PopSugar Must Have: August 2017

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This month’s subscription box was all about celebration since the PopSugar Must Have box is celebrating its 5th year curating boxes! The PopSugar Must Have box is a monthly subscription ($40/month or less if you make a 3, 6, or year long commitment)  that sends subscribers full-size versions of the season's must-have beauty, fashion, and home products. I’ve subscribed to a lot of boxes in my time and the PopSugar Must Have box is my all-time favorite by a mile! If you’re looking for a box that gives you a ton of value and awesome products, this is the box for you! 

Pastel: Cheers Lacquered Tray | Retail $28

This is the prettiest little tray - that ended up being a lot bigger than I thought it would be! It’s almost the size of a standard piece of paper which I actually love! Most of my catchalls are about the size of my palm and with how much I throw in them, they get filled pretty quickly. I think this one’s going to end up on my coffee table as that’s where all of my things normally end up!  

First Aid Beauty: 5 in 1 Bouncy Mask | Retail $38

I’ve never tried anything from First Aid Beauty before so I was really excited to receive this product! It’s a mask that is meant to brighten and firm skin after 10 minutes of use. I’m excited to try it and get my first taste of the First Aid Beauty line! 

Dogeared: Friendship Bracelet with Small Open Hear | Retail $34

I absolutely loved receiving this little bracelet in my box this month! It’s dainty and super easy to wear. My only gripe is that it’s listed as retailing for $34. Given that I received it as a part of my subscription, this price tag usually doesn’t matter to me but this friendship bracelet, while cute, is extremely simple and even if it’s retailed at $34 I do not think it’s worth that much. 

Meri Meri: Gold Glitter Candles | Retail $7.50

My family is pretty small and practical so we’re really only celebrating birthdays a couple of times year, and when we do celebrate birthdays, we don’t often go through the hassle of putting candles in a cake 😛 As a result, this is kind of a useful product for me - but I can appreciate the fact that it fits in with the “birthday” theme and who doesn’t love glitter! 😀 

Fringe Studio: Free Spirit Journal | Retail $16

This was my favorite item of the August box! I love, love, love receiving stationary related products in my subscription box and this beautiful notebook will be perfect for some fall to-do lists! It’s also a gorgeous rose gold - a color I’ve been loving over the past year! 

Goodie Girl Cookies: Chocolate Chunk | Retail $2.95

I’ve tried a couple of not so great gluten-free desserts before so I had pretty low expectations for these cookies, but they were actually delicious! So much so that I pretty much nommed them all down in one sitting! 😛 (not recommended).  They’re definitely not as fluffy or buttery as normal chocolate cookies are, but hey, they’re gluten-free so they’re never going to be exactly like their full-of-gluten counterparts! 

Shoptiques: $25 Gift Card

I’m usually on the fence when it comes to gift cards in subscription boxes but I was pleasantly surprised by this one! Oftentimes, the gift card given isn’t even enough to cover a single product so I don’t end up purchasing anything and the gift card just gathers dust instead. Instead, the Shoptiques website had a ton of very affordable stuff that included all kinds of accessories, clothing, and decor. I ended up putting $50 worth of accessories in my cart - which I only ended up paying $25 for, thanks to this gift card! 😃 

Overall, I was very happy with this month’s PopSugar! I loved the happy, celebratory theme of the box and will be using most of the products in my day-to-day life. What did you think of your August PopSugar Must Have box? 

BeautyFix: August 2017

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BeautyFix is a monthly skincare, makeup, and haircare subscription box created by DermStore. A monthly subscription is $24.95 per box and a one-time box purchase is $34.95. Most items in the box are either full or deluxe sample size products. 

DCL: Power Kit | Full-Size Serum $95, Moisturizer $75

This little kit includes one serum and one moisturizer that are perfect little travel-size companions! I like both of them enough to finish off the samples but since they don’t feel much different from my current serums or moisturizers, I won’t be repurchasing.

MDSolarSciences: Mineral Tinted Creme SPF 30 | Full-Size $32

This is one of those products I just don’t have a use for! I find that tinted sunscreens are generally just not my cup of tea. There are a lot of other products out there that function as full-coverage foundations or really nice hydrating moisturizers that also contain SPF so adding another layer of greasy sunscreen just doesn’t seem necessary. 

Foreo: Luna Play | Full-Size $39

This little facial brush was definitely the star of the box for me! I’ve wanted to try the Foreo Luna line for a while but  given their super high price tag, I didn’t want to take the leap without testing out the product first. This Foreo Luna Play is a super cute travel size version of the full-size brush that uses sonic pulsations to help you get a deeper clean. After using it a couple of times, I definitely feel like this little brush is doing a lot for my skin. My only gripe is that it’s not rechargeable - which makes it feel like a gimmick to get me to buy the full-size brush 😔 

Keranique: Daily Essential Supplements | Full-Size $49

I really don’t know how to feel about supplements that help to promote hair growth. If anyone else out there has more experience with these kinds of supplements - please share your experience in the comments! I’ve never taken a hair supplement and actually am kind of wary of them so these were a flop product for me. 

Perricone MD: Superberry Powder with Acai | Full-Size $75

Same sort of notes as the previous product! Although I live a pretty healthy lifestyle, I haven’t quite gotten to the point where I throw supplements or protein powder into my food. This powder is antioxidant rich and supports overall health so I might throw it into a smoothie someday, but I probably won’t be purchasing this anytime soon. 

Juice Beauty: Blemish Clearing Cleanser | Full-Size $22

I might be wrong, but I’m pretty sure this i the full-size version of this cleaner - and I always appreciate receiving a full-size product in a subscription box! I’ve tried a couple of Juice Beauty masks before and I’ve always wanted to try more out of their line! Unfortunately, I do not enjoy the smell of this cleanser but since it’s a blemish clearing  (something I often experience on my skin), I’ll put up with the smell - I just won’t be re-purchasing anytime soon. 😃 

Dermablend: Loose Setting Powder | Full-Size $27

This translucent powder from Dermablend is meant to conceal imperfections, set makeup, and claims to last up to 16 hours. My face can get pretty oily throughout the day and unfortunately, I don’t think this powder actually lasted me 16 hours - but it does do a great job off setting makeup and has an amazing silky texture!

Products Mentioned:

Overall, I’m pretty happy with this month’s BeautyFix. Although I wasn’t a big fan of the edible samples in this month’s box, the value of this box is still awesome. Since I’ve been wanting to try the Foreo Luna line of brushes for so long, receiving that little brush pretty much made up for the rest of the duds in the box 😛 What did you think of your August BeautyFix? I’ve really been loving this subscription box! 

IT Cosmetics CC Cream Review: Worth the Hype?

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The IT Cosmetics CC Cream has been a part of my make-up routine for almost a year now so I thought I’d finally take the time to share my experience (although you can probably tell by the fact that I’ve been using this product for almost a year where this review might be headed)!

Product & Packaging: 

The packaging of this product is very practical. It’s a pump/squeeze tube combination so although it’s not anything glorious and fancy, it’s a great fit for the product itself! The pump is great for pumping out just the right amount of product and the squeeze tube gets all of the product out efficiently. With a lot of other foundations I always end up dumping or squeezing out too much when the packaging isn’t in pump format, so klutzy me appreciates this packaging a lot.

The only minor complaint I could even think of is that this product doesn’t come in a very wide range of shades. At the time that I’m writing this there are 7 shades - but when I originally purchased the product, there were even less! It's good to see that they’re working to increase the number of shades they offer! 

The product itself is amazing. In my experience, I’ve found that a lot of great coverage foundations don’t include any sun protection, and products that are great for sun protection are really crap when it comes to coverage. Not the case with this CC Cream! It has fantastic coverage and has SPF 50 - the best of both worlds! 

Application & Experience: 

Because this product has such great coverage, you really don’t need much of it to cover most of your face! On average, I only use about a pea-sized amount and it’s enough to even out any discoloration or spots on my face. Due to the high coverage of this product, it’s become my favorite product to travel with! Instead of bringing a foundation and a concealer, I only need one tube of CC cream and I’m good to go! 

For application, I always use a sponge and find that it blends out very nicely with a damp beauty blender. The product doesn’t feel too heavy on the face because you’re really not using much of it, it’s so effective!

Cost: 

Here’s the kicker - This CC Cream is going to set you back $38. Normally, I’d have a pretty adverse reaction to a price tag this high, but with how incredible this product is and how long it’ll last you? It’s totally worth it. Nowadays, even some drugstore foundations are around $10-$15 so this product’s really only 2 to 3 times the price of a drugstore foundation and trust me - it’ll last you a lot longer because you only need a little bit for each use! 

Final Verdict:   

So, is it worth the hype? YES! This CC Cream from IT Cosmetics has not disappointed! In my opinion, it’s completely worth the hype and is a product I see myself using for many years to come! What do you think of the IT Cosmetics CC Cream? Are there any other hyped products you think I should try? I’d love to hear your thoughts!