New indie brand for me.

I follow a nail blogger on Instagram by the name of mcpolisn and her blog is polishetc.com

Well tonight she posted this picture: http://websta.me/p/1038754945121534947_331517447

I told J I wanted it. Theeeeeen I saw this picture: http://websta.me/p/1038726100498661699_331517447

I told him I changed my mind and that I wanted that one. 

He told me I could buy it. I wasn't going to and figured I'd try to buy it after our next pay checks but then I saw on their Facebook that this is the last restock for it and that once it's gone, it's gone. I went ahead and ordered it and added a mystery polish too. The brand is new to me but I think starting out with two bottles is a good start. I had money in my PayPal account too to put towards it. 

The color is The Border Patrol by Pahlish. 

I wonder if they do freebies with large orders or send freebies just because. Rainbow Honey does and it's a huge factor in why I keep purchasing from them and why I do large bulk orders.

Tomorrow, July 28th!

Tomorrow is release day for samples from PinchMe. If you have an account, tomorrow at 12 PM EST is  sample day. Once or twice a month they release new samples. They go quickly, so make sure you're there early. If you don't have an account, create one but I don't know if you'll be able to get samples tomorrow. But try just in case you can. I still have a box from the beginning of the month on its way. 

I love getting free things in the mail.

Here's some of what I've received in the mail the past month that are free. I started signing up for these the weekend of June 13th. Then June 20th, I received my first samples which was the Mario Badescu products I posted about. I still haven't tried those yet. So since it has been 4 weeks since that post without me updating, I'll just do a monthly update all at once. 

So after 5 weeks of my first sign ups I've received:

The Ecotools brush is part of a employee program where we receive products to try out for free. The carefree liners are part of a "7 day challenge" kit. 

These four all came in a box from PinchMe. That was my second order from them and I have a third one coming too. The first one I did in January and then forgot about it completely. In June I remembered. Once or twice a month they offer up samples and you fill up your box. When I did it the first time, I got 2 samples. This second time they said I had room for 4 products so I went with everything that was there. I already have tried that deodorant and I love it and had just bought a full size of it the week before but it'll be good to have for traveling. The tea is for J. The cat food is for Sylar. But we ran out of dog food yesterday and so I used one of the perfect portions to feed Kreasy some mixed with dry cat food. It was really hard to open and I ended up with juice all over my hands afterwards. Kreasy had no problems with it. Eventually I'm sure I'll give the other one to Sylar. 

When I built my third box, I could choose 5 samples. I think there was 6? Plus 1 sold out. I picked my five and then they're sending me 3 or 4 bonus samples too. I like it because so far they're not foil packets. They're travel size/deluxe size samples. You choose a bunch on one site instead of going to each site. And it's all sent to you within 4 weeks (honestly I think it's 3) in one box instead of getting numerous boxes. 

I got this the same day as my Ipsy bag. I'll definitely use these. I've been wanting to try them. 

The hair products came in the mail on Thursday. The dental items were from my dental cleansing visit on Thursday. But I don't know if that counts since they probably charge it in your appointment fee, lol.

Today I got this!!!!!!:

I don't know why I'm very excited about it. Maybe because it's full size. I wanted to try to use it after I wash my hands. I get things and then try to use them not for their intended purposes, lol. This is for arms and legs after shower. But hands are part of the arms. We'll see. This one was also from the same employee program. 

I have about 8 more coming from them at this point. Plus various other samples. I have also signed up for about 5 free magazines. Teen Vogue, This Old House, Bride?, Martha Stewart Living and some photography magazine. I think I signed up for the last two twice. Oops. I don't know if I signed up for anything else. 

I know I have a Target sample on the way, several kinds of pet food, mascara, shampoo, pads, maybe some tampons. I can't think of what else. Hopefully when I write this post on August 20th, I'll have even more to post about. 

July's Allure Beauty Box

This was the first month that Allure took over the Beauty Box. It's curated by their editors every month with roughly 5 products (I've seen some with 6 including July's!). It's $15 a month. 

Everyone got the same box this month which was kind of disappointing. The only differences were the color of one of the products. 

It was kind of a disappointing box. I was hoping for a nail polish (I will never not wanting more nail polish) and maybe some other types of make up since I'm trying to start a make up collection again. 

The invisibobbles? I tried it and it felt loose in my hair and then when I was trying to get it out, it was tough to remove. Hair was getting caught and the hair tie was getting tangled up with itself which made it even more difficult. I will probably just try to swap or sell this at some point.

The mascara is black and is a mini but there isn't a size listed. I'll probably save this one and swap/sell the ones that I do have. (Rimmel and CoverGirl) 

The super goop sunscreen spray?? I actually love this product. You must shake it first. If you don't, it's not going to work the way it's supposed to. I read reviews and people weren't shaking it or for long enough and the results weren't good. It's also not meant to be used as a sunscreen by itself. It is SPF 50 which is great but you're spraying it on your face, so you're not going to get good enough coverage. It's meant to go over your make up, sunscreen, moisturizer and mattify it. I've used it over my sunscreen. I can use a lower SPF now and now have to worry about the shininess which has been a problem with some of the sunscreens I've tried out lately. It only gets shiny across my nose and cheeks, so I just focus the spray there. It works to make it matte. I haven't had any reactions with it or sunburns. I would buy this in the future for sure when money is a little better. 

I haven't tried the other products yet but I'll try the hair products for sure. If I can remember to use the eye serum on a regular basis, I will. It's supposed to be really good. Oh, I lied, I did try it out. I put it on one night and I have no complaints on the formula. It absorbed well and it didn't feel greasy. But I only tried it one night so can't speak to its magical abilities yet. 

July's Ipsy bag!

I signed up for Ipsy last month. I got my first bag for the month of July.

I didn't get either nail polish which is what I really wanted! Boo. 

Crown tweezers- full size value $10.50

Coolway sea salt spray- sample size value $1.96 .05 oz

Pūr~Lisse cleanser- sample size value $6.43 1oz

Teeez lipstick Read My Lips in shade Killing Me Softly- full size value $22

NickaK eyeshadow palette, I think mine is called Sierra- full size value $4.99

The full value of this box is $45.88.

My thoughts: I love the cosmetic bag (I didn't include the value of it in my box value because I don't think anyone knows a value for the bags but probably $2-$4.) and will definitely find a use for it. The cosmetic bags every month is a big draw for me. I'll use the sea salt spray and cleanser for sure. I love the lipstick's tube packaging. It has a skull on it but I'm not sure I'll ever use red stick. I might try to trade the lipstick for a nail polish. The eye shadows look pretty and I'll save it, I want to start wearing makeup when I go out again so this will be a start. I will never wear makeup for work with my current job. Four days out of the week, I'm outside in the sun/heat for 2-4 hours and it is miserable. The last thing I want is to add makeup to my sweaty face. The tweezers? I'm not sure. I don't pluck so I might also try to trade this but I'm not sure for what or if anyone would want to trade for the tweezers. 

I am much happier with this bag than I was with my June Birchbox and for now, I'll keep Ipsy.

Edit!! I already swapped the lipstick for the Auroa polish from the July bag plus she sent me 3 other bottles of polish. Including a Julep. It's my first Julep too.

And I forgot to include my referral link in this post so here it is https://www.ipsy.com/new?refer=v37zv

My feelings won't be hurt if you don't use it.