Jacinta from My Beauty Boxes is over today!

Hey ya’ll! I have someone special over today to share some fun stuff with you. So you know those fabulous little beauty boxes that I get and talk about and just rave over? Well, my friend Jacinta is over from mybeautyboxes.com to tell you more about not only the ones I get (Birchbox and Beauty Army), but a ton of others. If you’ve looked into the new craze of beauty sample boxes, you probably have noticed that within the last six months, there have been a ton of companies spring up to get in on the honey pot. So who’s worth it?! Well, thankfully Jacinta subscribes to all of them and breaks them down in a chart that lines them up and can help you better decide…or you just may spend more money, but hey, never too many beauty products! 

Hello lovely Southern Belle as an Army Wife readers! Isn't Erika fabulous?! My name is Jacinta and I am so excited to write a guest post to let you know a little about what I blog about at My Beauty Boxes. Basically, I am addicted to beauty subscription services. I am currently subscribed to 8 monthly services and a few quarterly services as well. What exactly is a beauty subscription service you ask? Well, they are companies that you sign up with to receive a box of beauty samples each month for a nominal fee. Many of them offer perks to win over consumers. You can take a look at past boxes from various companies at My Beauty Boxes. Here is a chart to help you decide on a monthly service that best fits your needs and budget!

You can check out a few of my favorite boxes by clicking on the pictures below.

New Beauty Test Tube

Birchbox May

Sample Society April

Beauty Army Box-May

I’ve already given the spill about the beauty products in my neck of the woods. Or lack there-of.  Making my beauty box subscriptions completely necessary (husband, I'm talking to you). I’ve talked about my Birchbox subscription, which you can find one of my boxes here and even a review on one of my favorite products from one of the boxes here. I also get another box every month that I’ve mentioned in passing. The one I want to introduce you to today is Beauty Army. It is a beauty sample subscription service, like Birchbox, where you pay a monthly fee for some more high-end beauty samples that are new or maybe hard to find. Beauty Army is a few bucks more than Birchbox, sitting at 12 dollars currently, but what I especially like about them is that you get to pick your samples. Once you sign up, you can take a beauty profile survey that best matches your answers with the samples they currently have. However, if you just want a surprise box, like Birchbox, then don’t pick your samples and the Beauty Army team will put together a kit for you. One of the bonuses is that if you decide you don’t like what they have to offer that month, or don’t want a box that month, you can opt out and skip. Pretty easy, peasy, right? J

So, without further ado, here’s what I choose for my May box!

First off, every month your samples come in a sleek, black, sturdy box like this. Inside is a super cute, pink camo print.

This was one of my favorite items in the box this month. This is a FULL SIZE product that sells for 20 dollars. It's called the clickR Skincare Acne Spot Serum. It works wonders! When it says results in 24 hours, it's not joking. I love the size of it too. It's about the size of a sharpie, so it fits in your purse or makeup bag without taking up any room. PLUS it's makeup friendly! Sample Value: $20.00

This is the Weleda Almond Cleansing Lotion. I've not had the opportunity to use this yet, but I've used this brand before and loved it; so I'm looking forward to trying it. This is supposed to be good for sensitive skin and is a "natural" face wash.

Product size: 2.5 fl oz, $19.00; Sample size: 0.34 oz, Value: $2.58

Next is the MAD Skincare Eye Defense Shielding Serum. This is also another product that I have yet to use, but I know the brand, know it's reliable, so I'm excited to try it. This is supposed to be light weight and is supposed to be designed to "protect, hydrate, and nourish critical areas around the eyes", according to the Beauty Army website.
Product size: 0.5 oz, $54.00; Sample size: 0.13 oz, Value: $14.04

The Aquolina Pink Sugar Body Mousse is everything you expect in a mousse. Light, whipped, and silky. It has a light, sweet scent, which I like. 
I only used this on my hands and arms, so I don't feel like I've gotten a great feel for it just yet.
Product Size: 8.45 fl oz, $30.00; Sample size: 0.68 oz, Value: $2.41

 LaRocca Skincare Lip Shield in Rose is also a full size product! At first this is kind of sticky, which I'm not a fan of, but it absorbs nicely into your lips. I love that it has an SPF in it. 
Full size product: $16.00

 This is the Kellet Clarifying Acne Treatment. I've yet to use it, but it's another one where I have used the brand and I love it, so I'm confident that this will work just as well as the rest. This is made to treat existing acne and prevent new breakouts by killing acne-causing bacteria. It's also free of parabens and synthetics, which I LOVE.
Product Size: 1.7 fl oz, $75.00; Sample Size 0.1 oz, Value: $4.41

The total cost I paid for my Beauty Army box was $12.00, which includes shipping. This month's box value was $59.44! Yes! If you are interested in checking them out, you can do so here.

What did YOU get in your Beauty Army box this month? Or do you have any other boxes you subscribe to? I'm really thinking about Beauty Tube! 

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Make-up, Books, Fire, and Jewelry, Oh My!

I mentioned last week that I had a pretty busy week. I accomplished a lot of things that I wanted to get done while fighting through some sickness and really having to focus on my WOTY J Anywho, it was my birthday last week and on top of that, I got a lot of cool stuff in I want to share!  First off, I entered a giveaway over at Babblings and More for a set of their earrings for Valentine’s Day and on my birthday, they emailed me and told me I had won! I was so excited! I never win anything! Wait—I lie. A couple years ago, I did win some tickets to a comedy show and a home & garden show on my birthday. My husband and I got ready to go, dropped the kids off at the sitter, and headed out only to discover that we never picked up the tickets L My kind of luck. Back on subject, I received my earrings a couple days ago and they even sent me the ring that I mentioned  I liked on their  page as well! Are these not the cutest?!

You should check them out because they have some really cute things! They had also sent me a sample of a natural candy that one of them makes that was delicious. You can find out all the details on their blog.

Next up is something that I showed a couple weeks ago that I wanted. A culinary torch, which I’m super excited about. I’ll try not to go completely pyro and burn down the house, but I can’t promise anything! My aunt sent it to me with the stipulation that I make an awesome Crème Brulee when they get to come out. Works for me!

They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Well, I’m not really sure what the way to a woman’s heart is, but if you ask me, I’d tell you it’s through books. Of course, diamonds are always nice, too However, you can’t escape from reality with diamonds.  My amazing husband got me six (one is sitting on my ottoman) new books for my birthday. Yes, he’s pretty perfect. Along with several other little goodies, I think I made out pretty good!

Something I’m super excited about is the fact that my Baker’s Creek Heirloom Seeds catalog came in! I can’t wait to go to the store/farm that’s here and get all my seeds for our garden. Yes, we WILL have a garden this year! No excuses this year!

 Check them out here!

Lastly, my Birchbox came in yesterday. If you’ve never heard of it, it is a monthly subscription that costs 10 dollars for a box of “high-end” beauty samples. They send 4-5 samples each month and normally they are pretty good. Here’s a little walkthrough:

Here is the outside of the box it comes in every month...

Then on the inside is a card introducing you to the samples...

Silver and gold wrapping this month!

So my contents this month are as follows: LaFresh Eco-Beauty Acetone -Free Nail Polish Remover pads, Eye Rock eyeliner strips, BLK DNM perfume, Lifestyle Extra Nailfile, Six free downloads from Green River Ordinance (yes!), and Exude lip creme

I haven't been able to try everything yet to review, but I can already tell you my absolute favorite and what made this month worth it is the Exude lip creme. Amazing! It has a crystal applicator that dispenses how much you want. They have several cute shades. They also have lip glosses as well. The formula doesn't feel heavy on my lips (which is a big deal for my lipsticks) and I love the shimmer in them! Will definitely be purchasing this one!

I also receive another box every month called Beauty Army. The thing I like about that box is that you can pick the samples. The samples from them tend to be of more substantial size too. I'll probably periodically go over my boxes and review, but a friend of mine has a blog not only about these two boxes, but also other boxes as well. You can find her over at My Beauty Boxes. She goes over every box every month, so check her out!! We've also planned for her to come over here to review some of the products occasionally. So if you are into this kind of thing, stay tuned! It's great for us Moms that don't get to get out  to try different beauty products as much thanks to hectic schedules! Or if you are stuck in the middle of no where like I happen to be, it's great for that too! ;)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!