Julep Maven Classic With a Twist June 2012

Normally I'm Bombshell and American Beauty Maven styles, but this month I switched one of them to Classic with a Twist and skipped the other (to save a little money).

If you're interested in joining Julep, here's a referral link:

http://julep.com/?r=1822872

Here's what the Classic With a Twist Julep Maven box looked like for June 2012:

We received a 3 Fl Oz Bottle of Julep Daylight Defense for Hands and Face, Claire (Blue), and Lauren (Pink). My camera shows Claire's color pretty well, but doesn't do justice to Lauren. The pink is much more vibrant than the picture shows. It's a really hot pink and I can't wait to try it!

Julep has AMAZING customer service. Last month, some of the brush heads were a little messed up, so they sent everyone two new brush heads! (Whether you complained or not!!!) They are quick to respond and they really are role models for excellent customer service. If you haven't signed up yet, I'd highly recommend it! My referral link is at the top of this post. ;)

Thanks for reading! Please subscribe! :)

Sheer Cover Review

I received Sheer Cover Concealer complimentary from Influenster for testing and reviewing purposes through their Vox Box program. (More info at Influenster.com).

Overall, this is a good product. It is creamy and the fact that they provide two colors is an excellent benefit. This product does provide very sheer coverage, as the name would suggest. Because of that, this product is not for me. I have extremely dark circles under my eyes (genetic :( ) and some purple scarring. This concealer does not do a good job of hiding those flaws very well. However, this would be great for those of you with minor blemishes that want a light coverage to hide them. I also really like that it's so creamy. That makes it easy to apply without tugging at delicate eye skin. More info at sheercover.com.

Here are some pics and some swatches so you can see:

Thanks for reading and have a beautiful day!

Dr. Scholl's For Her Ball of Foot Cushions Review

I received a pair of Dr. Scholl's For Her Ball of Foot inserts from Influenster.com in the May 2012 Beauty Vox Box free of charge for testing and reviewing purposes.

Despite being a major girly-girl, I rarely wear heels. The sole (pun intended) reason why is that my feet always hurt after a few hours! So, I was THRILLED when we received these Dr. Sholl's inserts in the Vox Box. I tried them out in these shoes:

I selected these particular shoes for a number of reasons: 1.) The heel is a reasonable height for me. 2.) These are CHEAP shoes. I got them for 8 bucks. With heels, you really do get what you pay for so I figured these cheapies would be a good test. 3.) These had never been worn! Again, this was for testing purposes, so I wanted shoes that were still stiff and not broken in.

I think that these shoes were the perfect test for the Dr. Scholl's inserts.

And the verdict is.....

THEY ARE AWESOME!

My feet hardly hurt. Yes, they felt a little sore, but there was no searing pain in my feet like usual! It was amazing!

And now you're not going to believe the next part: I worn heels again the next day! This is unheard of for me! Usually, I'll wear heels, learn my lesson, and will avoid heels for 3-6 months until I'm brave enough to try them again. But thanks to Dr. Scholl's I wore heels two days in a row! Wowee! I need to get a pair of these for all of my heels! (Even though I don't wear heels that often, I still have about 6 pairs!)

Thank you, Dr. Scholl's!!!

Here is the back of the package if you want to know what to look for in the store. :)

Here's some info from their website:

• Helps prevent ball of foot pain
• Immediate Massaging Gel™ comfort for the ball of your foot
• Only ball of foot product made with unique FabuSTEP^® gel
• Prevents toe scrunch
• Stays firmly in place
• Removable without damage to your shoes
• Discreetly fits all women's shoes
  
  http://www.drscholls.com/drscholls/products/ForHerBallofFootCushions.jspa

I would agree whole-heartedly with all of the claims above!

Thanks for reading and have a beautiful day!

Little Black Bag - Second Bag May 2012

I received my second box from Little Black Bag. As you can see, this time I scored way better than my first bag. A little strategy totally pays off!

If you're interested in LBB, here is my referral link for you to sign up: http://lbb.ag/1bXG

Here's the breakdown:
Robyn Rhodes - Large Rose Gold Cuff
Robert Rose - Snake Cuff
Zara Terez - Leather and Coin Earrings
'ZAD - Hammered Collar
Robert Rose - Mesh Chain Necklace

And the close ups:

Mesh Chain Necklace--I LOVE this and it is probably my favorite piece of the bunch. It's a great length, a great thickness, and is really funky but feminine. This will be a frequently worn piece!

Gold Cuff (That is WAY more copper in real life) -- This is the piece that I selected myself at the start of the process. In real life, I'm not that in love with it. It's just a touch too long for my taste and is not gold it is COPPER.

Snake Cuff-- I was in love with this one on the website, but in real life, it really looks cheap. Around the edges of the "Snake skin" you can see the material is already lifting from the metal. There are also some spots where the material is puckering.

Leather and Coin Earrings -- I didn't think I would like this and was a little disappointed that I could trade them. Turns out, I LOVE Them! They are super-duper cute in real life and I can see myself wearing them a lot! These were a total unexpected score!

Hammered Necklace -- This is another piece I really like. I thought it would be bigger, though. If you watch my video on youtube.com/annemarielsmith you will see that it's really more of a choker. It really sits right up there at the nape of your neck. I still really like it, but it wasn't what I was expecting.

Thanks for reading!!

Check them out! I really, really, really like LBB!

http://lbb.ag/1bXG

Julep Ellie Mani #2

If you remember, I got Julep Ellie in the last Julep boxes. It is very sheer so it needs "underwear". This time, I decided to try it over black. I actually do not like the effect very much. It was a whole lot prettier over Julep January. The black I used was Sally Hansen Black Out.

I also apologize for the weird photos. I broke my ring finger nail really badly. It's like halfway down the bed and looks really bad. So I'm not painting it until it grows out and it has a band-aid over it...so you only get to see some of my fingers!

Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Body Wash Review

I received a sample of the Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Body Wash in my Spring 2012 Vox Box from Influenster free of charge for testing and reviewing purposes.
I've been using the Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Body Wash daily since I received it 5 days ago.  I probably have about 2 more days left in the sample. This is a really great body wash. I have always liked the Aveeno brand, but I'd never tried their body wash. It has a nice clean scent...kind of like fresh oatmeal...which makes sense since that's one of the ingredients! :) I feel it does a good job of cleaning without drying out my skin--which is very easy to do. I will likely buy more of this since I'm rather sick of the other brand I've been using and I've been quite pleased with Aveeno.

Chapstick Lip Shield 365 Review

I received a ChapStick Lip Shield 365 in my Spring 2012 Influenster Vox Box free of charge for testing and reviewing purposes. I have always been addicted to lip balms and ChapStick has always been one of my favorite brands. It moistens the lips for the long term. I can go for hours without needed to reapply...and any lip balm addict knows that is a very long time! One of my favorite uses is to carry it with me when I've used a lip stain in the morning. Then, I can moisten my lips without interfering with the color from the stain.

The Lip Shield 365 in particular has a very nice citrusy scent.

Here's the application over my natural lips.

Here's the application over Benefit Bene-Tint lip stain in Rose.

Nail Bling Instant Manicure Review

I received these Nail Bling Instant Manicure stickers in the May 2012 My Glam Bag. I was very impressed! They were easy to apply and easy to remove. The package says that they can last up to 10 days but since I have nail ADD, I only wore them for one day. I got a ton of compliments at work. I was even able to convince one person that I'd done the design with nail polish. LOL. She is pretty gullible, though. ;)

Soy Joy Snack Bar Review

I received a Strawberry flavored Soy Joy snack bar in the Spring 2012 Beauty Vox Box from Influenster. If was given to me free of charge for reviewing and testing purposes.

The nutrition facts seem reasonable for a snack bar. It's better than a candy bar, that's for sure!

Ok...doesn't look all that appealing. 

Tastes ok. It's a little sweet so if you're having a minor craving for sugar, this might do the trick. It's a little dry. You'd want to have some water around to wash it down. It does taste "healthy" but I guess that is kind of the point. But, it does NOT have that "healthy" taste where you feel like you're punishing yourself. It was enjoyable!
 

Spring 2012 Beauty Vox Box

Hi everyone! I got my Spring 2012 Vox Box in the mail. The box is through Influenster.com. The products are provided to me free of charge for testing and reviewing purposes. I will be reviewing each product individually so you'll get an in-depth perspective for each one!

Here's what we received:

The first item is a Dr. Scholl's For Her Ball of Foot Cushions. They are meant to be worn with heels because that is where all of your weight is distributed. I don't wear heels very much because...my feet hurt! So this is going to be an awesome product to try.

Next up, Aveeno Daily Moisturizing Body Wash. I love the Aveeno brand but I've never tried their body wash so this is perfect!

Next, Sally Hansen Salon Effect Real Nail Polish Strips. Press on manicures seem to be all the rage lately. Some brands do it well...others not so much. I really like Sally Hansen as a brand in general so I have faith that these will be great!

Chapstick Lip Shield. Hello, My name is Anne and I'm a Chapstick-a-holic. I can't get enough! This baby is going right into my pocket tomorrow to be put into daily use!

Bath and Body Works Fragrance Mist in Moonlight Path. This smells WONDERFUL. It's a nice light scent that will be good for hot summer days. My only concern is that I am allergic to a lot of Bath and Body Works products. I'm hoping that since this is just a spray that I won't break out in a rash!!

Soy Joy Baked Snack Bar in Strawberry. I haven't every tried this brand before but I have heard good things about it. This has calories: 130, Fat: 5g, Carbs: 17g, Fiber 3g, and Protein 4g. I'm trying to watch what I eat and this seems like it will fit in as a nice snack in my diet. I hope it tastes good!

Sheer Cover Concealer. This is a very lightweight a sheer concealer. I know this because I've tried it before. Unfortunately, I wasn't too thrilled with it the first time, but I will give it due diligence and try it again.

Stay tuned for in depth reviews!
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Little Black Bag - First Bag

I recently discovered Little Black Bag thanks to Chelsea over at girlyenthusiast.com. I'm not going to explain how the site works because there are 800 other people who have already done that.
But, if you're interested in joining, please use my referral link! I would appreciate it very much. :)

Here's my referral link:
http://lbb.ag/1bXG

So, this is my first bag and I didn't really formulate a very good strategy. I have VERY happy with the items I got, but I know now that I could have really gotten a lot more items. This means, my second bag is going to be amaaaaaazing! I should have it in a week or so.

Without much further ado, here are the two items I ended up getting:

The cuff is from BCBGeneration and is nice and chunky. It feels nice and heavy on my wrist. The ring is a Betsey Johnson. I love her designs but I do wish she'd make more silver colored items as most of her items are gold.

Here are some up close shots for you:

I'm very pleased with the items as well as the fun and addicting style of shopping on their site. Warning: It really is VERY addicting!!!!

Again, if you're interested, please use my link: http://lbb.ag/1bXG
Using my link doesn't change the experience for you at all, but it does give me a free item in my next bag for referring you! :)

Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day!

My Glam Bag May 2012

The girls at My Glam freaking NAILED IT this month! I love this bag! It even has a perfume sample and I'm still loving it!

Here's what awesome stuff we got this month:

First up, some nail bling! I'd tried a different brand of this style product and didn't really like it. But, I'm very excited to try another brand because I think the concept is a good one.

Then, two more makeup brushes. I have been loving the other brushes we've received and I'm thrilled to add two more to my collection. The quality of these brushes is excellent and I don't know how they can afford to include them, but I'm glad they can!

Then, a Philosophy perfume sample. I'm not even going to complain about it because the rest of the bag is so amazing!

And, I saved the last for best! A full sized lip stick! In a great color! Woohoo!!!

To see this color on a person and swatched on my hand, please head over to You Tube and check out my channel: youtube.com/annemarielsmith

Isn't this a great bag!!! I love it!

Eshakti Review (http://eshakti.com/)

I recently found out about Eshakti.com which is an online clothing store. Their prices seemed pretty decent, so I decided to purchase a dress from them for an upcoming wedding I'm going to attend. Then, I started reading some reviews...it sounds like they have had some bad customer service in the recent past so that made me a little nervous. Based on my experience personally, I think that they are doing a great job! So they must have re-vamped their customer service.

According to some online research I did, they recently started a big ad campaign in the US. (They are based in India.) In fact, an ad is how I discovered their site to begin with. My dress was going to be delayed, so customer service sent me an email to that effect about two weeks ago. I figured that I'd just be patient and wait. I never received another email...and then just now DHL knocked on my door with a delivery! I never received a delivery email notification so it was quite the surprise! I ordered the dress on April 27th and received it May 11. That is a LONG time, but they did email and the wedding isn't until July so I wasn't too worried about it.

If you haven't checked out their site, you really should. All of the dresses are customizable and very affordable. It takes a long time to get the dress, but I think it's worth it. I'm really happy with the one I got. Since I'm at home alone right now, I couldn't really get a very good picture, but here's what the self time on my camera could show you:

It's pretty blurry! I apologize for that. As you can see, I'm pretty well-endowed in the chestal region so I will need to wear a tank top underneath.
Here's the image from their website showing the dress in black.


My blurry camera shot doesn't do the dress justice. I do think that the picture on the website is an accurate representation of the dress you'll get.

As with any online clothing orders, the dress came wrinkled...but I know how to fix that. :)

I will be buying from eshakti.com again!

Julep Ellie Mani

Here's a mani I did using Julep Ellie. She's very sheer so needs some 'underwear'. I used Julep January as a base color and I love the results!
It's a dark, yet bright, pink that has a holo effect.