General Goings on

Ugh, so I haven't posted in a bit because of several reasons, one being that I got strep throat and was non-functional for several days. The second being that we launched a new computer system at work and it is mostly broken and terrible. Considering I work at a hospital, this is bad. It's taking forever to do anything because everything is a total shit show of terribleness. So, when I get out of work I mostly feel like alcohol and sleeping. And then finally, school. Grrrr....The University of Hartford doesn't believe that adult people should be able to hold down jobs and attend college, so they offer classes at asinine times in the middle of the day, several days a week, so you couldn't possibly work 8 straight hours at any job. They also don't return your emails about options or registration no matter how many times you attempt to contact your advisor. It just so happens that the college I was previously attending reopened their Respiratory Therapy program, so I made contact with them and will be returning there in the fall. They actually understand that people have to work and attend school at the same time, so they offer classes in the evenings. So, all that has gone down in the last two weeks along with all the schoolwork I have for the classes I'm currently enrolled in. To say I am a crispy burnt piece of toast would be an understatement.

For those of you that were reading this blog because of box reviews, I have some bad news. I have considerably cut back on the boxes I subscribed to because I'm trying to save money for my Ireland trip at the end of the summer. I quit Stitch Fix and I quit Birchbox and pretty much everything else. Not Julep because I signed up early enough to keep the skip option and I wouldn't want to lose that. I already paid $30 for 6 months of Bulu box, so there'll be 5 more of those. There are still some orders I made months ago trickling in, including the Popsugar Resort box, which I am REALLY excited for. I just checked out some spoilers and it looks to be SUPER AH-MAZING!!! I'll need all that stuff for my upcoming travels this summer, so it's totally worth it ;-). I *did* get a 50% off coupon for the April Popsugar box, so I grabbed that even though I had previously cancelled my account. $19.97 is a great deal for all that stuff. Can you argue with a 90% discount? I can't.

I'm home in MA visiting my homies this weekend, spending time with my favorite 4 year old and generally trying to catch up on school work in between visits. I should shower before it's time to go do things in public. I'm having a hard time getting motivated to do much, but somehow I seem to have written this. So there. Accomplishment. Bam.

BeautyDNA Box

There's a brand new subscription box out there called Beauty DNA. You answer a very in depth survey about everything you're concerned about as far as your appearance goes and what your preferences are when it comes to your beauty products. For instance, I said I had sensitive skin and was concerned about fine lines. I also said I wanted products free from phtalates, parabens, mineral oil and other yucky stuff. You can even check off what your scent preferences are. You fork over $25 and they match you with a full size product that's worth at least $45 and ship it to your door within 5-7 business days. There are a limited number of spaces, since this is a beta test for this service and I DEFINITELY wanted in. They send you a great little card with your item that tells you what's in it, what it's used for, where to get it, etc. I received Ahava Dead Sea Osmoter Concentrate Serum. It retails for $60 (but is on sale on the Ahava website right now for $48). It's supposed to improve dryness and lack of radiance. It is also supposed to reduce signs of aging, which I'm all for. I got it yesterday and I've used it twice and so far I REALLY like it. What I like even MORE than that is the customer service I've been seeing on the internet. As you know, I poke around subscription sites to see what other people are getting and I've been impressed with the fact that BeautyDNA is also poking around those sites, taking peoples opinions into consideration and responding to their concerns. Well played, BeautyDNA. I like getting a full size product that I might not otherwise be able to afford. I'm going to stick this one out for awhile and see how they evolve. I'm impressed with the first month. Here's the photo of my product:

Check it out there's a little over 300 spots left!

Julep Cupid Mystery Box.

Dang you, Julep! Every time I think I can't possibly want anything else, you present me with something I totally have to have. For Valentine's Day they offered up three different mystery boxes. A Manicure, Pedicure or Make up lovers box. I chose the make up lovers box. THEN they offered an extra addition for $9.99. So I got that too. I also got the Freedom Polymer top coat and a color they offered a few months back named Jillian. I had to, right? Right. It took kind of a long time to get here, but I was SO stoked when it did because what was inside was Awwwesommmeeee!!!

This is what came in the box. The box itself was $24.99 and I got three additional polishes for $9.99. Note the adorable picture of me and my sister as tiny children in the background. So, 6 polishes, an eyeshadow palette, mascara, eyelid primer and rock star hand cream. The top coat and 7th polish were extra things I ordered and weren't part of this promo. I also had a coupon from when I initially signed up, so I paid about $42 for this haul. That comes out to $3.50 per item. Bargain city.

The back side of the eyeshadow palette lists the names of the colors

This is the photo of the palette itself. It's called the Sweep Eyeshadow Palette: Neutrals. I love neutral colors and had been eyeballing this particular palette for a while now. I'm glad I didn't get it. It retails for $24 ($19.20 if you're a maven). The Cupid box was $24.99, so with one product it pretty much paid for itself.

The mascara is no longer available in the store. It's the Boho Glam Lengthening mascara in dark brown. Usually, I prefer blackest black mascara, but I can always use extra mascara. 

This is the Blank Canvas Mattifying Eye Primer. It sells for $22 ($17.60 for Mavens). I used this yesterday with the eyeshadow and this stuff made the eyeshadow stick like glue. It never faded all day. I was really impressed. That was about 18 hours of perfect color. I had no trouble removing it when I washed my face, FYI.

 These were the colors that came in the box. Their names, in order from top to bottom are Lindy, Nan and America. The Lindy is a chunky pink sparkle, Nan is coral and America is a red small sparkle with large white and blue sparkles in it. I wouldn't have chosen these for myself, but they were cute.

These were the extra three for $9.99. Their names from top to bottom are Angela, Kennedy and Stefani. Angela is a great iridescent teal color with a purple tint. Kennedy is...well...not that attractive. It looks yellow-y tan. Not great. Stefani is a nice silvery/gray with a smidgen of gold sparkle. All in all, I liked the colors. Except for Kennedy. It's kind of icky. 

This is the photo of the polymer top coat and the Jillian polish. I REALLY like it. I'm really pleased. 

Like I've said before, I've never been disappointed with a Julep purchase. I'm super excited (again) for the March box because they're featuring a lip scrub and a smoothing/conditioning treatment as well as their glosses. I'm a lip gloss junkie, what can I say? My lips are also super sad from winter, so I'm totally needing the scrub this month. I wasn't super attracted to any of the polishes, so I'll be going with the make up box again.

As always, if you love you're free to use my Julep referral code if you like.

My First Graze Box

I was out for cocktails the other night with a few of my ladies discussing our problems with subscription boxes and they told me about the Graze Box. It's full of awesome sweet or savory snacks. Their focus is on healthy, whole food snacks. I should mention that the packaging the snacks come in is recycled and they even offer ideas on how you can further reuse the packaging. They make over 90 different snack mixes. Everything is portioned out in cute little packs and you get 4 different snackies per box. The first and fifth boxes are free and it's only $5 a box. Given the free stuff and the already awesomely low price, I could not refuse. The sign up process is pretty simple. You give them your information, you let them know if you have any food allergies and you're on your way. You can also specify how much you like the items they already have based on their descriptions. I hate super spicy things, so I nixed everything that was full of cayenne pepper. However, I LOVE wasabi and horseradish, so I gave those a big thumbs up. After you get each box you can rate how much you liked each snack and you SHOULD because they have an algorithm that tells them what to send you based on how much you like what they've already received. I wish they let you leave feedback, but so far its just a rating scale.


For my first box I received smoky bbq corn snacks, white chocolate and raspberry cheesecake snack mix, eleanor's apple berry crumble and summer berry flapjacks. I was hoping for 2 savory and 2 sweet because I'm more of a savory snack kind of girl, but I want to try everything, so maybe in the next box I'll get more savory things. Here are the photos of the box and the nutritional information that they send you. As you can see all the snacks are pretty healthy from a nutrition standpoint. I don't feel like eating anyone of these would make me fall off the diet wagon.

So far I've only eaten the bbq corn and cashews and the berry crumble. The berry crumble was SUPER delicious. The bbq corn and cashews was good, but a little too salty. This is why I wish I could provide more detailed feedback. I'd totally try out the bbq corn again if they reduced the salt. If you're a fan of dried fruit and nuts and seeds, like I am, this is definitely a great choice. I will more than likely stick to this because I'm always looking for little snacks to take to school, since colleges primarily serve terrible teenager food. Someone who's concerned about the elasticity of their arteries wants to eat something a smidgen healthier. You can specify nut allergies and gluten allergies when you order, fyi, so you'll never be sent something that will send you into anaphylaxis. I only wish I could get them every week instead of every other week. Nom nom nom. 

If the Graze Box interests you, this is my friend code: D3ZC1ZGYP

Popsugar Must Have February 2014 Review

Hello out there. Are you up to your eyeballs in snow? I sure as hell am. Pretty sick of it, but whats a girl to do? At least I rent, so someone cleans up my driveway and sidewalk for me. :-D

So, as you may be aware I have become...somewhat addicted to subscription boxes. My Subscription Addiction has been enabling me. She posts coupon codes all the time which permit me to try all these boxes out at a reduced price. So, recently there was a 50% off coupon for The Popsugar Must Have Box, which has become one of the most talked about boxes out there in internet land, so I decided to try it our for $20 instead of the usual $40. This is what came in the box. I yoinked this photo from My Subscription Addiction too.

The clutch looking thing is a jewelry roll from Gorjana valued at  $45. There are three zippered pockets inside. I'm thinking it will make a better clutch than jewelry roll. The color is a smidgen more orangey in person. I adore it. I will definitely be using it this spring as a clutch. It's too cute. I also got a $25 gift card to use on their website. I got an ADORABLE ring.

It was $40, so it was very reasonable at $15. Plus shipping, of course.

The Sugarwish candy ($6) was a bag full of tiny cinnamon hearts. There was also a coupon code, but I'm not going to be using it. I can get candy I like cheaper and I really don't need any dang candy.

The face serum is from Nourish ($24), an organic brand that I've seen at Whole Foods. I bought a vanilla body lotion of theirs awhile ago and love it. This serum has argan oil, rosehip and apricot in it. I put it on last night and it left my skin feeling very moisturized. This is going to become part of my evening routine.

The lip color is a lipstick/lip gloss duo from Model Co. ($25). It's a really adorable nude color on me. I really like it. I layered the gloss over the lipstick and my mouth looked all model-y and hot. Rowr.

The candle is a travel candle from K. Hall ($11). It smells like Peony. I was a little worried that it would be too floral for me, but it smells so beautiful. I'm stoked that I like it. Scents are very hit or miss with me.

The Nail polish is by NCLA in the color Rodeo Drive Royalty ($16). It's a nice dark red. I'm not sure how it'll stand up against the Julep polishes I'm addicted to, but it's a nice color, so I'm willing to give it a whirl.

Then there's the Dial ($3)....o_O.....yeah. Well, I guess Dial is itchy to promote their new body wash and is hitting the subscription box arena, so this one was a "special extra". Not so much on the special. I will not use this. I have some Body Shop chocolate body wash I'm addicted to right now. Also, I prefer not to put synthetic everything all over my super sensitive skin. My roommate won't use it either. He likes bar soap. Maybe I can pawn it off on my sister and her fiance? Takers?


The total combined value of the box not including the gift card was $130. I'm not counting the gift card because I had to spend money to use it. I spent $21.50, so I'm pretty excited about the value of it. There were A SCHLOAD (yes, that's a word) of negative reviews about this box on the internet. I'm not really sure why? Maybe we're all getting too spoiled by these things? I've said before that I might feel...meh about products, but I can't really get pissed off with these things if I'm getting more value out of it than what I paid.  If I HAD to come up with a complaint it would be that this box was very beauty focused and I was hoping for a little more variation. It IS supposed to be a lifestyle box, so there should be home things in there too. There has been more variety of items in previous boxes. I can't see myself keeping this up for very long because it's kind of on the expensive side, but I do want to get the March box to see if there are any St. Paddy's Day items in it (There better be St. Paddy's Day items in it. *shifty eyes*).



FYI, I have another Plated box (I guess I should talk about the first one?) coming next week, a Petit Vour box coming in March and the FabFitFun VIP box ALSO coming in March. I'm super excited about that one because it's supposed to contain $175 worth of items. I had a coupon for that one too. It's a quarterly box, so there's only 4 every year and I feel a little better about spending that amount of money on something that isn't every month. I also got sent another coupon for a Klutch box. I really liked the first one, so $10 for box number two was beyond reasonable. And a friend of mine encouraged me to try Graze box. It's $5 a box, but your 1st and 5th boxes are free and it comes with 4 different bags of snacks. You can specify what kinds of flavors you like and let them know if you have a food allergy. I'm excited for that one too. I'm always looking for healthy snack alternatives.

It's all sunshiney out now. I hope some of this friggin' snow melts. Ugh. Can it be spring, please?