I don't think I've mentioned this before, but I'm a member of a site called Influenster, which helps you to unlock brand and product badges, provide reviews on brands and products, and receive boxes for review. As you unlock more badges, you qualify for more complimentary products and boxes. Sometime in June I qualified to receive the Surf's Up VoxBox in exchange for a review on all of the products in the box. I would have mentioned that I received these from Influenster regardless, but policy lists that I have to include that I received these free of charge for testing and review so there ya go. Here's what I got:
1. Jamba Juice Smoothie Kit, $2.99--$3.49
I've heard of this smoothie brand but I've never had one before. You receive a coupon in your box to go redeem at your local grocer but there isn't one in my local area, so unfortunately I couldn't try this out. If you've had a Jamba Juice smoothie before though, did I miss out on anything?
2. Hawaiian Tropic Silk Hydration After Sun in Coconut Papaya, 2oz./$2.99 or 8oz./$8.99
I used this on my shoulders and arms after a couple hours out and about, and it did make my skin feel more moisturized after coming back in. During the summer, exposed skin, my arms, shoulders and feet in particular, tend to take on a leathery appearance the longer that I'm outside because my skin dries out so quickly. The weird thing about the majority of my skin is that even when it's dry, it still feels soft. lol Anywho, within minutes of applying it, my skin looked hydrated, moisturized and felt a little smoother to the touch. Another thing I liked about it is that regardless of the temperature the bottle is in, it's still cooling on the skin. I really like the scent. It has a light, summery/beachy sort of smell to it, if that makes any sense. It's not very heavy but it does perfume the skin for a little while after application. It looks kinda like toothpaste and it's not watery although it does tend to be a little sticky until it fully dries.
3. First Aid Shot Therapy, $2.99
I never knew that NSAIDS existed in liquid form or I probably would have tried them sooner. I have a really tough time swallowing pills so I usually have to take my medicine crushed with some water. Technically, I'm not supposed to take NSAIDS because I have asthma and a few stomach issues that cause me some intestinal distress when I take them, but I also suffer from hellacious migraines so I have to go with the lesser evil and deal with the stomachache so I can get rid of the headache. These little liquid shots boast 500mg of NSAID power combined with 65mg caffeine as a fast acting pain reliever. I tried this during one of those hellacious headaches earlier after reading some reviews about it online, which came in handy with prepping me for the taste. Most of the complaints with this product were taste related, so I wondered, "How bad can it be?" I smelled it and it reminded me of the berry flavored sparkling waters, and when I initially tasted it it reminded me of the same, but the aftertaste is a bitch. I've been burping for a couple of hours and the taste is still there. Unfortunately, so is the headache. But since I have to take 1000mg ibuprofen per headache and sometimes that isn't enough and I have to take another 1000mg dose four hours later, I kind of figured that this wouldn't work for me. I also noticed that about 45 mins after drinking a bit of it, I got a burst of jitters that lasted for about 10 mins. So if you aren't prone to jitteriness or don't have as high a tolerance for ibuprofen as I do, then this will probably work for you. I get where they were going with this product, I do. And I don't hate it, it just didn't work for me because my tolerance is too high. And it tastes awful. LOL
4. Sinful Colors Polish in Firefly, $1.99
This looked kind of bright in the bottle and at first I was a little intimidated to wear it. I don't mind my bright polishes, especially during summer, but just from experience I know that many yellow polishes tend to wash out my skin and make it look a little ashy around the cuticles. This one thankfully looks okay on my skin but I think it looks better with multiple coats. It looks like a mix of mustard and sunshine LOL and the color intensifies as the number of coats increases. Let me know if you'd like me to include photos of how it looks after one and two coats. There is subtle sparkling in this polish, but if you like really glittery polish I'd suggest adding a separate glitter topcoat. The shade had to grow on me and I probably wouldn't wear it on all of my fingers, but I kinda dig it. The first time I painted my nails with this shade, I went up to 3 coats but even with a topcoat it chipped fairly easily. I wasn't crazy about the brush; it tended to hold extra polish and make my nails look kind of clumpy. These last two things are more so brand complaints; I've been buying Sinful Colors polishes for a couple of years now and the majority of these polishes have the same kind of brush and chip pretty quickly. I do think this is a pretty color for summer, but only if you like bright polishes and don't mind reapplying in a couple of days.
5. CoverGirl Bombshell Curvaceous by LashBlast Mascara, $9.49--$11.99
The first time I tried this, I wasn't impressed at all. I like my lashes long, with borderline spider leg vibes, and this didn't do it for me. It didn't even elongate my lashes the way I liked. One thing I did like was that the step 1 base wasn't that white formula that I've had with a lot of the 2 step mascaras; sometimes that white base made my lashes look powdery even after I'd applied a couple coats of the actual mascara. I didn't have that problem here. I was wearing a pretty sweet cat eye the day I tried it out though lol, but the line was rather thick so I figured that the eyeliner detracted a bit from how my lashes looked. I tried it out again on a day that I was wearing just mascara and it did work, but I still felt a little underwhelmed from all the hype I'd heard about it.
In short, I liked my Surf's Up VoxBox. I thought it had a lot of fun things for summer, everything was easily portable, and the retail price for all of these products wasn't expensive at all. Despite my experience with the Bombshell mascara, I've heard a lot of positive reviews so I'm open to trying it again. I appreciate the thought that Influenster put into this box and trying to make sure that the box really screamed 'summer' as all of these products are lightweight, colorful (whether it be with the actual color or the packaging), and easy to use.
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