Ipsy My Glam Bag April 2013 SPOILERS!

Another of my guilty pleasures--ipsy! This fab service delivers a monthly subscription with four to five awesome beauty products, as well as a new makeup bag, all packaged in a super sparkly hot-pink envelope.   I've found their boxes to contain more makeup than other beauty subs (i.e. Beauty Army, Birchbox, Beauty Box 5, etc.), and their customer service to be TOP NOTCH.

While ipsy does release one-at-a-time sneak peeks via their website and FB page before the boxes are shipped, this month the ENTIRE cat may be out of the bag!  

So here's the first pic actually released by ipsy:

The consensus seems to be that the photo shows "Be a Bombshell" blush just in front of THE CUTEST white trimmed in hot pink bag! SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS ONE! Now for the spoiler that appeared earlier via Jessica Harlow's Instagram:

WOWSA! Mica Beauty Shimmer Powder, Sation polish, and Healthy Sexy Hairspray!  If this is a look into the April future of ipsy, I am THRILLED.  Have I mentioned I LOVE YOU IPSY?!

If you aren't already an ipsy girl, SUBSCRIBE NOW!

ipsy My Glam Bag Subscription 

Also, if you're just cruising through, please leave a brief comment so I know you were here!

Added: April 1, 2013
Ah..the mystery deepens!  Ipsy has published another official sneak peek, one item which bears no resemblance to the items in the "leaked" photo!  Has ipsy switched gears or have we been misled!?  Is the one on the right Mica's shimmer?   Here's the most recent hint!

The hint suggests this is a shadow!  Now I'm really intrigued!

For the Love of Books: Why I Covet My Kindle

When I was a child, we had a single bookshelf in the hallway where the entrances to all of the bedrooms met. It was all my parents could afford, but it was stocked with dad's tattered paperbacks, a complete set of Nancy Drew and the odds and ends mom would pick up at garage sales. Once a week, we would also visit the local Book-Mobile, where I was permitted to take out as many books as I could read in a week. I would devour them well before the week was up, and it was always with a heavy heart that I would return them. Sure I got to take out new ones, but parting with those I had read seemed a betrayal--I wanted to covet them; protect the characters within and revisit them on occasion. Instead, however, I would see the ones I had read previously sitting lonely on the shelves. I would go home and look at our single bookshelf which housed my most precious possessions--the books that BELONGED to me. I swore that one day I could own a huge library and cover the walls with the books I read. I would provide a safe place for the settings and characters who had befriended me through the pages.
As time moved on and I grew up, my love affair with books grew more passionate. Perhaps it was the childhood memory of the characters I left on those shelves, but that feeling of some sense of betrayal at returning a book remained. Rationally, I knew it was a ridiculous and a wholly immature view of the world, but I still longed to be surrounded with the comfort with which those books had provided me. My first apartment was furnished on a shoe-string, but the thing I initially sought was a huge bookshelf. I adorned it with dad's tattered paperbacks and the Nancy Drew series from my childhood. From there, I searched garage sales and flea markets for other books I remembered having read as a child and added those. In college, I was loathe to sell back my textbooks, and instead made them a part of the collection. By the time I left college, I had acquired a plethora of books I couldn't possibly afford to move with me. At that same time, I went through a reverse-renaissance of sorts and tried to convince myself that I needed to minimize the clutter in my life. The books went into boxes and off to Goodwill--including dad's paperbacks and the precious set of Nancy Drew mysteries. It wasn't until months later that I realized, with great horror, that I had parted with things that meant more to me than I could have ever realized at the time. My reversal of self had a devastating effect that left me feeling lonely, sad and ultimately somehow deprived.
Eventually, I married (a couple of times in fact) and settled into my career as an English teacher. My longing to be surrounded by books resurfaced, though with it came a wholly limiting environ--no room for much beyond, again, a single bookshelf for myself. At school, I had the pleasure of being able to line my classroom with literature, but at home, with the empty spaces ever filling with "needed" things, the single bookshelf sufficed.
When I was first introduced to the Kindle, I rebelled. I wanted the feel of a book in my hands--I wanted to SMELL the pages. That quickly dissipated, however, shortly after I downloaded my first book. When I finished it, I purchased my second--then a third, fourth, etc. I realized that I was suddenly able to have the comfort of being again surrounded by familiarity while at the same time I now had no limitations as far as space! I looked back at the ten or so books I had read on my Kindle and felt RICH! I had the characters and stories with me. I could glance at the titles and remember being immersed in those worlds. It was liberating. I had the opportunity to create the library of my childhood dreams and finally make good on my promise to those characters I had abandoned on the shelves of that Book Mobile so many years ago.
And so, my Kindle carries on it every book I have read since it was purchased--a library that has been transferred from my K2i to my K3. I buy them one at a time, read them voraciously, then allow them to assume their rightful place on the virtual shelf. I see them every time I open my Kindle, and I will often browse the pages, smiling as I recall the stories those titles hold. They haven't been relegated to collections or archives; they haven't been deleted or held in someone else's library--they are mine and stand at the ready to, at any given moment, again reveal to me the treasures within their covers.

Mani-Mania Sneakpeeq Mystery Box

I've recently developed an addiction to subscription and mystery boxes.  While it's certainly preferable to the other habits I could have readily acquired, it's also one that I can see easily becoming larger than life.  Until that happens, I will enjoy my daily trips to the mail box.

Today's trip yielded GOLD, my friends, as my Mani-Mania Sneakpeeq Mystery Box arrived!  If you're not familiar with Sneakpeeq, dear GOD, what are you waiting for?  Think of the best gaming site on the web, couple that with shopping, and the result would be Sneakpeeq.  They add daily boutiques in which to shop, you are awarded badges for "peeking" at prices (clicking on price tags to reveal the discounted price of items) and rewards abound when you share the love with your BFFs. 

At any rate--on to the reveal!

First up, a $10 Sneakpeeq gift certificate as well as a $10 off of a $30 purchase at Laqa and Co. topped the box.  I can't wait to use both--Laqa are some of my FAVORITE polishes!!

Next up, 75g  of Steamcream moisturizer for hands, face and body in a Kukka tin.  The texture is a creamy butter, and it smells DIVINE!  According to the Steamcream website "Kukka is Finnish for flowers. It's a bright and breezy name for a kooky tin decorated with multi-coloured anemones." 

The second product out of the box is my absolute FAVORITE--Duality Cosmetics .8 oz. Nail Pak in Ellen.  I first saw Duality on Shark Tank and knew it would be a hit--at least at my house!  On top is a 3-free polish (the Ellen is a FAB mint green); while on the bottom is a nail file and 40 pads presoaked with polish remover (I KNOW!  Genius, right?).

 The third product rescued from the depths of the crinkly black packing paper was another hit for me--Laqa and Co.'s Topcoat pen!   Laqa uses artists' work on their boxes, and according to their website, this packaging artwork was created by Martin Sati. "Martin is based in Portugal and is truly awesome at anything visual. The topcoat illustration represents Martin’s vision of Bambi’s mother and her loss of innocence."  Ok, not liking the whole "mom died and I'm all alone" vibe, but I LOVE the polish!

Next up was a Cala Beauty on the Go Manicure Set.  I saw these on Sneakpeeq some weeks ago, but before I could place an order, they were gone in a poof of cyber smoke.  I was THRILLED to see this in my box!  This goes right into my Sneakpeeq Big Buddha purse.

The next to the last product in the box was a polish mini by Forsythe Cosmetics.  I had to Google this one (don't you LOVE the fact that Google is now a VERB??!) to find that this is a Color Club polish.  The name on the bottom is Total Mystery, and it appears, at least in the bottle, to be a brilliant sapphire blue. 

Finally, nestled amongst the great products was this gold organza bag, containing a gold, brown and turquoise beaded bracelet--a beautiful addition to an already over-the-top box!

So there you have it! Total value I calculated below:

Sneakpeeq GC:        10.00
Duality Polish:         15.00
Color Club Polish:     1.95
Steamcream              19.00
Manicure Set              6.00
Laqa Top Coat          15.00
Bracelet                       5.00

Total Value:    71.95
Total Cost:      29.00! (I am one happy beauty addict)

Check back soon for reviews of these products in the near future.  If you'd like to join Sneakpeeq, you'll need a Facebook account, but it's SO worth the effort!  Here's a referral link as well:

Join Sneakpeeq!

Just a Small Town Geek and High Drama Gadget Queen

I am a gadget queen.  If it has buttons, lights up, spins or plugs in; if it's electronic, connects to the web or plays music; if it projects a picture, takes a photo or prints, I need it.  I don't just "want" it, somewhere deep in my psyche, I NEED it.  At some point, I began to share my gadgets with friends.  From there, I began to share reviews.  Suddenly, I found myself here, blogging those reviews.  As I'm also a makeup fanatic and a voracious reader, it seemed like a natural progression to include those as well.  What?  I'm nothing if not eclectic.  :)  

Feel free to chime in--in fact, I encourage you to agree, disagree, or just say hi.  ;)