Girlactik Star Glosses

On to my next product that I purchased from OpenSky is the Girlactik Star gloss in Smooch.

I was a little disappointed in the shade when I received it. The picture showed a nice peachy color and I was looking forward to trying out a completely new shade of gloss, lipstick, or any other lip product. After reading the description of the color, I believe they said it was a deep pink color with gold undertones. So I'm guessing that the camera that took the picture picked up the gold making the shade look more on the peachy side.

The packaging was really nice. I wasn't expecting what it came in at all. It was in a cheap, but pretty baby pink sachet and small things like that actually make me like a particular brand better. Don't ask me why, but that's the way I am. It's mainly, because the packaging shows me how much the company cares about their product as well as their customers. Inside the sachet was the box which I really liked as well. It was a chocolate brown box with a pink design around the edges and the corners. There was also a little cut out on the box to show the color of the gloss.

With the flash on

I have the swatch below, but in certain light, it looked a little more on the peachy side and sometimes it looked more like a pinky mauve I guess. However, on the lip, it looked more pink and mostly emphasized the natural color on my lip. It is thicker than most lip glosses I use, but I rarely use lip gloss, so if I have any, they are a cheaper brand. The texture isn't too sticky, but if you put too much product on your lips, it will string when you open your mouth. I just rubbed my fingers over it and that fixed the problem.

With the flash off

                                 It doesn't last too long. I say it lasted about 4 hours, which I don't know if that is long or not so you can comment and let me know if that's a good amount of time. Like I said before, it is a very thick consistency and was rather hard to get it off of my arm where I put the swatch. There also wasn't much transfer when I took a drink out of a cup, which I like.

The scent is a little fruity, but there is no taste to the gloss at all. Yes I licked my lips after applying it to see, but there was nothing. I actually like that a lot. I have used lip glosses that leave a metallic taste after I take a drink and cannot stand it. I also don't like a gloss that has a nice taste either, because it makes me want to lick all of the gloss off. Biggest pro of this gloss. The lid is a little hard to put back on, if you don't get it screwed on enough, the lid tries come back up and that can be a little aggravating.

I haven't tried this gloss on a lipstick yet, but seeing the pigment it has by itself, you are going to see a slight difference in the shade of you lipstick with this on top of it. Let's say you're like me and you have really thin lips. You decide to buy a matte lipstick and realize that matte just emphasizes the thinness of your lips. Don't throw it away, and don't just let it sit in your drawer. Take this gloss, or any gloss for that matter and put it on top. It turns your matte lipstick into a nice shiny finish and you are not out anything.

I might purchase this lip gloss again, but it was not as great as the hype it had with it being a celebrity favorite. I think you could find another gloss that will do the exact same thing at a fraction of the cost. I think it is more of a personal preference, but it is a good gloss all in all.
You might still be able to find this on OpenSky's site, but if not, you can find this on Girlactik Beauty where they have other products that I have actually read some really good reviews on some of their other products, but I didn't find much on this gloss before I purchased it.

Dermelect Anti-Aging Nail Color

I had recently received some credit to OpenSky and one of the few things I ordered came today. I have a previous post about my OpenSky experience, so go check it out if you're interested.

Today I received the Dermelect nail color in Luxurious which is a very pretty lavender/lilac color. I thought the packaging was really cute, but I have never purchased polish online, so I've never seen one in packaging, but I liked it.
                                                                    

This polish is supposed to be the first nail color that is peptide-infused and is supposed to make your nails stronger and In overall better condition. It is also dbp, formaldehyde, and toluene free. It has also stated that this polish should last for 2 weeks without chipping and without a base or top coat needing to be applied. Of course I will have to get back with you all on that one since I just applied it today.

It is a very small bottle, .4 fl oz to be exact, so there is not much. It still has that polish smell (I was thinking for some reason that it might smell different, but no such luck). It is really thin from the other polishes that I have used, almost watery even. However, that did not make a difference to how well it did.

Like I said before, you do not need a base coat or top coat for this polish. I know that is a little scary for some of you, and for such a little amount of polish, you want this stuff to last as long as possible. Here is a picture of just one coat (forgive my nails, I just did this quick an didn't even file my nails so sorry in advance)

It's not a good beginning..it has streaking and is very thin making me think that I will have to use 3 coats. The instructions on the bottle says that the first coat is supposed to instantly bond to the nails. Which makes sense because it dried really fast. Then I applied the second coat and it looked amazing. Well not the way I applied it but the polish itself.


The second coat is supposed to fuse with the first coat to resist brittleness and chipping. The second coat did really well and dried faster than i thought it would.

Would I have bought this if I hadn't had a the credit, probably not. Now if this holds up like it says it will then maybe, but I don't really splurge on nail polish anyways so I couldn't justify spending $18 on this, especially for less than half an ounce.

OpenSky might still have this, but if not then I know that Dermstore has it. Plus there is their website Dermelect if all else fails. I really like the color and how fast it dries, and having a toddler around, I don't really have the time to wait on polish to dry. If anyone has used this brand, please let me know what you think of it.

Influenster has been Revamped!

For those of you who have read my reviews on the products that I received from Influenster, will already have an idea of what I'm talking about. For those of you who have not, then let me tell you all about this company.

Influenster is a company that sends out voxboxes to it's members who fit the criteria of what their box contains. Then the recipients get to try out the products they received, which could range from a variety of categories. I received the summer beauty box and all of what I received are in previous posts and my reviews in detail about them, so if you have the time, go check them out.

You can unlock badges, submit your blogs, or vlogs, and social media. Because the main point of receiving these items is to influence the people around you via social networking. Things have changed for them now with their new site makeover.

You now can unlock 5 expert badges and they will be in categories that you feel like you know enough about to be able to spread the word about products that they could send you.
I was going to post a screen shot, but blogger's image window isn't being cooperative with me. However, you can go sign up (I will have the link at the bottom) and see for yourselves.

Then you have certain tasks from those 5 badges that you will want to complete (because it raises your Influenster score which is new now) and having a higher score means more free products to try. I think that this makeover is much more user friendly and much easier to understand now. The great thing about your Influenster score, is if you have a score of 100 or more, you are guaranteed a voxbox for that expert badge (I think, or it is your overall score and you are guaranteed the next box that comes out regardless) I'm not quite sure, but they mentioned it in their Facebook update.

I am loving their new makeover and I encourage anyone to join. What do you have to lose? Absolutely nothing. I joined in June this year and received the summer beauty box the same month, so that's pretty quick. Go check it out and let me know what you think of the look.

Influenster 

Opensky

I actually have some time on my hands, so I thought I would do a review on Opensky. I have been browsing this site for a while, and I absolutely love it. I'm going to try and explain this the best I can, but will probably fail epically.

This site has a team of members that will find certain products that they think are really great and then Opensky puts there discount on the item, so you get the savings. They have several categories ranging from Beauty to kids. I didn't recognize any of the brands, but I love discovering new brands, and from experience, find better products that way. It has what I call the "love" button, that way you can keep of list of what you like and refer back to them later. Some items sell out fast, depending on what they are and how popular they become, so you do have to act kind of fast.

They also have a reward system as well, which is new, and I really like it. I have already reached the Aqua lvl, which allows me a $10 credit twice a month and it goes up to a sapphire lvl which qualifies you for even better rewards.

Just to point out, they have a promotion going on right now that gives new members a $20 credit and another $15 credit if you connect with Facebook. That is an awesome deal. They also have a share button that takes $5 off of that particular item. You have to share each item with 3 friends to receive that though. Your total also has to be $50 or more to be able to use your credit, but I was able to get 3 items to total that and with the $15 off from sharing them, I was able to get all of them for FREE. It does take some basic math skills, but I really stink at math and I was able to do it, so it can't be that hard. I really hope I explained that how I wanted to, if I confused anyone, please let me know and I will help with any questions or confusion.

I will definitely be a return customer for this site and recommend it for anyone who is looking for a great deal. No one has told me to write this blog and I am not getting paid for it. I just really feel like I should spread the love.

What I got for free:

Dermelect Anti-Aging Nail Polish in Luxurious (the name reminds me of Zoolander ^_^)
 It was $14 originally and I received $5 off of that. They also have the pink for breast cancer awareness that donates some of the money to charities, but (please don't think I am a bad person) with all of the pink that I have accumulated recently and my pink hair, I don't really want to be known as the pink woman

Girlactik Star Gloss in smooch which is a nice peachy color and I don't have that color yet, so I am excited to try it. It was $18 retail, then $16 Opensky price and I then received $5 off of that price.

Cafepress coffee mug in the cream or white color, and I love that it has the press built in and it's a travel mug. This is my favorite out of all that I received. It retails $20 and there was no Opensky discount, but I did receive my $5 off.

  Everything totaled to $50 and with the $15 off for sharing them, it made the total to be $35 dollars and then with my credit made everything free and I did not have to put in my cc information. The shipping was also free as well. I don't really know how, because it said that orders $100 or over would receive free shipping, but I'm not complaining. It will take about 2 weeks to get everything in, but I'm pretty sure they offer faster shipping options.

Once everything comes in, I will do a review on each product and let you know how the quality compares to the prices on this site. So be on the watch!

Catching Up

Okay, so things have been pretty hectic lately and I haven't updated as much as I would have liked to. We moved back to Washington state and are helping my husband's grandma at the moment. She has been in pretty bad shape and needs someone here to help her move around and such. She is doing better now and is working towards getting back to her old self, so that is great news.

I am so happy to be back on the northwest coast. There is nothing like it. The beauty that surrounds you when you step outside and the coastal winds already blowing. It is absolutely awesome. I can't even begin to explain how I feel when I wake up in the morning. We are in a place where you can go to the beach and stand in front of the pacific and turn around and see the mountains. It's amazing. I've never been much for hot weather, so the fact that it hardly goes over 78 degrees outside is really nice. 

I originally am from Kentucky and always felt like I never belonged there. My goal in life was to get out of there and see what else this world has to offer. When I met my husband, he was from WA and it's a long story of how he ended up in KY, so I won't get into that. So we decided to come over here. I wanted a better life for my son then I had back home. He has more opportunities here, and has a chance to go to some great schools. It is a complete culture change here.

For instance, my hair is pink and in KY people would stare at me. Maybe they were in awe, or maybe they were thinking that I was some hooligan. Who knows, but here people do not care what you wear, or how you look, they are more concerned about what they are doing, then what you are doing. For me, I find it relieving. I'm not saying that is how all places are back home, but in the really small town I live in, that seems to be how they are.

Anyways, I will be putting some tutorials up soon and I would like to know what you all would want to see. Let me know in the comments and I will get it up.  

Gender Selection Procedures for soon to be parents

Well I was just browsing the web and came across an article about how people are spending $18,000 for procedures to ensure they get the gender they want when they conceive. I didn't know what to think. I was amazed that someone would want to take away one most exciting parts of of having a baby.

When I found out I was going to have a baby, I was thrilled. One of my favorite parts of the pregnancy was the day I found out whether I was going to have a boy or a girl. I did not care if it was one or the other. I just wanted a healthy baby. I would be happy to have either. I remember people asking me what I thought I was going to have. For some reason I knew I was having a boy. My intuition doesn't really like me most of the time, but in my gut I knew there was a beautiful baby boy growing inside of me. I remember someone asking me what I thought I was having and I told them a boy. They said, "but do you hope its a girl?" Of course I didn't care, I told them that I didn't care. I was going to be happy either way. I remember her looking at me like I had just lied. That every mother should want a girl and that it was wrong of me to try and hide that. I truly did not care. I never once uttered, I hope I have a ____.  It's one of nature's greatest surprises. Why would someone want to ruin the natural course of life?

Do you know what I could do with $18,000, put it in a fund so that when my children get of age, they can use it for college, or use it to get on their feet when it is time for them to get out there on their own.

The article also said that more people are wanting girls. For one, if you have children already and they are boys, how is that going to make them feel, if they find out that you paid all that money because you wanted a girl. Would they feel like you never wanted them? That they were a disappointment because they were the product of what nature intended?

Since when did a child's gender become a choice, like you were picking out a pair of shoes, or shopping for a new car?

Manic Panic Cotton Candy Pink

Well after years of having almost every color of hair. I realized that I had exhausted my options. I have had my hair black, different shades of brown, different shades of red, and finally I risked blonde. Of course that story is in a previous post of mine and you can read all about that, so I won't get into it again.

I have decided that I will try some more eccentric colors. I really liked the lavender hair I had been seeing. It was such a cool (as in cooler and warmer color) color and looked beautifully on fair skin tones. Since my blonde has a warmer shade to it, I feared that it would not come out the way I had expected. So I was browsing through YouTube and came across a video. I cannot remember who it was and I will probably never find it again, but any who. She had the most awesome shade of pink hair. It was a tad bit darker than a cotton candy pink, but after seeing her previous videos, I saw that this was the result of her deep, rich pink fading. I loved it though. It was subtle, but very classy on her. Of course, I got the wild hair (no pun intended) to do the same thing. I wasn't really worried about the light color since I had already made the big step to blonde, and the biggest headache (having to be blonde before I go pink) was already done.

The first step was to get the pink dye. I had recently saw that Ion had come out with their brilliant brights. I heard great reviews about it and decided since it was cheaper than Manic Panic, I would just get that.

I had to apply this stuff twice and it still didn't change the color of my roots. I don't know if it was because I had just bleached them. I don't think that would have anything to do with it, but it was really frustrating to see blonde roots and the rest of my hair a very, very pastel pink. The bad thing was that the more I put on, the more vibrant my ends were getting. I had already went past the point of the color I wanted to achieve and was getting very aggravated.

So...I broke down and got Manic Panic. The price is around $10 at Sally's Beauty and it is surprisingly smaller than when I saw it online. I had a feeling that it wouldn't even cover my head. I picked up Cotton Candy Pink and was hoping that it would fix this mess.

About $10 at Sally's Beauty Supply

 Manic Panic is sold at numerous places and they have their own site Manic Panic

I followed their directions to a T and hoped for the best. I really liked how it didn't take much at all to coat the strands, and combing it through my hair made it go a long way. I put just a plain plastic grocery bag on my head and took a hair clip to pin the extra. I didn't put heat on it, because I didn't want neon pink hair. I just wanted the color on my roots so that my hair would look as even as possible. I left it on for 30 minutes and rinsed it out.

What people will do for beauty. I rinsed my hair in the coldest water I could stand. I was more than ready for it to be out. Another thing that makes this product well worth the money is that it must have a conditioner in it, because my hair felt so soft when I was done.

Before I even started all of this, I washed my hair and only shampooed it. Of course I used Clear Scalp and Hair Therapy. Like I said, this is my one and only brand of shampoo and conditioner I will ever use.

The results??? Well, see for yourself...

I absolutely love it. Now it is a little more vivid in reality. My webcam is crappy, so you can't really see what it looks like if you were standing next to me.  Who knows, maybe I'll try lavender next.

There is a reason Manic Panic is expensive. It works like a charm. I wish I had just bought this instead of purchasing Ion Brilliant Brights, which I will never purchase again, and am very close to writing a bad review on it, but it could have been me doing something wrong.

I will be using this from now on and I can't wait to get under a black light to see it glow :)