Influenster Summer VoxBox Review

disclaimer I received each product complimentary for testing purposes from Influenster. However, as always, I strive to be perfectly honest with all of my reviews so I will tell you EXACTLY what I think, good or bad.

For those of you who have never heard of Influenster, here's how it works:
"Registered members 'play the game' by unlocking badges that reflect their lifestyle, expertise and power to influence. By earning badges that tell us more about you, Influensters can increase their chances of being selected to receive a themed VoxBox (complimentary packages of products to test & review), rewards (bonus giveaways/discounts) and other special promotions targeted toward our most influential members!"

Basically, all you have to do is sign up with Influenster.com, fill out some info, do some tasks like tweeting, and wait! If you're lucky enough to be selected for one of their Voxboxes, all you have to do is try out the products and review them.

Here's my first photo of my Voxbox when I originally received it.

Full descriptions can be found on their sites or by checking out this announcement from Influenster.


HAWAIIAN TROPIC SILK HYDRATION LOTION SUNSCREEN

Since I'm on night shift, I haven't had much experience trying out the Hawaiian Tropic Silk Hydration Lotion Sunscreen. I can't really speak on whether it's effective as a sunscreen or not. What I can tell you is I love it! I've used it every time I've gone outside in the day which isn't often and not for long. However, I haven't gotten sun burn, and I live in a place where I get sun burn during the Winter at times.

It smells absolutely wonderful and it didn't leave me feeling greasy like other lotions often do. Typically when I use sun lotion, I put it on, go swimming or whatever and then as soon as I get home I want to take a shower to wash it off. Not so with this sun lotion. I've literally put it on, forgotten I was even wearing it, gone to bed and then didn't notice until I smelled it on myself the next day.

Definitely a win here.

TAMPAX & ALWAYS RADIANT COLLECTION

This is actually the second one of these I've gotten. The photo to the left is actually a photo of the first one I received, which you can read more about here. In my excitement, I didn't think about taking a photo of the new one but the one I received from Influenster was identical to the Vocalpoint.com package, except I believe I only recieved 1 tampon in the Influenster package.

Not much to critique here: I do still like the bag, it's very cute and I'm happy to have something else to keep my makeup in. As for the products themselves, they didn't really stand out at it in comparison to other similar products.

I will mention I don't typically use tampons, as I find them very uncomfortable. But for the sake of this review, I did try mine out. This made it pretty clear: I HATE tampons. It was probably just me, but it was so uncomfortable and it hurt. I definitely won't be buying tampons ever. I don't blame the product in this, it's probably just a personal preference so please don't judge the product based on my limited experience.

SALLY HANSEN MAGNETIC NAIL COLOR

If you missed my post about the Sally Hansen Magnetic Nail polish, you can read it here.

You will also find more photos on that post, right now I want to stick to the review.

My big problem with this polish was the cap: The instructions state to remove the overcap and set it aside. You will notice, I am not the most mechanically inclined person so such things trip me up momentarily. I kept trying to remove the overcap and I kept taking off both the overcap and the regular cap. I finally figured out that if you keep turning the overcap once the regular cap is shut, you can pull the overcap right off. That first time it was tricky getting off, since then I haven't had any problems :D

I was REALLY looking forward to this polish and I wasn't disappointed. It does take some practice getting used to it. This was my first time using a magnetic polish so if you've never used one before, definitely practice. I started with my toenails, then my left hand, and finally my right. By the time I got to my right hand, I had finally aced the technique.

Some things I love about this polish:

1. Dries fairly quickly
2. Gorgeous color with or without the magnet
3. Nice, smooth formula

Oh, I should mention the name of this one is Ionic Indigo. I don't know why it's named this, as it definitely isn't indigo. It does look darker in the shade, at night but in direct light it is more blue or teal blue. The overall effect is gorgeous; it reminds me of tiger's eye.

Now here's the bad:

1. Like all magnetics, these are pricier than typical polishes. I've seen them at Walmart for $10 a piece, although Walmart's Web site now lists them at $8.97. They are still cheaper than many other brands so I'll leave it up to you.
2. Now granted I was pretty rough on my nails, doing a lot of housework, etc. but my manicure started chipping after just 1 day.

I definitely plan on getting at least 1 more of these polishes at some point in time... before I received Ionic Indigo for review, my boyfriend promised me I could buy one for Christmas so I just may do so :) The other colors are all very lovely, so it's going to be difficult to pick just one!


QUAKER SOFT BAKED BARS BANANA NUT BREAD

I was really looking forward to trying the Quaker Soft Baked Bars because it sounds, smells and looks really good. I decided to be nice and so I split it in half and shared it with my boyfriend. I'm sad to say we were both very disappointed!

It tasted bland, and my boyfriend pointed out it mostly just tasted like preservatives. I definitely will not be buying this.

SALLY HANSEN NAILS AND CUTICLES HAND CREME

I'm going to review this at a later date, aka next week. 

Overall, I was really happy with this Voxbox! I was ecstatic to try out both of the Sally Hansen products, and I will tell you now that I like them both. The Quaker bar was disappointing, but the Hawaiian Tropic sunscreen was a nice surprise. I really didn't think I would use or like the Hawaiian Tropic as much as I have.

Please let me know if you have any comments or questions. Thanks for reading my review, and thank you to Influenster for letting me try these products! I really hope I can do another review sometime.