Five-Faves-Friday Vol 7

Whoa! WHAT. A. WEEK! I completely over-exfoliated my face to the point where it was raw! Horrible! I was in so much pain and NOTHING seemed to help! I spent all weekend miserable.  I finally did some researching online and have been able to get my face looking semi-normal again.  The following items are what have really helped my face this week...I don't think I'd be going out in public if it wasn't for them! 

Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream for Dry, Sensitive Skin

Photo credit - amazon.com 

Since I have the worlds oiliest skin, I was really freaking out when my whole entire face was covered in dry flakey patches! It literally felt like sandpaper. UGH! There wasn't a drop of oil on my face...since all the products I own are for oily skin, I did some research for the best drug-store moisturizer for dry skin...good ol' Makeup Alley led me in the right direction.  This thing is HUGE! It will probably last me 19000 years...it's really thick and I had to dig in there to get product out.  This immediately soothed my skin and has helped me get some moisture back into my face. I've been using it for a week and today was the day I finally didn't need it, I have a few little dry flakes but I was finally able to go back to my oily skin items :) 

Drinking Water

Photo Credit - aimfree.org

 Water is my absolute favorite drink, I drink at least 8-10 glasses a day.  For some reason during this whole "face trauma" I stopped drinking it...bad move, buddy! This made my face even more dehydrated.  As soon as I jumped back on the water drinking wagon, my face started to change back.  It's amazing what water can do for your skin.  Yes, I still had some dry spots but my skin didn't feel so tight as if it was going to split open if I smiled.  It really helped bring moisture into my face. 

Merle Norman's Aqua Balance Foundation

Photo Credit - makeupalley.com

I will start by saying this, I DO NOT LEAVE THE HOUSE WITHOUT SOME FORM OF MAKEUP ON MY FACE! With all of these dry patches, it was sooo hard to put makeup on, everything looked horrible.  I decided to go through my foundation drawer and see if I could find my most moisturizing one of the bunch.  I picked up this little guy and mixed it with my next favorite (Strobe Cream) and I was finally able to put my face on!  This really gave me amazing coverage without being too drying or oily.  I forgot how much I love this stuff!

MAC's Strobe Cream

Photo Credit - maccosmetics.com

I use this for EVERY single one of my clients...I think it is one of my top HG's for my kit.  You can watch my video here of why I personally don't use it on myself...well in this case, I needed it.  This helped deflect the focus off of my flaky skin! It made me look moisturized, dewey & radiant! It was the macaroni to Merle Norman - Aqua Balance's cheese! They went perfect together. This helped hide all my imperfections with the foundation. LOVE!

Birthday Cake Flavored Oreo's

Photo Credit - forked.com 

 "Oreo's again?! But they were in your LAST Five-Faves-Friday!" Yes, yes, I know...the horror! Well since I had a horrid face week, these little guys helped cheer me riiight up! They taste like the Rainbow Chip icing tubs with cookies!! YUM! I may or may not of eaten the whole bag this week...

So my beautiful readers, tell me about your week! 

Until next time, 

Marina - mCubed Makeup

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Influenster Love VoxBox Video Review!

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Dolce Mia Soaps & Lotions Review

I was contacted by Tamara, a super sweet representative of this amazing line to do a review for you guys! I checked out the Dolce Mia website and was totally taken aback by how adorable everything was.  I hadn't ever tried nor heard of anything from this company before.  They are a family run business that has all natural soaps, liquid soaps, body lotion, instant hand cleanser & more! The packaging is so adorable, it is definitely something I would love to keep on my bathroom counter for guests to see.  There's quite a few different scents to choose from.  I just love the whole "vintage" look of everything. So fun!

The following items are items that were sent to me for review purposes (the soaps wrapped in plastic shown do not come in plastic wrapping, they come in the adorable packing shown with the Tropical Citrus bar, I was sent a mix of retail products as well as some of the bar soaps to try out!)  

I was so excited when I opened my box! Everything was wrapped in tissue paper and there was a handwritten card in there! So cute that it happened to say "Hula" on it because hubby & I are about to celebrate our anniversary...we went to Hawaii for our honeymoon so it brought a big smile on my face seeing this card!

Sweet Almond Lotion & Amberly Lavender Travel Sized Lotion

These lotions are in the scent Sweet Almond & Amberly Lavender...aren't they the cutest?!  The Sweet Almond smells exactly like you would think! Mmmm! The Amberly Lavender was a little more complex, the lavender is perfectly blended with warm amber to make such an amazing scent I can't even describe it! I've been using it all weekend long! The lotions are really light and airy, I was worried about them not being moisturizing enough but I was wrong! These didn't leave me feeling greasy but they left my hands perfectly moisturized!

Tropical Citrus Lotion

When I read the words "Tropical Citrus" I thought this was going to be more citrusy, to my surprise, this was more on the tropical side of the scent spectrum! This reminds me of Pina Coladas and laying on the beach! Ahhh! Smells like vacation to me! This has shea butter so I was really excited because that always seems to moisturize really well for me! Just like the 2 lotions before, this went on very light but moisturized perfectly.

Tropical Citrus Bar Soap

I wasn't sure how these bar soaps would work for me, I've used some before and they don't really lather and then they leave me feeling dry!  This was the opposite! The lather was phenomenal and my skin felt so clean!  All 3 scents lingered but when I added the corresponding lotion, I could smell the scent for HOURS afterwards! 

Sweet Almond & Amberly Lavender Bar Soaps

These smell just like the amazing lotions and together I didn't even need to use perfume, I felt so fragrant and yummy! I feel like the Amberly Lavender soap/lotion combo left the most scent for the longest amount of time.  Next was the Tropical Citrus and the one that lingered the least was the Sweet Almond.

I completely recommend this company! The products are superb and the packaging is the cutest ever!  I plan on picking up quite a few more items when my budget will allow it.  I've read some really great reviews for their liquid soap so I am hoping to order that soon.  All of these products can be purchased from http://www.dolcemiastore.com/catalog/?rep=hatn Their prices are pretty affordable and the quality is seriously amazing.  I love when I am so surprised by a company!  

I'd love to hear what you think! Have you tried anything from this brand before? Is there something you plan on purchasing?

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Influenster Love VoxBox First Look

I am sooo excited! I received my very first VoxBox today!  I learned about this program from a few of the girls on YouTube & I know I had to get in on it!  You answer questions, earn badges and then you qualify to get a box of goodies sent to you...FOR FREE! I have been on pins & needles waiting for this since I know a lot of other people received theirs last week! It's finally here!! I'm just going to do a first impressions kind of thing for now!

A peek inside! 

As I'm writing this, I'm actually drinking a cup of tea! It's the Lemon Ginger with one packet of the Truvia that came with my box! Sooo good! I had 1 too many slices of pizza tonight & the grease really made my stomach feel icky, this tea really soothed it! So delicious! 

 I'm a Sweet-N-Low kinda gal & I've been trying to switch FOREVER!  I was really excited to try this out because I've heard great things about it! There wasn't an aftertaste so that was fabulous!

 Chocolate = AWESOME. I absolutely looove me some chocolate! I'm really excited to try this because it's milk chocolate, one of my faves.  

 These look soooo cool! They have tons of silver rhinestones on them! I looked at the back of the box to see how you apply these and it looks really simple. Hopefully they are as easy as it looks!

This seriously came in the nick of time (no pun intended) my razor was on its last leg! I've been reading such amazing things about this razor so I can't wait to try it out.  Been looking for a new razor to start using especially since summer is coming :)

So those are the fabulous items I received in my VoxBox! So cool, right? I will do an full review on the items as I use them!

Did you get a VoxBox? What did you think?  If you didn't get one, are you going to sign up?

Until next time,

Marina - mCubed Makeup

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