Southern Belle in Training

Fashion, Travel & Lifestyle Blog || Est. 2012 || Virginia Beach, VA

December 23, 2019

HUGE Holiday PR Package Unboxing!

     Wow- this post is super overdue!! I normally try to write four PR package unboxing posts a year (one for each season), but somehow time got away from me and I haven't written one since last summer. Time to change that!! 
    If you're new to these posts, this is my chance to review the packages and mail that I receive as PR from brands. Brands (especially beauty companies) love to send bloggers free gifts in hope of a positive review. I am not in a paid collaboration with any of the brands featured today- it's my choice to share these products I've received with you, as well as an honest review!



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Photography by Kate Greer and myself


     Avon has been generously sending me PR mail for a couple years now- some of the things they have sent in the past are among my favorite packages that I've ever received as a blogger. A couple months ago in the fall, I received a few new Avon items- their Mattitude liquid lipsticks  and the Glimmershadow liquid eyeshadows. After trying both extensively over the past two months... I have to be honest and say that neither of these products are my favorite sadly! (I always promise honest reviews here.) I think that in general liquid lipstick and liquid eyeshadow can be tough formulas to figure out, and if you are interested in both of these things I'd recommend trying more of a prestige brand- it would be worth it to pay more.  But with that said- there are lots of other Avon products that I've tried and adored. Just not these!



     Pixi Beauty is a brand that always goes big with their blogger PR packages. This one that I received last month is quite literally one of the largest packages I've ever gotten- I sure was shocked when this showed up at my apartment haha! Even Delilah had to come and check it out. This PR mailer sent over a whole variety of beauty products that were each hand selected by different beauty influencers and Youtube stars. Everything from this eyeshadow palette to these lip glosses and more! 




     It's always so fun for me to receive PR mail from brands that are new-to-me so I can share them with you. Meet Realher Makeup! This cosmetics company was launched with women's empowerment in mind. Their products all have positive names, and feature empowering messages and affirmations on them! I was sent an eyeshadow palette, face palette, and lip kit to try. The lip kit includes a liner, liquid lipstick and lip gloss. I wore all three yesterday for a long day of church followed by wineries with friends- y'all I was SO impressed! None of the products dried out my lips at all, and the staying power and pigmentation was incredible. I want to try more stuff from Realher!





     I love and use makeup products daily from lots of different makeup brands, but if I had to pick one holy grail prestige brand it would be IT Cosmetics, without a doubt! I was excited to recently receive some of this year's holiday sets featuring some of my all-time favorite products- like their mascara, skincare, and makeup brushes! They also kindly sent over a few more tubes of my holy grail lip gloss as well- this is the one I always keep in my work bag.



      Stars seem to be extra trendy in 2019, and I'm finally getting on board near the end of the year, thanks to these cute Sugarfix by Baublebar earrings! They're pretty lightweight for their size, can be dressed up or down, and are under $15! For the past few years I've loved buying Sugarfix jewelry at Target as birthday or Christmas gifts for friends since it's all so cute. If you need a last minute gift for a jewelry loving girl in your life, stop by Target today or tomorrow! 





    If you're not familiar with Dayspring, let me introduce you! They are Christian retailer that is selling everything faith inspired from greeting cards and home decor to books/bibles and apparel. I started receiving PR gifts from them earlier in 2019, and I've received some really fun ones lately! I'm excited to be going back to using a physical agenda for 2020 (I use iCal for my blog, and in 2019 I tried switching personal life stuff to iCal as well, but I think I prefer to keep that separate!), and I love this cute and colorful agenda from Dayspring! 
    I also received some holiday themed gifts a few weeks ago. I received a set of greeting cards that have bible verses in them- they were perfect to include when mailing out the photo Christmas cards I send each year. I was also sent a classic and faith inspired serving platter, which will be great for entertaining in the new year. 
     And finally, Dayspring recently launched their own women's magazine called Everyday Faith! I received a few copies of the first issue- one that I kept and a few that I gave to girlfriends. I grew up reading a Christian magazine for teen girls called Brio (anyone else remember that?), and I feel like this is the grown-up and more modern version of that!


     Whew- that's all for today! I promise I'll do another of these posts sooner rather than later next time. Anyways, happy Christmas week! I can't believe it's just two days away. I know that a lot of bloggers do take time off from their blogs this week and next, but I won't be! I wasn't able to be as present on here as I hoped during the early part of December, so I'll be making it up to you with some fun posts this week and next. 




     God Bless,


     xoxo Annaliese 














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Thanks so much for reading Southern Belle in Training! Comments make my day- so feel free to share your thoughts on this post! I read each and every comment.
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