Pretty & Cute Haul

Hi guys long time no post! I've been super swamped at work so on my free time I've been literally trying to catch up on sleep and spending time with my loved ones. I thought I'd do a mini haul that I bought a few weeks ago.

I've never bought anything from Pretty & Cute, but have heard many good things about it through YouTube and other blogs. I thought I'd give it a try and it's also a US based company so shipping didn't take that long. I only got a few things because they were expensive in my opinion. It is, however, very cheap for Japanese make up,  but to me it was like paying the price of a MAC item for something that is drugstore brands for Japan. Oh well, with the costs of importing these babies I do know why they would raise the price.

As you can tell I didn't really get much, just things I've heard fantastic reviews about. I got the Dollywink Liquid Eyeliner in Black, Fairy Drops mascara in Black, and two Lioele glosses in a baby pink and light orange.

I can't really say much for these products because I have not yet used them! I'm trying to use the mascaras I have open now and will post a review on them once I'm done. I've been buying make up and not opening them for a bit because I want to use the things I have up first. I do admit that sometimes I get anxious and open it before I'm suppose to, but oh well.

Hope you guys enjoy! Have a great weekend!

Fall Clothing Haul

I fell off the blogging train for a while and I'm barely getting back on! I did some shopping the past few weeks for my Fall wardrobe. I ended up buying a little more than what I will be showing below, but I just didn't have time to take the pictures of the items.

Let's start off with Forever 21!

I was in need of a simple large waist belt to go with my high-low dresses I got from Marshall's to help give the dress a bit more shape. The style is so simple. I did however pay a hefty price tag of $8.80 only to find out after I placed my order the next day they put a very similar style for $5.50. I think 8 bucks is plain rip off for a plain belt, but I looked for a few weeks for something similar in stores such as Fashion Q and other little Korean boutiques around the area. All were either too ugly or too expensive haha. I also got a pair of cheap sunglasses for myself because I didn't want to invest a seasonal piece so for $3.99 it was not bad. I stocked up on some plain $2.80 tank tops for wearing layering or lounging at home. As you can tell I got a pair of jeans as well from their $10.80 line. I was skeptical about these pants and in my opinion, they are just OK. The material is not denim that is for sure, but it probably has a small percentage of it. I bought these because they were great for wearing with boots and sweaters. I hate thick jeans in my boots haha. For $10.80 it's not bad, but at this point I'm not sure if I will repurchase them. Although I must add that the inseam is 29in and it's PERFECT for me (I'm about 5/2).

In addition to more simple tops, I got four of the 3/4 sleeve tops that has the rouching on the top for $6.80. I LOVE these tops so much. They are so simple and can be dressed up or down. I wear them to work all the time with some black slacks and call it a day. I was beyond excited to have found this. Out of impulse I bought the mint and black shirt with lace detailing for $10.80. The fit is very loose on me and to be honest it's not worth $10.80 because I know when I wash it I have to be extra careful  or else it will shrink. Lastly from Forever 21, I bought the simple grey dress for $8.80 and love this. It's so perfect for wearing on the weekends and even to work with a cardigan on top and a tiny belt to cinch it. So happy it was super cheap.

I needed new shoes for work and I can't wear those shoes from Love D, Qupid, Charlotte Russe, etc even though they are cute. The fit and quality is really bad for my feet and it's just not practical for me. I made an order with Talbots for the shoes below.

Yes the top two shoes are a bit grandma-ish,  but let's be honest in a professional environment when you are walking around a lot (including up and down stairs) you need to be practical. The shoes are made of genuine leather and all retail for over 150, but I waited for them to go on super sale and managed to get them for 30 each. I love the quality of these shoes so much, but since two of them are patent leather the up keeping is going to be a pain in the arse.

I got also two pairs of black slacks from Express during their Labor Day sale, but I'm sure you all can picture what they look like haha. I did get two more pairs of shoes from a new website, Sole Society, and will be doing a separate post on them soon. I also have a lot more hauls and reviews planned so stay tuned. Thanks!

August 2012 Birchbox

I finally received my August Birchbox the other day in the mail. I don't usually look at the forums to see what others have got because I like being surprised. So let's get into it shall we?

As you can tell, my lighting was pretty horrible, but I wanted to get this up as soon as I could. I didn't realize until I was editing that it was really yellow. I'll take better pictures next time promise! I'' list things off in the order it came on the card that was included in the box with  my opinion.

Beauty Fixation Pre-Tweeze Treatment ($5) - The description says that these pre-filled cotton swabs are used prior to tweezing or waxing to help irriation that usually occurs after those procedures. I have no use for this product, but I guess I'll try to use it when I tweeze my brows? What a waste though it's not like I full on tweeze my brows, I just clean up stray hairs haha.

Caldrea Hand Soap ($10.50) - I got two samples of the soap that is loading with aloe vera and olive oil. Personally, I'll probably use it on a whim as I wash my hands, but the sample was included in a cardboard tube that has a tear off. It looked like a weird sample of lotion to be honest haha.

Eye Rock Designer Liner (2 packs of 4 for $13) - These are eye-liner stickers that has been going around the web lately. The stickers are HUGE and long. I don't know if I will ever wear these out in the public because of the size of these things and the designs. I have small asian eyes so these stickers would most likely cover up most of my lid space.

Juicy Couture Viva La Juicy La Fleur ($70) - Another perfume sample that I will never use. I like getting perfume samples though because it goes into my collection of tiny perfume viles. I wonder how many I can collect in a year haha.

Oscar Blandi Jasmine Shampoo ($22) - It suppose to help tame frizz and flyaways, but I haven't tried it yet. I can, however, tell you that it smells so good just like Jasmine. I love Flying Fox by LUSH and LUST by LUSH as well, so this is so awesome. I can't wait to try it though.

Venus Razor ($7) - This was a bonus item, and I'm really happy I got this because I needed a new razor haha. It also came with two coupons on the back for refills.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with this box. I haven't been disappointed by Birchbox so far and I love that I randomly get full size products here and there. Have you tried Birchbox? If so, what do you think of it?

Target Summer Beauty Bag 2012 Review

I received my Target Beauty Bag a few weeks ago in the mail and was sort of disappointed with all the shampoo/conditioner samples. They did the giveaway for this bag a bit different because the last one they did sold out so quickly through their Target Sample webpage. This time you had to go to through Facebook and LIKE their page and fill out a form. You will recieve a confirmation number which means that you will be most likely getting on. I believe before it was a surprise, but to be honest I don't remember.

In this bag, a coupon booklet is provided with Target coupons that can be used with manufacteror's coupons as well. They had coupons for brands such as Revlon, Covergirl, Aveeno, and Garnier. I used a $3 off Revlon item for my Revlon Colorstay Whipped Foundation, which I will review in a seperate post. All the other coupons honestly went to trash because I could not use any of the items such as Aveeno face wash, Naive lotion, etc. I didn't need any more stuff and I have very sensitive skin so I'm pretty picky on certain items I use on my body.

As for the shampoos, they gave me samples of Tresemme Split End Remedy, Aveeno Living Color and Garnier for color treated hair. I'm very sensitive to shampoo because my hair gets weighed down so easily and most shampoos creates a lot of buildup in my hair, which is obviously gross. I'll be keeping these for when I travel though and will be using them then.

The sunscreen sample is a big waste for me because I have used this exact one before and it broke me out. I use sunscreen on a daily basis, and so should you, and when I first started trying out different brands this was really popular. Sadly, it caused so many bumps and a slight white cast. I'll be doing a review on my HG sunscreen later on the next few posts.

Overall, this bag contained samples of things I didn't really need, but I can't complain since I got free things. I'll just be either saving them for later use or giving them away to people. Did you the Target bag? If so, what did you think about it?

Glossybox USA Review

I'm starting my blog off with a much needed review on Glossybox USA. A quick background on this company, it's similar to Birchbox, where you do a monthly subscription to get a beauty box with 4-5 deluxe samples that can sometimes turn out to be full-sized. I heard a lot about Glossybox through Youtube and various other blogs from different countries, so I was excited when they were starting a company out here in the US.

They sent out an introduction box to many Youtubers and beauty bloggers that included all full sized products, but they did make a warning saying that this was not a representation of the actual contents within the boxes to follow in the subscription. A spot finally opened for June 2012 and I was so excited to sign up.

Before doing so, I did read a few alarming posts on MakeUpTalk forums stating that a few of the subscribers got triple charged on their credit card and that their customer service was horrible. I thought that maybe it was normal because it's a new company so there would be some hiccups and went to sign up. I should have listened to my gut when the website itself was glitchy and did not allow me to enter my city because there was no spot for it so when I hit continue it took me back to the same page. I ended up calling customer service, which by the way only has two people working so you have to constantly keep calling, and the lady helped me by entering my information and all I had to do was log back in to enter my credit card info. I was told the box would be shipped within the last week of June.

Last week of June comes and I got a shipping notification that my box has shipped WOOHOO! Another red flag, the email was sent 6/27 and the tracking number shows that my item has left NJ on 6/22. How come there was a huge delay in the emails when the item shows that it shipped a week before? I ignored it and decided to wait because it said my box should get here within 7-9 days. I am the type of person to constantly check and refresh my tracking number to see where my item is, and within the next few days, my box has not moved! The only tracking I saw was a that it left NJ 6/22. I saw people from CA, which is where I'm located, stating that they received their box, but that their body wash sample spilled all over the contents of the bag. I decided to wait til 7/9, Monday, to call customer service giving it a few more days to come and it never did. I called customer service to be told to wait a few more days when I clearly explained to them that my box has not even moved from the location it shipped from two weeks ago. I called next day and the girl, Nicole, who looked up my email saw what I was talking about. FINALLY! She said another box will be on it's way soon and that was it, I said ok. I forgot to ask if I were to receive a new tracking number, but I did ask that on Glossybox's FB page, and was told yes I would.

A whole week passes by and it is now 7/17, and I have not received any word on my new box and by this time I was already charged for July. Great, I thought, I never received my June box and looks like I won't receive my July either, which was expected to ship at the end of July. I constantly checked their FB page and many other girls were reporting the same thing. The company said they were in the process of moving to a different location so that is causing the delay. I'm sorry, but if you have a lot of unhappy customers you can devote a few people to ship out a few new boxes you promised us.

I got so fed up that I cancelled my subscription and took a screen shot of it as well because I also heard that a few people cancelled and they were still charged for a new box. I emailed customer service saying I cancelled, but since I paid for June and July, will I receive my boxes because almost a month later my June has still not shipped. I never got a reply, so I called  my credit card company and filed a claim. I explained to them  my situation and my credit card company refunded my money. I suggest you guys do the same!

I bought a product that was promised to be shipped a certain date and the item got lost in transit. I was told a new one would be sent out to me, but it never was. I wasted 46.10 (two month subscription) on this stupid company. The day after I got my refund from my credit card, which by the way gave me no problem when I explained them to my situation, I got a response from Glossybox stating I would receive both boxes since I paid for both and that my June box was on it's way.

 A few days after I got the email, low and behold I got something in the mail from the company, but it was not my box that the customer service rep said that was on it's way. Remember how I said the June box had a body wash that spilled all over the boxes? I got a "replacement" bottle for that product! Seriously, that was my box? A replacement bottle for something I never even received?! Frankly, I wasn't upset much because I got my refund already, but the thought that the people at the company could not even keep up with their orders is pathetic. I was not a customer who called and complained that my box was soaking wet due to the product. I called because I never even got a freaking box to begin with.

Sorry for the long rant, but this company will never be getting any money from  me again and I hope you guys don't give them any business either. Many gurus also said that the price they charge is not worth the money. If you want to do a monthly subscription please go to Birchbox. I will be doing a review on that company soon as well. Glossybox was a waste of my time and money. I seriously hate this company. NEVER AGAIN!