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.