- - Luxe Box | Winter 2013 Review - -

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a lovely Christmas! I celebrate Christmas on January 7th, so it's still coming up. Although the holidays are coming to a close, there's still so much to do before New Years eve and there's just not enough time in the day to do everything. On top of that, one of my jobs has been kind of stressful. In any case, I'm surviving and I'm happy that I'm slowly but surely getting through the reviews that I would like to share.

Today I wanted to show you what I received in my Winter 2013 Luxe Box. As mentioned a few times before, Luxe Box is one of my favourite beauty subscription boxes (right up there with Saffron Rouge). This is my second season receiving this box and it surely did not disappoint. For a full review, please click "Read more"...

- - Ipsy | "Celebration" | December 2013 Glam Bag Review - -

Hi everyone!

It has taken me a little bit longer than I thought to get all of my reviews out, but I appreciate you bearing with me. A few days ago I mentioned that I got off of ipsy's waitlist. What happened was that in November I received an email from ipsy that stated that if I shared a post on Facebook I would be receiving the December 2013 bag. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity. Topbox - which I am still on the waitlist for - sent a similar email, but it said that if I could get off the waitlist if I signed up for an annual subscription. I'm wondering - do you get to skip the Topbox waitlist if you sign up for an annual subscription right away? For me, I'm not sure whether I want to make that kind of commitment.

Anyways, I digress. For a full review of the December Glam Bag please click...

- - Julep | Naughty and Nice Mystery Box - -

Hi everyone!

Have you seen the new mystery box from Julep?

For $24.99 you're able to get $125 worth of mystery products. In addition to this, one lucky lady will be receiving an iPad mini in her box! By the way, if you've still got the 40% coupon from the December Maven box, you're able to use that discount on this box! If you've already used the code or if you aren't a Julep Maven, try using the code POPUP30 to receive 30% off your purchase.

Update (December 18, 2013): I'm sorry everyone, this box is now sold out :(

Click to ...

- - Frightful Weather & Sneak Peeks of Subscription Boxes - -

Happy Sunday!

Yesterday, Toronto, Mississauga, Etobicoke, and several other areas in the same vicinity experienced the first major snowfall for this winter. There wasn't enough snow this morning to cancel my 9am mid-tem exam, of course. Nonetheless! There were quite a few accidents in the areas mentioned above & it was just an overall slow day for cars and buses today. I like days like this because my favourite moment if when big snowflakes fall down slowly. On the other hand, I dislike snowfalls because they cause the road conditions to become dangerous. I hope all of you that were in snow-filled areas got home safely yesterday. On my way home after work I called the bus hotline and they said that wait times for buses could be as long as 60 min! Can you imagine traffic being slowed down that much?? Luckly, I didn't end up waiting that long, but I'm sure there were some people for whom the commute ended up being held up that long.

Speaking of snow, I recently received an avalanche of boxes that I'm subscribed to! They all surprised me within the same few days, so I haven't really had a chance to review them yet - I've got sneak peeks in this post of what's to come though!

Click...

- - 12 Days of Julep - -

Last Day of Deals:

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Hello again :)

I'm not sure if anyone has been following this, but for the past 7 days Julep has been having a unique promotion/deal every day. I've been a bit busy in the last week, so I haven't really had a chance to sit down and talk about this, but I'll start today and I'll be updating this post every day for 5 remaining days.

Click "read more" to see the previous deals Julep has had...

- - Julep | Angela - -

Happy Tuesday, everyone!

This will probably be the shortest post I've done so far. I wanted to take a moment to show you what is easily my favourite nail polish from Julep - Angela. The colour is described by Julep as a "deep sea blue molten." It would be really awesome to pair some underwater-themed decals with this polish because it really does remind me of the depths of a sea or an ocean. I had no problems with the formula. Unlike some Julep polishes that have a thick formula, Angela was quite nice to work with.

I didn't wear a top coat with any of these pictures*, but I did put it on afterwards. Although the colour you see in the photos is quite luxurious and majestic, after about 2 days the colour became sort of dull.

 *All of the pictures were taken indoors with artificial lighting.

- - Julep | December 2013 Maven Box Review - -

Happy Thursday, everyone! How are you all doing?

With my first exam finished and my next one not starting until next week, I think this is a good time to talk about Julep's Maven December Box! It arrived on my doorstep yesterday afternoon. 

Just a reminder - Julep's Maven program is a monthly subscription that costs $20 and features primarily nail polishes along with a feature beauty product. If you'd like to know more, you can check out this post.

Click "read more" to read further about the December box...

- - Maybelline's Mystic Green & Julep's Beatrix - -

Hi everyone!

I'm taking a break from studying for tomorrow's midterm to quickly show you a manicure I've been sporting since the beginning of the week. On Sunday I saw one of my co-workers with what I think was O.P.I.'s Just Spotted The Lizard nail polish. It was honestly love at first sight. I haven't been able to find it in stores, but I have heard that apparently it's a replica of Chanel's Peridot. In any case, trying to hold on to the image of my co-worker's nails in my memory, I ended up going to Rexall on Monday to search for the colour. There were a couple of similar polishes that I found...

To read more, click click click...

- - Julep | Charming, Daring and Timeless - -

Happy Saturday, everyone! We did it - we made it to the weekend! For those of you (like me) who don't really get a weekend, I hope you're able to find some time today or tomorrow to have a nice cup of tea/coffee and just relax.

Today I wanted to show you quick swatches of three of Julep's lip glosses: Charming, Daring, and Timeless. I'm fairly new to swatching lip glosses, so please be kind :)

Two swipes were used for the swatches above.

For a full review, please click "Read more"...

- - Black Friday Deals - -

Hello again!

I hope everyone who was celebrating Thanksgiving yesterday had a lovely day. Here in Canada we had Thanksgiving in October, but we still have an opportunity to shop some amazing Black Friday deals. It's interesting - I can't remember Black Friday being such a big deal last year. Just to show you what a big deal it is in Canada this year - - I'm not sure about other malls, but at least the one that I work at has opened up at 7am today (regular opening is at 10am). You can definitely tell that people are serious about making the most of the Black Friday deals. I wonder if it's been a "Boxing Day" busy kind of day though...

Click "read more" to read up on a few deals that caught my eye...

- - Julep | Glitterati Collection (Maven December 2013) - -

  
Hi everyone!

It's been a busy few days for me, but I finally got a chance to sit down peacefully with my cup of tea and write. This time around I wanted to share with you Julep's December collection: Glitterati. The window for the selection of the December Maven boxes has unfortunately already passed (Nov. 21st - 24th), but next month I'll make sure to share the upcoming collection while there is still time to get it.

Click to read further...

- - Julep | Diamond Mystery Box Review - -

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a lovely Thursday!

I've finally gotten through all of my essays for the fall term and now there are only mid-term exams left. It's been a pretty busy week for me, but I'm pretty happy to finally take a break and talk to you about Julep's Diamond Mystery Box. It seems like a lot of people were pretty excited for the unboxing. I typically try not to ruin surprises, but I know I was checking through google to see if anyone had posted anything about it. There are several blogs and videos that have been showcasing the unboxing by now. In any case, this is my addition :)

Click "Read more" and let's get started!

- - Beauty Box 5 | November 2013 Review - -

 
 Happy Monday everyone!

A few weeks ago I decided to give Beauty Box 5 a try. What appealed to me about Beauty Box 5 was that: 

A) There was no waitlist (unlike Topbox & Ipsy -- I got off the waitlist of Ipsy last week!),  and 
B) It's fairly cheap.

Basic Info
Frequency: monthly
Subscription Plans: Pay monthly = $12; 3-months = $10/month; Annual = $8.25/month
Products: 4-5 beauty products

I signed up for Beauty Box 5 before I was familiar with other subscription boxes such as Saffron Rouge & Luxe Box. However, I received Beauty Box 5 AFTER both of those boxes. As always, it's really exciting to receive a package with a few misterious goodies, but I honestly can't say that I was blown away by the products.

Click "Read more" for a full in-depth review...

- - Saffron Rouge Inner Circle | November 2013 Review - -

Hi everyone! I hope you are all having a lovely & relaxing weekend.
 
A few days ago I received my very first Saffron Rouge Inner Circle box.

("Saffron Rouge" - that name just rolls off the tongue beautifully!)

Ever since I became interested in subscription boxes I've been reading up about various ones to see if they ship to Canada or not. After reading several reviews of Saffron Rouge's Inner Circle, I finally decided to take a plunge and sign up. Honestly, I'm pretty happy that I decided to do so. Saffron Rouge is an online eco-friendly & organic retailer that - from what I can tell - has only recently started up a monthly subscription box.

 

I haven't found any other reviews about the November box yet, so I'm not sure if anyone else has experienced this...but I was totally blown away by the products for this month! Next to Luxe Box, this may just be my favourite subscription.

Read further for a more in-depth review...

- - Julep | Diamond Mystery Box - -

Hi everyone!

I'm staying up pretty late tonight because of an essay that I need to finish before I go to sleep, but I wanted to take a moment to say hello and to briefly tell you guys about Julep's Diamond Mystery Box.

For $24.99 you can purchase the mystery box that contains $120 worth of products inside. The contents of this box are, of course, a mystery. I've been doing some research and apparently this mystery box actually has a really good value -- I believe the last mystery box that had $120 worth of items cost around $39.99.

Keep in mind: it may seem like you're getting an amazing deal -- which, don't get me wrong, you definitely will no matter what the contents of the box are -- but keep in mind that $120 reflects the retail price that Julep assigns to its products.

One, or rather, two things for sure -- the diamond glitter top coats, Geo & Antonia, will be included in this box. So basically that's $28 ($14 x 2) worth of products right there. When I first saw these polishes I didn't really know how much use I could get out of them since I haven't really used glitter nail polish in a really long time. But now that the two swatches (above) have come out, I actually don't think I mind them all that much. I've been loving the diamond-print that Julep has decorate their holiday sets with, so I'm actually a bit excited to see that diamond glitter in person.

In any case, I always love a mystery so I ordered this box and am now impatiently waiting for it. :) This box is available for a limited time, so if you're thinking of getting it definitely do so soon. If you're not really sure about this box then you can always try picking up a mystery add-on with your purchase. I believe the add-on is available for $9.99 just before checkout.

Alrighty, back to my essay! Hopefully I get it done tonight before I become completely exhausted.

Thank you for reading & I hope you all have a lovely day~ 


P.S: one lucky lady will "find a pair of sparkly diamond earrings in her box." (Julep) 

- - Julep | Alexandra & Cynthia - -

Hi everyone!

Ever since my Julep subscription I seem to have developed a habit of doing my nails at night. This, on the one hand, is great because I've finally attained a steady flow of creativity. On the other hand, doing your nails at night is pretty bad because, depending on how much nail polish you layer on, you may wake up the next morning with a completely ruined manicure.

In any case, this time I decided to experiment a bit further with Alexandra & Cynthia - two of the nail polishes from Julep's "Right At Home" collection (November 2013). After trying my best to sleep all night with both my hands off of my bed, I'm happy to announce that my manicure has survived long enough for me to tell the tale!

- - Julep | A Closer Look At Cynthia - -

'Classic With a Twist' nail colour - Cynthia.

Hi everyone! Happy Friday!

My fascination with the Julep nail colour, Cynthia, continues :) In my review of Julep's November Boho Glam collection I didn't really focus very much on Cynthia, but I figured that the nail polish was beautiful enough to have a post devoted solely to it.

The Julep photos don't really do this nail colour much justice... 

- - What's Going On & Where - -

As the holidays approach, lots of stores are gearing up for holiday shoppers.

This is just a quick summary of what's going on right now at Julep, Ann Taylor, and Club Monaco...

- - Julep | November 2013 Maven Box Review - -

Julep referral link

Hi everyone!

I've been a little bit weakened by a cold, but hopefully I'll be able to get through this Julep review with as few mistakes as possible.

The theme of the November box was "Right at Home".

I continue to be impressed with the quick shipping and the standards of this company.

On October 20th, I received a notification from Julep that their November collection was ready to be reviewed. I had until the 24th to either switch boxes, skip the month, or gift the box to a friend. I chose to switch boxes....

- - Club Monaco | November 2013 Collection - -

I just wanted to say a quick hello to everyone :)

These days I'm running back and forth between my two jobs with only a few hours in between for rest. So it's definitely been a hectic last few days. On top of everything, the weather has been kind of rainy and gloomy lately. In any case, I hope you are all healthy and doing well!

I wanted to talk about the November Collection that Club Monaco has recently released...

- - Luxe Box | Fall 2013 Review - -

Hi everyone!

It's been a while since my last post, but I am definitely back and I am excited to review the contents of my second subscription beauty box...

- - Favourite Way to Tie Neck Scarves - -

There are tons of tutorials and websites devoted to the tying of scarves. For me though, on the days when I feel Parisian and want to add a little neck scarf to my outfit, this is how I tie my scarf.

- - Julep | Helen & Claudette Swatches - -

Happy Thursday!

Today I'm going to show you the swatches for the Julep nail polishes, Helen and Claudette, as well as show you my experiment with using nail art tape.

Now I'm not going to say that this experiment was a total failure, but there definitely were some mistakes made along the way...

- - HTW | Mustard-Coloured Pants - -

Hello!

I am definitely feeling a lot better than I was yesterday morning ( /today...it's almost 1am right now). I'm going to resist the urge to give you a whole back story to this post, and just say that I was playing around with Polyvore and I think what I'll try from time to time is to create "How to Wear..." sets.

Today's HTW set is dedicated to mustard-coloured pants.

As a sales associate, I often find customers having difficulties finding pairings for mustard-coloured items (especially pants). Below, I've shared some ideas of a few basic pairings: 

Find a link to the set & the items here.

 
...and now I'm off to bed. Thank you for reading! :)

- - Julep | Starter Box Review - -

I hope everyone is having a lovely Tuesday!

I came down with a case of food poisoning today, so it's been a bit of a rough day for me. Nonetheless, I'm excited to get this post started!

A few weeks ago I received this starter kit from Julep:

- - Julep - -

 

Sometime in the next few posts or so I'll be putting up a review of my first ever starter kit from Julep. 

This month I've become really interested in subsciption beauty boxes. I've had a chance to read up on a range of beauty boxes such as: Topbox, Luxe Box, Julep, Glossybox, Birchbox, and a few others as well. Unfortunately, I'm just not experienced enough them to post anything about them in length. Instead, if you're looking for more information about what these boxes have to offer or just want some basic info about them, great places to consult are: The Scenic Route. and Beauty Box Canada. I don't have any affiliations with these blogs; I just found them to be really useful sources for information.

Excitedly, I went ahead and subscribed to Beauty Box Five, Julep, and Luxe Box. I got onto the waiting list for Topbox, but from what I understand it takes several months to get past the waiting list. In any case, the first beauty box I have received has been from Julep...

- - New Haircut - -

Hello!

I hope you are having/have had a wonderful Monday :)

Yesterday I finally went ahead to my favourite hairdressing salon and got myself a new haircut. It's about time too! I used to have pretty long hair, but then I cut it in December of last year and then I had it trimmed in March. Ever since March then I haven't cut my hair at all. My bangs grew out soo long that I have had to use bobby pins for about two months now. Why would I grow my hair out, you ask?

- - Tips On How to Determine Your Size (Online) - -

Hi everyone!

I am kind of continuing from where I left off in the "Halloween Costumes" post. 

In my last post I was discussing shipping costs of certain sites and then I realised that I started talking about a bigger issue of shopping online -- sizing. So I decided to create a separate post with a few - hopefully helpful - tips for finding your size online. Now, keep in mind that for a lot of people I probably wont be revealing anything profound that will completely alter their online shopping experience. What I merely want to do is to get a few of these things out of my system, so that hopefully at least one person finds this information useful. Let's begin...

- - Halloween Costumes - -

Happy Friday!

With Halloween just around the corner, I figured it was time to finally sit down and figure out what I would be going as this year. There are a few places where I could go in Toronto to get costumes, but I wanted to see what I could find online first. The sites I looked at were: Amazon, Party City, Spirit Halloween, and Wholesale Halloween Costume. It's from this last site that I ended up buying my costume, but I will go through each site in detail...

- - Studded Belt & Neck Scarf - -

To officially begin my blog, I'd like to share the outfit that I wore to work yesterday.

There are days when I like to go back to my favourite black & white basics. To spice up this outfit, I added a studded belt and a navy scarf. The neck scarf is actually a pocket square! In my next post I'll share my favourite way of tying square scarfs. To finish off the outfit I slipped on a pair of black kitten heels from Naturalizer.

As you can see - nothing too crazy! There are a few things I could've changed about this outfit (which is something you are welcome to try with your pieces at home):
1) Neck scarf  = red
2) Different colour belt (preferably red!)
3) Bright red lips :)
4) Perhaps red heels (Love these) and/or a red purse to match (something like this)

I think red is a great colour for black & white pairings, but do feel free to experiment with other pops of colour.

 It might be a bit difficult to see the outfits in my pictures, so I think I'll keep creating outfit sets on polyvore from now on.

Please excuse the quality of my not-an-iPhone-phone!


- - -
Skirt - Manhattan Tex Skirt (Similar style here)
Belt - Sandy Stud Belt 
Pocket Square - Club Monaco {old}
Shirt - Stephanie Striped Top
- - -

 

A quick thought -- I think it would be awesome to match up a studded belt with a studded heel (not necessarily for work, haha).

 

 

Thank you for reading!

- - Hi, it's Lovely to Meet You! - -

Welcome to my blog!

I am going to be filling these pages with posts about fashion. I hope you enjoy and are able to get inspiration/useful information from here. I do have a main blog - Dainty Tea Cups, but I use it for the general things I'm interested in. For a while now I have wanted to create a blog that is focused mainly on fashion.. Here's hoping that it goes well!

(Edit: January 8th, 2014) 
It has now been almost 3 months since my blog came into existance and it has definitely been interesting to see what direction it has taken. Although I initially hoped to focus on fashion in this blog, I have ended up focusing on subscription boxes. I can only barely remember how I came to find out about subscription sampling services, which seems funny because it's only about two and a half months ago that I discovered them. So far I am loving where this blog is going and I am excited to continue with product/box reviews/swatches. I thank you all for taking your time to read my posts and for letting me know your thoughts through the comments.

 Thank you for joining me on this journey! 

 -Anastasia~