Vera Wang Embrace Review - Rose Buds & Vanilla - Marigold & Gardenia | Shimmer VoxBox

I received these samples free of charge from Vera Wang and Influenster, in return for my 100% honest review and opinion.
*This post also contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through my link I receive affiliate commission at no additional charge to you.

I was so excited to see these fragrances in the box! I absolutely love Vera Wang and her wedding dress and engagement ring designs, so I just knew these perfumes had to be spectacular! And sure enough, they are!! My favorite is Rose Buds and Vanilla, hands down! But keep reading for my full review on both scents!

Sour Punch Real Rainbow Straws Review | Shimmer Vox Box

I received this product free of charge from Sour Punch and Influenster, in return for my 100% honest review and opinion.

I couldn't believe it when I saw these Sour Punch straws in my vox box! I never expected there would be food in the box. Honestly, it was pretty exciting!! They're called 'real rainbow' straws because they're supposed to be a healthier version (without high fructose corn syrup) of their regular rainbow straws. I'll be including photos of the nutrition facts and ingredient list so you can decide that one for yourself! Click continue reading for the full post.

imPRESS Manicure Press-On Nails Review | Shimmer VoxBox

I received this product free of charge from imPRESS Manicure and Influenster, in return for my 100% honest review and opinion.

My first review from the Shimmer VoxBox, imPRESS Manicure press-on nails! I've never tried artificial nails so this was really cool to be able to try. I was apprehensive about the color at first, but it actually looked really good! Continue reading to see what I loved, what I hated, and how they are applied!

Shimmer VoxBox

I received these products free of charge from the companies listed in this post, and from Influenster, in return for my 100% honest reviews and opinions.

I just received my second VoxBox, the Shimmer VoxBox! I'm super excited about all the goodies in this box and can't wait to review them! I'll be doing full, individual reviews but just wanted to highlight everything first and give my first impressions of these products right out of the box. Read on to see what exactly came in this VoxBox!

Simple Chia Seed Pudding

This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through my link I receive affiliate commission at no additional charge to you.

Chia seeds are packed with nutrients, and there are endless ways you can use these powerful little seeds. I mostly use them in smoothies, but I recently tried making chia pudding! It's super easy and delicious, and is a bit better for you than regular pudding.

I originally found the recipe on Eating Bird Food's blog, but I made a minor change to it which was adding more chia seeds. I just wanted a thicker pudding. If you don't then feel free to follow their recipe instead! They also list some other sweetener options. Being the honey lover that I am, naturally, I chose honey for my sweetener!

You can use just about any type of 'milk' to make chia pudding. Almond milk, soy, coconut, basically anything you'd like to use. Personally, I used regular cow milk. I would have preferred to use coconut milk, but I ran out and just used what I had on hand.

Ingredients

8 to 10 tablespoons of chia seeds

2 cups milk of your choice

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon honey

Fruit of your choice

Directions

You'll be leaving the chia pudding in the fridge for a while so choose a container accordingly. I used the glass bowl from my pictures. Keep in mind that the chia seeds soak up liquid and may expand slightly.

Mix together all the ingredients. Take care if you're using very thick honey (like me), it might get a little hard but just from being cold, but it should mix up if you keep working with it. If you're using thinner honey, it may not be an issue for you!

Let the chia pudding sit for a few minutes, and then stir it some more to make sure the chia seeds are all mixed into the milk.

Cover your dish and place it in the fridge overnight, or, if you're impatient like me, just keep it in for a few hours!

Now when you're ready to eat it, wash and if necessary cut up your fruit. I chose kiwi, strawberries, and blueberries. The kiwis were probably my favorite choice, but they were all delicious!

This has got to be one of my favorite recipes! I'm a pudding fanatic in general so it's no wonder I love it so much! I highly recommend you try this recipe too. 💖 If you do, feel free to share it with me on social media! I would love to see what you come up with. 😄

Maybelline The City Mini Palette: Downtown Sunrise First Impressions | VoxBox

I received my palette free of charge from Maybelline and Influenster, for my 100% honest review in return.

This post also contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through my link I receive affiliate commission at no additional charge to you.

I finally received my first VoxBox after realizing they have been emailing me offers for months dating as far back as last year! Oops! Now let's get into the box and onto my review of this beautiful palette.

The Box

I loved the styling of the box they sent. I really had no idea what a VoxBox might look like. Actually, I didn't even know that I made it onto the list to receive these boxes! I took my survey and totally forgot about it until it showed up in my mail box. Needless to say, I was pretty excited to see it!!

In The Box

In my VoxBox was one of the new City Mini palettes by Maybelline. I received 'Downtown Sunrise'. I'm pretty happy to get this particular color. It has a lot of shades similar to ones I already use so it will be nice to have a bigger variety of stuff that looks good on me! As you can see from the previous photos there was a little card and the palette wrapped in bubble wrap. Beneath that was a sheet of purple tissue paper. Really nice packaging and secure so that the eyeshadow won't shatter!

Picture time!

Click the photos to open the photo viewer which will enlarge them, or scroll on past to see my swatches.

Swatches

I decided to swatch the shadows in the same pattern they appear in the palette. I don't know why, it just seemed fun at the time. Overall I'm pretty happy with the pigments!

And as you can see in the picture below, you can't even see the lightest shade on my skin! That's why I included the above photo because that was the only angle I could capture the color on my skin. It's very very light.

My Look

Eyes

I normally do my eye makeup a bit differently but for reviewing purposes I followed the 'directions' on the back of the palette. I may post another look in the future once I experiment a little more!

I used the base color (The very light color in the top left) all over my eye from lid to brow as suggested on the packaging. Then I used one of the lid colors on my lid (Top right, pink), then one of the crease colors in my crease (Bottom left, red. Though it looks a bit orangey in person and on my eye. Lovely color.).

And lastly I used the dark brown in the bottom right in the outer corner of my eyes.

For mascara I used a mix of Covergirl's Super Sizer and LashBlast Fusion, both in the color 'black brown'.

Face

Covergirl CGSmoothers SPF 21 Tinted Moisturizer in fair to light.

My Thoughts

Overall this is a beautiful, affordable palette. The colors are warm and go well together. It's probably one of the best drugstore eyeshadows I've used in terms of pigment and application.

Marble Easter Egg Nails

I wanted to do a design using my new nail stamper. Unfortunately, the polish I chose didn't seem to be working well for stamping. So I decided to do kind of 'smooshy' nails. They remind me a lot of marble Easter eggs!

Polish used:

Avon - Sunshine

SinfulColors -  Rose Dust

Appeal4 - Angels Summer Snowflake

I started with the base coats. I used all 3 colors as base coats since I was originally going to do a different design. For this design, I think my favorite was using the Appeal4 as the base coat.

Then, one color at a time, I put a little dot of nail polish on my scraper. I dipped my stamper in it a few times until the polish on the stamper became a little jagged looking. Then I pressed it onto my nail a couple times until all the polish was off the stamper. After I did that, I put 1 small dot in the middle of my nail and pressed onto my nail over and over until I was satisfied with the results.

Hope you all have a lovely Easter tomorrow!