it+a Alchemist's Subscription April 2015

I am like a week late in reviewing this month's Innocent and Twisted Alchemy's subscription box, but I am going to review it anyway. Besides, I figure most people who read this are considering buying the subscription anyway so as long as it is before the date new slots go on sale I should be good, right?

This month the subscription came with two eye shadows and a highlighter. I adore the products we got this month, but I feel like I say that every month.

 I still have not mastered how to properly photograph these cards. I tried, but I think it's going to be hard to read the top portion of the card. Essentially, Linda got into anime as a kid because of Sailor Moon and so this month's theme is "I Want To Be A Magical Girl". The art is by April Hurtado.

 Here is the artwork. This is kind of difficult to see again because I suck at photographing these cards but April has the image up on her DeviantArt in all its digital glory!

Here are the samples for this month. We ended up getting one of Blackbird Cosmetics' infamous matte shadows, a sample from AFK cosmetics, a sample form Notoriously Morbid, and a sample from Eccentric Cosmetics.

 I don't know how well you can see it, but this is the highlighter. It is a white highlighter with just a touch of pink. I did both a heavy and blended out swatch. It doesn't have a ton of shimmer, mostly it is meant for glow. This particular product is perfect for spring, when glow is in but tanning has not blown up yet. It reminds me a lot of Becca's opal highlight, just for people who are after glow and not an intense sheen.

This is Berry Bomb. It is the same swatch just at different angles. It is the most gorgeous berry color (as usual swatched over elf eyelid primer). This is by far my favorite product in my bag this month.







This is Green Grenade. It is a pretty pale green with a silver shimmer. This might be good as a wash of color over the lid.

Here are all four of the bonus samples swatched on one hand. Upper left: No More a Witch from Notoriously Morbid. When I first saw this shadow I thought this was going to be just your usual brown/green duochrome (don't get me wrong, I adore that color, but it isn't unique). However, I was terribly wrong. This is a deep black brown with an intense green shift, not for people who are afraid of commitment.

 Upper right: Dog Days from Blackbird Cosmetics.This didn't really need a primer so when I applied the shadow over a primer that was a little too wet it caked up and was difficult to blend. It is a unique taupe/purpley color, but it is also a very wearable color. I am impressed.  I have heard so much about Blackbird's mattes in the indie world, and I was not dissapointed. Based on this shadow alone, these mattes easily rival my mainstream pressed mattes.

Bottom left: Sea Spirit from Eccentric Cosmetics. I had never heard of this brand before recieving it in this subscription, but I am super pleased with the product that I received. Sea Spirit is a wearable taupey-warm brown with an aqua shift.

Bottom right: The Earnest Elf from AFK Cosmetics. I have been wanting to get something from them for a long while. This was the only shadow that I thought really could have benefited from an upgraded primer. The green didn't feel nearly as opaque as it was supposed to be.

Price and Final Thoughts

This subscription costs 12$ per month, that includes shipping. The actual value of the box (by my math) is determined by how much the product costs (if a sample from a company is usually 1.50$ I am counting the value as 1.50$ even if it is an exclusive shade), this does not take into account the coupon codes received, the custom label art, or the shipping it would have cost to get all of these items.

Petit Jar of Eyeshadow from i+ta- 3$
Petit Jar of Eyeshadow from i+ta- 3$
Angelic Powder from i+ta (1)- 8$
Sample from Notoriously Morbid (2) - 1.25$
Dog Days from Blackbird Cosmetics Sample- 1$
Sample from AFK Cosmetics (The Earnest Elf full size is only 3.50 as of right now though)- 1.50$
Approximate Sample Cost from Eccentric Cosmetics (3)- 1.20$

Total Value- 17.95$

Personal Value-  Berry Bomb + Highlighter+ Blackbird+ Sea Spirit= 13.20$

I don't know if I would have bought the highlighter because I am drowning in it currently. Well, I don't know if I would have paid 8$ for it, 4$ for half the product is much more up my alley. Basically that means if I had my way the box value/personal value would be a little under but I am still completely pleased. I was a Mew Mew Power kind of girl as a child, so I am in love with the theme this month, not to mention the new product in this box and that the brands she includes always have me stoked.

1. This is a new product, it isn't even up on the website yet. It looks to be a packed full 10g jar with a sifter, so I'm pricing it based off of a 10g subscription box blush. I could be totally wrong.

2. they are undergoing website updates so they don't have the exact color up yet

3. They only sell sample packs, so this is based on the 5 sample pack that costs 6$

Doctor Lacquer- A Review From a Polish Newb

**Disclaimer that I am not cool enough to be a nail polish swatcher/blogger. All of these opinions are my own, and all of these polishes were purchased with my own money.**



I don't believe I have ever been so excited to polish my nails in my entire life. I stepped on a sewing needle the day these arrived at my house and still chose to limp out of the mailbox to get them anyway.

 Doctor Lacquer is an indie nail polish company based on space and medical themes, they have good reviews that I have seen and do quite a lot of thermal polishes. Instead of mini bottles they have medium bottles, which are referred to as meds (<3 p="">

Price

I got 5 bottles of polish, they were all medium size, but they look like traditional polish sizes to me. In total it cost me about 40$, shipping included which averages out to being 8$ per bottle. Not too bad, given the spike in drugstore nail polish costs and the uniqueness of the polish. It's affordable.

According to science and math and not my anecdotal evidence, MEDS which are 10.5 mL are 6.99$ a bottle, and full size bottles which are 16.5 mL are 9.99$.

Shipping and Packaging

0 Shipping was on time, but towards the end of her TAT (1-7 business days, which is pretty dang fast). She gave me a coupon code for it which means that she is aware of her TAT and didn't "lose" my order, which means a lot to me. I didn't have to contact her, but I think that sort of attention to detail says a lot about the kind of customer service an indie company has to offer.

Packaging was very secure and included candy.

As a side note, I love seeing a short nail on a polish company's logo. I make jewelry and polymer clay figurines as a hobby, so its nice to have "working girl" (or "nail-biting girl") nails represented.

 Each polish bottle came in its own organza baggie that best matched the color of the polish.

I actually use the exact same bags she does, and I have the same problem with them being just a little too small for my needs.

Some Personal Polish Background

I am a lazy, lazy human being. Particularly when it comes to nails, even though in general I am not a sticky person, I somehow expect my beauty products to be applied and then magically preform at full power without maintenance. That is not a realistic expectation, and I am aware of that, but I am announcing this because my review will still somewhat reflect this. I was doing some base and top coat research today and came across wrapping your tips and before even knowing what it was I thought "ain't nobody got time for that". 

I don't wrap my tips, I haven't gotten into the habit of regularly applying base and top coat. So, this will be an actual review of the formula. Also, I would like to formally apologize for the terrible swatches ahead. I am horrendous at painting my nails.

Swatches and Review

Viking

Excuse this swatch, I was lazy.

This is from the Something Spatial: Missions collection, which are holographic polishes based off of space exploration missions. It is a green based polish, so that is something I feel like I didn't fully comprehend when I bought it. I'm not saying it is just a green polish, but when I look at my nails from the side without anything underneath it, the polish looks green. That is fine, and its growing on me, but it is something to be aware of when buying holos because they aren't always going to be sparkly color-changing magic from every angle. They are just sparkly color-changing magic from most angles.

As for the formula, it has good grip, is opaque in two or three coats, dries incredibly quickly, and is gorgeous beyond what my swatches can show.

Betelgeuse

This is from the Something Spatial:Stars collection. They are tri-color thermal flakie polishes and I had to limit myself to one. I am a sucker for pink, and so I bought it against my better judgement. It is a wonderful polish, but I should have known better and chosen a better color for my skin tone. Regardless, the color shifts in this one are absolutely to die for.

On the left you can see what the polish looks like warm/on nails. The middle finger show show sheer the product is on the first coat. The other two nails are three or four coats of polish.

This is the thermal change when the polish is cold. The middle finger is two coats of polish held on an icecream thin mint, the pink and ring finger are again three or four coats of polish also held on an icecream thin mint.




The polish is extremely sheer, it requires a lot of coats, but it dries super fast and also super hard so if you like to poke at squishy polishes this is safe from your wrath. I find it is difficult to see the color change in the bottle on this one but it works beautifully on the nails. I don't feel like I need a top coat for this polish, but it might benefit from a shiny topcoat to add dimension and bring out the flakies a little more.

I'm Lavender Rain

This is from a pastel duo on the website. It is still up, but its on sale, so I'm not sure if it will continue to be that way.  The polish is a sheer white polish filled with pastel circular glitter. The glitter goes on well, I don't have to dig it out or use tweezers to get it on my nails, the glitter also stays pretty well with just the polish itself, I don't feel like I need to use a top coat. This dries very quickly between coats (30 seconds and you can add another layer), but it does need like 4 or 5 coats to get to opacity. 

 It is not particularly flexible though,there are times where I have done something that pressed down on my nail and I've gotten a big crack in it and it peeled right off. Another thing is that it grips the nail decently, but I need like super woman nail grip and it doesn't have that, though that also means that I don't damage my nail when I pull it off. 

You can see from the swatches that this doesn't do edges very well, for best results I would probably get a thinner textured white polish and use it as an under layer with this on top.

Dopamine

Dopamine is a thermal crellie from the Hormonal Efficiency collection. It is warm sensitive, but not in the way I expected. It doesn't have a color shift at any point above body temperature. So, it does change color when warm, but your nail is warm, so it only changes color on your hands when it is exposed to cold. I wear Dopamine often on my hands. You can really easily change the color of only one part of the nail polish, unlike Adrenaline below. However, it can be difficult to get on because the larger glitters are just a little too large. They sink to the bottom, and like to come off of the nail leaving huge dents in your manicure.
 I love the colors of this polish though, it even looks gorgeous applied sheerly.

Accomplished with an icepack

Just on its own the polish went three days without chipping during my rock climbing trip, I also used it as proof that it was cold outside. By the end of the week I had one of my climbing partners look at my hands and announce that my polish was too dark of a purple not to be wearing gloves. 

Adrenaline 

Also accomplished with an icepack

 Adrenaline is a thermal crellie from the Hormonal Efficiency collection.  The formula is squishy but not too squishy, and the glitter goes on super smooth and evenly. It takes at least 4-5 coats to get this opaque though, and I personally don't like how it looks when it is sheer.



The color shift of the polish is a little odd. It takes a lot in order to change the color of this polish, and I can't seem to get it to re-color only one part at a time. Also the color shift isn't super noticeable most of the time either, so even though it is a summer colored polish, you would get the most use out of this in the winter.  

Campus Voxbox Unboxing/ Review

**These products were given to me for free by Influenster for review. This in no way influences my review of these products**

 As per usual, there is no padding or anything inside of the Influenster box, yet somehow nothing is broken. I actually really liked this box, just about everything is stuff I would use or have used and owned previously, so while it seems odd to be reviewing such not new products I really liked getting all of this stuff.

 Also, something I thought I should mention that I also got the Carefree Voxbox which came in this teeny tiny hot pink box emblazoned with "Carefree", just so that everyone knows that you just got yourself some menstrual products.  Don't worry, they also made sure to put "Carefree" on all the other sides too.







They broke down the price of each product on this card which was super great.

I didn't actually pay anything for this box, but you should be able to click on this and see how much each of the products would actually cost you to buy.






These are actually really large foil packets, but they are for straightening curly hair. My hair is curly underneath the top layer, but I almost never heat style it and it is even less likely that I'm going to straighten it, but maybe I'll try this?

 I love Soft Lips, I am kind of meh about the cube though. It's a weird shape and I don't find the closure very secure, yet I don't know if the packaging is pretty enough (nor the function so good) that I would go out of my way to keep this as like a vanity lip balm, which is what I think its ideal function would be.

It has a very faint and unoffensive mint smell, but it does feel minty on the lips and sinks in in under ten minutes. Its a fine product, but I think it is not embodying its full potential. What I really want from this is an unscented, unflavored lip balm that sinks in in under five minutes so that I can apply any lip color I want over it that is also packaged so beautifully I adore keeping it on my vanity with my favorite perfume bottles.

St. Ive's Blemish Control Scrub. This is actually a really old product. It was one of the first face cleansers my mother ever bought for me when I was young and if I'm remembering correctly it worked well.

This is paraben free, I actually read the ingredients before I saw the label. As of right now my routine doesn't use such a harsh exfoliant, but I will definitely try this out again once I figure out the best way to incorporate this.

St. Ive's over all is a really good brand, they have affordable good-for-you products. Their lotion is a staple in my house.




Guys, I haven't had Sour Punch Straws in forever, and they are good. I basically ate the whole package in two days, I love them. I am so happy that Influenster sent these to me so that I could rediscover old candy.
The Punchies I am a little less into. I really hate the stupid sugar shell coating people put over candies to try and shake things up. I would much rather just have everyone re-promote the original candy.

The first thing I thought was "this is deep bronze, and I am translucent" but then my best friend got a spray tan and it gave me a modicum of faith about fake tanning so I tried it out on a relatively discreet area (given that it is still cold here and my feet are not exposed much now). I figured it was after prom and since it was sent to me for free I should give it a shot.

It was so orange, any splotchiness was probably my fault because I am new to using a fake tanner though. They told me to use #GoldenLife to talk about this product but if we are being honest my left foot is still coming down from the #OompaLoompaLife.

On the bright side, if you are not translucent my tan lasted for around three days without any of the recommended touch-ups Jergen's tells you to use.

Birchbox April 2015 Unboxing

Well this was pretty disappointing. I've been seeing a lot of repeat products too, which could be great if you really enjoyed the product, but kind of defeats the whole purpose of a sampling program, since the idea is that you send people samples for cheap in hopes they will buy the product in the future.

I wasn't in love with this box design, but it wasn't bad.

 Blah blah blah spring (although it was actually less than 50 degrees with wind chill over here so the only spring thing for me right now is the high pollen counts)

They paired with Rifle Paper Co., which I would care about more if I loved paper and cards.

The pillow box this month is a little abused and boring. I mean it is definitely spring but we are now in the middle of April, it has been nearly a month since spring (officially, because we all know spring really starts in early March or mid May depending on if you determine reality by the weather or not) started. Plus this is more of a summer aqua than a spring mint green.











 I don't use traditional shampoo and conditioner, so this is a waste of time for me. I am so sick of getting shampoo and conditioner in my birchboxes.

I am pleased to have this, I LOVE Hello by Harvey Prince, I even wore it today.














 Cynthia Rowley Creamy Lipstain in Sugar (nude pink). It is a nice nude pink, I am working on testing out the actual staining power of it now but that is difficult when it is so close to my actual lip color. I have to say that it didn't do much for my hand though, and I was super concerned when I rubbed it off because I have a lot of events coming up. Cynthia Rowley isn't a bad brand or anything, but I've gotten more powerful lipstains for less than 2$ as of right now.




It is forgiving enough that I would feel comfortable reapplying it with the provided doe foot applicator though, so I will give it that. It is also vegan, cruelty-free, and paraben free so I would say that makes it worth the 20$ price tag.

POP shadows are decent enough, these colors are nice enough too, but they are way over priced. I mean, there are worse eyeshadows, but there are also better eyeshadows. I wouldn't have picked this up for myself either because these are the exact colors I have 8 of already.

My elf shadows are equal in quality, and the palettes are cheaper.

Personal Value and Final Thoughts

Overall, I liked three, two if we're being honest, of the 5 samples this month. The value is still there, but I would feel happier if we would stop getting shampoos and conditioners or at least make them count as one sample so that there is at least a remote possibility that I could like 4/5 of the samples

Shampoo- 3.49$
Conditioner- 3.05$
Eyeshadow sample value- 2.44$
Cynthia Rowley Lip Stain- 10$ (Probably more like 9$, but we got almost half of a full size which is really good)
Hello Body Cream- 1.25$

So my personal value would probably be 11.25$ for this box, which is still more than the cost of the box. Though to be fair it is most likely that the lip stain would cost way way less because you would typically buy a sample like that in a try-it kit of some sort and the body cream sample would probably be 5$ for only a slightly larger sized bottle, marketed as "travel size".

Relatively Small Nyx Soft Matte Lip Cream Review

I know these are old, but as they have persevered through the ages (there are vlogs about the soft mattes going back to at least 2010) I figured there must be something good about them.

I had originally tried Nyx's matte lipstick and I hated it. It was incredibly drying and patchy, I'm already on the fence about traditional lipstick tubes and this was a terrible combination of two things I'm rather wary of.


At first I was completely enamored with the soft matte lip creams because they were less drying, in a packaging I preferred, and had a similar scent to the butter glosses (I also hate lip glosses). However, as the novelty of them wore off and I went about trying the thousands of other lipstick options in the world I realized they really weren't that great.

Swatches

 The hand swatches are just one swipe, the lip swatches were 2-3 swipes on bare lips, no primer or liner.


Sydney- supposed to be lavender but it looks more pink to me. Not that that is a bad thing because it makes it more wearable but I love the idea of pastels and not just vampy lip colors. This color looks beautiful on the hand swatch but I just don't like how it turned out on my lips.

Istanbul- the color on the tube does not match the color of the actual product. I expected this to be the color of Milan.  You know how if you make a line with a white board marker and then go back over it the color comes up? Well, Istanbul did exactly that which is why my edges suck particularly bad.



Milan- Yet another color inconsistency, this is a hot pink and I expected it to be the color of Istanbul. It feathered and bled quite a bit.

 Ibiza- An orange red, true to color. Very pretty but also bleeds like no other.

 Copenhagen- A gorgeous color, but its semi-sheer so the color of your natural lips will change how it looks on your lips. In this case the other creams stained, which is why Copenhagen looks more red or maroon.

Product Break-Down

Advantages
- Affordable at <6 a="" p="" piece="">- Come in a HUGE variety of colors
- A little more moisturizing because of its cream form
- doe foot applicator is a little more precise than your traditional tube

Disadvantages
- Shade discrepancies (tube does not always match actual product color
- Bleeds
- The smudgery of this lip product should be illegal. I am super clumsy, and this product just likes to get all up in your business. Nyx Soft Matte lip cream is that one friend you give your phone to so that they can look at a single picture who then feels like they can just keep on scrolling.

Notes
- Darker shades tend to stain
- Smells sweet like a decent artificial cupcake scent, only slightly different from the Butter Glosses
- Lighter shades especially last like 3 hours at the most (not counting residual stain)
- Never really sets up, it is very much a lipstick, it transfers though it does dry down some so that it transfers less.

Final Thoughts

If I were to give this a star rating, it would get 3 of 5. It's not a bad product, and if you think it looks interesting go ahead and pick one up, but at least for me personally it isn't worth all the hype its getting. I can see how there are people out there who would love it though, because it is an affordable, less drying matte lip color and if you are willing to keep up with the maintenance, these might be a great option.