My First Influenster VoxBox!

Most of you have probably already heard of Influenster. If you aren't acquainted with Influenster yet, here is what they say on their site: 

"Influenster is a product discovery platform that guides our members to products that suit their interests and needs, as well as how to use them. We provide crowdsourced opinions on products through our reviews and take it one step further with full-sized product sampling in our exclusive VoxBox campaigns."

Influenster is free to sign up,  so go do that now, and I'll wait.  Ok, great!  Now the fun begins. First, you will be prompted to connect all your social media sites, such as Facebook and twitter, etc, This gives you an "impact score", now you are ready to roll and you review products you already use and like (or dislike) The beauty of Influenster is they have campaigns, where you may be selected to answer questions about a product or how you use certain things.  But what everyone on there wants is a VoxBox, which are products sent to you 100% free, they just ask you review them and/or talk about them on your social media accounts. Getting chosen to receive a VoxBox seems random, but I finally was selected and so excited. I've seen the videos on Youtube of people unboxing fantastic items, makeup, hair products and all sorts of full-sized items. Most of these boxes have several, if not many products in them.  Needless to say, I was extremely excited to get my very first Influenster package!  

It was tiny...and said Carefree all over it...I opened it up to find this:

Yep, one little package of Carefree Pantiliners.  Hey I love free stuff, but how am I supposed to review a panty liner?  I mean, they work!  They are thin! They're portable!  They're convenient! 

What makes these different from any other pantiliner? I have no idea at all.  Will I use them? Of course! Will I tell my friends and family about them? Probably not, as women, we know and use these products already. Unless these are superior in any way to another liner, what is there to say?

In short, my visions of a Voxbox full of goodies was destroyed in an instant. Maybe next time, Influenster?

*disclaimer:  I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.

Doll Eye Mascara (Review)

NYX is a line of affordable, quality cosmetics that can be purchased via their website or in all ULTA stores. (Also the normal other places such as eBay and amazon).

I will fully admit here for the world to see that I am a mascara junkie. Yes, I said it - there is a 12-step program for mascara junkies isn't there?! I can't live without it and there is a never-ending quest to find the perfect mascara for me. I currently have 11 mascaras in rotation if that tells you anything!

I've had this mascara on my list of beauty items to try, as I've heard a lot of great things about it. I finally ordered one last week and received it within 2 days, so the service is fantastic! I paid less than $8 for it including shipping, which is a steal.

The mascara arrived promptly and was packaged exactly as you see in the pic. The box is cute and the tube is cuter. It's narrow on the top and bottom, and wider in the middle, if you lay it on its side, it is eye shaped! The brush is actually opposite of the tube shape: It is narrow in the middle and fatter on the top and bottom end. The brush appeared to be coated well, and is a dark glossy black color.

I couldn't wait to get this on my lashes and have gorgeous, fluttery, long lashes. Sadly that was not to be. The formula applied well, the brush separated my lashes well and it went on with no issues and dried in a normal amount of time. What was missing, however, was the DOLL EYE look. It didn't do anything special, or make my lashes especially long, fluttery or doll-like in any way at all.

In fact, this mascara was unremarkable in every way. Don't get me wrong, its not a bad mascara at all, it just doesn't do what is advertised. Well, off I went with my mediocre lashes to face the day, and though this mascara does nothing extraordinary, it DID last all day and it didn't flake or sweat off. I had no issues with the wear factor - It stayed on until I took it off that night, so that is a definite plus.

Removal was no fuss as it came off easily with my normal makeup remover/cleanser (olive oil).

Overall, a decent mascara but I wouldn't buy it again. The price is great, it coats well and doesn't clump and seemed to have good staying power. But if you are looking for mascara to give yourself incredibly long, fluttery WOW! lashes, keep looking.