Unboxing....Ipsy Glam Bag May 2016 #mayglambag #ipsy

The theme for the Ipsy May Glam Bag is Destination Chic: Greetings from (wherever you are). "Ready for an adventure, gorgeous? Whether you're hitting the road or enjoying a staycation, we want to hear all about it! Fill out this card and send it back for a chance to be featured on ipsy social media."

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

SOO AE Collagen Essence Masks 

Clark's Botanicals Smoothing Marine Cream

\

Smashbox X-Rated Mascara

Glamour Dolls Blending Brush #10 Sperm Whale Edition

Pacifica Natural Mineral Coconut Eye Shadow Trio in Skinny Dip/Crush/Lovely

My favorite thing this month is the cute envelope-style makeup bag! I also love the eyeshadows because they are shades that I wear. I always like getting mascara & makeup brushes because I always love to have backups. I can't wait to try the collagen masks & the moisturizing cream. 

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?

Unboxing....Target Beauty Box May 2016 #SpringFling #TargetBeauty #TargetStyle

This is the Beauty Box that Target offered on the 2nd of May. Lately they have offered a new box on the first Monday of each month.

Target ships their Beauty Box in a black box with their logo on the lid. The products came wrapped in purple tissue paper & the theme of the box is "spring FLING". 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:

Andalou Resveratrol Q10 Age Defying Night Repair Cream (12mL sample size $4.90)

Laneige Water Bank Moisture Cream (20mL sample size $12.80)

L'Oreal Paris Colour Riche Lip Pen in Matte-r of Fact (Full Size $8.99)

Hair Food Kiwi Dry Shampoo (Full Size $4.99)

Derma e Firming DMAE Moisturizer (1/2 oz sample size $4.99)

Egyptian Magic All Purpose Skin Cream (3mL sample size $1.20)

CeraVe Foaming Facial Cleanser (0.5 oz sample size $0.50)

Burt's Bees Facial Cleansing Oil (1 oz sample size $2.67)

L'Oreal Paris Sublime Bronze Towelettes in Medium Natural Tan (1 single-use towelette $1.30)

(prices from Target.com)

These products have a value of about $41 and I only paid $10 with free shipping for this Beauty Box, which is a bit higher than the usual $5 or $7 boxes, but it is a good deal because I will use everything in this box. 

Target Beauty Boxes are not a subscription box that you can sign up for so you have to be ready when they are offered because they are first come, first serve & they sell out pretty quickly. 

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

Unboxing....Ipsy Glam Bag April 2016 #aprilglambag #ipsy

The theme for the Ipsy April Glam Bag is Dreamers. "dream on! This month, create looks that celebrate every side of your unique beauty - from natural to understated to  high fashion and ultra-glam."

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

Pretty Woman Nail Polish in Pouty

tarte cosmetics LipSurgence lip creme in Wonder

Crown Brush Duo Fiber Blush Brush

Trust Fund Beauty That Glo Tho Face Highlighter 

Moroccanoil Moroccanoil Treatment

I love this bag because it has two of my favorite things: lip color & nail color! I love that both are gorgeous spring colors that I can't wait to wear. The face highlighter is completely new to me so I'll have to experiment with it & I can always use another makeup brush. I'm a bit leery about the moroccanoil treatment because my hair tends to be oily anyway & I don't want to make it worse, but I'll give it a try. And you can see in the photos that the makeup bag is blue on one side & yellow on the other so I think it's really cute.

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?

Unboxing....Target Beauty Box #TargetStyle #HelloSunshine #TargetBeauty

This is the Beauty Box that Target offered on the 4th of April. I like that they have started offering a new box at the beginning of each month.

Target ships their Beauty Box in a black box with their logo on the lid. The products came wrapped in yellow tissue paper & the theme of the box is "hello, Sunshine". 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:

Maybelline Dream Velvet Foundation sample in Classic Ivory (single-use sample)

Laneige Water Bank Soothing Mask (1 mask $4.80)

Pantene AIRspray Hair Spray (1 oz. sample size $1)

COVERGIRL Colorlicious Lipstick in Temptress Rose (full-size $6)

Hawaiian Tropic Island Sport SPF 30 Lotion (2 oz. sample size $2)

Marlowe No. 022 Body Butter (1 oz. sample size $1.25)

Simple Cleansing Facial Wipes (7 wipes sample size $1.25)

CeraVe Healing Ointment  (2.5g sample size $1)

(prices from Target.com)

These products have a value of about $17 and I only paid $7 for this Beauty Box with free shipping so it is a good deal because I will use everything in this box plus there are coupons for $2 off of a Maybelline face product & $1 off of Pantene products. 

Target Beauty Boxes are not a subscription box that you can sign up for so you have to be ready when they are offered because they are first come, first serve & they sell out pretty quickly. 

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

Crowdtap Sampling: XTRA Cheddar Goldfish Baked with Whole Grain #GoldfishCrowd #sponsored

We always keep a supply of snack foods at our house & Goldfish crackers have always been one of our favorites. I was recently chosen by Crowdtap to sample the new Goldfish Baked with Whole Grain crackers.

My Crowdkit arrived & I was happy to see that I received the XTRA Cheddar flavor. We love cheese & cheese-flavored snacks so I had to hide this for a few days so that I could get a few for myself before my family ate them all!

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 51 pieces

Calories per serving: 140

Calories from fat: 45

Total Fat: 5g (Saturated 1g, Trans 0g, Polyunsaturated 1g, Monounsaturated 2.5g)

Cholesterol: 5mg

Sodium 280mg

Total Carbohydrate: 20g (Dietary Fiber 2g, Sugar 0g)

Protein: 3g

These crackers taste really good! They are perfect all by themselves or as part of a snack plate. The last time that we sat down to play cards, we had this plate of Goldfish crackers, strawberries & bananas. It all disappeared pretty fast!

We also had a bit of fun with the Goldfish crackers when we used them, along with some dry cereal, in place of the regular pieces when we played Checkers. It's a lot more fun when you get to eat the pieces that you capture!

Goldfish Baked with Whole Grain comes in several other flavors besides the XTRA Cheddar. I've got them on my shopping list & I'm going to see which ones my grocery store carries when I shop this weekend.

You can see all of the Goldfish products on the Pepperidge Farm website.  We want to try them all!

#GoldfishCrowd #Crowdtap #ILoveCrowdtap #sponsored

I am a member of the Crowdtap Goldfish® rewards program and I was provided a sample of this product for the purpose of testing and review. 

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.