Please visit my beauty blog, AdoraBeauty, at its new location: http://beauty.adorability.org

All future posts will be on that website, as well as past posts.

Thank you! =)

So I got my first Birchbox last week! I was so excited, and I was definitely not disappointed at all with what I was sent! The samples were all very generous, and were all things that I was interested in trying. I have tried all the products (some more than others) so I will post a quick little review next to each. I may do a more in depth review in the future, though, when I'm able to use the products a bit more.

First off...here's what it looked like with the box:

Super adorable pink packaging, and some products were even wrapped up in a little black ribbon! <3 You can see most the products there are a very good size.

Juice Beauty Green Apple Peel- Full Strength

$45.00 by Juice Beauty at Sephora

This was the product that I was most excited to receive because it is something that I've been wanting to try for awhile. I have only used it once, however, and I probably did not use it to its full potential. I was taking a bath that was wayyy too hot while it was on, and I could feel it melting off while it was on my face, which was annoying so I washed it off before the 10 minutes was up. The next day I noticed that I had devloped some acne, but that could be because I was super stressed for the past couple days (hence why I needed the bubble bath!). So...I really need to use this the right way and then I'll have a better idea if it does some good for my skin (or if it was the culprit of my acne!)

AHAVA Mineral Body Lotion

$24.00 by Ahava at Nordstrom

I was excited about this lotion because the sample size I received was so large, and I love hand creams/lotions in general. At first, I was a bit disappointed to find out that it was very thin in consistancy. I am used to "body butter" type of creams and always avoid the lotion-y type creams because I feel they don't moisturize very well. Upon applying it, it immediately sinks into the skin, and you can't really feel it at all a few minutes after. This annoyed me at first because I thought it wasn't doing anything, but then I realized that it really kept my skin moisturized for a while after that (I just couldn't "feel" the lotion anymore). Also, the smell is amazing! I don't think I would ever buy this, but it was a nice sample to use nonetheless.

Kerastase Nutritive Oleo - Curl Definition Shampoo for Dry, Curly and Unruly Hair

$32.00 by Kérastase at drugstore.com

I did not receive this exact shampoo (as you can see, the bottle in the birchbox picture is green) but they didn't have that one listed on shopstyle. The one I did get was the volumizing shampoo. I had never heard of this company before...apparently it is one of L'Oreal's more high-end labels. I've used the shampoo about 3 times now. I'm of the opinion that most shampoos are the same (with some exceptions, mainly Lush solid shampoos), so I can't say that I really saw a huge difference with my hair by using this. It was definitely a good quality shampoo and my hair was in good condition, but nothing that my usual shampoo couldn't do, which is cheaper than $35!

Jouer Essential Lip Enhancer

$14.00 at Beauty.com

The product on the left is similiar to what I recieved, but the one I got was tinted (the middle one out of these - "shiraz"). At first I was like whoaa this color is going to be way too dark for me so maybe I'll just give this to my mom. I put it on, though, and luckily the color was not at all as dark as in the tube! It was a nice flushed rose color. However, I was not at all impressed with the formula, which was similiar to a cheap lip gloss. I'm not a huge fan of lip glosses (hence the huge amount of lip glosses that are just sitting in my drawer) and I felt like this formula could stand to be a lot more moisturizing, considering it is supposed to be a "treatment". I found it was very drying and after putting it on, I couldn't really rup my lips together like I usually can with balms and such. That being said, I may still give it to my mom now because she likes lip glosses.

Archipelago Botanicals Pomegranate Soap

$13.50 by Archipelago Botanicals at Smallflower

I was super excited about this one because, as we all know, I love trying out soaps! This was also probably the only product I was most pleased with. I mean, its hard to screw up a soap. I've used it a few times now. The smell (which is pomegranate) is incredibly refreshing! I've been using it in the morning because  it does a good job of waking me up. The formula itself is also very moisturizing (similiar to a Dove beauty bar). All in all, a good quality soap that I will continue to use up.

Kerastase Resistance Ciment Anti - Usure Fortifying Treatment for Damaged Lengths and Ends

$36.00 by Kérastase at drugstore.com

The final product I recieved was actually not part of the main list of products. With birchbox, you can decide if you want them to send you a foil sample along with your order. Umm...why wouldn't I want more samples!? haha. So this was the foil pounch I got. As you can see, its the same company that the shampoo is from. I was looking forward to trying this because my ends are certainly damaged. I wasn't really sure how to use this. It said it was a "treatment" and to apply to hair and rinse. I wasn't sure if that meant dry hair or to use it on wet hair like a conditioner or if its supposed to be used with a conditioner...so many questions! I settled on using it as a conditioner. Overall, it really did help my ends...nothing drastic but I could tell they were in better shape. However, I'm not sure that this is worth $36!

All in all, I really enjoyed my first Birchbox! I'd highly reccommend signing up. Its $10/month for a subscription and if you do the month-to-month subscription, you can cancel anytime. Much more beneficial than a magazing subscription, in my opinion. I'm definitely looking forward to June's box!

Nyx Jumbo Eye Pencil (in "Milk")

$4.49 by NYX at Ulta

Love this eyeshadow pencil! I use it everyday for my inner corners. The consistency is very creamy and it blends very well. It really makes my eyes look much brighter. My only gripe is that the cap is very cheap and cracks extremely easily (and I don't even put much pressure on it)...wish there was a more sturdy cap!

eos Lip Balm with SPF 15 (in "Honeydew")

$3.49 at Walgreens

These lip balms are super cute, but unfortunately that's about all they are for me! I used to use the Honeysuckle one, which was a nice scent (although I would have preferred lemon) and the shape of the container was really cool at first, but eventually it became bothersome to open and use (especially when the round shape wears down to flatness). The actual product wasn't bad...a pretty average but nice lip balm, in my opinion. However, if I can find the lemon drop anywhere, I would think about giving this another try.

Noubar Soap

$5.95 at Lush

I got this soap as a sample at Lush. They asked what type of soaps I liked and I told them anything creamy, so they said that noubar would work great for me. The scent of this soap is really interesting and I definitely like it! Its a very nutty scent and stays on your skin for a long time after your shower, which is a huge plus for me when it comes to scents. Its also very pretty in appearance (I'm using it almost as a bathroom decoration now). Overall, a fun soap to use and very creamy as well. I would consider purchasing a full bar.

I should be getting my first Birchbox this week! I will be sure to do a post with the products I get, either with reviews or without (more of a "haul").

This week I'll be reviewing 5 products that I recieved from Juice Beauty. I've only been using these products for a week, so the reviews will not be that in-depth...more of a first impressions sort of thing. Two of these are full-sized products and the other 3 are foil samples that were with my package.

Juice Beauty Organic Facial Rejuvenation Mask

$32.00 by Juice Beauty at SkinStore

I was able to get this full sized mask for free due to a promotion that Juice Beauty was sponsoring on Elle&Blair.com. I love trying out new skin care products, especially face masks, so this was an awesome deal! As I mentioned previously, I use Lush face masks pretty much exclusively so I don't have much experience with face masks from other companies. I've used this twice so far, and it was a much different experience than the Lush masks. It was a gel consistancy and clear in color so I could not tell I had it on my face at all. I left it on for 10 minutes and then washed it off with water using my hands. My face felt really nice afterwards, though a tad bit dry. I'm not sure if it is in combination with the blemish serum sample that I've also been using (below), but I have noticed my acne dimishing this week. Unless I continue to see a noticible difference, I probably won't purchase this since it is so expensive. I will have to see how long it lasts. It seems to be gentle enough to use twice a week, so I've been using it twice during the week with my Lush face mask (BB Seaweed) on the weekend.

Juice Beauty Lip Moisturizers SPF 8

$15.00 by Juice Beauty at Beauty.com

This was the only product in my order that I purchased. I got the pink color (the middle one in the picture) called "Joyful" (the singles cost $6). To be honest, I was expecting something a bit different. The color is a bit light for my lips and very frosty and shimmery. This is not something that I would want to wear to work like I had originally planned. It also does not glide across my lips very smoothly, either. Actually...this product is exactly like the ChapStick True Shimmer, so if you're interested in this I would save a few bucks and just get that. The one thing I did love about this was the smell, which is super sweet strawberries, as well as the SPF which is always a plus. I will definitely use this up but would not purchase again.

Juice Beauty Blemish Clearing Serum

$29.00 by Juice Beauty at SkinStore

This was one of the foil samples I recieved along with my order. Trying to get the right amount of product out of the little foil packet was a pain because the consistancy is very thin and it kept dripping all over the place...I probably lost about half the product. The active ingriedient in this serum is salicylic acid, which I mentioned before isn't very effective on my skin. Regardless, I have noticed that the few bumps I've had have faded away a little. Of course, this may be due to the mask I have been using as well. Overall, I would probably suggest to keep your money on this one. There are many other products out there that are much cheaper that use salicylic acid, and I'm sure you can find one that use natural ingridients as well like Juice Beauty does but for less than 30 bucks.

Juice Beauty Stem Cellular Repair Eye Treatment

$45.00 by Juice Beauty at Sephora

This is another foil sample. This is something that I knew I would never purchase right off the bat because of the steep price, but it was fun to try regardless. Between this and a Lancome Eye Cream sample I got at Sephora, I've been giving my eyes a little extra TLC lately. I've been using that cream in the morning and this treatment at night. Overall, I really like it! I feel like after I apply it, I can feel my under-eye area getting a little bit tighter and smoother. I'll definitely use this little sample until its done (only a little bit of product is needed, so it should last another week maybe). Again, not something I would purchase myself, but if you have the money and you would like a good eye treatment (primarily if you have aging skin), this would be a great product to try!

Juice Beauty Stem Cellular Repair Moisturizer

$65.00 by Juice Beauty at Sephora

This was the last of the foil samples that I got. This is another product that I most certainly would not purchase a full size of due to the price ($65? yowza!), but I really liked testing it out. The cream is very thick and feel nice upon application. One thing though...it stings! Part of my kind of likes the tingly feeling but the other part of me wonders whether it should be tingling. lol. My Cetaphil moisturizer (which I used before I started with Lush) used to give me this feeling as well, so it could just be my skin. I would say this product is definitely effective, though, and super moisturizing. Again, if you have the cash, this would be a great moisturizer to get if you have particularly dry or aging skin.

Overall, my opinion of Juice Beauty is a rather neutral. I love how their products are all natural, and some are definitely effective, but I feel as though the price tag does not match the effectiveness of the products. I will keep on using all the samples, though, as well as the full sized face mask (which luckily is my favorite product out of the bunch).

There are a lot of products that I'd like to review but don't really have enough to say about them to justify writing a long post. So, I decided that about once a week (if I keep up with it hopefully)  I'm going to do these "mini reviews" where I'll be reviewing 3 products in little blurbs. These are actually quite easy for me, because they'll most likely be reviews that I've already posted on a website I recently joined called Beautylish. Its really cool...kind of like a social networking site for beauty products lovers! If you do decide to join, please "follow me" =) Now, on to the reviews...

Benefit Cosmetics CORALista

$28.00 by Benefit at Sephora

My go-to blush! I wear this blush everyday! Its easy to apply and I happen to love the brush, although thats my own preference because many people seem to dislike it. The color is a gorgeous peachy pink that will compliment basically any skin tone. Its perfect for a nice, natural look and will also give you a slight hint of sparkle.

Korres Lip Butter

$10.00 by Korres at Sephora

I really love this tinted lip balm (the color I have is "Quince")! I don't wear lip color or lipstick at all, so a tinted balm is as close as I'll get to having color on my lips! The color is actually more than I thought it would be (but that could be because I generally shy away from color). It leaves a very nice rosy red color on my lips. It is very moisturizing, though I do find that it does not last really long and needs to be re-applied fairly often. The one thing I dislike most about this product is the tub...I would LOVE if this came in a tube container! I hate having to dip my finger in it and get it all over my hand.

Neutrogena Anti-Residue Shampoo

$5:85 by Neutrogena at Soap.com

This product does what it says it will do...removes residue from your hair! Using this once a week leaves my hair nice and soft and I can tell that my regular shampoos and products are working much better. I no longer have that grimy or oily feeling in my hair due to using so many products. The only downside is that is does make my hair a tad bit dry, so I try to use a hydrating hair mask or deep conditioner when using this shampoo.

Disclaimer: These products were purchased by me and the review is based on my own personal experience. I have no affiliation with Benefit Cosmetics, Korres, or Neutrogena and am not getting paid to review these products

There are quite a few products on my list to review, but I thought that I would talk only about the products I've tried that claim to help acne, and whether they have worked for me or not. Please note that all skin types are different, so what may have not worked for me may actually work for you and vice versa.

What Works:

Fortune Cookie Soap's Clearly Complexion Bar Soap: This is a new product that I've been using for about a month now. I'm hesitant to say that a certain product has worked wonders for me since there are a ton of products I have used that I thought had worked, but then the problem just returns after a while and the product no longer works for me. But the fact is that since I've started using this soap twice daily, my acne has gone from a scary, angry breakout to only a few faint pimples. I'm almost waiting to get another breakout so I can claim that it wasn't this soap thats keeping them away, but honestly I haven't had one in weeks! That is not to say my skin has been 100% clear (thats an impossible task), but the only spots I have are barely visible. I can only attribute that to this soap (possibly in conjunction with the mask I will talk about below). I will continue to use it and will report if it stops working for me, but so far so good :) The best part is, its only $7.50 and will last me a long, long, long time.

Fortune Cookie Soap's Clearly Complexion Dry Clay Mask: I've been using this along with the above soap. It comes in 4 single packets (a one month supply) so I've been using one a week. I haven't ever used face masks other than what I get from Lush, so it was definitely a new experience for me. Its basically a powder that you mix with your activator of choice (the activator you use depends on your skin type. They are listed on the packet). I chose to use milk with mine. When mixed, it creates this ridiculously black paste...like pitch black. On the website, it looks like a brown color, but its definitely wayy darker than that, which makes it a bit messy. But besides the mess factor (and the fact that you need to dirty up a bowl or cup), I love it! Like I said above, I'm not sure if its this or the soap or that fact that I'm using them both, but it has been working great on my skin! I can really feel it thoroughly cleaning out my skin when I use it. However, at $8 for only 4 weeks, it would be cheaper to use a Lush face mask (either a fresh mask for $5 or Mask of Magnaminty for $11 which lasts for 4 months). I'm glad I got this, though, because it was a nice change of pace from my Lush masks (and I will definitely repurchase sometime in the future), but after the last packet is used up its back to Magnaminty for me!

LUSH's Ocean Salt Scrub: I already did a full review on this, so feel free to read that. Overall, its a good (and very delicious smelling!) scrub that I only use once a week because of how scrubby it is, twice a week at the most if my skin is being extra flakey. However, it hasn't been flakey at all lately (which is awesome...maybe its in part to this scrub?), so I've only been using this once a week...usually in the morning.

Clean & Clear Persa-Gel 10: This is a very strong Benzoyl Peroxide treatment that I only use when I have spots already. I've found that Benzoyl Peroxide (unlike Salicylic Acid) really works for me and dries up my pimples overnight, makign them disappear much more quickly than they would have otherwise. I'll never go without this again, thats for sure.

What Doesn't:

Neutrogena Rapid Clear Eliminating Spot Gel: Like I mentioned above, Salicylic Acid generally does nothing for me, which I realized more fully after trying this product. I had run out of my Persa-Gel, so I decided to give this a try because it got some good reviews. Well...it definitely did not rapidly eliminate any of my pimples, let alone have any effect on them at all. I also wasn't a huge fan of the texture, which was a very thin gel.

LUSH's Grease Lightning Spot Treatment: I was really excited to try this product out (being a huge lushie and all), but I just don't feel like its done much for my skin. I'm still using it once daily (at night before putting on moisturizer) but I feel like if I stopped using it, my skin wouldn't be that much different. However, I could be completely wrong, so I will have to see how my skin reacts when I use up the product and remove it from my routine. Overall, it isn't making my skin any worse from what I can tell...its just not making any noticible difference that I can see.

LUSH's Saving Face Serum Bar: I have also done a full review on this product. It pains me to put another LUSH product on this list, but this has also done nothing for me. It claims to "mop up excess oils", but I've actually noticed that I get more acne once I use this. The most bothersome part of this product, though, is how hard it is to use. It does not melt in my hand like their massage bars and I found it so difficult to apply to my face!

Other Beauty News: Last night I discovered a really awesome company called Birchbox. Its kind of like a magazine subscription, except instead of a monthly magazine, you recieve a box with 4-5 very large sized samples of prestige beauty products. The price for subscription is $10/month (or you can pay $110 for a year). I'm supposed to receive my first Birchbox in May, and will definitely be posting what I get and my opinion of the products (perhaps it will even be a vlog). Just wanted to let you guys know beforehand if it is something you're interested in trying. :) You can type "Birchbox" into Youtube to see some examples of what is in a typical birchbox...the product samples really are huge and sometimes full-sized.

Some more reviews on goodies from BzzAgent to share with you! I'll be reviewing two products, actually, since I recieved them at the same time and they are from the same company and can be used together.

The first is "The One Sweep" Eye Shadow palette from L'Oreal. The one I recieved was for brown eyes (I must have told them in a survey at some point what my eye color was). Looking at the website, it appears there are different shades tailored to eye-color, as well as a choice within that eye-color between "playful" (a more bold look) and "natural" (a neutral look). The one I received was "playful" and the three colors it contained were a light shimmery pink, a neutral taupe, and a deep purple.  I was really happy with the color choice because those happen to be my three favorite eyeshadow colors! The idea behind this shadow is that you only need "one sweep" to achieve the liner/base/highlight look. Its actually a really great idea, and I found the execution of it to work out fairly well. One thing, though - blending IS needed, at least a little bit. Without blending, the lines were very harsh from the three colors, especially the dark purple. After some very minimal blending, the look was perfect! Very shimmery and slightly glittery, though, so definitely not a look I would wear to the office. I would use this on nights out and such. The only difficulty I had at first was trying to figure out how to angle the brush so that the colors went in the correct parts of my lid. There are instructions on the product (and it isn't very diffcult) but I remain extremely directionally challanged (in more ways than this lol!) and it took a while for me to master swiping it on the right side and placing it correctly on my lid, especially when it came to my left eyelid.

The second product I received was the "Double Extend Eye Illuminator Mascara", also by L'Oreal. I had only just bought a new mascara a couple weeks before, so I was moreso interested in the "illuminating" aspect of this product. This mascara is double-ended (obviously). The first end being the actual mascara, and the other end being an illuminating top coat with an applicator very similar to Givenchy's Phenomen'Eyes. The illuminating color can vary. The one I received was "black quartz" (a burgandy color), which was for brown eyes. They also have one for blue eyes, one for green eyes, and a general black one for for all eye colors. I had never tried anything like this before, and was pleased with the results. The actual mascara, to me, was good but nothing special (my Sephora Atomic Volume blows it out of the water, for sure). The illuminator, though, was pretty neat and made my eyelashes sparkle. The directions say to put it on the tips of lashes for a slight sparkley effect, and on the entire lash for a more dramatic look. I did the full lash, and for some reason I kept seeing little flickers of light out of the corner of my eyes (perhaps it was the light reflecting off the sparkles). It was slightly distracting, but actually kind of funny. I found using it only on the tips of lashes is the best option, though, because it is perfect for an everyday look since it is just a subtle sparkle. I've been using it on-top of my Sephora mascara for work and it looks great!

Here is a pic of my eye with both products:

Disclaimer: Thes products were sent to me by BzzAgent, and the review is based on my own personal experience. I have no affiliation with L'Oreal Paris and am not getting paid to review these products

Since this isn't exactly a beauty product, I wasn't sure whether to post this review here or on my main blog, Adorability.org, but I decided here would be the best place in order to keep my product reviews separate from my personal blogging.

BzzAgent was generous enough to send me quite a few products from SE Johnson as part of their Smart and Easy Spring Cleaning campaign. I recieved Pledge, shower foam cleaner, a candle (which I'll review here), a scented plug-in refill (which I haven't used yet because I need to get the actual plug-in), and toilet bowl cleaning gels (which I actually have been already using for over a year). Since I'm a candle junkie, thats what I've decided I'm going to review. Let me know if you want me to review any of the other products I was sent, because I can definitely do that as well (and I'll probably review at least the plug-in when I get around to using it).

The candle I recieved was part of Glade's new Spring Collection. The scent is called "Sparkle of Spring" and is described as "fresh lime and citrus". I tend to avoid tropical/fruity scents (not because I dislike them, but I just tend to prefer more floral, woodsy, or clean scents), so it was nice to a tropical scent filling my apartment for once =p The color of the candle is bright green, which is fun and different! I found the scent to be very "springy" (obviously) and fresh and definitely pleasant. However (and I'm not sure if this is due to my noise being a little stuffy), I found that the scent throw wasn't that great. It might be better suited in a bathroom or other small space as opposed to where I burned it (in my living room) so I may try moving it into my bathroom next time. Overall, I've always liked Glade candles for the price they cost, which is usually pretty cheap. They're not the best candles you can get, obviously (I have Candles by Victoria to thank for that!) but for a few bucks, they're not a bad option, especially if you just want to bring a nice scent to a bathroom or other small area.

Disclaimer: This product was sent to me by BzzAgent, and the review is based on my own personal experience. I have no affiliation with Glade and am not getting paid to review this product.

I'm usually not someone who wears lipcolor (the most I'll do is a tinted lipbalm), but I figured I'd give this Maybelline lipcolor a go since it was being sent to me from Bzz Agent! The 4 colors I received were way darker than I would normally purchase. I tried on the lightest of the four colors (timeless rose) and was pleasantly surprised at how natural it looked! It did look like I had a lip color on, but it wasn't as drastic as I thought it would be. Just for kicks I tried one of the darker colors, and I looked a bit goth...it would have been cool if I were going for that look, though. My favorite part, however, had to be the balm...its super moisturizing and I would probably wear it alone without the lip color part. All in all, a good product if you are in the market for lip color. Personally, I will only wear this on special occasions when a lip color is needed.

Disclaimer: This product was sent to me by BzzAgent, and the review is based on my own personal experience. I have no affiliation with Maybelline and am not getting paid to review this product

There are so many product reviews I've been meaning to put up, but I've been procrastinating!

I haven't done a Lush review in a little while, so this review will be on Lush's Ocean Salt scrub. I changed up my Lush skin care routine a little bit once I ran out of Fresh Farmacy and Aqua Marina Cleansers. I really do love Aqua Marina and will probably purchase it again at some point. The only problem with it is that it doesn't stay fresh for very long, and I wanted to conservse some more money. What I've been doing now is using Ultrabland every night to remove my makeup followed by Tea Tree Toner and Imperialis moisutizer. Ever other day or so I'll use Ocean Salt to exfoliate or a fresh face mask if I happen to have one at the time.

I've been wanting to try Ocean Salt for a long time now, and the price always put me off...but I finally decided to get it! Right before you use it the first time, you have to stir the mixture in the pot together. It'll turn from a bright blue to a sea-green color (really pretty!). The texture is super scrubby...so if you're not used to having strong exfoliation on your face, I would use this on your body instead. I usually only use it once or twice a week because of the scrubbiness. The smell of this is amazing. I almost love it based on the smell alone! Its like a margarita for your skin. You can definitely pick up the lime smell. Also, when you use it, some of the salt will probably get in your mouth which I actually love (but I can see how it would be annoying).

As for results, thats the one area that I can't say I'm completely sold on yet. I haven't noticed any serious improvements, though it does seem like its improved the flakiness of my skin a bit. Its hard to say, though, because this week I happen to have a lot of flakes on my face...but that could be do to other factors like the weather. Overall, I'm giving this a 3 out of 5 untill I see a noticible improvement with my skin, but like I said it feels and smells amazing (and the pot also lasts a really long time and doesn't expire too soon, which is a rarity with Lush products).

Disclaimer: This product was purchased by me and this review is based on my own personal experience. I have no affiliation with Lush Cosmetics and am not getting paid to review this product.