December Beauty Box Reviews and Swatches!

 Hi hi hi ^-^

December was not fun for this blog. I ordered way too much stuff from too many different places, got behind on my spreadsheet I use to keep track of everything, got everything at different times, started trying things at different times, and already have January sitting waiting for me to get started photographing. I need to get back on a schedule, and I bit off more than I could chew, so we’re going to do one big post for all the beauty boxes I got in December and my thoughts and some news for the new year 🙂

I’m sitting in my comfy chair in my living room with a candle burning and my favorite streamer on, and honestly I just want to not even write about last month because it’s going to be so much, but I can’t leave 2022 unwrapped, you know?

The first difference between this and my other monthly reviews is that I haven’t actually tried every single item I got in all these orders. I know I’m sorry. I really tried, but there comes a point where everything’s so chaotic and some stuff just doesn’t get reached for. I’ll update if I do try any of the missed products and like them, but if you never hear about it, it didn’t wow me.

We can start with IPSY, as usual. I need to talk about a company called Truly Beauty and their horrible, stale, old, dried out moisturizer I added onto my box from them. It’s called unicorn fruit whipped body butter. Not even adding a photo. I don't want to look at the thing.

    This is a company that, now that I’ve tried out their products, I have concluded is all marketing and no value. Everyone has seen their ads, these bright, candyland-

esque jars full of pastels and sparkles and colorful products. You’d think they’d have fun, easy-to use products, since they’re obviously marketing towards younger, free-spirited, artsy and adventurous people. But no.

Two of their products were options for add-ons in December though and I was like, could use a body moisturizer. Love “whipped”, that sounds great. Sure I’ll snag one. 

Think I paid something like 12 for it, which is not that strange for a body butter. But there was a massive difference between this body butter and other body butters. Other body butters are nice, thick, smooth moisturizers your skin soaks in and loves. They’re like butter, melting on your skin, maybe thicker than other lotions but still.

    Not this moisturizer. This moisturizer is a small jar of stale cotton candy that isn’t soft, doesn’t spread, hurts to try and rub in, and that my skin does not love or absorb.

When you touch it, it caves away like it’s made of - and I say again because there’s never been anything more accurate - stale cotton candy. Your child has stuffed as much cotton candy as they can into a jar, left the lid off for a few weeks under their bed, and then eventually found a lid to put on it and that’s what this product is.

Once you’ve scooped a little bit onto your finger, you notice it actually has real, visible fibers in it which somehow go away as you warm it up I guess? You can hear the fibers breaking apart if you touch the formula. Like the evil version of asmr that you don't want to hear while putting on lotion.

If you apply this god-forsaken half-melted sugar scrub pretending to be a lotion onto your body, it’ll sit there until you try and move it around, which okay, sure. But. if you try and move it around, it quickly adopts the properties of molasses and you feel like you’ve been prepped for a wax. A two fingerfull scoop from the jar - if you can get it out, and if you can properly warm it up and get your skin to take it - creates one or two square inches of greasy, sticky, lollipop residue mess on your skin.

I worked for an eternity to get it to move around and spread over my arms and legs and torso and chest, but the stuff wouldn’t budge. It felt like spreading on glue. The only thing that helped was the fact that I had to work so hard to get any semblance of lotion-feeling on my skin that I was actively sweating from the effort, and the sweat did help spread out some of the lotion. 

At the end of a very frustrating half-hour, and two-thirds of the jar later, I felt like I had taken a dip in a pool of honey. I was sticky and half-dressed in clothes I certainly wasn’t going to be able to slip on now. I was frustrated and exasperated that this abomination of a “body butter” exists or is being distributed.

I’m frankly appalled that it has a single good rating, and am considering whether I did actually receive a stale one or one that didn’t meet quality control. But I’m going to give IPSY the benefit of the doubt here that this is just the product and this is how it works.

I also added another product from this company, the Matcha Face Scrub. This one started off rough but in the end it was okay. So it’s a similar thing at first, I opened it and noticed that it was like a dehydrated sugar scrub or something.

You could press on it and make an indent, and it was dry and flaky and crusty. I took a little on my finger and tried it on my face but it hurt a lot, and I initially thought this one was actually expired. You can see it's cracked where I pressed on it. Like stale slime.

A few days later in the shower I decided to see if it would be good as a body scrub, and I had a much better experience. Once water got in the jar, the mixture turned back into something you’d imagine a scrub feeling like, and after this I did use it on my face a few times to better results. I will say that there’s nothing matcha about it for fragrance or anything like that. More like green apple jolly ranchers or something. But my face did feel very smooth and conditioned after using it. Same thing with my body. It just took a little while. Still not my favorite scrub for body or face, but it wasn’t as horrible an experience as the “body butter.”

Thank you for listening. No one understands. 

Next is a face wash called the Exfolikate Daily Cleanser from Kate Somerville. I don’t know why they picked this name for a face wash and not an exfoliator. It’s not an exfoliator. It’s a cream face wash. 

I just went and looked it up, it’s part of a whole range of skincare called Exfolikate, so there are multiple items called this. This happens to be the face wash. I guess you’re supposed to follow up with the rest of the items in the line.

This is a very good face wash. It’s a mint-green color, doesn’t have much of a smell, and foams up slightly when applied. I don’t need much of it to feel cleansed, and it doesn’t leave me feeling dry or sticky. 

This is the second item I’ve tried from this brand, and neither have really wowed me. But I definitely plan to continue using this, as I don’t have a staple face wash that I’m in love with right now.

The Algae Niacinamide Moisture Veil I am actually giving away, but I did try it out and do have thoughts. It’s a super unique item and even though it wasn’t for me, I feel like I should still give it its due. 

So it’s from a brand called Algenist which makes me think that they like Algae. 

I just went and looked aaaand sure enough, “Powered by Algae” is their tagline. Their website basically says that this acid from algae helps with everything, it’s great, we’re careful with our products, etc. Looks kind of cool, maybe a little gimmicky but okay, algae.

Anyway this product is so interesting. It’s called a moisture veil, which sounds a lot like a moisturizer, but then it’s formulated kind of more like a serum? But when it’s on my skin it feels like I used a moisturizer? I’m like not even sure how to describe it.

It is a golden-color, maybe like golden brown, but definitely glistens when you pour it out. Like you imagine metal when you pour it maybe. 

It has a fragrance, it isn’t like good or bad. Just different from what you’d usually smell in skincare. Earthy? But not bad at all.

The real thing though is that it pours out a lot like a serum. It comes in a dropper bottle and everything - and it’s a nice ass dropper bottle. No holding back here. This thing pulls quite a bit when I use it.

So I tried using this formula a few different ways, initially as a serum because I could have sworn it was a serum based on its texture. But after doing more research I learned that no, it is intended as a moisturizer. So I used it a few times as my nightly face cream.

I think it would be best for use at night or without makeup, because it does feel thick and heavy on the skin. It claims to help mattify, which isn’t what I do with my makeup at all, so I just preferred them separate.

I’m not giving it away because I don’t like it, perse, I just haven’t reached for it much and I have so many other serums and moisturizers that work better for the makeup look I’m going for. I will say the nights I used it as my night cream it went on smoothly and, even though I could feel it, wasn’t sticky on my pillow.

My next two add-ons, I kind of want to talk about together because I’m not 100% sure which one was the problem, so I’ll just talk about both.

The first one is the Naked Apple Oil Free Blemish Control Gel Cleanser. It’s a very appley cleanser. Nothing remarkable. Bright green packaging and a bright green smell, but seemed to clean my skin perfectly well. 

The other one is the StudioMakeup Hyaluronic Acid Rejuvenating Serum, a super smooth, slippery serum that I have really enjoyed. The problem is, I received them at the same time, and the serum stings. But it really only stung when using that face wash. But none of my other products stung when I was using that face wash. But everything has stopped stinging since I stopped using that face wash. 

But once or twice it stung without using that face wash right before.

So I’m not 100% sure but I think the face wash sensitized me to something in the serum. So let’s say I don’t like the facewash and conclude that that was the problem, because I really like this serum. Like I said it’s slippery and has a very aloe-like texture, if aloe was more liquid I guess. At the time of writing this, I’m almost finished with the bottle. I use it for both AM and PM skincare routines right now, until it runs out, but I don’t think I’ll buy it again. I have really liked it though.

The next item is the Tempting Palette from the brand Trend Beauty. It’s a very warm toned, fall-esque palette so I’m not sure why I ordered it, but I have actually been very happy with it. Everything applies really well, mattes and sparkles, and they also blend together smoothly as well. The shimmer is lightweight and not scratchy, and it’s very buildable. I always apply shimmer shades to my lid with my fingertips, and with these I did need to apply a few layers to get the beaming look I go for. 

I’m not sure if I’ll keep it and wait around for next fall, but it’s not crazy huge and I’m not worried about keeping it. 

Also I should mention that the artwork is very beautiful and works super well with the colors. Like it’s all very Persian-Southasian, mandala, tapestry, fancy wedding vibes. I love the entire concept.

Last but not least for IPSY, I finally tried my first item from the brand Tatcha! This is exciting, because it’s one of those brands where even if you could afford it, you don’t know how you’d justify spending all that money to try it out. But I’ve always wanted to, and this month a sample size of their Rice Wash and their Dewy Skin Cream was available as an add-on.

I’ll be honest, I haven’t tried the wash. I know I’ll love it when I try it, but it’s just not a thing. I received so many face washes this month and I just haven’t had the time and didn’t really want to use like six different face washes and confuse my skin.

The cream, however, is an absolute game changer. 

So it came in this little sample pod that was super pretty and easy to get my fingers in. The cream itself is a light purple lavender color in the pot, and has a very nice smell, like berries or tea or something. Now that I’m thinking about it, I think it smells sort of like the acai blueberry pomegranate tea I used to drink when I was a teenager. That stuff got discontinued. Everything I love and fixate on gets discontinued.

I probably use a little too much of it each time I apply it because I love it so much, but I’ve been using it after my serums, maybe two dimes worth. A quarter? A nickel? I don’t know.

So it feels like sending my face to a spa. It is the most luxurious thing I have ever put on my face. I don’t even know how to describe it. The texture is just like a normal skin cream, something very buttery and soft, not gel-like. It’s like that perfect stage before you consider whipped cream whipped? It’s like melted chocolate chips for dunking strawberries. 

I felt so pretty all day. My makeup didn’t even look very good after I did it the first time with this cream, but I felt so stinking cute all day.

So long-term thoughts: it needs some time to sink in if I use it under makeup. I can put it on but it needs a good half-hour to be ready for makeup, otherwise it pills. It doesn’t like things on top of it, so for these reasons I’ve mainly used it as my night cream - and what a night cream. My bare skin feels so happy with this stuff on it, even with nothing else used.

I am seriously considering dishing out for a whole full-size of this stuff to be my new night cream. I want more of it so badly. The gratitude size on their website is eighty-five dollars. I don’t know how I could do this to myself but I want more. Please send help.

Boxycharm for December was massively disappointing, and led to me ultimately deciding to cancel my box and go elsewhere (updates later this month). If you didn’t read about the drama with the Dominique Cosmetics Unconditional Palette I received in December, you can check out my 2022 Recap to get the tea. 

Suffice it to say, I’ve had enough and can find better products and services elsewhere. 

The only products worth mentioning were the 3-Piece Eye Brush Set from Laruce Beauty. This consisted of a blender, a smudger, and one of those cut-off pencil brushes, good for stamping maybe? 

Anyway the reason they’re worth mentioning is because they are SO FREAKING SOFT. Seriously, like they were made of silk or marshmallows. So soft I wasn’t sure how they’d perform, since you do want some friction for blending. I wish I could remember how well they worked but I can’t because I was so focused on how FREAKING SOFT they were.

I would love to own more brushes from this brand. I might buy another random set off Poshmark to see if all their brushes are this way. If they are, I’m switching. It was the softest eyeshadow look I ever did.

Also, the Complex Culture Executive Level Mascara was in this box. It was actually okay, but I still prefer my Beauty For Real. I only tried it the one time and did get some length but not a ton of volume, and the one I use does a lot of both, so I'm good. I will say the packaging was cute and the brush was massive. If you're looking for one of those mascaras that's all wand, you'll like this one.

The only products from Kinder Beauty in December that I actually got to try or was excited about were the sheet mask and the cleansing balm, but I def want to talk about that sheet mask. It’s from a brand called 100% Pure I guess? Like that isn’t totally overdone or anything 🙄

But the sheet mask was very good. Full up with serum, made of a nice thick paper, had a nice smell and left me feeling hydrated and clean and fresh and ready for whatever. 

The other item is the Balm Shell Cleansing Balm from the brand Flower Mill. I love how this product looks, but it doesn’t perform as well as my other cleansing balms and I’ll go over why I haven’t loved it.

So the jar, first off, has a smaller opening and it’s a very hard, dense product, so it was hard to warm it up enough to get any out. Once out, it definitely didn’t melt on my fingers like you expect a cleansing balm to do. But the biggest issue was it doesn’t really dissolve in water very well. Like of course, a cleansing balm is an oily form of makeup remover, but you’re supposed to be able to rinse it off with water and your hands. Now I will say that this balm does claim to need a warm damp cloth for removal, but that’s a huge downside in my opinion when there are cleansing balms on the market for a third of the price of this ($32 vs $12) that aren’t so hard to use.

Also, it didn’t do as good a job on my mascara as my JunoCo, and didn’t wash out of my cleansing cookie at all, just gummed it up and I had to put it through the wash.

I also tried it as a shaving balm on my face, and that worked very well, but again it’s hard to rinse out of anything. You need to go back over everything with a soapy cleanser to break this stuff up. Gonna stick with the cleansing balms that are cheaper and melt when you look at them.

And that’s everything I was able to test out in December. I think it’s a lot. I’m happy with it.

And now I need to start working on January!! And all these products I have waiting for me on my desk that need to be unwrapped and photographed and swatched and tested out and written about. I’m so excited ^-^

Talk soon,

Dani