August 2015 Julep Fushia Fizzy Mystery Box Reveal

I've had a lot of unboxing fun this month! I don't normally have this many boxes all at once but it's my b-day month so I may have splurged a little bit! 

I've had a subscription to Julep for a couple years now, but I haven't taken it in about a year. I just haven't cancelled it totally yet. I'm locked into an older plan but it's $19.99 a month and I can skip if I want. I want to say in the newer plans you can't skip every month and it's might be $24.00 but you can mix and match your box. I'm locked into to pre-made styles boxes. If you don't always want nail polish they usually have a beauty box too. My favorite product is actually their Bare Face facial oil! Of course now I wash my face with coconut oil! That stuff is the best for so many reasons. 

The September Box is looking pretty promising and I might just have to take it. Here is a sneak peak. The window opens on the 21st and it looks to be a lot of colors and products I would love. 

We'll just have to wait and see. Anyhoo! 

They do mystery boxes ever month or two and I ended finding a coupon to use so I got it for 50% off.

Here is my youtube unboxing video!

I honestly got a really great mystery box and I love all the products! I haven't tried the nail polish yet but I thought I'd break down the products more now that I've had a few days with them. 

Beach Tonic - $23.00/18.50 for Mavens

Lock Down Your Brows -$ 22.00/16.70 for Mavens

Nail Decals $6.00

Nail Polish $14.00/11 for Mavens

Left to right - Trisha, Jenny, Connie, & Mariska

Total Value $107 or around $85 for Mavens

So for $12.50 I got a great mystery box. 

I love the Beach Tonic! I used it after my shower yesterday. It smells wonderful and moisturizes nicely. It's not to oily and soaks in nicely.

I wasn't sure about the Lock Down your Brows. It's a clear gel that not only helps shape your brows with out a flaky feeling. It's conditions and promotes regrowth. You can wear it in the day and at night for repair. I tried it both day and night. It felt nice and gave a little definition to my brows.

 I would recommend this product. 

The nail colors are perfect shades for me and like I mentioned in the video no doubles for me! I read that Connie is more of a Jelly formula than a Creme. Mariska is Orange with pink shimmer but I read that the shimmer doesn't really show and that it's a bright neon orange. I actually love that it's neon. 

I think I might try it on today with the nail decals. 

I'm kind of obsessed with the color orange lately. Maybe it's fall in the air! 

Anyhoo! Julep has great products and I would highly recommend them to anyone!

You don't have to have the subscription to shop but if you think you'd like to subscribe just click my link below. 

Sign up to be a Julep Maven

What's your favorite part of my box? What's your favorite subscription box?

Ipsy August 2015 Review and Chat

Guess what I got yesterday! My August Ipsy Glambag.
These beauty and makeup sample bags are so fun. 

I received 5 great products this month and I can't wait to try them all.

1. Juara Skincare - Facial Mask
2. Skone Cosmetics - Luxe Doubler lip/eye liner
3. Brigeo - Hair Volumizer
4. Noyah -Natural Lipstick
5. Trust Fund Beauty - Nail Polish

Here is my youtube review of my bag. Hope you enjoy!

Did you get an Ipsy bag? What products do you love this month?
Want to sign up? It's only $10 a month for 5 full or deluxe size samples!
Check it out : Ipsy 

Summer Hair Adventure

So for over a couple years or so I've been pinning tons of colorful hair dye jobs on pinterest. I've been wanting purple hair but didn't know if I could quiet pull it off.  Growing up I boxed dyed my hair every color under the sun. My mom and I had many crazy ideas and bad hair jobs. I haven't touched  boxed dyes in years.

I have a great stylist and she puts up with all my hair changes. I wouldn't trust anyone else with my hair. She's a good friend and worth my drive across town even though I don't see her near as often as I should. I honestly would rather pay more for a good hair cut that with grow out good.

Anyhoo back to my adventure. I've been growing my hair out and it's was pretty long for me. It's healthy and currently it just had lots of highlights. I hadn't all over dyed it in a while.

On a whim I decided to try some semi permanent blue/purple highlights. You can read about this on my other blog : Adventures of Dyeing my Own Fibers.  I love them but of course they didn't last long and I was ready for more!!

I went to Ulta and I was going to try Punky Colors based on a recommendation from my cousin. They didn't have purple so I started looking around and found these Splat Dye Ombre kits. Being near July 4th I had a crazy idea of Red and Blue hair well it didn't take to well and I'm still regretting this choice. You can see my full review in my youtube video HERE

Splat dye

I tried the vitamin C & Head & Shoulder treatment,  and swimming in chlorine, to try to get this stuff out of my hair. It won't budge. You can tell it faded some but even after what I do the next few weeks. I still have pink/green in my hair. 
I haven't bleached it. 

Splat dye after trying to fade it!!! 

 So after realizing this wasn't coming out of my hair I decided to go with my original plan. I used the same Ion Color Brilliance in Radiant Orchid. I figured that the purple would mix well over these colors. I mixed the dye with some white conditioner to help it go further and spread on easier since it's kinda thick. I loved the results. I ended up with multi tonal purple. 

The color did start to fade some as these colors do. I ended up with pink/grey/ashy tones. 

It was pretty but then I got a really crazy idea.......

I decided to chop off all my hair!!! Ahhh! 

It was the best decision ever! I've had my hair in reverse bobs many times before but I wanted something shorter! I talked with my stylist and told her I was thinking of a longer pixie cut! 

I absolutely love what she did! The color seemed to look a little better after the cut too! 

I didn't have her do anything to the color. 

I told her I would just be dying it purple again :) 

And that is what I did! Easily did the Ion Radiant Orchid over it again! 

I LOOOOVED IT! 

I was heading out on vacation to Colorado and planned on just letting it breathe for a few weeks. Only I got really sick my 2nd week of vacation. I usually try to wash my hair every 2-3 days with cold water to help the color last. With being sick the only thing that was helping was very hot showers with water beating over my head! So lets just say my color faded out a lot! 

My roots had now been growing for 6 weeks and since I had bleach mix on hand I touched up my roots and this is currently what my hair looks like. It's Blonde and not to brassy but I still have that stinking splat dye so it's pink/purple/green in areas. I got some purple shampoo to help the blonde not be brassy and I really like it.  Secretly I heard some of the purple shampoos will turn you hair purple/grey so I kinda hoped it might but the one I'm using doesn't. I'm trying really hard just to condition and let my hair repair for a few weeks but I have this urge to do more of a violet purple all over again! eeek! I'm having to much fun! 

It's about time for a trim too. My hair is healthy, grows fast and short hair takes more maintenance. I'm loving it short and I may go a little shorter next time around! 

So My stylist made me an offer that I can't refuse! I was supposed to blog this like a month ago when I got it cut!!  

Just got to busy with vacation. 

Her name is Emily Rose of Hair by Me- Emily 

(Click above to visit her Facebook page) 

She is a good friend and has cut my hair for many years now! I've never left with a bad cut or color from her. She seriously is good at reading my ever changing mind! She always walks me through styling my hair and what products to use. I used to have trouble getting my hair to hold curl and she taught me some tricks.  I had a fear I wouldn't be able to style this new cut but it's been really easy after she walked me through it all! She also was super sweet after I explained everything I did to my hair and gave me some tips. She said I didn't really damage my hair. Thankfully it's pretty strong! 

If you are looking for a new stylist, she works on the Southwest side of OKC out of Salon Therapy. 

If you tell her I sent you can get $5.00 off a Shampoo/Cut/Style

If I get 5 people into see her she'll give me a free hair cut which saving money is nice, but I'll be seeing her soon regardless. 

Now I just have to figure out what color I want to do or not do next and find some patience to wait!! 

What's your favorite color on me? 

What color would you love to do? 

Ulta Haul - Purple Shampoo and Make up Gifts

So I got an Ulta ad in the mail and did I mention its my b-day week. I have no control LOL! They were having a free gift with purchase on their Ulta Brand Cosmetics. I've never used them but the Free 15 Piece Gift caught my attention ($88 Value). I do need mascara and I love trying new make up so I picked out a three items to reach the $19.50 purchase to get the gift. 

1.  Baked Eye Shadow - In Lucky Charms- I've been loving a good camo or olive base look and I've never used a baked Shadow. 

2. Eye crayon in the shade - Birthday Girl of course. It's a pretty pink/champagne color and will be a nice quick go to for a easy simple shimmer eye look. 

3. Extreme Wear Eyeshadow Primer. I normally use Urban Decay but I ran out, got a deal on some Elf eye primer -which isn't all that great but it was only $2 and elf does have some great finds. Hopefully I will like this a little better. I really need the primer with my Urbabn Decay Palettes! I have the Vice 3, Naked 3 and Amma pallets! I love them all! 

I had a $3.50 off coupon too so for around $25.00 I got those with all this!!! 

Cosmetic Bag

Full Size Legendary Lengths Mascara

3 eye shadow quads

Glitter Eye Shadow Top Coat Duo

Blush Highlighter Duo

Dual Ended Eye Liner

Mineral Lip Gloss

Brow Tint

3 pc Cosmetic Brush Set

Mini Nail Lacquer

Matte Lipstick 

and there is a coupon in the bag for $5. off a $15 cosmetic brush purchase. 

I'm new to the Wink Ulta Program but I supposedly get a b-day gift too on my birthday. 

I'll have to wait and see what it is. 

I did get these Nars Lippies from Sephora for my b-day! - I love them both. 

So It will be fun to play with my new make up! Not that I need more but I can't pass up a good deal. 

The whole reason I went to Ulta actually (haha) was to look for a Purple shampoo. I still have yet to share my summer hair adventure. It's been lots of colors and it's currently Bleached Blonde but I still have some red/pink/teal/blue left underneath from my Splat dye (never again- see video) . 

So it's kinda Blonde Pastel at the moment. I'm actually liking it but I thought I'd try a purple shampoo instead of trying to permanately tone it. Purple Shampoo is supposed to help the cancel out the brassy tones. Mine isn't to orange/yellow but I would like to brighten it up some. I'm not sure how it will react with my colorful hair but the worst it can do it turn purple right!?! and I loved my purple hair. I still have a tube of the Ion Color Brilliance in Radiant Orchid and I may do it again but I'm liking the Blond for the moment. I'll let you know how it works. 

I looked up a lot of different ones and I ended up not getting one I researched. I love the Sexy Hair products my Hair Stylist suggested for my pixie cut and I saw they had one. 

It's a little pricy but not terribly expensive as some but not super cheap that it might not work. 

The reviews seem good so well see. 

Current Hair color! What will I do next??? haha

So do you like Ulta Brand Products? Are you obsessed with make up like me? Have you tried purple Shampoo? Tell me about it in the Comments!

Thursday Thoughts - Part 1 - Simply Your Beauty Products

HI! Today I was sitting down to paint my nails. I often feel overwhelmed when I open my giant Julep box filled with various nail polish. I posted a picture on the Facebook page and started thinking. As I'm working to simplify my life I thought "why do I have all this if it overwhelms me?" I want painting my nails to be fun but a simple process. 

 Well for one I joined Julep about two years ago and get a box with nail and makeup goodies every month. It was so fun at first and I bought into the hype of mystery boxes and my collecting grew fast that year. I haven't even taken a box since Nov of 2014 and yet I keep the subscription. Tempting myself every month, picking out a box selecting my goodies and then talking myself out of it and clicking skip. Thankfully I still have that option, some of the newer subs have changed.  I have one product that I was clinging to. Their Bare Face Cleaning oil seriously changed my face washing life, but I've moved on from it. Now I  wash my face with Organic Coconut Oil. Sound totally strange but this stuff is amazing! Now Coconut Oil has changed my life. 

It does everything...seriously....look it up on pinterest. 

Anyway back to the polish simplifying. I think I'm going to work to sell off my collection or give a lot of it away in August. I'm in a Julep FB Group and they love to do giveaways so I'm sure they'll snatch it up!  I will pick out what I love and what I don't love. I seem to reach for the same colors all the time. I don't really do Nail Art. Oh boy have I tried! If I can't drawn on paper how in the world did I think I could on my nails. haha! 

I think maybe I'll try to get this down to 15-20 bottles! Then I need to attack my makeup stash! I actually did through out a ton of old polish and makeup last fall. I was doing a cleaning wars with a group of Ladies and we were challenged to go through everything. 

Makeup expires ya'll! Don't hold on to it so long! 

I also want to organize my makeup better. Now I don't usually have all this out on the counter. 

I'm going out of town for the rest of July and was picking out what to take. I told my mom with my new hair do and obsession with make up. I need a suitcase just for that! I'm actually not taking that  much but a little vacation time give me opportunity to try some new makeup looks with my palettes! I'm better at that with my eyeshadow than with the nail polish! LOL! 

Any hoo! There are my thoughts today! Do you need to simplify your beauty products? 

I challenge you to do this.  

1. Through out empty bottles or almost the last drop of hair products 

(shampoo, conditioner, body wash, lotion)   

2. Go through your polish and if it's old and crusty through that away. 

3. Lastly check your makeup stash and if you've still have make up samples and/or really old makeup that is older than a few years get rid of it! 

4. How many bottles of bath and body works lotion do you need? Get rid of some and just use coconut oil! That lotion makes me itch anyway and I still have 4 bottles. 

let me know in the comments below if you took on part of the challenge and feel free to share a before and after on my facebook page! I'd love to see!