Hey all,

I wanted to talk makeup again but wasn’t sure what I had to talk about beyond next week’s makeup and it’s a bit early for that on a Saturday. Then I thought perhaps I could grab all the products from my 3 may boxes and let you know what I’ve used, what I haven’t used, and what I thought of what I did use.

Now, I was trying to get this photo pulled together while Miss Butterfly was packing her makeup for a wedding she is attending this weekend. There’s quite a bit in there that she wanted to take with her, and since we share boxes I wanted to make sure she had the opportunity. Which means I forgot the one little single eyeshadow in gold that I received, immediately pulled out of its little container and threw in my empty magnetic palette only to find that it doesn’t actually stick to the magnet. No matter, I hadn’t used that eyeshadow anyhow and I don’t have anything to talk about.

So, let’s go bottom up, left to right if necessary. The first items are the brushes. Out of on box we received a very pretty little eyeshadow brush. We both think this is absolutely beautiful and unlike everything else we own. The hairs are a gradient color, there are two little jewels on the gold area of the handle, and the rest of the handle is a gorgeous blue. It’s from Slmissglam which seems to be a company that makes a bunch of pretty but twee brushes. I can’t speak for the quality because we like looking at it so much we haven’t used it. Hah.

Above that is a set of eyeliner brushes from aesthetica cosmetics, we also have not used those and then a powder brush from aesthetica. This powder brush is extremely fluffy and soft. I saw a lot of reviews where subscribers didn’t really care for this brush, but we love love love this brush. It lays down the bare minimum of powder which keeps us both from getting too heavy handed. In fact, I like it for blush too, which I have a tendency to accidentally overdo and have to go back and correct. This brush was one of the things Miss Butterfly wanted to take with her today she likes it so much.

There’s a pure heals face mask, we received two, and I haven’t used them yet. I’ll probably do that today. I have a dedicated baggie in the bathroom since I think that oftentimes these samples give enough for two or three applications. I like to save the excess in the baggie and get extra use, but the baggie wasn’t free until last evening.

Next to that is pretty vulgar’s gel liner, and THIS is a product I’ve been using a ton. Am I capable of a winged liner? No I am not. Do I think I’ll ever seriously wear a winged liner? No I do not. Would I love to learn anyhow? Why yes I would. But, I had never tried a gel liner before and it really goes on so ridiculously smoothly. I’ve used this about every other day since I received it. There’s a TON in there, the packaging is so so pretty, but the product is so far down in the tub that it can be a bit difficult to see what I am picking up on a brush. That would be my only complaint.

Next up a sephora mud mask. This immediately went to Miss Butterfly. I see the word “mud” and my skin wants to cry. It cannot handle getting that dried out. Miss Butterfly has to be careful too, but it works well as a spot treatment for her teen acne, and that’s how she’s using it.

Then there’s a full size of cover fx blurring primer. I’ve been using this sparingly and it needs more time for me to figure out how I really feel about it. But, initial thoughts are that it works fine, it doesn’t break up my make up or move it around my face. The only reason it’s a sparingly situation is that I am trying to pan a benefit porefessional at the moment.

Then there are three black tubes that seem to have rolled before I snapped a photo. They are a marc jacobs velvet noir mascara which I am not going to even open until I finish up my current lash paradise. I’ve decided that since one is only supposed to get 3 months of use out of mascara, I could probably get by just on samples from subscriptions. So I am not about to start opening them and using them. I’ll wait until a more appropriate time.

There’s also a kat von d tattoo liner, which I haven’t opened and experimented with, so much am I enjoying the gel liner.

And there’s a touch in sol style sepia gel liner. This one is a brown toned liner with a green undertone that also seems to have a faint bit of gold sparkle too. There’s very little of this product to use, and I have used it and liked it just fine. It glides on smoothly and I have nothing bad to say about it. But I doubt I’d run out to get another either.

There’s a sample size of drybar dry shampoo. I don’t use dry shampoo, Miss Butterfly has two kinds already here at the house and SHE doesn’t use it either, so this sample is going to miss Marja. Quite frankly, even if I gave it to Miss Butterfly and she liked it, it’s too expensive for me to purchase for her anyhow. Best let someone else get use out of it.

Next up is the PUR cosmetics contour face palette. This palette is…annoying. The contour colors I’ve tried everything with, but they don’t blend nicely at all on the skin. It’s a serious challenge to get them to look any way other than “You’ve got dirt on your face.” So I decided I could use them as eyeshadow instead. Only trouble is, when I do this? They blend away to nothing. So…they won’t blend on the face but they disappear on the eyes. It’s kind of irritating. I’ll still play with them some more in the future. However, we are liking the highlighters actually. This is another product Miss Butterfly wanted to take with her this weekend, simply for the highlighters that look fairly natural on the skin. So, half of it is a hit and half of it is a miss.

Next up, beauty creations matte lip gloss, which all over the internet people are saying “What?” “That’s not a thing!” So, I’ve worn this once. When I put it on it’s super sticky. It dries down and doesn’t transfer much at all, but also doesn’t quite lose it’s stickiness. So, I don’t love that. One of my goals this week is to see if I can make this work for me, and if I cannot I’ll pass it on to Miss Butterfly. I am not sure about the color either. Bright lipsticks look great on me, but there’s this certain tone that one would think is bright but then goes dark on my lips and then makes my lips look really thin, and I don’t love that. And this may be one of those.

Above that is another sample of porefessional. Now, to be fair, I purchased the sample I am using now, this is my first subscription sample. But, you know, it’s a product I like and use, so I am not mad about it. I do, however, have plenty of other primers to use so I may set this one aside even though it’s a very small sample.

And then there’s the sample size of YSL black opium. Which….I don’t even know how to get into. I apparently have to crack open the plastic container, and then the lid will get turned upside down and put back on the container. However, I can’t figure out how to do it. I had been looking for a video on how to do it, but no one has posted one that I can find. And, the internet forums have horror stories about product spilling all over when the vial is cracked open, so I am not too eager to just give it a try. I’ll be honest, I’ve been really enjoying trying different sample perfumes from boxes, and I am downright annoyed by this. I cannot imagine that a company put their product in this vial, sat a panel of potential customers down, and said “OK, get into this and let us know what you think of it.” without mass confusion and irritation. It’s dumb and I do not like it. I feel dumb that I can’t figure it out, even though clearly others cannot as well. And I’ll feel dumb if there’s some easy solution I am not catching too.

Overall thoughts on these subscriptions. I am pretty pleased with May, we’ve certainly got more than we paid for, big time. I like many of the products, I still have plenty to try, keeping us occupied this month. I am currently getting 3 subscriptions but one is on the chopping block. We’ll see in the next few months if I keep with it. The samples in that particular box are just….smaller than the others. Then again, they are also higher end, so it makes sense. But, maybe I don’t need samples of higher end products. So we’ll see.

That’s it for May, now we get to keep trying these products while waiting for June boxes.