Limited Edition Everyday Glamour Birchbox Review

As the weather is getting colder and the nights are getting longer, its the perfect time of year for a little beauty pick-me-up. Fortunately Birchbox is one step ahead of the game and has curated another amazing Limited Edition box full of glamorous goodies to restore and pamper you on any day of the week. From a hydrating serum, to a luxurious body oil, to a perfect fall mani polish, to a restorative sheet mask there's loads of amazing products packed inside each box. Naturally, I couldn't resist cashing in my Birchbox points to treat myself to this awesome collection, and am finally here to give you guys an in-depth look at each of the products. So let's take the lid off the Limited Edition Everyday Glamour Birchbox and see exactly what's inside!

Holiday 2015 Preview: Gift Sets Galore

Is it just me, or do stores release their holiday goodies earlier and earlier every year? Maybe it seems a little crazy, what with it not even being Halloween yet, but at the same time, we all know that the 3 month stretch leading up to the Holiday season basically flies by. So what does it hurt to start making that wish list early? Or to get a head start on your gift shopping? We're all friends here. You know I won't judge! From skincare, to makeup, to beautiful brushes, the beauty world has really amped things up for the 2015 holiday season, and there are a TON of amazing gift sets to give or to get. To help you narrow down the sea of choices, here are a few of my top picks!

MUA Professional Smokey Eye Shadow Palette Review & Tutorial

Happy Monday, friends! I don't know about you, but my weekend went by insanely fast. I had a ton of blog related work to catch up on, as well as stuff to do around the house, and somehow that combination of activities basically created a time vacuum where you can blink and 6 hours have gone by. Such is the story of my life. Anyway, after all my hard work I've got a ton of awesome posts planned to share with you guys that will hopefully go up over the course of the week.

To kick things off I've got this sexy little number to tell you about. Now, I have to admit that my impression of Makeup Academy as a brand wasn't so great prior to my purchasing this palette. I had only ever tried one product from their entire range (a makeup brush), and it sucked so hard that I just didn't have all that much of a desire to try anything else. Alas, Tati and her magical powers of persuasion got me to give them a second chance after she raved about their eyeshadow palettes. From what I can tell, there are three different varieties to choose from - a Nude Palette, a Metallic Palette, and this little beauty, the Smokey Palette. I knew I didn't really need another palette of nude shades, and the metallic palette, while pretty, had a lot of colors I probably wouldn't wear often. This one, however, found a perfect middle ground (a very Goldilocks-esque situation, I realize).

Treat Yourself to All Natural Luxury With Tokyo Factory

I've been having a bit of a moment lately with all natural beauty products. Crafted with pure, simple, powerful ingredients and no artificial nastiness, green beauty is kind of a no-brainer. Now, I haven't made the transition to being 100% green, but when given the option I definitely find myself leaning towards the natural or organic option. One of my latest all-natural beauty discoveries is Tokyo Factory. This LA-based company handcrafts gorgeous, artisan soaps, skincare, and candles that are not only all-natural, but also vegan and cruelty-free.

I was clued into this amazing brand by Oly Shamrik over at TLV Birdie Blog, which has quickly become my go-to source for green beauty reviews. Oly's aesthetic is blow-your-mind gorgeous, and her posts are informative and lovely to read. If you've got a spare minute I highly recommend heading over to her site and taking a look around, although you may find it easy to totally get sucked in and lose track of time! TLV Birdie also hosts a number of really incredible giveaways, which is also how this post came to be. I wouldn't call myself a particularly lucky person, so when I found out that I was the winner of this amazing bundle of Tokyo Factory goodies I was completely shocked and overjoyed. After having a good month or so to test and play with everything I'm really excited to share my thoughts with you all.

YSL Rouge Pur Couture VoxBox*

Confession.

I've got expensive tastes.

Now, I'm not one to name drop, nor would I ever buy something just for sake of flaunting how much money I spent. I just appreciate quality when I see it, and often (but not always) the nicer something is, the more it will cost you. As my father often says "someone could take the price tags off of everything and you'd still pick out the most expensive thing in the store". It's probably about as close to a super power as I'm ever going to get.

Despite my affinity towards nice things, I'm also your normal working lady on a budget. Splurge purchases are not something to be made every day, and I've got to pick and choose carefully when spending my hard earned cash. While a lot of quality products cost a little bit more, dollar signs are not directly proportional to awesomeness, as I'm sure many of us have learned by spending way too much money on something that was overly hyped.

But that's one of the reasons I love blogging so much. Not only do I get to help other people steer clear of the stuff that disappoints or clue them into hidden gems, but I also have an amazing network of blogger friends and brands that do the same for me in return. One really awesome website that anyone can work with is Influenster. They team up with brands to help them find the right consumers to test out their products. That means you get to try awesome stuff for free in exchange for providing your honest feedback on the web or through social media.

In the past year I've gotten to participate in a number of cool campaigns, but this one might just be my favorite to date. I've been oggling Yves Saint Laurent's lip products from afar for years. They look so incredibly beautiful, but the sticker shock has always been too much for me to get over. Needless to say I just about fell out of my chair when I saw that Influenster was sending me two YSL Rouge Pur Couture Satin Radiance Lipsticks to try. With a retail price of $36 a pop, these babies are definitely in the splurge category for me, and I am SO thrilled to finally be able to try them out and let you know whether or not they're worth the hype (and your dolla dolla bills, y'all).