ChapStick Hydration Lock Moisturize and Renew

I was lucky enough to receive the new ChapStick Hydration Lock Moisturize and Renew to try for free from Smiley360. I always need to have a lip balm handy, so this was perfect for me. I really like that this ChapStick has two sides -- one to moisturize and one is to renew. I'm not quite sure what they mean by renew, but I think it has something to do with anti-aging. Whatever it's for, my lips feel soft and moisturized.

Popsugar Must Have July 2014 Unboxing

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

My August Popsugar arrived yesterday. I hadn't even gotten the shipping notification for it yet so it was a nice surprise, but it magnifies the fact that I haven't gotten around to reviewing my July box yet. Doh! So here is my July review....finally!

 The Popsugar Must Have Box is $39.95 per month. If you do a year's subscription, you can get it down to $35.79 per month. You can get $5 off a box by using the coupon code REFER5 -- click here if you'd like to subscribe to Popsugar.

Here's what it looked  like upon arrival.

This is pretty awesome! Definitely one of the best Popsugar boxes I've ever gotten! And I think everything in it is ideal for summer!

So, first off, I was definitely surprised to see a nice big summer hat in my little Popsugar box. And I'm sure the folks at Popsugar were counting on that reaction. This beach hat is foldable and that makes it very packable. I've been the idiot holding a giant beach hat next to my suitcase, so this is very welcome here. It's from Michael Stars and it retails for $48.

The Ziggy salad server from French Bull is next - very cute and colorful. Perfect for serving salad at your summer picnics and barbeques. They retail for $12 and they're charming!

I've been getting lots of little sunscreens in subscription boxes for the summer, but Popsugar stepped it up a notch with a nice big tube if Sum Bum SPF 30 sunscreen and a matching tube of Sum Bum after sun Cool Down lotion.They retail for $20 for the pair and will be very useful.

 

Just in case you think your beach body needs some help, they also included a jump rope with soft grip handles from TKO. I love the idea of jump ropes because they're easy to pack and can provide a fantastic cardio workout. I actually have several jump ropes, and on occasion, I'll pack one in my suitcase for a trip.....but do I ever use it? Um, no.  Once I used one for about a minute or two in my hotel room, but that's it. I hang my head in shame for my patheticness. Anyway, this jump rope retails for $13. If you can get off your ass and use it, I applaud you. :)

The food in this box was gone within 10 minutes of taking the picture. Dang Toasted Coconut Chips. Yum! I love coconut. My only complaint is that there was barely any  in this bag. It's like that big bag of potato chips with only 15 chips in it. Oh well. They were good. Retail is $3.

I've seen a lot of subscription boxes including paper straws at the moment and while they are pretty and more environmental than plastic straws, they seem a little over-the-top to me and not worth the price. Pretty as they are - seriously, would you pay $7 for these 24 disposable paper straws? I wouldn't.

And the final thing in the box is a bonus item from Revlon. Their Bold Lacquer mascara in blackest black. Revlon seems to be pimping this mascara out all over the place and I  also got it in this month's Beauty Box 5. You can buy it pretty much anywhere for $7.99. I get a lot of mascaras in subscription boxes and I never really notice much of a difference. As long as it doesn't get all clumpy, I really don't care if it's supposed to lengthen or volumize or whatever. They make my lashes darker and fuller -- and pretty much all of them do that. I'm not picky so I don't bother spending much on mascara.

All in all, I loved this box! Yay summer! Who wouldn't love opening the box to see that hat! At $110.99, as usual, the value is great for the purchase price. Honestly, if I could only get one subscription box, this is the one I'd pick. And by the way,  Popsugar just announced their Special Edition Fall Style Box -- it's $100 plus tax and will ship by August 31st. I already ordered mine!

Caltrate® Gummy Bites from Smiley360

I got free samples of Caltrate® Gummy Bites from Smiley360. They're pretty good. For more info and a $2.00 coupon, click here.

https://h5.sml360.com/-/hdl

I also got to check out the new SleepNumber system at my local SleepNumber store! Click here for a chance to win a SleepNumber bed!

https://h5.sml360.com/-/jfa

And for more info on the Smiley360 program (it's awesome and super easy), click here.

https://h5.sml360.com/-/4mi

FabFitFun VIP Summer Edition Unboxing

This is my first ever FabFitFun box and I was pretty excited to get it! It's normally $49.99, but I had a coupon code so I got it for $39.99, and  I think it was definitely worth it! Here's what it looked like when it arrived:

Here's the first look, and I've got to say, I was wondering if I made a mistake, but I wasn't sure.
 

The most prominent thing in the first look was a makeup bag from Thursday Friday. It's a well made canvas, but I was pretty uninspired by the print. This bag has a retail value of $35 and they included a promo code for $30 off any purchase over $35. Since I don't like the print and I have a zillion  makeup bags from ipsy, I won't be using this.

The next thing I see is barbeque flavored POPchips.  POPchips are good. They're certainly nothing new, but they're good and they were gone within minutes of opening the box. These have a value of $1.29.

The next thing is the reason I bought this box -- this was the first spoiler they put out and it definitely worked on me! Now I see some cool stuff and this is getting good! The Sonya Dakar Flash Facial. I'm excited to try this -- it's  supposed to reveal softer, plumper, younger looking skin in 60 seconds. Yes please. The value is $95.

Next is Balanced Guru No Frizz Oil. I have super long, very curly hair, so anything that will help with frizz is good! And it claims to work even in humid and tropical weather. This smells really good. I've used it a few times. The first time, I put on my usual gel first and then this oil. It made my hair look oily and didn't seem to work. Weird because my hair is so thick that it's really hard to get it to look oily -- I can use a ton of product without a problem. The next time I used it, I put it on first and then the gel next. This made a big difference. The oily look was gone and it seemed to tame the frizz a bit -- though not entirely. Hell, it's 90 degrees in humid New York. It's pretty tough to be frizz free without a trip to the salon where they put so much product in my hair that frizz has no chance at all! This has a value of $25. It smells so good, if it had worked really well, I would have immediately bought more. It's tempting to buy more just for the fragrance, but I'm holding off for the moment. I need to see if there's an optimal time to use it in the styling process that I haven't tried yet.

Another great item in this box is the pur~lisse pur~protect SPF 30 Sunscreen and Daily Moisturizer. I'm a big fan of moisturizer with sunscreen and I'll definitely get a lot of use out of this $55 tube. That's pretty pricey for 1.7 FL OZ, so I hope it's awesome! I got a different pur~lisse moisturizer in the May ipsy bag and that was pretty nice.

Next is another water infuser water bottle. I got a similar one in Popsugar a couple months ago and I haven't used that one yet. This one is branded FabFitFun and has a quote on it, 'Grab life by the exercise balls.' You can put fruit and mint and stuff in here and infuse your water. It's a nice idea, but I kind of doubt I'll get around to using this.  It has a value of $15.

 

Nail polish is always good and this Zoya Nail Polish is no exception. Value is $9.

The next thing in this box is  a little weird, KISSTIXX Lip Balm in sweet and sour. This seems like it's for teenagers, but whatever. I'll probably use them eventually cuz I use lip balm constantly. This is $5.99.

The next three things in the box are sponsored items. I guess since they're sponsored and they're not really part of what your paying for, I don't mind them. Skintimate Shave Gel -- I have an old can of this that's half full and I haven't used in ages. I'll have to find someone to give this to. It's worth $1.99.

 

The second sponsored item is Always panty liners. I will never use these. They're worth $1.50.

 

And the third sponsored item is a Slim Fast meal bar. What the hell, I ate this for breakfast the other day. It was fine. It's worth $1.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with what I got in this box. There are a few things I won't use, but the total value of the box is $245.77! That's fantastic considering I only paid $39.99! I'm very pleased and will buy the next box for sure!

Birchbox June 2014 Unboxing

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

June's Birchbox has been waiting patiently for me to review it. I just got the shipping notification for the July box, so I figure it's time to review June -- I don't want two Birchboxes sitting waiting for me! Birchbox is $10 per month. If you purchase a yearly subscription, it's $110 -- so you end up getting a box for free. If you'd like to subscribe to Birchbox, click here.

So here's what the box looked like on arrival:

And here's a first look inside:

That blue Liz Earle box intrigued me - so I went for that first. Inside is a Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser. Well that's pretty fancy! This is a cleanser that is supposed to be  super thorough -- can even get your waterproof mascara off -- and it comes with a muslin cloth. You put the cream on and then you take it off with a the wet muslin cloth. The benefit of that is the cloth exfoliates without irritating. I'm pretty excited to try this. The 1 oz. sample has a value of $7.43.

The next thing that grabs my attention is a cute and impressive-sized bottle of  Davines Love Smoothing Shampoo for Dry & Frizzy hair made with Indian fig extract. I will try anything that will reduce frizz! And with this 2.5 oz. bottle, I'll be able to use it for several washes to see if it really does reduce frizz. The value of this sample is $7.50. And to go with the shampoo, Birchbox included some small samples of the smoothing conditioner and their All in One Milk leave-in treatment. Each foil packet is about one application -- though I have a lot of hair and I don't think either of these samples will be enough for one application  in  my hair. Normally, I don't like foil packets in subscription boxes -- lame and cheap. However, these are a bonus to the shampoo and that's all good! The conditioner has a value of $1.41. The leave in treatment has a value of $0.83

In the summertime, I can never get enough suncreen. This is a tiny10 ml tube of Supergoop Everyday Sunscreen SPF 30. Supergoop is definitely popular in subscription boxes -- and especially Birchbox. I got a CC cream last month. I'd like to see some new brands and not the same ones over and over,  but I'm happy to get an easy sunscreen to throw in my purse. This tiny tube has a value of $0.91.

 

Next is a perfume sample. It's Hello from Harvey Prince and it smells like citrus and flowers. I like it! That's a bonus because I'm very picky about my perfumes. It's in a convenient little spray bottle and has a value of about $4.

And the last thing in my box is a Cynthia Rowley eyeliner in black. Once you apply it, you can smudge it within 30 seconds and after that it sets and won't budge. Cool! This eyeliner has a value of $12.

Overall, I like everything in the box. Score! The total value is $34.08 - definitely worth the $10 that I paid. Another good month for Birchbox. I'm  looking forward to the arrival of my July box. :)

Popsugar June 2014 Unboxing

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

Oh I love Popsugar! I always get super excited when I come home from work and one is waiting for me. The Popsugar Must Have Box is $39.95 per month. If you do a year's subscription, you can get it down to $35.79 per month. You can get $5 off a box by using the coupon code REFER5 -- click here if you'd like to subscribe to Popsugar.

So here's what the June box looked like when it arrived - it was a little squished, but as it turns out, no harm done on the inside.

And here's a first look inside.

The first thing that you absolutely can't miss is a nice big hardcover book. It's The One & Only by Emily Giffin and it's billed as a great summer read. I saw this prominently displayed at Barnes & Noble and I've heard it's a page turner, so I'm pretty happy about this -- especially because I probably wouldn't have discovered it on my own. The only reason I noticed it in Barnes & Noble is because it was in my Popsugar box. Amazon has this book right now for $16.52.

 

Next up are You Smell Fragrant Luxury Wet Wipes -- lemon scented. I'm kind of wondering how wet wipes can be luxury. I don't know about these because I don't generally use wet wipes, but who knows, maybe a couple in my purse will come in handy. These have a value of $5.

Popsugar seems to be into Turkish towels. Some people have been really raving about them, but for me, the jury is still out.  This is the second one I've received from Popsugar, but I haven't tried out either yet. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but terry cloth just works so well -- but I guess you wouldn't use a terry cloth towel as a wrap at night. This is the Turkish-T towel in blue and white stripes. These go for $32.

There's a nice big bottle of Sachajuan Shiny Citrus Body Lotion. This smells really good -- what's not to love about body lotion. This retails for $24.

 

Okay now this is my favorite thing in the box -- a set of 3 Lollies hair ties. My hair is very long and thick and hair ties always slide. So annoying. These are made of braided bathing suit material and that seems to make a difference. They don't slide down my hair, and if you wear one on your wrist, it looks like you're wearing a bracelet. LOVE THEM! This set of 3 runs for $8.

And the last thing in my box is this month's food item. These were gone within 15 minutes of opening the box. One Potato Two Potato Kettle Potato Chips in Hawaiian BBQ. They were salty with a hint of sweet and that's pretty addictive. This 2 oz bag is $0.99.

Total value of the box is $86.51. It's certainly not the best value I've gotten from Popsugar, but it's still good. I'm totally thrilled about the hair ties and I'm happy about the book. I'm keeping an open mind about the wet wipes and the Turkish towel. The body lotion smells great although I do have to admit that I have a ton of body lotion and don't really need anymore -- I may see if I can trade that.