July Box Painting Options

July solved a problem for me with these boxes and actually challenged me on something at the same time. This is exactly what I wanted, really. I signed up for this, in part, to expose myself to make up options I just never would consider otherwise. In that way, July paid off well for me.  The funny thing about this is that the July box (Beauty Staycation) was designed to highlight various spa items. I liked the ones I got, but I think the lip and lash items I'll be talking about turned out to be what I liked the best.

If you read the blog, then you know I have all kinds of problems with my eyes. They are really bratty when it comes to me putting anything on them. The main thing I tend to avoid is mascara. When I pulled one out of my box, I sighed a little, as I assumed it was a product I just wouldn't be using. One of the nice things about reviewing these on the blog, though, is that it ensures I'll experiment with the product, anyway. At least enough to where I can write about it.

The thing is, IT Cosmetics Superhero™ Elastic Stretch Volumizing Mascara really surprised me. In terms of lash paint, this stuff is great. For one thing, it was developed by plastic surgeons and it's supposed to serve not only to make your lashes look longer but to give them their own kind of skin care. When you use it, it supplies the lashes with biotin and collagen. And while I said yesterday that you really can't heal your hair, you can certainly feed it stuff to make it look more healthy.

Normally mascara smells horrible to me. As soon as I would smell it, it would make my eyes begin to revolt. This stuff smells like nothing and my eyes handle it just fine. In fact, while normal mascara would just make my lashes look goopy and bad, this honestly does make them look longer. It's shocking.

Would I purchase this? Actually, yes, even if it is 24$. Now the thing is, as I type this, I'm thinking about a conversation drag queens Katya and Trixie had on their show one time when Katya said you should never pay more than 10$ for mascara. Trixie disagrees with her and Katya says, "WHO HURT YOU!?!?" It's funny, but the truth is, my eyes, hon. My eyes are what hurt me. If a mascara can keep from doing that, you bet your rubber chicken I would buy it.

I also got the usual lipstick they put in the bag. As you know, I've not been pleased with the lipsticks because I'm so picky about colors. When I pulled out the bareMinerals GEN NUDE™ Matte Liquid Lipcolor in Swag I didn't hold out a lot of hope. For one thing, it was another matte color, my third in three months.

But this time they got it right! The shade, called Swag, is the perfect level of pink for me and I love it so much. I don't even mind the fact that it's a matte because it actually still looks decent when I put it on. Now mind you, this might be because this lip color contains all of the stuff they put in primers so it's far more moisturizing and hydrating than most of the matte products I've tried. It looks velvety and soft, not heavy and overwhelming. It's a tease of lip color and that's just the kind of thing I like.

I honestly would pay the full 18$ for this, especially if I didn't have another primer to work with. If it does both and looks this good as a result, I certainly think it's worth the price.

As I am sure you can tell by now, I'm really enjoying the July box. It came with a lot of nice surprises for me and I've not even gotten into the featured items for the month. I'll be doing that tomorrow, including a review of something I've been wanting to try for quite awhile.