First box of the month y’all, and it’s a good one! I love starting out my month of boxes on a high note. Add that to the euphoria of being at the front end of all my deliveries, and I’m simply beside myself. I don’t even know how I manage to sit still and be normal.

Here’s what I got:

You may be thinking to yourself, so?, if you look to the right of the NYX eyeshadow. That’s exactly what I said. But I was so impressed with the sheer size and thoughtfulness of the palette, that I quickly forgot about everything else. So yes, awesome box even though I only really liked one thing in it. Logic only I can understand; don’t even bother.

So this NYX palette is called Be Free.  It includes 25 eyeshadows (hooray!), 3 blushes (yasss!), and 7 lipglosses (boo; snore).  Palettes are my weakness.  I see one and I barely take notice of my own breathing for about 30 seconds.  I have an extraordinary collection stashed under my bathroom sink and more in a basket on the back of the toilet (you know, the proper place to store your palettes).  And yet, I still need more.  I may never get over my palette addiction.

I’ve used several of the eyeshadows and they are quite good.  I didn’t have any pigmentation issues, blending took little to no effort.  I’m var var pleased.  As for the blushes, there is a bronze-y one in the center, and then two pinks that almost look exactly alike. They could’ve used a tweak in that department, but I’m not in charge of NYX unfortunately.  Lastly, the lipglosses.  They’re just okay.  I don’t prefer digging lipgloss out of a pan like that.  I used a couple and they’re pretty sheer.  Not saying I won’t continue to use them, but they will definitely be layered over a lipstick at the very least.

Well I said I only liked the palette in the box, but that’s not technically true.  I love cleansers too.  This DermaNew cleanser is a new-to-me brand and it seems to be full-size.  For the sake of this review, I went ahead and sampled it last night even though there are 3 other cleansers ahead of it.  I am a professional; we’ve discussed this.  Anyway, I really did like this.  It was definitely creamy and it “sticks” to your skin as your applying it instead of feeling loose and drippy.  Am I making any sense?  I hope so.  However, after wiping it off I did feel a little tightness in my face, and not in a facelift sort of way.  So it may be slightly drying.  Or I could be assuming horrible things and should use the product more than once before I say something hideous.  But also, I’m having an oily t-zone issue, so I was fine with any drying it may be doing.

And now for an enormous amount of hair products.  Why this happened, I have no idea.  Whoever is in charge of VARIETY needs a stern talking to.  In the meantime, I have these three things:

A glossing serum from Phyto.  This claims to be an anti-frizz leave-in serum that will make my dry, dull hair come to life.  So I tested that theory.  I used a few drops mainly on my spiky ends after washing last night.  The feel of this was surprisingly less greasy than other oil products.  I say that as if I know it’s made of oil, but honestly I have no idea.  Regardless, it was quite light and I sort of liked it.

I used this in conjunction with the other item I got, the Alterna Caviar Seasilk Oil Gel.  This product is also an anti-frizz treatment, but I applied it on the rest of my hair (not the ends).  I may have done this wrong.  I may have applied two products that do the exact same thing.  But even so, this purple gel looks so stunning sitting on my bathroom counter that it doesn’t even matter.  It may end up more of a decoration piece anyway.  I already have a drawer full of other stuff to use.

However, I will say that my hair is very sleek and soft today.  I was reading the intended use of the Alterna, and while I didn’t necessarily do it wrong, it did say it provided a lightweight hold for styling.  Which doesn’t do a damn bit of good if you go straight to bed after using this.  Ah well.  Still looks stunning on my bathroom counter though!  There will always be that.

Last item I got was a repeat – the Briogeo Don’t Despair, Repair hair mask.  I’m not opposed to this item, but I already have two large mask products and one of them – Carol’s Daughter – works amazing and smells insane.  So I can either put the Briogeo under my bathroom sink for the future or I can be the best daughter in the world and it give to my mother.  Probably going to go with the latter because I may not have a Bachelor’s Degree like the other daughter, but I have a free hair mask to bequeath and that’s virtually the same thing in terms of proud factor.  Pretty sure, anyway.

That’s it for today.