Caroline Hirons Cult Beauty Box 2016

I think I may have mentioned my love for Caroline Hirons. She has teamed up with UK based Cult Beauty in the past to offer curated boxes of her favorite products. Last Christmas, Caroline offered up her first Box of Dreams, which ended up selling out really quickly, leaving many unhappy people who made their displeasure known to Caroline and Cult Beauty. This month, they teamed up again with Box of Dreams II. I decided to treat myself and get it. I don't know who I'm kidding. I had/have every intention to buy anything this woman wants to sell me : )

Anyway, onto the box. Beautiful packaging and quick shipping. Off to a good start.

 

In this box, all the products with the exception of May Lindstrom's Pendulum Potion are full size.

All of the products are new to me and I can't wait to try them out!! 

This product has a lot of talk behind it. I hope it proves true.

 My first Kypris product and the product that put them on the map. Can't wait!

 The candle smells gorgeous and I haven't even lit it yet. Definitiely for tuberose fans.

 May's first cleansing oil. Due out next year.

Rounding out the box is Omorovicza’s Queen of Hungary Mist, Zelens’ 3T Complex Essential Anti-Ageing Cream, and Therapie's Equilibrium Bath & Shower Essence.

 

At the time of writing this, the box is still available at Cult Beauty. 

My love for Blue Cocoon

May Lindstrom. When I think of her and her products I can't help but think of California sunshine, gorgeous ingredients and thoughtfully prepared products. Take a peek at her website. It's just a beautiful site. I have had the pleasure of using Blue Cocoon. I really think this has become one of those products that I will need to replace once it runs out.

My skin for the most part behaves. As I get older, I do notice that it needs more moisture but as far as breakouts go, it's just the occasional flair up. I mainly use Blue Cocoon at night as the last product I put on. I hesistate using it in the morning just because it's greasy and I haven't taken the time to see how it will react with my foundation. So for me, using it at night leaves me with a happy face in the morning. If I see a blemish making it's way to the surface, I'll put some Blue Cocoon on. If there is some reaction happening on my face due to food/alcohol/stress, I'll put some of this on. If my skin is unhappy in any way, I'll put some of this on. I hesitate to say this but there has to be some magic in the jar. Or May and her team are alchemical wizards. Some of the credit should go to the star ingredient, blue tansy, which helps to calm inflamed skin and treat damaged and bruised skin. I am currently trying to use up my bottle of Sunday Reilly's Luna Sleeping Night Oil, which also features blue tansy. In my experience, I would say that blue tansy definitely shines in May's formulation.

I initially bought a sample from Integrity Botanicals quite awhile ago but I do believe that May is going to release travel sizes of her products in the new year. This is a great option to road test it and then you can decide if you want to invest in the full size.

A disappointing date with Marc

So, I have been eyeing the Marc Jacobs Velvet Noir mascara for some time now. I finally bit the bullet and was so excited to try it. I really loved the glossy, chunky mascara tube. It had some nice weight to it. The wand construction really grabbed the lashes, which I rather liked. It felt like it meant business. Unfortunately, the formula didn't work for me. It was heavy, which I was expecting because what made me really want to try this in the first place was the whole campaign about Marc's mom putting the velvet pile on her lashes but this was heavy and didn't move. Trying to spread the mascara along the lashes was frustrating. So, while the brush was really grabbing the lashes, it never helped move the product. Whenever I tried building on to the tips of the lashes, nothing would happen. Flaking happened almost immediately. Within a couple of hours, I had smudging underneath too. I gave this a couple of tries and both experiences were less than satisfying. All in all, I had high hopes but I think this is going back to Sephora.

Hourglass 1.5mm eyeliner review

I don't really know how I happened upon the Hourglass 1.5mm eyeliner but I'm so glad I did.

I mainly use it for tightlining (lining the upper waterline) but on occasion it works great for a small kitten flick. I have read that there is not a lot of product so I try to keep this liner for small jobs. The gel formula is creamy and doesn't pull at the skin. Tighlining is awkward business to begin with so the fact that I can just run it across the skin with minimal effort is great. The liner just gives me that extra touch of fullness at the lash line, all the while thinking about how Elizabeth Taylor never needed to bother with this extra step due to her natural extra row of lashes. The best part is that it doesn't transfer to my lower lashes. It generally stays put for a number of hours thanks to it being waterproof.  I will definitely be purchasing again when I run out.

Hello and Welcome!

Hi! My name is Elizabeth and this is my first foray into the blogosphere. The Internet can always use a few more pennies so I thought I would add mine. I have had an obsession with makeup since I was in high school. As with all experimentation, some of it was successful, some was not. My eyebrows in particular were always a work in progress. I do shudder when I see a photo of my teen self with eyebrows so heavily drawn in, like angry slashes. But with practice I finally got them looking pretty alright. So flash forward to today, and while I still love makeup, as I have gotten older skin care has become an obsession as well. This will be a place for me to share my thoughts, likes and dislikes, about the products that come across my path. I would love to hear other people's experiences as well so please do leave comments. Alright, let's get started!