Macy's Beauty Box March 2020

Well, I can only sigh. I was almost back to normal then this hurricane began. Hurricanes are odd. Sometimes it will be an outright monster level storm and I'll be just fine. No migraines. Other times it's a tropical storm--states away--and I'm down all weekend. I need to go grocery shopping and take care of myself but I'm not going out to Publix unless it's the morning as people don't seem to wear masks in the afternoons. What's up with that? 

The protests are still ongoing. They're very peaceful where I live and I'm all for them. I'd be out there but since I have people staying with me who are elderly (with compromised immune systems) plus my own busted immune system, I figured it would be better for donate money and write more letters to my congress critters (who are overall useless but still). If you're looking to donate money locally or nationally I'll place some links below. Also how to contact your local critters. Hopefully yours will be more useful than mine. To be honest, I sometimes check to see if mine are still alive. I know they're brain dead but honestly, I'm not sure one of them is going to make it through the year with the vapors he seems to have. He's still not sure if Covid-19 is a hoax. So...

This is important and hopefully a transition into a better world. That always involves change and dragging the rest with you. 

DIRECT LINKS: 

Black Lives Matter
Black Lives Matter Donate


How To Find Le Critters (good ones and bad):

Congressional Directory for National 
Links for all state officials

The unrealised segue here is absolutely awkward. Let's do it. I received this box in March but life has been a bit crazy with Covid and people moving in with me so I just loaded older pictures from my camera this week. The good news is that I can see the floor of my office. 

The bad news is I smell totally of menthol as I've rubbed it all over myself. I can't tell if Icy Hot works with migraines or if it's a sensory overload. I'm going to pretend it's chic. 

Macy's always has a page that links the products. I received a perfume and cologne. Two lip products, a face product and makeup wipes. Also included was cloth pads and eyelash curler as the extra item. Also a booklet with a code for $10 off a beauty purchase (I got more of the Monsieur Big mascara because I like it). I've actually used all the products so I can give a small review (although I'm not a professional makeup artist like Pat McGrath. 

First up, the mini lip gloss from Urban Decay. I have quite a few Urban Decay products, including the OG Naked palettes that were game changers when first released. I have a few of the newer vice lip products although I keep buying the shade Big Bang in every line. I have a problem. The lip product included in the bag is the Urban Decay Vice Lip Chemistry in shade 21. It's a red color that has a lot of shine. I've used it sparingly as more of a light tint as well as thicker for the full color. Supposedly the formula reacts to the PH in your lips to create a more custom color. I can't say a thing about that as I don't have enough knowledge. It looked nice on me. Shade wise I'm like 0.5 in their foundation and have a neutral undertone. How it looks on other skin tones I don't know. I thought I should clarify as I learned I prefer blue toned reds over orange toned reds. I think they look better with my undertone. 

According the Macy's website, the shade 21 is a cool red. I think it has a blue-purple undertone. The website says it lasts around five hours. I took mine through breakfast, lunch and it finally came off for me pre-Covid facial. That was more six hours. This is also a vegan formula and costs $22 for a full size. 

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​Macys lists a second lip color option from Urban Decay called Wired Vice Lip Chemistry. I don't have any shades from this range so I can't comment. I wasn't sent this. 

The second lip shade sent was from Beauty by Popsugar. I've received something from them in their own box but I didn't keep it at the time. I've kept this one (as I've used it on my lips). The item is called, Be Racy Liquid Velvet Lip. It's a matte lip color. I received shade Berry Nice, which is a red wine/Merlot color on me. I'm not sure I like it but I've gotten a few compliments so I suppose it looks nice. It's just not a shade I'd reach for but it looks good when I wear blue.

The shade I was sent isn't actually available on the website at the moment but they have all the others. It's an opaque color and costs $24. 

​The other nine colors (ten in total) are available. The little cardboard box that the Popsugar lippie was sent in was recyclable plus showed all the other shades. Quite nice to see. The product it cruelty free not sure who they're accredited with. I used to be able to tell all the bunnies apart.  Ethical Elephant has more of a breakdown of their status, including which products from them are vegan. ​

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Next up, Lancôme's Monsieur Big Mascara. This mascara always makes me giggle. It's such a mix of English and French (Frenglish?). Also hilarious is how many of the online influences pronounce it (if you're saying Mon-sure....oh no). This is a mini sample of course but I had finished one of the bigger tubes already so I used my $10 coupon on this one. Since the price is normally $25 it was a lovely deal. There are two colors, black and brown, and we received black 01. 

This is a nice mascara but this version isn't waterproof (I think they have one that is). I usually layer coats of mascara and I don't find this to be prone to clumping. 

Tarte's Amazonian Clay Waterproof Bronzer in the shade Park Avenue Princess is something I've known about for awhile. I don't really have that many bronzers as I don't tend to wear it. I do have two from Kevyn Aucoin and one from Too Faced. This is my first from Tarte. I didn't realize how light the color was (in the sense that it's buildable). In that sense it actually does well for people (like me) who aren't as comfortable with bronzer. There are two shades, with the one sent being the lighter version. The darker version is called Hotel Heiress. There is some shimmer in this but I found it to be minimal. 



The parfumes sent were from Dolce and Gabbana and Calvin Klein.

Let's talk about Calvin first, this is a genderless scent (aka, for everyone) which fits it's name CK Everyone. The notes listed in the brochure are organic orange, neroli and patchouli. I'm not fabulous with scents but I've always gone more with stronger floral notes. Luckily the Macy's page tends to be more informative about these things. The scent is similar to CK One but this scent is vegan and made from naturally derived alcohol. Calvin Klein considers this a "clean fragrance." The glass bottle is also recyclable (on the full size). I found the scent strong (others only found it medium strong) but to be fair, I'm very iffy with scents. The top notes are supposed to be organic orange and ginger, the middle notes are blue tea accord (what is this?) and watery notes with the bottom notes being cedarwood, patchouli, and amber. Patchouli is a really strong scent to me and I didn't really notice it--I think all this shows is how undeveloped my nose is to scents. For me, I'm still not sure about it. I think it changes as it adjusts so I like it more once settled but it's not something I'm excited about. The full size is about $80. 

Ah, Dolce and Gabbana. They had a racist issue in China (I'm not sure the peeps in China have forgiven them to be honest). The brand was created by two men (i.e. Dolce and Gabbana, who had split awhile ago). I only mention this because it's a brand I tend to ignore for two reasons. 1.) all this and more and 2.) I can't afford them anyways. Gabbana seems to be the fucking worst. They're still quite popular and worn by a lot of people--including the Kardashians (also the fucking worst). I'll be honest, I don't have any love for the Chinese Government (they're as bad as Gabbana here) so I'll just hate them both equally. That being said, there's no reason to be racist to the entire Chinese population. I also don't understand his animosity for a Japanese designer--there tends to be an avant garde and always on top of the next fashion movement from Japan. I'd be thrilled to get a designer with any visionary status for my brand (especially if I was an old racist, sexist dillhole). 

I got this perfume anyways so whatever, let's talk about it. I can love it to death and it will still be dead to me. It's called Dolce Garden and comes in a glass bottle with a rose on top. The full size costs $122. It has a floral smell, light to medium scent strength and does last for quite a while. While flowery, I wouldn't say it smells like spring garden flowers but instead a stronger summer flower. Does that make sense? I saw some reviews say Plumeria or Leis (like Hawaiian Leis). I didn't find it particularly musky. Would I buy it if the brand wasn't the worst? Yup. It's a nice summer scent. It's stronger than my Chloe Roses ($125) and more in line with the scent level of Britney Spears' Curious (which I freaking love). I wear Curious in summer and Roses in Spring. I tend to wear Chanel (No. 5, $100-215) or Guerlain (Champs-Élysées, $145) in fall and winter. I'm not sure either is really my scent but I do like them even if they're a bit of a splurge. My mom wore both and I inherited her bottles so I've kept up with them. I prefer the Guerlain over the Chanel if I have to pick. 

​I prefer Icy-Hot over Gabbana. So, suck it Stefano. 

The last item was from TonyMoly. It's their Peach Punch Cleansing Tissue. Macy's doesn't seem to carry the wipes individually but they do come as part of a set, the 3 Piece Peach Cleansing Travel Set. These wipes are bad for the environment but I do tend to use them when I'm having a horrible migraine and just need to take my makeup off. Luckily, that's not as much as it used to be. These have a light peach scent. This is a mini set, with only 8 tissues and a resealable sticker on the front. Macy's has the full size of 30 tissues listed for $7 on the brochure but again, I didn't see them on the website. 

​The extra item is an eyelash curler with a mint blue coating on the handles and three re-usable makeup eraser pads. I tend to use oils on my face so I don't reach for these that much but I have a best friend that swears by them. She has  a bunch and she uses them with cleanser, to put toner on, eye make up remover on, etc. and then chucks them in the wash. I sent the whole package to her (unopened, I'm not an animal).