Target Beauty Box, March 2014

This is a little bit of a late post, but I got the Target Beauty Box!
This isn't a monthly box or anything, but every once in awhile Target puts these out for $5.00. I recommend following the blog My Subscription Addiction because it's her blog that alerted me to this being on sale. The only reason I got it is because it had a couple of products I wanted to try anyway!

On to the box!




It came like this! So cute!



And here are all the products. They're all what I would consider "deluxe" samples, but the smoochies and the mascara are full sizes!



The first product is a full size of the L'oreal Voluminous Butterfly Mascara. I've been using this on and off, and the formula is a little on the wet side, but I enjoy it! It really separates my lashes. I'm not sure it really does that butterfly thing where the lashes are longer on the ends, but as far as mascaras go, it's pretty good! And considering it costs more than this entire box? A definite win!




The second product is the Herbal Essences Naked Dry Shampoo. I was going to be buying this the next time I needed dry shampoo, and now I don't think I will. So far, not impressed! 



The third product is the Toni & Guy Sea Salt Texturising Spray. I've never used a Sea Salt Spray before, and I can't decide how I feel about it. I'll definitely do a review when I figure out how I feel.



And more of this Jergens BB Body! I received a sample of this in my March 2014 Birchbox, but this is actually a bigger sample than what I received. I actually am enjoying this lotion on my legs, but I'm not using it consistently enough to see if it actually does make a difference over time. I need to start doing that.




The last product is this smoochies gloss by Covergirl. It's not actually as glittery coming out as it appears in the package, and I'm surprised also by the fact that it's not an absolutely sticky mess like some of the other Covergirl glosses.



Overall, I'm glad I spent the $5.00 on this! I am repeating everyone when I say I wish Target would make these a regular thing- seriously an amazing deal with some great products!



FTC: I purchased this box with my own money, and I am in no way affiliated with Target. All thought and opinions are my own.

Book Review: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Description from Goodreads
Set over the course of one school year in 1986, ELEANOR AND PARK is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love – and just how hard it pulled you under.


My Review
Oh, my heart. Seriously, this book messed me up in the best way.
First off, I didn't want to put it down. Every second I could find to read this, I was reading it.  Second, I had trouble forming coherent thoughts when they HELD HANDS. Because it was written in a way that made me remember the first time a guy held my hand and it actually felt like something real.

And, also, it made me feel like this:


(As of writing this post, it now has 17 likes. I have quite a few fellow book lovers on my Facebook.)

A big part of the reason why I wanted to review books on my blogs is to share books I love so much. And because vocalizing my love of certain books is so complicated for me- especially a book that touches me so profoundly. I almost want to be protective, because when I start to describe this book, it comes out like this: "OMG. so, it's about this girl Eleanor, and this guy Park, and it's set in the mid-80s, and there's all these references to 80s music, and they hold hands and it's adorable!"
And yeah, that IS what this book is about. But it's also about a girl, who is complicated and messed up. She has a really unhappy family life. And she starts her first day at school on a bus where no one wants her to sit next to them. And Park finally gives in, and she sits next to him. They barely speak, but he eventually notices she's reading his X-Men Comic, and gradually he introduces her to The Smiths and Joy Division, and other comics like Watchmen. They both bond and bicker over their love of these things, and, eventually, they discover more.

The book is written in two perspectives- Eleanor and Park's. And it's almost always a continuation of the previous perspective. So it flows really nicely, and you're never left wondering how the other person feels about whatever situation comes up.

So, I liked this book from the beginning, but pretty much the time I knew I was not going to be able to put this book down once I got home from work was when Eleanor and Park held hands.
From Eleanor: "Then he slid the silk and his fingers into her open palm. And Eleanor disintegrated."
From Park: "Holding Eleanor's hand was like holding a butterfly. Or a heartbeat. Like holding something complete, and completely alive. As soon as he touched her, he wondered how he'd gone this long without doing it."

Just beautiful. And it's just holding hands! But it was sweet, and perfect.
I think Rowell really captured what it's like to hold someone's hand for the first time that becomes completely everything to you, immediately. And who doesn't feel that way about their first loves?

And mostly, that is how it goes through the whole book. Sweet, falling in love things.
Until the gunshots. And then you find out how truly horrifying Eleanor's home life really is. You have an impression before. You know things are bad. But this bad? Just... wow.
I wanted to reach in the book, pull Eleanor out, and just hug her. Because other than Park, she doesn't have many friends. Though she does have two hilarious girls that friend her in PE that I wish had their own book or short story accompaniment because I want to know more about them. And what happened to them after.

Back to the gunshots. Her stepdad is the kind of guy you wish you could stick your foot into a book and kick in the balls. Or, call the cops on. And shake her mom and just say "He's not worth it!" But it made me cry so much, because clearly, she's trying the best for her family and is in this horrible, abusive relationship.
(I hope that's not a spoiler. I think it becomes obvious early on in the book that is happening.)

And things get both better and worse for Park and Eleanor from there. Park wears makeup, Eleanor gets a makeover from Park's mom and dislikes it, they go out on an actual date and do more than just kiss in the car...
Well, that's all I'm going to say.

Eleanor and Park just touched me so completely, and if I COULD meet Rainbow Rowell, I would hug her and thank her for bringing them both into my life. Especially Park. It's been a long time since I've just completely fallen in love with a Young Adult novel male protagonist without wanting to puke in my mouth every time he said something romantic. Because it didn't feel like it was pandering to what young girls think romance and real love is about. It was actually how young women (and even myself, at 29) feel about real love. And romance.
At least it was to me. It was real.


I gave this book 5 stars on Goodreads. It was just wonderful and hit all the right points for me. 
If you'd like to purchase a copy of this book, you can purchase a copy for Kindle here, or a hardcover copy here.


FTC: I borrowed this book from my local library. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
This post contains amazon affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.

A What's In My Makeup Bag update!

So, remember my post from yesterday where I raved about that CoverFX foundation and powder?


Well, I write my posts usually the weekend before they go up. And at that time, I did really love the foundation. But I used it all of last week with no problems. Until I started breaking out. And the foundation started wearing funny.
I didn't do anything different, and I didn't change up a moisturizer at all. But it did start doing weird things, and considering I paid $72.00 for both of these? I really couldn't afford to just let the foundation sit there and me not use it.
(Today was the last straw- I sit at a desk all day for my job, and I went to the bathroom about 10am (which is about 4 1/2 to 5 hours after I put on my makeup, and my foundation was just gone. Melted right off my face. And it was just a little streaky. Not cute.)


So I decided to go to Sephora to exchange the foundation. But since I'm a genius, I didn't keep my receipt, so I had to do an exchange. And I decided to get the Naked 2 Palette, and Too Faced Glitter Glue.



I now own all the Naked palettes!



The casing is pretty much the same as the Naked 3, only a different shade.



And it also came with these primer pods, and a brush.



I never really wanted this before, but I have been looking at a lot of swatches and tutorials lately for it. And since I had to exchange the foundation for something anyway (and walked around for over an hour looking for something), I decided to just go ahead! And I actually really, really love the colors. So in my makeup bag it goes to play!



This is also a product I've been wanting to try!



I really, really hate fallout, so hopefully this helps!



It's a little thicker, and tackier, than regular Too Faced Shadow Insurance, and it does appear that it works! I tried it with Urban Decay's Sidecar from the Naked palette (infamous for it's fallout), and while it didn't help during application, after removing the fallout from under my eyes, there was no more fallout, at all. Usually with that particular shade, I get fallout all day long. But no more!



Not sure how you can see that, but it blends in extremely well!


So that's what's additional in my makeup bag now! Happy Friday!

What's in my makeup bag? (As of April 3rd, 2014)

New month, new makeup!





I got a new foundation and powder! I was hanging out at Sephora looking around, because I wanted to try a liquid foundation. The girl at my Sephora was super nice, and did one of those color matching things, and helped me decide on the CoverFX Natural Finish Oil Free Foundation and the Cover FX Illuminating Setting Powder. I've been using this for about a week, and I really, really like it! It's been so long since I've used a liquid foundation on a regular basis, and I'm surprised how much I am enjoying it. Definitely worth the price I paid.
(I also like that the Color thing matched me with a Dior and a Lancome foundation, and she steered me toward this anyway. I know they don't work off of commission at Sephora, but it's rare that they don't always recommend the most expensive thing.)



I'm also going to be trying to use these babies from Geek Chic more. 


Let me know if you guys like this way of me showing you what I'll be using for the month, or the old way. This way obviously takes me less time, but I'll definitely go back to the other way if you guys like it more.


FTC: All products were gifts or purchased by me with my own money. Everything else was purchased by me with my own money. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This Month In Nails - March 2014

KISS Gradiation EM0311 Step 1





This is from a set of "ombre" colors I got in the Rose Vox Box from Influenster. My nails are obviously shortish again... it's still a struggle! So I went on the light side. I did enjoy just this color by itself- I think if I put just this over a darker polish, it would be really pretty!


MAC in Stage Red





I picked up this polish at a CCO in Gilroy at the outlets. It is such a beautiful red, and I can't wait to put it on my toes this summer. The formula on this polish is really nice! I did use three coats, but I could have gotten away with two.
The swatches on this suck, I realize. I don't know where all those dings came from, or why I didn't notice it until after the pictures were already taken. This is clearly still a work in progress!


MAC Double Trouble with an accent nail of OPI In True Stefani Fashion





I also picked up Double Trouble from the CCO. I love that it's so dark, but it's still obviously a blue nail polish. And it's such a beautiful shade of blue! The formula was a dream, and this is two coats. I did pay full price ($12.50 each) for these mac polishes and I'm not sure I'll be purchasing again, but they were definitely worth every penny!
The OPI is so gorgeous- it sparkled as much as my wedding band! I think it definitely went well with this dark polish, and I'm excited to try it some more. The formula was a little thick, but I've noticed that to be par for the course with these dense glitter polishes. 


Zoya in Channing



I love this color, but this formula was a little touchy to work with. I also got a nasty dent in my index finger nail. I definitely am going to be trying this out as a pedicure color soon, because I think it would look awesome on my toes. 



Urban Outfitters in Bohemian Summer



 

I stopped by the mall the other day to kill some time, and Urban Outfitters had all their nail polishes on sale for $0.99! This is suppose to be a dupe for the Deborah Lippmann nail polish in Rockin Robin. This is the only one I picked up, but I really like it. The formula took three coats to get opaque. I think it's a great spring color, and the light blue is really flattering on my skin tone.


I did much better about painting my nails this month, and my nails are finally starting to get to a length I love. I am still having some problems with my cuticles and it's my goal in April to stop picking and taking better care of my hands in general.



FTC: Please see above for how polishes were received. Unless stated otherwise, they were purchased by me with my own money. 

Book Review: The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower #1) by Stephen King

Description from Goodreads
Beginning with a short story appearing in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in 1978, the publication of Stephen King's epic work of fantasy -- what he considers to be a single long novel and his magnum opus -- has spanned a quarter of a century.

Set in a world of extraordinary circumstances, filled with stunning visual imagery and unforgettable characters, The Dark Tower series is King's most visionary feat of storytelling, a magical mix of science fiction, fantasy, and horror that may well be his crowning achievement.

Book I
In The Gunslinger (originally published in 1982), King introduces his most enigmatic hero, Roland Deschain of Gilead, the Last Gunslinger. He is a haunting, solitary figure at first, on a mysterious quest through a desolate world that eerily mirrors our own. Pursuing the man in black, an evil being who can bring the dead back to life, Roland is a good man who seems to leave nothing but death in his wake.

This new edition of The Gunslinger has been revised and expanded throughout by King, with new story material, in addition to a new introduction and foreword. It also includes four full-color illustrations in the hardcover and trade paperback formats.

My Review
I grew up reading Stephen King. But, somehow, never really got around to reading this particular series. (I also haven't read The Stand yet, either. So... judge away.) I knew it was out there, and I also knew that when I was looking into it, it wasn't finished. But once it was finished, I kind of just forgot about it.
My husband was actually the one that brought it up to me to read it. He decided he wanted to read it, and asked if I would, too. So I decided it might be fun! 
I have remained pretty much spoiler free about it, so it makes it exciting to finally be sitting down to read this. Even knowing he's gone back and changed it a bit- I won't know these changes because I never read the series.


The book overall is about Roland Deschain, aka "The Gunslinger", following "The Man in Black". This book takes place in a complete different world than ours. The story itself is broken down into five different parts: The Gunslinger, The Way Station, The Oracle and the Mountains, The Slow Mutants, and The Gunslinger and The Man in Black. As I'm going through, I'll review each part. This may mean that part of my "opinion" will be contradicted by another opinion, because I'm going to review as I read it. So, this should be interesting

WARNING: This is Stephen King, so it's a mature novel. If you're uneasy with sexual situations or harsh language, I would steer clear now of this review.

The Gunslinger
Roland is following The Man in Black through the desert. He comes across a hut after several days, and meets Brown and his raven, Zoltan. They converse, and Brown feeds Roland and gives him water. Brown seems to doubt Roland will ever catch The Man in Black. You also find out the Roland is from In-World, which may or may not still exist. Brown tells Roland of Tull, and how The Man in Black went through there and cured a man that died of weed sickness. I'm wondering at this point in the story whether or not this is literally meant to mean marijuana, or some other type of drug. After leaving Brown's, he goes to Tull, and has sex with a barkeep named Alice (or Allie). He finds out that The Man in Black didn't just heal the man that died of weed sickness (named Nort)- he brought him back to life. So, my thought here is now that this guy is Death, or some version of Death. And The Man in Black tells Allie not to say the word "Nineteen" to Nort or it would open up the secrets of what Nort saw on the other side. The Gunslinger eventually needs to move on, and when he makes that decision and is on his way out, it appears Allie did say Nineteen to Nort, because the whole town goes crazy.
And did I mention that a preacher says The Man in Black got her pregnant and Roland basically screws her with the barrel of his gun. So, abortion by gun, if she was in fact with the Man in Black's child. It's not entirely clear to me if this is what actually happened, or if the preacher was just hysterical. But the gun-screwing definitely happened.
Basically, this part of the novel took me the longest to read and kind of fucked with my mind the most. I had no idea what was real, or what wasn't, or what the hell was going on. It was definitely a "hang on for the ride" type of reading experience.

The Way Station
Roland is back in the desert. He's dehydrated and starving. He feels like he's going to die. Until he sees a building on the horizon. He moves towards the building until he passes out, gun in hand. He awakes to water on him and a cup waiting for him. This is where Roland meets John Chambers aka Jake aka 'Bama. We don't know much about him until we discover that he's dead. And that the Man in Black was there when it happened. So my thoughts at his point is that he's still death, and Roland is in some weird, purgatory world trying to catch The Man in Black so he can escape. Maybe that's why where he's from is called In-World? In the way station, Roland begins to think of his past, and of two of his friends, Cuthbert and Jamie. It is also specifically pointed out that Roland doesn't think of his past much. So is this is side effect of where he is? Not so sure. In going along with this, Roland speaks to a corpse in a cellar that sounds to him like Alice in High Speak, which is a language that appears to be possibly only known to a few people (including Nort, from "The Gunslinger". And the voice of Allie says to him "While you travel with the boy, the man in black travels with your soul in his pocket." And later, as he and Jake begin their travels, Jake says goodbye to the way station and says it's because he feels like something is watching them.
Then there's a part where you get a peak into Roland's past. It appears that Roland and Cuthbert are training with a man named Cort, and they also see a man get hanged. Honestly, this whole section was written in a way that confused me a bit. But I did get that this definitely helped shape the man that Roland becomes.
Oh, and we learn that Roland kills his mother. But not how, or why.

The Oracle and the Mountains
In this part of the story, Jake is taken over by an Oracle, Roland gets him away from it, and then Roland not only gets taken by the Oracle, but makes sweet, sweet love to it. Actually, it's not sweet love, it's regretful and disgusting sex, but still. Also, Roland realizes he loves Jake, which was very sweet, even though later we learn that he might kill him one day.
From the Oracle, Roland learns the number of his fate is Three. And that another number shall come later.
After the Oracle, Roland and Jake continue up the mountain, and eventually at the peak they reach the Man in Black. Roland shoots at him three times, but misses. (Is this the three the Oracle was referring to?) The Man in Black will not come down to Roland, but insists they'll speak on the other side, alone. So, not with Jake. This makes me wonder if Jake will die before we see the Man in Black again.

The Slow Mutants
Roland tells Jake about a party he snuck into where he saw his mother and father dance. Then they continue on their underground journey through some type of cave and run into (literally) a handcar on a track, and proceed to use that. While resting, Roland tells Jake a story about his mother and a man named Marten. And of his defeat of his instructor, Cort, using the bird David. This part really caught me interests, and I enjoyed it. 
After that story, Jake and Roland are attacked by the slow mutants, which are a troll-like creature that just seem to eat up any bullets that Roland shoots at them, and they get hit and pretty much just absorb the impact. There comes a moment where Roland is holding Jake from falling, and he does save him. However, the two of them run into the Man in Black again, and this time, Roland does not save him.

The Gunslinger and The Man In Black
Roland is dealing with the death of Jake, and the Man in Black is ordering him to build a fire. He is essentially keeping him trapped. They go through this very interesting part where the Man in Black reads Roland's tarot, which I think speaks a lot to what is to come in the future stories. It ends where we discover that they have been there 10 years. 



My overall thoughts of this were that, ultimately, it is just not for me. It took me a LONG time to get through it. I can regularly get through a book of it's size in a week or less, and this one took me almost a full month. And my husband kind of felt like I did about it- it was a good book, but we don't feel a pull to read the rest of the series. If I want to know what happens, I can wiki it. I just don't care enough to invest any more time in a book that ultimately didn't pull me in.



If you'd like to purchase a copy of this book, you can purchase a copy for Kindle here, or a paperback copy here.

FTC: I borrowed this book from my local library. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Books I'm Excited For: April 2014

There are a lot of good books coming out this month!




I received the following books from NetGalley for review: Astonish Me and Until You're Mine.
I previously read and reviewed Astonish Me here.


There are so many awesome books coming out next month! I'd love to see your reviews if you do one on one of these books, so be sure and link me below! And feel free to add me on Goodreads!



FTC: Some of the books mentioned above have been provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own, and I am not in any way affiliated with any of the authors mentioned.