May MyGlam Bag Review!

This is my May Glam Bag! I got it today, and was super excited! I wish MyGlam would make their packaging recyclable like Birchbox does, though, the bubble wrap just seems so wasteful! Anyway, I'm still so-so about this month's box. Keep reading to see why!

The wasteful plastic packaging

MyGlam finally stopped including all the random coupons in their packages, which to me mostly seemed like advertisements for different companies. I personally found them annoying and they pretty much all went into the recycling. I'm not really into this month's bag pattern, which is the kisses. I really wish they would either vary the size of the bags or stop including them, they're simply too small for me to use (I bring a lot of makeup with me when I travel).

Here's the contents of the box. I'll now go over what I think of each individual item.

Miss Beauty Nail Bling:
I personally don't like the peel-off stick-on nails, just because I find them quite annoying to apply and not very long lasting. I'd rather use traditional nail polish to paint my nails, thank you very much. Nevertheless, it would have been a nice inclusion if not for the pattern, which is absolutely not my style in any way. I ended up giving these to my younger sister. Nice thought, but the pattern is just tacky in my opinion.

 Philosophy Love Sweet Love Fragrance "Spray":
"Spray" is in quotes, because this frankly isn't a spray. It's a perfume vial with a cap. But anyway, this was nice. I don't really love getting perfume samples, since I'm VERY picky about my perfume and to this day still only have one perfume that I've liked enough to purchase and wear daily. But this one surprisingly smells quite good. I thought this was a really nice inclusion.

myGlam Concealer & Defining Eyeliner Brushes:

I'm pretty neutral on these. I've been using the angled eyeliner brush they sent last time for my eyeliner, since my MAC 208 went and hid in a corner or something, since I can't find it. I already have a concealer brush I like from EcoTools, but I guess I could rotate them. These are apparently the last brushes, so hopefully these will soon be replaced by a makeup product. These definitely weren't my favorite.

Studio Gear Complete Color Lipstick in Warm & Cozy:
My absolute favorite product of the bunch. However, I was hoping for a pink shade, since I wear a lot of pink lipstick. But I ended up with this shade, which is brown-burgundy. I took one look at the tube and mentally winced. I swatched it (I have a swatch a couple pictures down) and still felt sad. So I tried applying it sheerly to my lips, and it is actually really, really pretty! Nothing I would wear during the day, but definitely for a more refined look going out. Worn sheerly, it's so pretty! I'm so glad they sent me this color - the point of these sample bags is to try new products, after all. It feels really moisturizing when I apply, I absolutely love this!

This month's bag was a solid one. Still not up to par with their December and January bags, but much better than their March bag, which was just plain terrible. I think this one is a tiny bit better than their May bag. I haven't heard a ton of customer service complaints recently, and I myself haven't had any issues. Hopefully they're doing a better job of sorting those out now. If MyGlam continues to better their service incrementally, as they are doing now, I will definitely stay a subscriber!

It's Hot In Here: Review of theBalm Hot Mama Blush

After purchasing two of theBalm's other products (Sexy Mama Powder and Mary Lou-manizer), I wanted some more of theBalm. I had seen nothing but quality from them. When MyGlam sent out a 25% off code for theBalm's website, I jumped on it. Since I still haven't found a blush I liked enough to wear on a daily basis, I decided I would try their blush Hot Mama. Hot Mama is supposed to be very similar to NARS Orgasm, which I have swatched but don't own. I also ordered a backup of Sexy Mama powder. So I waited impatiently for my package to arrive. When it got here, I quickly unpacked it. But by then, it was too dark outside to take product photos. So I waited till the next day, when the sun was luckily out (yay!).

The product packaging is very cute, with a pin-up style girl on it. It's magnetic and snaps shut. It feels very sturdy. It has a nice mirror on the inside, and there's definitely a lot of product in the pan. The only problem I have with the packaging is that if you drop it really hard, the mirror will crack - I know this from experience, when I dropped my theBalm Sexy Mama powder and the mirror cracked but didn't fall apart. It still ruined the nice mirror though, and it's not really quite so nice anymore. =/

When swatched, it is extremely similar to NARS Orgasm. It's shimmery, but not glittery. It's a peach-toned color with gold reflects. It leans a tiny bit cool, but can't really be defined as warm or cool. I think it would work on almost all skin tones. It's definitely pigmented, and it glides onto my cheeks really smoothly. The powder is quite soft, and it's easy to pick up pigment, so you have to be careful only to get one or two swipes of blush on the brush. If you set it with powder, it stays on all day, which is awesome - most blushes disappear by the end of the day on me. It acts kind of like a blush/highlighter combo, so it's a one step application. It's awesome, and makes my routine that one step faster, minus the highlighter!

Here's a picture of me wearing it (I went overboard trying to get it to show up for the camera, sorry about that - I regularly don't wear nearly this much blush):

All in all, I absolutely love this blush! This is the only blush I've ever found that I can see myself wearing on a daily basis - it has just the right amount of shimmer, not glitter, and works as a highlighter as well as a blush. I think this will definitely become a part of my daily routine, because it really adds life to my face and stays all day! This product is my HG blush (although to be honest, I haven't tried many) and I will use it until I either find a new HG or use it up!

Review of Rite Aid Renewal Eyeshadow Brush

I heard about this line from Nouveau Cheap, who mentioned that the brushes from the Rite Aid Renewal line were soft and very high quality for drugstore, store-brand brushes. Who could resist that promise? So when I visited Rite Aid, disappointed that the Maybelline Color Tattoo eyeshadows were out in the colors I had been lemming (Tough as Taupe and Bad to the Bronze), I marched over to the Rite Aid Renewal brushes. I already have my HG powder brush from ELF, so I knew I wasn't getting their powder brush. Lash and brow groomer I have 2 of from sets I bought, so that was out. I don't use liquid foundation, so no duofibre stippling brush for me. Smudge brush I felt I didn't need. I didn't wan't the travel kit - I'm pretty happy towing my full size brushes everywhere I go. So my other option was the eyeshadow brush. Now, I usually use my Sephora Double Ended Every Day this-name-is-too-long-to-write-out-every-time-so-it-will-from-now-on-be-called-the-Sephora-Double-Ended-Brush to place eyeshadow allover my lid. But I had never really tried a different one (the Eco Tools one I got in my set was much too large for my half-Asian half-white eyes). This one looked like the perfect size. So I grabbed it and checked out.

I took it home and immediately snatched up my camera to start taking pictures. I took some with the packaging on.

I then took the brush out of its packaging. The first thing I noticed is that one of the brush hairs was loose! It came out shortly after, with a little bit of tugging.

In terms of first impressions, that wasn't a good one. =/  But I scrubbed it on my hand a little, and no further shedding occurred. So I shrugged and moved on. The next thing I did was to wash it. It survived its washing with no shedding at all (whooo!) Here's the brush after its first washing:

I then pulled out MAC Satin Taupe and picked up some color with the brush. It does a very nice job of picking up pigment - the bristles are quite dense, and therefore decently stiff but very soft at the same time.

I then took it and placed it next to my Sephora double ended brush, my usual shader brush, for comparison. As you can see, the Sephora brush is thinner and flatter, and also less dense. The bristles on the Rite Aid Renewal Eyeshadow Brush are also much shorter.

I then used it to apply color to my eye. It wasn't really large enough to pack on the color  allover my lid, and too dense to use it to swipe the color on - it just kind of deposited all the eyeshadow in one place - the first place you touched it to. However, the next day I used it to pack color on in my outer corner, instead of using a crease brush as I usually do. Magic! It packed the color on densely, and it was just absolutely fabulous. Now, whenever I need to pack color on in the outer corner, this is my go-to brush. It was only $3.99, and it was absolutely worth it. I review brushes based on 3 things: softness (this is very important to me), function, and durability. 

Softness: 10/10, this brush is absolutely lovely in that respect!

Function: 8/10, it was meant to place color all over the lid but is too small for this use. However, it is useful for applying eyeshadow to the outer corner of the eye. Still, it would have been nice if I could have used it as intended.

Durability: 9/10, the handle is nice and solid and no wiggly ferrule, but shedding that hair when I first took it out of the packaging was a bummer. It's true what they say, first impressions are everything - it survived its' washing, but I'll be on the lookout still next time I wash it.

Total: 27/30, or 90% (A-)

I might have to pick up some more of these brushes next time I'm at Rite Aid - perhaps they will function better for their intended use than this one did.