Unboxing....WalMart Spring 2016 "Classic" Beauty Box #WalMartBeautyBox

The Spring Beauty Box is the latest subscription box from WalMart.

This box came with 4 deluxe-size samples, 4 travel-size samples, 1 perfume vial sample & 5 foil-pack samples with coupons.

Deluxe-size samples:

Colgate Optic White Platinum toothpaste, Fresh Mint flavor

Jergens Wet Skin Moisturizer  with nourishing Monoi Oil

Banana Boat Sun Comfort Sunscreen Lotion SPF 30

Neutrogena Moisture Smooth Color Stick in Almond Nude

Travel-size samples:

Aveeno Absolutely Ageless Daily Moisturizer

Aveeno Absolutely Ageless Restorative Night Cream

Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser

ROC Multi Correxion 5-in-1 Chest, Neck & Face Cream

Perfume vial sample:

Vera Wang Embrace

Foil-pack samples:

Olay Regenerist Micro-Sculpting Cream Moisturizer with $3 coupon

Neutrogena Healthy Skin Liquid Makeup (12 shade samples) with $1 coupon

Neutrogena Acne Correct & Cover Pink Grapefruit Moisturizer (2 shades) with $1 coupon

L'Oreal Paris Revitalift Miracle Blur Finishing Cream

Olay Regenerist Luminous Tone Perfecting Cream Moisturizer with $3 coupon

There are 2 versions of these boxes: Classic or Trendsetter. This is the Classic box. These boxes ship once every quarter for just the cost of shipping & handling which is $5. The Optic White toothpaste sells for $1.97 & the Neutrogena Color Stick is almost as big as the full-size product which sells for $6.77 (on Walmart.com) so this box is definitely worth five bucks!

If you would like to subscribe, go here to enter your information. Your box will ship 5 - 10 days after you receive a confirmation email. This subscription ships once each quarter. The Spring box is shipping now & the Summer box will start shipping in June.

#WalMartBeautyBox

Unboxing....Beauty Joy March 2016

I was really disappointed with my Beauty Joy box last month & had decided that it would be my last from that company, but then I decided to give them one more chance. My March Beauty Joy box arrived yesterday & I realize that I should have gone ahead with the cancellation. 

When I first started this subscription in February 2015, I loved every box that arrived. To me, the presentation is as important as the products & that is an area where Beauty Joy has gone completely downhill. At first the products arrived in a pretty little Tiffany blue box with everything nestled in crinkle paper & wrapped in their cute fleur-de-lis tissue paper. It was like a party in a box! 

But over the months, the cute tissue paper has disappeared & the crinkle paper is long gone. There were months when everything seemed to be just thrown together at the last minute & several times I did not receive the info card that tells about the products. For a couple of months, the products arrived in cute makeup bags but they seemed cheaply made with zippers that were hard to zip.

This beauty subscription ships the same products to everyone so you don't have the option to let them know your style or preferences. Over the months I have received a lot of products that I can never wear because they are not right for my complexion or eye color. But this subscription has jewelry! And that is what kept me coming back....until last month. I only liked one of the products so I decided to stop wasting my money on a subscription that I was no longer happy with & spend my money on others that I really love. 

But then I decided to give them that one last chance.... and I should not have done that. This month the products were just thrown into a gold bubble wrapper. Nothing else. No info card, no pretty box, no makeup case, nothing special. 

Like I said above, the presentation is half the fun of these subscription boxes. So right after I opened the bubble wrapper, I cancelled my subscription. This is what I got in my final Beauty Joy box. 

The eyelashes are a product that I do not wear so those went straight into my Halloween makeup box. The Nivea Creme is nothing special because I can buy that at WalMart. The lip gloss is a color that I will wear so I'll use it but I prefer lipsticks or lip crayons. The four-leaf-clover bracelet is cute so I might wear it but I'll probably give it to my granddaughter. 

I have gotten a lot of nice products that I still use from Beauty Joy but I've gotten a lot that I will never use. Some of the jewelry was my style but I have given a lot of it away. So I'm moving on from this subscription box. If they up their game, I may come back in the future. But for now, it's Goodbye Beauty Joy.

Unboxing....Ipsy Glam Bag March 2016 #marchglambag #ipsy

The theme for the Ipsy March Glam Bag is "hello Spring": We're having a spring fling with flawless! Celebrate the season with a spotlight on radiant selfie-ready skin, flushed cheeks and a fresh kick of color on eyes or lips.

These are the products that I received in my March Glam Bag:

Global Beauty Care Collagen Spa Treatment Mask

Be a Bombshell Cosmetics Baked Bronzer in Heat Wave

ModelCo Lip Lacquer Lip Gloss in Morocco

Luxie Beauty Rose Gold Short Shader Brush 223

ILLAMASQUA Precision Ink Eye Liner in Abyss

I like this bag a lot more than the one that I received last month. The collagen mask is supposed to firm, tone & revive skin elasticity so I'm going to use one of them today to see what my skin looks & feels like afterwards. I can always use a makeup brush & I love the color of the lip gloss. I have fair skin so I need the bronzer even though I need more practice to not be so heavy-handed when I apply one. The only product I won't use is the eye liner so I'll either give it to a friend who will use it or add it to our Halloween makeup box. 

Ipsy is a monthly subscription box which comes with full-size or deluxe-sized products plus a makeup bag. The cost is $10 each month with free shipping to the US & Canada. It is delivered via USPS. I think it's well worth the money that I spend & a great way to try new products & add to your makeup collection. Ipsy sends out multiple variations of each Glam Bag so my review is the products that I received. Yours could be different & I love seeing what everyone else gets in their bag.

So. That's my Glam Bag. What did you get in yours?

It's time to Spring Forward!

Daylight Savings Time starts tomorrow morning at 2:00am so don't forget to set your clocks AHEAD one hour tonight. Or in the morning when you wake up. Just be sure to do it before Monday or you'll be late for work! I know that most of our electronic devices just reset themselves, but my stove & microwave aren't that smart yet so I still have to reset them manually.

This is also a good time to take a few minutes & change the batteries in all of your smoke alarm/carbon monoxide detectors. We do this each Spring & Fall so we can have the peace of mind that they will work properly.

I'm not a fan of losing an hour of sleep when DST starts, but I am a big fan of longer daylight hours during the warm months so we can enjoy being outdoors later in the evenings.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend & if you're not a fan of Winter (I'm NOT!), there are only 8 more days until Spring!!

Unboxing....Target Beauty Box #TargetStyle #VacayVibes #BeautyBox

On Leap Day, Target offered another Beauty Box & this time I was watching for one to be released so I got it!

Target ships their Beauty Box in a black box with their logo on the lid. The products came wrapped in baby blue tissue paper & the theme of the box is "vacay Vibes". An information card is included that tells all about the products plus a coupon for $3 off of any beauty purchase of $15 or more at Target or Target.com. These are the products that came in this box:

Hair Food Moisture Control Shampoo & Conditioner (0.33 ounce samples)

Not Your Mother's Texturizing Sea Salt Spray (2 ounce sample $2.99)

Sinful Colors Professional Nail Color in Poisonberry (full-size $2.02)

Laneige Water Sleeping Mask (0.06 ounce sample)

Banana Boat Sun Comfort SPF 30 Lotion (1 ounce sample)

Nugg Deep Cleansing Face Mask with Cucumber Extract & Jojoba Oil (single mask $3.49)

you are AMAZING Juicy Grapefruit Body Lotion (1 ounce sample)

Caress Adore Forever Body Wash (1.8 ounce sample)

(prices from Target.com)

The full-size products have a total value of $8.50 and I only paid $5 for this Beauty Box with free shipping so it is a great deal because Target advertised this box as a $17 value. Target Beauty Boxes are not a subscription box so you pretty much have to stalk their website watching for the next one to be offered. I try to get these boxes each time they are offered because they usually contain products that I already use or have wanted to try.

I'll be watching & waiting for the next Target Beauty Box & I'll give you a heads up!

Fresh Produce! It's been a while since I contributed to Bountiful Baskets.

I haven't written a post about Bountiful Baskets for about 6 months. I got busy & then I got behind & then I couldn't get caught up again. In November I got busy with the holiday season & stopped getting produce from them altogether. When I was grocery shopping a couple of weeks ago, I realized that I needed to get my act together because the fruits & veggies that I get from Bountiful Baskets are so much fresher than what I find in the grocery store plus it's a great deal. So I made my contribution & last Saturday I picked up a regular basket plus an Italian Pack add-on. 

Look at all of the goodness that I got in my regular basket! The price is $15 & it's usually half fruits & half veggies. The fun part is that you don't know what is in the basket until you pick it up!

2 green leaf lettuce, 1 pound spinach, 3 broccoli, 6 yellow squash, 

1 pound brussel sprouts, eggplant, 3 pounds gold potatoes, 2 tomatoes, 

21 small apples, 8 large apples, 2 oranges, 2 grapefruit. 

And this is what came in the Italian Pack! I paid an additional $12 for these extras.

2 zucchini, eggplant, yellow onion, 6 Roma tomatoes, 

garlic clove, 6 ounces Portabella Mushroom Caps, 

fennel, rosemary, basil, parsley & oregano.

So I got all of this for only $30.50 (which includes $3.50 which is added to each order to contribute to the fuel cost for the trucks).

Bountiful Baskets is a grassroots, all-volunteer, no contract, no catch co-operative. They distribute produce baskets, organic produce baskets, Artisan bread & sandwich bread. I've gotten so many wonderful foods since I start contributing. I've tried fruits & veggies that I've never heard of before & would never have eaten if they hadn't been included in my produce basket.

The way that this co-op works is that their website opens for contributions on Mondays & closes on Tuesday night. Then you pick up your produce at your local site at the end of the week. My site has pick-ups on Saturday mornings. You only contribute when you want to, there is no contract.

I volunteer at my site almost every time I pick up my basket. Volunteers are what keeps this operation running & it's really a lot of fun.

Since finding Bountiful Baskets, we have been eating & enjoying more fresh fruits & veggies than we did before. And trying new things is something that we look forward to as well.

Go here to see if there is a site in your area & read the FAQs for a full explanation of what it's all about.

You can also check out their Facebook page for more info & great information.

Until next time....