Beauty Box 5 April box

Well my Beauty Box 5 came today and it's the first time I've been disappointed with a box. I won't be re ordering this box once my 3 month subscription is up. I wasn't horribly impressed with my first box and this one is just all that full.

The only sample worth mentioning is the Smith's Rose Bud Salve, it's in a cute tin but it's going into my "gift" box of goodies. It's not something I'll use. Value on this is 8.00.

All the other samples are one use type samples, really not that exciting.

SO for the first time ever I give a beauty box a big thumbs down.

Bead Swap

I did a bead swap through the Bead Soup group on facebook with Lisa Lodge of Pine Ridge Treasures. I got my beads the other day from her and WOW I got spoilt!

I sent Lisa the following, there was also a toggle in there I forgot to include in the photo. I tried for happy spring colors and mostly beads I'd made.

She sent me this! Can you say WOW! First off I love turquoise, it's one of my favorite stones and she sent me tons to choose from. I am thinking I'm going to use the turquoise and make a necklace for myself with one of my copper skulls. I'm thinking a multiple strand piece with turquoise and maybe some copper accents. I love the silver chain she sent too I may do something for myself with that and the silver skull I did. I wanted to thank Lisa for being such a great swap partner!

Don't compare

April Glymm Box

My April Glymm box came!

This months box was interesting a 100.00 gift certificate for Nume products (which are pricey) which is cool if you want to use their product. I may order something for my step daughter for Xmas with this.

A Lucia travel size soap, nice smell but a really small sample so not that exciting. Value I'd say 1.00 as it's a small hotel sized sample.

Atelier Cologne sample and this stuff smells amazing! Lovely citrus scent it's right up my alley. My favorite perfume sample to date! It retails for 60.00 per 30 ml and I'd say this is about a ml so value of 2.00.

Free Your Mane shampoo and conditioner sample, I'm looking forward to trying this I have long curly hair that tangles. This is specifically for detangling, I do wish they'd sent a decent sized sample though I'll get one wash out of these if that. They retail for 16.00 for 300 ml these samples are 7 ml each so value of 1.00 for the two of them.

Mai Couture Lip gloss in a really pretty pink shade called "French" I have a lot of lip glosses on the go right now so this will go into my "gift" box. It's full sized so a value of 28.00.

My total for this month is 32.00 and the box costs me 10.00 so a decent value. I will say I wish the gift certificate was for the Atelier Cologne the stuff smells amazing!

Julep April Mystery Box

I got my Julep April Mystery box today. I'll admit I was really hoping for one of the gift certificates, I have a wish list! But I'm happy with what I got!

I got the following polish colors Melissa (a repeat so I'll trade it). Heather a nice rich shimmery brown. Alicia a opaque peach. I also got a fast dry top coat and the Cuticle Essential Oil, I'm really excited about this it's in a roller style bottle and my hands take such a beating with work I am hoping this helps! It smells great a bit of a citrus scent.

I paid 19.99 for all this and the product value is as follows

Cuticle Oil 18.00

Top Coat 14.00

Alicia 14.00

Melissa 14.00

Heather 14.00

That's a 74.00 value for 19.99! I really do love their polishes and they often have really cool tutorials for nails I want to try this one, its cherry blossoms!

http://blog.julep.com/nail-of-the-day-cherry-blossom-tutorial

If you want to try their service here http://julep.com/?r=19725670 and use COLOR4ONE and you'll get your first box for only a penny!

No drama

My Photo Set Up

I get asked a lot about my photo set up. So here it is. As you can see I use a photo tent 90% of the time. For the most part I like it but sometimes if a piece is too big or the lighting is off I use a white piece of rip stop nylon hung over a frame work of some sort instead of the photo tent. The photo tent frame work can cause shadows and is obviously limited by size.

You can see I use a gradient background. I have a piece of lightly frosted glass (5.00 at a framing shop) raised up on small glass blocks. This minimizes shadows.

These are the bulbs I am currently using. I have used the circular natural light type bulbs but at the moment these are my favorites. They are a 500 watt and WILL burn through your photo tent if they are too close. These burn hot! I turn mine off when I'm fiddling with my beads, their life is short so I am careful to not overheat them.

My camera of choice is a Nikon D70 with a 60MM macro. You'll notice it's on a tripod a MUST for macro photos. I also use a timer, another must in my opinion. I went through 6 other camera's before settling on this one. A good friend recommended it and I love it. I can take photos any time of the day and I'm not chasing light around, they are always clean, clear and crisp a MUST for selling online.

My photos take me very little time and remember folks your time IS worth something. If it takes you a entire day to do photos while you chase light, tweak levels and play with settings you are decreasing your profits. I usually take my photos, crop and upload. It's that easy.

April Julep Maven Box

My April Julep Maven box came today! I have to say I got a makeup bag from them yesterday that is really cute a great travel size. It was supposed to be in my March bag but got left out, I was impressed they shipped me a replacement one right away.

On to the April box, this month I got a Bombshell box (me a Bombshell??). It came with a Annette polish which is a really nice dove grey opaque. Also a Parker polish a golden tangerine opaque I love! I had to force myself to not sit down and re paint my toes! It's sunny outside, I'll paint them tonight but this color is so yummy!

Included in the box is a Pedi Creme, which if it's anything like their hand scrub it's going to be really nice. I got two toe spreaders and some easter eggs as well. A really nice treat!

I'm loving this months colors, I also ordered a Mystery Box but it's not here yet *pout*

You can get your first month free if you want to try this subscription I highly recommend it, it's my favorite out of all of mine so far.

Go here

http://julep.com/?r=19725670

and use code COLOR4ONE at the checkout and you'll get your first box for a penny!

Infinite possibilities

Micro shell forming

I took a class this weekend at The Ranch in Snohomish with the NC Black Team.

Great class, the bracelet above I think if my favorite piece from the class projects. The beads are not strung in. the metal is hammered all around them to hold them secure.

We had two days with two instructors, and lots of info. My head is foggy and full of info. A few ideas for some flowers with maybe come glass centers.

No more

Richness is not

Earning More

Spending More or

Saving More.

Richness is when

you need "NO MORE"