When I was a kid, I divided makeup into three categories. Teeny bopper makeup, teenager makeup, and adult makeup. Teeny boppers wore Wet N Wild. Teenagers moved up to "higher end" drugstore brands, particularly Cover Girl. And adults? Grown up ladies wore Mary Kay. Those pink and white bottles and tubes with the little Mary Kay flower logo on them symbolized serious makeup, makeup for women with jobs, women who were beyond what could be found at Rite Aid. Mary Kay was aspiration makeup.

Fast forward a number of years, and, just before my 30th birthday, I finally start wearing makeup myself. Lots has changed, and the biggest change is Sephora. Suddenly, there is a whole world of "serious" makeup, and I am a fast addict, building a huge and expensive arsenal. One label that is missing from said arsenal? Mary Kay. Until now.

When BlogHer chose me to review a few of Mary Kay's products, I was beyond excited, both because I just plain love makeup and because I'd wanted to see what Mary Kay was offering these days. The selections I received were: a Mary Kay Compact Mini loaded with mineral eyeshadows in their hazel trio (Honey Spice, Hazelnut, and Cinneban) and a mineral blush in Shy; a tube of Ultimate Mascara in Black; and a tube of Tinted Lip Balm in Rose. Basically, they sent me everything I needed to be fully made up (on top of my base and primers). The compact is genius--it's tiny (smaller than the palm of my hand) and the eyeshadows and blush fit into it magnetically, with room underneath them for small brushes for both the shadow and the blush. The lip balm tube is also really small, and both could be shoved into a tiny clutch or even fit in a jacket pocket.

My test was to use the products all together, as if they were all I had with me (on top of my typical morning routine moisturizer, etc.) I was very happy with the look. I was more subtle than what I normally wear, but very professional and pretty. I am typically an eyeliner wearer, and I did miss my liner, but I felt like the three colors Mary Kay picked out for my hazel eyes did a great job bringing them out. I followed the directions helpfully included in the packaging to wear all three colors--the medium brown on the lid, the darker red/brown in the corners, and the champagne/honey at the brow bone. I was also very happy with the blush, which is a subtle peach-pink and warmed up my barely-tan complexion just the right amount. The mascara went on easily, gave good thickening and lengthening coverage in one coat, and didn't smudge and didn't flake all day, even though I have sensitive eyes, so it got a gold-star as well. My hands-down favorite product, though, was the lip balm. The Rose shade is neutral perfection, and I could still feel and see the color at lunchtime. Huge win.

The biggest drawback of the products I was sent was the brushes that came in the compact. In order to fit, they have to be tiny, and I just do not have the hand-eye coordination required to use tiny brushes at 7am. I tried them, but quickly switched to using my regular brushes in order to get even application of the blush and the shadows. Since portability isn't key to me, I'll likely keep using it this way, but if the portable aspect were really important, I'm sure I could learn to use the itty bitty brushes with some practice.

Trying and being so excited about these products led me to pop on over to the Mary Kay site to see what else they have on offer. Wow! There is a ton of great looking stuff! I'm fascinated by the Shadow & Liner Duo Pens, which I think would be another fantastic throw-in-your-bag-and-go option (these are a limited edition product, so they're only available while supplies last), and I'd love to try the Cream Blush. The site also has this really neat Virtual Makeover tool, where you can load your own picture and "try on" the products virtually.

Are you sold yet? How about $100 in Mary Kay products of your own, would that do it? Thanks to Mary Kay and BlogHer, I can do that! For your chance to win a Mary Kay gift pack valued at $100, leave me a comment on this post and let me know which Mary Kay product you'd most like to try. For extra entries, blog or tweet or FB about this contest and link to it in a comment.

This contest will run through August 26.

No duplicate comments. This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.

To see other folks review these products and for other chances to win, visit the promotions & prizes section at BlogHer.

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A week or so ago, my friend Jenny turned me on to the Birchbox. Birchbox is simple and brilliant--for $10/month, they send you a box of beauty/makeup samples. High end, good sized samples. Could that be any more up my alley?

So I contacted the good folks at Birchbox, and they were kind enough to send me a September box to review, and host a give-away of two of the October boxes for you all! Score!

My Birchbox arrived today, and I have to tell you all, it was everything I expected and more.

The outside of the box is lovely, classy and simple.

Opening it up, I was greeted with a nice note from the company, introducing me to the month's theme, the "clean slate" of back to school. The reverse of the card gave me all the specs for the products included in this month's box.

Under the postcard, I found the products very nicely wrapped.

And after I removed the wrappings, I got to see my treats!

The box contained:

1. A very good sized (4 gram) sample of Cargo bronzer.


2. A regular perfume-sample sized sample of Marc Jacobs Lola perfume.


3. A great sized sample (.29 oz) of NARS makeup primer.


4. A 3-sheet sample package of Tatcha blotting papers.


5. A one-use collagen mask sheet from The Face Shop.

I am really excited about these products. They are all high end, and they're all large enough samples to actually be useful. None of them are things I've used before, though Cargo and NARS are both companies I like. The blotting papers are of particular interest to me, since I've been trying to find some blotting papers that I don't hate. I'll be interested to see if they work for me.

Cost analysis on this box is good, too. By my calculations (based on the cost of the regular sizes), the products are worth:
Cargo bronzer: $12.72
Marc Jacobs perfume: $3.13
NARS primer: $5.63
Tatcha blotting papers: $1.20
The Face Shop mask: $1.50
Total: $24.18

I am stunned. The products themselves are worth more than twice the cost of the box--and that's without the added awesomeness of getting to try new products, having them arrive as a surprise, the lovely packaging, etc. Definitely a good value.

So here's the best part, for y'all: I have TWO of these to give away for October. They're available for US readers only (sorry!), and you can enter as many times as you want. Here's what you need to do:
1. Leave me one comment telling me what kind of products you'd love to see in your Birchbox.
2. Leave me more comments telling me you sent someone to my blog, added it to your reader, or Tweeted or FB'd this post. One comment for each thing you do.

That's it! I'll draw winners a week from today. Good luck!

As I mentioned briefly in one of my post-BlogHer posts, one BlogHer high point for me was Jessica Gottlieb giving me a bag of goodies from Sephora. By this point, my undying love for Sephora is a given here at WINOW, so you won't be surprised that I pretty much jumped for joy when that happened.

So, what was in the bag?

• A gorgeous red hanging bag from Sephora's Film Noir Red Diamond Bag Collection. Pretty shiny red, lots of space, easy to wipe off makeup spills. Lovely.
• A Sephora Brand Double-Ended Grab'n Go Brush. One end is a powder brush; one is an eye shadow brush. The two-in-one design would be great for traveling, since you'd really only need to bring one brush, and the bright color is really fun. The bristles are synthetic and quite soft.
• A Sephora Brand Colorful Mono Eyeshadow, in Mysterious Forest 46, a "dark smokey green with iridescent glitter." This stuff is so cool. The dark green is a great color for me, and the glitter isn't overpowering. It actually reminds me quite a bit of M.A.C., and that's high praise for any eye shadow and very high praise for an eye shadow that costs $12.
• A bottle of Sephora by OPI nail polish, in 212-Sephora, a "smoky black with iridescent, gold and copper glitter." This I haven't actually used yet, as I'm not huge on glitter polish, but is lovely in the bottle.
• A Sephora Brand SEPHORA PURE Natural Palette - Star Gazer Edition. This thing is rad. It's Sephora's new eco-friendly line, and it contains six eye colors and a blush. The eye colors range from Aurora, which is a very light silver, to Orion, a bright, shimmery purple. The blush is Soleil, which is very classic pink (something like NARS Orgasm). It's all together in handy, durable container, and the products are all free of parabens, sulfates, synthetic fragrances and dyes, etc.
• Finally, a sample bottle of one of Kat Von D's new fragrances, Sinner. It's part of a set with another fragrance, Saint. Sinner's scent profile is "Light, delicate top notes of orange blossom, refreshing mandarin, and fleshy plum create beautiful a contrast with a provocative, sultry heart. Rich jasmine blends seamlessly with a white-flower bouquet, beautifully tainted by the spicy warmth of cinnamon--an herb associated with ancient rituals of pleasure. A dark, mysterious back of earthy vetiver, patchouli, and woods enveloped in creamy vanilla and sensual musk lingers on the skin." Sniffing it from the bottle, the heavy scents to me are the jasmine and cinnamon, with the vetiver and patchouli coming through pretty well, too. Hard to say what it would smell like on, though, as I've not tried it.

And why haven't I tried it? Well, that's where YOU come in! When I win, you win, so I'm giving away the bottle of Sinner and the Sephora PURE Star Gazer palette! Both have been examined by me, but neither has been used. Leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite makeup product and where you find it, and one lucky random winner will get both items. This contest ends in one week, on August 17, so be sure to post right away!

And thanks, Sephora, for the treats.