Rocksbox Subscription Service Review

One day while on the treadmill at the beginning of December I was working off my previous night's  cookie binge and watching Tati's video for the day. Tati, AKA GlamLifeGuru, is a major Youtuber/Beauty Guru that I have been a fan of for many years now. While watching her do a PR unboxing (showing all the free goodies she gets as a major Youtuber) she opened a box from a company that contained jewelry. In it there was a code from the company named Rocksbox and it had a code for a free 3-month trial subscription. 

I instantly paused the video and somehow while still maintaining my speed on the treadmill I looked up the company and signed up for the free 3-month trial subscription. I may not be skilled at everything, but I am the Michael Phelps of multi-tasking.

Rocksbox is a monthly subscription service that costs $21 and you get to try out 3 jewelry pieces that are sent to your door. When you first sign up you fill out a style quiz and get assigned to a stylist that will pick each piece based on your quiz results. Once done with the quiz you can then go through their MASSIVE data base of all the pieces that are available for the service on their site and you "like" whichever ones catch your eye. When you "like" an item it lets your stylist know to pick pieces like that or you might get that exact piece in your month's set.

Once you receive the items they come in their own individual pouches in a beautifully presented box. Inside the box there is a pre-paid return label and the white bubble envelope the box came in you save and reuse to send the pieces back at the end of the month.

If you wish to own an item from the box then you just package up the other two or one, send them back, and once they're received Rocksbox will charge your card for the piece or pieces that you kept and the $21 you paid for the month gets applied to your purchase. If you decide to own the whole set you get a nice discount.

There are numerous designers to chose from, and the nice thing is is that you can exchange your sets as many times as you'd like each month. There is no limit to how many times you change a set each month.

Pros

My experience with the service has been amazing because it has pushed me to try new jewelry and style my outfits in different ways. It's sparked some new creativity in my wardrobe that has been much appreciated. 

It makes it really easy to buy jewelry. Once you send the items back that you don't want to purchase, you don't even have to think about it. They do everything on their end and then next comes another set for you to play with.

Receiving any subscription each month, whether it's makeup, clothing, or jewelry, is an exciting thing to look forward to and feels a bit like a surprise gift to yourself.

Cons

There is a sale section on the website of items that have slight signs of wear from previous users. If you don't want to use your $21 towards anything from your month's set, you CAN'T use it towards the sale section. Any purchase from their sale section has to be a separate purchase.

Overall

If you like to play with new jewelry trends or if you feel like your wardrobe could use some fun accessorizing, try this service out! It will push you out of your comfort zone and you won't regret it!

Juice Beauty Blemish Stick

Some of us are lucky enough to go through puberty with a small outbreak of acne, maybe a few dots here and there throughout high school, and then it's done. Off to adulthood with clear, smooth skin the majority march.

Lucky people.

I am not one of those people. While I had an outbreak every now and again in high school, my worst outbreaks have been by far in my later years in life. Adult acne is that stubborn racoon that won't leave my garbage cans alone. In an effort to curb the strange and continuous mountains forming on my face, I've been testing a variety of blemish sticks/treatments to see what actually works and what's just brand hype. What I've found is that while there are many different ways to administer  treatment, I absolutely love the convenience of blemish sticks. They're fast, you can take them with you anywhere easily, and you can spot treat very quickly and efficiently. The problem? Not all blemish sticks are created equal.

My beloved Burt's Bees blemish stick is readily available at almost every drugstore and grocery store with a beauty section and is found somewhere in the range of $7-$9. However, a few months ago while browsing around Whole Foods I encountered a stand with a few Juice Beauty blemish sticks half off. Instead of $15 they were $7.50. In my usual spirit of "Why not" I decided to pick one up.

Juice Beauty Blemish Stick Review

Juice Beauty "Blemish Be Gone": $15.00

Let me just start off by saying I love Juice Beauty. I've tried several of their skincare products in trial-size and they all worked beautifully for my skin type. Their makeup on the other hand hasn't always worked for me but I love what this brand does, which is why I was so excited to try this.

First thing I noticed? The roller ball was hit or miss. It either didn't distribute product no matter how many times I rolled it around, or on other days it wouldn't stop dispersing streams of product down my face from one momentary roll. Unpredictable is an understatement.

Second, and most importantly - the formula. My skin is combination, but it definitely gets drier in the winter. I started using this at the end of September and stopped using it at the beginning of December. Within those two months the redness in my faced tripled. My breakouts seemed far more sensitive to the touch and the redness became constant. I assumed it was due to moving and the related stresses, but when the minute I stopped using it and went back to Burt's Bees, the redness decreased more than 50% within the first day.

The ingredients sound wonderful and promising:
Organic Juices of Vitis Vinifera (Organic White Grape Juice) - Grapes contain tons of anti-oxidants which are supposed to help clear up skin and help it glow.

Pyrus Malus (Organic Apple Juice) - Apple juice's alkaline nature helps with inflammation
Aloe Barbadensis (Organic Aloe Juice) - Full of vitamins and anti-oxidants which are supposed to help with acne, psoriasis and redness.

 Salix Alba & Salix Nigra (Willow Bark Extract) - Contains salicylic acid which is used as a natural exfoliant and a common acne treatment because it helps shed dead skin cells and cleanse pores.

Citrus Medica Limonum (Organic Lemon Juice)​ - Naturally bacterial which is great for cleansing pores and treating acne



And the list goes on. With ingredients like these I had a lot of high hopes for this blemish stick, but if anyone has sensitive skin, you might want to set your sights elsewhere for blemish treatment.

A Very New Resolutions Year

Now that Santa has come and gone, we've returned the gifts that didn't fit, and we partied our way into the new year with friends and loved ones, we find ourselves at a famililar and exciting time of year.

 

The Beginning

We can brace ourselves for the "New Year, New Me" mantras slathered all over social media, and people's sudden temporary gusto for doing things better than they were a week prior. It's hard to ignore the sudden onslaught of "Eat This/Do This/Say This/Wear this to be better in 2018" articles popping up like persistent weeds everywhere you click. It's tempting to give in, to say that this Monday, this morning, this January 1st that everything is going to be different. It's a new day, you're a little different than you were yesterday. We're all a little different (and more than likely hungover) than we were yesterday.

But change, true change, takes acknowledgement and time. It is not something done overnight. It's not something that we blink and I Dream of Jeanie into existence. True change is altering habits by every day making that conscious decision to do it a little differently. To put down the phone more often. To dish yourself a smaller portion size. To stop letting someone walk all over you. To get up earlier. To work out more frequently. To meditate more.

All these things, these beautiful, healthy habits are formed with action, not procrastination and not because of the time of year. If we allow ourselves to fall down the rabbit hole of New Years resolutions we'll keep falling and end up at a table with Alice and the Rabbit as many of us do every year.

The best resolutions that are seen through and kept are the resolutions born from the need to act from one's own personal experiences. If it's New Year's Day, then it's today, if it's 2 months from now then it's then. Though it may seem daunting to see everyone head off to the gym today for the beginning of their annual 3-month membership, remember to love yourself, take a deep breath and stay focused on you - your gym, yoga or spin class will get back to the way it was within a few months.

xoxo