March toss time

This post contains a referral link and previously reviewed items.

I have a migraine, so I will apologize in advance for any poorly worded phrases or whatnot.

I have a huge pile of stuff to toss this month, thanks to my poor planning.

Let me start with the stuff we've used up:

More of the CST soap.. I'm actually not sure which one we're using right now, I can't remember. But we used up one, and are using the other :P One in Argan oil, the other in patchouli. These still last a very long time, and leave my skin feeling so soft and just like the last bar we used, these came in nice little boxes which I will save and reuse for something or other.

I received a free sample of InstaNatural's Vitamin C facial cleanser. I love their products, in general. No issues with this, and it worked well. Love the natural ingredients.

Family Dollar brand non-acetone nail polish remover. I don't know why I still buy non-acetone since I use glitter so much and almost always need acetone. Since I almost never buy any kind of nail polish remover any more, I think I may switch to Zoya's remover, even though it's more expensive. It's so much better on my nails.

The Porefessional primer from benefit I received from Ipsy. This is probably my favorite primer and it's probably something I would buy if I had the money to spend it on, but unfortunately this one is way out of my price range. Which is too bad because honestly this one is great to use all by itself, no foundation required.

I finally used up my Valentia Eternal Youth Exfoliating Scrub which I reviewed here. I was sad to use up this one, as I really liked this little scrub.

biobelle #iwokeuplikethis I already posted about here.

Cortizone-10 maximum strength healing lotion for eczema I actually bought for my husband ages ago, but I've found myself using it from time to time. Seems to work pretty well and I love that it has natural ingredients like ginger and frankincense.

I recently got this sample of Loreal Paris Smooth Intense Ultimate Straight shampoo, pre-conditioner and conditioner. I obviously didn't notice it was straightener when I applied for the sample since my hair is straight. Haha. Oops. It did seem to help get rid of some of the tangles and make my hair (which is usually wavy when wet) just a tad straighter. I had never used a pre-conditioner before as far as I can remember. Seems like a really unnecessary step. I prefer as few products as possible so I'm not sure this is for me.

Now for my expired stuff. I mentioned before my peppermint oil from InstaNatural had expired. I was going to save it to use in my kitchen or whatever, just not on my skin but I figured it's just taking up space and I'm not sure I want to possibly spread around more bacteria if any were to grow in there. So into the trash it's going.

One of the things I really hate is when products don't have any kind of expiration information on them. I've been holding onto my Aussie Hair Insurance which I won from Allure in one of their giveaways, I forget how many years ago. I no longer have split ends, but this did seem to work fairly well when I did have split ends. But it's been a few years, I believe, so I think it's probably best to toss this one especially since I really no longer need it. That little bottle (150 mL) lasted a long time! A little went a long way. But please, Aussie - if you can hear me - add expiration info!!!

Next up is tarte smooth operator which is a finishing powder I got as a reward from Ipsy. Unfortunately I didn't really use this much. I found typically my skin is just too dry for powders. The few times I did use this, I noticed it clumped on my skin leaving a layer of white flakes. Not the best look.

Also from tarte and ipsy I have Lipsurgence lip cream, I think in poppy? I can't recall and it doesn't seem to say on the container. I wasn't crazy about the color at first because it's so much brighter than what I normally wear on my lips (berries or wines) but I got used to it. Absolutely love the formula. I ended up almost using all of this one.

A couple of months ago I got Hikari liquid eyeliner in Iris from Ipsy. The weather was, I believe, in the subzeros so when I got my eyeliner it was all dried out and just did not work well. I let them know and they replaced it immediately, no problems! For whatever dumb reason I'm just now getting around to tossing the bad eyeliner. (Why do I hold onto bad products? I don't know!)

Speaking of eyeliner........

Two years ago I bought this huge bundle of LA Colors jumbo eye pencils from Amazon. For some dumb reason I got excited and started using them all at once, so yeah.. now they all expired at the same time. Dumb. I do still have a few I haven't opened yet so I will be using those soon enough. I love getting makeup in sets but I've learned the hard way not to open them all at once so they don't all expire at the same time. 

That said, these really weren't the best products, but they were cheap. I definitely found it best to apply eyeshadow over top of them because otherwise they smear like nothing else. But they come in so many fun colors and I love how you can use them as eyeshadow or eyeliner. Here's the list of colors I got which are expiring now:

limeade
popsicle
vacation - this was one of my favorites, a nice brownish purple with surprising silver glitter. I'm going to see if I can't find this one somewhere to maybe buy it again.
relaxation - gorgeous copper color
Caribbean
cherry blossom
sunglasses - why did I have two of these open???
waves
pretty in pink
spring - nice greenish gold color
desert sun - nice gold color
bronze shimmer - lovely bronze color
summer time
iridescent light - perfect base color for a bit of sparkle. love this one
sea shells
saltwater
bikini time

I did find Vacation for cheap on Amazon so I will probably get that one again. I may look at my Family Dollar again sometime, as I think they used to have these there. They don't have as much stuff at my store as they used to unfortunately.

You can still get the lot of 24 eye pencils on Amazon for just under $24. That's about a dollar a piece so I still feel like it's a good deal.

... and I swear I'm missing one of my favorite purples from these, not sure what happened to it. Hmm.

Lastly is another LA Colors jumbo eye pencil which I never even opened. This one is in Summer Love and it's really too bad because the color looks really pretty. But the pencil itself looks like it's either crystallized or has something growing on it - which ewwww. Better safe than sorry so this one is getting tossed with the rest.

So I guess that's it for the month of April. Next month doesn't look to have too much to toss, fortunately. I shall see what else I use by then, as well :)

Thanks for reading!

If you're not familiar with Ipsy, they are a subscription service where you get 5 beauty items a month delivered to your door. Sometimes you get full sized items, sometimes travel or sample sized. But they're fun just if you like to try new things. For me, it's been a great experience to try new products and types of products as I learn more about makeup. Additionally, they have a cool rewards program where if you review items on their Web site, share your bag, etc. you get points which can be used to exchange for free products. Score! (Referral link follows.) You can sign up for your custom monthly Ipsy bag here.  

February and March Ipsy bag reviews

This post contains a referral link.

Sorry for the lack of posts - I know I'm behind in posting this review of my February Ipsy bag. I just haven't felt like sitting at the computer lately, so no blog posts lately, I haven't even been doing genealogy much lately either. I also haven't felt like messing with my makeup much lately, which is ironic because I just bought a bunch for my birthday. I will get into that and some other things in future posts. Lots of fun things to share with you in the weeks to come :)

I was going to do a sneak peek of my March bag but I figured since it's almost April already I might as well just toss my review here too.

But first is my February Ipsy bag review. I felt like this one was pretty good.

Trust Fund Beauty
Nail Polish in I Give Good Tweet or $12 Latte 

I received $12 Latte which I haven't tried yet so I'll add that review in later :P

NYX Professional Makeup
Butter™ Lipstick in Ripe Berry or Lifeguard

 I received Ripe Berry, and I liked the color. However, this one seemed to smear too much for me. It also seemed to clump up on me, which is why I normally don't wear lip sticks unless the formula is really good. So this just didn't work that great for me.

BelláPierre Cosmetics Volumelash Waterproof Mascara

 I really love this mascara. The wand is the most flexible I have used, and it applies well. 

Lord & Berry LINE/SHADE Eye Pencil - #221 Black

Yet another black eyeliner. I already have too many, but I tried this one anyway. I found I had to sharpen it more often than other pencils. It does apply pretty well, except it smeared easily for me. But it definitely held up really well against tears, so for that alone I'll give it a big thumbs up. 

Biobelle #StayGorgeous and #Iwokeuplikethis Sheet Masks

These sheet masks seemed pretty standard and straight forward. Easy and fun to use, then you just toss them when you're done. I noticed my skin felt softer after use. It seemed to fit my face pretty well, unlike some other face masks. I like that it is paraben, GMO free, made with natural ingredients (even if it is made in China.) 

To say I wasn't excited about this bag was an understatement. I'm not a fan of peach, although I ended up loving the design of this bag - it holds so much more than the regular bags which is perfect. I wasn't excited to be getting yet another brown eyeshadow, another matte lip product and another hair product I wasn't sure I would ever use. I could give or take the brush. That leaves the microdermabrasian which I was happy to receive. So with all of that in mind, here's my final thoughts on this month's bag - which I received on my birthday, YAY!

Eva NYC Mane Magic 10-in-1 Primer

I felt like I didn't need this, since I don't normally blow dry my hair or anything like that. My hair has been so dry this year though, so I hoped it would help with that. I used this on wet hair and noticed it made my hair so much softer, and it did seem to control some of the dry static craziness I've been dealing with. So I absolutely love it for that. I tried it on dry hair for the same reason, but found it worked best on wet hair.

Dr. Brandt Microdermabrasion Mini

I only used this once so far, but I liked it. I was surprised by the texture of the product. Normally you hear abrasion anything and you think gritty texture, but this was actually very smooth. It didn't seem to irritate my sensitive skin, so that's always a good thing. I like that you only have to use this once a week.

tarte cosmetics
tarteist™ quick dry matte lip paint in rosé, delish, or vibin 

I received delish, which I'm very happy to have received this shade. I wasn't crazy about the color just looking at it in the bottle but I found at least for me it applied much darker. I absolutely love the color and I can't complain about the formula. I was concerned the matte finish wouldn't apply nicely since my lips are always so chapped, but I was surprised. It worked just fine. 

Skone Cosmetics Luxe Pro Blending Brush 

I didn't really need another blending brush, but it seems to work OK. The bristles are a lot softer than what I'm used to. 

mPrincess Pressed Eyeshadow in Chestnut 

There doesn't seem to be much pigment with this, and I definitely didn't notice the shimmery copper color Ipsy claims this has. It's another brown eyeshadow which I have plenty of already. 

So this wasn't my favorite bag, but not the worst either and I did end up being happier with some of the products than I had expected. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what I get next month and hope I get better products next time.

I will say that I really wish Ipsy would stick with our beauty preferences. If I had brown eyeshadow selected as a color preference, I would be happy with it. But I don't - I want some different crazy colors! I still like Ipsy because I get to try more expensive brands which I couldn't normally afford, and I get to try different stuff all the time.. and try products I wouldn't expect to like but end up loving. I just wish they would break away from the usual beauty standards of colors at times! Not every one likes to be on trend, but hey - that's me, the trend SETTER. Rant over :P

If you're not familiar with Ipsy, they are a subscription service where you get 5 beauty items a month delivered to your door. Sometimes you get full sized items, sometimes travel or sample sized. But they're fun just if you like to try new things. For me, it's been a great experience to try new products and types of products as I learn more about makeup. Additionally, they have a cool rewards program where if you review items on their Web site, share your bag, etc. you get points which can be used to exchange for free products. Score! (Referral link follows.) You can sign up for your custom monthly Ipsy bag here.