Digging Through My Trash

My empties have got away from me to the point that the only feasible way to log any of them is to only tackle the noteworthy items, for better or worse, from the past 7 months or so. These will be in no particular order since I’ve sort of lost track of when I finished off which items.

Skincare

Peter Thomas Roth Hungarian Thermal Water Mineral Rich Atomic Heat Mask

I love the moisture this added to my face. I would love to find a cheaper version of this somewhere, especially for the winter months.

Korres Pomegranate AHAS & Enzymes Resurfacing Mask

This mask felt like a slightly less intense version of Drunk Elephant’s Baby Facial. I was definitely able to feel it working on my face but it only hurt about 83% as much as the Baby Facial.

Boscia Cactus Water Hydrating Cream

I got every last bit of product I could out of this jar like a dog pushing his food bowl around the kitchen flor while he’s trying to lick the last of the gravy at the end of a thanksgiving weekend. I loved how well it hydrated. It was a gel moisturizer but it was deeply moisturizing product while being amazingly not sticky. 

NOTs Once Finishing Cream SPF30 PA++

I’ve had this product for an embarrassingly long time now. I’ve tried so many times to make this work for me but it’s just impossible. The cream is a sickly green color which would work if I had either a lighter skin tone or a different undertone. Whenever I tried using this as a sunscreen I looked like a zombie guilty of cultural appropriation using blackface. Not a cute look, is what I’m saying. 

Elizavecca Galactomyces Pure Ampuole

Of all the products I’ve tried from Elizavecca, Galactomyces may have been my favorite next to the hyaluronic acid serum. I loved that this serum has the glass packaging and ampoule dropper and I especially loved that the product was a liquid instead of a gel. It made application a bit tricky but I just had to pool it in my palm and hope for the best. The texture also made it easier for me to determine what order this should be applied in my skincare routine. Elizavecca has not been featured often lately on 0.8Liter but you can be sure I’m skulking around the site waiting to pounce as soon as I see this product appear again.  

Makeup

Ciaté London Lip Lustere in Call Me

I loved how light this lip gloss was. It felt more like a lip oil in consistency and wasn’t sticky in the slightest. I also loved the light sheen it left on my lips with very little color. I ended up getting a backup of this with leftover Ipsy points so that’s pretty exciting though, I’ll be honest, I thought I was getting a different shade. 

Estée Lauder Double Wear Foundation in 4W1

I never got much use out of this product because it was just too heavy yet too light for my skin tone. I tried mixing it with the too dark 5N1 shade I have to mixed results. This is a product that I would love to hold on to but the foundation started to separate and no amount of shaking could fix that. I’ve never had that problem before but clearly, it’s the universe telling me that my shit is well past expiry. 

Lancôme Drama Liqui-Pencil Extreme Wear in Brûlée

This was a fine product but it only receives an honorable mention here because the liner came out of the pencil itself when I tried to sharpen it one day. 

Benefit Rollerlash Mascara

My heart broke to have to toss this mascara. It started to dry out so that was the ultimate decision maker for me. The deluxe sized packaging is just so dang cute. I loved the bristles so much too! They’re the short, silicone kind that perfectly coat and define every lash but the bristles are so soft and flexible that they don’t hurt my lids at all during application. My lashes always looked longer and fuller when I wore this little guy. It’s definitely on my future grabs list. 

Trèstique Mini Eye Pencil in Swiss Chocolate

I love Trèstique’s packaging and I used this almost everyday as my brown liner/tightlining color but I was dumb one day and it broke during application. It was creamy, didn’t transfer, and provided subtle drama, if you pardon the oxymoron. 

E.L.F. Mineral Infused Face Primer

I finished off a full-sized face primer, y'all! Tried and true. 

Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask

I’ve heard mixed reviews of this little guy but I’ve had nothing but great experiences with it. It hydrates beautifully. The formula is thicker, akin to lanolin, but it’s not uncomfortable. I loved the strawberry scent too. Thank goodness I got another one in a Sephora bag.

Bath and Body 

Bubble T Hibiscus & Açai Berry Tea Restoring Hand Cream

I wasn’t a fan of this lotion. It felt like slapping some fairly pleasantly scented, slimy water on my hands that was about as hydrating as hand sanitizer and pretending it actually did something. 

Soap & Glory The Righteous Butter

Speaking of scented... A tiny amount of this lotion was enough to clear a large elevator. I always felt super greasy after applying too. I managed to finish it off, it only took 2.5 years. 

Natura Brasil Castanha Hand Cream

I blew through this in about a week in early Midwestern spring (see: still too cold for comfort). It smelled mildly like old lady but I loved how well it hydrated my hands.

June 2019 Birchbox Review

Birchbox is a $15 monthly beauty subscription box that offers 5-6 sample and full-sized makeup, skincare, and hair care products from brands both high end and only known within the beauty box community. The idea of tackling June’s box is a little daunting. Typically, this would be the first indication that it was a lackluster box. Being more realistic, I’m probably suffering from product overload. I received:

• Jouer Cosmetics Sheer Pigment Lip Gloss in St. Germain – $17.00, Full Sized
• Wander Beauty Baggage Claim Gold Eye Masks – $4.17
• Luxie Beauty 239 Precision Shader Rose Gold Brush – $14.00, Full Sized
• Qhmet Biologics Alma & Olive Heavy Cream – $2.36
• Winky Lux Latte Kitten Eyeshadow in Frothy – $2.78
• Coola Classic Body Lotion SPF 30 in Tropical Coconut – $2.18

 

May 2019 Birchbox

That's more diversity than the contents of any of my boxes has ever seen. -_-

Birchbox is a $15 monthly subscription that provides subscribers with 5-6 beauty samples and the occasional full-sized product. Birchbox is great for people who favor skin care or hair care over makeup items. Earlier this year Birchbox started various offerings including picking one of the items in your box, a choice of curated boxes, swapping out that month’s box for a select full sized item, swapping out that month’s box for store credit, or leaving it all up to fate and letting the algorithm surprise you. I find myself opting for curated boxes lately; even if not every item is a perfect fit, I’ve generally given up on trusting the algorithm to select even a fraction of my items. May’s theme was “Get Insipired.”

I forgot all about the included sticker, oops.

March Empties

I was honestly doing better at posting. The baby started finally moved out and started sleeping in her own bed, in her own room. I got ahead for a minute pre-typing and posting and then life blindsided me with many distractions, good and bad. Posts will be slowing down a bit as we prepare to move 6 years of clutter, so I'm sorry in advance.

I screwed up and thought I was doing a decent job of being an organized hoarder. As it turns out, this was absolutely not the case. Most of the items from this list are just missing, probably tossed in error. 

May 2019 Ipsy Review

(As of this posting) Ipsy is a $10 monthly subscription that provides members with 5 beauty items and a cute makeup bag. Items can vary from sample to full size and brands range from private label to mid-range and even the occasional high-end product. Prices will increase to $12 a month starting with the September glam bag. Details about the price increase and other Ipsy subscription levels can be found here.

May’s bag was actually pretty cute. I love the rose gold detail even if the glitter can be a bit much when hit with direct light. This was also the first time I was really excited for a big in months. Sorry about the garbage picture quality. I was trying to outmaneuver the kids while taking advantage of the last of the day's sunlight.

May 2019 Sephora Review

Play! by Sephora is a $10 monthly subscription that delivers 5 beauty products and one bonus item right to your doorstep. I’ve been a subscriber for too many months to count but I do like this box as it’s one of the least disappointing subscription boxes I receive. A contributing factor to the lack of disappointment is the fact that I can find all of the items offered in store or online. There are a couple of exceptions to this rule but that’s due mostly in part to my tardiness posting my unboxings. Case in point: 

April 2019 Sephora Review

Play! by Sephora is a $10 subscription that ships out 5 beauty items and one bonus item every month. Items are always either sample or deluxe sized so if you are wanting to receive the occasional full sized item, Ipsy would be a better subscription box choice. Sephora is wonderful because items shipped are from the store’s inventory meaning everything sampled can be purchased in store or online. Another great thing about this subscription is they give out 50 bonus beauty points to be redeemed with purchase in store or online. It doesn’t sound like much but 100 points can be turned into one small rewards item, which is typically the size of one of the Play! by Sephora items sampled each month. This box is worth it for me (so far) because I like to treat it as a discovery box. 

April’s box incluced:

·         Sephora Collection Triple Action Cleansing Water

·         Make Up For Ever Step 1 Skin Equalizing Smoothing Primer

·         Clinique High Impact Mascara

·         GlamGlow Good in Bed Passionfruit Softening Night Cream

·         Fresh Sugar Advanced Therapy Lip Treatment in Dream

·         Alterna Haircare Caviar Anti-Aging Bond Repair Shampoo and Conditioner 

April 2019 Ipsy Review

Ipsy is a $10 subscription that delivers 5 beauty items (sometimes deluxe or sample sized, sometimes full sized) to your doorstep in a makeup bag. Ipsy was my first subscription box ever and it was an amazing way to build up not only a daunting makeup collection but an almost crippling makeup and subscription box addiction. Alright, that might be a bit of hyperbole but if you saw my closet you would agree that my relationship with makeup and subscription boxes isn’t the healthiest. The bag was far from my favorite with its zipper position being half an inch from the top, which I consider a waste of space, and the overall design being a complete miss for me. Inside the bag, April’s products included:

·         Buxom Lash Volumizing Mascara in Black

·         TonyMoly Peach Punch Sweat Foam Cleanser

·         Laura Sanchez Moods Eyeshadow in Alien Turquoise

·         Jelly Pong Pong Lip Oil in Watermelon

·         Vasanti Contour Eyeshadow Blend it Out Blush

·         Billion Dollar Brows Fan Brush (add on)

 

April 2019 Birchbox Review

Alas, It’s August and I’m reviewing April’s clutter still. There is shame. Birchbox is a $15 a month subscription that offers 5 to 6 beauty related items. Of all of my subscriptions, Birchbox is my least favorite. The good news is they’ve been trying to turn it around since they announced the price increasing the number and quality of the monthly curated boxes and they now offer at least 6 samples a month.

March 2019 Birchbox Review

Birchbox is a $15 a month subscription that offers 5 to 6 beauty related items. Birchbox is historically my least favorite subscription box of the ones I’m subscribed to but they’ve been trying to turn it around since they announced the price increase with more curated box options, additional samples, and new brand offerings. I believe my March 2019 box was before they announced the price increase and so it still features only 5 items. I also feel that I must defend my subscription by stating that I locked in my price at $10 a month for an annual subscription prior to the price increase. 

March 2019 Ipsy Review

Ipsy is a $10 monthly subscription that delivers 5 beauty samples and full-sized items in a cute makeup bag. March’s bag was particularly cute. I also happen to be a sucker for anything rose gold. The bag also includes the text “and off she went to change the world” which honestly, I’m not opposed to. Inside the bag I found:

·         Lord & Berry Velluto Eye Pencil in Supreme Green

·         Ciaté London Mini Lustre Lip Gloss in Call Me

·         Ahava Purifying Mud Mask

·         Morphe Mini Bronzer in Blogger

·         Farmacy Green Clean Makeup Meltaway Cleansing Balm

March 2019 Sephora Review

Play! by Sephora is a $10 subscription box that delivers 5 sample sized beauty products and a bonus item every month. I love that Sephora includes 50 bonus Beauty Insider points to be redeemed with purchase every month and items sent out can always be found in store or online at Sephora.com. I dislike that the items provided are always sample sized.

Glossier Haul Review

I just put most of an ass of effort into this post only to have my computer restart on me and lose the entire thing. Times like this make me want to weep in a corner with a lamp, pencil and composition notebook.

Back in May I posted a small(ish) Glossier haul over on Instagram. I had been hemming and hawing over Glossier for some years now. My initial response was one of guarded cynicism back I first noticed them a few years ago. After years of brainwashing through both Instagram and YouTube I found myself intrigued by the brand’s aesthetic which could only be described as a healthy mix of minimalism and an inflated sense of self-importance. My God, does Glossier’s brand aesthetic resonate with me! 

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A post shared by Morgan (@stunted_giraffe) on Apr 11, 2019 at 4:52am PDT

February 2019 Sephora Review

Play! by Sephora is a $10 subscription that delivers 5 beauty items, a bonus sample, and 50 extra Beauty Insider points that can be redeemed with purchase every month. What I love about Sephora is all of the items offered can be found in store or online at sephora.com. The only disappointing aspects about the box are the fact that I have never received anything full sized in a box (I don't believe it  is even an option) and the boxes aren't nearly as customizable as subscriptions like Ipsy. Every month Sephora offers anywhere between 4 and maybe 11 box variations. People are assigned to box groups based on their profile, but rarely will a box address all of the concerns I have listed in my profile. (Apologies, I accidentally deleted individual item photos before I was able to upload them.)

February 2019 Birchbox Review

Birchbox is a $15 monthly subscription that provides members with 5 deluxe beauty, skincare and hair care samples in sometimes-cute little boxes can be repurposed as gift or storage boxes. I'll be honest, most of mine just end up in the garbage. Recently Birchbox has increased their price from $10 a month to $15 for new members but hopefully they step up the quality with the price increase. If you're interested, you can use my referral code here. 

February 2019 Ipsy Review

Ipsy is a subscription box that sends subscribers 5 beauty items for $10 a month. Items range from sample to full sized and drugstore to prestige. Ipsy has been at the top of my subscription boxes for years. It was my first and it's been the most consistent with the mix of sample and full sized items that I actually enjoy. I have to admit the scope of the company has changed a bit over the years where now the themes are more vague and reminiscent of Birchbox or Boxycharm (Look at August 2018 versus August 2016 for reference). I can't say I'm a fan of the change since I'm just a giant child but hey... I guess their marketing team is going with what works. Anyway, if you're interested in subscribing I do have a referral link which allows me to accrue points for bonus items, otherwise feel free to go to their main page.

February Empties

Over the years I've amassed quite a horde of makeup and beauty items. I tried containing it, organizing it, and purging it to no avail. So I've decided to take a new approach: monthly inventory. I am the type of person who has to bookmark upcoming chapters in a book just to be able to power through a chapter, and that's even when I love a book. Why wouldn't this work with making sure I use my beauty items? It's not a guarantee that I will end up with piles of garbage and unwritten blog posts following up on this project, right? *cough*

January 2019 Sephora Play Review

I must preface this by saying one of my kids was eating Sour Punch straws near the keyboard and now my space bar is out of control so I apologize for any elementary formatting errors you may come across in this post.

Play! by Sephora is a $10 subscription that provides users with 5 samples, a bonus item, and 50 extra beauty insider points with a purchase every month. The great part about this subscription: everything offered can be found inside Sephora or online at Sephora.com. The downside: I have never received a full sized item. That said, the samples are typically large enough to allow me to determine whether or not I actually like a product and if it's worth purchasing.

January 2019 Ipsy Review

Ipsy is a $10 a month subscription that offers a makeup bag and 5 makeup, beauty, skincare or hair care items. Items vary from sample to full sized and the brands can be drug store, indie label or masstige. What I love about Ipsy is it's a great way to build up a beginner makeup collection without investing too much money, the bags are perhaps the most personalized of any subscription service I've seen, and the sample sizes are great: I've never received a foil packet in the 3 years that I've been subscribed!

I got some serious Judy Garland vibes from January's bag. It's made of a very folksy blue pinstripe patterned fabric-yeah, I know Dorothy wore gingham, not pinstripes. It is far from my favorite with it's down home country feel but somebody out there has to love it, right?

January 2019 Birchbox Review

Birchbox is a subscription service that provides members with 5 sample sized beauty, makeup or hair care items for $10 a month right to your front door. Now, unfortunately it looks like the price will be going up to $13 a month (there damn well better be an improvement for that price point) but you can lock in a year for $110 if you subscribe before 24 Mar 2019.

FOTD

I went through the effort of building a FOTD post including taking numerous pictures and notes on how I felt about some of the products. In true Morgan fashion though, I forgot to follow through and post. I managed this very basic look using a couple a ton of products I have on hand at home. My intention was to only use a few of them. Things quickly went south.

January Empties

I thought I would try something new and write up an empties post. I like seeing these from other people to get an idea of what did and didn't work throughout a given month. Also, I'm a slob and a hoarder. This allows me to tap into that latent characteristic of mine. For ease, I divided this into subsections: hair care, bath and body, cleansers, makeup, and miscellaneous.

Walmart Beauty Kits: A Long Winded Review. a.k.a. “I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.” ― Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt

Alright kids, this is going to be a doozy, you uh, you might want to grab your coffee for this one. I'm sure I've stated on more than one occasion how much I hate stepping into Walmart. I just don't have the patience anymore for the lines, the crowds, the people asking me how pregnant I am and me being forced to explain I'm not pregnant, it's just baby weight. They don't need to know the baby is 9 months old. And then after such exchanges I just end up wasting a shit load more on apple cider and chocolate or frozen pizza bites as comfort food. Not worth it.

Last weekend though, the planets aligned and suddenly it was worth it. I was skulking through My Subscription Addiction one day and I stumbled across a post announcing Walmart would have beauty boxes. "Oh ha ha, that's great, are these the usually $5 boxes that are mostly foil packets and forgettable?" "No bitch, but that was cute. Remember that money you were promising yourself you wouldn't spend? Mine now. Let's roll." ...And so it goes. There were numerous other kits, these just happen to be the two that caught my attention.

December 2018 Birchbox Review

Birchbox is a $10 monthly subscription that offers 5 (sometimes more) skincare, hair care and beauty samples in a cute little box that will contribute to further clutter and hoarding in your home. Birchbox likes to focus on mid-range and prestige brands so their samples are often on the smaller side. If an increased fire hazard sounds like a great idea to you, here’s a referral link. December’s box was one of the better boxes I’ve had in a while:

November 2018 Play! by Sephora

Play! by Sephora is a $10 monthly subscription that delivers sample sized skincare, hair care and makeup right to your doorstep. The best part about Sephora’s subscription box is that all items can be found either in store or online. Sephora also sends out 50 bonus Beauty Insider points to be redeemed with purchase either in store or online with each box. These points typically expire by the end of the following month.

November’s box contained:

November 2018 Birchbox Review

Birchbox is a $10 monthly beauty subscription that tends to provide (mostly skincare and hair care) samples of brands ranging from mid-range to prestige. I’ve been a subscriber for 2 years now and while there are better subs out there, I just cannot quit you, Birchbox. Call it fear of missing out, maybe.

November’s box contained:

November 2018 Ipsy

Ipsy is a $10 monthly subscription that promises subscribers 5 sample or full sized items and a makeup bag personalized to their profile (referral link here). Each month is curated around a theme but for the past year or so the themes have been more vague and thin. Personally, I prefer the camp from days of old but that’s just me.

November’s bag was not the cutest bag I’ve ever seen. I appreciate the pleather material for easy cleaning but I didn’t care for the black hearts on a dark field. It did not scream autumn to me in the slightest and it was difficult to see the hearts. The contents fared better though:

Updated Socials

I finally got tired of half adding Instagram posts so I made a new Instagram account. I’m not deleting old posts but that username has changed and moving forward any beauty or blog related posts will be on the new account. Activity will probably remain as minimal as ever but at least now I can feel a little less self conscious about posting selfies. Unfortunately I cannot change my email address associated with this blog without scrapping the entire blog so that will remain the same. I do have a new email address though for consistency’s sake.

Twitter: @stunted_giraffe - useless to me outside of entries for drawings
Instagram: @stunted_giraffe
Email: stunted_giraffe@gmail.com
Pinterest: @stunted_giraffe
Tumblr: stunted-giraffe - again, why do I have this?

I tried to be consistent for simplicity. Sort for being overly redundant.

Quickie Deal: Allure Beauty Box

Hi all. I was perusing one of my usual haunts and stumbled upon a pretty good January Allure Beauty Box deal. The Sunday Riley products are almost too good to pass up. I’ve been buying my nails all day thinking about taking the plunge.

Allure’s January 2019 box features

• Sunday Riley C.E.O. Glow Vitamin C + Turmeric Face Oil – 15 ml
• Sunday Riley A+ High Dose Retinoid Serum – 8 ml
• Ouai Hair and Body Scrub – 30 ml
• Doucce Relentless Matte Lip Crayon in Winterberry– Full Size! Retail Value $22
• Mally Eyeshadow Stick in Burnished Bronze – Full Size! Retail Value $25
• Amika Soulfood Nourishing Mask – Full Size! Retail Value $12 OR Beautyblender Micro.Mini Value $9
• NCLA Nail Polish (Full Size! Retail Value $18)

*sizes and values courtesy of My Subdcription Addiction

You can get a $5 coupon here through My Subdcription Addiction (I’m not affiliated with this group).

My Subscription Addiction is a great resource for beauty box news, deals and reviews. I suggest you check them out for all of your sub box needs. Think of them as an IMDB but for subscription boxes (ISBDB?)

October 2018 Sephora Play Review

Play! By Sephora is a monthly subscription box that delivers skincare, hair care and makeup items that can range from the house brand to high end right to your front door. Sample sizes are always on the small size, sometimes deluxe size, but the value is usually there (for me). The boxes aren’t anywhere near as personalized as Ipsy bags. In fact, I would say its level of personalization is about on par with Birchbox for me. There are a ton of repeats within a calendar year but if you like the brands and items Sephora ships then this box would be a good call. If you are a frequent Sephora shopper, each box has 50 bonus reward points that can be redeemed and put toward a future mini not unlike the items found in each box).