I am blessed to be a member of Influenster (click here to join!). As you can see from the past, I have reviewed items from Yves Saint Laurent, Covergirl, C9 By Champion for Target, and the list goes on!
What Influenster does, if you’re not familiar, is determines what areas people are considered experts in by their social circle, and then sends them products for them to try for free in exchange for their honest opinion in online reviews!
Most recently, I was sent the Bloom Vox Box, which has a combination of health and beauty products! It’s always exciting to try new things, but I have become a bit of a snob in these areas! That means I am a tough person to please, because I am on a quest to put as few chemicals in and on my body as possible, but at the same time, I want pro-level performance!
Here’s a video of my unboxing, to get a good preview of what’s in the box!
That being said, let’s start the reviews! I like to focus on positivity, so we’ll start with my favorite products and work our way down the list!
My favorite product was definitely the Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse Dry Oil!
Not the best picture, but let me tell you - this stuff is great! You may be wondering about the title “Dry Oil,’ as it seems counter-intuitive, but it goes on as oil and has the moisturizing and glow-giving benefits of oil, but dries to the touch so you’re not a big shiny, slippery grease ball! AND if you have long hair, it doesn’t get oily from touching your arms! I love that this is multi-use - skin, face, and hair. It also smells amazing and is nearly 98% natural ingredients. This is something I will definitely buy again, and want one for my kit as well as for my personal use!
My second favorite product in the list is the Cutex Nail Polish Remover Wipes!
I thought these worked AMAZINGLY! The only thing I dislike about them is I feel like individually-wrapped packaging can be wasteful. So, I plan to buy these again, but to only use them in emergency situations. I will just put a package here and there where I might need them (my clutch, glovebox, travel toiletry bag, makeup kit), and then use cotton balls and traditional remover at home the majority of the time!
You may be wondering what these emergency-type needs would be for nail polish remover (unless you’ve had a similar situation yourself), but allow me to share this:
Now, I am not so easily fooled by the green packaging and “natural botanical oils” to believe these are anywhere near organic or natural, but again - nail products are a prime example where I basically feel like I am trading performance for environmental/chemical impact. 😏
And, prepare to be impressed: Here they are in action!
Next on the list of favorites would be the “Not Your Mother’s Plump For Joy Thickening Hair Lifter!”
Again, this isn’t a natural product, but it is made in the USA (which I support), and is cruelty-free and gluten-free. I actually plan to recommend it to my mom, ironically enough, because her hair is quite fine and I think this would give her more volume without weighing it down!
Although it may not seem like it given my profession(s), I am very low-maintenance when it comes to my own beauty routines, and I travel a lot. So this is a fantastic product, and here’s why:
This was last weekend, and I was able to combine this product and dry shampoo to make four days of style! Day one was the french braids. Day two was the beachy waves. Day three, I pulled it into a horizontal French twist with lots of volume, and day four - one fat braid! Usually on day four after a wash, my hair gets pretty flat, and a braid would be very thin, especially since little parts get wet in the shower, but this looked fantastic! It’s like extensions (for volume) in a bottle!
The next product on the list is the Secret Outlast Xtend Deodorant.
You can probably predict what I am going to say about this one, at least to a degree! As you likely know, I do the majority of my workouts at home. That affords me the ability to look and smell terrible during workouts without anyone except my cat noticing, and he doesn’t care! So, most of the time, I use natural deodorants. I do have some traditional deodorants left over from before I made the change, and I typically use those if I take a group class or am going to be sweating around people who don’t love me because I feed them! This is perfect for that! I am really picky about scents, and thought this smelled good, so I love it for when I need something high performance, but the rest of the time, I will stick to something less carcinogenic!
Now we start moving into dicey territory, with the Sinful Colors Kylie Jenner Collection Nail Polish.
I was honestly pretty excited when I saw this, as I love glitter and nail polish, and thus glittery nail polish. BUT….
A photo posted by Mandie Mutchie (@mandelicious) on
I think that says it all! I must say, though, that after I clicked that hashtag on instagram, I came across someone else who used it over black nail polish and it looked pretty cool, so I am definitely going to give that a try before I donate it and give up on it!
And finally - the Sunbelt Bakery Granola Bar! Here’s where the real snobbery begins. I almost feel guilty writing this review, but they asked me for my honest opinion, right? Maybe this will help the future of granola bars?
Well, it has no preservatives. That’s a good start. And it did save me in the clutch…
(Yes, same early morning shoot in SF where I showed up with gnarly nails).
It’s the ingredients that bother me. I am a huge proponent of JERF - Just Eat Real Food. And this does have some real food ingredients! But, it also has some terrible ingredients that I usually go out of my way to avoid!
Let’s break it down:
While I am usually happy to see “sugar” in a sweet treat’s ingredient list, that is because it is usually an indicator that it used real sugar instead of corn syrup or other artificial sweeteners. This product has BOTH.
It also has Palm Kernel Oil, which I try to avoid for moral reasons and because I love orangutans.
And, it has soy, which my mom is not even allowed to consume because of her history with breast cancer, and I try to avoid. This is because it is often genetically modified, it can mess with your hormones, and has other negative health implications!
So as for this product, I would rather do an impromptu intermittent fast than eat it again… And it didn’t sit right with me, either! And it is worth noting for humor’s sake that a friend from high school’s child says it tastes like Play Doh! 😂
I would say that overall, I was really pleased with the Bloom Vox Box, and had a great time trying almost all of the products! I guess I have a Marc Jacobs Highlighter on the way, so stay tuned for reviews of that, plus some other goodies that were sent my way! I have more nutrition, fitness, and motivation stuff coming your way as well, and should have some wedding-related news too!
What of these products sounds most intriguing to you?
Will you be trying any?
What’s a great product you recently tried for the first time?
xoxo,
Mandie
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