February Beauty Favorites

My February Favorites

        Hey there Beauty Lovers!  I hope you all had a fantastic February!  I want to take a little time to share my favorite products of the month with you.

1.  Hope in a Jar for Dry Skin-  I had a serious problem with dry skin on my face this winter.  I tried 3 or 4 products before I bought this one, and none of them were helping.  By the time I bought this my temples had peeling skin.  Just 2 days use of this and my skin was completely healed!  I would definitely recommend this to anyone who has dry skin in need of serious repair.

2.  Karuna Hydrating Face Mask-  I love Karuna.  I have never been disappointed by any of their face masks.  Their hydrating mask really helped me this winter with my dry skin.  I know some people don't enjoy these types of cloth masks because they are cold and "slimey".  My tip for these people is to use them when you take a bath.  If you throw the packet in the hot water and let it warm up, when you open it to put it on your face it won't be at all cold and will be much more comfortable to use.

3.  Macadamia Natural Oil Deep Repair Masque-  To continue with winter hydration needs I'm going to let you know about my favorite hair mask.  I have very curly hair, and as most curly haired girls do, I have dry hair.  The combination of this and my next favorite I'll be talking about have finally let me have soft hair!  The mask says to use it for 7 minutes, but I've left it on for as long as 3 hours.  It leaves your hair super soft.

4.  Miss Jessie's Pillow Soft Curls-  When a curly haired girl does manage to have soft hair she usually ends up having to style it with stuff that ends up making it crunchy.  The Pillow soft curls styling lotion doesn't make your hair crunchy at all.  It actually increases the softness of your hair and is a great styling tool.  This is my absolute favorite curly hair product now!  

5.  Bio-Oil-  I have a couple of acne scars on my face that have been bothering me and I've been using this for about three weeks and they are so faint now that when I'm applying this it takes me a bit to find the scars!  I absolutely love this product.

6.  Ology Body Wash- I believe this product is only sold at Walgreens, but it is definitely worth making the special trip to buy this.  Some people don't like it because it doesn't lather as much as other body washes, but this is because it is sulfate free and sulfates are actually bad for your body because they break down protein.  Ology body wash will lather if you use a loofah.  It smells amazing!  It's almond and shea butter make it smell like straight up marzipan.  

7.  Maybelline's Falsies Waterproof Mascara-  I've seen Tanya Burr recommend this multiple times on her YouTube channel and her lashes are so pretty I decided to give this mascara a try.  I got the waterproof version because of my allergies.  I never know when my eyes are going to decide to tear away.  I love this mascara!  This gave me the longest and most feminine looking lashes I've ever had.  

8.  Covergirl Lip Perfection Jumbo Gloss Balm-  This is my new favorite lippy pencil.  It's moisturizing, lasts well, and is highly pigmented.  I have it in Berry twist and use it all of the time.

9.  Rimmel London Kate Moss Lasting Finish Lipstick-  I have this in the Rosetto shade and it is my absolute favorite lipstick.  It doesn't dry out your lips at all, smells fantastic, and really does stay put for hours at a time.

        If you would like to check out any of these products they are all compiled on my Luvocracy account.  Luvocracy allows you to share your favorite things with your friends and the website finds the best price available from a reputable site.  This allows you to get all your favorite things from one place!  I'll list a link to my Luvocracy below. I hope you enjoyed my February favorites collection!  I'm curious to know what are your favorite finds from this month?  Let me know your February favorites!  Have a fabulous weekend!

http://www.luvocracy.com/MaliceMadness/collections

February 2014 BirchBox Update and Review

        Hey Beauty Lovers!

I wanted to go ahead and post an update on my Birchbox as well as let you know how Birchbox handled my broken sample issue.  To make up for sending me a shattered sample they sent out another box that I just received today.  It was an exact replica of the one I already opened so I won't be doing another opening post because that would be redundant.  I'll include a link to that opening at the bottom of this post.  Birchbox also gave me 100 reward points which is equal to $10.00.  Now on to my review of the items I received!

I didn't enjoy the Harvey Prince Hello sample simply because I don't like perfume.  They tend to give me migraines so I prefer to use a oil, lotion, and sometimes a body spray.  I will say that this does have a lighter smell that I find more pleasant than most perfumes.  The full 50 ml of this perfume costs $55.00.

I loved the Harney and Sons teas.  I definitely preferred the Paris tea bag of the two.  It's got a light fruitiness that doesn't overpower the notes of vanilla and caramel.  I didn't enjoy the White Vanilla Grapefruit flavor as much because it had a slightly bitter taste to it.  A full size box costs $9.60 and includes 20 sachets of tea.

I love the Beauty Protector Protect and Oil!  This sample smells amazing and really did soften my hair a great deal.  The full 4 oz size of this costs $25.95 and comes in a spray bottle unlike the glass sample.  

The Skin and Co Roma Truffle Therapy anti-aging serum smelled pretty good.  I'd say it smelled a little bit like Chocolate.  I really liked the way it felt on my skin and now that I've used up a whole sample I think I can safely say that it also improved my skin.  I'm excited to have received a second of the protection oil and the serum.  The full size of the serum is 30 ml and costs $75.00.                                                                 

O.P.I. Sheer Tint in "Don't Violet Me Down" on my nails.  2 coats.

I'm have mixed feelings about this polish.  It's meant to be used as an interesting topcoat or for nail art.  I just used it as a polish and it was a nice sheer purple.  The formula wasn't as great as it could be.  While I was painting my nails some of the polish kept turning into spider webish bits and sticking to my bottle.  The full .5 oz of this is $9.00.

I enjoyed this BirchBox even if I didn't love everything I did get to try some new things and I did love some of them.  My favorites were the protection oil and the truffle therapy serum.  I'm curious to know what your favorite BirchBox item was this month?  Let me know in the comments.  If your interested in joining BirchBox I'll leave a link below so that you can skip the wait.  Have a fabulous day!

The original BirchBox opening post:  http://beautymadnessforever.blogspot.com/2014/02/february-2014-birchbox-opening.html

Skip the wait and try BirchBox yourself:  https://www.birchbox.com/invite/2gvc3

Memebox 5-2 opening!

        Hey Beauty Lovers!
Oh my goodness am I excited!  I received my first Memebox today.  If you don't know what memebox is, it's basically a Korean company that puts beauty boxes on sale on their website full of the best and most popular Korean beauty products.  It's not a subscription service.  Once they're sold out they're sold out.  It costs $23.00 to get a regular box.  They also sell super boxes which have different prices depending on what it's specializing in (makeup, skincare, etc...).  The box I received is 5-2, which is basically the second edition of the 5th Memebox.  They gave me free expedited shipping for my order, they don't always do this.  I was amazed my box came in just 5 days!  Even for expedited shipping that seems fast for it to get from Korea to the the good ol' US of A.

This is the box everything came in.  I think it's absolutely adorable.

Derma:B daily moisture body lotion is the first item in the box.  The sample is a really nice size at 400 ml/3.4 oz.  The full size is 400 ml and goes for $16.00.  It's supposed to be able to calm irritated skin.  It has a nice light scent and feels nice on the skin.  My skin was a little irritated when I tried it on due to allergies and I must say it really does have a calming effect.

This Pore Control Essence is the 2nd item in the box and I love it.  I just used this and it really did noticeably reduce the appearance of my pores, and that's in just one use.  I was going to buy something for my pores and now it looks like I won't have to!  This is a full size product at 30 ml which retails for $46.00 and I got it in a $23.00 box.  Sweet!

I used this CNP Laboratoty cleansing perfecta right before I tried out the Pore Control Essence and it does work.  It claims to be able to remove waterproof mascara, BB cream, and sunblock.  I wear all three of those and it did pretty well removing all of them.  This is a third of the full size product.  The full 150 ml product retails for $23.00.

I love the packaging this came in! This is the Tasteless aromatherapy roll on...I know you're laughing at the name right now. Haha. This roll on is supposed to deepen your yoga workout and relax you for sleep. I won't be trying this product because it has an earthy grass smell that I don't care for. This is a full size product at 14 ml and it goes for $15.00.

The next product I got in my box is Lipozone which is supposed to help increase skins firmness, reduce cellulite and fat cells.  I have not tried this out so I'm not sure if it works.  This sample comes with 5 of the 5 ml samples.  The full size comes with 14 of the 5 ml tubes and retails at $32.00.

This is the cutest little sample!  I love the packaging on this and it does smell good but I'm not a huge fan of floral scents so I'll be giving this to my cousin who adores rose scents.  This is a 35 ml sample and the full size is 500 ml and is sold for $23.00.

The next product is from a more recognizable name brand.  This is L'oreal's Shine Caresse gloss tint in the shade Juliette. Cute name! It's very hydrating and when you wear it it's like a vibrant lip stain. You can see my swatch of it to the right. It's supposed to be able to last for hours.  The full size product, which I received, is 6 ml and is supposed to retail for $16.00 but I found it on Ulta.com for $10.00.  Unfortunately they didn't have the color Juliette.

There were two Dear Jane pouch samples in the box.  One is a primer and the other can be used as a highlighter or as shimmer for the face.  I haven't tried this out yet.  The full size of the primer is 35 ml and costs $16.00 and the full size of the highlighter is 35 ml and costs $14.00.

This Physiogel packet came with a cleanser, a intensive repair cream, and a cream.  I haven't tried any of them yet but am looking forward to giving them a go.  The 150 ml full size cleanser sells for $20.00, the 50 ml intensive repair cream retails for $20.00, and the 75 ml full size cream also sells for $20.00.

The last items in the box are a sun gel  with uv protection and a cc cream.  I'm not going to try these because they have whitening agents.  Koreans are fond of the pale look, but I'm already the palest shade in 99% of foundations and BB creams. I really don't think I need to try to be any paler than I am, Haha!  The 50 ml full size CC cream goes for $30.00 and the 50 ml full  size sun gel goes for $28.00.



I'm really happy with what I got for the price.  I think this is a ton of stuff to try for $23.00.  The value of this box far exceeds what I payed for it.  I'm excited to try out the things I haven't yet.  If you'd like to try some of the latest and greatest from Korea go ahead and go to http://us.memebox.com/ and try it out.  I definitely recommend it!  I think this is one of the funnest beauty boxes out there. If you have any questions feel free to ask!  I'm curious to know what the funnest beauty box you've ever found was?

February 2014 Birchbox opening!

    Hey Beauty Lovers!
Happy Valentines Day!  I hope all of you who have been in the winter storm have managed to stay warm, and maybe even have some fun in the winter wonderland!  I had a great time going sledding with my family.  I received my first Birchbox today!  I was super excited because Us weekly curated the box and I was expecting to be wowed.  When the box came it looked promising.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           
I do love the box it came in.  I think it's going to be great for storage and organizing.





Once I opened everything I was a little disappointed...

I saw tons of people complaining and posting pictures on Facebook that they received shattered samples, but I figured there must be thousands of people subscribed to Birchbox so maybe it was just a minority putting up these pictures and complaints.  Nope...I received a shattered perfume sample too...really not the best first impression for Birchbox to be giving me.  I sent them an e-mail and hopefully I get a reply soon to resolve this issue.  

Even though I didn't receive the best first impression I am still looking forward to trying my samples that are intact.  I know many people hate receiving tea in their boxes...but I think the flavors I received are intriguing, and I am a tea drinker so I'll be giving them a go.  One is white vanilla grapefruit, and the other is a black tea with currant caramel and citrus.  Sounds good to me! 

So here's a list of everything I received in my box and their full size value...though I don't believe I received anything full size today.  I'm going to give everything a try and I'll get back to you with what I think about them!  The Truffle Therapy Serum looks like a high end product so I'm super excited to get to try this in a Birchbox that is only $10.00 a month.  The O.P.I. sheer tint looks like an interesting new way to try nail art.  I have very curly hair that is dry this winter so I'm also looking forward to trying the Beauty Protector oil.  When I get back to you I'll also let you know how Birchbox deals with my deflated first impression of them...  If you received Birchbox this month let me know what you received and how you felt about it!

If my Birchbox opening hasn't discouraged you and you're still interested in trying out this subscription service go ahead and use my referral link below so you can skip the wait!

https://www.birchbox.com/invite/2gvc3

Rimmel London Kate Moss Rosetto 008

    Hey Beauty Lovers!
        I've seen Rimmel London's Kate Moss Rosetto 008 lipstick showing up often on pinterest lately, as shown below, and it is so lovely I had to try it out.

The tube below is my very own 008.  I picked it up at my local target for$4.99.  It's a very reasonably priced lipstick.  It doesn't feel super dry like some lipsticks can and it's highly pigmented.  What surprised me the most about it is that it smells absolutely fantastic.  I definitely recommend trying this out.  The picture below is what it looks like on me so you can have a better idea of the what the shade actually looks like.