Influenster Maple VoxBox

So I got this before Christmas but I didn't get around to talking about it until now because the holidays are kind of rough on me.

If you don't know what Influenster is, check it out here. You can earn badges and stuff, and sometimes they sent out things called "VoxBoxes" which have a bunch of cool stuff in them. This was the first one that's been available to Canadians, as far as I know.

FAIR WARNING: This post has TONS of pictures.

(Apologies for the pictures on my bed. Click for larger pictures.)

This is what it looked like when I first got it. I'd show you it closed but that part has my address on it ;)

You get this neat card which also tells you the general prices and a little about the stuff inside.

If you can't read that, it says:

Influenster #MapleVoxBox
Canada has seen a lot of firsts: It's the first nation to celebrate Thanksgiving, train the world's first female jet-pilots, & establish a national park! Joining the ranks of these auspicious Canadian firsts is Influenster Nation's first Canadian VoxBox: The Maple VoxBox. We finally made it. Log in to check in your VoxBox now!

Full disclosure, got these for testing purposes, yada yada, you get the gist.

I'm going to go by the order of the things on the card for the sake of things being a little easier. First up:

Skinny Cow Milk Chocolate Flavour Heavenly Crisp. The card says these retail at $1.29 a bar or $4.29 per 4-pack. I'll put what the card says here:

Skinny Cow Heavenly Crisp bars bring you layers of wafer with delicious chocolate crème flavour covered in a milk chocolatey coating. At 100 calories per 19g bar, say yes to delicious!

First of all, you guys should probably know that I don't diet. I believe diet culture is harmful, and I'm a big advocate for fat acceptance.

So anything that is "diet", or "skinny", or whatnot, really needs to amaze me for me to put my money behind. And this bar really did not. First of all, I got this around the 4th or 5th of December and this expired December 31st. So that makes me raise an eyebrow.

As for the bar itself, it's wafer and chocolate. It's like a diet Kit-Kat bar. It's got 10 grams of sugar, 1 gram of protein. If they had a high amount of protein, I might actually like them more, because I always need protein (I'm not vegan or vegetarian or anything, I just don't eat enough protein). As it is, there's nothing special about them. They also aren't allergy safe, so, while they might be a decent option as a treat for people who are trying to cut down sugar in their kids' diets, a lot of schools wouldn't let you bring them. Especially since they aren't nut safe.

All in all, they're fine. They're tasty and they might be nice if you're trying to cut sugar, but there's not much to them. It's not like a granola bar. You're still hungry afterwards. And the price is really high for something like this. This isn't something I'd purchase.

The second thing is Skinny Cow Milk Chocolate Dreamy Clusters. The card says these are the same price as the bar, but they say "per bar" again when these are a snack pack so don't quote me here. The description here is:

These bite sized crunchy crisps and creamy caramel drenched in milk chocolate are only 120 calories per 28g pouch. With Skinny Cow Dream Clusters, you can say yes to delicious!

Again, not a fan of diet culture so there's the wow thing. And again, these don't really. These are better, and I might have liked them better if they had a different flavour. I'm not a super fan of the "crisp" thing (they're Rice Krispy type things - if you've ever had a Krackel bar, like that), but I love caramel. I would have loved more. They also seemed a little stale to me. I did eat them about 2 weeks after I got them and they had to go through the mail, though.

You get five of these in a pouch and I have seen a few people use these as treats in lunches for their kids, giving them one or two per lunch. And I can see the appeal of that, because they're presumably lighter in sugar than your average candy. The ingredients don't have nuts, but the package didn't say if they were nut safe, so I don't know if they'd be a safe school lunch item.

Again, these were okay. Nothing wrong with them, but nothing special, and the price tag for something so small and not really filling at all throws me off. All in all, Skinny Cow products probably just aren't for me. Your mileage may vary.

Next up!

NYC New York Color Big Bold Curl Mascara which retails at $4.99 (depending on your store, obviously). The card says:

Big Bold Curl Mascara's oversized curved brush is the ultimate way to get outrageously thick and super sexy lashes. One stroke gives your lashes up to 12x more volume and 99% more lift.

Speaking of the brush - it's HUGE. I should take a picture to show you guys.

Seriously HUGE brush. The orange brush is CoverGirl LashBlast Volume and that's a large brush to begin with. The size of the brush honestly does take a little adjusting to. If you're not careful, you can smack your eyebrow or the crease of your eye. The easiest way I found to apply it was actually to tip my head back. The formula can also be a little clumpy so this is a mascara that takes some time and practice.

However. It gives you gigantic eyelashes. You get a lot of mascara in a few swipes and it builds pretty well, and, really, I've never had a mascara that makes my eyelashes so big. There's lots of length, lots of volume, and honestly, I'm just really pleased by this. The curve of the brush takes a little getting used to, but it can work nicely to get all sorts of weird angles. And this shade, Extreme Blush, is a VERY black mascara, which I prefer. The price is also very nice.

Next up, the lipgloss.

NYC New York Color Big Bold Plumping Lip Gloss. And the card says it retails at 4.99

Big Bold Plumping Lip Gloss makes lips look up to 50% fuller with a high gloss shine that lasts up to 4 hours. The ultra-soft, mega applicator gives full and even coverage for beautiful, perfectly plump lips.

This also has an oversized wand.

I don't have a lip gloss tube in my makeup bag and I don't feel like getting up to find one, so this is an eyeshadow primer, but the size is about the size of an average lip gloss wand. You can see how large this lip gloss is.

Oh, and the colour on this is called Big City Blush. It's a very light, slightly frosted pink and... it doesn't look great on me. It might work nice as a way to lighten up darker lip colours, but honestly, on its own? It's too pale and too frosty for me.

The lip gloss itself... is lip gloss. I'm not a huge lip gloss fan. I'd rather use a tinted lip balm or a stain, even. This is a little sticky and I just don't like having sticky things on my face because it gets in my hair and that's just a me thing. The smell is nice, kind of vanilla, sugar cookie, thing. It's a decent lip gloss, but the colour is not good on me and I do not really like lip gloss.

As for the plumping aspect... I didn't notice anything. It didn't sting or make my lips hurt or anything, but I didn't see a difference. I also wonder if the large brush might get messy, but I didn't notice it myself. I can't say anything for the longevity as I didn't wear it long enough for obvious reasons.

The nail things are neat. They're Broadway Nails imPRESS Press-On Manicure and the card says this retails at $8.99-$10.99

imPRESS Press-On Manicure by Broadway Nails is the revolutionary way to apply polish! Get a salon-perfect manicure in seconds - simply peel off, press on, and you're done (NO glue needed!). There's no drying, a killer shine and a manicure that lasts up to a week! Available at Walmart.

I really loved these. I got up them in a black and silver crackle pattern and they looked really need. It took maybe five minutes to apply them. I did it waiting for my mom to get home so we could leave to go out to my aunt's for Christmas. Reading the instructions did end up helping, shocker, but it was seriously easy. Wipe this little wipe thing over your nails, peel the stickers off the fake nail, stick it on. Done!

Here, have a weird picture of my hand!

These lasted six days on me, only starting to lift a little at the end, and then they started driving me wild just a little. The only thing that really annoyed me was that they were thick and it was so hard to scratch itches. Other than that, nada. They were a short length - I actually had a couple nails that were longer - so they were very functional. The pattern was nice and they didn't seem to damage my nails at all. Honestly, I think they were a good way to keep them a little protected, because I didn't break a nail for the entire week and when they came off, they seemed stronger than before.

I've seen a lot of people use these and they come in so many patterns and colours. I just wish more available in my town! I've only ever seen one set and they're not a colour I'd pay 10 or 12 dollars to use. These would be great for vacations and stuff, and they're a cheaper option than going and getting gel nails or whatever. Very much liked these.

The second things are Ice Breakers DUO which the card says retail at $1.99

New Ice Breakers DUO combined sweet fruity taste with refreshing cooling crystals. Ice Breakers DUO is a two sided mint with a fruity flavoured, textured side and a minty, smooth sides that cools and refreshed your breath. Available in strawberry and raspberry.

I... don't like raspberry that much. But these are good. I'd probably like the strawberry better. I'm also not super fond of aspartame, but these aren't bad. They're mints and sweet and the scrubby crystal side is fun.

This picture is kind of blurry and I guess it's the best I got. Sorry!

Something that's neat is the box came with two $1 off coupon for NYC makeup. I don't have anywhere that sells it in my town or I probably would use these.

Last up - Montagne Jeunesse Clay Spas priced at $2.49

Join the Revolution and start a new weekly skincare regimen with the Clay Spas from Montagne Jeunesse. These natural bamboo fabric masks are infuse with clay for a cleansing experience that is better, quicker and easier than ever before.

This is one of those masks where it's like a creepy cloth face with no eyes or mouth or nose... and possibly I get distracted too easily at 11:30 at night. As you can see, I got the Red Earth Clay mask and, honestly? It stunk. I don't like the clay smell, I think, because I had another clay mask that I didn't like the smell of either.

I think this did tighten up my pores. It was fun wearing the goofy cloth mask thing and for three dollars, these are nice to splurge on once in a while as a fun little thing. There are so many varieties of these things and even from my overpriced pharmacy, they're not that expensive. I liked this.

Okay, I think that's everything!

What'd you guys think of this?

Peace and cookies,
Laina