I recently received my summer box from Walmart Beauty. It had some pretty awesome stuff in it. I love receiving this box, because it's free (you only pay $5 shipping and handling), and you all know how cheap I am. The only downfall is it only comes out once a season.


I wasn't a fan of the Jergen's Natural Glow. First off, it come to me in shade medium to tan, and I am definitely a light to medium. I rubbed it into my legs really good one night before bed. It goes on white, so I didn't know what I had done to myself. When I woke up, I was brown and splotchy and it was terrible. It also somehow ended up on my upper arm and elbow. I had to scrub myself clean before work. I threw the other two days' worth away.

The Clean Scalp & Hair Therapy shampoo wasn't a huge deal. I don't really have dandruff, so I didn't notice any type of difference with it. Also, it didn't come with a conditioner and I prefer to try to combination.

I liked the Aveeno Protect & Hydrate. It's basically a high quality sunscreen. Aveeno's always really great, so this was just nice to have anyways. It wasn't really enough for my entire body, so I used it only on my face. It smelled really good (some sunscreen smell, but a nice soft fragrant smell as well) and made my face feel really soft. It was still sunscreen though, so it made my face feel slightly greasy.

This Ken Paves You are Beautiful shampoo and conditioner was absolutely amazing. I cannot stress that enough. My hair smelled like heaven, was so soft and had tons of volume. I couldn't stop talking about my hair for days. The bad news? This stuff is 14 crazy dollars a bottle, so I will never get to appreciate it again.

The Revlon Ultra HD lipstick in gladiolus is amazing. I am using it very regularly. It stays on for several hours, but I did have to reapply some after eating.

I had already reviewed the Neutrogena Healthy Skin Boosters facial cleanser, because I received it in the last box. You can see that review here.

I really enjoyed the small sample of One Direction's You & I fragrance. It smells so soft and light and perfect, but I didn't feel like the smell last throughout the day, so that was pretty disappointing to me. Maybe I'm just used to something stronger?

The John Freida Beach Blonde Sea Waves Sea Salt Spray was pretty awesome. It was a sort of spray and go spray, but I felt like maybe my hair was too long to get the desired look. It recommended twisting for longer hair, which I did slightly. Maybe I just needed to take more time with the look. Regardless, it smelled really great (like coconut), which Andre noticed and liked.

Nivea's Soft Moisturizing creme worked really well. It's a very thick cream, but only takes a tiny amount to be effective, plus this small container was great to throw into my purse!

I enjoyed the effect of the Neutrogena Healthy Volume mascara in black. It made my lashes look very soft and natural, while still giving the desired length. I like a thick mascara, but for a soft, natural look, this mascara was absolutely perfect. Plus it comes in waterproof, so it's great for the beach!


Have you tried any of these products? What are your thoughts?


xx,

Alright, guys. So I used a coupon code for a free (plus shipping and handling) box from Julep Maven. It was the "You said yes!" box, so I was excited to receive it. I always want to be really into beauty and makeup, but I'm pretty lazy and also don't want makeup running down my face and into my eyeballs when I go to the gym after work. That's my only reasoning behind not purchasing more make up boxes. (I'm still really on the fence about whether I'd prefer Birchbox or Ipsy.)

Anyways, I received my Julep Maven box really quickly after ordering (within like three days). I received three nail polishes and a lip gloss. The polishes came in a pale blue (Something blue), a sheer pink (Blushing) and white (Brigitte). The lip gloss was in adored.



I'm not a fan of lip glosses, mostly because they're sticky. This one was so pretty on and made me feel really girly. I just couldn't deal with the stickiness of it.

At first, I struggled with the nail polishes. I am absolutely terrible at painting my nails. I prefer to go get them done, but that really adds up. Pink's my favorite, so I started with the blushing polish, but after realizing how pale it was, I decided it was better to go with a french tip. I used the brigitte to add the white tip (and tons of q-tips to even it out) and then the pink as an overlay. My toes looked awesome. Not so great if you looked to closely, but nice from standing height. I couldn't get my nails just right (the left hand looked good, but my right hand looked like a kindergartner painted them.), so I just used blushing to create a light shine.

The polish was think and strong, almost gel-like, which was awesome. It stayed on my fingernails close to a week and on my toenails for a month before I took it off. The polishes are definitely high quality and dry really quickly, which is always nice.

If the boxes didn't cost $20-25 monthly, I would maybe stick with it, but of course I am the cheapest person and also don't paint my nails enough for all that, but definitely worth a try if you're really into nail polish.




xx,

Okay, y'all. I know. I didn't post last Friday. It was a long, busy week. I skipped out, and I'm sorry. But I'm back this week, with all the happy things that happened (this week and last)!

Firstly, I had my first bridal shower this past weekend. It was small, mostly family, but it was great and full of love. Two friends attended that both had really important things to also do that day, so them showing up meant the world to me. If you're reading, thank you.







We had a policy at work where we could only listen to music on Fridays, but that changed. We can now listen to music every day of the week. It makes the workday so much better!


I had a kind of crappy day on Monday, so when I got to work Tuesday, a coworker surprised me with a giant rice crispy treat.




Also work-related, I bought a wax-melter for my office.  It's shaped like an elephant, and the scent I chose was soft cotton. Y'all, my office smells like fresh laundry every day. It's amazing.



Lastly, I have chosen to go on a diet. The wedding is less than 2 months away and my dress won't zip all the way, which is obviously a major dilemma. Andre even bought a half dozen pastries and I didn't even eat one of them. This was major for me, because I love sweets and eat them almost every day. (I haven't had anything sweet in three days.) I'll keep you updated on the diet situation.




xx,

I received my sixth, and final, StudioWedBox. There were some fun items inside but I was still surprised (yet again) on how much I paid each month compared to what I actually received. The final box, which is the Congratulations it's time for your wedding box, really lacked. I thought there would be more in this box than any other box, basically to celebrate your nuptials and kind of congratulate you. After all, a single box costs $40, but this box only had four items in it.

I'm an avid coffee drinker. So much so that if I don't have a large cup of coffee by about 10 am, I get the worst type of headache. I'm a caffeine addict. There. I said it. But who doesn't love coffee these days, and especially an iced one. I'm pretty easy when it comes to coffee. I don't generally take flavor or anything fancy. I stick with a dark roast with skim milk and some sweet-n-low. I get all the questions from baristas, mainly "are you sure you don't want any flavor or syrup?"  Yes. I'm sure. I prefer my coffee with more of a coffee taste than a dessert taste. So I tried Starbucks new cold brew coffee, which is steeped in iced water for 2 hours to make.

I like to cook, but at the same time it can sometimes feel like a chore and I'd rather make something very easy, fast, and low maintenance.

I hope everyone had a good week and a good fourth! Here's my recap!

There are so many expenses when it comes to planning a wedding. It's said over and over again, but it never gets less true. Regardless of how frugal and budgeted you are planning your wedding to be, random expenses tend to creep up. So far, one of the biggest expenses that we've experienced is the invitations and postage. I still wanted invitations to look nice and professionally made, so I didn't opt for making our own invitations. Instead we used VistaPrint on Save the Dates and invitations (you can view our Save the Dates here).We even took our invitation to the post office to get them weighed and only pay for exact postage, which saved us about $20 on 50 invitations.
Another expense that several people opt to go for is professional calligraphy. This can cost anywhere from $2-$5 per envelope. Of course, you don't want your envelopes looking sloppy, so I opted to fake it.




Here's how:

First you want to simply write the name in cursive. Don't worry if your script isn't perfect; it adds character.


Next, you want to form areas to shade in the corners of your letters. Think about if the light is coming from a specific corner and shade your areas according to where the light is coming from.


Then shade in those spaces.


Voila! It's not perfect by any means, but it's really simple and adds some flair to addressing your envelopes. I wrote in the addresses underneath in a simple, all caps lettering.




Have you had any experiences with professional lettering? Please share!


xx,

Well, guys. I've been lazy this week. I took two vacation days this week, in addition to getting Friday off in observance of Independence Day. I haven't posted a blog post all week, and I'm sorry for that. I here, however, to give you my weekly recap, if not share my own weekly highlights, but to remember the small things that happened this week.

First and foremost, I only worked two days this week. It's been nice to just stay at home and enjoy some relaxation with no worries.

I got my first Julep Maven box. I'll have a review up some time next week.

We shipped out our invitations today! Ugh, postage is such a terrible expense. Mailing out our invitations is definitely one of the most expensive things we've done during this entire process.


I had a froyo date with my mom and sister. Okay, so it wasn't much of a date. We went shopping and stopped for some froyo. But it was so good! I got Alaskan Moose Tracks mixed with Expresso.




This week has been pretty awesome and carefree, and I hope your's was just the same.


xx,