BBBC - Paper Towns

What happened to summer?  It's August already?!  July's book was Paper Towns by John Green, chosen by Lisa of Uncommon Wife Life.  I read John Green's The Fault in Our Stars last summer and liked it, but it didn't blow me away.

The book begins when Quentin Jacobsen and Margo Roth Spiegelman were nine years old.  They find a dead body of a man up against a tree in a park.  Fast forward to their senior year in high school when Margo re-enters Quentin's life by showing up at his bedroom window and recruiting him to help her on a very detailed revenge plan.  The next day, Margo has vanished, but left a cryptic string of clues for Quentin to find her.

I really enjoyed this book, mostly because of John Green's quirky writing style.  It had a very conversational tone and lots of funny parts that had me literally LOL-ing.   Many of Margo's clues led Quentin to abandoned buildings and neighborhoods, which was really intriguing and fascinating to me.  

I finished this one in about a week, which is saying something.  Usually it takes me much longer!  I had to know what happened to Margo!  You also find out specifically what the term "Paper Towns" means, and it's pretty cool!  I'm also excited to see the movie, which is in theaters now.

Have you read this? What did you think? Check out what the other BBBC members thought too!

Michelyn: Brains, Beauty & Basketball
Ashley: If You Give A Girl A Ring
Heather: Love To Be Busy
Lisa: Uncommon Wife Life
Stephanie: The Wonky Brow

It was my turn to pick, so I chose Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline.  I've heard a lot about this book and it got great reviews.  Feel free to read along!

June Boxycharm Review

So I realized I should probably do one blog post on my sub boxes, but I forgot. #sorrynotsorry.  So here's my Boxycharm review!

Out of all the Boxycharm boxes I've gotten so far, this one is the least exciting.  Yes, the value is there, but I just am not thrilled with the products this month.

Eslor Chlorophyll Lifting Mask ($38) - I haven't gotten a chance to use this yet, but I do remember what chlorophyll is from middle school science class!  It claims to tighten skin, enhance blood circulation, and diminish fine lines.  I definitely want to give this a try.

Bellapierre Cosmetics Kabuki Brush ($29.99) - I've been using this with my powder foundation and it's pretty good.  $30 good?  Probably not.  I was expecting it to be a little softer I guess.  Oh - and I found this on Amazon.com for $15....so that's probably a more realistic price point for it.

ncLA Nail Laquer in Volume IV ($16) - This is my favorite product out of the box.  The color is perfect for my skin tone and it held up at least 4 days before chipping.  The only minor issue I had was the brush being slightly frayed, which caused small streaks.  But since the color is so nice, I'll overlook that.

The Beauty Crop Lighting Crew Highlighting Cream ($18) - I admit, I haven't tried this yet...mainly because cream highlighters scare me.  I'll give this a fair shot, but if it doesn't work out, I'll be passing it along.

Doucce Click Click Lipstick in #813 Pink Spring ($24) - Fabulous packaging...probably the best I've seen from a lipstick!  The color was just ok on me though.  It's a light pink, but slightly too frosted.  I will try to make it work though.

Total Value: $126

While I wasn't completely excited about everything in here, it's still an amazing value for $21/month!  I don't see myself cancelling anytime soon.

My only recent complaint is that their website is being updated, and the review & referral sections have been down for a few months!  I don't understand why they can't just get their crap together!  It hasn't affected actually getting the boxes, but I want to be able to earn points by doing reviews and referring people!

BBBC June - The Year We Left Home

So I feel like I just wrote my review for May's book!  Summer really is flying by!  For June, Heather, from Love To Be Busy, chose The Year We Left Home by Jean Thompson.  It is the story of a family in a small Iowa town that spans 30 years in their lives.  

To be totally honest, I just didn't "get" this book.  It was very underwhelming and hard to follow.  There were a lot of characters, but it was very hard to keep track of who was who.  There was no real climax or plot; just lots of specific everyday life events tangled up into a book.  I was just waiting for something to happen, but it never did.  

Go check out what the other BBBC Members thought about the book:
Michelyn: Brains, Beauty & Basketball
Ashley: If You Give A Girl A Ring
Heather: Love To Be Busy
Lisa: Uncommon Wife Life

Stephanie: The Wonky Brow

July's book was chosen by Lisa, from Uncommon Wife Life.  She chose Paper Towns by John Green.  I've read The Fault in Our Stars and enjoyed that, so I am excited to read this one.  It's also being made into a movie, so that's always fun!  

I get to pick August's book, so stay tuned for my choice!

June Empties!

So July 4th is this weekend.  I feel like summer flies by once we round the corner of 4th of July and that makes me sad.  Anyway - here are my empties from June!  I am proud to say I used up 20 things, and only 2 of them were samples!

Items I will miss most:

• Glam Glow Supermud Clearing Treatment - I say I will miss this the most because I just can't buy it again since it's so damn expensive!  So unless I get it as a gift, bye felicia!

Items I can't live without & have already repurchased (or had a back-up)

• Saline Solution - I use this to rinse my contacts after storing them overnight in Clear Care solution.  I can't use multi-purpose solution because it irritates my eyes.
• Clear Care - BFFs 4 ever!
• Elf Shine Eraser - Love these!!  I bought a bunch of these a while back and still have a couple left in my stash.
• Oral B Flossers - can't live without these!  I find it so much easier than using regular floss.

Items I will eventually repurchase:

• Soap Opera Company Bath Bombs - love, love, love!  The scents are amazing and my skin feels so soft after using them!
• Maybelline Dream Lumi Touch Highlighting Concealer - Once I run out of my other under-eye concealers, I will be getting this again.  It's awesome!
• Ole Henriksen African Red Tea Roaming Cleanser - I wasn't expecting to love this as much as I did!  I read "foaming" and thought "drying".  But I was wrong!  I loved using this in the morning.  That reminds me - I think I have another deluxe sample of this stuff somewhere that I should probably look for!

Samples that made me want the full-size:

• Tarte Brazailliance Self Tanning Face Towelettes - these were also in this very same category last month.  LOVE!
• Simple Cleansing Wipes - I got a sample pack of these in my Walmart Beauty Box and though I swore I'd never use cleansing wipes again, I may have to get some of these!

Disappointing products:

• Tree Hut Sugar Scrub in Almond & Honey - wayyyyy too sweet smelling for me!  It still worked great though.  I just prefer the Coconut & Lime scent.
• Philosophy Take a Deep Breath SPF 30 - I tried the non-SPF version of this a while back and really liked it.  But this wasn't the same and made my face super shiny!

Items you couldn't pay me to repurchase:

• Noxzema Razors - no, just no.  Nowhere near a close enough shave for me and it clogged up easily.

TOTALS:

• Full Size - 18     $225.36
• Samples - 2       $   3.36
• TOTAL VALUE  $228.72