Category Archives: Bath & Body

#TeamAddieMae Benefit Box

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GUYS. Remember that time when we bought some polish and donated to a good cause all with the click of one tiny button? As in, best display of zero effort EVER?! Well, let’s do that again.  I have a BIG TIME clicking opportunity to show you today.

Kiley, the maker behind 2-Bit Polish, needs our help! Her 7-year-old daughter, Addie, was recently diagnosed with an incurable brain tumor.  Naturally, a small portion of the indie nail community – inarguably the most kindhearted bunch of magicians you’ll ever know – has rallied together and come up with an awesome collaboration box in an effort to raise money for Kiley, Addie and their family.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t think of any better reason to spend some money today. A legit no joke justification-type scenario just landed in your lap, y’all!  Take a look at what you’re getting:

• SUPER DUPER PRESS SAMPLES •

Adeline Mae was born a beautiful and healthy little girl. Now fast forward 7 years. Addie came home from school shopping with her family on July 31, 2017 with a headache. Her parents, Michael and Kiley, did what all parents would do and felt her forehead – and that’s when they noticed the muscle tension in her face. After visiting the emergency room, they were immediately flown to Vanderbilt Hospital in Tennessee. Tests were done and they were given the worst possible news: Adeline Mae Underhill has Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) – terminal brain cancer.

Addie was given 6-9 months. Right now, she is going through radiation treatment in hopes of shrinking the tumor and giving her a little longer to live. Radiation is their only hope! DIPG is inoperable and does not have a cure. 

This benefit box is to help raise money for the Underhill family so they can spend every second with their baby girl and not have to worry about how the bills are going to get paid. If a clinical trial became available, this donation could potentially help pay their way in.

— Courtney, Co-creator of the #TeamAddieMae Benefit Box

There are 10 indie makers who have joined this box to bring us nail polish (yay!) and loads of other fun goodies (more yay!) so get your shopping hand ready. And drool buckets, for SAFETY.

Polishes first:

PARROT POLISH:  ADDIE MAE

DESCRIPTION:  A deep, rich blue with pink hue and shimmer

OMG. Have you ever?! (No you have not.)  What a gorgeous, glowy, dreamy blue!  One swipe of this and no more ladylike composure for you. Tongues are lolling, everywhere

I did two coats, although one was almost enough. Ultra smooth application.  Hands-down perfection.  

NIGHT OWL LACQUER:  UNICORN KISSES

DESCRIPTION:  A bright purple with iridescent shimmer, silver holographic shreds and purple/blue shifting microflakies

All you purple lovers, FOCUS!  This one’s got your name written allllll over it!  And Lindsay made it, so of course we want 27 bottles.

Formula was pretty sheer so I did three coats here. Easy application, and shimmer for dayyyyys. 

PRETTY BEAUTIFUL UNLIMITED:  UNICORN MAGIC

DESCRIPTION:  A blackened purple with silver, gold and copper galaxy glitter, rainbow micro shreds, purple shimmer and a rainbow of crystal flakies

I won’t lie: I kinda wanna eat this one.  Except SOCIETY says no. Ugh. But what if – WHAT IF?! – it’s the juiciest most delicious blackberry thing ever invented and we’ve just been sitting over here being normal and whatnot?  I mean, what is the point in life if we can’t lick some nail polish every now and then?  I ask you, WHAT IS THE POINT?! 

Two coats here, but could’ve done infinity. 

COLORS BY LLAROWE:  YOU MAKE MY DAY ADDIE MAE

DESCRIPTION:  A turquoise blue crelly with unicorn pee pigment, pink/gold shimmer, chameleon flakies and sprinkle of holo

Look at this beauty! I am so drawn to this cheerful blue shade; it makes me so happy just to look at it. Then Leah Ann goes and throws some shimmer in it, and OMG, it’s noodle legs to like the trillionth degree. And look at those little flakies peeking through .. gah!  We lub it lots, oh yes we do. 

Three coats here, although two might be okay for some.  

INSPURRRATIONS NAIL POLISH:  JEREMIAH 31:13

DESCRIPTION:  A bright pink jelly with pink glitter and silver and purple holo glitters

Young women will dance and be glad … I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow. 

— Jeremiah 31:13, Holy Bible, New International Version (NIV)

What a glorious way to end this polish parade. Seriously y’all. If you’re still on the fence at this point, well basically the fence is no place for a lady.   Soooo .. 

I love this polish. It’s simple and pretty, elegant with a skosh of flashy.  The jelly formula is sheer so it took three coats for me, but it applied smooth and gloop-free. Can’t ask for much more than that! Well, unless it comes with a side of Leonardo, that is. 

Are we done?  NO. Here’s a quick rundown of the box extras:

NON-POLISH GOODIES

Welp, you want every last bit of that.  For real, this box is soooo good! And the smells that come out of it when you open the package? Super swoon-y!

ALL MIXED UP LACQUERS: BATH FIZZIES

DESCRIPTION: Beautiful pieces of pink and white bath bubblers made with butters and oils for softening your skin and relaxing

TOADARRIFIC VINYLS: NAIL DECALS AND VINYL STICKER

DESCRIPTION:  Unicorn nail decals and a #TeamAddieMae vinyl sticker to display on your Helmer, car window, school locker – anywhere!

POSHLISH: LIP GLOSS

DESCRIPTION:  A moisturizing lip gloss with very light shimmer, made with coconut oil, aloe oil and vitamin E to replenish your lips ** contains nut oils **

LILLY ANNE’S GARDEN: CUTICLE OIL

DESCRIPTION: A cuticle oil rollerball that smells of freshly baked, rich vanilla cake made with pure cane sugar decorated with creamy white frosting

PARROT POLISH: HANDMADE SOAP

DESCRIPTION:  Heart-shaped bath soap made in an assortment of colors and scents

KK’S MAGICAL CREATIONS: WAX MELT

DESCRIPTION:  A beautifully decorated wax melt with sparkle and detail almost too pretty too melt

THE ROUND UP 

This box is available now through September 25 and retails for $50. The majority of proceeds will go to help Addie and her family, which makes getting this box all the more worth it. 

Where to buy:  http://monthlyawarenesspolishbox.bigcartel.com/

More important clicking to do:

Facebook Group

GoFundMe Page

More info about DIPG can be found at http://www.defeatdipg.org.

Later, loves!

• SUPER DUPER PRESS SAMPLES •

Pandora’s Box Collaboration Indie Box: March 2017

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Three things about bathrooms that I do not approve of:

1)  Those giant cheese wheels of toilet paper you spin for a minimum of 18 hours looking for the start of the roll;

2)  The fact that hand dryers now apparently blow poo germs all around the room, according to one of the worst articles ever written; and

3)  Snakes now live in toilets because OF COURSE THEY DO.

Listen, I’m a worry wort, hypochondriac, anxiety-ridden OCDer (i.e., fun at parties!), so I can’t have this kind of knowledge in my head.  I mean, the cheese wheel of toilet paper is more of a nuisance thing, but the hand dryers and the snakes?  NO THANK YOU.

I love the hand dryer.  Really love it.  It’s warm and relaxing.  My hands are always so dang cold anyway, so sometimes I go to the restroom to pretend pee just so I can stick my hands in the hand dryer.  Plus, when is the last time you waved a dripping wet hand under an automatic dispenser begging it to release a little tiny square of paper towel only to get nothing, nada, in return?  Probably like 15 seconds ago, right?  So yeah, the hand dryer solves all that useless exercise, which is tops in my book.  BUT NOT ANYMORE.  Apparently, unless I want a nice mist of someone else’s bacteria all over my face, I’m gonna have to pick fights with the paper towel dispenser instead, wasting energy, time and possibly some dignity.  Cuz lord knows cuss words are gonna come out.  Great.

But that snake thing.  Now that’s a whole other issue altogether.  Who wants this?  Anyone?  NO.  Snakes get two places:  zoos and jungles.  That’s it.  Everything else is mine.  Whoever is in charge of toilet pipes (plumbers? Jesus?) needs to fix this immediately. Cuz I can deal with just about anything (well, aside from weird breathe-y noises from the stall next to me cuz what is happening in there?!), but a snake just having a little swim inside my toilet bowl?  DONE.  I’ll just hold it for the next 37 years instead, thanks.

Now that we’re all properly creeped out by sheer evidence I need to stop scrolling the internet at 2am with one eye closed and sleeping, let’s go to our happy place: NAIL POLISH.  I received the March edition of the Pandora’s Box to review for you today.  This collaboration box is hosted by Athena & Aphrodite and contains polish, nail wraps, makeup and bath and body items contributed by other indie brands that rotate from month to month.  March is (appropriately) St. Patrick’s Day-themed – which means a whole lot of green is about to happen.  Look:

Eeeeee!  Happiness is everywhere!  Aside from those fake flowers, everything in here is a cutie patootie.  However, I paid $1.99 for those flowers, so I had no choice.

First, let’s talk about the contributions offered by the host, Athena & Aphrodite.  Angela did two things, a polish and an eyeshadow.  Let’s look!

Here’s Pot O’ Gold:

You know I love dark polish, so I was super on board with this one.  Base here is a creamy black and it’s loaded with some awesome gold flakies.  I did two coats, even though it covered really well in one.  But two makes it all smooth and perfect, which is all we ever want in life, right?  Well, maybe Leonardo could come bring me a Starbucks.  But THEN we’re all good.

Some macros for your flakie pleasure:

And just for funsies, I added a matte top coat and the effect looks amazing.  Proof:

Told ya.

The other item from Angela is this gold eyeshadow called Athena’s Treasure:

Look at me trying to be a beauty blogger.  Don’t worry, it gets worse: 

Bahahah.

In my defense, it was either this or I was gonna have to do a full face of makeup, but it’s Saturday and full of pajamas, sooooo …

I love this gold color though.  It’s nice and shimmery but not over the top.  It’s not GOLD! with jazz hands, but more just gold with like some sweatpants on.  Comfy casual gold is what I’m saying.

Next item in the box are some shamrock nail wraps by Freya Wraps:

Yep, guess who never uses nail wraps?  But I tried, so blogger points for that, right?  They were pretty easy to put on, and I definitely recommend not skipping the blow dryer part because they do smooth out considerably once they’re warmed up.  I have a pretty decent C-curve to my nails so I had a bit of trouble getting out all the wrinkles, but if you are used to wraps and love wraps, I have no doubt you’ll enjoy these and make them look a billion times better than I have here.

Now we have this lotion bar from Nailed It Hawaii: 

I’ve never used a lotion bar before and wasn’t really sure how to apply it. Apparently I was overthinking it, cuz you for real just rub it on your body. That’s it. The heat from your skin will melt the lotion and then you just rub it in. Easy peasy.  Consistency is like a thick balm so it doesn’t melt to liquid or anything but it sinks in relatively fast which to me is very important.  Sticky lotion hands is the equivalent of picking macaroni and cheese out of shag carpet.  In other words:  gross.

But then I turn the bar over and there’s the cutest flower design embedded on its backside.   Well drat.  That’s precious.  Looks like this thing is getting displayed on my bathroom sink for the next 8 years then cuz how I can go messing up something so pretty?  Despite all it’s butters and oils and sweet orange and grapefruit.  In fact, I’ll just sit it right next to this countertop rack where I’ve hung a little turquoise towel that no one’s allowed to touch.  Even if all the other towels are dirty and your hand is on fire.  Sorry.  Decoration 101.  Everyone knows that.

Next item is a polish from Little Black Dress Nail Lacquer called Celtic Myth:

Is that angels singing? Prolly.

Guys, it’s GREEN.  The color of fresh, new beginnings.  The color that brings me back to life.  The color against which all other colors need to be measured, because not much is more perfect.  Seriously, I checked.

Look at all this holo and gold shimmer.  I die!

Okay, last item in the box is this foaming sugar scrub from Handmade Natural Beauty:

About 15 minutes post bath, and I literally DO smell like an Irish Spring.  It’s wonderfully clean and refreshing since most of my bath stuff smells like coconuts or like I’ve been suntanning in the backyard.  Which we know can’t be true cuz my backyard is outside and I don’t go outside cuz outside requires pants.  Or so says society.

Anyway, the scrub is very soft which I like.  And it does foam up once it’s mixed with water, although not an overload of foam.  Plus, if you don’t enjoy the feeling of oil left on your skin after a scrub, you’ll love this.  If not, then I absolutely KNOW you’ll love this.  I opened the jar, annnnnnnddddddd:

I won’t lie: I thought those were candies and got really super excited.  Never mind the fact that would make no effing sense whatsoever.  I looked at the jar, and the label says to trash the sugar decorations (SUGAR?!  So still not candy?) but the little swirly ball in the center is a glycerin soap.  Fun!  Although still slightly disappointed.

Basically what I’m saying is someone needs to head this way with a candy bar.  STAT.

Here’s the purchase deets on this box:

Cost:  $34.99

Availability:  Pre-sale is open right now and will run through February 15.  Shipping will start in the beginning of March.

Click here to shop the Athena & Aprhodite store.  Select the “Pandora’s Box” section on the left hand side.

Also, there is a giveaway going on over at the Pandora’s Box Instagram page.  For a chance to win one of these boxes, click here to enter.  Rules for the giveaway are listed under the photo.

Okay, guys, that’s all for now.  Hope everyone is having a fabulous Saturday.  I only had to leave the house once today (for groceries in an effort to “sustain life”; ugh) but I left my pajama shirt on and wore it with jeans, so it wasn’t too terrible.  Huge night of swatching ahead of me so I can write more blogs for you.  Get excited!  (Seriously.  DO IT.)

Later loves!

 

Whish Orange Cream Body Butter

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I just love free stuff. Serious, it pretty much doesn’t even matter what it is. If you are free, I will love you. But don’t get too lax, because if you aren’t amazing or if you are boring, I lose interest like stat. (In other words, I won’t always love you.)

A few days ago I ordered a tube of luxury shaving cream and included in the box was this unsolicited sample of Whish Body Butter in the orange cream scent.

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I’m never one to get too excited about body butter. Seriously, I mean a tube of lotion can last me for a ginormous amount of years. I just don’t lotion as I probably should. However, I’m becoming more high maintenance as I near my 40s, so lately I’ve been making more of an effort. Anything to keep wrinkles and hideousness at bay, I will do you.

That didn’t sound quite right, but you understand.

Anyway. Back to the point.

This body butter is the most delicious thing that ever lived. It smells exactly like Hopscotch ice cream (remember that?), a mix of orange sherbet and vanilla. It is super dreamy and luscious. I would eat it if I didn’t know better.

I looked on the Whish website, but they don’t sell it. I found that odd, and I was quite distraught. You can get other scents like pomegranate, coconut, and blueberry – all good scents, but no orange cream. Further investigation revealed the orange may have been an exclusive Nordstrom product. But Nordstrom was sold out.

I’m panicking people! I don’t know why I need more if this orange cream body butter in my life. I just do. And we don’t argue with that kind of logic.

Thank you, tiny baby Jesus, for all your blessed miracles, particularly the one in which we call eBay. There are tons of people selling deluxe sample tubes of the orange cream scent on there. And yes, not one to ever do things in a realistic manner, I bought a pack of 10 tubes for $19.95 so I will have orange cream body butter to last until I’m 90.

Well?! It smells that good.