May 2013 RocksBox Photos & Review … Part Two!

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I loved the pieces in my previous May RocksBox, but it was actually the first month that I didn’t keep anything from the shipment.  If the Urban Gem Pave Bow Earrings would have been just a tad smaller, they’d have been mine.  But, alas, just too big.  I sent my box back and promptly received a second RocksBox for May!

RocksBox has been one of my absolute favorite subscription services to test out.  I literally squeal when this arrives in the mail.  Who doesn’t want new jewelry ALL of the time?!  I’ve been posting teaser pics of this month’s box all over Instagram, so follow me on there and check em out!

For more information on how RocksBox works, check out my first post!  On to the goodies in this shipment!

IMG_5874First, from Gorjana, the Graham Large Pyramid Stud Five Wrap Bracelet.  I freaking adore this.  The leather is soft and it’s girly with an edge.  It was easy to wrap and hook, but after four times wrapping it was still pretty loose, yet not loose enough to wrap around a fifth time.. and my wrists are actually on the small side.  Even still, it still looked so cute and I totally want to keep it!  The retail price of this item is $98.00 and the member price is $78.40.

braceletNext, from CC Skye, the Benatar Statement Necklace.  CC Skye is so amazing, and this necklace is a fabulous item.  It’s got a great amount of heft and hangs lower than what you’d normally expect of a necklace such as this.  It’s got the extender links on the back so you can go higher or lower.  I want to keep this too, but I think the price, even at a discount, will be a challenge =( The retail price of this item is $220.00 and the member price is $176.00.

Finally, from Urban Gem, the Coral Pave Earrings with French Hook.  These are vivid, yet almost dainty.  If they were studs I would say they’re too big, but since they hang a bit they are perfect.  Obviously, I want to keep these too… but this price I can swing!  The retail price of this item is $65.00 and the member price is $52.00.

rbMy style is constantly changing and evolving.  I love the idea of getting new jewelry any time I want it and not keeping pieces I’ve grown away from.  We all have those pieces that just sit in our jewelry box… forgotten.  =(

Here is the best part!  Yes, there is more!  You can get purchase credits for referrals!  Let me explain.  For every person you refer that signs up for RocksBox you get a $25 referral credit!  You also get a $5 credit when you post a pic on Social Media (#rocksbox) wearing your RocksBox jewels!

Wanna sign upHow about 50% off a 3 month membership!  Click here and enter code FABB when you check out.  After that, memberships can be purchased in intervals of 3, 6 or 12 months.

What do you think of RocksBox?  Are you going to check it out?

*** Products provided by iFabbo through their SHOP program.  All opinions on this product are my own and 100% honest.  For more information, please see my disclosure policy.  This post also contains a referral link for RocksBox.

Hard Candy STEPPING STONES All Lid Up Créme Eye Shadow Swatches & Review

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Hard Candy All Lid Up Créme Eye Shadow ($6.00) is new for Spring 2013 and comes available in 10 shades.  The focus of this post will be on Stepping Stones, which is a versatile shade that can be used with many looks from day to night.

IMG_5476IMG_5633IMG_6115(swatched above with no primer, one finger swipe of color)

Stepping Stones might look like your average metallic grey in the pot… but sweet heaven there’s gold in them there shadows, giving this shade a slightly khaki vibe!  Are you as shocked as I am over how this shade swatches?!  Wooooo!

With this product, finger application is easiest for quick blending.  Stepping Stones goes on creamy and sets quickly.  This wore well and all day without creasing when blended out and also when I put shadows over-top.  If you just pack them on or don’t set with a shadow they’ll crease more quickly.

The Hard Candy collection is exclusively available at Walmart and on walmart.com.  Get more info on this item at hardcandy.com.

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Ruby Wing Summer Love & Groupie Color Changing Nail Polish Swatches & Review

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Ruby Wing has six hot Summer nail polish shades for 2013!  In addition to the two featured today, Summer Love and Groupie, four others are also available in Crowd Surf, Electric Firefly, Eternal and Green Peace.

IMG_6257Below all of the top swatches are done in the shade with a flash and the swatches below are done in full sun with no flash.  Nothing but the UV rays will make the polish turn (I tried scalding hot water and a hair drier to test), so run your behinds outside and play!  ***Adding the top coat wont effect the color changing aspect of the polish.

Summer Love

IMG_5933 IMG_6086Summer Love goes from a screaming neon orange cream to a burnt chocolate amber cream.  It even starts to ombre when it first changes, it’s really the coolest looking thing!  I thought the formula was a little weird to work with and didn’t necessarily coat on evenly, but once a top coat was added and the nails dried you couldn’t see any imperfections.  The swatches above are three coats.

IMG_6089Groupie

IMG_6248IMG_6239Groupie goes from a very neon pink cream to a more demure raspberry pink cream shade.  The change in this polish was a lot more subtle than that of Summer Love, to the point where I wasn’t even sure the color change actually worked until I looked at the photos on my computer.  Three coats.

Have you tried Color Changing Nail Polish?  What are your thoughts?

Ruby Wing Color Changing Nail Polish retail for $10.00 each and are available on the website.

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Maybelline PRECIOUS PEARL, BLUE PARADISE Eye Studio Color Tattoo 24HR Cream-Gel Shadow Swatches & Review – Summer 2013

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Every piece of PR I saw or received on the new Maybelline Summer 2013 Eye Studio Color Tattoo 24HR Cream-Gel Shadows said there were eight.  Yet every display I saw showed only six.  Each display only had room for six.  So, I’m thinking… error or maybe two got pulled for whatever reason.  Nope.

I drove all over creation searching for the six that originally launched, luckily I found the final two shades on an impromptu stop to UltaPrecious Pearl 10 and Blue Paradise 15 are as beautiful as their brothers and sisters and make excellent additions to the line up!

IMG_5942 IMG_5945 IMG_5950 IMG_6076The swatches above were taken outside using a flash.  The swatches below were taken outside with no flash, with sort of an overcast sun thing going on:

IMG_6078Precious Pearl almost appears to be a duochrome in the pot, but swatches pearly white.  This shade is on the shimmery side and perfect for that inner corner of the eye pop.

Blue Paradise is a blue with a pinkish-purple shift that you can see better in the pot and in person.  In the flash photo it appears teal, where in the shaded photo it looks to be a cornflower blue.

Out of the two, Blue Paradise is my favorite, yet both serve different purposes (for me) of use.  They feel like a gel (solid but wet) and slick on the eye, giving enough time to blend before they set into a powder.  These make fabulous bases for shadows and even alone as a wash of color.  Precious Pearl, like Icy Mint, is more toward sheer in color.

These Maybelline New York Eye Studio Color Tattoo 24HR Cream-Gel Shadow ($6.99) are limited edition and will be available at select mass retailers nationwide for the month of May 2013 only.

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Layla LEMON SOFT Velvet Effect Textured Nail Color Swatches & Review

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This is my first passage into the fuzzy-textured type of nail art manicure.  I must say, I’ve been interested.  It’s easier to do than you would think, though rather messy.  For my testing pleasure, the Layla Velvet Effect Textured Nail Color in Lemon Soft.

Simply paint the nail as desired and on the last pass of polish shake on the Layla Velvet Effect Textured Nail Color.  After the polish is dry brush off the excess texture.  I did both the shaking and brushing over the sink.  Tip: Do one finger at a time to ensure that your base polish is still wet and the Velvet Effect adheres well.

IMG_5125IMG_5903Lemon Soft is described as a luscious yellow, but I think it has a hint of green in there… so I’ll call it chartreuse.  You can place this product over any color while the polish is still wet and you’ll get the same effect.  I did it just over a clear polish so that the focus would stay on the Velvet Effect.

It’s pretty cool looking.. furry.. not something everyone is going to love.  I’m not a fan of a full mani of it but I think it makes a cool accent nail for an otherwise prissy mani.  And, hey, if anything it’s a conversation starter!

The top pic is taken with the flash and the bottom macro pic is taken with no flash.

IMG_5910You can purchase Layla Velvet Effect Textured Nail Color for $15.00 at Zappos.

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MAC Ablaze Lipstick Swatches & Review – Fashion Sets

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IMG_4712Fashion Sets must be becoming some type of annual thing, because one year ago MAC released Fashion Sets for the first time, albeit a little different, but Fashion Sets none-the-less.

Where the Fashion Sets of 2012 brought about wearable shades (such as neutrals Myth and Spice), the Fashion Sets of 2013 brings us neons and brights, for the more confident makeup enthusiast (and also added in extra products like liners and shadows).

In addition to those extras come the usual lipsticks and lipglasses, including today’s post of Ablaze Lipstick.

IMG_4708 IMG_4709 IMG_5886 IMG_5891Ablaze (bright apricot cream, matte) is a pigmented and vivid salmon color.  This shade is intense even after one pass on the lips and as a matte isn’t horribly drying.  As this fades out this will leave a very slight staining, and makes an excellent shade for Summer.

For more information on this collection, please see the Official Press Release.

MAC Fashion Sets Lipstick retails for $15.00 and are available at your local MAC counter (try Nordstrom, Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s) or store, as well as online at maccosmetics.com.

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Laura Mercier SAND GLOW, ROSE GOLD Caviar Stick Eye Colour Swatches & Review

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Laura Mercier Caviar Stick Eye Colour has been long bragged about from my Makeup Wars buddies, so I figured I needed to see this magic for myself!  This product is available in 12 shades, so I purchased two of my favorites from the bunch to swatch, test and share with you!  Please enjoy the Summery shades of Sand Glow and Rose Gold!

IMG_4743What Sephora says about Laura Mercier Caviar Stick Eye Colour:

What it is:
An eye pencil that offers a new technique to enhance the smoky eye look.

What it does:
Inspired by Laura Mercier’s cult classic Caviar Eye Liner, Caviar Stick Eye Colour is offered in a range of beautiful shades and in a creamy formula to provide endless options for a flawless smoky eye. Each convenient stick is long-wearing, transfer-proof, and crease-resistant. The color glides onto lids and blends easily with a rich pigment-payoff.

What else you need to know:
This product was dermatologist-tested.

IMG_4716 IMG_4733 IMG_4741IMG_4763Sand Glow is described as a soft bronze shimmer.  I was thinking more antiqued bronze.

Rose Gold is described as a rosy gold shimmer.  It’s that perfect flash of a brand new rose gold bracelet from Cartier.  *sigh* =)

The Laura Mercier Caviar Sticks are wonderfully pigmented and rich.  I loved how creamy these felt while they glided on, giving ample time to work with (blend and smudge) before setting.  I tested these all day on their own as well as with a powder shadow on top and they didn’t budge… no migrating, no creasing.

I posted an eye look previously to my Instagram.  Rose Gold is smudged all the way up to the brow and I dabbed Sand Glow at the outer v and into the crease and blended with my finger.

Laura Mercier Caviar Stick Eye Colour retails for $24.00 and is available at Sephora, Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus.

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Orly SPARKLING GARBAGE Nail Polish Swatches & Review

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I’m going to be honest, if garbage sparkled like this I would not be putting it out on the curb once a week for someone to haul it away.  Sparkling Garbage is from the 2013 Orly Summer Mash Up Collection and is the stand out of the other shades, which are more creamy or chrome.

IMG_5815IMG_5811Sparkling Garbage is teal with obscene amounts of holographic glitter throughout.  It boarders on sheer (with the above swatch being three coats) but it’s so bling you can’t tell as much in person.  This would be so flipping gorgeous to layer.

What are some of your fave combos using Orly Sparkling Garbage??

For more information on this collection, please see the Official Press Release.

The Mash Up Collection will be available starting May 2013 for $8.50 each. ORLY Nail Lacquers and Treatment products are available at orlybeauty.com, Sally Beauty, Ulta and other purveyors of beauty throughout the U.S. and in over 100 countries worldwide.

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IT Cosmetics Matte Sweet Apple Vitality Cheek Stain Swatches & Review

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IT Cosmetics Vitality Cheek Stain comes to us available in four shades – Magical in Mauve, Radiant in Rose, Pretty in Peony and today’s post of Matte Sweet Apple.

IMG_5502What the IT Cosmetics website says about Vitality Cheek Stain:

Vitality Cheek Flush is a cheek stain infused into a powder! Developed with plastic surgeons, this hydrating, brightening, and antiaging blush gives the perfect naturally pretty flush of color to the cheeks and lasts. This truly innovative formula contains It Cosmetics’ Hydra-Luxe technology, including ingredients such as plum oil, cherry oil, hyaluronic acid, pomegranate, seaweed extract, grape seed, aloe, and jojoba that all work together to treat, hydrate, condition, and nourish your skin. Plus, Vitality Cheek Flush is packed with antioxidants, including vitamins A, C, and E, acai, green tea, and white tea. Talc, paraben, sulfate, mineral oil, petrolatum, synthetic fragrance, and phthalate free. Hypo-allergenic and non-comedogenic. Made in the USA.

IMG_5504 IMG_5506 IMG_5508 IMG_5510 IMG_5671Matte Sweet Apple is a juicy pinked apple red.  Almost like brand new sunburn, but without the skin cancer.  This shade is ridiculously pigmented.  Think of the most pigmented blush you’ve ever heard of and this one beats it by about 1,000.  You don’t need much powder on your brush to achieve a flush of color.  The formula is soft, easy to use and blendable.

IT Cosmetics Vitality Cheek Stain retails for $24.00 and is available on the website as well as at QVC and in Canada at theshoppingchannel.com.

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Dior COPACABANA, CARIOCA, GAIA Jelly Lip Pen Swatches & Review – Summer 2013 Bird of Paradise

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New product time!  For the Summer 2013 Bird of Paradise Collection, Dior brings out three Jelly Lip Pens!  I wouldn’t exactly call them “pens” more like a crayon with a lot of slip.  Regardless of the name, I’m in love.

IMG_5120What Sephora says about the Dior Jelly Lip Pen:

What it is:
A saturated lip color that delivers hydration, shine, and rich pigment.

What it does:
A true beauty multitasker, the exclusive jelly-like formula is available in three richly saturated hues offering an all-in-one treatment to deliver the hydration of a balm, the high-shine of a gloss, and the pigment of a lipstick. This jumbo pencil sharpens with a simple twist and is ideal for easy, smooth, touch-and-go application.

What else you need to know:
Christian Dior has always been influenced by Latin America and its luxuriant and shimmering tropical nature, which can be seen in his dresses from 1948 onward. Drawing from this passion, the 2013 Summer Look is an invitation to an exotic journey.

IMG_5104 IMG_5111 IMG_5118 IMG_5676There are three Jelly Lip Pens within this collection:

Copacabana 516 – shimmering nude beige

IMG_5680Carioca 636 – shimmering pink apricot

IMG_5685Gaïa 656 – shimmering watermelon pink

IMG_5696I really thought there would be one I didn’t like, but each shade is so silky and luxurious….perfect for summer shine and moisture.  They aren’t hugely pigmented but are sweetly tinted to add a nice, demure pop of color to a bold statement look on the eye.

It’s devastating that these are limited edition, so hopefully Dior will at least bring out a couple with each collection so I can keep stocked!

Dior Jelly Lip Pens retail for $26.00 each.  The Summer 2013 Bird of Paradise Collection will be available for a limited time at Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Sephora, Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Saks Fifth Ave and dior.com.

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