MicaBeauty Tinted Lip Balm Review

Hey everyone! So I finally got this product in the mail not too long ago. In my Ipsy review for January I mentioned that my bag was missing this. I contacted IpsyCare and they sent another right away.

For starters, mine was missing the brush. Did all Ipsters that got this get it without the brush? Who knows. Actually, I checked online and the sample sizes did not come with a brush. To me, this feels more like a lip stain than a balm. It's highly pigmented, I'll give it that. It feels really smooth on my lips, but it's on the dry side for sure. I had to put on a moisturizing balm before putting it on. It lasts for a while and it fades nicely. I didn't notice it sticking to dry patches on my lips, so that was nice. The description claims it's smudge-proof and kiss-proof. These claims are true, but only if worn alone without any other balm underneath or on top.Otherwise, the extra balm makes it move around.

I really don't think this color is right for me, though. I got the color fiesta. I have to tone it down with a lipstick because it's so bright for my complexion. Despite the smoothness and pigmentation, I doubt I'd purchase this on my own ($30!?!?!). For a sample, I really like it even though the shade isn't 100% for me.  I can't wait to see what Ipsy has in store for February!

I don't have a swatched picture to show you and I cannot find the balm at the moment, but here's the link to the site.

On another note, I'm super sorry for not blogging lately! Life has been hectic. I'll try my hardest to post. I have a list of reviews and posts I need to write up!

January 2014 Favorites Part 1

 

January was definitely a good month, a great start to the new year. There are products I have been reaching for more than others throughout my morning/night routines. Some are known, others not so much. I'll try to go in order from shower, to skincare/body in this post. I'll do makeup in another post or else this thing will be super long. If I can find products online, I'll link them up to info sites or to places that sell the product in case you all are interested. Let's get started!

Hair - shower

I have been loving the Garnier Fructis Triple Nutrition Shampoo and Conditioner. I received a sample back in December and after running out of the stuff I was using, I immediately went to Target and bought the big bottles. The shampoo and conditioner make my hair super soft, manageable, and has fixed the dryness it was getting. This is for dry and damaged hair, and I just now found that there's a shampoo for extra dry and damaged hair. They contain avocado oil, almond oil, and olive oil. My hair is pretty wavy, thick, and longer than it used to be. Before using this product, my hair would just be annoying and very frizzy. I love it and will definitely keep using it.

Hair - after shower

Even though I am using the awesome shampoo and conditioner, I use two more products in my hair and I have been in love with this combination. One is the Cantu Shea Butter Leave In Conditioning Repair Cream which I got at Walgreens for under $6. This tub is pretty big, it's lasted me probably a little more than a month (I'm pretty much out already). Once I brush that through, I put on a bit of Hawaiian Silky Hydrating Sleek Healing Oil Treatment (Moroccan Argan Oil). My mom bought this at Sally Beauty it is so amazing. It's not too expensive and it lasts forever (okay, not forever but definitely over a month). I still have half of it left and she got it probably early to mid December. The only thing that I find annoying, but I'm not sure whether it's my hair doing it or one of the products, is that my hair tangles up bad throughout the day. By the end of the night, my hair is still soft but I can't run my fingers through since my curls tangle up. I should probably carry around a brush, eh? Darn curls. 

Body

I don't have too much for this area because I'm literally trying to finish up the lotions I own. I did get a body oil from Christopher for Christmas and I love it, but I haven't used it too many times this month. The annoying bottle of lotion I'm trying to finish up at the moment is something called Cucumber And Honey Body Milk. I looked it up and just found one on amazon. I had two bottles of this, but I have no idea where I got them. I think they were gifted to me sometime ago. I'm about halfway done with this bottle. Don't get me wrong, it moisturizes nicely, but the formula is extremely watery.

The body oil I got for Christmas is the Neutrogena Body Oil Light Sesame Formula. I have the 8.5 fl oz bottle and gosh, it is so great. I use it straight out of the shower in order to lock in moisture. It absorbs into my skin very quickly and it looks like it has super tiny sparkles to give your skin a glow, but it isn't outrageous. It smells pretty good and it makes my skin really soft. I especially like to use this on my legs when I'm wearing a dress. A little definitely goes a long way, so this bottle will probably last me a long time.

For perfume, my grandma got me one of my favorite perfumes. It's called Halloween by Jesus Del Pozo. I remember having this when I was a teenager and then never found it again. It was quite the surprise to see it as my gift for Christmas. It's a perfect scent for me. I can't really describe it, but it isn't flowery, strong, or overpowering. It smells fresh and cool, I love it. 

Face

Makeup removers

Before I wash my face at night, I use Epielle Facial Cleansing Tissues. They're great at removing my makeup, even the waterproof mascara and eyeliners. I get them at the 99 cent store near my house for $1 each. I get 30 pre-moistened tissues. They're sturdy, so the tissue doesn't rip while wiping away the makeup. It leaves my skin soft, clean, refreshed. There's different types, but most contain vitamin E, aloe vera, and green tea. Love 'em!

Even though the wipes do a great job, I like to use my Clarins Cleansing Milk for combination or oily skin when I'm not feeling up to using the Neutrogena Cleanser or just to remove any stubborn eye makeup.
 

Cleanser

I have been loving the Neutrogena Deep Clean Cream Cleanser since way before January. It makes my skin feel nice and clean. It doesn't have anything to exfoliate the skin, but the girl in the beauty department at Target (hey, she asked if I needed help and I asked) said that the best cleanser for my skin would be a cream cleanser. She said that exfoliating cleansers are good but not for daily use, so since then I've switched over to this.

Moisturizer

I like to use my Olay Complete All Day Moisturizer with SPF 15 for normal skin. It makes my skin really soft and moisturized. I might try something else when this bottle is up, but I still do like it. It absorbs into my skin, but it doesn't leave behind any greasy feeling. I did try the Clean & Clear Morning Burst Hydrating Gel Moisturizer this month, so I think I'll get that one next. I like the feeling of it much better than the Olay one.

Hands

I have really dry hands, especially because of my job. I work at Domino's and I'm constantly washing my hands. The soap we have sucks in terms of moisturizing hands. I got two samples off online (2 oz each) of the Suave Skin Solutions lotions. One is the Smoothing With Cocoa Butter and Shea and the other is the Advanced Therapy With Rich Hydrators. I carry these around in my purse and I love them. My hands haven't been this soft in a while. My hands also got to the point where the sanitizer, jalapeno juice, pineapple juice, and generally anything acidic at work would burn my hands. After using these for a couple of weeks, my hands didn't hurt anymore. However, I stopped using them for a little while and my hands got like that again. I got back into using them and they're healing nicely. Once I'm totally done with all my lotions, I'm definitely sticking to these for my body.

That's about it! Eep, I didn't realize it would be this long. I decided to split up my monthly favorites into two posts as I mentioned in the beginning. I think it'll make it easier on us all if I did that. If you have any monthly favorites, comment below! I'd like to try them out sometime. :)

About Me

 

Hi everyone! ^_^ Since my blog is still pretty new, I figured I'd go ahead and write up some things about me just so you all can, yknow, get to know the person behind the blog.

My name is Valeria, but almost everyone calls me Val or Valerie. My boyfriend Christopher calls me Vallie Cheeks, hence the blog name. I'm 22 years old and work part-time (though some weeks it seems more like full-time) and go to school full time. I'm in the last quarter of undergrad, woohoo! I'm majoring in Criminal Justice and minoring in Sociology (Law & Society). I'm hoping to go to law school in the future, but before that I need to save up and study for the LSAT properly. I want to be as ready as I can before tackling that next step in my education.

Here's a picture of me and my boyfriend <3

Now, the reason I created this blog is because I have been slowly getting more into beauty (make-up, skincare, haircare, etc). I watch a lot of youtube videos by beauty gurus and learn from them. With friends being busy with life and me not wanting to blow my boyfriend's ear off with all this girly stuff, I figured turning to the online community would be a great outlet. I subscribe to Ipsy, a sample service that sometimes gives out deluxe samples and/or full sized products. I also search online for any other freebies I might find (pssst, reddit has posts about free stuff & pinchme.com has freebies every other Tuesday). If I find bargains at drug stores or have read about something being good, I'll give it a try or at least add them to my list of products to buy in the future. My makeup collection is miniscule in comparison to others who blog or make videos for a living. This is just a hobby of mine and don't/can't spend a ton of money on products just for the sake of having them. I do try to use products up before going out to buy new ones, that way they don't pile up on my tiny vanity. That being said, due to friends and family giving me things during the holidays and samples I've received, I have (what I think) a lot of products that I need to use up at the moment. Ultimately, my goal for this blog is to post something up once a week to keep it alive.

I highly appreciate anyone that takes time to read my posts and I do hope that you find my reviews helpful. I check it daily, so if you all have any comments feel free to post them! If anyone has any recommendations for products, please let me know in the comments. I'd love to try 'em out at some point. :)

Yes To Carrots Exfoliating Cleanser Review

I've been meaning to post a short review on this product for a while now. I thought it would be a good product because some of the ingredients caught my eye. I bought this over the holidays and it came in a gift pack. It was the exfoliating cleanser, the body butter (sample), and the day cream. I ran out of the cleanser when I bought this, but I have other moisturizers to use up before trying these so I put them aside. So this is what it looks like: 

 

I had tried a sample of the Yes to Tomatoes cleanser about a year or two ago, but it was given to me so I never knew where to buy them. Then one day, I saw them being sold at the drug store. I was always kind of iffy about buying the product, so I stuck to other skin care brands like Neutrogena  (the deep clean cream cleanser is awesome!). But over the holidays, I spotted it and grabbed it since I was out of cleanser. Bad idea! 

Things I like about it: 

• It contains exfoliating thingies in it, so it's good for removing dead skin cells. 
• It contains some natural ingredients, which is always a plus

Things I hate about it:

• The formula feels really watery out of the tube. I thought I'd be fine with it, but then...
• It is greasy as heck! It feels like a layer of grease on my skin. Gross! 

Okay, so the exfoliating things are good, but I definitely do not dig the layer of grease on my skin. I like my skin to be clean, feel fresh, and free of impurities. I always use moisturizer after using a cleanser, but I'm assuming because this one had a layer of grease/oil, it didn't dry out my skin too much. I ended up going back to my Neutrogena cleanser and have been using this one every once in a while because I need to finish it up. I definitely do not recommend this product at all. Upon researching the product, others have complained about the same issue I had.

I recommend using the Neutrogena Deep Clean Cream Cleanser instead. It is much better, cheaper by a couple of bucks, and you get more product!

January Ipsy Glam Bag Review

Hi, everyone! So sorry for the delayed review of my Ipsy Glam Bag. I've been working 35-40 hours a week and trying to do school. There was also an issue with my bag, but I've gotten that resolved. Let's begin with my experience with Ipsy. 

Tracking codes went out January 13th, and I received my bag on January 17th. My bag was marked as delivered on the 15th, but I hadn't received anything in the mail yet. I checked out Ipsy's FAQ and it stated that the shipping company (DHL) marks packages as delivered but it can take up to 24 hours to arrive after it was "delivered". I let 24 hours pass and I began to suspect it was delivered elsewhere, so I emailed IpsyCare about it. Surprisingly, I got my package the next morning at my door. I got a reply from someone at IpsyCare that evening and she was so helpful. She offered to send me a new bag, but since I had already received mine, I declined. However, there was an issue with the bag once I received it. My MicaBeauty Tinted Lip Balm was missing from my bag (I'll do a separate review of this when I receive it). I emailed IpsyCare again (this was prior to receiving a reply to my previous email). I mentioned to Alana about the missing item and that I had already contacted IpsyCare about that. I received a tracking code for the missing item not long after. She was so helpful! I went from being confused, angry, disappointed, to feeling taken cared of. Now on to the bag items.

I've already used a couple of the items (minus the balm) and I'm nearly out of the conditioning mask and the face lotion. 

 

Briogeo Don't Despair, Repair! Deep Conditioning Mask

 

This conditioner was good, I'll tell you that. The container was tiny, but I've gotten 3 uses out of it so far and I think I might have about 2 more left. It feels like a normal conditioner and it hydrates the hair. I just bought a new shampoo and conditioner, so I thought that may have been why my hair was feeling softer. However, I skipped a day of Briogeo to compare and there was a slight difference. I have curly/wavy thick hair, so this worked nicely for me. It doesn't feel greasy and makes my curls manageable. I don't think I'll purchase this item personally. The price tag is just too out of my budget. It's $26.00 for a 5.25 oz container. You can read up more on what vitamins and things the product contains in the description.

Proactiv+ Mark Fading Pads

I definitely have not used this product since the first time I tried it. My bag came with 4 pads, which is probably not enough to see whether I like it or not. I haven't used it mainly because I'm way too tired at night to give my face an actual wash. I just use makeup remover wipes and go to bed. The pads feel like thick wet wipes. The instructions say to wipe your face once with it the first time, but I did about 2-3, oops. Others have mentioned that this product burns their face. I felt that on a pimple I had been picking at that day. It stung pretty badly, ouch. I did notice things on the wipe after wiping though. They looked like blackheads. It seemed like it did pick up some nasties off my face, but I didn't notice any serious difference, but hey, who does after a single use? I liked it enough to try out the rest of my samples for it, but not sure if I'll be purchasing any proactiv+ items. I looked at the Proactiv site and it looks like you can only purchase kits/packages and not just the pads. :(

 Nourish Organic Lightweight Moisturizing Face Lotion

I love that this item is organic! Most/all of the product I have contain chemicals I can't even pronounce, so it was refreshing to find a purely organic product. It's priced at $21.99 for a 1.7 oz bottle. This brand has other products that are priced okay. Not painfully out of budget, but also not drugstore prices. This product felt lightweight on my face and I felt like it moisturized pretty well. It doesn't feel greasy/oily at all, unlike other face moisturizers. So this product is probably good for those with oily skin. I've used most of the sample I received. It smells great, which is always a plus! My favorite thing is that it's supposed to improve texture and even out the skin tone. I definitely want to try the full sized version of this in the future.

 

Elizabeth Mott Smooth Shadow in Pearl

This has got to be my favorite product in my Ipsy bag. The pencil is small, yes, but it can be sharpened like any other pencil. I got it in the color Pearl, which is a shimmery pearl-y color (can't describe it any better, sorry!). I don't use it as an eyeshadow because it's way too light for my complexion to use and I don't do too much shadow in the first place. I used it in the inner corners of my eyes and as an eyeliner on my bottom waterline to brighten up my eyes. I tried it as a highlight on the brow bone but it was way too glittery for my taste. I didn't think it would last long, but wow! This product lasts for the majority of the day (6+ hours). I loved it! It also blends easily, but work fast or else it'll settle and not budge! It doesn't look like what I got is full sized. There's other colors: raven, which is like a dark charcoal, penny which is exactly the color of a penny, and pearl. The price is $14.99 for a pencil.

I'm so excited to get the lip balm soon! A review of that will be up once I get it and use it a couple of times. Till next time! :)

Ipsy Glam Bag Subscription

Hey all! I subscribed to the Ipsy Glam Bag after finding out about it over the internet. I was a bit reserved about signing up, but I did after a couple of months. I get my first bag this month! I'm so excited to get it. I see a lot of people complaining about the products they're receiving, which I think kind of sucks. I like that it isn't all make-up, it encompasses everything beauty related. Everyone is added to the waiting list, but you can skip the line by hooking it up with your Facebook. I did, but didn't want everyone seeing my Ipsy stuff unless I posted it myself. I changed the settings so that all Ipsy posts are for me only, nobody else can see them. :)

I was charged on January 1st for $10.98 (it's $10 plus tax). I know that Canadians have to pay shipping, so it's pricier for them but I have no idea by how much. The first week of the month they began posting sneak peaks until today, when I was given a list of items that were chosen for me. By the way, everyone takes a quiz in order to match you up with the right products. I read that any items or looks you "love" also contribute to the items chosen. Here's what my glam room looks like: 

To me, and others, it's like a gift to ourselves every month. There are other subscriptions you can get like Birchbox. The items for ipsy are a mix of full sized and sample sized.

I'm super excited for the items I'm going to get! I'll do a full review of each item once it gets here. :)

NYX Above & Beyond Full Coverage Concealer

 

Happy New Year, everyone! I look forward to 2014. I have a good feeling about this year. :) 

So last week I bought the NYX Above & Beyond Full Coverage Concealer in Beige. I've been using it since and I've sort of liked it. Here's the container: 

It's pretty small (.24 oz), but then again concealers are generally small containers. I like that they have one that matches my skin tone. It claims it is light weight, crease free, and full coverage. I agree that it is light weight and crease free, however, I don't fully agree that it is full coverage. It does cover my dark circles, but not as much as I would like. Maybe I need more foundation underneath? I'm not quite sure. 

I'd rate it 4 stars just because I'm not 100% happy with the coverage, but maybe that's just because I haven't quite figured out the trick to hiding my dark circles with concealer. The price for this is amazing - only $4.99! I'd like to try out other drug store concealers before settling on one specific concealer, but at this moment I would repurchase this product. It's cheap and pretty good quality.

What concealers work for you? Which do you hate? Comment below!