First Look

First Look: Silkn Flash and Go Freedom Unboxing

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Silkn Flash and Go Freedom Box

“I love shaving/waxing/epilating/depilatory-ing!” said no woman ever.

I say, “woman,” because I do know of men that enjoy shaving.

Many moons ago, a laser hair removal school was in my area – if you’d be their guinea pig, you’d get a full course of treatments for something like 75% off (this was during the Land Before Groupon). Students were supervised and guided by a licensed, experienced instructor; and all of the students were either doctors or licensed estheticians. It wasn’t unpleasant, and the first session went well – but lasting results come from a course of treatments. Unrelated circumstances prevented me from continuing, but I have wanted to ever since.

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Formula X Polish First Impression

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Sorry for the delay in today’s content – I didn’t have my photos uploaded (I thought I did), so it had to wait until I could access that SD card.

Last week I shared that I received a Formula X Polish System due to winning a giveaway. I broke it out on Saturday before our Christmas party to get festive.

After shaping and gently etching the surface of your nails with a fine-grit buffer, reach for you break out the left-most bottle in the Formula X Polish System kit. This bottle contains a thin, light blue liquid – this is the Cleanse step. It is basically just a nail dehydrator similar to those used on you at the nail salon before enhancements or with in-home DIY gel nails. I twisted the cap open and heard/felt a, “snap!” only to find the squared off caps on the Formula X Polish bottles are vanity caps. You have to pull it off before you can unscrew the simpler, cylindrical cap beneath. The snap was a piece of the interior to the vanity cap snapping off. Boo.

After that, continue to the clear pink – this is your base coat; the, “Prime,” step. The Formula X Polish Prime is pretty normal base-coat as thickness goes. Here, though, the brush started to annoy me. I expected cheap bristles in the brush-on cleanser, but these bristles remind me of the thick-stranded, cheap ones that resided in Wet n Wild nailpolishes of the early-to-mid 90’s. With a base coat, it wasn’t too much of a deal, but getting my nails fully covered wasn’t as easy (and as you can see, I don’t have large nails).

Formula X Polish - CleanseFormula X Polish System

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Too Faced Everything Nice Palette Unboxing

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I listed the limited edition Everything Nice Palette from Too Faced in my 2014 Prestige Makeup (Holiday) Gifts. Fortunately, my awesome husband not only got it for me, but gave it to me early (we’re kind of bad about that). I’ve had a few weeks to play with it now, and I have a ton to say – but for now, we’ll just unbox the Everything Nice Palette to avoid TL;DR.

Here’s the box, front (left) and back (right):

Too Faced Everything Nice Palette - Box Front and Back

Let’s crack it open. It says, #own your pretty. Or is it #ownyourpretty?

Too Faced Everything Nice Palette - Unboxing 1 - #ownyourpretty

The glittery, hot pink clutch is safely tucked in along with a deluxe sample tube of Too Faced Better than Sex mascara.

Too Faced Everything Nice Palette - Unboxing 2

Get rid of those and lift the flap…bingo!

Too Faced Everything Nice Palette - Unboxing 3

“That’s what pretty girls are made of,”

Too Faced Everything Nice PaletteEverything Nice Palette by Too Faced

Glorious makeup, out of its box. Twenty shadows, two blushes, a bronzer, a highlight, three brushes, and an impossibly glittery clutch.

Too Faced Everything Nice Palette - All Unboxed

For cheap tools included with a value palette, the three included brushes aren’t bad. It includes a shader, an angled brush, and a flat face brush.

Too Faced Everything Nice Palette - Tools and Clutch Detail

And here’s a closer, top-down view of the Everything Nice Palette, opened:

Too Faced Everything Nice Palette - Top Down

Although the Everything Nice Palette is similar in format and color scheme to last year’s Too Faced mega palette (which was Too Faced My Favorite Things), it is different enough to be worth buying if you have last year’s edition (I do not have it). Retailing exclusively at Sephora, it goes for $56 in stores and online (when it isn’t sold out)! I’m curious to see if it will linger after the holidays for a little while as its predecessor did.

Review and swatches to come soon!

Touch of Spice – Maybelline Creamy Matte Lipstick

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I finally picked up the specific Maybelline Creamy Matte Lipstick I was wanting in the first place – Touch of Spice.

Touch of Spice is a sort of My Lips But Better shade – a matte rosy shade with a bit of brown. Very autumn-appropriate and extremely wearable in all situations (as compared to Divine Wine, which may be a little bold for the taste of some). The formula seems to be identical to the aforementioned darker shade and the lighter Daringly Nude. I don’t know about you, but it drives me up the wall to get two colors from the same line to find that they have completely different consistencies and wear time. I’m pleased that the Creamy Matte line from Maybelline is pretty consistent (at least across these three shades I own).

Maybelline Creamy Matte Lipstick Touch of Spice

Like all the others in the line, it features a frosted tube in a sort of plum-ish shade that is not indicative of the lipstick itself.

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First Look: Elma and Sana Argan Oil

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I bought a bottle of Elma and Sana Argan Oil a couple months ago to compare with my more expensive bottle. I wrote a few posts about Argan Oil products (you can find them here and here) in the past and though I am pretty happy with my Josie Maran 100% Pure Argan Oil, I wanted to explore less costly alternatives. A 0.5 fl oz. bottle has lasted me six months so far (and I still have a good bit left!) but I wanted to see if shelling out $14-16 per bottle made sense.

I already knew, from my use of the Josie Maran product, that I enjoyed using argan oil for my face (especially my cheeks and under-eye area). This is not going to be a full-blown review because I do not feel that I have used it long enough to be able to fully speak to the product, but I did want to give you a look at what I’ve gotten and tried recently. I purchased this 2 fl oz bottle of 100% Pure, Organic, Cold-Pressed Elma and Sana Argan Oil from Amazon.com for around $10 (I think it was just under when I purchased; it was on sale). I received it without issue – it was packed securely and safely. Here’s the outer packaging:

Elma and Sana Argan OilElma and Sana Argan Oil

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First Look: Sigma F80 Flat Top Kabuki

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An awesome friend (we’ll call her C) of mine recently decided to gift me a brush, and let me choose what brush it was – I chose a Sigma F80 Flat Top Kabuki! The Sigma F80 Flat Top Kabuki had been on my lust list for a while after hearing Jaclyn Hill rave about this brush in, oh, every video she has, so this was very exciting. Most of my brushes are what would be considered low-to-mid-end – I got the Coastal Scents Elite set on sale for something like $25, and the rest are random – cheap brushes that I thought would be “throwaways,” that turned out to be awesome, a few (inexpensive but great) bdellium tools and two Real Techniques. Word on the street is that Sigma is as good as (perhaps better than) MAC at a nicer price.

The outer shipping box had been manhandled by USPS and was not a maiden fair, so we’ll start the unboxing here:

Sigma F80 Flat Top Kabuki - Packaging

Also, let it be known that said friend is not affiliated with Sigma. She didn’t get a freebie for the sake of promotion, either. She’s just awesome! Here’s the rest of what was in the shipping box, including the brush that has been removed from the fancy sleeve depicted first:

Sigma F80 Flat Top Kabuki - everything that was in the shipping box

The protective sleeve you see on the brush, below is actually two parts. The lower handle is covered with a cellophane piece (with an awesome holographic Sigma sticker), and the upper handle and head are protected by a thicker, rigid plastic piece. They mean business about packing and protecting their product.

Sigma F80 Flat Top Kabuki - Unboxed

This sucker will be an important part of my foundation routine – especially come July, as I am not hiring a makeup artist for my wedding. So pristine!

Sigma F80 Flat Top Kabuki - Unboxed 2

Hello, gorgeous. I can’t wait to awkwardly stipple and buff foundation into my face with you. Let’s face it, stippling looks awkward. You’re hitting yourself in the face rapidly. It is silly.

Sigma F80 Flat Top KabukiSigma F80 Flat Top Kabuki Brush

Take a look at how dense this brush is, perfect for buffing foundation in and building coverage. Though I plan to use it with a liquid foundation (MUFE HD Invisible Cover in 118, Flesh), you could probably use this for mineral or powder foundation.

Sigma F80 Flat Top Kabuki - so dense!

I haven’t had the chance to use it yet (my skin has been wonky, but is almost 100% again) but I plan on using it tomorrow and am excited to see how awesome my very first Sigma brush is. Thank you again, C!

Disclosure: This post was not sponsored. That said, some of the links in this post are affiliate links – this means I may get a very small percentage of the sale if you decide to buy something. I only recommend products I’ve tried and verified as awesome.