Uppercase announced a while ago that July 2019 would be its last box. I was pretty bummed because I enjoy the books they sent as well as the extra goodies (less junk). It was around the same time the Mishibox went MIA (seriously...no idea when or if they're coming back) so it was a double bummer. I think they're my longest running subscription boxes. 

Being a perfectly sane person, I signed up for the Strand Book Hookup to see how that went and also a smaller indie box. The indie box is from the Bookshelf in Thomasville, Georgia. They have my favourite bookish podcast because the two hosts have soothing voices. I have no idea why other bookish podcasts drive me crazy but I just need something chill on while I work. They mentioned they have a bookbox as well so I signed up for that. These are short (one month and three month) subs to see how I like them. 

I really don't need anymore books (ha!) or skincare and makeup but I also checked out Macy's beauty box. It's mostly samples for skincare and makeup but it seemed okay. I might go back to Mishi if they ever show up again or try out a different k-beauty box but I have a massive backlog of skincare. Like...sending boxes to my friends backlog. I really don't need anymore but I'm a junkie apparently. 

Everything is on trial since I've been forsaken. 

Forsooken? Forsakeneth? 

I uh...wasn't paying any attention when I was editing because I was on the phone and I kinda over-sharpened the picture. The only other picture I had is blurry but uh...yeah. Sorry. 

This book is by Amanda Quick, which is a nom de plume for Jayne Ann Krentz. It's what she writes her historical romances under. Krentz/Quick has written a donkey load of books (like 50+) and this was my first one. I think. She looked familiar on the back cover but she also has the same 'author' hairstyle and and pose as a lot of other authors. 

I've placed two orders at Beautylish so far this year and other than the fact they carry one super trashy brand, it's been an awesome experience. At the capitalistic level, I fully understand why they carry it but at the customer level...it's a miss-match as it's tacky packaging and problematic (and racist) owner. 

Anyways, I bought another Lina Choo lipstick (because they are gorgeous, I have Shakespeare and Duras) and I replaced my Kevin Aucoin book that one of my friends borrowed forever. I have two Kevin Aucoin books and one Lisa Eldridge book (her book is signed by her which is ah-mah-zing). Michele Wang did an unboxing of the lipstick in her video here, if anyone is super interested. 

This has nothing to do with Lavish Bath Box. I'm just excited about my new lipstick. Also, I'm fully aware that these two "unboxings" are not on time. In my defense, I'm not on any payroll for anything listed above and I've been having a lot of migraines. Those are probably inadequate excuses but hey, I'm only a month behind now!

Also, Lavish has an online shop and often past goodies can be bought there (as well as some of the full boxes). I know they also have a brick and mortar store front in Marion, Illinois. I have a monthly subscription and it's about $40ish a month. Which probably seems like a lot but since starting this, I haven't really bought any other bath bombs or bath items so it works out. Occasionally my family and friends do raid my stash so it doesn't get out of hand. 
​

June's theme was "Royals." The box and the individual items are for sale in the online shop, so at the time of posting, you can get any of the items. 

There were two bath bombs. One of the bath bombs (the crown) had six different variations and I think one of the variations was a prize winner type thing (?) I didn't get that one so I didn't pay too much attention. 

Something went wrong (or different) with my Kindle reader...and my carousel went away. It wasn't life shattering or anything, but it's where my magazines and TBR books show up on when downloaded. It accidentally became 'out of sight, out of mind' for me there and when the carousel showed up again...I realised that I had a pile of Economists and Atlantics to read through. So...I'm reading articles in between "editing" pictures. 

I use "editing" loosely as I have no desire to spend hours getting the saturation correct on a picture. It's not that I'm not keen on presenting well overall...but that's all exhausting. Also, reading think pieces on whether or not Scotland might go for independence eventually on a hard Brexit is far more interesting. 

This particular book might seem like an odd thing to write about, as it's a collection of comics by illustrator Sarah Andersen. Andersen's comics are all over the web (at least all over Imgur and Reddit) and I adore them. When I saw one of her books at the bookstore, I picked it up because it's a definite happy read. 

That being said, it is a collection of comics. So not a narrative novel like I've been reading but whatever. All the love to Sarah Andersen. 

So this has been a week right? In terms of news and weather on my front. I've had nonstop migraines for a week and last night the big one finally hit--I had to take a triptan and just give up. So today I'm very slow and trying my best to not type nonsense. I'm going to talk about Irby's book here because it really rocked my world when I read it and I wanted to talk about something positive after reading nothing but awful news about murders and mass shootings.