Not Soap Radio

I am one of those girls who loves shopping for makeup and beauty products. Despite the fact that I don't really wear makeup all that often, I seem to have the contents of an entire Sephora store in my apartment. I could probably go for several months without buying any lip gloss, lip balm, soap, lotion, or shower gel, and still have enough to last me. Does this mean that I ever stop acquiring more? Of course not. So when I was contacted by Not Soap Radio and was asked to do a product review for them, my response was an enthusiastic yes. This company is totally up my alley because they have a line of sorority-lettered beauty products. The only thing I love more than lip gloss is anything and everything having to do with ASA (except for maybe the chapter that I advised). When I got the package from the company, I thought Hannukah came early.

Inside it was one big lip gloss, one tube of ASA Narcissus-scented roll on perfume oil, two body souffles, an ASA makeup palette, and a trio of ASA lip glosses. (Why yes, I am an Alpha Nerd, thank you for asking.)

The first thing I ripped open was the big lip gloss. I have to say in all honesty that I was disappointed. The color was all wrong for me and very metallic made my lips look like a Christmas ornament. Seeing as how I didn't really tell the company what I look like or what colors look good on me, I can't blame them for sending me a product that looked horrible on me. I took it off before I got the chance to see if it plumped my lips as promised. KMH, I will be bringing this to Chicago with me so you can try it to see if it works better on you. My first thought was "uh oh, what if I agreed to review their products and hate all of them?" Well folks, I had no reason to be. Later that night, I took a shower and then slathered on the "I'm Not Here, I'm Really at the Spa" Body Souffle. The texture was thicker and creamier than a lotion, but not as dense as a body butter, and did not leave that oily mess on my fingers. If I were stuck on a deserted island and could only take one lotion with me, this would be it. Coming from a girl who has at least 7 lotions in her medicine cabinet, 1 on her desk, and 2 in her purse, plus others in her closet, this is high praise. There was another body souffle in the package as well in a much smaller size which I did not get to try, but got relegated to my travel cosmetic case to be used for all of my upcoming trips.

Being the total sorority girl that I am, I was most excited to try all of the ASA products. I am one of those sorority girls that loves just about anything that has letters on it, but am getting to that point in my life where unless I'm at a conference or other sorority event, it is no longer acceptable for me to be wearing a hot pink t shirt with 4" polka dotted letters on it, so I am always looking for cute lettered stuff that is practical and I can use. Alpha Sigma Alpha's two flowers are the Narcissus and the Aster. The ASA pefume oil that the company makes is Narcissus scented. Now I have never sniffed a Narcissus in my life so I cannot tell you how it smells, but I can say that the roll-on perfume oil was pretty darn amazing. It is not too strong, but musky with just the right amount of sweetness and is really convenient to take with you when you travel. I would love to know how the other sorority ones smell, but it would be a bit weird for me to own something that said "Delta Delta Delta" on it, so if any of y'all buy one for your sorority, be sure to let me know how it is.

My camera decided that it just did not want to photograph the inside of the ASA beauty palette well, so here is the outside packaging.

Lis and KMH, are y'all squealing yet?

All of the colors in the palette as well as the lip glosses in the lip gloss trio were the exact colors that I love and look best on me, so I was very excited about that. I rolled on some ASA perfume, put on some eyeshadow and a cute lip gloss and went on my merry way. I got a mani/pedi and then went to Sephora for some concealer. The flamboyantly gay person who helped me in the Dior area told me that my lip gloss looked good on me and wanted to know if it came from the store. If it can pass the gay makeup salesman test, then I guess it means it's really good. Check plus. (Bonus, the lip gloss is small enough that you can just stick it in your pocket which makes it great for travelling if you have a lot of beauty products to take with you and not a lot of room in your little ziploc bag.)

After Sephora, I went to my Nana's house to see what she though. Sadly, my mommy was out of town so I couldn't get her to weigh in. The conversation went something like this.

me: Nana, what do you think of my makeup?

Nana: You look very pretty. Do you have a date?

me: No I don't.

Nana: How old are you?

me: 25

Nana: Are you married yet?

me: no

Nana: You need to find a man, you're getting old.

me: yes Nana

5 minutes later

Nana: You look very pretty. What's different about you?

me: It's this new makeup. Do you like it?

Nana: Oh you met a boy!

me: No Nana.

Nana: Then what's the point of wearing makeup? You're getting old. You need a husband.

2 minutes later

Nana: How old are you?

me: 25

Nana: when do I get to meet your husband?

me: when I get one

repeat this dialogue about 7 or 8 times
In retrospect asking an 85 year old woman with Alzheimer's and dementia who is desperate to dance at her only grandchild's wedding about this was probably not a smart move on my part.

Two days later, I met my mom after work for dinner and grocery shopping. (My mommy is one of my best friends.) It was gross out that day so I wore the new lip gloss and eye shadow so I wouldn't look and feel like a total shlub. Plus I wanted to know if it looked good on me, and commenting on my appearance is one of my mother's strong suits. I tend to wear neutrals or very matte colors and do not like glitter anywhere. The eyeshadows had a bit of shimmer to them, but not enough to make me look like a Vegas showgirl. It is just sparkly enough to be good for going out, but not enough that it will make you look weird if you wear it to work. After the usual hugs, kisses, how have you beens, etc. I did not have to even ask my mom what she thought of my appearance. "You're wearing makeup! You look so pretty! Did you finally meet a guy?" Will someone please explain to my family that the problem isn't me meeting a guy, it's the type of guy that I meet? I mean does my mother really want a penis model or boy whose only hobby is watching porn for a son-in-law? After convincing my mom that I am, still single, I did her to say that she thinks I look very pretty. So there you have it folks: it's sorority-girl tested, Jewish mother approved!

After perusing the Not Soap Radio website, I have to say that one product that I really wish they had sent me was this Flirtini Cocktail Party Lip Gloss:

The color is exactly the kind that looks great on me, I love lip gloss way too much, and cannot resist anything with the word cocktail in the name. Am I going to have to order this? I think so!

The good news is: Not Soap Radio has generously offered MRM readers a 20% discount on anything on the website with coupon code flipflop. The code is good through May 5th, and ladies, I cannot say enough times how much I recommend the body souffle. If it were legal for me to marry one of these, I just might. The site also has fun things for bridesmaids and if you haven't started thinking about Mother's Day yet, you may want to get on that.