Why I "cancelled" my monthly subscription boxes;

You may be wondering why cancelled is "". So I'll just come right out and say it, what actually happened was there was a fraud attempt on my credit card and so my bank sent me a new card and therefore the automatic payments stopped coming out of my account and therefore the boxes stopped coming. What this post should be called is "Why I couldn't be bothered to update my credit card information on my monthly subscription boxes" but that wouldn't exactly be the most uhm.. catching title, now would it?

But why didn't I update the information, you ask? Because what was coming to my door wasn't worth the money I was paying out. I was subscribed to Ipsy(myglam), birchbox, beauty army, test tube, and little black bag. If you add that up, that is $32 automatically a month, $30 a quarter, and $54.90 when I saw something that caught my eye on LBB. I know that it is my fault for signing up to all of the boxes, but they were so enticing at first; Who didn't want a box full of goodies showing up every month for only $10?

My experience with Monthly Subscription Services!

Hey adventurers! Today is November first, so happy November everyone! I'd like to do a review of all the subscription services I am apart of. As you may or may not know, I am a member of a few. Them being: Ipsy, Birchbox, New Beauty Test tube, Beauty Army, Little Black bag. I'll be reviewing these for you today.

Beauty Army: 12 dollars a month, you get to pick 6 samples out of the 9 that they choose for you from responses to their quiz. I like Beauty army because they aren't a first of the month company. You have a week to choose your samples and it starts around the time frame of whenever you got your first bag. I got my first bag around the 24th so my week starts on the 24th. The shipping is quite slow to Hawaii, so it takes about a week and a half to get it here. But shipping is free so it's not an extra charge. I have been skipping my monthly boxes because the samples were the same as previous months and the samples-in my opinion- haven't been worth my 12 dollars. Recently they've been perfume samples, and little packs of skincare. I don't use those, therefore I have been skipping.

Bottom line: I do like this box, but I just wish the samples were better. I have skipped the past 3 months, and I have only received 3 boxes.

Birchbox: Oh the mighty birchbox, in my opinion this one started it all. When Birchbox got popular then all the sudden these things were everywhere. Birchbox is 10 dollars a month. I have had Birchbox for the past 10 months and I can honestly say that it's not that great. Every month it has been a disappointment. I will probably be canceling my subscription here soon. Every month it's like a twist band, a perfume sample, and last years not handed out samples. Three months ago, they put out a box that was just of the leftover samples and they handed that out as the "beauty school edition." Today is November first and I have not received my October box. They take my money out on the 1st, but they don't ship the boxes until the middle of the month. Shipping to Hawaii is painfully slow. It takes a very long time to get here. I usually don't receive my boxes until the end of the month which just irritates me.

****As of November 5th. I have canceled my Birchbox membership. I got my October box today and the contents of one of the bottles was all over the box, plus the customer service hasn't gotten back to me. BAD customer service Birchbox...*****

Bottom line: I do not think this box is worth the 10 dollars I've been putting into it for the passed 10 months. I will be canceling my subscription soon. I do not think it's worth it.

Ipsy: 10 dollars a month. The infamous Ipsy bag, personally I think they changed the name from Myglam because of all the horrible reviews the MyGlam bag got and they wanted to get a fresh start. The passed 3 Ipsy bags have been really nice. I actually enjoyed the products I got, except the bags are shitty. I tried to zip the black one with the gold zipper that I mentioned in my last post and it broke. So they aren't meant to be used obviously. Besides the dollars that I've put in in the past to get shit products, the one thing I don't like is the pink lipgloss they include in almost every bag. If it's got a lipgloss in it, it's going to be pink. Usually a sparkly, sticky, bright pink. How many pink lipglosses do they think I need?

Bottom line: I'll stick it out for a few more months because they seem to be heading in the right direction.

Little Black bag: This isn't a makeup only bag. They 'bag' costs 49.95 a month and of course you can skip it. But shipping is not free so in total when I get the bag it costs 54.95. You can choose the first item and then they choose 2 more items to be included in that bag. I have had several 'bags' from them and if you watch my YouTube channel, I have video's up on it. In my opinion I think it's only worth it when you get a purse. Because when I didn't get a purse, the 'bag' didn't feel like it was worth the 50 dollars I paid for it, but if I got a purse it was fine no matter how crappy the other two items were. The thing that everyone likes to mention about LBB is that you can trade the items you don't want for things that you do want as long as the other person accepts your trade, which is cool. But it's time consuming and usually only the crappy items are getting traded. I haven't been getting LBB only because it's so expensive. Yes, I have the money. But I'd rather not spend 50 dollars on something else that is 100% guaranteed that I'm going to like.

Bottom line: I like the concept, I really do. I periodically check back and see if there's anything that I like. But I never seem to buy it. They are always running monthly specials though if you're into that type of thing.

New Beauty Test Tube: 39.95 + shipping I believe. This is a seasonal thing so you only get 4 a year. I have quite liked this program every time I receive one you get at least one full size product and not just saying that you'll get a full size product you actually get one. In my first tube, I got a full size Moroccan oil anti frizz hair spray. Worth 38 dollars, the time after that I got the it's a 10 worth 20 AND a full size neutrogena concealer worth 14 dollars plus all the extras, and this tube I got a moroccan oil deep conditioner. Every tube I get is worth the 40 dollars that I'm paying for it. All other programs should take note. The only downside is that it seems to be more toward older women. I've gotten a lot of anti-wrinkle products that I just don't need at my age.

Bottom line: This is the one service that I really feel like I get my money's worth every time I receive a tube. So thank you New Beauty for getting something right! :)


Do you have any thoughts on Subscription services? Do you think they're worth the hype? Let me know in the comments below!

Memoire Liquid: Amour Liquide Body Cream.

     Hey guys! I haven't been as up-to-date on this blog as I wanted to be, but I'm back for a review on another item I got from my NewBeauty Test Tube. It's Memoire Liquide Amour Liquide; and it's a body cream. I also got two perfume samples of the same 'memoir liquide' brand. The scent is a light but very sweet kind of cotton candy-esque. The cream itself is very thick, it's a kind of thick that when you stop squeezing the tube a little bit gets sucked back into it. The color is an off white and it's extremely moisturizing.
     When applying it doesn't feel greasy and a little goes a long way with this cream. The scent lingers a long while. All in All I'm very happy with getting this product. I didn't think that I was going to use it when I got it, but it's very nice. Makes the skin very soft and smell good. It's the 5.1 oz bottle and I think it's going to take a long while to get through.

Sorry it's such a short post, I was lucky to get these few minutes to type this out. Luckily they're distracted with the pictures we had all taken.

Thanks so much for reading!

Have you tried this cream? interested in it?

Mally's High Shine Liquid Lipstick

Hey Adventurers! Today is a review of the item I recently received in my New Beauty Test tube. I received my tube about two weeks ago and was instantly drawn to this to try out. I don't know too much about the brand but a few people on youtube talk about them and love them. This bad boy will cost $20. As I said, I received it in my test tube so I didn't pay full price for it.

This product has a brush tip applicator--these pictures were taken when it was brand new to get the full effect of everything and to keep it in pristine condition; and who wants to see a brush coated in gloss anyway? hahaa. To get the product through the brush, you twist up the bottom. It took a pretty good minute for any product to get through the brush.

Here's a swatch of it--with flash. It has shimmer in it and quite a bit that you won't see in the tube, it surprised me actually. On the hand it was more of a stickier formula than I liked. On the lips it feels less sticky but it's still sticky and it's not something that I would run toward again. The lasting power on the lips is enough. It stays for about an hour, comes off on things and it's sticky. I know it says nothing about staying tough. But I just wanted more from this product.

Bottom line: I wouldn't purchase this product again, and I don't think I would of ever purchased this product for $20. The color is gorgeous but it's just too sticky for my liking. :/ Again, I just wanted more from this product.



What were your thoughts on this product if you've ever tried it? Also what would you like to see on this blog?


xoxoAlaina

New Beauty Test Tube!

Hey-lo Adventurer's I received another TestTube in the mail and I was a little surprised to be honest. But It's different than the first one. I'm not sure the schedule of receiving them, so I'm a little confused about it. I know it's every couple of months, but I'm not sure the exact. Anyway, lets get into it!

The items in this months test-tube were(in no particular order):

Lumene: Time Freeze Firming Night Cream- Full size $21.99

Neutrogena: Rapid Wrinkle Repair Serum- Fullsize- $19.99-$22.99 (This item was full sized!)

It'a 10: Miracle Leave in plus Keratin treatment(I got the regular and not + Keratin)- Fullsize- $20

Olay: Pro-X Clear Complexion Renewing Lotion- Fullsize Unknown because this item is only included in a kit.

Neutrogena: Brightening Eye Perfector- Fullsize- $13.99 (This item was full sized!)

Hydroxatone: Instanteffect- Fullsize- $60

Mally: High Shine Liquid Lipstick- Fullsize- $20 (This item was full sized!) 

Smashbox: Photo Finish Primer

and a few other things that weren't listed in the booklet that comes with it.

Overview: This quarter's tube was really focused on anti-aging in my opinion and I'm not looking for that, I'm a young person and so that was slightly disappointing for me. But I do like the fact that they put a concealer in this tube and they included multiple shades in there depending on the answer that you provided in your quiz that you took. I enjoy that fact that I can see that those answer's aren't just a fake mask that they put on and that they actually take that into account. From the booklet they had 4 shades to choose one. There were 3 full-sized products in this tube which I think is absolutely amazing, if you add only those 3 together you get around 45 dollars and I only pay 39.95 for the tube so those 3 items pay for the tube. I'm also really interested in trying the it's a 10 because I've heard amazing things about it, but never wanted to pay the price for it. 

Bottom line: I'm not as over thrilled about this tube as I was the first one, but I am still really happy with this purchase and I honestly think I got my money back in this tube. This is one subscription that seems to know what they're doing and all other's should take note!

xoxoAlaina

New Beauty Test Tube!

Hey guys!,
        I received my first Test tube and needless to say I am/was super excited about it, not only is this only around 40 dollars every season, it's totally worth it in my opinion! The picture above is everything that came inside my test tube. They even were nice enough to give three coupon codes so that if you buy from Spalook.com you can get money back (I don't think this is a gift card even though it says gift card on it, it's more of a coupon) This is one of those subscription services where you don't know what you're going to get every season, so you're putting the money in and then getting surprised. It came in a pink box with a New Beauty magazine and a booklet with all the products in it.

 A close up of the cards, it included a 10 off of 60, 25 off of 125 and 50 off of 200! Good for me I believe, I still have not gone to the website to see if I will use them, but they don't expire until 7/31/12 so I have some time to look and see.

Included in this test tube were: 

Mally Evercolor shadow stick in the color Platinum- Full size $25 Included worth: $25 

Neostrata Skin active Cellular Restoration- Full size $79 Included worth:  $2.26

Moroccan Oil Frizz control- Full size- $32 Included worth: $32

Olay Regenerist Wrinkle Revolution Complex- Full size- $28 Included worth $3.78

YBF Eye liner in Plum Noir- Full size $14.50 Included worth: $14.50

Memoire Liquide Lotion and two perfume samples- Full size perfumes- $95 Full size Lotion- $48 Included Perfumes worth- $2.76 x2 Lotion worth- $48

Skin Ceuticals SPF collection- Full size dropper- $146 Full size Cream- $32 

dr. brandt flexitone BB cream- Full size- $39 Included worth: $9.75

Perlier & Elariia Body cream- Full size-$24.50 Included worth: $24.50

I'm completely blown away that 5 of these items were full size, how generous is that?! I only paid I believe something like $38 dollars for a tube worth, are you ready?! $159.79 NOT including what the SPF Collection is worth because I didn't want to figure it out. THAT is completely worth it. As far as what the little magazine told me there are 5 full size items, I'm not completely sure if they are, BUT regardless, I find this tube VERY worth the money I paid for it. So I, am VERY happy with this season's Test tube! 

***The test tube itself is only $29.95, shipping was what brought it up to $38.90, but I live in Hawaii, so it costs more! ***

Interested in trying it out? http://testtube.newbeauty.com/

xoxoAlaina