Vitacost Haul May 2013 / First Impressions

I decided to put a vitacost order because I haven't in a while and knew I wanted a few things and the Australian dollar wasn't looking great so I thought just in case the dollar got worse I should put an order in.
I decided to get the priority shipping, it was an extra $2 so $12 all up for postage. I chose Priority shipping since the least expensive had gone up to $10 which is annoying since the last time I purchased from them it was $4 or $6 so I wasn't too happy about that. Anyway I am off topic like usual, so I chose Priority over Global shipping because it said it would be here in 5-10 business days and Global $10 shipping said 8-20 business days, so I though I would pay an extra $2 and get it earlier since every time I've ordered from them and chose the least expensive option it would be here just on 2 weeks so I was expecting to get my package in like 5-7 days, well I didn't. It took 3 weeks, so next time I will just go with global shipping .

1) Nubian Heritage Bar Soap Coconut and Papaya with Vanilla Beans

I go through soap pretty quickly and I like trying new natural soaps and when someone in the house needs it I've always got some, which is handy :)

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: I haven't used it yet but omg the smell is so, so good!!

2) Kirk's Natural Castile Soap Original 3 Bars

This was so cheap that it was surprising, on special for $3, you get 3 bars of soap each 113g which I thought was a bargain :) If the shipping wouldn't have gotten more expensive I would have bought more.

3) EOS Lip Balm Smooth Sphere "Sweet Mint"  X2

I got 2 of these, one for me and one for my brother, his lips get very dry too. I like this mint flavour, it's nice and sweet smelling. I am so silly though I should have bought the orange one as it's antibacterial which I like having for winter when I get a cold- I like using it instead but all well, next time.



4) EOS Lip Balm Smooth Sphere "Strawberry Sorbet"

I actually love these eos lip balms, I mean they're usda organic which is very important to me, they work very nicely, I actually like them more now then when I first tried them because I think to repair lips they aren't the best, they are more of a maintaining healthy lips lip balm. One of my main favourite things about these lip balms is the sphere shape I prefer it 100% to the ordinary shape, plus they are super cute!!

5) Mychelle Dermaceuticals Lip Plumping Treatment Luscious Pina Colada

I have this obsession, well in all honesty I have quite a few obsessions and one of them is big lips, I love big lips, my lips aren't small but they aren't as full as I would like them to be especially the shape of my top lip. Anyway I am very much considering in the future getting some kind of lip injections, problem is I have a HUGE fear of needles, it's expensive, you have to top it up, it's a foreign object in your body which isn't something I like the thought of and although I want big and full lips I don't want them to look fake and plastic which is a risk so anyway I decided to try this since some people in the reviews were saying that it works and it's great.






I wasn't sure if I should because it's kinda expensive and you don't get a lot of product and it has to be used 3-4 times a day. But if it works, doesn't matter to me. The only thing that I am unsure about and no one mentioned it, I don't know if it'd like a temporary lip plump like when you use a lip plumping gloss or like a treatment that will last after you have stopped using the product or will it go back to normal and you have to continue to use it to see results, because 3-4 times a day is a quite a lot if it is a constant thing you have to use, anyway I will see what happens and might do a review on it.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS:  I started using this June 8th, so far no results but it does say give it 29 days. Oddly this is super drying so I NEED to use a lip balm over the top of this...hmm weird right? 

6) Honeybee Gardens JobaColors Eye Liner "Jet Set"

These honeybee gardens eye liners have the best ingredients I have come across in any eye liner so far I just hope they work well, I also wanted to get the Belgium chocolate colour but they were out of stock.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: This is a matte black colour, soft enough but not super black but still black. On the water line it isn't super black like I had hoped but I will do a review once I have used it enough, I might be nice for lower lash line. I will still use it on my water line, since I have only used it once.

7) Benecos Natural Kajal Eye Liner "Brown"

Because the Belgium chocolate wasn't available I thought this would be a good opportunity to try another brand of eye liner, ingredients are good not as good as honeybee garden's but it's all good.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: I swatched the colour a few times and this is not a basic brown like I had thought, it is a medium brown with very visible purple/red tones and a shimmer to it. Seems soft so far.

8) Honeybee Gardens JobaColors Eye Liner "Brown Sugar"

I was reading the reviews saying this colour was very light, in the pictures on the website it looked like a mid-tone brown but I guess it's not so I still got it because I thought if it's very light I can use it as a flesh coloured eye liner for my waterline as white is quite sharp at times. Any way if it's too dark for that I thought maybe I could use it as an eyebrow pencil because it is so hard for me to find the right colour for my brows, even though my hair and eyebrows are a mid toned brown, I need a pencil that would be more for a blonde haired  person since darker colours seem to be too harsh for me I think it's cause I'm like vampire white so yeah I'll see how that goes.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: A lighter brown warm colour, it's interesting cause of my skin maybe cause I'm so fair it doesn't look too pale but I am experimenting with this colour cause I think I could use it as either an eyebrow pencil, a nude water line pencil or even a lip liner, not sure...I will keep you updated.

9) Honeybee Gardens Pencil Sharpener "Pink"

I actually got this sharpener for the new pencils I bought, even though I love my Avon sharpener it is covered with my unnatural eye liners so that's why I got a new one. I actually should have gotten 2 since I want to buy a honeybee gardens lip liner and need a sharpener for when I get it, anyway next time.

10) Barielle Shades Nail Polish "Starchild"

Besides black nail polish and darker colours, I love glitter nail polish so much and was excited to find a more natural one and it's the first one I have seen so I thought I would get it.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: Very smelly, super sparkly, more so in person than in pictures. Rainbow glitter with 2  different sized cut glitter. It hasn't lasted very long on me but.....I still really like it.
 Click here for nail of the day with this nail polish.

11) George's Always Active Aloe Spray Mister

I think I saw iluvjesse444 talk about this and she had such good things to say that I wanted to give it a try, not too sure what it is suppose to do as the packaging doesn't give much direction or uses. I am gonna google it, but I know it will be good for summer and under make-up. This unfortunately did leak a little. 

12) Xlear Spry Power Sugar Free Mints Peppermint 240 pieces

My all time favourite natural chewing gum I can't seem to get it anymore from iherb since they no longer are allowed to ship it here, I an so heartbroken and vitacost have taken it off their website, more heartbreak so I thought I would get the Xlear chewing gum, since I have tried it and it's ok not as good as my favourite anyway then I saw that the mints had more product so I thought I would give this a go before I buy the chewing gum, I've tried this product but in the berry flavour which was kinda crap because they were 100% nothing like a mint they were more like a light sugar free lolly, but my brother LOVED them though.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS: This actually is very minty to my surprise and does have a mildly "hot" kind of peppermint so I think it will be a good breath freshener. Yay!!

Note: More first impressions of some of these products might be added in the next upcoming days :)

For anyone wanting to purchase from vitacost you can use my referral code and on orders over $30 you will be receive $10 off and then so will I.

https://www.vitacostrewards.com/Veb2mOo

Nail of the Day (N.O.T.D) #1

So this nail polish I got from vitacost order, I might not be posting the vitacost haul though since some of the items might be a bit boring, not sure, might post a few of the items. Anyway, I am no expert when it comes to applying nail polish, at all, but I thought I would post this to show the colour of  some natural nail polishes and give an idea of what kind of natural brands are out there.

Barielle Shades Nail Polish in "Starchild"; excuse the weird claw hand shape :) It so pretty but a really simple glitter nail polish but I really like it, I think it looks a bit more glittery in person though. This is 2 coats, I then just put a natural top coat to make it last longer. You would be fine with 1 or could even go to 3 for more glitter. I was surprised how much glitter comes out, because with some glitter nail polishes the glitter it very stingy and you need 3 coats to even tell that there is glitter on your nails, but not with this polish. 

I would have liked to put a nude nail colour underneath the glitter but I don't have a natural  one yet.  

I think glitter is probably the most low maintenance nail polish because when it starts to chip away it doesn't look as bad as darker or full colours, which I like cause I'm a bit lazy.


Comment and let me know if you would like to see more n.o.t.d posts :)

May Monthly Favourites

My favourites aren't in any particular order of preference, it's just things and products and whatever else I've been enjoying for this month and I want to share it, maybe you will end up liking it too, maybe you already do or maybe you hate it.....either way I hope you enjoy the post. If you all like this monthly favourites post, I could do more and might add some more categories like food or other stuff.

Beauty

1) Aloe Vera Gel 99% Pure

I am loving using this on my hands, I have dermatitis on my hands and I would say this has been the most helpful product I have tried for my hands and it's dryness. I also put a thick cream hand moisturiser over the aloe vera and my hands have been much better!! I got this particular aloe vera from Chemist Warehouse. It does have a natural preservative that I don't like, the grapefruit one, but I didn't realise this when I bought I but I mean 99% of it is pure so that's still pretty good :)

2) Madre Labs Hands Cream with Argan Nut Oil

This is a nice thick hand cream that has no added scent, which I like, but it does have a smell (the ingredients) that isn't strong or too noticeable. I really , really like this a lot and I love using it over the top of my aloe vera gel on my hands before bed time. I like that it's thick, I find it hard to find good thick hand creams and this one is great for dry hands and doesn't have any overpowering scent added. I just wish it was a little bigger in size and the amount of product you get.

3) Trilogy Rose Hip Antioxidant Oil

I use rose hip oil all the time, but before this month I wasn't that consistent with it for a little while, but I've been using it more again and I just really like it. It adds a nice amount of moisture to my skin, I put a tiny bit underneath my eyes too. I feel like I am doing my skin a favour by using this and oils in generals, just because I feel like my skin will age better because of all the benefits rose hip oil and oils in general have. When I use this and other oils I don't have to use as much moisturiser which I like.

4) Acure Organics, Sensitive Facial Cleanser  Argan Oil & Probiotic

I only go this cleanser this month, it was in my iherb haul here.  So far I am happy with it, I think this is a better choice for my skin over the moogoo milk wash just because it is a cream cleanser and it helps with hydrating my skin more than the milk wash did. It's still a very new love so I will have to see how my skin is with it further down the track with more and more use, but so far I feel like it was a very good decision to buy and I am enjoying using it :)

Note: I had more products that were on the verge of being favourites, but being as they aren't yet I didn't put them in. So next month there will probably be more beauty favourites if monthly favourites are something you want to see on this blog :)

TV Shows

1) Elementary 

This show is so witty and smart, the humour is so dry which is probably my favourite kind of humour. Johnny Lee Miller plays the Sherlock Holmes character amazingly, he is so wonderful in this as is Lucy Liu. I think every time something is being remade or revamped everyone kinda is more sceptical but I think this show has really reconstructed the whole Sherlock Holmes genre but kept the essence of Sherlock Holmes the character but flipped everything else. I just love it, I really recommend it !!!  

2) The Americans

I was very curious about this show, and I was excited that it was coming to free to air t.v. This show is a little intense, it has a good story line. I love spy movies and t.v show but this seems a little more raw, a little darker, this show feels like it's very different from normal spy shows since it is focusing on Russian spies planted in America. It's just very interesting so far, I'm looking forward to see where they will go with it. I've only watched one episode but I am looking forward to watch more.

Music

1) Robin Thicke- Blurred Lines

2) McFly- Above the Noise Album (In particular Party Girl, iF U C Kate, End of the World and That's the Truth)

3) Demi Lovato ft Cher Lloyd- I Really Don't Care

4) Of Mice & Men- O.G Loko

5) Mya- Fallen, Case of the Ex, My love is like...Wo

6) Paramore- Still Into You

7) Cher Lloyd- Dub On the Track

8) The Androids- Do it with Madonna

9) My Chemical Romance- Teenagers

10) Of Mice & Men- Second & Sebring  (one of my all time favourite songs!!)

DVD's

1) Pitch Perfect
 I saw this on the last day of May and I had to add it it to my favourites because it has been added to my all time favourites movie list. I loved it so much!! I laughed so much and it was just so, so, so great!!! Everyone was so funny, specifically Rebel Wilson who I love. 

2) Katy Perry: Part of Me Movie
I've always really liked Katy Perry and her music, to be honest I think she is the best pop singer cause even though she rights fun catchy songs, she also writes songs with substance and that aren't as "superficial" as some songs around these days. Anyway after watching this movie I loved her even more, in the movie you get to see her as a real person and how she "made it". We are usually use to seeing celebrities in this  altered sense of reality (talk shows, red carpets, interviews etc) where they are in a setting that is much foreign and strange to us and it can feel very fake. So I liked that in the movie you saw behind that.

3) Reba season 1
I remember watching this when I would be home sick from school when I was younger but I didn't remember too much about it. I had a strong feeling that I really liked it so I got it and I loved watching it. It was so funny and actually everyone in my family loves it too.

4) Just Shoot Me season 3
I love this show so much, I laugh every time I watch it even though I do remember some of the episodes I still enjoy them as much as the first time. Very simply put, it's just a great, funny show.

5) My Wife & kids season 2
One of my many favourite tv shows growing up, I am a big fan of the whole Wayans family. I am so happy I got this on dvd I never get sick of it. You cannot watch any episode without laughing out loud, it's impossible!!

6) Seeking a Friend for the End of the Universe
This was a more unusual kind of movie, I would say it wasn't very predictable it was different and I really enjoyed it. I mean Steve Carell is just so funny and he and keira knightley were great in the movie. It's funny, it's sweet and it is definitely something  different in terms of what you see in movies.




7) Jeff, Who Lives At Home
Best way to describe this movie; a heart warming movie. This I enjoyed more than what I thought, it was a really nice movie that had a message in it and had a meaning that I appreciated. Jeff is a really wonderful character, he is sweet. Fate and a higher power are definitely apart of the movie, it's just goes in a direction different and better than where I thought it was going. Really enjoyed it.



8) Dawson's Creek Season 1
I use to watch this when it was on tv and I was alot younger, I decided to get the first season on dvd to see if I still liked it. Some things that I liked when I was younger you don't tend to like when your older, for me that is more rare but I was happy that I still really loved Dawson's creek and it was like watching it for the first time because I don't remember much of it.

Youtuber/ Youtube Videos

I will do a separate blog about all my favourite youtubers, but for now this is who I have been watching the most this month.

1) Lisa Eldridge

2) Pixiwoo

3) TheFineBros

4) Emma Pickles

5) laurenbeautyy

6) Brittany Balyn

7) Shaaanxo

8) RhaeaEstelle 

9) iluvjesse444

 Note: This list isn't in any kind of preference order, just in order of who I could remember first.

Websites and/ or Blogs

1) Amazon

I love, love, love Amazon and I love tv shows and movies so much, and being in Australia we miss out on so much shows coming to dvd that it has always really annoyed me. I think we are passed the days where we need region coding, with the Internet and people getting whatever show they want from there. Region coding restricting where dvds can only be played and sold in certain countries seems redundant. I am not one of those people that downloads movies or streams movies illegally because I have too much love for the tv and film industry so that is why I buy mine from amazon. My new FAVOURITE website :)

Miscellaneous

1) Fifi & Jules Podcast

I am  loving Sophie Monk being apart of the show, even though I miss Fifi, I think Sophie was the best temporary replacement and I actually like her so much more since she has been on the radio-super funny!

My Monthly favourites might be a bit long so if there are too many random bit or categories that aren't interesting please comment below. Let me know though if monthly favourites are something you would like to continue on my blog or if I should skip it.