Here it is! The
new and improved Jenny From the BLOG!
Thank you, friends, for taking the time to visit my blog, and I hope to
make it worth your while. Over the
past couple of months, I’ve held back on updating because I just felt like it
was missing something. So, I made
the decision not to update it until I did a complete design overhaul and with
that, I was able to buy a ton of new products (yes, another excuse for that)
that I’m ready to review. Again,
it is my hope that I can help give you all ideas for different products. I myself am
CONSTANTLY looking for the next best thing, though some products just become
staples because I can’t seem to find anything better. You don’t have to break the bank to get good products that
actually work. Some of my favorite products EVER I can usually get almost for
free with the right coupon (thank you, CVS extra bucks). We’re
all willing to spend a little more on certain things, but the BEAUTY of it, is
you can usually save somewhere else.
With that said, here is a list of my newest, favorite products, my
personal experience with them and where you can find them! As always, please feel free to share
with me any products that you’ve found to be the best of the best and knowing
me, I’ll be out within a day or two buying them.
Clarisonic Mia
Sonic Skin Cleansing System
Okay, I had heard OVER and OVER about this thing from
numerous people, to the point where it was like, “okay, this is so
overrated!” But something happened
for me on Christmas Day. Well,
let’s rewind to a few weeks prior.
My sister asks me every year what I want for Christmas. Which to me, it’s so ridiculous to TELL
someone what to get for you as a gift, but that’s beside the point. So, I usually end up with a gift card
from her because she claims that I already buy everything for myself and I’m
the hardest person to shop for (which is partially true). But this year, I was actually kind of
excited to tell her something specific that I wanted. And again, I normally wouldn’t do that, but after a friend
told me that they were 20 percent off on Cyber Monday, I decided to ignore that
whole “telling someone what to get you theory” and told her I MUST have the
Clarisonic (I even went as so far to tell her which color I wanted…I opted for
the limited edition Island Coral).
I wish I would have known that you are supposed to charge it for 24-hours before it’s first use, because like a 5-year-old little girl getting a
Barbie Dreamhouse and having to stare at it in the box, I was counting down the
hours until I could wash my face before bed.
The Mia is the smaller version of the original Clarisonic
system. The differences: one-button, one-speed, a variety of
colors, and $30. There’s a
technique to use when washing because once the system turns on, it runs for
60-seconds (20-seconds on forehead, 20-seconds on nose/chin, and 10-seconds on
each cheek). I’m pretty sure it
won’t self-combust if you use it longer on certain areas…just saying.
Bottom Line: I
LOVE this thing and absolutely recommend it to everyone and anyone! Within just a couple of weeks I was
getting compliments on my complexion (which never happens)!
My skin feels smoother, looks clearer and ALWAYS feels so clean! Since one of my New Year’s resolutions
was to take better care of my skin, I feel like I’ve already accomplished
something! The Mia comes with the
sensitive skin brush head, but I’m thinking of trying the deep pore brush head
next (and the acne one that my friend Kerri so generously gave me). This seriously is the BEST product I’ve
used in a long time and no matter what type of skin you have, you’ll benefit
from it. The Mia system is $119,
which in my opinion is a STEAL! Go
to www.clarisonic.com for more
information. You can also find it
at specialty beauty stores like www.sephora.com
Beauty Sample Boxes
Other than going out and literally buying every new product
you hear about (which I often do), your next best bet is to subscribe to beauty
sample boxes. There are several to
choose from, all at varying prices and with a combination of all types of
beauty products. The point is,
obviously, the companies that provide these beauty samples, help the companies
promote their products, and hopefully acquire new customers. And, customers get to test out products
by using the samples, so they don’t have to buy a whole product they may
potentially not even use…simple, and smart concept. I did a little online research to
decide which ones I wanted to subscribe to and settled on a few; ipsy, New
Beauty, and Birchbox.
Ipsy Glam Bag
I received my first sampling from ipsy, the January 2013
Glam Bag within weeks of subscribing. I was so anxious to open it and see what was in there and couldn’t wait
to try out the products. Honestly, I was a
tad bit disappointed, mostly at the cheap, plastic bag the products came in,
then again by the crushed boxes the products were in. This month’s Glam Bag included a nail polish, eyeliner
brush, Josie Maran moisturizer (probably the best product in the bag), a
lotion/body butter, and a hair spray sample. Not to be harsh, but I
HATED the hair spray sample, so I definitely won’t be buying that anytime soon
(Sexy Hair Spray - way too hard and sticky, yuck!), and the other products were just “eh”. Not too impressed, but for $10/month,
I’ll probably keep my subscription and see what they send me in the next few
months.
Cost: $10/month
New Beauty Test Tube
New Beauty is a magazine, which is published quarterly and
is pretty much a bible for beauty product lovers. If you've never bought a copy, but love learning about new products, PLEASE go buy this immediately! With much excitement, I
received my first Test Tube the other day and was over the moon when I saw the
products they included (as well as the latest issue of the magazine). They have, in my opinion, the BEST
product sampling. For a quarterly
cost of $29.95, you get a sampling of some GREAT products, in addition to the magazine,
which costs $9.95 on it’s own. A
FULL tube of facial cleanser, a FULL Tarte blush, and some great samples of eye
creams, hair relaxing balm, facial cleansing wipes and a tanning glove (can’t
wait to try that one). All quality
products that I will actually use!
And they include a booklet that explains each product, what they’re good
for, and where you can find them…very informational. Only drawback, you only get it quarterly. Though if you had to choose only one,
I’d choose this one (so far).
Cost: $29.95/quarterly
Birchbox
Cost: $10/month
Mattifying gels
…And the search continues. I’m all about the fun of trying new/different products, but for ONCE, I’d
like to find a mattifying product that actually works like no other. I have spent so much time and money
trying to find the best mattifying product for oily skin and I thought I had a
real shot with this OC8 mattifying gel that I stumbled upon online since it claimed 8-hours of shine free wear, but no such
luck. I have REALLY oily skin, which
I’m sure I won’t be complaining about when I’m older (they say people with oily
skin have less wrinkles when they’re older), but for now, with living in the
Florida heat, I don’t care if its January or July, I’m so sick of having to
blot my t-zone! I need the perfect
mattifying gel and I still haven’t found it. I’ve done a lot of research, searching for the best product,
but none that I’ve tried have come close. Actually, the best product I’ve used is a make up primer from
Revlon (Revlon PhotoReady Perfecting Primer), which is only like $10. But, it’s not an actual mattifyer. So, if any of you out there know of a
good one, please pass along. Until
then, the hunt continues…
I hope this information is helpful and I will continue to add new things on here and on my Facebook page (so make sure to like it, if you haven't already). And as always, please let me in on any "must have" products that you use or know about!
From the BLOG,
Jenny
Jenn-LOVE the new design! As always I loved reading about all the fabulous products you have been using. I was one of those people who told you to get the clarisonic!! I worship mine and can't imagine my skin with out it! However, I recently got a facial and she told me that I am using it too much for the type of skin I have. So I have been using it every other day now. I'm also going to switch back to the sensitive skin brush head because the aethetician also told me I didn't need the acne prone brush head. There is some truth to what she said too because I think my skin is looking even better! I have been wanting to try birchbox because I have 2 friends who rave about it! Sign me up and we can compare the products together! One last thing, thanks to one of my other friends being equally obsessed with new products like you, I have discovered Benefit Porefessional. Have you used this? OMG, it's AMAZE! Feels like silk on your skin! I will bring it down so you can try it!
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