PopSugar Must Have Review October 2013

I can never seem to avoid spoilers for my boxes!  Try as I might, I always cave and click those spoiler links...

However, having the actual box in my hands is very different from seeing pictures online.

October 2013 Popsugar Must Have

This month, PopSugar did a Halloween/Breast Cancer Awareness theme.

First item is The Can't Cook Book: Recipes for the Aboslutely Terrified! by Jessica Seinfeld.  This is because, "the holidays are coming and you should cook for people,"... according to PS.

The Can't Cook Book

I love to cook.  I usually just wing it, but some of the things in this book look tasty.  I'm not sure if I'll keep this or not.  Nothing really compares to my kitchen bible: The New Best Recipe from America's Test Kitchen.  Now that is a cookbook.

This is my cookbook metric.
Photo from Amazon

The Can't Cook Book sells for about $17 on Amazon, but has a cover price of $27.99.


Next up, NYX Cosmetics Liquid Liner and Shadow Palette.. to look sexy this season.  Damn it, I try to look sexy every season.  Thanks, PS.

NYX Liquid Brown Eyeliner

The liner is from their "Collection Chocolaté" and is a non-sparkly medium brown liner.  The included brush isn't bad; if you are careful you can get a very, very thin line.  Liquid liners aren't my thing, though.  I'll see if I know anyone who wants this.

NYX Smokey Palette

Also from NYX is their Smokey Shadow Palette, with 6 eyeshadows and a useless sponge applicator.

NYX Swatches, 1

I was impressed by these shadows, they have decent pigmentation even without a primer (for the most part).  I did a quick eye look with my crappy brushes (my good ones are in the car so I can do my makeup in the parking lot at work...) and it didn't turn out that bad.  I think I will definitely need to use a primer if I want it to look good and stay longer than 2 minutes.

NYX Swatches 2: Note the very sparkly shadow on the extreme left

2 minute smokey eye on my face

Liner, $6.
Palette, $7.

NYX seems to be all over my subscription boxes lately!


Gorjana Charity Bali Bead Bracelet.

TIny Gorjana Bali Bracelet

The little insert PS sends says that this color is special, for PopSugar's signature pink color, and that all proceeds from their retail site will go to a charity called Breast Cancer Connections.

Bali Bracelet next to my Alex & Ani

This is cute and dainty.  I like it, but not enough to want to pay $45 for it... even IF all of that cost will go to charity.

Bracelet, $45.


Next up is a familiar item, that was to give you a festive season-appropriate mani:
Julep 4-Free Nail Color in Coco and Freedom Polymer Top Coat.

Julep Freedom Polymer Top Coat and Julep Coco

I lucked out because I do not have this color, I like the color they sent, and I wanted to try the polymer top coat but did not want to pay what Julep charges.

Coco is an oxblood creme and goes on very smoothly in two coats.  This is an amazing fall color.  It's vampy, yet wearable, and doesn't wash me out like dark colors sometimes do.  The deep red does a great job of warming up my dead-looking hands.

Julep Coco with Freedom Polymer Top Coat over it.
I'm too lazy to clean up my nails right now.  Sorry not sorry, my couch is comfy.

The Freedom Polymer Top Coat is supposed to give a gel-like finish in 5 minutes without a UV lamp.

Coco, $14
Freedom Top Coat, $18.

If you want to sign up to be a Julep Maven ($19.99 per month, first box for free using code FREEBOX), you can do so by using my link here.  I'll get some points for referring you, and you will get Maven pricing (20% off site-wide), access to mystery boxes, and some quality polish.  You can skip a box or cancel at any time, as well as change style profiles to get whatever box you want that month.


Continuing the beauty trend (Halloween updos?), and the trend of sub boxes sending me bobby pins:

Jane Tran Thin Metallic Bobby Pins

Jane Tran Thin Metallic Bobby Pin Set.  2 sparkly green, 2 sparkly blue, and 2 sparkly gray pins (set D on their website).  These are cute, but I'm afraid they would be like all the other novelty bobby pins I've gotten recently and just rip out my hair.  These are going in the giveaway pile so one of my fine-haired friends can enjoy them.


Bobby Pins, $12.



To tie into the breast cancer awareness theme, PS sent "The Wet Brush" in a hot pink color. The company will donate 25% of its sales to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.  This brush is supposed to allow you to break the cardinal rule of hair and brush it while it is wet.  The bristles do feel very thin and flexible to me.  I'll test it out after I shower tonight.

The Wet Brush

The Wet Brush, $14.  Also: Not only does this company make "the wet brush", they also sell little brushes they have deemed, "the squirts".  Yeah....

The Halloween theme continues with a more obvious item:

The Crispery Halloween Crispycake.

Giant hunk of marshmallow and crispy rice cereal.
SO GOOD.

This is a HUGE rice krispy treat with orange and black sprinkles on top. YUM.  Thanks!  I'll devour this once my nails dry.  I will share it though, because that much marshmallow would make me sick.  Also, their website tells you to share it because these things are big.  Seriously.  Diabetic comas await those who attempt to eat an entire crispycake in one sitting.

Crispycake, $3.95


Finally, PS included a $20 gift card (essentially, a waived styling fee) to Stitch Fix.

Blurry Stitch Fix Gift Card

Stitch Fix is a styling service that has you fill out a very detailed profile and sends you "fixes" of clothing and accessories that they think will fit you and that you will love.  You can let your stylist know what you liked and didn't, and what you would like to see more of.  There is a $20 styling fee per fix, that will get deducted from the price of an item if you buy something from them.  You get three days to evaluate everything before sending it back in a pre-paid bag.  If you buy everything they sent in that fix, you get 20% off of everything.

I think this is a great concept.  It's like Golden Tote, except you don't have to buy things before deciding if you like them or not!  I asked them to keep my prices low, and to send preppy casual items.  I'll be sure to put a review up when I get my items!


You can sign up using my link here, and I will get some credit to spend on their fixes.


Total Value (not counting stitch fix, and with a low book price): $136.95


Not bad.  I'll actually use some of this stuff this month!

PopSugar costs are increasing on the 4th of November to $39.95 per month. If you sign up before then, you can lock in the current pricing for 3,6, or 12 month subscriptions (about $32 per month) here.  If you use my referral link, I will earn free boxes for every so many people who join.

HOWEVER: even though they are increasing their prices, I still think that PS is a great deal.  You get full-sized (or very deluxe-sized) items each month.  The quality is almost always excellent, and the value always exceeds the amount paid for the box.  Even if you don't like something, they make great gifts.

No special consideration or compensation was received for this post and all thoughts and opinions are my own. All items mentioned within were paid for by me. This post contains referral links to Julep, Stitchfix, and Popsugar.  See above for details. 

The Week in Nails, October 6

Julep Hoch from the Trina Turk Fall 2012 Collection.  Grayish teal creme.
Accent Nail China Glaze Deviantly Daring.  Green/teal duochrome.

Shades of Teal

In person this was a subtle accent nail.  I liked it.  I wore this for 1 day.


My October Julep Maven box came, so I tried out my new polishes (Cleopatra, black, and Valerie, green).

Julep Colors

Then, I decided to add Essie Luxe Effects in Shine of the Times over everything.  I wore this for like 4 days and got a lot of complements on it.

Perfect for October!

Naked nails for a day :( and then I bit them all off because life is stressful at the moment.

Nailtini in Mai Tai from Ipsy. 2 days.

This polish lasts a long time without chipping!

No special consideration or compensation was received for this post and all thoughts and opinions are my own. All items mentioned within were paid for by me.

Outfit of the day, October 3

The limit does not exist!

That's right. It's the day immortalized by Aaron Samuels asking Cady Heron what day it was. 

I also wore this:

Navy with Cognac

Dress: Golden Tote

Belt: Golden Tote (came with the Boho dress from September)

Bag: BCBGeneration, from Little Black Bag

Shoes: Italian, from my trip to Europe last summer. 

All items were purchased by me.  No special compensation or consideration was received for this post.

Julep October 2013 Review

This month I decided to switch my style and went from "Classic with a Twist" to "Bombshell".  I wanted the black polish!

Candy Corn extras

The beauty product this month is Julep's Kajal eyeliner ("eye glider").  This is double-sided, with a matte black ("Carbon Black") and a shimmery brown ("Brown Sparkle").

Julep Kajal Eye Glider

 I compare everything to my Holy Grail eyeliners (Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Liners), and these don't compare.  Giveaway pile!  This also came packaged in a box with a pencil sharpener, which is a nice touch.  I have a couple from UD and have no need to split up the liner and sharpener when I give it away.

Julep Kajal Eye Glider, sharpener not pictured

Julep is selling the combo plus sharpener for $22 on their site, $17.60 with a Maven discount.

Julep Bombshell October 2013 Colors: Cleopatra and Valerie

Cleopatra is described as a "Black Latex Creme" by Julep and they note that there is not actually any latex in this formula.  That's a good thing!  This is a pseudo-matte black.  It's not fully matte, but it's also not shiny.  I would not have been able to get this finish by just putting a matte top coat over black polish.  This is two coats, with one coat of Seche on my middle finger over Cleopatra.  The formula on this is a little watery, two coats was definitely necessary.

Cleopatra without top coat: pinky and first finger.  Valerie on ring finger.  Middle finger Cleopatra with top coat.

Valerie is teal with iridescent microglitter.  I have a few similar colors, but I'm always drawn to stuff like this! It's so pretty and is packed with glitter.  This gives a really nice color-shift at certain angles in the bottle, but is less obvious on your nails.  This is a one-coater!


Each polish is 8 mL and sells for $14 on Julep's website, or $11.20 with a Maven discount.

Julep is $19.99 per month and with most of the styles you get 2 polishes and a beauty product.  There is a style that gets 3 polishes and there is a style that gets 2 beauty products.  You can pick which style you get every month, and can also skip any months you want.  Mavens get a discount on Julep products and if you don't skip the month, you have access to the "secret store" where there are products on sale for a limited time.  If you would like to sign up to be a Maven, you can use my link (I will get points toward products) here, and use code FREEBOX to get your first box for only the shipping fees!

No special consideration or compensation was received for this post and all thoughts and opinions are my own. All items mentioned within were paid for by me.  This post contains a referral link.  If you sign up for Julep using my link, I will get 1000 Jules to use toward future boxes or product purchases, and I will be eternally grateful. 

The Week(s) in Nails, September 29

I was away last weekend (Vegas, baby!) and didn't have internet access to post anything. So, with my apologies, here are the past two weeks in nails.

Sally Hansen Sugar Coat in Red Velvet

Two coats.  No top coat, no base.  I wore this for 2 days, I like it a lot.  It's not as uniform of a texture as OPI's Liquid Sand, and it's not glittery either, but it's still a nice polish.  Not bad for getting it on clearance at Target ;)

China Glaze Dress Me Up and Julep Jane

China Glaze Dress Me Up was part of the Hunger Games "Colors from the Capitol" Collection.  I believe this was the color that was originally to be named after Prim.  It's a dusty mauve color that gives almost enough coverage in 1 coat, so I did two.  Juelp Jane is a full coverage gold and rose gold glitter named after Julep's founder.  Two coats, wore it for 2 days.

China Glaze Dress Me Up, Zoya Jules, and Julep Jane

A few of my nails had chipped after 2 days, so I replaced one of the glitter nails on each hand with two coats of Zoya Jules.  It's a shimmery champagne color, and I probably should have done another coat.  I wore this variation for 2 more days.

While I was in Las Vegas, I wore Julep Lynn.  It lasted 5 (!) days without much noticeable chipping.  No pictures, sorry.

I had naked nails for a day when I got back, and then wore this for the next 3 days:

OPI Russian Navy and Julep Erica

2 coats of OPI Russian Navy, with one coat of Julep Erica (the New Years Mystery Box surprise glitter) over my ring finger.

Wantable Intimates Box October 2013 Review

While I didn't get in on the ground level because their inaugural Intimates box sold out so fast, I did manage to sign up in time for Wantable's October box.  (That link is my personal referral link, I will get $10 towards a box if you sign up using it.)  They will send you 4-5 basic staples each month.

What's inside?!

Wantable is $40 per month for a one-time purchase, or you can subscribe for $36.  They also have an accessories box with jewelry and such, and a makeup box.  You can personalize your selections from a list of item categories (bras, underwear, shape-wear, etc) and styles within those (colorful, classic, comfy, etc).

Coobie Seamless Camisole with Lace Trim (and removable pads)

This cami is one-size and is in a light nude color.  It has removeable pads and adjustable straps.  This retails for $24 according to Wantable.  I like it, I think it will be a nice thing to wear under some of my winter sweaters.

Fleur't Bralet in White/Nude

Oh man, this is so comfortable! I really like it, and it will be awesome for just lounging around the house.  I definitely don't have the chest to just wear something like this out and about; I need some padding or something so I look like an adult, but it's good for just relaxing.  I wouldn't pay $34 for it, like Wantable suggests it's worth, but I'm glad they sent it.

Braza Bra converting Clips

Um.  I told Wantable I didn't like accessories, for the specific reason that I didn't want these to show up in my box like they did in some of the September boxes.  These are a waste on me.  I have some nice convertible bras.  I don't need these, I won't use these, and I certainly would not value them at $10.  Fail, Wantable.  Fail.

Jockey Skimmies in Jet Grey

I think Wantable took my "love" under the "shape-wear" category pretty seriously.  I have that shaping cami and now these. That's ok, I wore them under a dress this afternoon and they were very comfy and lightly shaping.  I felt like it held in whatever jiggle I may have without making me feel like I was shoved into a sausage casing.  Plus, Jockey is a pretty respectable brand.  These were listed at a $20 retail value on the info sheet Wantable sent.

Total Value: $88

Overall, despite the hiccup with the bra clips, I was pretty happy with this box.  I feel like paying $36 for everything I got was worth it.  It's hard to value things like underwear- there's so little material, and yet you get charged an exorbitant amount of money for that little scrap of lace.  I think getting the brands that I did for about $12 each (discounting the abomination that is the bra clips), is still worth it.  Even at Marshall's or TJ Maxx, these things would be about that much.  Everything fit well according to the sizes that I put into my personalized quiz, which is amazing for things like bras!  Granted, nothing had a specific cup size, but it all fit nonetheless.

I'm going to get one more month of this and see how it goes.  It's a little expensive, but they send good quality staples that should last a long time.  The thing about subscription boxes is that you can't subscribe in the hopes of getting something specific- you will be disappointed. You need to go into it with the hope to discover something that you didn't know you need- and now you can't live without it.

All of the items in this post were paid for by me.  No special consideration or compensation was received for this post.  This post contains a referral link; see top paragraph for details.  If you sign up using any of my links, I will be eternally grateful, as I'm a poor grad student and a discount on a box is awesome.

Golden Tote Review September 2013

Yay! Golden Tote!  This is the September tote that I ordered the first day that sales were open.  This is the $149 tote, where I selected two items and they surprised me with the rest.  There is also a $49 tote, where you pick 1 item and they surprise you with 2-3 more.  This is something you have to purchase each month, it doesn't autorenew.  You can save a style profile so they know your preferences.  Most of my favorite articles of clothing are things I got through Golden Tote.

Golden Tote September 2013
New bags!

GT sent out a different tote style this month, and I love it! It's coming to Las Vegas with me this weekend.

I received a bonus item: Sofala Thin Bangle $16.  Hand-made from recycled materials in South Africa.  It's not my cup of tea, but it supports a great cause.  It's WAY TOO BIG.  I had to slide it almost all the way up my arm to get it to stay.


This was the first item I picked.
French Terry Moto Jacket from [(?) sorry, I've already left for vacation], $62 on sale from Golden Tote's Boutique

Moto Jacket- Golden Tote September 2013

I love it, super comfy!  This will be great this fall and it will go with everything.

This is the second item I picked:
Boho Luxe Dress from Collective Concepts, listed for $88 original price, according to Golden Tote's selection page for September

Boho Luxe Dress- Golden Tote September 2013

Pol Sweater, approximate retail value $20? It's always so hard to find these things online.

POL Cardigan- Golden Tote September 2013

This is dark gray with light gray stripes; just my style! It's not as soft as I would have hoped, but maybe after a wash or two it will be nice and cozy.


Puella dress, retail estimate $65?

Puella Dress- Golden Tote September 2013

This is a dark gray drop-waist with some interesting details around the neck (the fabric is folded, kinda) and the bottom is pretty full, which makes it fall nicely.  Makes my butt look great! Check that out.  This is also SO SOFT.  I can't even tell you how comfy this dress is.


Flying Tomato Sweater, approximate retail $45?

Flying Tomato Sweater- Golden Tote September 2013

Against my better judgment, I like this sweater a lot! I wouldn't have picked it out on my own, but it is nice and soft and you can tell it's well-made.  It will definitely be one of my winter staples.

Sweet Claire shirt- retail about $15?

Sweet Claire shirt- Golden Tote September 2013

This is good.  I like the pocket and that it's cozy, and it is definitely my style.  It's boring, but I wear boring clothes a lot, so it's a good fit.  It's a little bigger than I would have liked, but I am guessing it's just the style.


As always, I feel that this was well worth the $149 price tag.  I love everything, there wasn't a dud in the bunch.

Unfortunately, my budget won't allow me to get Golden Totes for a while, but this is a nice way to end my run :)

No special consideration or compensation was received for this post and all thoughts and opinions are my own. All items mentioned within were paid for by me.