Beauty Box 5 & BeautyArmy

Last Wednesday went from blah to hurrah when I opened my mailbox and not only was my BeautyArmy kit in there as promised by the tracking, but my much belated Beauty Box 5 was as well.

Apparently there was a big ol' snafu due to shipping with BB5 which as led to much frustration with its patrons. We need beauty products, like now! Don't you shipping people understand?! Anyway, there it was all cute and tiny in its pretty blue box waiting to be opened.

No prob.

The more you know: Beauty Box 5 is a monthly subscription that's $12/month.

I was particularly excited about BB5 because a) nail polish and b) flash tattoos. I know, I know, I'm in my 30's, but flash tattoos are something I won't buy for myself because...well, I'm in my 30's. Bascially I'm a 12 year old in an older body. I still routinely debate whether I should remove the earring in my cartilage. So far, it's a firm part of me.

Here's what came in the BB5:

Nanacoco in Fuschia Bulb. Dayyy-um, girls, this is pink. It came in a variety of shades, so box subscribers might get any old color. I saw one on their Facebook page that was yellow. Wow. I could think of a few creative things to do with that color. I was hoping for the green, but that's the chance you take when ordering subscription boxes. And it's not a bad thing. It brings out the adventurous side in some people. I swiped a single coat over my thumbnail. It dried with a matte finish. Sad face, because I love the wet look. With a top coat, I'm sure it could come out shiny.

OFRA Lipgloss in Sunshine. I stared at it for a solid 30 second while I was like, the hell? Orange lipgloss? Orange? Really? With neon pink fingernail polish? Oh, that does not match that nude lipliner at all. I felt my heart break into little pieces as I imagined the packing people randomly throwing things into this box. Gee, goes great with those other two coral lipsticks I got in other sub boxes. I'm sick of orange, people. It's not the color of my summer. Not even a little. I removed the gloss, opened it, then applied it, waiting for the color to show up. And to my surprise--no orange. Not even a little. The joke is on me, because it's totally sheer with some sparkle. I've worn it a few times now and I love the shine. It goes great with the:

OFRA Lipliner in Nude. It's water resistant, sells for $13 on the OFRA site and pretty much is worth the cost of the box. I love nudes because my lip color is naturally a little bit dark (at a job interview a lady told me I needed to tone down the lipstick a little and I wasn't wearing anything but Chapstick. I was so weirded out). The nude makes my lips look softer and more feminine. Lovin' this liner.

Love Life Skin Intensive Recovery Serum (4 sample packs). I only got this kind. Other people got the restorative night cream. Okeedokee. I haven't tried it yet, because I'm saving them in case I get a bad late summer sunburn or the face wash I'm using (that naturally I failed to read the label on) for acne prone skin turns on me. I used it on my husband after he shaved and he said it burned, but also that aftershave burns, so we weren't sure it was doing good things or not. I have yet to try it.

And then I noticed: My box didn't come with flash tattoos. I was like, I'm going to write them an email! But nestled amongst the festive pink and blue shreds of stuffing, a deluxe sample of Purlisse Pur Protect SPF 30 Essential Daily Moisturizer waited. Okayyy... Did they run out of flash tattoos? Who knows? (Update: Per the BB5 comment on FB, they sent out some variety combos, so not everyone got flash tattoos. Well...okay. There are people who would be way happier with moisturizer than shiny metallic tattoos. It takes beauty products to make people jealous of me.) I mean, I can use moisturizer and I'm glad it has SPF, even though 90% of the time I'm in an office getting zero sun. But I love this product because it makes my face so soft. A full-size tube of this stuff is ridiculously expensive, but would be 100% worth the cost.

At first I was really confused by what was going on in this box. It felt hastily thrown together, but in the end, it kind of makes sense and I'm very happy with it.

So, on to the BeautyArmy kit.

The more you know: BeautyArmy is a sample box where you can choose up to 6 samples of lifestyle/beauty products for $12/month. I love being able to pick my own stuff! No surprises. The beauty of this is, if they don't have any samples you want, you can skip months.

Here are my choices for July/August.

Burt's Bees Lip Crayon in Sedona Sands. It's actually not that far off from my real lip color, but it glides on smooth and it looks super under gloss. I was worried it might be too dark, but it's perfect. I checked and it retails for over $8 at the local Walmart.

I needed new mascara in the worst way. The literal worst. So I picked Revlon Bold Lacquer Length & Volume Mascara. It's not waterproof though and I always buy waterproof. It got a little crumbly a couple of hours after I put it on. Disappointment-ville, population: me. It ranges from $4.99 to $7.99 online. I would be super ticked if I bought this for a higher price and it got all crumbly.

Aminocare cream. I washed my face with that aforementioned Biore Don't Be Dirty cleanser with acne medication in it. It dries me out sometimes, so I figured this was the perfect solution to an after wash. It burned. I was like, okay, maybe it's supposed to. Put some hair on your chest, man up. I don't think it was supposed to, but I don't know anything about this brand. It only lasted for a couple of minutes. Maybe I'll try it again without scrubbing my pores clean first.

I can't find the L'Oreal RevitaLift + Firming for eyes online, but that's what I got in my kit. It's light, doesn't smell like it belongs on a super old lady, and I thought it was kind of refreshing. It promises to help relieve dark circles in as little as four weeks. I pray this is true, because I'm the queen of dark circles. One of my bosses once thought someone had hit me. I joked, "You should see the other guy", and my co-worker said, "She looks like that a lot." Yeah, I've invested in concealer quite heavily since then. And that's when I was in my mid-twenties.

Laneige BB cushion in three shades. I think I can use two of them. I just opened the dark one and played with it a bit. It's a couple shades darker than the skin on my hand (tanned, yes, because someone didn't use sunscreen, for shame). It went on pretty smooth and covered up a little scar I have. Previously I've been disappointed by BB creams, although I have to say I'm in love with Supergoop's CC cream. I'm going to try this out, but I doubt I add BB cream back into my daily prett-i-fying routine.

This is the product that convinced me I needed the BeautyArmy kit: One Apple a Day Nail Lacquer by Scratch of Sweden. Because it's green! It's also 5-free, which is great, but it still smells pretty strong. One coat was uber-sheer, two coats still pretty sheer. I think an opaque white under it would brighten it up a bit, but wow, was it ever glossy. I loved that. The thing about BeautyArmy is that it gives you suggestions based on your profile (like most sub boxes). I had to go in and change things up a few times because it kept giving me clear or a really light shade and I wanted the green pretty badly.

I'm really, really pleased with the OFRA products from the BB5 box. I'm also pretty darn happy with the lip crayon and the polish from the BeautyArmy kit. Both boxes were very much worth the $12.

Now I'm dying for my Birchboxes (one of which should arrive today, and my August BB5 box is in the mail) and my ipsy glam bag. More makeup! More hair care! More skin care!