I knew this would happen the moment I did it.

Hello Everyone,

So I've did it. I unsubscribed from GlossyBox and BirchBox. Of course, I knew that the moment I did it GlossyBox would have something amazing in their September box an they sure do. The product I've been wanting to try for the longest time, HD Brow Kit. Of course! Are they trying to rub it in for all those people who unsubscribed because of the additional shipping charge? If that's the case, it's working.

But here is the thing. I'm a redhead, and I need a very specific brow shade and GlossyBox even admitted on Twitter that all products are mailed out on random, so most likely the shades I got would be totally wrong for me anyway. And I haven't been able to access my beauty profile at all since I filled it out back in May, to check and make sure that my tastes didn't change. That's not cool, not cool at all. The issue of price is a big one for me too. As you may or may not know, I don't get paid in pounds. I get paid in dollars! Ok, I don't get paid at all since I'm an unemployed student, so it double hurts. 

And simple conversion will show that 12.95 British Pounds = 20.44805 U.S. Dollars. Freaking $20!!!! I can deal with $16-17 of what it was before, and sure $20 is not that much more but it's a principle now! These boxes are supposed to be a convenient and affordable way to try samples, but $20 is not affordable anymore for me. I'm sure if I had a job then I would think differently, but right now I can't afford to throw away $20 on something that might not even work for me. And most products from GlossyBox don't. At this point some of you might say that GlossyBox been pretty good at including one full size product in every box, and kudos to them for doing that but see the above argument. What if the product doesn't work? Product that I don't care for, like those nail wraps I got in August. Hm.... GlossyBox, if you had actually followed my beauty profile, you would have noticed that I didn't want any products that had to do with nails because I don't really have any nails to apply those products!!! My nails are short naturally, and I can't keep them long because they are very thin so putting any kind of nail wraps on will only draw attention to that.

Anyway, enough of a rant about my nails. I've mostly gotten GlossyBox because it was a fun surprise every month, and I loved waiting for it. Hoping that I would like most of the products that I otherwise would not buy. But when it turns out to be $20 every month for products I won't use, that's a little too much.

I've also unsubscribed from the BirchBox, not really because of the price ("true" $10 I can stomach) but because the last two boxes I've gotten just left me feeling MEH..... The samples were super tiny, plus I got the stupid nail wraps again (and I CAN update my beauty profile on BirchBox) and there were only 4 samples instead of usual 5 for GlossyBox. At least the are not raising the shipping, so I might come back to them at some point in the future.

And their customer service is very good. My August box took a month to arrive, but I held off emailing them because I knew that APO mail can take longer. Finally, after a month I did email and got a response the next day saying that they will mail out the replacement for me. Of course, that same day I got my box, and I frantically emailed them back asking not to mail anything to me. Turned out they already did (they sure do work fast), and I was told to enjoy both of my boxes. I actually got my 2nd August box the same day I got my September one, but even then the contents were pretty disappointing. I know that $10 is not much, but the products included just were not worth it for me the price tag I paid. It's not really the money, but the disappointment.

At this point most of you are probably screaming at me to get some photos up, but I'm pretty upset right now (not a good day of reasons other than beauty boxes) so I really don't want to deal with photos. If I feel better, I'll add photos to illustrate my point. If not, just google the content of the boxes and see what I mean for yourself.

Lyuba

P.S. On the bright side, I ordered the new limited edition palette from Sleek. The one that is available exclusively on their website. It better not arrive smashed!

GlossyBox Meh............

Today I finally got my first ever GlossyBox.... and I can't tell you how disappointed I am. Now I am probably overly grumpy for whatever reason, and maybe I just make it more of a deal than what it really is... So this is what I got:

This is what GlossyBox promises to give us: 

If you want to regularly receive luxury product miniatures from top brands that fit your care and styling habits, then simply register on our website. The unique appeal of GlossyBox is that as a recipient of the box you can create your own personal beauty profile on our site. This information will help us to choose the right products to fit your needs and tastes.                                    
The GlossyBox will be sent out monthly. In addition to high-end luxury product miniatures, the box contains product information, application notes and tips and tricks about beauty and style.

And this is what I have a problem with: 
Batiste? SERIOUSLY?! Ok, so I love Batiste and will buy it over and over again, but when did Batiste became a luxury item? I don't buy a lot (read: almost never) of luxury beauty stuff because I simply can't afford them, so I was hoping GlossyBox will let me try some stuff I wouldn't otherwise try. But Batiste? I buy that stuff on monthly basis, and I buy a lot of it! And I know I shouldn't expect much for the cheap price, but if I am promised luxury/high-end stuff, shouldn't I get them?

And here is the 'theme' of June GlossyBox:
GET SUMMER READY~ 5 Summer Essentials


Eh, I could probably go on and on complaining about my GlossyBox, but I won't. I don't think what I got in it constitutes as 'summer essentials' but maybe it's just the old picky me. Some of you might disagree and everyone is entitled to their opinion, but after seeing what was included in May's box, I feel very disappointed with June's picks. :( I was really hoping for a face makeup item... :( :(

I HATED the smell of the perfume, but that's hardly GlossyBox's fault, they have no way of knowing my favorite scents. I like the shower gel and I'm looking forward to using it. I also look forward to using BioEffect, that is DEFINITELY something I will never be able to afford otherwise. OPI nail polish is meh too, but only because I'm not much of a polish person. Again, not their fault. So this box is not completely 'bad', but overall I'm disappointed.

I might give it a go for another month to see if I like anything, but as the things look right now, I most likely will cancel the service. Oh, and I'm PRETTY sure I filled out the beauty profile but I can't find it again on their site. Why do they hide it, why?!

Have you gotten your GlossyBox this month? What do you think? Are you happy with it, or disappointed like I am? 

~ Lyuba

Lack of updates....

I'm sorry about the lack of updates. I've been very busy with kimono stuff for past few weeks, and them my computer got a malware that I'm not able to remove myself. In fact, I think I somehow managed to screw up system restore again. System restore and me just don't mix. :(

Until I figure out my laptop I won't be posting anything :( I hope I'll be back soon!

~ Lyuba

Looks like it's my turn to get in some blogging drama

Hello Ladies,

I wasn't sure if I wanted to write this post at all, I ranted about it on Facebook, I ranted to my friends via chat, and I probably going to rant about it some more today at work. It made me feel better enough to where I didn't see the need to write anything, but then I slept on it, and when I woke up this morning I still felt just as strongly about the issue (not angry though) as I did yesterday. And I feel that as a blogger I am here to stay and I want to make some things clear from the start.

Be warned though, some of you might get offended at what I say. I would like to apologize in advance if I do offend you, but not for what I'm about to say as like I mentioned before the issue is one I feel very strongly about. 

How I Choose Which Blogs to Follow

Hello Ladies,

I've been thinking about this for past couple of weeks, namely about how I choose which blogs to follow.  I usually make a point to check out the blogs that other people follow, but I do not always end up liking what I see.

The information below is what I look for in a blog, what I enjoy reading about and by no means is intended to offend anyone.

Shamelessly using my lovely readers as an example ;P 

When I come across the blog I might possibly like, I read it, and read it, and read it. The "older posts" button becomes my friend for a while, and when I get tired of reading I either click or don't click the "follow" button. Here is what I look for:

Overall look/design
Obviously this is the first thing I look at because I like to read the content, instead of getting distracted by the design, or my personal pet peeve... the ADs! And I'm not talking about little banners off to the side, that just sit there and don't interfere with the content, no I'm talking about those 90%-off-day-in-London ads smack in the middle of the blog. I don't know if they show up by themselves, or some bloggers sell space for  those ads but I find them extremely annoying. And distracting. Or blog clutter, when excessive features are used. There is one blog that always shows up when I google any new US drugstore products, it's great to read an occasional review but I will NOT follow it because it's pretty much has everything I listed above (I don't remember what's the name of it, so can't point to it nor do I really want to). Overall I like a somewhat minimalistic design in blogs, but not always. For everyone it is going to be different, but as long as I can read the blog and not get distracted I am happy. 

Jump breaks
I could have put this one under the overall design, but I hate jump breaks so much that I feel they deserve their own  category. I feel that the use of jump breaks sometimes is ok, I use them myself for exceptionally long posts with lots of pictures. But several times I came across blogs that use jump breaks in every single one of their posts. Did I mention that I like to read pages after pages of blog before I follow it? Then imagine my frustration when I have to open up every single post to read it! Or open it in a different tab so I can read it. Then press the back button so I can go back to the blog. And more often than not I accidentally close the tab instead of hitting the back button because I'm so used to having lots of tabs. So when I see an excessive use of jump breaks, I do not even bother with reading the blog. I'm gone probably never to come back again.

Content
Easily the most important part of the blog, although I will not follow the blog regardless of the content if items above do not appeal to me. It is also probably the most personal and different thing for anyone out there. What I like to see and read in blogs is not going to be the same for everyone. I like reading reviews and tutorials, I also love to see FOTD/EOTD posts. I stay away from blogs primarily about nail polishes, because I can't relate to those much (I have gel nails, so I don't use nail polish a lot). I don't like blogs that only post about upcoming products but never actually review any of them. Or ones that have bad photos.

Shall we talk about photos now? Very briefly of course, because there are volumes written about good photos. It is essential to have good photos in a beauty blogger world, something I struggle with myself. So if the photos are terrible (come on, crop tool IS your friend you know) most of the time, I usually don't want to look at them... or the blog. 

I also don't like V-blog, I much prefer photos because I can't make myself sit still through the video. But that's again a personal preference. 

Proper use of punctuation, grammar and capital letters is also a must. I've seen couple of blogs that look like they are written by someone who never even heard about above things. Come on, start your sentences with a capital letter! Is it too much to ask? Maybe I am not the one talk, considering that English is not my first language but maybe I am. Because I still put an effort into what I write, sometimes more than native speakers.

These might not seem like a lot of requirements, but I feel they are very important (at least to me).

So what do you think? Am I being too picky or too demanding? Do you have anything YOU look for in the blog that I didn't mention?

~ Lyuba

Matte eyeshadows are not for everyone or a beauty rant

Hi girls,

I spent the whole day thinking if I should write this entry.... or should not. Then I thought I probably should, but then I changed my mind again. Finally the "should" won since, as Anastasia at Lipsticks & Lightsabers says, it's my space and I can write whatever I want, and whoever doesn't like it should not read it. 

Few days ago I was looking for some makeup inspiration on DeviantArt and through it found Olga Ekaterincheva, a Russian makeup artist who does GORGEOUS makeup work . She even has an English version of her site, so all of you can check it out. She also does makeup lessons on the side, which in itself I think is a great idea. I guess people come to her house (she doesn't say where they come, just that they come over) and bring ALL of their makeup for evaluation. For the lessons, she tries to use as much of person's makeup as possible, only recommending new stuff if theirs are absolutely un-usable. She seems really down to earth and a fun lady, I would love to get a makeup lesson with her myself. (sadly this whole Makeup Lessons part of her site is only available in Russian, but you can still look at photos)

And here where the big BUT comes in. After reading through description of lessons with examples I got a distinct feeling that she is very against shimmer eye shadows and very much pro-luxury makeup brands. Why do I get that feeling? Because she is constantly repeating how matte eye shadows are the way to go (especially when she said that one of the girls had the ONLY  eye palette from Chanel that she would have called GOOD, since it barely had any shimmer - my poor translation/paraphrasing) and only recommends luxury brands (from what I could decipher from small writings in the example photos).

Yes, I agree that everyone is entitled to their own opinion. After all, I wouldn't be writing this if I didn't have my own opinion on makeup. For example, I hate matte eye shadows, but I do not tell everyone that only shimmers are allowed to "live" so to say. Or I am a budget makeup buyer, from luxury brands I only own some Urban Decay and some Benefit. Actually, I'm not even sure I consider those as "luxury" brands, they are too funky for that :) When I think luxury, I think sophisticated but somewhat minimalistic approach, not fun and funky ways of Urban Decay and Benefit. Yet I am not against luxury brands, I just don't feel the need to spend lots of $$ on a product when I could find a cheaper alternative. At the same time, I am dying to get a luxury brand foundation from say Mac, concealer from Bobbi Brown, or a primer from Guerlain. One of those days I will.

Now I really don't know how is the situation with makeup in Russia, when I went to Ukraine I had no problem finding skin care and hair care ranges made in Russia (Ukraine, Belarus, etc...) but sadly I didn't have time to look better for makeup brands. I think I noticed some 'normal' brands available everywhere, like Maybelline and Revlon, and I think I even saw some luxury makeup brands. Didn't notice any Russian or Ukrainian ones, but I didn't look too well. :( So assuming that all the drugstore brands that we have available are also available there, WHY DOES SHE HAVE TO RECOMMEND ONLY THE LUXURY BRANDS? We wouldn't have dupes if cheaper makeup did not perform as well, or in some cases as better than luxury brands. It just really irked me.

The next thing that irked me quite a lot was her constant use of matte eye shadows. It might be my humble opinion, but only 2 looks from the whole page worked, and even those only worked because of darker, more natural matte eye shadows were used. I even think the other looks would have looked better have there been some shimmer/highlight on the brow bone. And maybe more than one color used (yes, I am referring to that blue eye shadow look on the 1st model).

Why can't day look have more shimmer to it? Why should a night look only have shimmer in moderation? Why, why, WHY? Why would a makeup artist who does such gorgeous works, stubbornly suggest the same thing to everyone who comes in for a lesson? I bet if I had a lesson, she would disapprove of my WHOLE eye shadow collection, because they are all shimmer. Of course she also says that she doesn't forbid anything to anyone, so if you like shimmer, go for it but in moderation. Then why not post a look with shimmer in the examples?

So who knows, maybe the women in examples asked for those looks. Maybe the ones with shimmer did not allow their photos to be posted.  But overall, I got a very one sided impression of the whole makeup lessons, an it really made frustrated so I had to rant about it.

On the bright side, yesterday my friend and I went makeup shopping! She haven't really been to Boots or Superdrug, so when we walked in and she saw that drugstore makeup brands can be swatched and tried, she was just as excited as I was over a year ago. I recommended her a few things that I already tried, she picked up some stuff that she heard about, and was in general makeup heaven. I decided to pick up some No7 stuff that I've been wanting to try, thankfully Boots has a 3 for 2 offer on it right now and with the No7 voucher I was a very happy camper.

So here is what I got:

Exceptional Definition Mascara
The one I have is starting to dry out, so it was a perfect excuse to get a replacement. This time I got it in Black, instead of Black/Brown.

Instant Radiance Concealer in shade II
I wanted to try it ever since one of the blogs I follow mentioned it as either their best of 2010, or just as a favorite.

Colour Calming Primer
It is GREEN so of course I had to try it. Plus because of the offer, it was free. My face tend to get very red in cold or hot weather, so I'm hoping this will help me fix the problem.

Hm.... this is turning out to be quite a long post, but I have one more thing to add. This is FOTD I had few days ago, and I really want to post it especially after all that matte vs. shimmer eye talk.

Here is a look I created with Sleek SUNSET palette, which is my go to palette right now. Not that I don't want to try other stuff, but my makeup storage space is quite limited so I tend to use one thing until I get tired of it, then put it away and start on something new. But for now I'm very happy with the SUNSET palette, and don't see myself getting tired of it any time soon.

I was inspired by Eye Candy makeup book that I got few weeks ago in Birmingham. I love the book, and I love the looks the author creates there, with some modifications (read MUCH BRIGHTER) if I had to re-create them. This look was inspired by some of the examples, and was very quick to do. And very eye catching too, I had several people comment on it.

I didn't use an eyeliner because I felt it will overpower the blue and red, but if I had to repeat this look I would use blue and red eyeliner. If I can find them in the same color as those eye shadows. :)

So what do you think? Should shimmer eye shadows be allowed to be used in every day makeup? Could we get away with using cheaper brands for good (or amazing results)? What do you think about the above look?

~ Lyuba

Frustration of the APO shipping

Image

Hello everyone,

To those who don't know what APO means, it's an American military PO box type of address, costs exactly the same as shipping in USA, and treated as domestic. It allows me to have 2 addressed, one American and one British and experience the best of both worlds I guess. I can shop for British brands in Boots and order American brands and get them delivered to me as if I still lived in USA.

But it comes with a big BUT. Some companies and/or sellers simply do not ship to APO, for whatever reasons. I am not sure as to what they are, and honestly I don't care. I want the products, and lots of places ship APO, so why can't those few? I believe they are all facing the same chances of lost or damaged packages, and many add disclaimers that it might take a lot longer for mail to arrive at APO. Whatever is what I say.

I can't shop Sephora and HauteLook because of that reason. Because of that, I missed out on getting some serious NYX bargains at HauterLook few days ago. I also can't order something from Sephora, something I can only get there at this time as it's sold out everywhere else I look! Normally I could order and get it shipped to my mom, but I can't even do that because the APO option is simply not included in the State option in billing. So I'm SOL however I look at it :(  It is extremely frustrating and even unfair, but sadly I can do nothing about it.

Some of you might ask why do I keep trying to shop on American websites, and that's because I still get paid in $$. Going shopping in British economy is not that much fun for me once the conversion comes into play. Instead of enjoying myself, I have to constantly think how much it will cost me in $$ and do I really want it for that much.

~ Lyuba