The Collection by Total Beauty for HSN (Home Shopping Network) Review

Press sample

I was seriously blown away when I received this box from the HSN and Total Beauty collaboration.  It's the exclusive Total Beauty Collection for HSN.  The samples included were specially curated from HSN's fan-favorite brands by the TotalBeauty.com editorial team.  I usually just get four or five items from each sample box.  This time, I was amazed when I received a total of nine items!  And they're not the filler items that I expected, they are really well-thought of, popular brands and the cult faves from each.

Here are the products in this box:

Benefit The POREfessional Pore Primer
Perlier Shea Butter Hand Cream
Serious Skincare Glycolic Gommage Exfoliating Facial
Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara – Black
Elysee YouthSpan Enviro-Shield Tinted Veil
Wei East China Herbal Intensive Eye Pads
Carol's Daughter Monoi Oil Sacred Strength Hair Serum
M Asam VinoLift Skin Tightening Cream
Trish McEvoy Eye Base Essentials – Bare

Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara – Black

Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara promises 1,944% more volume!  It has an hourglass-shaped applicator which is different from a lot of other mascaras that I've tried.  I guess the shape of the brush builds more volume especially to the inner and outer lashes, and it really gives a nice dark coat to the hairs for that dramatic look.  

Carol's Daughter Monoi Oil Sacred Strength Hair Serum

I have colored hair and use heat styling tools regularly, so my hair is prone to damage.  I like to infuse my hair with a lot of moisture but without making it feel and look greasy.

I was able to try the Carol's Daughter Monoi Oil Sacred Strength Hair Serum, and I was pretty impressed in the sense that it gave my hair brilliance and shine and infused moisture into my tresses, but it did not feel greasy.  It felt quite lightweight.

M Asam VinoLift Skin Tightening Cream is a pretty amazing cream that is quite emollient.  Although I have not used it long enough to see visible results, I did feel a good tightening on my face as I applied it on my skin.  This targeted to more mature skin, but it's never too early to use anti-aging products to promote wellness and counteract free radicals that threaten the skin.  I like how my skin looks and feels soft and supple upon waking up in the morning.

My first time to try the Trish McEvoy Eye Base Essentials in Bare and I was impressed.  It has a nude tint that hides unsightly veins on the lids, making it the perfect canvas for your eye shadows.  The tint brightens the eye lid so that it also makes your eyes look well-rested even if you don't wear eyeshadow.It also made my eye shadows for at least 8 hours.

Perlier Shea Butter Hand Cream

I LOVE shea butter.  When I got this sample, I was really excited to try it because I love anything shea.  The Perlier Shea Butter Hand Cream makes my hands moisturized and smooth without the greasy feel. I also love the very refreshing scent.

Elysee YouthSpan Enviro-Shield Tinted Veil

Okay, at first I found this product really weird.  When I tried the Elysee YouthSpan Enviro-Shield Tinted Veil, I got a bit scared.  Why does it look so dark?  I haven't tried a product similar to this.  

This cream self-adjusts to provide skin with the perfect wash of color, making it a great alternative to foundation and providing anti-aging beauty benefits. Reduce signs of facial aging while defending against oxidative stress and environmental aggressors to instantly transform your appearance.

The Elysee YouthSpan Enviro-Shield Tinted Veil has a long list of claims about how it will protect your skin from the harsh damaging rays of the sun.  Among them are the following:

-Provides skin with a healthy, natural-looking glow
-Instantly transforms the look of skin
-Helps reduce signs of facial aging
-Temporarily smoothes the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles
-Optimizes skin elasticity
-Reduces the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles
-Helps visibly improve the look of skin tone and texture-
-Helps defend skin against oxidative stress and environmental aggressors
-Helps moisturize skin
-Helps protect skin against premature aging
-Leaves skin feeling refreshed
-Reduces the appearance of sagging skin
-Provides anti-aging beauty benefits
-Telomere technology

I honestly have not used this long enough to provide an informed opinion about these claims, but I am looking forward to seeing optimum results in time.

You can mix this product with your foundation to protect yourself not only against UVA and UVB rays, but also against HEV rays that go deeper than UVA and UVB.  There is an ingredient that works wtih LED that will keep your skin look younger as it benefits from the positive rays.

Serious Skincare Glycolic Gommage Exfoliating Facial

Serious Skincare Glycolic Gommage Exfoliating Facial

This is probably my favorite product in this box!  Serious Skincare Glycolic Gommage Exfoliating Facial is an amazing exfoliating mask that makes your skin look so smooth.  Applying the product on clean, dry skin for 10 minutes (avoid eye area) tightens the skin and lifts off impurities.  When you wash it off, the product exfoliates your face and sloughs off the dead skin cells as your skin is cleansed.  Amazing!  

Using the Wei East Intensive  Eye Treatment Pads

And I thought that no one could help me with my under eye bags!  As I was using the Glycolic Exfoliating Facial, I was simultaneously testing out the Wei East Intensive  Eye Treatment Pads.  It gives a very cool, refreshing feeling on the undereye area.  I could literally feel my undereye bags shrinking.  It relieves tiredness and makes the undereye area look more awake and refreshed.  Too bad there is only one pair of Eye Treatment Pads, I need to get full sizes pronto!

Lastly, the Benefit The POREfessional Pore Primer is one of the cult favorite items from the Benefit Brand, and I am no stranger to this product.  It keeps my pores looking small and almost invisible, and it keeps my face matte throughout a good part of the day.  It is also the perfect canvas for your makeup.

It comes in a tiny sample size which I already placed in my travel makeup bag for overnight trips.  You don't want to lug around a huge tube or bottle of your primer for weekend getaway trips.

Also in the box is a $10 off coupon code if you get the full size of any of these products!

This collection will be released on October 31, 2013 at HSN.com and on November 13th, HSN will air a 24-hour live on-air event.  During the live event, Total Beauty editors will appear to share their expertise, talk about this collection and answer viewer questions.  Mark your calendars!

Buyers will receive all 9 products for just $19.95 (amazing!) plus FREE shipping.  Boxes can be purchased on line at HSN.com starting October 31st, as well as during the live show on November 13th, via phone or online at HSN.com.

Also, sign up for on-sale alerts on TotalBeautyShops.com so you never miss out when a collection goes on sale.  There are also lots of chances to win prizes and get savings and incentives.

(Media sample was provided by PR for consideration.  All opinions are mine.)