November Glossybox

Another month, another Glossybox! I was hoping to get a Christmas themed Glossybox, but maybe that's coming next month? In any case, I have to admit that this was the most disappointing Glossybox to date. Oh well, I guess every month can't be amazing! Here's what was in my box:

Illamasqua Lip & Eye Medium Pencil in Devotion (full size $20) - Devotion is a very unique mint green color. I doubt I will EVER wear this on my lips, but it looks quite cool as an eyeliner. My problem isn't so much with the color, but with the dryness of the pencil. I'm used to really soft, creamy pencils like the Urban Decay 24/7 ones, but this one is tough to work with - I really have to press hard and drag to get good color payoff.

Lierac Gommage Sensoriel (full size $30) - This is a scrub, which I'm guessing is for the body because the granules are quite large and the tube says "body hydration." It has a really heavy perfumey scent, that isn't unpleasant, but kind of unexpected. I can never say no to a good scrubbing!

NuMe Style Arganics by NuMe Argan Oil (full size $59) - I put a few drops of this on my hand and I was surprised by how viscous it was. I use the Josie Maran argan oil and it is a lot more liquidy. I can see myself using this on my hair, but I'm a little skeptical of using this on my face. I also noticed that other people received a $100 gift certificate, but I didn't get one!

Perfumies Solid Perfume Stick (full size $7) - I'm chalking this one up to getting the wrong scent. I received Honeybunch, which to be smelled like a mix of cookies and incense. I really hate sugary, cookie, baked scents so I really couldn't stand this. I checked out their website though and there are a bunch of different scents and I quite like the idea of a solid perfume stick. Just make sure not to mix it up with your lip balm!

Skin&Co Roma Truffle Serum: Hydra-Toning Day Face Serum (full size $36) - I'm always up for trying new serums and this one claims to slow down the signs of aging with truffles! It doesn't really smell like truffles, which I guess is a good thing since they sort of smell like musty dirt lol.

Yeah, this months box was disappointing, but Glossybox is still my fave. I hope we get a holiday box in December!

Maybelline Baby Lips

 Peach Kiss, Cherry Me, Pink Punch, Coral Crush and Twinkle

Same order as above

Maybelline and I have a love/hate relationship and let me tell you, it's personal. Maybe I'll go into details at a later date, but I'm just going to come out and say it... I freakin love these Baby Lips!

I've pretty much been buying the tinted ones because I have a billion clear lip balms that I need to use up. I think my absolute favorite has to be Cherry Me. I love the sheer red tint and while I generally don't like cherry flavored things, this one tastes nice and fruity and not like cough syrup. Punch is one of my favorite flavors and Pink Punch is delicious and quite pigmented, but the pink leans almost a little too blue for my taste and skin tone. Peach Kiss is pretty sheer, but great for a nice nude lip. Coral Crush and Twinkle come in a limited edition two pack that I purchased off of Ebay because I just could not find it in stores! I saw the display at Walgreens, but of course, they were out of this set. Coral Crush is probably my second favorite - it tastes orangey and has an orangey color. Probably, more appropriate for spring/summer though. For all intents and purposes, I would say Twinkle is clear. The bullet has the slightest pink tinge to it and perhaps there is a bit of shimmer, but definitely no color payoff. The only permanent collection color I'm missing is the grape/purple, but I haven't felt the need to rush off to buy them as I don't really like grape or purple!

Baby Lips really makes my lips feel soft and nourished. Now, I wouldn't say they're as moisturizing as the Fresh Sugar lip balms, but you can't really compare a $20+ lip balm to a $3 one. Overall, I would definitely recommend you give these a go for yummy flavor, a flush of color and soft kissable lips!

About Me Tag

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Or I guess I should really say, Happy Black Friday? I have to say, Thanksgiving is my all time favorite holiday. It combines my two favorite things - eating and shopping. You get all of the good food of Christmas, without the hassle of gift buying! Did you guys go Black Friday shopping? I did and picked up a couple of things, which I hope to share in the next couple of days.

I wanted to do something a little different and thought I'd do a tag. The About Me tag is perfect because I don't have an "about me" page yet and you can get to know a little about me. Here goes nothing!

1. Do you have a middle name? - Yes! It's Yuka. A fairly common Japanese name. You might be familiar with Yuka Sato, a famous Japanese figure skater. 
2. What is your favourite subject in school? Hmm, I guess I will say English. In college, my favorite subjects were probably Italian and Russian literature - both which have nothing to do with my major (Economics)
3. What is your favourite drink? Water is my default drink. When I have soda, I really like Coke Zero and the occasional Mountain Dew. I don't drink a lot of alcohol (due to Asian glow), but when I do, I like champagne, mojitos and Pimm's Cups (I only know of one place in LA that has Pimm's and it is so freakin good!)
4. What is your favourite song at the moment? This is super embarrassing, but maybe Give Your Heart a Break by Demi Lovato. I don't know why, but I have to sing it whenever it comes on.
5. What would you name your kids? I like old timey names and crazy names. For a boy, I'm thinking Jack or Tycho and for a girl, Jagger or Poppy.
6. Do you participate in any sports? Not really. I've tried a bunch of sports from Tae Kwon Do to soccer and swimming, but I'm not particularly athletic. I do enjoy skiing and tennis and I've recently taken up golf. I guess I'm more of a "resort" sport person.
7. Favourite book? Anna Karenina. Love the drama and the Russian aristocracy. I want to see the new movie! 
8. Favourite colour? I'm always drawn to pink. In junior high, I used to wear so much pink that my friends call me the Pink Ranger (as in Power Rangers). I'm not that bad anymore.
9. Favourite animal? I guess it would be a dog. I love love love dogs and have one of my own and a family dog. 
10. Favourite perfume? I don't really wear perfume. I recently received (and finished) a sample of Astor Place by Bond No.9 which was amazing, but also super pricey.
11. Favourite holiday? Thanksgiving!
12. Have you graduated High School? Um yes and it was a million years ago. 
13. Have you ever been out of the country? If so, how many times? I don't know how many times, but I've been to Mexico, Canada, Bahamas, France, Italy, Netherlands, UK, Japan, Hong Kong, Philippines and New Zealand. I might have missed a few, but yeah, I really like to travel!
14. Do you speak any other languages? I speak Japanese fairly well, not fluently, but conversationally fluent. I also speak decent Italian and studied a bit of French. I can also curse in several other languages.
15. How many siblings do you have? One younger brother
16. What is your favourite store? For what? Target has everything and I can never leave without buying unnecessary things. For clothing, probably Anthropologie.
17. Favourite restaurant? I don't really know, I eat at a lot of different places. I do love In n Out burger. Oh and Souplantation lol.
18. Do you like school? I liked it alright. I enjoy learning, but not so much tests and homework.
19. Favourite YouTuber? Essie Button and Vivianna Does Makeup
20. Favourite movie? I really like Chicago. And I can watch the National Treasure movies over and over again. Those movies are everything I wanted the Da Vinci Code to be.
21. Favourite TV show? The Amazing Race, Big Bang Theory, New Girl, Real Housewives of Atlanta, Top Chef. I used to like Glee a lot too (as in, enough to go to their concert), but I've lost interest recently.
22. PC or Mac? Mac. It's not like I'm an Apple fangirl, but after having both, I really feel that Macs are better quality.
23. What kind of phone do you have? iPhone. I'm not that attached to it though - I would definitely consider a droid. 
24. How tall are you? I am quite possibly the tallest Japanese girl you will ever meet at a whopping 5'8"

Target Fall 2012 Beauty Bag

I'm not sure if you guys are familiar with the Target beauty bags, but you just sign up through their Facebook page and you are sent samples for absolutely FREE. Apparently, this is the last Target beauty bag ever which is disappointing.

I can't complain too much because it was free, but Target has definitely done better bags in the past. Usually you get mini bottles and tubes (or I heard sometimes even full size?), but this time around it was all packets. I have to say though that I absolutely love the leopard print bag! It has already become by purse makeup bag. Here's what was inside:

Fekkai Technician Color Care Shampoo and 3-Minute Mask
L'Oreal EverCreme Nourishing Shampoo, Conditioner and Deep Nourishing Masque
Clear Scalp & Hair Therapy Nourishing Shampoo and Conditioner
Pixi Flawless Beauty Primer
Jergens Daily Moisture Lotion
Target Coupon Book

Did you guys get a Target beauty bag too?

November Sample Society

Huzzah my November Sample Society box finally arrived! I guess that hurricane Sandy really held things up didn't it? Well, the good thing is that the box arrived. The bad thing is that it wasn't all that. Here's my loot:

L'Occitane Shea Hand Cream (full size $28) - I'm pretty happy about this one because I had been intending to purchase one anyway, but the sample is so small! I was hoping they were going to send the 1 oz size (which is like $10), but instead it is only 0.3 oz. It also doesn't smell as good as I imagined, it just smells like any old lotion. Oh well, at least it is purse friendly.

Alterna Bamboo Smooth Kendi Dry Oil Mist (full size $24) - I'll be honest, the first thing I thought when I saw this was "ANOTHER Alterna Bamboo product??" Seriously, now I have the UV spray, smoothing spray, salt spray and this. However, I used this last night and I quite liked it! The mist is so so so super fine that initially I didn't think anything was coming out. But it left my hair super soft and manageable.

Diego Dalla Palma Lipstick (full size $34) - The color I received is #29 which is a medium pink. It doesn't look too bad in the swatch photo, but it is a little too blue based for my skin tone/tastes. I've learned that I really need to be careful with my pinks because if it is too blue, I feel like I look very 80's or like Barbie. The texture is nice and creamy though.

Diptyque Volutes Eau de Toilette (full size $120) - I've always wanted to try Diptyque fragrances, particularly their candles, but after receiving two in Sample Society boxes, I have NOT been impressed.  Again, I'm going to chalk this up to just receiving scents that are not my style. I think Volutes would smell amazing on a man, but for me it is too musky and manly. The website describes it as "voyage of your dreams...redolent of adventure and spice...volute and tobacco." Yeah, not exactly my taste.

Dermalogica Precleanse Oil (full size $35) - Another one that I wasn't that excited about. I mean, do I really need to PREcleanse?? But I'll give it a shot because I'm using a cleansing oil right now that just doesn't wash off very well, so I'm curious to see if this is any better.

So that's my November Sample Society. I really hope the next box is better because the last two months have been pretty disappointing!

September/October Empties!

I can't believe it is November already! And not just November, but mid-November because I've been lagging on my blog upkeep! Well, if you live in Southern California, you'll know that it's only recently started feeling even remotely autumnal, so I guess I can just pretend it is still August.

Well, that huge pile of garbage/recycling up there are my September and October empties. I love reading other people's empties posts and I don't go through product quite fast enough to do a post every  month, so maybe I can make this an every other month thing.

First up my body empties.

Dove Original Clean Deodorant - I've been loyal to Dove deodorants for years. I like the packaging and it works well enough. But recently I feel like it hasn't been as good as it used to. I think maybe my body has developed immunity to it??

Dove Ultimate Visibly Smooth Nature Fresh Deodorant - This one is supposed to "minimize the visual appearance of hair over time." I can't really say I've noticed any results, although I did get lasered over the past year, so who knows. I have another one of these to use because I got a two pack, but I'll probably give something else a try after that one's through.

Body Shop Mango Whip Body Lotion, Shower Gel and Scrub - Yes, I like me some matching bath products! I love love love the scrub. The lotion and shower gel are pretty standard, for some reason I think the scrub smells better! I like the scent, but I did tire of it towards the end.

Skintimate Skin Therapy Moisturizing Shave Gel - I've been using this product on and off forever. Again, another two pack purchase at Target, so I have another one to get through. It lathers really well and does the job. My one gripe is that rim of the can gets rusty. They fixed the bottom so it won't rust, but not the rim??

Next is hand and nails.

Orly Top 2 Bottom - This was alright. I didn't really notice any changes to the lasting power of my manicures, but I can't say I've noticed that with any top coat.

Orly Bonder - I really like this base coat. It's rubberized and is supposed to grip on to your polish. It's a good and bad thing because maybe it makes your polish last longer, but it also makes it easier to peel strips of polish off which I like to do! This got really really gloopy towards to end, so I like to buy the half size bottle. I've already purchased another one.

I actually finished some makeup items!!

Maybelline Dream Mousse Blush in Pink Frosting - These have been discontinued so it doesn't really matter what I say! This color was way to sparkly for my taste/age, but I really like the soft mousse texture.

Blinc Eyeliner - This brand is built around being good for people with sensitive eyes, but I wasn't too impressed. Once it's dry, there is zero smudging, but with a little rubbing it will flake right off. I found it creased really easily on my eyes.

NYX Super Skinny Eye Marker - I really love these marker/pen style liquid eyeliners. This one is good, but it could be a little blacker IMHO. This lasted a really long time without drying out and only recently did the pen tip start getting kinda bushy.

Now for some super old hair care.

Kiehl's Amino Acid Shampoo - Who knows how long I've had these two products! I really loved the slight coconutty scent of this shampoo. My hair is pretty normal, so I'm not too fussed over shampoos so I don't know if this was good or not. I would be open to purchasing the full size though.

Bumble & Bumble deeep Treatment - I love a good hair mask, but it's so hard for me to use the ones that need 20 minutes to do their thing. What am I supposed to do get in the shower, wash my hair, and get back out for 20 minutes, and get back in?? This is one of those conditioners. My hair didn't feel any differently after using this, but admittedly, I never left it on for 20 minutes!

And finally, a butt load of skin care!

Olay Pore Minimizing Cleanser + Scrub - I never realized how much stuff I buy in multiples! This is my second of a two pack from Costco. This works great with the Clarisonic as even though it is labeled a "scrub" the beads are super super tiny. Also, can I just say that the I love the pump on this thing? You can clearly see that you get every tiny little bit of product out.

Hadanomy Aquaplacenta Cream - I really like this lightweight gel cream. It's supposed to contain the placentas of salmon or something, but I sort of just block that part out. This is a pretty big jar and very reasonably priced at less than $20.

Arcona Cranberry Toner - This came in my Sample Society box and I read reviews that said it was too heavily scented. I do agree with that a little as I can smell it on my skin, but it's not an unpleasant scent - fruity and soapy. Toner has been a step I haven't bothered with for a long time, but I might have to reconsider after using this!

Caudalie Beauty Elixir - I have a whole post about this so I won't go on too much. I still don't think it does anything for my skin, but I am addicted to the scent! I might buy another...

DDF Amplifying Serum - This tiny tube lasted FOREVER. A tube probably isn't the best container for this product because it is very liquidy. I used this after I ran out of my Estee Lauder Advance Night repair, but I didn't notice any benefits. I've since gone back to the Estee Lauder!

Body Shop Seaweed Mattifying Moisture Lotion SPF 15 - I hate this with a vengeance. It has to be the worst moisturizer I have EVER used. It made my face so greasy that the only way I could use this was to follow it up with blotting papers. WTF How is this "mattifying" at all? Or maybe my skin is just freaky??

REN Glycolic Skin Renewal Peel Mask - This has gotten a lot of blog press recently and rightfully so. My skin feels super smooth after using it and I really need to consider the full size. I'm kind of torn between this, Alpha H Liquid Gold and Kate Somerville's ExfoliKate (which is amazing, but $$$). The only thing about my sample is, I found the texture to be a little chunky like marmalade, while pictures I've seen online make it look smooth. Was mine off??

Exuviance Night Renewal Hydragel - I got this as a sample in a package from Ulta. You're supposed to use it at night and it is supposed to reduce oiliness the next day. I didn't think it worked, but maybe my face wasn't that oily to begin with.

Elemental Herboloy Facial Glow Radiance Peel - This is similar to the REN mask, but it works in only 4 minutes (why not 5??) and contains AHAs. It's white like a lotion and it actually did it's thang in only 4 minutes!

Murad Skin Perfecting Primer Acne and Shine Control - I guess this is more of a cosmetic item, but it's a tinted primer. I actually really liked this and am considering the full size. It comes in dewy and matte varieties as well. The thing is, the tint is quite a medium color, so it works great for me, but I can see it not matching very fair or dark skin tones. Since I'm not a big foundation wearer, I feel like I can get away with using just this, like you might a tinted moisturizer.

Clarisonic Refreshing Gel Cleanser - I got a few sample sized cleansers with the purchase of my Clarisonic nearly 3 years ago and I've finally just used them up! It's fine, nothing to rave about and I'm sure you could get something similar for far cheaper.

PHEW! That was one long ass post. Using up products is definitely satisfying and I really like whittling down my "stash". If only, I could use up makeup items faster! So for two months that is a total of 14 full size and 11 sample size products! I love my beauty subscriptions, but damn those samples really start piling up. Til next time!