Gde otm - January

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It's the January Glamour Doll Eyes Of the Month!

Theme: Aladdin (a favorite in our house right now, watched about once a week, requested several times).

Cost: $18 USD to make it to the great white north.

What is it really? Each month an exclusive shadow and other goodies such as a guest indie sample ro candy may be included. 125 subscriptions are available (you can join the waitlist in the facebook group), and 15 will be listed on the website at noon, PST, on the 10th of the month. 

Here is the full January kit (minus a candy).

I've been collecting these as long as I've been signed up for the OTM. Be sure to read them to gain insight on what's happening at Glamour Doll Eyes. 

The goods! A mine sample, a full size and two sample baggies plus a full size lipstick! 

These two shadows are cult favorites in the GDE group, so I'm surprised/not surprised to seem them made into remix. One image blurry for sparkle. Tattooed on the left, Undercover on the right.

And the start of the month: Not a Prize and Desert Prince. Oh, my kingdom for a Dessert Prince!

Gosh, so as usual I'll finish with the internal dilemna of the cost increase due to shipping increases and my own personal cost increase due to exchange rates of if I should keep this subscription or not. I have almost the entire collection of GDE, so I don't need eyeshadow... but... it's the OTM. OTM is life, right? 

Beauty Box 5 January Review

Beauty box 5 is a monthly subscription box for $12 a month plus $3 shipping to Canada. I prepaid $99 US for a year worth's of boxes.

This box has been heavily critiqued, and it makes sense why.

The theme is "Hello!", to welcome the new year?

I was lucky to get a costal scents pallet in colors I like. Both nude and amber bronze are lovely and work for my skin tones. Value (based on a larger pallet) $.67

Sample of Soft Soap Body wash and Fructis sampoo. Both of these were impossiable to get out of the packages. Estimated $1 each, but I don't think I have the patience to use them. 

I received a nicer pattern than most for my salon effect nails. Rumour has it that these were the $9.99 claimed but now can be bought for $1 most locations.

Ultraflesh mascara in Blackout. As suggested in a review I read, this is a swipe of the mascara. Straight into the trash. Apparently this mascara hasn't be available for 2 years. Assigned no value.

Things are ALL bad:

My beauty box 5 boxes (and Luxe Box boxes/Julep boxes) make great storage organizers. Perfect for holding my heart rate monitor.

Is this worth $15 US per month?... I used to argue that all the items in my bb5 were used unlike other boxes. But when the value doesn't even come close to the regular price before shipping, this argument fails. This box is worth about $4, maybe less. I'd rather buy this shampoo and body wash myself in full sizes while still saving from the cost of the box. I hope the occasional deep discounts offered for this box haven't prevented the box from being better.

Glamour Doll Eyes OTM January

This is my favorite!

I was able to get a subscription for the highly competitive Glamour Doll Eyes OTM (of the month). Each month, one shadow plus extras is sent to subscribers. Check out the beautiful new website just for the OTM here. I paid $15 US for my international subscription. I've been a fan for about a year now, and I can not believe how much the fan following has grown.

Lots of goodies this month. Two shadows, a charm, new stickers, and an aquabomb gloss. There was a bonus indie shadow which was beautiful, but it was lost to the toddler. TMI company Baroque Cosmetics. Use code DESTATI to save 20% on your order for the rest of February. Oh, there was candy but I ate it. Not sorry.

Two shadows this month! Two!

Sailing away - a cream shadow

and the beauty: Be my anchor "A flash of sparkling blue like water with a dusty golden base."

Here are the swatches are bare skin. Note, you will want to use a primer. These wore off completely within 5 minutes. 

The true beauty in this color is the shimmer. You have to see it to believe it. Hopefully my video link works.

First look: (Shadows all Glamour Doll Eyes)

Baking Season

Be my anchor

Sail Away

Pop the bubbly

using glitter glue from Darling Girl

I've become used to working with loose powders so I'm actually finding the texture of Sail Away hard. I didn't notice this problem with the pressed shadow for November. 

Second look:

Sail away

Island Chic

Those cotton headed niggins

Silent Samauri (Notoriously morbid)

Ride shotgun (glitter)

Blush - day job

Contouring using an ipsy bronzer and skeletina

I absolutely adore Glamour Doll Eyes, and I see this subscription as worth my $15-22 per month depending on the exchange rate. 

Birch Box Canada January review

Birchbox is a subscription box new to Canada for $14.95 per month including shipping. What I love is the cost is in Canadian dollars which makes me much more comfortable should I buy from the birch box store. I know what I'm actually paying. 

First, I LOVE this box. It's so cute, I'm definitely going to use it again.

There are five samples. The little ones come in a separate cute (but environmental wasteful) hotel box.

Beauty Protector Protect and Heat Hair Mask. Full size, $30. I received two samples to test.

Tocca Crema de Mano in Celopatra. Full size $10-$20. Sample size 30 mL. I am allergic to one of the ingredients in here so this will be given away.

Embryolisse Lait-Cream Concentre, Full size $16-28, sample size 5 mL. Apparently this moisturize is both a primer and a make-up remover. Seems contradictory to me, but I'll try it out. Kudos to the "Embryo" = youth naming of the company.

ModelCo Party Proof Lipstick from Dusk til Dawn collection, set of 3 for $20, one for $6.80. I forgot to take a picture of this beautiful nude shade. I love it! I don't like/wear lipstick but choose gloss or chapstick. Until now. 

Joie Folle fe Joie eau de parfum, full size $116. Blend of mandarin, rose and sandalwood. I think I like this, but I'll have to test it a few more times.

I didn't calculate the total for January's Birchbox, but I'm certain I recieved my value. Birchbox has a program where you can review the products for points that can be used in the shop. You can earn a total of 10 points per item for a total of 50 or $5 off per each box. I'm really looking forward to my year with Birchbox. 

Ipsy January 2015

Ipsy is an American beauty subscription box that sends out 5 samples for about $10 per month plus $4.95 shipping to Canada.

This month is a durable blue and white bag to welcome the new year and a #fresh start.

First up: Probelle Into the Blue nail polish, full size, $6.00. Ipsy was thoughtful to wrap this polish in bubble paper to prevent breaks. Blue is a great colour for a fresh start as the association with the Virgin Mary.

 Coastal Scents Liquid Eyeliner, sample size in Jet, $2.95 for full size. I used this to draw a flower on the toddler, and it worked nice. It probably would do a good job as an eyeliner as the tip is a small tapered brush. 

Malin+Goetz mojito lip balm, full size, $12.00. This reminds me of what my dad used to buy as a kid. I can't recall the name. It worked well, but wasn't girly enough for a 12 year old. 

La Fresh eco-beauty good day, day moisturizer. Full size is $40 for 50 gram .. so math suggests this sample size is $12.00. This product is just so cute. On the back it indicates the best way to be beautiful is to get lots of sleep and love (in more words). I'll save it for a surprise if you decide to buy/try the lotion. I am also delighted that this company sells dog products along side my human products. Truly for the whole family. 

Pacifica natural mineral eye shadow in Etheral and swatch of the Pacifica eye shadow. Pretty close to my natural skin tone but sparkly. This is a much nicer formulation than my last Pacifica sample which despite being pretty colours was totally unusable. Set of 4 sells for $14, estimate value $3.50 

I estimate this month's Ipsy bag to be worth $36.45. Given that I love one of the more expensive products and like the other one, January was a good deal with a couple bonuses. Please use my link here if you're interested in joining Ipsy. 

Topbox January 2015

Topbox is a Canadian beauty subscription box that sends 4 samples monthly for $12.00 plus taxes. Shipping this month was incredibly fast! I receive this box on the 13th, 2 days ahead of the normal shipping date of the 15th of the month. I actually received my shipping notice today! I currently have a gift subscription that started this month, so I wasn't able to select a prive box. I don't know if this will be an option for the duration of the gift subscription. 

The products arrived in the standard tube mailer. I've been asking the husband equivalent to cut more of these in half so I can use them to store my brushes/mascaras.

First were two products I received last year. 

Benefit Cosmetics stay flawless 15-hour primer, sample 1.2 g, $6. I have tried this once, and I wasn't wowed by it. However, as the package is so darn cute, it gets to stay in my medicine cabinet in case I have a need for it. 

Bioderma Sensibio H20 Micelle Solutionn, sample 100 mL, $8.75. I've used my first one with cotton pads to remove my make-up. It works nice, and like promised, hasn't interfered with my contact lens.

Miracle 10 Skincare AHA Cream, 10 ml, $12.80. Anything that warns about the need to wear sunscreen makes me nervous. This has a nice smell if I'm willing to risk the consequences You can read the top google results here and here. It is suggested that Alpha Hydoxy Acid irritates the skin (which causes the cells to grow and "smooth out" the area where it was applied) which results in sensitivity. My most favorite foot lotion contains AHA - but assuming the product doesn't enter the blood stream, my feet are less likely to see sunlight in winter than my beautiful face. 

Elizabeth Arden Beautiful Color moisturizing lipstick. There is definitely enough of each color to test a few times. I think the pretty pink may work best with my skin tones. I like that they also include a mini brush to help you access the sample without making a very large mess. 

The total of this month is about $27.55. I did get two repeat products (one of which I will use) but this was accidentally under a new profile. Overall, I'm happy with this month's Topbox.http://www.topbox.ca/