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#BEAUTYCONBFF

Until recently I was unaware the Beautycon made a monthly box. I saw an ad for it on my Facebook (I know, I’ve been seeing a lot on there lately) and was super intrigued. Mostly perhaps because this month the box was curated by Bethany Mota.

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I did read spoilers ahead of time, so I knew what I’d be getting, but that didn’t make me any less excited about receiving it. I couldn’t wait for it to get here! It was packaged pretty well, but unfortunately the eye shadow was cracked and separated. Otherwise though I’m very happy!

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These are deemed Bethany’s “winter essentials” and this is definitely a super fun box. The packaging, items – it all mixes together for a sugary sweet box of all things girly. Here is a peek inside the box:

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Murad Hydrating Toner – I can’t wait to try this! I’ve heard great things about Murad

Essie Marshmallow Nail Color

Maybelline NY The Falsies Push Up Mascara

Soap & Glory Hand Food Hydrating Hand Cream – Love this hand cream for keeping in my purse. Super small and portable.

Garnier Fructis Root Amp Lifting Spray Mousse

Disney Minnie Mouse Tattoo Junkee Jewelry Inspired Tattoos

Disney Sequin Minnie Mouse Ears – I’m hoping to get to Disney soon, so these and the tattoos are perfect!

NIKE $20 Gift Card Off $50 Purchase – This came in the cutest, tiniest shoe box!

Revlon Ultra HD Matte Lipcolor

ColourPop Highlighter – Sadly this was broken, but I think I can still use it because it is so creamy! LOVE the color!

Aeropostale $10 Gift Card Off $50 Purchase

Beautycon Gold Digger Notebook – This came super scratched, but is still so cute and I love the gold!

Have any of you tried this box? Thoughts??

I LOVE Love With Food

After being diagnosed with stomach problems a few years back I’ve gotten used to having to hunt for fun new gluten free foods. I came across Love with Food a while back, and was so excited to find that I could get a box of gluten free foods delivered to my door monthly. I stopped for a bit, but picked back up again after grabbing a deal on Black Friday. I’m SO glad I did. Since coming back to the box I’ve had amazing snacks in my boxes and I just had to share. They also make boxes that aren’t gluten free as well. Plus for every box, a meal is donated to feed a hungry child in the US. That is awesome! EVERYONE should check out this box! Click here to go to their website.

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Not all items are pictured in the box above, because I ate them already!!

Included in my box:

Dried garcinia Indica Superfruit by Sant – you add this to water. I haven’t tried it yet but should be good!

Corn and Sea Salt Chips by The Better Chip

Oat Chocolate Chip Coconut Whenever Bars by Pamela’s Products

Gluten Free Brown Sugar & Maple Oatmeal Cup by Bob’s Red Mill

Handmade Sea Salt Caramel by Annie B’s

Dark Chocolate Toffee by Dave’s Sweet Tooth – SO. GOOD.

Snickerdoodle by Cybele’s Free to Eat

Baked Mac N’ Cheese Puffs by Snikiddy – I HAVE to buy more of these. They are the best thing ever.

Rosemary Truffle Gourmet Popcorn by Pop Art

Almond Butter and Cashew Pecan Energy Balls by Betty Lou’s

These are my new favorite!

People x The Voice Box

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I’ve been home sick for the past week, and during my endless hours of Facebooking, I came across an ad for a box put together around the show The Voice. Full disclosure, I don’t watch the show. I know what it is, I like the judges, but ultimately, I just don’t watch it. However, this box caught my eye.

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It was put together by People.com, and is officially called People x The Voice Gift Box. The concept was that they put together a gift box designed around the three rotating female judges: Gwen Stefani, Christina Aguilera, and Shakira. Originally it retailed for $49.99 but is on sale for $20! They say the value of the box is $150, and I very much believe that. The brands are AWESOME. This is a serious find. Click here to check it out! Note: I paid for this myself, and came across it on my own – I just love this box!

My favorite thing in the box is the adorable pair of sunglasses by celeb favorite Quay. These retail alone for $50! Screen Shot 2016-01-16 at 12.21.09 PM.png

The Ban.do coffee mug is one that I have seen all over, and probably wouldn’t have gone out of my way to get it, but only paying $20 for the box alone made it worth it. Plus it is pretty cute!

Screen Shot 2016-01-16 at 12.21.33 PM.png The poppin notebook is cute, and I’m a lover of stationery, so I’m positive this will get used!

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I like Laqa & Co, and I LOVE this color. I seriously can’t wait to give it a try. Mine doesn’t look as dark as the picture below – mine is a light nude.

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These earrings from Bauble Bar are adorbs! I wore them yesterday and just adore them. Note – they are very hard to take on and off, but so worth it!

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These last two items are ok, and I’ll probably use them. I’m not a huge fan of Julep’s formula, but I’ll give it a shot! And the konjac sponge from Julep comes pre-moistened, so it should be interesting to try! Screen Shot 2016-01-16 at 12.22.12 PM.png

Obsessed with Audible

I’m not one to love reading. I want to love to read, but when I sit down and try, I either get bored or distracted. But then I found Audible and I fell in love. I’m not at all affiliated with the company nor asked to talk about them. But this app has made such a difference in helping me make strides in getting through books.

Most people think that audio books are lame. I get it, because frankly, I did too. I prefer to read books that are biographical in nature, and therefore are often read by the author. This helps BIG TIME. Amy Poehler’s book is a great example of this. Just reading the book you don’t get to hear her read it along with Seth Meyers and Carol Burnett.

40 minutes a day is all it takes. I use my 20 minute (each way) drive to work as my listening time. I don’t have to focus on directions, and I can just listen to the story.

I encourage everyone to check it out! Below are the books I’ve listened to and enjoyed:

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My Favorite Blogger Series

I thought it would be fun for me to feature favorite bloggers/YouTubers that I frequent. My absolute favorite is Kristina from PrettyShinySparkly. She has a blog and is a YouTuber, and we share similar tastes. Many of the items she has recommended, I’ve gone on to purchase. I’ve linked her latest video and blog post below – check her out!

http://prettyshinysparkly.com/

I Bought A JEEP!

Back in the spring I went to the Philly and NYC Auto Show with my boyfriend, and fell in LOVE with the Jeep Renegade. I was not in the market for a car, but have always loved the Jeep brand, specifically the Wrangler. Perhaps it is all because of that country music I like? I grew up loving trucks as well, but after sitting in a bunch I decided they were all too big. The Jeep Renegade was perfect – exactly my size and had everything I wanted inside.

Since I got a new job in August, I decided I needed a car better for travel because I drive all over the state on a weekly basis. My Mazda was cute and fun, but wasn’t great for driving long distances. I began looking at the Renegade (Note: I test drove it 3-4 times before I actually bought it) and we began checking out other similar cars since the Renegade is so new. I drove some Mazdas, a Honda, a Toyota and even got fancy and drove a used Mercedes. None of the SUVS fit my needs like this one.

I know most people are turned off because it is boxy. Personally, I like the style and think it fits so well in the Jeep family. In addition to the tons of space inside, it has fun accents hidden throughout the car – little Jeep symbols! I like character, and this car has plenty of it! Plus it rides really well (not as hard as some of the other Jeeps) and makes me feel safe on the road. A fun fact: Jeep calls this car the “little sister” to the Wrangler!

The Renegade just launched this spring, so finding the one I wanted was SO hard. I wanted to make sure mine had a sun roof, and the design of the Renegade’s is so new that very few were arriving with one. Luckily, I searched all over online, and found one en route to my local dealer. #score

I was nervous to get rid of my small car, but am in LOVE with this one. Anyone else a proud Jeep owner?!

All photos courtesy of my boyfriend and his website Mindovermotor.com.

October Favorites (So late – I know!)

So I know – November is nearly over and here I am posting my favorites form LAST month. Bear with me on this. Have any of you suddenly looked at the calendar and the month has flown by? Welcome to my life. I was stunned the other day when I realized the month was half over.

What exactly was I loving last month?

Surprise – NO makeup!

With the weather getting cooler I am back to loving my warm scents. I’ve had my Burberry Brit perfume for years and still can’t get enough each fall. Screen Shot 2015-11-17 at 10.16.00 PM.png

Two words: BATH BOMBS. Ok, so I know Lush has been famous for these for some time, but apparently I got on that train pretty late. I found the one below in Francesca’s Collections and while it wasn’t a fantastic smell it was so fun and relaxing I was super excited to get to Lush to try more!

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I rediscovered my love of macarons! I was staying at a hotel for work, and saw these gorgeous treats in the window of the sweets shop and just had to help myself!

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And above all else – I rediscovered my love of Disney! I was sent to Anaheim, CA for a work conference and we stayed in Disneyland. It was so much fun, and certainly a once in a lifetime experience.

What were you loving last month?

Empties Part I

I have been saving empty products FOREVER. I hate hoarding trash, but I don’t think there is a better way to share what products I’d buy again, what I regret and what just didn’t work. I have SO many saved up stay tuned for Part II next month!

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First up are two brands of makeup removing wipes. I have a preferred brand that I love, but wanted to give these a try. The Ole Henriksen brand felt great but I couldn’t get past the smell. It wasn’t bad – but it wasn’t good. I want to try another scent to see if I like those better. And the yes to blueberries were TERRIBLE. Smelled horrible and didn’t work. I couldn’t even finish the pack of 8.

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I also was not a fan of the BareMinerals Prime Time. It definitely didn’t help hold my makeup. I did love the NYX Shine Killer though! It was GREAT and filled my pores so makeup didn’t sink in. I’d absolutely put that on the re-buy list. The ology body wash smells amazing and is so natural. I’ve bought this a few times and fall in love with it each time. I usually find mine at Walgreens. The Origins Ginzing Eye Cream is great too. That sample lasted for so long! The Urban Decay setting spray is a cult favorite, and I was so sad to be out. If I didn’t have my Model in a Bottle I’d definitely grab this again. And Serge Normant can do no wrong – this hair spray got used up so fast! I bought more products to try from the line.

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You’ll have to roll with me on these – some of them are SO old! I finally did a mascara clean out, and these are just a few that went in the trash. Instead of going through them one by one I’ll pick out a few. The Josie Maran Black Oil is amazing. I’ve blogged about it before – it does wonder for my lashes. The Lancome eyeliner (second from right) has been holy grail status for me. So sad it’s out of commission. The Roller Lash mascara went in the trash pile after 2 uses. I couldn’t stand it! Super disappointed since everyone raved about it. The other products are great, but not worth detailing nor picking up again.

Have any of you used any of the products above? Thoughts?

VIB Sephora Haul -UPDATE

This weekend I was at the mall, and found myself in the Sephora inside JC Penney. I had totally forgot to check there before thinking my sale shopping was over. I came across two sets, that I believe are exclusive to these Sephora’s. SO glad I went and checked it out!

I picked up the Sephora Favorites Beauty Unmasked – and I couldn’t resist the group of products they put together for this: FullSizeRender 26.jpg

I also picked up the Sephora Favorites Skin Wonderland, and again, the group of products is amazing. I had been thinking I hadn’t picked up any skin care items, and now I rounded out my haul! Can’t wait to try them out!

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VIB Rouge Sephora Haul

The Sephora VIB sale is my FAVORITE time of year. This year I hit Rouge status (which is both thrilling and embarrassing) and I couldn’t wait for my 20% to arrive. I went a little crazy picking things up since I took a bit of a Sephora hiatus in recent months. What better time to buy then when the entire store is on sale?! I prefer buying value sets because I feel like I get a lot for my money and I get to try everything I’ve been eyeing without dropping tons of money.

I just HAD to pick up the makeup bag above, because it is in my favorite color combo, gold and white. I also picked up the Burberry BURBERRY KISSES lipstick in Military Red No. 109, because the packaging is gorgeous in gold, and the red color is perfect for the holidays. I can’t wait to try it! I also love anything that smells like almonds (although strangely I don’t like almonds) and fell in love with the L’Occitane Almond Delights set. Their hand cream is my favorite, and I was so excited to see the almond scent.

There are SO many sets this season, and I had to think hard about what I could really use. I ordered the Give Me More Lip set which has some pretty great colors that I can try, and I picked up the Extend Your Style set in store. I love dry shampoo so it will definitely be used.

I would normally pass right over the perfume set, but once I found out that it includes a certificate for a full size perfume (from those included in the set) I went ahead and picked it up. I already have a few of the samples, but wanted to try a few more. I wound up throwing out about 5 of them. I think I might pick up Prada Candy in the full size version. (I’m in love with it!)

I was thrilled to see that one of the 500 point perks was from YSL. I love Black Opium, and I’ve been wanting to try some more of their products. The Touche Eclat looks fantastic and I can’t wait to try it.

Beyond what is pictured I picked up:

-Beautyblender Solid Bar

-Miniemergency kit (Black studded version)

-Burberry Eyebrow Definer

-Estee Lauder Be Envied: Pure Color Envy Sculpting Lipstick Collection

-Kat Von D Studded Lipstick in Lolita

I will definitely post about the items that I love! What did you pick up at the sale?

GabGoesGlam

Beauty. Lifestyle. Fashion.