and was feeling a bit loopy.

My hematologist (he's a hematologist who specializes in blood cancers) says he doesn't think it is (yay someone else that agrees with me). Diabetic retinopathy is when the blood vessels in your eyes leak due to damage from blood sugar issues. My leukemia was causing all my blood vessels to burst (hence coughing up blood) and he thinks my eyes were also affected by the leukemia. 

Wanna know what the treatment is? Having needles jabbed into your eye once a month to treat them. YAY I'M SO EXCITED (blink blink). It does work. I'm now seeing about 20/20 to 20/30 depending on the eye but I still have monthly injections. 

My November injection is next week but for some reason my left eye is spazzing out. It's blurry, I can't read small text, and I won't even attempt to drive. WTF IS GOING ON!? I even called my ophthalmologist but he's not that worried. I really enjoy the nonchalant attitude about MY vision but I need him to be a little more proactive with this. 

So, my eyes and I are having a come to Jesus talk. I really want the horrible injections to stop and I think they would also enjoy that. I promised them the best eye-drops money can buy if they just chill out. Think it will work? 

(Spoilers) October Horror Block Unboxing and Review

If you have not received your October Horror Block you should stop reading this post now. 

OK, for the rest of you this is my first Horror Block and it's the October box! For those of you who don't know Horror Block is a monthly subscription service that includes a t-shirt (you set the size when you subscribe) and 4-6 horror related toys, collectibles, or something else epic! The price is $19.99 for the horror block plus shipping. They are associated with Nerd Block and there are different subscriptions you can choose from if Horror is not your thing. Also, this is my own personal subscription which means I pay for it with my own money (smile). 

Check out Nerd Block here:  https://www.nerdblock.com/

Horror Block: https://www.nerdblock.com/horror

I was so excited to receive this box and my expectations were super high. I stumbled upon this service watching unboxing videos on YouTube. More specifically I was watching Subscriptionboxmom12. She has a ton of unboxing videos and I love that she gets to the point and doesn't ramble on for 40 minutes about how pretty the box is. Check her out on her YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/Subscriptionboxmom12.  

If you haven't seen the Horror Block Box before this is what it looks like when it's shipped (carefully paced thumb to hide address). 

This is the contents of the box. I have to say as SOON as I opened it I was excited. I could not contain myself. I am such a horror fan and just looking at the t-shirt drove me over the edge. I love this t-shirt with Jason on it. I cannot wait to rock this. 

The second item I pulled out was this Build Your Own Zombie box. I love this so much. One I cannot wait to put a zombie together. I love to do artsy fartsy things so I'm really excited to tear into this. 

It includes two tubs of clay. One is green (left) and the second has all the other colors you would need to make your zombie (red, white and black). I'll make mine soon and show all of you how it came out!

The next item in the box I was confused about at first. I thought it was some kind of snack product. Then I realized no weirdo they're Cereal Killers stickers from Wax Eye. These are the two sides of the box the stickers came in. 

The artwork is great! They remind me of garbage pail kids. The box had two packs of the stickers and I think this is a great item. I'm going to have fun with these too!

THEN I saw this and I was absolutely blown away. It was a Blu-ray DVD of The Puppet Master movie. A BLU-RAY. Being a horror fan I've seen this movie more than once, but I haven't seen it for years and tonight I will watch it again. 

This alone was worth the box. A movie, can you believe it? And, we're not done yet. Have you guys seen the movie Trick 'r Treat? If not you really should. It's a collection of various short horror stories that all tie in together. I own it I love it that much.You can imagine my excitement when the next item was this - a toy from the movie!

 I am so ridiculously happy I received Sam. I won't ruin the movie for you but if you have seen it then you all know who Sam is. Sam probably haunts your dreams.

The last item in my box was a Fangoria magazine. I use to read this magazine a lot when I was younger but I haven't picked it up in a while. I am really looking forward to reading this and rekindling my love affair with the magazine.

I cannot believe how much I like this box. They blew it out of the water for October and I cannot wait to see what is going to be in my November box. 

Girls Rule and I Am So Excited!

Ok, FIRST the reason I am so excited. I am getting my first Boxycharm! Boxycharm is just like Birchbox but a little more expensive (I have to pay tax here in Florida so it works out to just over $22.00 for me) but the higher price tag includes more full sized products. This means I will have a Boxycharm review up soon. Yay for subscription boxes! 

Actually, I'll have more Birchbox, Ipsy, MemeBox, and Boxycharm reviews as I start receiving them. I HAD to get MemeBox...it's Korean... (laugh).

Now on to why girls rock (other than the obvious reasons). My lovely dining room table has been wobbly and by wobbly I mean it's going to fall apart. It's been like that for at least a year but I've been to sick (chemo) to do much about it. I'm having a party today (late Halloween/Birthday Party for my friend) and I got a wild hair up my ass and decided "I'm going to see why the table is shaking". Now, I'm feeling better but I still have crappy stamina and get sore easy, but here I am thinking it's a good idea to crawl on the floor. 

Well, I figure out that the table legs, which are screwed to a piece of wood which then attaches to the table, are loose. And then...I took them apart. Oh yes, took them apart with the help of my 73 year old Korean Oma (mother - well mommy actually but I like calling her Oma instead of Oma-ne). 

And this, my friends, is what a table leg looks like when you take it off the table. 

You can see how loose the screws are. Hell, they're over 1/4 of an inch off of the wood! 

This is what a flipped over table without one leg looks like. 

After tightening both legs, installing them back onto the table, and putting the table back upright this is what we have, 

TADA! 

I'm very proud that we could do this! Women Rock! 

And...this is my dog Kobe trying to help. 

He looks like the devil...because he is... (laughing).