Botanic Farm Korean Skincare Review

Memebox sent me a few products to review from one of their new brands- Botanic Farms. My skin has been looking rough lately, so this was very exciting!

I received two sheet masks, a sleeping pack and a multi-step blackhead clearing strip set. Let’s check them out.

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The first product I tried was the Natural Energy Kiwi Sheet Mask ($2). This was a pretty standard white sheet mask like you’ve seen me wear a few times on this blog before. I love using these for a quick, intensive boost whenever I feel like my skin is dull and tired. My skin felt moisturized and fresh afterward.

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A few days after that I was ready to try the Polar Energy Hydrogel Mask Pack (Syn-Ake) ($4).

If the first sheet mask was sort of entry level, this one was advanced. It had a jelly-like plastic feel too it and a cool webbed effect like snake skin (attention to detail!). It was meant to promote skin cell regeneration, much like the way a snake sheds its skin (and was not infused with synthetic snake venom as I initially suspected  from the packaging). There was limited English on the packaging, so I did my best with guessing which side to stick to my skin (I went with the plasticy side that seemed more clingy) and left it on for at least 20 minutes.

This one looked pretty scary (in fact I had to announce I was wearing it from behind a closed door before I saw my husband so he wouldn’t freak out) but it wore pretty comfortably. I must say, I could feel real results immediately after! My skin felt smoother and more taut.

Yikes! Sometimes looking good requires looking scary for a little while first.

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The Black Soybean Milk Pudding Sleeping Pack ($25) was crazy! It had a thick, gelatinous texture that didn’t want to smooth out at first. However, after massaging the almost chunky jelly on my face for a few seconds, it melted into a more easily applied gel. Even then it was still so thick that it couldn’t fully absorb, more like a slimy version of a mud mask. I just ended up swirling it around on my face for a while which was oddly therapeutic.

What also mystified me about this stuff was the way that the remaining product reformed itself back into a flat surface while I was applying the product. Using this stuff felt like a science experiment (and I’m into that).

Like it never even happened!

Will it absorb?

What’s up, slimeface?

I can see why this is for sleeping in since it stays slimy for a while, but it did absorb ever-so-slowly over the course of the night. When I woke up, that seemingly impenetrable layer of gel had sunken into my skin, leaving only a faint film behind. My skin felt awesome and so plump and smooth. This stuff is great!

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Finally we have the Egg Clear Black Head 3-Step Nose Pack ($3). This is like the ultimate warrior edition of your OG Biore strips.

This was an excellent product for me to try because I have both (ahem) a lot of real estate to try the product on and I have gross clogged pores and blackheads on my nose that I can never get rid of with standard strips.

Step 1 involves a pre-soaked thick tissue material that you apply to your nose. It’s so thick that I thought it was two pieces, but no. It’s pretty comfortable to wear, although it does sort of look like surgical dressing for a nose job.

Step 2 is a little closer to the kind of strip you may be used to, albeit much higher quality. You wet your nose to use it, then peel it off a plastic sheet and it sticks right on. It’s much less messy and much easier to use effectively than a traditional American strip. It has more of a cottony feel and it also has little snips around its edges to help it conform to you nose better rather than leaving those annoying air bubbles underneath. Leave this on for 10-15 minutes.

I thought about showing you the used strip and decided against it. You’re welcome. It was pretty gross, but also satisfying. Way more pore-clearage than a Biore.

Step 3 is a transparent gel strip covered in essence. This only needs to stay on for 5-10 minutes to help the essence soak in before you peel off.

And ta-da! There are still clogged pores on the bridge of my nose, but the sides are significantly clearer. I wonder if I could get 100% clear if I do these more regularly?

Enjoy a before (above) and after (below) of my nose pores. I know that’s kind of gross.
Can’t argue with results, though.

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And that’s it! Botanic Farm has been good to me. My skin is feeling very soft this week.

Makeup Geek Eyeshadow Review

I recently purchased a Z Palette (still en route) and realized that in addition to the crazy depotting experiments that will be going into the palette, it would be the perfect time to buy some single shadows from Makeup Geek to put in it. I’ve read rave reviews about MUG eyeshadows and I really love their creator, Marlena, so I was also excited to support the brand. Of course the MUG shadows showed up before the palette itself, but that’s ok. I can still share some thoughts with y’all while I wait for a place to actually store these things.

(It’s here! Yay!)

First of all, the shipping was (clearly) fast. I placed my order Wednesday night and it showed up on Friday. This might be the quickest I’ve ever received anything other than from Amazon, which is pretty amazing considering Makeup Geek is a small business and Amazon is a huge mega-corporation. You do pay for your shipping with MUG, however it was only $1.99 to ship my 5 eyeshadows, so I don’t feel bad about it at all. The box was extremely well packed to ensure nothing broke in transit, which I appreciate.

OK, so eyeshadows. I got one matte shade, one with light shimmer, one full shimmer, and two of the foiled shadows. In other words, I got the sampler platter of finishes.

As I alluded to with the Z palette comment, the shadows come in pans without any outer casing. This is very efficient and saves a lot of space, which I love, but also means that the shadows are floating around loose and unprotected until my palette gets in. As soon as I get my Z Palette (an empty magnetic palette where you can mix and match all of your favorite makeup to create your own ultimate makeup collection) I’ll show you how they fit. The shadows arrive to you in cute little art deco-inspired envelopes (gold accents for the foiled shadows and white for the regular line). The foiled shadows are $9.99 each and the regular line are $5.99 each. All totaled, this mini-haul cost me $39.94 for 5 shadows plus shipping and the shadows promise to be high-end quality. So far so good!

Here are the individual shadow pans themselves and the website’s shade descriptions:

Flame Thrower ($9.99) “True brightened warm copper with a foiled finish.”

Starry Eyed ($9.99) “Light champagne beige with slight pink undertones and a foiled finish. Pinky-beige champagne.”

Cosmopolitan ($5.99) “Rose Gold with gold flecks and a shimmery finish.”

(FYI the ding in this shadow is my own fault- I scratched it when I was opening the pouch it came in. These shadows all arrived in perfect condition.)

Hipster ($5.99) “Dark sand and light taupe tan with slight shimmer.”

Bitten ($5.99) “Matte deep maroon red”

Swatch time!
L-R: Starry Eyed, Flame Thrower, Cosmopolitan, Hipster, Bitten.

Initial reaction:

So I’ve heard rave reviews about the foiled shadows. I agree that they are very nice, but I think they have been overhyped a bit. In my opinion they aren’t some magical pixie dust the world has never seen the way some people have described, but they are still high quality, very pigmented metallic eyeshadows. I would compare them to the look of a loose powder pigment, but in an easier to use pressed format. I thought Flame Thrower was more intensely metallic than Starry Eyed, and Flame Thrower did have a slightly more slippy, silky feel than a traditional eye shadow where Starry Eyed’s texture was a little more commonplace. Starry Eyed wasn’t that different from most other champagne metallic shadows for me (very similar to Stila’s famous Kitten shadow). Again, that doesn’t mean they’re bad (at all!). I do think they are comparable in both color and quality to shadows that cost a lot more (Starry Eyed is similar to Stila Kitten, and Flame Thrower makes me think of MAC’s Amber Lights- both of which used to be fixtures in my makeup kit).

As for the other OG shades, Cosmopolitan and Hipster both blew me away with their initial swatches, but Bitten seemed a little under-pigmented and streaky. Part of the reason for that is that these are finger swatches. Ironically, finger swatches often look better than what you can produce with a brush (your finger’s surface picks up more concentrated color than a brush because a brush is meant to diffuse the harsh lines a bit), but I found that Bitten picked up far better with a brush and looked amazing when applied! I’m really glad, because that was the shade I was most exited about.

I tried swatching again this morning over primer to see what would happen and the difference was startling. You can see how Bitten wasn’t doing so well on its own, but comes to life over the primer. The other regular shadows benefited slightly from the primer and the foiled ones looked the same either way. This is all fine by me because I always use a primer anyway.

Swatched with no primer on top and a strip of primer on the bottom:

Enough about swatches, let’s see these bad boys in action.

I’m really sorry for how tired my eyes look in the first set of pictures. I look so tired because I was really, really tired. I took this set last night and it was way past my bedtime. I was just that excited about these shadows that I HAD to play with them before I could sleep. In these, I’m wearing a wash of Starry Eyed on the inner 2/3 of my lid with Flame Thrower blended from the outer third. Since it was late I just slapped this one with my fingers without primer or anything, but I still thought they blended really nicely (and as mentioned above, the foiled shadows do very well without primer).

Ok, here’s today’s look where I was actually awake. I did kind of a grungey, ’90s inspired mostly matte eye without much else going on.
I’m wearing Bitten all over the lid with Hipster just barely blended into the crease as a transition shade and Starry Eyed in the inner corners again.

Dat pigmentation tho.

I think I’ve told you guys before that I LOVE red tinged eyeshadow.

Comin’ at you straight up out the ’90s.

I failed to include a look with Cosmopolitan, but that will be coming in a post soon, so I’ll be sure to link when I put it up (update: here it is!).
As for my final thoughts, I want to confirm the hype (for the most part, since I mentioned earlier that some people have gone a little overboard). These eyeshadows were all great to work with, blended super well and had great pigmentation. MUG provides a variety of finish levels as well as really well thought out colors. They are all a great value, but in my opinion the regular old non-foiled shadows are actually the winner. They are phenomenal to work with (even though some require primer), they are pigmented, and they are only six bucks. All of the shadows are high end quality, but the regular line will give you the most bang for your buck. I’m definitely going to be placing a second order in the near future. Thanks for creating such an awesome product line, Marlena!

Soft olive neutrals with the Wet n’ Wild Comfort Zone palette

I did a makeup stash purge a couple months ago and a lot of palettes hit the trash.It was brutal, but I really needed to downsize. Urban Decay suffered a hit, so did my way-expired Nude ‘Tude palette that I lovedddd (that one was hard, but the eyeshadows were definitely starting to spoil). You know what actually made the cut? My cheapo Wet n’ Wild Comfort Zone palette.

Even though it was by far the least expensive set I had (only $4.99!), it’s also extremely versatile and it has some unusual shades that seem so much more sophisticated that its humble pedigree would suggest. While the shades don’t feel quite as soft to work with as a higher end shadow, they look just as good once they’re applied and no one will ever know the difference.

The other night I had to meet a friend and she got to the restaurant way earlier than anyone expected, so I had to kick my makeup application into hyperspeed to get out the door so she wouldn’t have to wait any longer. I wanted a low-maintenance wash of color that could stand alone and wouldn’t require a lot of additional products, but I also didn’t want to go with a standard taupe or champagne shade. I thought the pale olive green/grey hybrid “browbone” shade from Comfort Zone would be perfect.

So here it is, with the grey-green all over. I also dragged a little bit of the bronze shade from the same palette along the lashline to punch it up just a little. In an unprecedented move, I didn’t do my brows because 1) I was trying to be quick and 2) I was worried it might overhelm the look.

  

Other products worn:

L’Oreal Voluminous False Fibers Mascara ($8.99)

Smashbox L.A. Lights Blendable Lip & Cheek Color in Venice Beach Bronze ($29)

Soap and Glory Sexy Mother Pucker Gloss Stick in Nudist ($10)

Pony 3 Eyeshadow Palette and Lipstick Review

Hi friends! I’ve got a new Memebox product that was sent for me to review. This time it’s the latest collaboration between Memebox and amazing Korean makeup artist and blogger PONY. They’ve collaborated several times in the past, and this iteration is called “Shine Easy Glam 3,” AKA Pony 3, and the collection is inspired by spring flowers. I was sent the “Brown Bloom” Eyeshadow Quad ($18) and “Orange Dahlia” Lipstick ($12).

First of all, I was immediately taken in by the packaging.

The boxes are so cute, and the holograph lettering on solid white and gold cases for the makeup feel simultaneously edgy and luxe. Both products have a nice weight to them and they seem higher-end than the price would suggest.

 

Minus the hologram, it makes me think a little of Tom Ford cosmetic packaging- not that I can afford anything by Tom Ford.

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I was a little surprised at how glittery the eyeshadows themselves were. The color pairings are nice and they all complement each other, but I was expecting a more matte definition color instead of the very shimmery dark brown in the eyeshadow quad. They are beautiful though, aren’t they?

When swatched, I found the two light shades to both be fairly sheer while the orange and brown shades were much more heavily pigmented.

At first I didn’t know what to make of that glittery beige shade because it’s sheer, but incredibly sparkly. It quickly became my favorite of the bunch because I realized I could use it to transform other shades. I tried wearing all kinds of eye looks and tapping that shade lightly on the center of my upper eyelid for a glistening effect (it looked extra good on a smoky eye). Of course I took no pictures of these experiments (vacation life), but I’m sure there will be future posts using the shadow that way.

One problem I noticed was a lot of glitter fallout on my cheeks after applying these shadows (mainly the sparkling beige and the peachy orange), but I corrected this by applying my eyes before my concealer/foundation/whatever so I could dab the glitter off my cheeks with makeup remover without destroying anything. This worked well for me and I didn’t experience any additional fallout after the initial application.

I’ve included a couple shots of the shades in action, but I’m afraid these pictures don’t do them justice since I was working with some pretty bad lighting while I was out of town. The real thing was much prettier (and more pigmented), but at least you can see that the shades blended well together! The glitter was so fine that it blended into a really nice liquid looking sheen that I always loooooove.

You can sort of see the shimmer here:

Overall, I thought this eyeshadow palette was a great value and glitteryness made it a bit different than other similar comparable American palettes. The matte beige shadow was lacking a bit in pigmentation, but it still worked well as a base color and blending tone, so I didn’t mind.

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As for the lipstick, this stuff blew me away! I’ve noticed with a lot of the makeup I get from Memebox that the eyeshadows are good, but the lip products are GREAT. This $12 lipstick was as creamy and moisturizing and opaque as something at least twice as much.

and finally we have a couple full face shots for the complete look!

All in all a great addition to my spring makeup collection!

Commodity Fragrance Review

I have been on the search for a “grown up” fragrance for a few years now. I never do fragrance reviews, though, because scent is SO personal. What you like could be very different from what I like, and the same scent might even smell different on each of us. HOWEVER, I would like to review my shopping experience with Commodity Goods, because I found it really game-changing for online shopping addicts like myself.

It works like this: You pay in advance for a perfume by ordering a sampling kit, then you receive 10 scent samples to try at home. Pick the fragrance you like best and redeem online for your full sized perfume. You do have to commit to buying at least one rollerball (the minimum sample kit) in order to participate in the home sampling, but these are high quality perfumes and there’s bound to be at least one that you like. It’s a good way to try scents in advance without setting foot in a store, like Warby Parker but for scents.

The kit:

I got the Uno kit which redeems for one 10ml rollerball ($24). You can also get the Trio with 3 rollerballs ($48), or the 100 which redeems for a full 100ml scent ($99), but they all come with the same 10 scents samples, so there’s no advantage to choosing one over the other other than the quantity you redeem for.

PRO-TIP!!! I recommend ordering the minimum order kit (Uno) because when you redeem it, you’ll get the option to buy anything else you want for half price. I don’t know how long that offer will last, but I used it to my full advantage and redeemed the single rollerball in my second-favorite scent, then snapped up the larger (more expensive) full size of my fave for half price. $73 total investment for a $123 value!

These were all very high quality and nuanced, and I had a tough time choosing between my favorites. Playing with the kit felt a bit like science class, which was fun for me.

I really did love the scents. They are eau de parfum rather than eau de toilette, which basically means they are higher quality and longer lasting. EDTs are more watered down. The scents are broken into a black and white collections, which the Commodity site describes thusly:
“The White Collection include scents that are light, airy, and easy, while the Black Collection is more complex, intense, and moody.”
What they’re getting at is the black scents are more masculine and the white scents are more feminine (something I didn’t understand until halfway through my kit), but they’re semi-unisex and are meant to be mixed and matched. I love the idea of wearing a masculine scent from time to time, so I got the (ladylike) Tea as my large 100ml scent and the (manly, but unisexy) Wool as my small 10 ml scent.

The packaging is goregeous and I’m excited to have these on my vanity. I’m a mega packaging geek and I’m not even ashamed to admit it. The website also has adorable illustrations to explain the notes of each scent and I really loved that. Here are the descriptions and illustrations for the fragrances I chose.

Tea:
“Not your average store-bought tea. A soft brew of citrus and aquatic notes infused with cooling Watermint Leaf.”

• TOP NOTES: Citrus Accord, Sicilian Lemon, Bergamot
• MID NOTES: Freesia, Muguet, Jasmine Sambac
• BASE NOTES: Sandalwood, White Musk
• GREAT FOR:   Day   Special Occasion

Image credit: Commoditygoods.com

Wool:
“Effortless warmth. Touches of Bourbon Vanilla and Haitian Vetiver craft this perfectly cozy outerwear.”

• TOP NOTES: Mandarin, Grapefruit, Apple
• MID NOTES: Basil, Fresh Ozone, Cedarwood, Lavandin, Armoise
• BASE NOTES: Amber, Haitian Vetiver, Gray Musk, Bourbon Vanilla
• GREAT FOR:   Day   Night

Image credit: Commoditygoods.com

What do you think, would you ever buy a perfume online this way, or do you still prefer to try it in store?

April Golden Tote Review

My April Golden Tote came in last week! With May’s tote day coming up on Monday, it was now or never to get the review out.

This was another all-keeper tote, thanks to my stylist KB and the awesome expanded style profile on GT’s site! Take a look at the goods:

Chosen: Draped Jersey Tank.
This was huge on me, and I actually sized down. It was unwearable on its own, but I like it with a belt.

Chosen: Blue Batik Dress.
I really liked the fit of this dress and was excited to find that it was long enough to cover my tall frame. This will be an excellent patio brunch dress now that the weather is finally warming up here in Chiberia!

Closeup of the print and the add-on Inner Circle necklace:

Surprise: Miss Love Sheer Panel Tank.
I thought this would be a disaster, but it was surprisingly flattering! The fabric is super interesting and the sheer hem has a frayed end that gives it some edge. I like the way GT pays attention to details.

Not bad!

Fabric closeup:

Surprise: Lumiere Ethnic Print Tunic.
I love this! It almost works as a dress on me, but I prefer it as a tunic. It’s kind of billowy, but I like it with a belt. It has a cross stitch style embroidery and buttoned placket that keeps it from being another generic black top in my very dark wardrobe. I can’t wait to wear this to a cookout! It would also work well unbuttoned and unbelted as a swimsuit coverup if I were the sort of person who went out in the sun.

Embroidery detail:

Lumiere Geo Print Sleelevess Top.
I really love this, It’s the kind of thing I wear pretty often to work. It fits well and the fabric is of good quality.

Honey Punch Damask Print Blouse.
Into it. The fabric is nice and heavy on this blouse and it is a nice transition piece for this fake spring I’m dealing with. I’ve already worn this one.

And I have a few more add-on accessories.
Mother of pearl Delicate Drop Necklace.

It’s reversible!

Birds of a Feather Wallet.

Turquoise Step Into Spring Shades.

Tan Rimmed Sunglasses.

Tortoiseshell Favorite Wayfarers.

And that’s my tote! I am soooo excited about how well curated these last two totes have been. There’s a lot of cute stuff coming up in the May sale, although I will probably skip this month because I’m trying to clear out my overstuffed closet. More on that soon.

April Ipsy and Birchbox reviews

I thought I would do one of these rundowns again after my overly long hiatus. In case you were wondering, I definitely did get some good stuff over the last few months, so that’s not why I was slacking. I just got these this week, so I’m not that late for once. 😉

First of all, can we take a moment to just appreciate how far both of these companies have come in terms of packaging? Soooo cute, especially the Rifle Paper box!

You come a long way, ladies.

Ok, review time! Let’s talk about ipsy first. This month had a bohemian theme.

First is Gállány Cosmetics Lipstick in Petal ($21.50). This lipstick was a pretty color, although I have a few dupes of this shade. It was kind of average. Nothing super special about it, but not a bad product. Not worth $21.50.

Next was Mullein & Sparrow Mini Lip & Cheek Tint ($22).
I was excited about this, but it had almost no color at all on my lips, and my lips are pretty pale. I could detect the tiniest hint of color and that was it. Other than that, it had a nice slick but not sticky feel and was very glossy.

theBalm Cosmetics NUDE Dude Eyeshadow Single in Fit ($36 for the full palette).
A sequel to my Nude ‘Tude palette! I really liked the first one, and this edition seems comparable. The shades seem reeeeally similar to the original palette, just warmer. The first palette was good that naturally this extremely similar one is also going to be a good nude palette option. Pretty much everything theBalm makes is a winner. They are one of my favorite sleeper brands that doesn’t get the love they deserve.

(it’s the bronzey shade in my crease below)

MicaBeauty Eye Primer ($44.99)
This is a good primer. It’s a large pot, with a very solid feeling formula that would last a long time. It looks good on my skintone and while that means it would be pretty light on darker skin, that can make bold colors stand out really well so it isn’t a bad thing. However, this primer is not worth $45. This was great as a sample, but there’s no way they can be serious with that price.

L-R, a swatch of the Nude Dude single, then a swatch of the primer, then both.

JulieG Nail Color in Damsel ($3.99)
Hot pink! This swatch is only one (admittedly thick) coat, and it’s super smooth and opaque! Not a color I would normally wear, but the polish quality is good. It was worth sampling for sure.

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And now onto Birchbox:

jane iredale Just Kissed Lip and Cheek Stain in Forever Pink – $25
I like it well enough. It’sone of those “magic” products that goes on clear and adjusts to the right shade for your lips/cheeks. It was very natural looking although it felt slightly waxy on my cheeks. Still looked good, though. You can also see it on my cheeks in the final full face picture at the end of this post.

 
Number 4™ Hydrating Shampoo – $34
This stuff is way expensive, but it smells and feels nice. Not in my budget.
Temple Spa Peace Be Still Calming Face & Body Balm – $29
A good, non-greasy moisturizer. Again, a bit pricier than anything I’d buy. I save my splurges for eyeshadow.

Harvey Prince Yogini – $55
I don’t love fragrance samples as I’ve said time and time again with my birchboxes. I also don’t love Harvey Prince fragrances. However, I actually liked this one! I probably wouldn’t buy it, but it was nice. Probably because this one has notes of grapefruit and I’m a big citrus fan.

Supergoop!® Daily Correct CC Cream ​SPF 35+ in light to medium – $32
I’m already a fan of the Supergoop line (you know I am OBSESSED with SPF and that’s kind of their thing) so I was excited to try this. It felt good, covered well and it had a natural finish that made my skin look so smooth. Unfortunately, this was a shade too dark and made me look like I had a spray tan. Fortunately, they make a lighter shade, so I’m interested in buying that once I use up my 5,000 other foundations and BB creams.

Nylon 16th Anniversary It Girl Palette Review

Memebox sent me the Nylon x Memebox XO #ItGirlPalette ($29) to review. This palette was created by Nylon Magazine in honor of their 16th anniversary and it’s definitely party girl oriented. It’s very sleek and minimal, and much like the Soothing Sista palette, it was smaller than I expected, but it makes the most of its diminutive size. It includes a decent sized blush and highlighter, six eyeshadows, a pretty big mirror and a double-sided brush/spongetip applicator with a surprisingly soft brush.

The shade names are kind of hilarious. Each one is based off a different celebrity scene queen, and all of the colors make sense for their namesake personality, especially the matte white “LiLo” shadow (see what they did there?).

Shade names, L-R:
The Moment highlighter, LiLo, Mary-Kate, Mischa, Sweet 16 blush, Lana, Paris, Nicole.

There is also a really intense hot pink blush and a really sparkly highlighter. I was pretty scared of both of them (although they actually worked out just fine with a light touch).

I was a little disapointed with the initial swatches. These are not swatched over primer, but the color payoff was ok but kind of dull for most of them.

Luckily, they fared a lot better once I applied them to my eyes over primer! I had a lot of fun playing with these shades and they work well separately or together. I have prepared two looks for you using all of the shades.

First we have the “good girl” look in gold. I used the Lana and Mary-Kate shades on the lid, Nicole in the crease and Lilo on browbones. I also used a small amount of the blush and highlighter on my cheeks and was pleased with how wearable they actually were.

Next is the “bad girl” look in red. I have Paris on the lid, Mischa blended heavily from the outer corner and lower lashline, The Moment highlighter in the inner corner, Sweet 16 blush blended into the crease for a halo effect and LiLo on the browbone.

All in all, I was very pleased with the palette and since it is so tiny, I think it would be great for travel or for stashing at your desk. When packed with an eye primer, mascara and a blush brush, this kit has everything else you need for a weekend trip!

March Golden Tote

Due to a website makeover, GT launched a little late this month. I just got my March tote today, but it was completely worth it. I mean, I was really blown away, every single item was a keeper! I credit this to Golden Tote’s new profile that is so much more customizable (much closer to the stitch fix profile). There are fields for your measurements, body shape, proportions, etc. There are also 5 options to select the types of clothing you typically wear:

As you can see, I went with Edgy and Trendy, which are a much better fit for me than the broader style options under the old website. You also choose what types of occasions you typically dress for (work, lounging, night out, casual weekend, etc).

There’s even a dedicated space for comments that will automatically attach to every tote rather than re-typing them each time (where you risk forgetting to add them while in a frenzy to checkout). For my comments, I wrote “I prefer darker colors and am kind of gothy. I’m tall so I need longer hemlines on shirts and dresses. I also love prints, especially in black or dark blue!” I tried to keep it simple, but to the point. I guess it worked, because as you’ll see in the review below, my stylist KB took my recommendations very seriously! Thanks, KB, I owe you one.

Enough about the site, I know you want pictures. Here they are. For reference, everything shown is a size medium.

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Embroidered Trim Top (chosen item)

So flattering and the embroidery makes it look much higher end than it is. I could wear this in so many ways, and I’m glad that I went with  the navy option since I already have a ton of black.

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I also got the Tiny Cube Necklace which I’m wearing in all photos. I think it’s adorable and I will undoubtedly be wearing it a lot.

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Pineapple Top (chosen item)

Oooooo, yes. I think this is so fun and cute. It’s nicely heavy, the offset neckline detail is fun and the bottom hem curves just slightly downward, which is very flattering.

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Potter’s Pot High-Low Tie Waist Dress (surprise).

This print is kind of like an optical illusion, but I think it’s cool. It’s full lined and has a nice weight to it. I also liked the lower back because I always need a little extra coverage in the back. No flashing, thanks!

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Love Stitch Tassel Tank (surprise).

I. Loved. This. It’s very much something I would buy for myself, and the twisted front detail is very flattering (although it doesn’t look it from the pictures). Trust me, it works IRL and the drape looks amazing. The crepe fabric is opaque so I don’t need a cami underneath (big plus in the summertime) and I adore the mandala-esque print.

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Lime & Chili Diamond Hacci Top (Surprise).

I was NOT SURE about this one. The dolman cut scared me and I didn’t know what to make of the pom poms. Once it was on I found it very flattering and different!

This has so many details and I’m terrified of cleaning it for the first time, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

It also looks cute tucked into a skirt.

Speaking of which…

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Kerisma Black Skirt (surprise).

Cant. Breathe.

This was at least a size too tight, which is a shame because it’s made out of really nice, thick sweater material. I’m going to hang onto it for another month to see if my latest diet will help me squeeze into it, but if not it will get traded or given to a friend. A classic black skirt is too useful to let go to waste!

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Cool and Casual Tank (chosen item).

I know I told them I love dark colors, but every now and then I pick a bright color and I actually love orange as an accent. This foldover detail is very flattering, although it doesn’t look it in these photos, much like the black and white printed tassel top. What is it with twist front tanks that doesn’t translate to two dimensions? I also love that it’s a little longer in the back to give me the extra coverage my awkward torso needs.

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Promesa Jersey Dress (surprise).
 

This is a cool twist on a classic jersey t-shirt dress. The cap sleeves have a slight structure to them, there’s a sneaky thigh slit on one side and a cute keyhole back. This is a surprisingly grownup version of the classic tee dresses I used to love and I can see myself wearing this for many different occasions.

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So yay! The March tote was everything I wanted and then some! My December and January totes were sort of hit-and-miss (I never did review those thanks to megaschoolcrunchtime, but you didn’t miss much), so I’m really excited to get so many things that I loved this time around. The new site is great and the style profile system has made it easier to get a true personal styling experience if you customize your profile the right way. I can’t wait for the April Tote to launch, it’s dropping on April 13, 2015. Hopefully I’ll have a review on that one, too!

Warm Neutral 90’s Makeup

I just did a really refreshing makeup purge and reorganization the other night, and I’m still feeling kind of elated. It’s so nice to downsize sometimes! In doing so, I rediscovered a few forgotten favorites and have been playing with them ever since in order to justify keeping them. I was playing around with a few products today and ended up doing something that had me looking pretty much like I did back in 1997 (give or take 40 pounds and some wrinkles 😉 ). Thank you, tumblr gods for bringing my high school makeup routine back in fashion.

I don’t have Photoshop installed on my new laptop, so sorry if the colors are weird or whatever. But hey, it’s just that much more authentically ’90s without the retouching, right? This look uses a mix of warm matte and metallic bronzey shades from the BH Cosmetics 120 Color Eyeshadow Palette 2nd Edition ($29.95, but usually on sale for less) plus Milani Liquid Eye Pencil ($6.99) which is one of my holy grail drugstore products. I’m also wearing Kat Von D’s Everlasting Blush in Bellisima ($25), the Kat Von D Shade + Light Contour Palette ($46) (I owe you guys a review on that, my bad), and Wet N’ Wild Megalast Lipstick in Coming in Latte ($1.99). That shade was only limited edition for the Fall, which makes me super sad because I am obsessed with the color, finish and super long wear on this lipstick. Pleeeease relaunch it, WnW! If you love it, Sandstorm looks pretty similar? That’s what I’ll buy next once I use this up.