November Birchbox!

I'm a little behind on posting, that's because in the world of my big career, there's a lot going on. I'll probably post about that when things are more official, but yeah, been super busy!

Anyway, it's the first of the month so time to post about my fabulous November Birchbox!



I was thrilled with this month's box, everything in it was something I wanted to try!

First up was the Eyeko Black Magic Mascara, and this was perfect timing because I was just thinking I wanted to try out some mascara on my quest to learn how to do makeup (twenty years later than the rest of my peers). I absolutely LOVE this mascara, the packaging is adorable and reminds me of oil paint tubes, and since I used to paint that's a great plus. It goes on easily, and what I love is that it's not trying so hard to be BIG BOLD LASHES and so it's actually right for my face and my lashes, which don't need a ton of extra bells and whistles and just need to be a bit more defined and well, nice looking. I love it, it's become a regular part of my routine already.

Then I tried the Folle de Joie eau de parfume. Now, one thing I have to specify: I am not a perfume person. I don't wear it regularly because I can be overly sensitive to the ingredients in it (not sure if it's the alcohol or what) and often I can't smell what they're saying it's supposed to smell like, and it gives me a headache. This perfume is absolutely 100% the cure for that problem. It smelled heavenly and was very subtle and lovely. I really, really wish the full size wasn't so expensive, I would have bought it already.

I've become a huge fan of body butter lately, so the AYRES Body Butter in Midnight Tango was a nice addition to my box. It smells fabulous, which I didn't expect. Normally if a scent says "midnight" it's not my style but this is a blend of orange blossom and vanilla, which was really wonderful. It's also a great consistency and just a fabulous body butter in general. Highly reccomend.

There were also two products by WEI, the Golden Root Purifying Mud Mask and the Pomegranate Buffing Beads. I had been wanting to try the mud mask for a while because of the great video they did about it:



The packaging is pretty cute, and I admit the idea of brushing on the mask makes me happy. The sample didn't come with a brush, so I grabbed a paintbrush I already had to use it. The good thing is, these little pods hold way more than one use of the product. I probably could have gotten three out of it.

The reason I say probably is that I only really used it once. The first time, the mask was great and I really liked it. My skin was noticeably softer afterwards. The second time, some ingredient in the mask set off a skin issue that I have (it's probably an allergy but I can't isolate the ingredient that causes it) and I had to wash it off almost immediately. Which meant that I couldn't really use it again. Now, I only mention this because it means I couldn't use the product enough to give it a fair evaluation, not because I'm unhappy about it. My weird allergy is my problem.

The buffing beads I wasn't really a fan of the idea to begin with, because I don't need to juggle a whole bunch of different packets and bottles and mixing stuff while I'm in the shower. I'm a fan of simplified skin care, and also organic ingredients and I've heard these beads are pretty much just plastic and that's not on my list of okay stuff. So I'll stick with the exfoliater I have now, which does a fabulous job and doesn't really need any help anyway.

The last thing in my box was Fatty Sundays Gourmet Chocolate Covered Pretzels in Toffee Crunch. I only have one bad thing to say about this sample: I wanted to go buy thirty boxes of this stuff after I ate it. I love toffee, and the brilliance of the Fatty Sundays covered pretzels is that the toffee coverage is at the right ratio. The toffee and chocolate pretzels I've seen since have this little barely there smattering of a few toffee pieces. No, this is coated in amazing, delicious toffee. It was so, so, so good.



So that's my November box! Pretty much all hits really, and at least one item that is a new staple for my makeup box. What'd you get in your box?

And if you don't get a box sign up now! It's definitely worth it, check out my Birchbox tag for more box reviews if you're curious.

Birchbox/Ruffian Giveaway!

So, you may recall that last month I did a tutorial explaining how to get the lovely Ruffian Manicure. I've fallen in love with the fantastic nail lacquer from Ruffian, which is exclusive to Birchbox. Well, imagine how thrilled I was to get notified that I had won one of their giveaways! I became the proud owner of their Ruffian Crowdsource Collection.

Of course one of the first things I did was create a new Ruffian manicure, this time themed for Halloween, using Delirum and Hedge Fund. Here's the pic from Instagram:



But the best part? Well, the box this prize came in was a little big for just one set of lacquer:

That's right, they gave me some to give away to you guys!

So I'll be choosing two random winners through this contest, and then I'll run another giveaway right after that. There's a lot of ways to enter! You can leave a comment on the blog here, follow me on Twitter @onegirlsreviews, follow our Pinterest Board, follow me on Instagram, and don't forget to tweet about the giveaway to get more entries!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


This contest runs through the 25th at midnight, so make sure to enter! And while you're at it, sign up for Birchbox so you can get your own amazing samples and new items every month.

Product Review: Jasmine Seven Foot Wipes and Dr. Scholl's Fast Flats

While we were in Vegas, we walked a LOT, so I had a chance to try out two products I had been wanting to check out for a while.

I've not been shy about saying how much I love Birchbox, check out the tag here to see all the good things I have to say. My best friend also is a subscriber, and her first box came with a product I've been wanting to try myself so I was a bit jealous. Then I was placing an order and just threw a few packs of Jasmine Seven's Fresh Feet Wipes into my cart on a whim.

This was a couple months ago, right at the end of sandal season. When I lamented on twitter that I bought them just in time to not need them, the company tweeted back:

Awesome @OneGirlsReviews! I bet you will find a use form the wearing boots in the winter too :)

— Fresh Feet Wipes (@FreshFeetWipes) September 10, 2013

How right they were, thought it wasn't boots that were the kicker for me, it was tromping around a big city every day for a week! The first day was really a killer, because I wasn't used to the walking and my feet just ached, so I popped out these wipes and it was fantastic. The scent is nice, so it definitely made me feel a bit better about what my feet might smell like, but it also left them feeling clean, fresh, and more relaxed. It was just a nice breather for my tired feet as soon as I took my shoes off. Which was especially good on two particular occasions.



There were two events we went to where I wanted to wear nice shoes. But my nice shoes aren't the easiest for walking around in, my best friend and I opted to pick up some of those Dr. Scholl's Fast Flats that they advertise on TV all the time. We figured we would wear those to walk around, then put on our nice shoes when we got to our destination.

In theory, this plan worked fine. It worked much better than actually wearing my dress shoes would have, to be sure. And you can't beat how absolutely tiny these are when you stash them in your bag after you get where you're going. I actually ended up wearing them down to the pool and the spa as well, because it was just so much easier than my sneakers and I hadn't packed any sandals (a mistake, of course).

There's a couple problems though. For one, there's the problem I've always had with their commercials. They show a woman dancing and getting tired of her heels, but hey, she's got this pair of flats folded up in a cute little clutch! It's like magic! Okay, but then where do her heels go when she changes? I was already carrying a pretty large purse with me the two days we dressed up, so it wasn't a big deal, but it's kind of annoying to have to throw your shoes in with all your other stuff, and it made it really hard for me to find things when I needed to fish out say, a monorail farecard.

The other issue is that because these flats fold up so easily to fit into a clutch, they're only barely better than going barefoot. Now, I do walk around barefoot a lot more than the average person, so that's not always a problem for me. But on the hard concrete of the Strip, it really hurt. Not to mention having to watch really hard for broken glass and other hazards because it would have sliced right through these like tissue paper.

I get it, you might be saying "that's not really what these are for..." And you're probably right. For running down to the pool or the spa where I just wanted something on my feet so they wouldn't get dirty walking through the hotel, they weren't bad. Maybe at a club where I'm not really going outside it wouldn't be too bad, though I'd think I'd worry about getting my feet stepped on by other people dancing.

In the end, because it was Vegas, we paid $15 for one pair and then $20 for another, and I've got $4 sandals from Wal-Mart that do the same job with more comfort, and probably protect the sole of your foot more. Their only advantage is that they fold up into a small space to carry them around, and well, if I have to have the space to carry my other shoes once I change into these, I already have the space for cheap sandals too. Overall, I'm not upset that I bought them and I think I got my money's worth, I'm not going to throw them out. But I think you should really know what you're getting, and they're not as good as they pretend to be.

But I do have to say, after wearing these and feeling a bit like I was walking barefoot down the street in Vegas, those Fresh Feet Wipes were really, really wonderful.