Declutter

April Declutter 2016

After my birthday I have lots of new makeup, and I've been ordering a lot more as well, so I felt it was time to declutter. I got rid of a good amount this time, probably even more than in my last declutter. Things were piling up and it was getting overwhelming to choose what to use everyday, which is a sign that you have too many things. I also recently got a subscription to Boxycharm, so I'll have new products coming in every month, which means I need to make some space.

I got these a few months ago and I've used one of them once, so I clearly don't need any of them. They'll be going to a friend or family member who can get some proper use out of them.

I used to absolutely love these lipsticks, and I still do because for $2.00 each they're great, but when you have as many lipsticks as me, you tend to reach for what you absolutely love, not what's great for the price. I highly recommend these if you're just starting out with makeup or you don't have the money to buy more expensive lipsticks, but if you already have a few MAC lipsticks or other lipsticks you really like, you may not find yourself reaching for these so much.

I got these as gifts after already not liking them and said I would give them another chance. It's been several months and I have yet to use them, so they're going to a new home.

Here are a few glosses that I don't know the brands of. I don't tend to do glossy reds and I've had the tiny sample for over a year so these need to go.

A family member was kind enough to give me a set of lip product samples a while ago, but I don't use these ones, and she said to pass them along to somebody who will. I just never use any of them, mostly due to color of the type of product they are - for instance, I don't tend to wear tinted balms.

The lip pencil is in a shade I never wear and the lipstick crayon is a bit too nude for my skin color and tone. I could keep it to mix with other things, but I never end up doing that and I don't want it to go to waste.

I have another one of the Burt's Bees lip shimmer and I don't need a second one, I never use the cat lipstick (I kept it for the longest time just because it's cute), and the gloss smells way too sweet to me, so all of these will go to new homes.

I'm tossing the Lip Smacker because there's not much left and it's looking a bit gross, but the rest of these products will go to a friend or family member who wants them.

I love Wet' n' Wild, but I do think their products can be hit and miss, and this eyeshadow palette was sadly a miss for me. Hopefully somebody else will like it more than I did and maybe it will even be a favorite of theirs - I hear great things about Wet' n' Wild eyeshadows, but this specific palette wasn't for me.

These eyeshadows weren't bad, but they weren't great either, and I don't have the time for eyeshadow I don't love anymore because I have so much I really do love. I find that the Santee ones had to be used wet to show up at all and the Essence ones had a lot of fallout.

These eyeshadows are great, but I never use them, so they were just taking up space.

The same goes for this trio - the quality isn't bad at all, but I have so many palettes and other shadows I like more that I never reached for these.

These Revlon Shadow Links aren't terrible, but they certainly aren't great either. They weren't very pigmented when I tried to use them and they blended away pretty easily.

I actually really liked these eyeshadows, but I never used them because the colors didn't wuite work for me. The white and tan didn't show up on my skin and I have so many pinks that I don't need another one.

This eyeshadow trio from ShopMissA was okay, but not great, and I didn't want to bother with something I don't love.

I've had this for a long time now and I never, ever use it anymore so it's time to pass it along. It works perfectly well, but I prefer to use things like the Urban Decay Primer Potion.

I almost never use pencil liners so I got rid of a couple. I've probably had these for way too long so I'll probably end up tossing them.

I didn't need any of these any more so I'm getting rid of them, and they'll mostly go to new homes although a couple of them might get tossed.

These are my absolute favorite mascaras, but both of them were too old to keep using. They smell fine still, but they're definitely past the three month mark so I'm tossing them.

I had some used lashes that needed to be thrown away, so I went ahead and threw them out. I have a ton of lashes, probably a dozen pairs, and I don't even wear lashes very often, so I don't mind getting rid of a couple pairs. I don't buy expensive lashes either so I can throw them out after only a few uses without feeling bad.

I've used a lot of the L'oreal foundation and come to the realization that it just melts off of my face too easily for me to use it willingly. The Rimmel foundation oxidizes within a few minutes, and it oxidizes a lot, so I can't really wear it. I'm passing along the L'oreal foundation and tossing the Rimmel one.

These concealers are just a bit too dark for me and now that I have a concealer palette I don't use other concealers much anyways, so I'm passing these along to somebody who can use them.

This is far too old and has to be thrown away. I got it as a gift years ago and held onto it for no good reason and now it's too old to justify using. I'm not entirely sure you can even buy this anymore.

I never use either of the Bare Minerals products, and the e.l.f. blush is more glitter and shimmer than pigments so it looks really weird on me. Somebody else might get better use out of these items than I did.

These blushes are super pigmented - too pigmented. I can't use them easily and I was hanging onto them to use as eyeshadows but I never ended up doing that so these will be going to somebody who can work with them. They were only a dollar each so if I end up missing them I can just get more.

April Boxycharm

April Boxycharm Unboxing

I was lucky enough to receive a year's subscription to Boxycharm for my birthday from a lovely family member, and I was very excited so of course I wanted to share it on here! The pictures for ths post will have a different background because I took them in a different place so that I could have some natural lighting. Do you prefer this background and lighting? Should I try my normal white background with natural lighting? Let me know in the comments!

The box itself is a bit smaller than I expected, but I'm fine with that because it's the products inside that matter anyways. I like how simple it is. I'm always in need of cardboard boxes, so getting one every month will be useful as well.

One of the cool things about Boxycharm is that it comes with a card that tells you the prices of each item in the box and tells you a bit about them, as well as how to use them. This is really useful if you aren't quite sure about how to use a product or want more ideas on how to use it.

I'll admit that I did peek at the products before taking photos, so they're a bit out of place, but I was excited! I'd watched YouTube videos on the box so I already knew what was in it but I wanted to touch and smell everything myself right away. This month's box contains five full size products.

The first item in the box is a hand cream from Anderson Lilley in the scent Manhattan Beach. It's worth $24.00 and you get 2 ounces. I looked at this product on their website and it claims to "quickly nourish, moisturize and protect your skin." When I tested it out, it did seem to absorb quickly while still moisturizing, so I would say that my first impression is these claims are true. It smells very nice to me, kind of fresh and almost floral. I think that having the word "beach" in the name is accurate because the scent does remind me of a beach.

Next up is the Ofra Long Lasting Liquid Lipstick in Pasadena, worth $19.90. On their website it says the full size is 6 grams but the packaging on this product says 8 grams, so I'm assuming this is the full size in some sort of updated packaging. I don't own very many liquid lipsticks but I've heard great things about these ones so I'm excited to test this out. I smelled it and it does smell very strongly of vanilla, so if you're sensitive to scents then you may not enjoy this.

I'm excited about this Blinc Black Lash Primer ($26.00) because I've wanted to try out a lash primer for a while now but they seem kind of gimmicky so I hadn't gotten around to it. Now that I have one I'll definitely try it out.

This is a Your Minerals loose eyeshadow in Brown Hypnotic ($21.00). I'm not into loose shadows most of the time but this has kind of a duochrome effect so I'm intrigued and will definitely try it out.

The last product is a LIP BALM! I love lip balms and I absolutely do not need any more but I am very welcome to the idea of more. I've already tried this one out and it's very thin so I'm skeptical of if it will really be that moisturizing, but I could be wrong. I'm willing to give it a go.

Beauty/Craft Haul

Beauty and Craft Haul

Because making crafts is one of my hobbies, I've decided to include a bit about it on my blog. I've really gotten into making stationery lately, so when I went shopping and picked up some beauty items, I picked up some stationery-making items as well. I will include the craft items at the end of the haul in case you're only interested in beauty. This is a collective haul from a few stores - Ross, Dollar Tree, and Michael's.

The great thing about Ross is everything is at a lower price than it usually would be, so this toner that the label says would usually be $17.00 was only $6.99. I've been using DIY toners for a while now and I kind of just wanted to try something that is actually made for your face.

I've been wanting to try a mud mask for a while now, and this was only $4.99, so I got it. The instructions on the back don't tell you how long to leave it on, though, so I'll have to figure that out somehow. After doing some research online, this is supposedly a dupe for a GlamGlow mask that I don't want to pay over $50.00 for, so if it ends up working then that's an added bonus.

I've had the Rejuvenate version of these makeup wipes before and they were great and at $3.99 for 60 I think they're a steal. I hope these ones are as good as the ones I tried before because if they are then I'll have some great makeup wipes that will last me for a few months.

Starting with the Dollar Tree items, I finally found the undereye masks! I've wanted to try these for forever.

I was even lucky enough to find both kinds. I have pretty dark undereye circles, so I'm hoping these could help speed up the process of getting rid of those. My Origins GinZing eye cream gets rid of them when I use it regularly, but I've been slacking on using it lately. My undereyes are also a bit dry, so maybe these can help with that.

I found these pretty floral print fake nails, so I picked them up as the Sassy + Chic nails fit my nails perfectly. They don't come with nail glue but I have my own so that isn't a problem for me.

I also found this design, which I thought was nice. It's very spring appropriate and also very pretty.

People on YouTube have been hauling this eye makeup remover from Dollar Tree, so I thought I'd give it a go after seeing a few good reviews. Apparently it doesn't sting your eyes, which I think is fantastic for a dollar. I figured that at such a low price it was worth giving it a chance.

Moving on to craft things, I found some pretty decorative tapes! I've been really liking washi tape lately but it can get expensive so if I can find any washi tape or any sort of decorative tape for a low price I grab it. A dollar for one roll isn't the absolute best deal you can find, but it also isn't the worst.

I absolutely couldn't resist these owl stickers. They are so smol. Look at them. They are the most innocent owls I have ever seen. I needed them in my life.

Onto the stuff from Michael's! Clear stamps are new to me, so if they're new to you, I'll attempt to explain, but it might be a bad explanation - the non-stamping side attaches to an acrylic block and you use it like a normal stamp and it's kind of like magic I think. I'm not sure how it attaches by itself without adehesive but it's probably magic. I don't have my acrylic block yet because it's still in the mail but I have found that a Tic-Tac box works pretty well.

This set of notecards was $1.50 and far too related to makeup for me to not need. If something has lipstick on it then I want it and this combines lipstick and stationery which are two of the best things.

I found these pearl stickers that I thought would be great to put on the corners and borders of stationery. They were $1.50 and came in a few more colors so I do kind of regret not getting more but this is what I have for now.

Stamps!

More stamps!

GOLD ink!

I had a coupon for 40% off Recollections washi tape so I got a couple packs. These were the main designs that appealed to me so I went with these. I also got some cardstock and decorative paper but I don't have pictures of those.