Innocent and Twisted Alchemy July 2015 Unboxing

Innocent and Twisted Alchemy is an indie makeup company run by a woman named Linda. The company also offers a monthly subscription service called the alchemists box. The payment is recurring and done through Paypal.

The box is 12$ shipped for the deluxe sample option, and 21$ shipped for the full-size option. This includes 3 custom made deluxe-sample/full-size eyeshadows with handmade labels exclusive to the box, at least two bonus samples from different indie companies, a card explaining this month's theme and providing information on the products in the box, and a 30% of coupon code for the store.




I'm going to be honest, the past few months have felt a little lacking for me with this subscription, but this month and the sneak peak for next month might have just changed my mind.

I was pretty excited for this month when I saw the sneak peak of the label art and it instantly stole my heart. The packaging and samples are also once again in line with what made me fall in love with this subscription in the first place.

This month's art was done by Betsy

 My apologies for the sad quality photograph here. This month's theme was tea party, and we ended up with two lip product bonus items, one of them actually being full size.

I have never tried products from any of these brands, though I hear a lot about Kae Q's besos and have been pondering ordering from Kiss My Sass for quite some time.

Shortcake Fantasy, Steeping Petals, Tea and Scones

 Did I tell you guys the label art was adorable? Because it is so cute!

The colors are really neutral this month, which fits with the theme but is a little bit of a bummer when you are trying to massively pare down your makeup collection.


Swatches are done with an elf eye shadow brush. Left to right: wet application, over elf eyelid primer, on bare skin.

All of this month's shadows really benefit from a primer.


 Shortcake Fantasy is a metallic baby pink.

I love metallic baby pinks, I own too many of them though, and so this one is going to have to go. However, this shadow definitely did the best without primer.

 Steeping Petals is a blackened brown base with glitter.

Finally, Tea and Scones is a taupe base with a blue looking glitter.










This is Rainbow Bit from Chirp Cosmetics. It is a little bit opalescent, but mostly it is just a metallic white shadow.

Apparently, it was custom made for this month's box according to the information card.


This is Sugar Pop from Wonderland Beauty Cosmetics 

It is a lavender base with a blue shift, and it is getting passed on to a friend of mine who will love it more than I can. Also, another color made specifically for this months alchemists box.

 Kiss My Sass Lip Tint in Circus Treat.





This feels like a tinted balm and goes on super sheer. The scent is absolutely heavenly, it reminds me of those super fake smelling creamsicles my school used to sell on popcorn and icecream day every Friday. It is even colored like an orange creamsicle. Ultimately, I'm passing this on, but only because I'm moving and need to keep my makeup collection to a minimum.

This is a besito from Kae Q cosmetics. The formula is super creamy with the coverage of a quality tinted lip balm, but it feels like a lipstick when you wear it. Personally, I'm not a fan of this product, but I know a lot of people love Kae Q's besos.






 The camera was not agreeing with me today, but here is both a lip and hand swatch of the beso sample in Mamey from Kae Q.

Value

As usual the cost for this box (and what I paid for it) is 12$ with shipping. The value of this box is calculated using only the cost of the products, not including shipping from any of the stores themselves, the additional packaging, the colors made specifically for i+ta 

Kiss My Sass Lip Tint- 2$

Kae Q Besito- 2$

Deluxe Sample i+ta Shadows- 3$ (x3= 9$)

Chirp Cosmetics Shadow Sample- 1$

Wonderland Beauty Cosmetics Shadow Sample- 1.30$

Total Value= 15.30$, which is still more than what I paid for the box, not including all the other aforementioned considerations about the value which probably should be taken into consideration but is difficult to quantify into a dollar amount. 

Whish Hair Inhibiting Gel Review

So, I saw this product at Ulta the other day and was immediately fascinated by it. I couldn't find a lot of reviews of it, but it looked interesting so I went ahead and bought it.


Long story short, Whish is a natural organic good-for-you type of brand, and this product is supposed to replace your moisturizer and naturally inhibit hair growth. It's geared toward people who own a mountain of Bath and Body Works type products and actually use them in a reasonable amount of time (a.k.a. not me).

















I have provided images of the ingredients of the product, and the side of the box that explains which ingredients are intended for what purpose. If you can't read them you can double click on the image for a higher resolution view. I take most of my pictures with my DSLR camera now, so you can effectively do that with most of the pictures on my blog.












A bottle of the stuff costs 26$, which is pricey, but it is a pretty large bottle. It took only one pump do my lower leg (where I always test my hair removal products for safety reasons). If this actually does its job of inhibiting hair growth this will last you a while. You can also get this on the Birchbox shop using your points if you have any and they have all the scents BUT I highly recommend going to an Ulta and smelling them all first. The base of this product is really strong, so you want to make sure you are okay with the scent first. I liked almond the best. Coconut was okay too if you are into tropical scents, more like a pina colada sort of smell.














**I did these tests in April because I am a terrible blogger. Hence the references to spring. 


My left leg is using some VIVO lotion I have around, and my right leg is using the inhibiting gel. I couldn't leave my other leg without any lotion at all, so I chose a thin lotion that I've been trying to use up.

I epilated my legs on Saturday, and tomorrow or Monday I will be shaving them. Basically my current spring routine involves me epilating my legs on Saturday or Sunday, shaving them later to get off the surface hair, and then basically not shaving for a week unless I have an event or a date because I usually get to the point of wanting to shave again by Thursday.

First Impressions

After epilating I applied my products, inhibiting gel on the right leg and lotion on the left. The gel sank in really fast but did feel moisturizing. After I epilate anything I put on my legs for the next 30 minutes or so stings (which is probably why they tell you not to apply product to your legs for at least 30 minutes after), but both products stung equally. The lotion definitely feels more moisturizing at first, but the gel does moisturize and also sinks in super quickly. A few minutes later my left leg was itchy while my right leg still feels fine

Test #1

Day 1-  I applied the inhibiting gel and VIVO lotion after shaving as I would normally. I have to say that my right leg currently does feel a little smoother than my left leg. However, it is possible that this is due to other factors and not the hair inhibiting gel.

Day 2- Both legs are feeling pretty good still but, while I might be biased because I want this to work, I think my right leg is still actually smoother. I applied sunscreen today, but no lotions.

Day 3- No products were put on my legs today, both legs are still okay. They feel smooth enough that I would wear shorts, and they still look smooth.

Day 4-  My legs are looking a little scaley, but I do genuinely think the hairs on my right leg are shorter and fewer than the ones on my left, but they are still there. I am reapplying the moisturizers, but I will be ending the test tomorrow evening because I'm going out on Saturday.

Day 5- I got really excited because I have a date on Saturday and epilated my legs this morning.Now its time for test two!

Test #2

So in an effort to keep these tests accurate I decided to switch legs just to make sure that one of my legs isn't  just magically smoother than the other. I epilated my legs today and applied the Whish gel to my left leg, and the VIVO lotion to my right leg. Having used this product for a little over a week now I am impressed by the moisturizing ability of it, but the scent it SO STRONG. I don't know if I will be able to take this college.

Day 1- Shaved and applied my moisturizers. Both legs feel equally smooth.

Day 2- Still my legs are equally smooth, and I'm wondering if my left leg is just hairier than my right leg. In which case, the last test would be completely invalid.

Day 3- I'm noticing that there are little hairs cropping up on my left leg, my right leg still has no visible hairs. I reapplied the moisturizers to their respective legs.

Day 4- Both have visible hairs on them, I can't tell a difference between them so I'm ending the test now.

Verdict

It's an okay moisturizer, it works much better than most lightweight lotions I've used. If it does work for slowing the growth of hair, the function is minimal. I'm not willing to do more tests because of how strong the scent is. This won't be coming with me to college, but I will pass it on to my mom because she said she wanted to try it. It might work better for people who apply body lotion daily or multiple times per day, but if you're like me in either your aversion to strong fragrances or your lack of routine when it comes to self care don't bother with this. 

Getting my Eyebrows Shaped

Before

I got my eyebrows waxed on Friday.

I had never really liked my brows but didn't know what to do or how to go about getting them how I liked them before I got into makeup. Even after I knew about shaping I was way too afraid to ruin them to go about trying to pluck or wax them myself. So, I took the plunge and got them professionally done.













My brows have always been thick caterpillars chilling out above my eyes. When I was a child I  actually had a bit of a unibrow (it runs in the family). Thankfully, after 8 years of plucking and shaving the unibrow doesn't grow back in very much anymore, but my brows were still really thick and messy.  This is an especially bad photo of them, because I was avoiding tweezing anything in preparation for waxing.

After

I chose to go to the Lunch Box because it was a weird name for a waxing salon and they promised me well trained people who would work with me on my eyebrow shape. Also, I was able to book an appointment online.

I was late to that appointment because it took forever to find parking and park properly. However, other than the fact that I realized I was never taught how to parallel park and people walking by gave me judgy looks, the ladies there were very friendly and didn't seem to mind at all. My waxologist was super nice about everything and worked with me to get the shape I wanted while taking into consideration my natural brow. It was a clean, nice looking place and I'd recommend it.

As for the actual waxing I have a pretty decent pain tolerance. I wax my own bikini line and armpits and I already tweezed around my eyebrow's natural shape anyway so it didn't hurt very much. My left eye did close up and water, but that's because I had a swollen tear duct in seventh grade and that eye has never fully cleared up. Sometimes when its windy I look like a crying Disney princess because my one eye just leaks.





I guess the only downside is that getting my brows done wasn't as impactful as I had expected. People talk about eyebrows like they're everything but I don't really see much of a difference. I plan on maintaining this anyway though because I like how clean and purposeful they look without me having to do anything to them.

Birchbox July 2015 Unboxing

Overall, the box this month was pretty good for me. It was worth my ten dollars even if my overall opinion of this box was "okay".

We'll start with the actual box. I didn't love it, and I didn't hate it.

 The theme of this month was Go Bold which makes sense with the packaging and neon yellow-green tissue paper. I'd say the beachy wave spray and the brightly colored lipstick samples lived up to the theme, while the other products were seasonally appropriate.

Another okay.


Benefit has a deal in the Birchbox shop where if you purchase a Benefit product you can get a deluxe sample of the black They're Real mascara or the black Push-Up liner for free using the code REALLASHES or REALLINER. The inside of the card is an advertisement for Benefit's new colored version of these products, available in the Birchbox shop.




There was no pillow box this month. Which is fine by me, but an odd change since I'm used to getting one even though I never really saw it as a necessary or even logical thing. I'm expecting to get 5 samples. Putting some of the 5 samples into a pillow box doesn't make them a bonus gift.


Birchbox has a way of giving me lots of things that I need and am too lazy to buy. Take for example the winter and spring months where they loaded me up on hair masks, I was almost out of my current hair mask and didn't need to buy a new one for months because of Birchbox. Now, they've given me two different face sunscreen samples, as if they magically know that I am out of face sunscreen and have been using CC creams every day because they are the only face sunscreen I currently own.

 This product is Daisy Approved. ❁

   I'm going to be honest here and tell you that I was most excited about this box because they promised me a Stila Stay All Day Liquid Lipstick sample.  I'm working on a Liquid-to-Matte lipstick post similar to my Two Step Liquid Lipstick post and as such need to collect a wider variety of brands. Stila was one of the ones I didn't have. 

It is a super bright pin-up red color from a brand of lipstick I didn't have and was getting ready to shell out 20$ to buy, and as exciting as that is I find it even more exciting because I already own an exact dupe for this product in my collection (Sephora Cream Lipstain in Always Red) so I know that I don't need to buy more of these unless they have a shade I really want.


Daisy Approved ❁

 Birchbox has a love affair with Dr.Brandt that I just don't understand and can't approve of. Because of them I have tried a lot of Dr.Brandt products and I haven't liked a single one of them. Honestly, I don't need a new exfoliant and I'm just going to pass it on to someone who will actually use it.



Coola Setting Spray. This will be my third setting spray and I'm excited to test it out because I have yet to find one I really love. Even Skindinavia's setting spray hasn't stolen my heart.

Coola is known for being an organic all natural brand, and this product has SPF 30 in it. As a super pale child I am hopeful for this product because SPF is my life in the summer.



Daisy Approved ❁

Finally, this super adorably sized Oribe beachy wave spray. I've only tried out one of these before and I didn't really like it but this is a high end product, so it might work out. I'm going to try it.

Value and Personal Value

Value is determined using the price per ounce of the full sized product multiplied by the amount of product in the sample unless otherwise stated. 

MD Solar Sciences- 4.42$

Stila Lipstick- Going by the 20$ for the set of three on the Birchbox shop the value is 6.67$

Dr. Brandt Microdermabrasion- 9.75$

Coola Setting Spray- 7.20$

Oribe Beachy Wave Spray- 4.59$

Total Value= 32.63$ which works out to be more than three times the cost of the Birchbox itself. 

Personal Value is determined by how much I would be willing to pay for each of these samples. 

MD Solar Sciences-  2$

Stila Lipstick- 5$

Dr. Brandt Microdermabrasion- 0$

Coola Setting Spray- 5$

Oribe Beachy Wave Spray- 5$

Personal Value= 17$ which is still almost twice the cost of the box, so I'll take it. I ended up with two products I am excited about, one I'm going to try, and one that I needed and was lacking in. 

Sixteen92 The Circle Review / Summer Collection Review

**Disclaimer that perfumes are incredibly personal and skin chemistry is a fickle mistress. Your personal perfume experience may differ from my own even with regards to lasting time.**

I gave in and purchased Sixteen92's the Circle subscription. For those of you who don't know, Sixteen92 has recently come out with a yearly subscription called The Circle. It is 85$ up front, registration opportunities open yearly. Shipments go out quarterly, and those registered get sent samples of all of the samples for that particular seasonal collection, and one other perfume sample. Registration for the year is closed, but this is still a review of the summer collection and the quality of sixteen92 packaging.

This is a super late review, but as the summer collection is out, I thought it was worth it all the same.

I got a packing slip (yay!), a bracelet extra, and a card explaining all the scents and giving me a unique code for 30% off anything from the summer collection. 

The perfumes are wrapped in corrugated cardboard and sealed with a black rubber band. It is both cute, cost effective, and functional and I am very impressed. 

Here is a shot of the back of the card and the baggie that was inside of the carboard. The perfumes sit inside very snugly so they don't break or move around and the label looks stamped, but it fully legible and doesn't smudge or anything, I like it. 

Theda ★★☆☆☆

If you had the skin chemistry for this, I think this would be a great perfume. 

Company Description: Tart sangria infused with ripe summer fruits (white peach, nectarine, berries, citrus), dark vanilla, wild vines, rose absolute

In the Bottle: Despite never having had sangria, it smells exactly as I expected. Wine and summer fruits. 

On the skin: ...and it became smarties and axe. As it dries down it kind of just smells like moss

Sillage: ✦✦✦✧✧

Lasting Time: 4 hours

Paper Moon ★★★☆☆

Not my personal fragrance of choice, but I can see some people really liking this, especially if you enjoy the smell of moss. 

Company Description: soft vanilla musk, benzoin, oakmoss, trailing ivy, peach blossom, tea rose

In the Bottle: a gentle peach scent, some light floral, and a faint wisp of moss. 

On the skin: a touch of sweet fruitiness, but mostly just moss at first. As it dries down the peachy floral comes out more up close, but moss is still the first thing I note. To me it seems like a slightly feminine leaning unisex scent. 

Sillage: ✦✦✦✦✧

Lasting Time: 4 hours

The Beautiful & Damned ★★☆☆☆

Company Description: Sparkling pink grapefruit, strawberry, raspberry and currant with soft violet gardenia and Tahitian vanilla absolute. 

In the Bottle: It smells like fruit. Not quite like fresh fruit, but really good fake fruit. However, it has a greenness to it that smells more natural and helps tone down the fruit scents just a little but not so much that fruit scent lovers would be disappointed. 

On the skin: Patchouli and indistinct fruit. 

Sillage: ✦✦✦✦✦ my mother could smell it all the way across the kitchen from me. 

Lasting Time: 4 hours

Eternal Return ★★★★☆

Susannah is guest hosting this perfume review, because I am allergic to grass and thus cannot review this fragrance for you. She absolutely adores this fragrance, and we have a similar sense of smell, but different sense of taste. 

Company Description: Peat moss and damp garden soil. Tomato leaf, beetroot, grass, lavender spikes, galbanum, sun-warmed oak bark. 

In the Bottle: It smells exactly like a vegetable garden. A true unisex scent. I can actually smell the tomato leaf. 

On the skin: 

Sillage: ✦✦✦✧✧

Lasting Time: 4 hours

Blood and Honey ★★☆☆☆

If you adore honey and honeysuckle and want to broadcast that to the world, you will love this perfume. I don't like my perfumes that strong, and I want them to be a little more nuanced.  

Company Description: blood orange, wildflower honey (vegan), pale amber, honeysuckle

In the Bottle:  All honey suckle, maybe some amber deep within the vast abyss of honeysuckle

On the skin: Okay, the honey suckle settles a little on the skin, and some honey comes out. If I smell my wrist up close, there is the faintest wisp of blood orange. 

Sillage: ✦✦✦✦✧

Lasting Time: 4-5 hours

La Llorona ★★★☆☆

La Llorona is the newest edition to the general catalog. For those who don't speak Spanish or don't know the history of the name, it translates to "the crying woman". It is an old Hispanic legend and if you are into that kind of thing like me you can read about it here. 

Company Description: Bulgarian and Egyptian rose absolute, pink and white pepper, pink grapefruit, wisteria, cashmere wood, pale amber
In the Bottle: Like citrus fruit and real silk 

On the skin: Very similar when wet, a little more like citrus zest than citrus fruit. As it dries down I get more wood and roses but that fruit really keeps is nice and light for summer. By the end of the four hours the smell was still on my wrist, but it lost all its nuance and just smelled like smarties on crack. 

Sillage: ✦✦✦✧✧

Lasting Time: 4 hours

Final Thoughts

The summer collection wasn't really for me. It didn't help that I was allergic to one of the fragrances. The new general catalog scent was my favorite, and while I will wear it again, I don't see myself buying a full size. However, I am very much looking forward to the fall collections, as it seems Sixteen92 loves earthy and spicy scents which bodes well for the seasons of pumpkins, cinnamon, and peppermint yet to come. 

From this collection it seems that Sixteen92 is a brand that blends their perfumes to smell good in the bottle, so its usually better if you have skin chemistry that doesn't change the perfume too much, unlike say Haus of Gloi where I hate 99% of their perfumes in the bottle and only like them after they settle into my skin. 

These are well blended perfumes with high quality ingredients, they last an okay amount of time, and they largely smell like their description. I approve of this brand, and would generally recommend this collection to anyone who likes earthy scents. 

May and June 2015 Favorites

So I wasn't ready to post my May favorites until mid-June, but I felt that both May and June have some interesting context to them that make them worthwhile favorites so instead of putting out a May favorites on the 15th of June I figured I would just post both months at the same time, especially since there aren't that many favorites for either as I was very selective with my choices.

May Favorites

The first half of this month was exam season, IB exam season. There was two days where I left the house at 8 in the morning, took two or three exams with only a 45 minute lunch break and then remained at school to study in the evening only to arrive home at 8 PM. After that I had senior prank, senior dessert, graduation, was working on getting the house ready for market presentation, and sent my boyfriend off to Shanghai for the summer.

Proactiv Refining Mask

Proactiv is a decent brand. I really like their Deep Cleansing Body Wash (except for the freaking mini plastic fish murdering beads, which is why it isn't actually in my favorites and why I am looking for an alternative body wash) but mostly, I love their refining mask.

Usually sulfur smells terrible, but while this has a distinct smell that does linger until you properly wash your face, it is not a bad smell and I actually kind of like it. It does a fantastic job drying out my pimples and clearing out my pores. I find its best use is as an overnight spot treatment for pimples and clogged pores, you put it on at night, sleep, wash it off in the morning and boom cleared pores and greatly smaller zits.

I have had this bottle for a very long time, probably too long, and as you can see I've gone through half of it in the years that I have owned it. Also, this is the little bottle. There is a larger bottle available.

Miss Sherlock Perfume from Deep Midnight Perfumes

Though not my usual fragrance choice, this smells fresh and green and beautiful and through the placebo effect gives me a feeling of intelligence and confidence. Bonus, it lasts forever but has a throw light enough that in a testing room as spread out as ours was you won't risk giving anyone a fragrance headache, which is really important.

Moonlight Stalker Angelic Powder from Innocent and Twisted Alchemy

I have an army of highlighters, but this month, for my graduation, meeting my boyfriend's parents, senior dessert, all of my special occasions I chose this highlighter. I don't know if it would look ashy on darker skin tones but on my fair skin its beautiful and can be built up to lovely sheen, but also works great for a soft glow.

It Cosmetics Tightline Waterproof Mascara 

I love this mascara, it makes my lashes look gorgeous and doesn't smudge. It does flake off if you rub at your eyes a lot like I do but the flakes are much easier to clean away than smudges. I managed to hold it together through most of my events so I only have one real cry session where I got to test this out but it held up well to salt water. After taking a shower with this on, I can tell you this is truly waterproof at least in non-chlorinated water, but I wouldn't tout it as an almighty mascara. If I went to the water park, I would still come back with no mascara just because of the inevitable eye rubbing that would occur. 

June Favorites

The month of June began with a week long recovery from having all four of my impacted wisdom teeth removed, followed by making massive amounts of SWAPS (Special Whatchamacallits Affectionately Pinned Somewhere) for my local girl scout troop. My birthday was on the 23rd, and my boyfriend's was on the 19th. My family and I have been trying to sell our home for some time now which has been hard on me because I am trying to keep my home immaculately clean and not just liveably clean, which gives me more anxiety than is reasonable (and this is coming from someone with severe anxiety).

Skindinavia Oil Control Primer

I actually just bought this so that I could get a free 4oz finishing spray with it, I figured since they were having the promotion why not basically get the primer for free? It turns out, I love this more than the finishing spray. It makes my makeup (especially my blushes) last way longer, feels like nothing on the skin once it dries, and actually does keep my oil under control even after a full day of vigorous shopping, sweating, and eating unreasonably buttery popcorn.

Previse Face Wash

Photo Credit to Previse because
I accidentally forgot to photograph mine

I ended up buying this and the serum after watching a glossybox unboxing. I've been using this as my only face wash for probably around 7 weeks now and it keeps my skin clean while being very gentle. The pores around my nose have never looked so reasonable. I bought both the serum and the face wash and I will get around to doing a full review with more details eventually.

My only consideration would be that this is best for skin that is mostly under control already. The cleanser is so gentle that to get super skin clearing powers you have to increase your usage or use a spot treatment. BUT, I have tried all sorts of things to make my nose pores look less clogged and nothing has ever helped like this. Even on day three without showering unless I do something  (like work in a churro booth), my nose pores are just so nice looking.

Bonus, the brand has you take a quiz and decides what formula is best for you, so if you don't have my skin type you can still try it out and see if you like it.

Be a Bombshell The One Stick in Sunset

Okay, let me just preface this by saying that while I love both the color and function of this, the packaging and brand reputation are personally not good enough for 20$. Good news, they go on sale for 5$ sometimes. 

This is a gorgeous color, it goes on the cheeks beautifully, and because of the cream-to-powdery nature of this product it feels like nothing on the lips. It stays on better than a lot of my other cream and powder blushes as well.

 I did a whole review on the Be a Bombshell the One Stick here.