Hey guys! Jen here!

First off, shout out to Influenster for sending these lipsticks to me so I could try them. I was able to try both the Nude Flush and Rebel Red and I really loved the color of both and the texture was very smooth and dried without making my lips feel dried out that some mattes tend to do.

When you first apply it the lipstick are both super creamy and shiny, and you can leave it that way if your wish. But if you “kiss a tissue” or blot your lips, instant matte!

Nude Flush is a very nice pinky nude as opposed to a real nude, nude color. It’s perfect for summer and really works with any look. It dries down very matte after blotting.  It really does have good staying power and doesn’t ball up or flake off like many mattes do. I wore it out and about and it lasted about 6 hours, which is including lunch at Chipotle, a drink from Starbucks, and dinner at In and Out. Very good to see it last.

Rebel Red is a gorgeous blue red while still being a subtle red, a total Taylor Swift red color honestly. The color doesn’t really set matte, even after blotting and letting it dry my lips still had a very shiny finish to them. However, it was a tad bit disappointing when it comes to staying power. The color was so pretty and it looked beautiful and sexy with my purple Smokey eye, but it does not finish matte at all and stays glossy/shiny. It also didn’t last hardly as long as the Nude Flush. I want to say it lasted about 2 maybe 3 hours max. Very disappointing because I loved this color so much!! Maybe if I put a matching liner underneath it might last longer but I’ll have to experiment with it.

   

Pros: Very pigmented and beautiful. The doe footed applicator helps with precise application. Both colors Nude Flush and Rebel Red are very complimenting. The creamy finish of Rebel Red is nice even if it does not finish quite as matte as Nude Flush. Very affordable. Around $8 for each color.

Cons: Rebel Road does not last long and does not provide the “Vivid Matte” look that is promised with these lipsticks. A little annoying that you have to blot first in order for them to dry matte. Most mattes dry matte automatically.

Final Thoughts:

Altogether I was equally impressed with both lipsticks, the Vivid Matte lipsticks do not disappoint in the payout aspect, and the promise of vivid matte is fulfilled by the nude flush, not so much the Rebel Red, but the color is still amazing, for me personally it is the first red lipstick I’ve found that works well with my skin tone. Most reds just do not look right on me, or at least I don’t like how they look. I just really wish that it had lasted longer.

It is important to note that I did not touch up either lipstick during the days I wore them in order to truly test the staying power.

Both lipsticks applied very smoothly and the applicator is a small doe foot which is perfect for precise application. The great thing about them applying so creamy is that if you happen to mess up and smudge your lip line a bit it is very easy to clean up any mistakes with a wet Q-tip or moist makeup wipe.

Again, I was sent the Maybelline Vivid Matte Liquid Lipstick in Nude Flush and Rebel Red for FREE in exchange for my honest review, and that fact has that influenced my review or my opinion what so ever. I pride myself on giving my 100% honest and unbiased review on ALL products I review regardless if it was bought with my own money or not.

So that was my review, if you are interested I will post my referral code for Influenster so you can sign up to receive amazing products like this as well as well as my video review on YouTube channel. I’ll also include the Maybelline website so you can see the entire collection of colors.

Love you guys,

-Jen. 

Influenster Maybelline #VividMatte liquid lipstick Unboxing Video.

Maybelline Vivid Matte Lipsticks

www.influenster.com/r/318871

Influenster #VividMatte Maybelline Vivid Matte Liquid Lip Color Review

 

Hey guys!

Another hair product review for me!

 It is called the Wave of Beauty LCD Hair Straightening Brush.  

This brush was sent to me at a discount in exchange for my honest review. That did not affect my review what so ever because I've been meaning to buy one of these for months regardless of a discount or not.

Once this brush arrived I wanted to open it right away and play with it, but unfortunately it arrived while I was at work, and then with memorial day weekend and our car getting worked on I had to wait all weekend and ended up opening and playing with it on memorial day.

So the instructions were pretty easy to understand, turn it on and use the plus (+) sign button to turn the temperature up, and use the minus (-) sign button to turn it down, Very easy to use. And it heated up quickly, the paper said a minute but I’m pretty sure it was under 30 seconds to get it to 365 Degrees. Also very cool, the LCD screen on the back gives the temperature reading in Celsius and Fahrenheit,  which is great for those other countries that are normal and use Celsius instead of Fahrenheit.  Since only like 5 other countries still use Fahrenheit… but regardless.

First run time I ran this through my hair it really did straighten it very nicely (Just an FYI… My hair was dirty from the day before), and the brush itself doesn’t get that hot, at least not with the temperature set to 360 degrees.  I’m a dumb ass… I totally sat there and slapped my palm against it. Like normally you get that message in your brain that says “Hey dummy… don’t touch that it’s hot!” Yeah no… I didn’t get that, so I touched it… surprisingly not too hot. :D

So after running it through my hair I will say if you grab too much hair and brush it through, it will hurt.  The part with the bristles is a bit raised, so hair can get caught in it. But that isn’t to say it is not a good product, because it straightens the hair amazingly well and even left the ends with a cute up curl which honestly I like more than pin straight hair because it gives your look more of a style and personality.

The best feature to me is the fact that it has an auto off feature.  Now I have a Nume straightener and it doesn’t have an Auto off feature, and since I’m such a forgetful person there has been so many times that I’ve straightened my hair before heading to work and coming home to the smell of burning in my bathroom and finding the damn thing still turned on.  A few other features worth mentioning:

The cord rotates 360 degrees and it is super thick! Very hefty and durable feeling. 

A maximum temperature setting of 450° F (230° C), and the guide book even has suggested temperatures for different types of hair.

TL&DR:

Pros: Heats up quickly and brushes your hair while detangling and straightening. Fits easily in the palm of my hand and since the back and handle does not get too hot it is easy to get a firm grasps on the brush. Easy to follow directions with tips and suggestions. Auto-off feature so the brush doesn’t sit in the bathroom hot and cause possible fires. Cord rotates to make straightening hair easily and effortlessly and no worry about the cord getting tangled up. Long thick cord that feels very durable and sturdy. Displays temperature on a light up LCD screen and shows it in Celsius and Fahrenheit. Bristles on the brush do not feel hot to the touch when set to 350 degrees. (Felt like I was baking with all the different temperature settings.)

Cons:  Hair can get caught in the “ledge” between the bristles and the edge. Caught a few loose hairs from my head. The location of the buttons causes them to easily get pushed when straightening your hair.

Final thoughts:

I didn’t find anything about this brush that would make it difficult to use for anyone, except for the location of the buttons. I noticed I kept hitting them when I was brushing my hair. That was a tad bit annoying. My hairs getting pulled out a few times while brushing was annoying, but expected when brushing your hair. Straightens fast and easily. I did it one side sectioned and the one I just brushed it through, same effect on both sides and even though the booklet said it could burn your scalp when brushing if you hit it that did not happen to me at all.

Hope you guys enjoyed my review, love you guys and see you next time.

-Jen

So if you guys are interested in getting one of these straighteners for yourself you can pick one up here: Wave Beauty Straightening Brush

Wave of Beauty LCD Hair Straightening Brush

Hey guys!

So as I found this item on Amazon and really wanted to get it mainly because I’m horrible at using a curling iron, and I really hoped this could help get some big voluptuous curls. But, mainly because of how gimmicky it seemed. So of course I bought it! I have another gimmicky product I bought, but I haven’t written up that blog just yet, but I do have a video review on it posted on my Youtube channel (Shameless self-plug)

So here it is the John Frieda Salon Shape 1.5  Inch Hot Air Brush.

So right out of the box this thing is seriously huge!!  Kind of dashed my dreams of curls definitely going to get more of a blowout than curls, but I had to try. So the Barrel itself is 1.5 inches and has a good head of bristles on it. 

Turning it on the brush really isn’t that loud! Like I had it on while talking in my video and I feel like you can hear me just fine in it. The brush has three different settings, Low, High, and High cool, but the hair that comes out isn’t so hot that you can’t hold your hand up to it.  Coolest feature, and one that took me a bit to realize, it can turn/spin while you are blow drying it thanks to the cord that is attached to the bottom portion, WHICH can pop off so you can easily clean out the filter at the end! A very cool feature that I wish more products in this category had.

I had just dyed/toned my hair after attempting to dye my hair blonde, yeah… It didn’t come out blonde, either time unfortunately but I am planning on redying it in the next few weeks. Anyways, I decided there was no better time than now to test this out since it had been sitting in my makeup room for a week now just glaring at me like “Why haven’t you opened me?”

After a shower (And touching up my makeup… very badly might I add.) at 12:30am I plugged it and got started. By now my hair was towel dry, so not dripping wet but still damp, so I sectioned it out and started with the bottom part of my hair first and worked my way up.

 

Oh the faces I make....

I started in low just to see how well it did. The brush did kind of catch in my hair if I did a large chunk of hair, so I learned quickly that you need to work with smaller sections and go slowly if you want any bit of curl, although I did mess up any chance of getting curls because I kept running my fingers through my hair since it felt so soft. The bristle on this brush really does wonders for your hair and I can’t remember the last time my hair felt this soft lol.

Right away I knew I was right, after finishing off this section I didn’t get curls, though I did get a nice little upwards curl that could be worked into a cute style. Once I moved onto the other sections I turned the setting to high and just finished the rest of my hair before attempting to do any sort of style.

Once I finished my head I went back with the brush and started trying to get my hair to hold a curl in it and literally sat twisting it on single sections over and over again, and even if I didn’t run my fingers through it 

I ended up with just a nice blow out look and slightly curly bangs that didn’t even look good…

However, I did end up liking this product because I feel like it is better for my hair than a typical curling iron mainly because of how softly the air is blown out and the main fact that it doesn’t get that hot. Maybe if it did get hotter it would do a curl, but with the way it blows and heats up it is perfect to get a lot of volume out of my normally flat and lifeless hair. It also left my hair feeling so soft like I said earlier and it looked so shiny even my hubby noticed it when I went to bed. That’s right, remember I did this at 12:30, so right after I dried my hair and finished recording I washed my makeup off and went right to bed.

TL&DR section::

Pros: Low heat, three separate settings (Low, High, Cool High), The brush spins easily sine the cord turns. Bottom portion pops off so you can clean out the filter easily. The air isn’t blown out nearly as strong as your typical blow dryer. Could easily take the place of a blow dryer and round brush. Helps get a lot of volume into your hair and the last.

Cons: Barrel is too big to actually curl the hair without possibly damaging it by holding it too long on the heat. The section of the brush that separates the bristles from the handle has a lip that my hair got caught in quite a few times, not sure how this could be remedied.

Final thoughts::

I 've used this a few times since this video and I've been able to get  really nice and decent voluminous look and a slight curl and added a bit of hair spray and it looked good!! I really like this and can see myself using it regularly now, plus it is so much smaller than a blow-dryer, and I won’t need to bring my blow dryer and round brush because this product is both of those in one! SCORE! I fully plan on continuing to experimenting with this and working techniques with this so I can fully appreciate the product. If you are interested I will include the link to my recent Youtube video on this product so you can see it in action as well as a link to the Amazon page so you can pick up one of these bad boys for yourself if you want to.

Much love,

                                                    -Jen

John Frieda Review Video

John Frieda Salon Shape 1.5 Inch Hot Air Brush

John Frieda Salon Style 1.5 Inch Hot Air Brush

Hey guys!

So this is another discounted item that I received courtesy of the company through Tomoson in exchange for my honest and unbiased review. I was actually on the hunt for new brushes to upgrade my old ones, and when I saw this promotion on the site I had to jump on it. So clearly, the discount did not in any way influence how my review of these brushes came out.

So right away I found these brushes very soft. The foundation brush, blusher brush, contour brush, and fluffy blush are all very dense while still having that softness that you want when applying powder foundations. There is a bit of a smell, so wash them right away and then let them air out. The smell is just the glue used to hold the brush together, nothing bad at all so don’t freak out about it. The brushes themselves feel very sturdy, and the spooly doesn’t twist out of the handle like most cheap brands do when I tried messing with it.

In the set, you receive twelve brushes and one extra oval toothbrush that resembles the Artis brushes which are all the rage right now. The brushes included in this set are: A foundation brush, a blush brush, a contour brush, a fluffy brush, a large eyeshadow brush, a small eyeshadow brush, a lip brush, an angled brow brush, a fan brush, a sponge applicator brush, a spooly brush, an eyebrow comb brush, and the oval toothbrush.

They arrived very neatly individually wrapped in plastic sleeves inside the super cute flower printed carrying case. The four larger brushes (Foundation, blush, contour, fluff, and the fan) all had harder plastic covering the bristles, and the rest had the plastic sleeves, but they did go all the way over the brush part except for the longer ones like the spooly brush.

The case itself is very cute you guys, like the flower print is so pretty. I can easily fit every one of these brushes inside, including the toothbrush and fold it up. And while it is folded up the case has a little flap that comes down to cover the brushes so that dust and other stuff can’t really mess with then when you put them in your bag.

On to how the brushes applied…

So I did my entire face today using just these brushes, and I wasn’t disappointed!!

I did a very basic face. Primer & BB cream first and followed that by using the eyebrow brush and my Colourpop eyebrow colour and LA Girl inspiring eye tin and filled in what I could of my brows. Long story short, I have an OCD issue with plucking my brows, literally sit there and pluck my hairs out without even thinking about it. Working on growing them back, but the thinness and structure of the brush makes for perfect even lines, it applies the eyebrow colour flawlessly and the powder also. I never notice any fallout with eyebrow powder, so there was no issue with this brush on that either. I followed that up by using the powder brush to apply a layer of my Estee Lauder Stay in Place powder makeup. The powder brush applied it very evenly, and I didn’t really notice a lot of fallout powder on my shirt, which was black so I would have noticed. Then I used the blusher brush to apply my Too Faced Snow Bunny bronzer/highlighter (I’m honestly not sure which it is supposed to be) and applied it over my cheeks and cheekbone to cheat a quick contour look. (Lazy day, don’t judge me) But then I decided F*** it and used the toothbrush to apply a little contour using my KVD Shade + Light kit. It really felt weird using this to blend it in, but I felt like it did better than my old E.L.F Kabuki does. The contour brush I used to apply a little bit of concealer under my eyes and on a few red spots on my face.

For my eyes, I used the large eyeshadow brush and the small eyeshadow brush with my Too Faced Sweet Peach palette, which I am 100% obsessed with omg! There was a little bit of fallout, but that was kinda my fault because I forgot to tap the extra powder off my brush before applying. Besides, it was mainly in the inner corner of my eye to begin with, so it was super easy to brush off with the powder brush. I finished the look by using the lip brush and lining my bottom lid. Always good to find multiple uses for brushes, it makes the set seem more useful!

Here is my face after I finished my look with the brushes. I did end up using the eyelash spooly also because I’m using super cheap dollar tree mascara for now and I had major clumping going on. So I used it to even out the look a bit.

All in all, I really think the set is worth it. Every brush has a use, except for the sponge applicator, but that is because I haven’t used a brush like that since like… I don’t know maybe 9th grade? So I just didn’t even want to bother with it at all.

Final thoughts:

The price of these brushes is a great value for the price, $17.99 for all 13 of these brushes and the carrying case. They feel very sturdy. I think they would be a good buy for someone who is just getting into makeup and doesn’t want to spend a bunch of money on expensive brushes, or for someone who wants the fell and look of expensive brushes without the price. Because to be perfectly honest, the way these brushes feel is very similar to my Too Faced Teddy Bear Hair brushes. So there’s a good comparison for you guys to think about.

Well, that’s my review on these brushes. I hope I answered any questions you might have about the quality. If you have any questions about these brushes please feel free to leave a comment below.

Peace, Love & Happiness guys,

     -Jen 

Here is the link for the brushes on Amazon: Unimeix Professional Brushes


Here is my Video of me using the brushes and giving a video review as well. Video review

Unimeix Professional 12 +1 piece makeup brushes Review

So I made a Youtube video (A rather crappy one I will admit) about this product as well. If you are interested in watching that to see more of the features I've explained in this post I will put a link at the end of the review.

FCC notification: I received this product at a discounted price in exchange for my honest and unbiased review (as always), thanks to the friendly people over at Pur. That fact did not in any way affect my review or how I used this product. I did not receive any monetary payment in return for my review.

So without further ado:

This is the Pur Universal Mount Stand. 

Some of the key features advertised in the 360-Degree base rotation, 180-degree device holder rotation, Non-slip silicone grips that hold your device in place and keep them secure, and suction base to secure the stand to what your desk to keep the stand in place. 

It can fit devices started at 4 inches and up to 11. So mainly target towards iPhones and Tablets with a weight limit of 2.2 lbs. I was a little disappointed right after I started using this stand because I had my digital camera, a small Nikon S3300, resting on the hand since it was too small to be held by it. And just with the arm extended up and angled while I was recording something I noticed right away that the device started leaning backwards, and any attempt I made to adjust the product would cause the suction to lose grip and the stand would fall over.  This really made me worried because if I’m supposed to trust very delicate devices in this product than I want to know for sure that it will support those devices and I won’t have to worry about it falling over and them getting broken.  

There are two different models available, a clamp base that you can turn a dial to attach the base to your desk, or the suction one like I have.

The instructions mention cleaning the suction cups if they lose their suction, and even after cleaning off the cups and letting them dry, they still didn't offer the amount of security I'd want for my devices.

The base of the stand does feature two snaps that is supposed to help with securing the suction cups onto which ever clean surface you’d like, but honestly even with those released and snapped on it didn't help, and seriously I don’t think they really did anything expect add more of look on the base of the stand. Maybe I just didn’t understand how they worked or something thought, who really knows. All I know is even with the suction cups clean, my desk cleaned and these snaps locked in place any little nudge against it would cause the stand to fall.

Along with the suction problem, I also found that the arms themselves were very hard to adjust. They come with alan wrenches to release the tension, but I had a lot of trouble turning them no matter which way I turned the wrench. I was able to get the bottom part to loosen so I could bend the swivel the base around, but I ended up having my husband loosen the rest so that I could bend and turn the arms. And that even took him quite some effort and he isn't a weakling by any standards what so ever.

The actual handle that holds the devices does, in fact, have good silicone gripping and I feel it really holds my phone in place securely, but the mechanism that they used to make the “Hands” extend to fit your devices feels spring loaded and a little cheaper than the rest of the stand. I feel like it is so rough to open the arms that eventually the wear and tear of it might cause it to snap or break making the stand useless. Besides that point, I've already given myself a pretty gnarly pinch on my finger while trying to put my tablet in there. I really don't like getting hurt by my stuff, even if it is my fault lol. It just makes me not want to use it anymore.

TL;DR section for all your skimmers:

Pros about the Pur Universal Mount Stand: It really does fit a multiple of devices, and I feel like it would be very handy for holding Iphones while recording if you don't own a camcorder and tripod, or if you want to watch a movie but don't want to hold your tablet the whole time, etc. The general maneuverability of the device is also a very good feature, it makes it just that bit more handy for different situations.

Cons about the Pur Universal Mount Stand: The suction base doesn't provide the desired amount of stability that you would expect for a product geared towards such delicate devices such as iPhones and Tablets which are very expensive to fix if the screen were to break. Out of the box the product is very difficult to bend and position and the tension is hard to release with the provided allen wrenches (At least for me they were). The spring-loaded clamp to hold devices feels cheaper and breakable. Ouchy=bad.

Final thoughts:

After having and using this stand for the last week, and based on the suction alone, I wouldn't suggest this item unless you plan to sit and tinker with it. I personally would like more stability for my devices, I don’t want to have to worry and get distracted by the stand tipping over just because the arm is fully extended. The clamp base may be better, but I can't be 100% sure on that.  I do plan on continuing to use this product and hopefully figuring out the secret to making this device work the way promised. Maybe I’m just being an idiot and my inner blonde is coming out, who knows.

Update 4/12/2016:

I actually emailed and talked to the company yesterday afternoon and they gave me some tips and advice for using this stand. (For some reason I didn't exactly get that from the paperwork included with the stand what the buttons on the bottom of the base were for, and really feel stupid for not realizing what exactly the buttons on the bottom of the stand was for). After messing with the buttons and cleaning off the suction cups (and leaving them a tad bit wet) I did get them to stick better onto a different desk. The suction lasted quite a while too, almost an hour or two before losing grasp and falling over. So I'm a little more comfortable putting my devices in it, but I will be keeping a closer eye on it and making sure to check my buttons when using the stand.  I really like that the company was so quick to respond to me and help me better understand the functions of this stand and after using it last night to watch a movie while studying (bad Idea I know), i really feel like this is a product I can come to love. I'm still not 100%  confident on the suction ability, but I think as long as I keep a good idea on the stand I can make it work. Like I said before, it is a very handy product, so I don't see any reason not to try to make it work.

Also, I just want to call myself out on it, I'm an idiot. I was using the allen wrenches completely wrong and wasn't getting enough leverage to turn the bolts in order to loosen the tension. OTL. 

I will provide links to my video review of this product, as well as the manufacture site and the amazon page where you can buy this yourself if you don't trust my review and want to try it yourself.

Anyways, I really hope you enjoyed my review. I actually really enjoyed writing it. It was different from what I’ve done on here and I really want to do more reviews like this. I don’t want to just focus on Lootcare and makeup. I want to branch out and post and share more about different items I get. So I hope you are all having a beautiful day (Or night) and I’ll see you next time.

xoxo,

-Jen

Check it out!!

Video Review

Amazon Link

http://getpur.com/mountstand.html

Pur Universal Mount Stand first impression review:

Sorry it’s been so long since I posted, I’ve been dealing with some drama. Word of advice, don’t think any amount of friendship (even if it's 16 years) will stop someone from stabbing you in the back if they think it will benefit them. Anyways, that isn’t what this post is about at all. Today I’m going to tell you about a new subscription club I recently joined back in October: 

So you know how facebook has those ads in between your friends posts that seem to relate to stuff you’ve posted about or even searched for? Well I’ve recently, as in this year, started liking wine. I could never really find a wine that I liked, but ever since my husband and I went wine tasting for the wedding I fell in love with red wine, mainly Cabernet Sauvignon. The bitterness mixed with the sweetness is so pleasing to the pallet. I could even say I like it more than liquor, if you knew me personally you’d know how shocking that is for me to say.

Well it just so happened that while scrolling through my facebook feed I came across an advertisement for a service called Club W. Now I had heard about it from other blogs and on insta a few times, but never really bothered looking it up or anything. But after reading a few of the comments on the post and checking out their site I decided to sign up.

After checking out their selection and watching a few videos on youtube and their videos on the wines themselves I decided, what the heck and signed up. The way the club works is pretty simple. You take a short quiz answering questions about your tastes and favorite flavors and then you are shown a few wines that are supposed to match what they call your Palate Profile based off the questions you answered. You don’t have to pick off that list, and they honestly have a huge selection of wines. The minimum bottles of wine you can order each month is 3, but you can order more, and orders of 6 or more wines get free shipping. Each bottle ranged between $13 a bottle to I think the most expensive I’ve seen was $35.

Here are the questions I was asked when I joined.

      1.      How do you like your coffee?
2.      How do you feel about salt?
3.      Do you Like Citrus?
4.      Do you like earthy flavors like mushrooms and black-truffles?
5.      Do you like blackberries, blueberries and raspberries?
6.      How adventurous are you when it comes to food & drink?

Once you are done with your questions you are usually redirected to your recommended wines page. I saw about 12 bottles recommended towards my taste. Or you will get sent to the featured Wine page which holds that month’s popular wines that they have decided to showcase.

Each wine has their price listed next to it, as well as a picture. If you see a bottle that looks interesting, or just want to read more about a certain wine just click the picture and you are taken to that wines page.

 Once there you are shown the vintage/year of that wine, what the signature scent of that wine is as well the Origin, a description or story behind that wine as well as a video of one of the Club W representatives tasting the wine and describing it to you and telling you a little bit more about that wine. Also on that page you can see what types of foods go best with that wine as well as a recommended recipe to try with it. 

For me, other than the wines, my favorite part of this site is reading the recipes posted on their blog. (Link to their blog is on the top bar of their site btw.) There are so many of them and they all look so yummy. I haven’t tried any yet, but I plan on it… Eventually… Maybe… One day. Or I may just keep doing exactly what I do with my Pinterest. “Oh I’m so going to make this!” Pin it. Forget about it. Stumble upon it again a year later. “Oh yeah… I never made that huh? Oh well.”

Enough about the site, let’s talk wine. So as I mentioned before, I’m new to wine. I don’t know jack squat about tastes and tones and all that jazz. I just know what tastes yummy, and what tastes okay. So when I went through my list of recommended wines I honestly didn’t know what the difference was between all the red and white wines other then what their pages said so I kind of just picked randomly. My first order of 3 wines; two reds and one white, cost me $26.24. I bought a 2014 Chop Shop® Cabernet Sauvignon, a 2014 Les Bobos Carignane, and a 2014 Copycat Tempranillo. And after paying through PayPal (I’m over cautious with ordering online don’t judge me.) and putting in my address I went through the waiting game.

I ordered them on October 27^th and I got a notification that they were shipped later that day. It shipped from Santa Monica through Fed Ex, and I received it on the 29^th. Would have been the 28^th but we weren’t home when they tried delivering the first time. Whoops. My heart almost dropped when the Fed Ex man showed up on the 29^th though because at first he sat in front of my house for twenty minutes going through the back of his truck and then said he could find it! I held back tears and waved good-bye as my wine filled dreams drove off into the sunset… Only for my day to brighten up ten minutes later when he returned saying he found it!! And then he proceeded to drop the box as he walked up my driveway.

Thankfully the box was very well made and my wines were not damaged at all. The handle on the top had fallen off. Not sure why you’d deliver wine in a cardboard box with a flimsy plastic handle that is only held in place because the ends are inserted into grooves in the cardboard, but oh well.

  

 

 I actually got an email shortly after receiving my wines, I seems quite a few people had similar complaints and problems with their boxes. Club W was trying to test out a new eco-friendly design for their boxes and this design didn’t work very well. I believe the email said it will be shipped in a briefcase style packaging for now on. I’m not 100% sure about that though.

So the box came with the three wines I ordered along with cards for each wine. Each wine was packaged in cardboard separators and laid in label up. The packaging did its job. None of them cracked or broke and they arrived in perfect condition.

Each card had a picture of the wine with its name, a catchy little line underneath, along with the description and story about the wine just like the page on the site, but it also had a neat little flavor graph that shows you where that wine gets its flavor from, as well as when to drink it, how to drink it (Chilled or not), what type of grape is in it, the Origin of the wine, what it smells like, as well as the Alcohol content by volume. I thought they were very informative, and they helped me with describing the tastes in the reviews below.

Without further ado, here are the wines I bought and what I thought about them. I've also included my referral link at the very end if you are interested in signing up and trying Club W out for yourself. :)

2014 Copycat Tempranillo.

4/5

This was the first wine we opened and tried. I’m not even going to lie, the main reason I bought this bottle was because of the little lion on the label. Look how cute he is!! He looks like my little baby boy Sunny. My husband appreciated the gesture, as well as the picture on the back. I can’t find a picture of it, but on the back the cat has tried taking his hat off so his lion mane is halfway on/halfway off, very cute. 

The flavor was great, but it did have an almost earthy woody taste that didn’t quite taste right with the rest of the flavors. I could really taste the cocoa and licorice and berries. It didn’t have that bitterness that I love about Cab, but it had a taste to it that is hard to describe. Almost like it was meant to be a cab but they decided at the last minute to make this wine its own unique flavor. Even my husband enjoyed this wine and he is more of a beer drinker

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I gave this one a 4/5 just because of the earthy flavor. I don’t know, maybe I got the flavors wrong, but it did have an odd taste once it settled on your tongue. But for a glass every now and then it isn’t bad at all and I could see me keeping a bottle of this around the house, if not to drink, then for the cute label. I left my bottle at my brother-in-law’s, and his wife collects wine bottles for her chandelier so I don’t think I’ll be getting this bottle back any time soon. :C

2014 Les Bobos Carignane.

2/5

Didn’t like this one at all. Honestly between my husband and myself, I think we only had one or two glasses each and haven’t touched it since. I’ve never smelt rhubarbs so I’m not entirely sure what scent I was supposed to be looking for when I sniffed, I mainly picked up on the pepper and plums. And when I tasted it, yeah I got the peppery notes but it wasn’t enjoyable; A little too bitter and dry for me. Maybe it was just too much of a fruity flavor, but no matter how much swirling (husband swore if you swirled before sipping it would enhance the flavor *insert eyeroll*) we did, the flavor just wasn’t for us.

2/5 because it just wasn’t our flavor of wine. Maybe we just aren’t Hip enough for it.

2014 Chop Shop® Cabernet Sauvignon

5/5

Who ever said diamonds are a girls best friend has never bought good wine. Let me just throw that out there. This wine is by far one of the best ones I’ve had so far, and that is including the fancy wine that our wedding venue served. (You don’t even want to know how much each bottle cost.)

I know before I said I wasn’t a fan of earthy flavors, but something about the mixture of the strawberry sauce and the orange peel really brought out the flavor in this one. It isn’t dry like some red wines that I’ve tasted; I’m looking at you Les Bobos! We paired this wine with homemade chicken sausage mini pizzas and the combo was amazing. We actually still have some of this at home and it has been really hard not to have a glass every day, or multiple glasses for that matter.

5/5 on this one. The flavor is amazingly full bodies and all the ingredients blend well together making this wine one that I will be keeping an eye out to come back in stock for future orders.

All in all I was very satisfied with my Club W experience; although there was no way in heck I could finish three bottles in a month so I currently have my experience on hold. That’s another great thing I forgot to mention!! Unlike most subscription boxes you can skip a month without getting charged or having to halt anything, once you are ready for another order just choose your bottles and hit ship. Easy peesy. I believe my next box is set for December 27^th, I’m hoping they bring back the wine they created with Duff from Ace of Cakes. It’s been out of stock since they released it.

Also, I’m afraid I have bad news. That beautiful memento of a wine glass I used in all these shots broke while doing dishes last week. *tear* I’ll never forget you!

Have you tried Club W? What was your favorite wine so far?

If you haven’t tried it yet here is my referral link go ahead and give it a try!

https://www.clubw.com/jrecinos

My First Club W Experience!!!!!