Glossybox - July 2013

There have certainly been months when I have been less than impressed at Glossybox's offerings, but this month was the complete opposite. This Seaside Splash themed box was bursting with products that aim to enhance any girl's holiday beauty stash.

The box itself is beautiful - a bright blue box with orange starfish and coral complete with matching wrapping paper and a blue ribbon.

In my box I received - 

Essie Sleek Sticks in So Haute! - £9.99 : These are classic nail transfers. Not a new concept but this pattern is certainly prettier than any I've seen. Glossybox has sent products similar to this out before but not by Essie so this was new to me.

Anatomicals Spray Misty For Me Facial Sprits - 100ml / £6.00 : This is perfect for the hot, stuffy days or evenings either in the UK or on holiday. Last year there was a similar product to this by Paul Mitchell but it was for hair and body. I like that this is aimed at skincare as it doesn't feel wasteful to use frequently (plus I will be reusing this bottle!)

Coola Organic Suncare Collection Facial SPF 20 - 50ml / £29.99 (sample size in box) : This looks like a good product though I am yet to try it. It doesn't just protect the skin from both UVA and UVB rays but is also hypoallergenic, paraben free and soothes and tones the skin. Sounds perfect for days in the garden!

Sleek Pout Paint - 8ml / £4.99 (2 products included in box) : I have been looking forward to trying these for months - I nearly bought the OCC Lip Tars yesterday but these look like a good, cheaper dupe for them.

Alterna Haircare Bamboo Style Boho Waves Tousled Texture Mist - 125ml / £23.00 : I think this is basically another type of salt spray-esque product. With the aim of helping to create "just back from the beach" waves I really look forward to trying this spray. 

I'm super happy with this month's products, I've found that Glossybox is very hit-and-miss but the last couple of months have been a nice surprise. This one seems to cover skincare, nails, beauty AND haircare, and with 2 pout paints this box has six products overall rather than five!

Did you get the same selection or is yours different?

Glossybox February 2013 - Valentine's Day

This month's Glossybox is all about Valentine's Day with the question "Will You Be Ours?"

This box contained : 

Micabella Cosmetics Mineral Blush Powder sample 

Docteur Renaud Raspberry Soft Creme sample

Modelco Eyeshadow Duo

Helen E Cosmetics Moisturising Lipstick

Anatomicals You Need A Blooming Shower

My first thoughts when I opened this box were .... right. so another Anatomicals product, a tiny, tiny, tiny sample of blusher in a weird colour, lipstick, lolly, eyeshadow and moisturiser. I didn't jump for joy because to be honest I was really let down. The only thing I love is the design on the box and the bright pink ribbon that kept it all secure in the box.

 Modelco Eyeshadow Duo : Eyeshadow Palette in Bronzed Goddess.

Okay. So... I wear these shades quite often actually from a different palette I received a while ago. I love bronzey shades, they're easy to dress up or dress down, especially with my favourite cat-eye liner. However, this eyeshadow is not quite as easy to use as I'd hoped. Oh, what is so hard about it? I hear you ask. Basically it's crumbly. It's okay to apply with your fingertips but otherwise it's pretty naff. My eyeshadow brushes can't pick it up at all and it's just really flakey all over the place and I won't be using it....ever. Soz!

Helen E Cosmetics Moisturising Lipstick in Cafe Au Lait

 Okay, so next we have the lipstick. I've never heard of Helen E Cosmetics but I'm sure they're all great and she's a lovely woman but BY GOD this colour is absolutely ridiculous! Considering my beauty profile on the Glossybox website has been completed since I first subscribed I thought they might actually pay attention to it when they packed the boxes, but no. I've got this in the shade "Cafe Au Lait" and it does look like a milky coffee but with more glitter in it when you look at the lipstick itself.

However when I put the lipstick on it was actually laughable. I looked like I was in the middle of developing hypothermia whist doing my best impression of Diana Ross circa 1993. You can see for yourself in the photo how nasty this lip shade is.

I really, really do not love it if you couldn't tell.

 Micabella Cosmetics Mineral Blush Powder in Terra Cotta

This Micabella Cosmetics blusher is, as I mentioned above really frickin' small, which with hindsight is probably a good thing because I won't be using much of it anyway. The swatch above is in the shade Terra Cotta and at first I literally looked at it and said "well this is a horrible colour.." but after applying it it wasn't too awful so I take that back. I do wish that these samples weren't all loose powders though. I have a BM Beauty bronzer from a box last year that I just can't use because all the loose powder is unevenly distributed and I look like Snooki on a bad day.

I haven't photographed the last two products as I haven't formed much of an opinion of them. I'll probably use the moisturiser when my Vichy pot runs out and the body cleanser will be going in the drawer for products to take away on holiday/overnight stays. 

I'm sorry this is such a negative review but I'm just being honest. I really feel like Glossybox should be upping their game considering the competition that's on the market. Given that their customers are the way they make their profit it's high time they paid attention to the feedback and beauty profiles that we complete. I've seen so many people unsubscribing from Glossybox lately and I've been thinking about it myself, £10 + P&P is too much to waste on products that aren't going to be used, especially when the company aren't making any effort to listen to their audience.

Sorry Glossybox, I won't be yours for much longer if you don't sort it out.

February Glossybox

I received my Glossybox on Monday, I still get really excited when it turns up..the novelty still hasn't worn off which is definitely a good thing!

Here are the products in my box

1) Paul Mitchell Super Skinny Relaxing Balm (RRP: £15.25 / 200ml)

2) Dr Bronner Magic Liquid Soap (RRP: £1.99 / 59ml) BUAV Approved

3) Como Shambhala Invigorate Body Lotion (RRP: £20.00 / 300ml)

4) DuWop Venom Gloss (RRP: £16.00 / 10.4ml)

5) BM Beauty Pure Mineral Eyeshadow (RRP : £7.00 / 2g)

At first I looked at the contents and I thought "where's the rest of it??" but that was just the spoilt little girl inside me. I'm actually really looking forward to using these products before I go out tonight. I've given the Venom Gloss a little trial run and I'm a big fan already. 

I've seen other people got a few different bits in their boxes this month and I'm a bit sad that I didn't get the hand sanitizer since I'm such a hygiene freak but these products will all do nicely for this month. 

You might've noticed the little grey card in the top photo.. I've been trying to get on the website this morning to check it out but unfortunately it's down for maintenance! Let me know if you know what it's about!

Did you get your Glossybox this month? Link me to your thoughts.

Hope you've all had a lovely weekend and enjoyed pancakes yesterday! 

Lots of love, 

Eyeko Skinny Eyeliner

After hearing and seeing a lot more about Eyeko recently I took a minute to research them. After launching in 1999 Eyeko seem to have gone from strength to strength. They have now recently given themselves a little make-over, and their new logo featuring a Twiggy-esque lash crown is right on point as they're focussing on their "quest for Big Eyes". 

As mentioned in my previous post I received this product in my Glossybox. At first I was dubious, and when you look at the pencil you can see why....

I opened it, showed the pencil to my flatmate and went "what the f is this for?!"...
The packaging states "Get a handle on your eyeliner! Even when you sharpen the pencil to the smallest nub the silver handle remains for longer use." which is logical but I have survived with the smallest eyeliner pencils known to humanity! Maybe I'll become more fond of this apparatus when I'm right at the end of the pencil...

The tip was nice and sharp when I removed the lid and first tested it as a swatch on my hand. On first application it looked black but after smudging it for comparison I saw it was very blue toned. I hadn't thought to check the colour but after seeing it looking blue-y the packet does infact say "Midnight Blue"

(Click to englarge)

As you can see from the photos this product applies evenly. I'm actually very impressed with the pigmentation and the softness of the pencil on my eyelid. I wore this from 10am until 10pm and the top line didn't smudge at all. My lower lash line was only affected because the wind made my eyes water today but since there's no claim of the product being waterproof it doesn't bother me at all that that happened. I've had compliments on my eyeliner from two different people and I didn't feel the need to reapply at all so I'm very impressed. 

I'll definitely be purchasing another colour when I start to run low on this pencil, I'll probably go for anything black or purple as I rarely wear blue but who knows, maybe I'll stock up on this Midnight Blue since it's worked such a treat! 

If you want to buy your own Eyeko Skinny Eyeliner for £9.50 then click here to go straight to their website!

I hope you like this as much as I do, love

Valentine's Glossybox

I'm sure anyone with a Glossybox subscription was eagerly awaiting the arrive of the second limited edition Glossybox. Mine arrived on Monday and I legged it up to my room to check everything out. 

I received Eyeko Skinny Eyeliner, Clarins Extra Firming Day Cream & Extra Firming Night Cream, Murad Skin Perfecting Primer and Fab Body Moisturiser. 

I'm quite impressed with this month's products, but the perk for me is the the bright pink box! Like many other Glossybox subscribers I use my boxes for storing bits and pieces in my room so this one will go brilliantly in what I consider my Pink Palace!

I have mini-reviews of each product here and a separate, lengthier post for the Eyeko eyeliner to follow. 

RRP: £46.50 / 50ml & £48 / 50ml

Firstly, Clarins Extra Firming Day Cream : I like this product a lot, however prior to this I have used Clarins products that I've liked much more. The moisturiser felt good upon application and my skin felt nourished. It's worked all day which I'm impressed with as I had a day of university lectures and then spent some time in town where it was very cold and windy, usually that results in some dry patches.


Clarins Extra Firming Night Cream : The night cream felt soft on my skin but left it feeling slightly powdery.. the same as when Benefit's Pore-Fessional primer is applied if you've ever used that? That was slightly strange for me though I did appreciate the softness over greasy-ness. After another application tonight I found if I rubbed my face it rubbed off the moisturiser and I was getting it on my hands in little balls, not ideal!
Overall I'd give both of these a 3/5 score. I like them, but I like other products more which I'm likely to purchase.

RRP: £10.00 / 226.8g

 FAB Body Moisturiser : I used this post-shower this morning and it sank into the skin quickly. It felt nourishing and didn't leave any greasy residue. I don't have much to say other than it had a strange scent to it that wasn't quite to my liking, almost musty/masculine smelling. I probably wouldn't buy this product again purely because I have a huge stock of body butter hanging around!

RRP: £29.00 / 30ml

Murad Skin Perfecting Primer : I haven't managed to use this yet! After using the Clarins moisturiser this morning I completely forgot about this.

RRP: £9.50

 Eyeko Skinny Eyeliner : I have a post coming up about this but here's a hint..... 5/5!

A cute little extra, mmmm!

Overall, this box probably gets a 3/5 this month. If I were to have put together a "Valentine's" Box it would have probably included something like lip scrub/gloss/stick, nail polish, eyeshadow, mascara, exfoliator, shower scrub, bubble bath etc etc etc. I feel as though these products are all along the scale of "good, but could have been better".

Glossybox is £10 / month + P&P (£2.95) Click here to start your subscription.

Did you get this month's box? Do you love it or loathe it?? Let me know!

Love, 

December Glossybox

This month I received the most festive box so far! It's shimmering red and sleek compared to the usual matte pale pink. The products came in white paper with a gold and red sticker tied with a black ribbon.

*Sorry for the bad photo quality! My camera is on it's last legs but I was desperate to post about this box the minute I received it!*

This month's products : 

Blink + Go Hi-Definition Mascara - RRP: £14.99

Cargo Cosmetics Classic Lip Gloss - RRP: £10.00

Deborah Lippmann Razzle Dazzle Nail Varnish with Stripped To Go Sachet - RRP: £16.00 for both or £14.00 for polish.

MeMeMe Seventh Heaven (Primer) - RRP: £15.00

Rituals Foaming Shower Gel - RRP: £6.50

I haven't tried any of these properly yet, but I have experimented with the nail polish on one nail. I think I'm going to need a polish of a similar colour underneath to be fully happy with it, but it is a beautiful colour without being too obviously "festive".

Anyway, this is the December Glossybox. Did you receive the same things as me? Have you tried them yet??

Let me know :)

Love, 

HD Brows vs. Chanel Perfect Brows

As seen in my previous post I recently received the HD Brows kit in my September Glossybox. A few weeks before I’d splashed out on the Le Sourcil De Chanel Perfect Brows kit so I wanted to do a post comparing the two.

Both have very sleek exterior packaging. The shiny black is a classic look for most of the Chanel beauty products  with the trademark “Double C” logo and the HD Brows palette is closely following with the shiny black plastic and their brand logo. The font for the HD reminds me of Urban Decay slightly.

Another thing both these products have in common is a range of shades within them. The Chanel kit has 3 shades of brown ranging from medium to dark, but the HD Brows palette has 4 shades, one suitable for blondes (also doubles as a highlighter for under the brow) and the other 3 being a medium brown, a reddish brown and a dark brown/black. All of these can be worn as eyeshadows and eyeliners as well.

Each kit came with totally different tools. The Chanel palette came with a brow brush (if you look closely you can see it here, like a very tiny black toothbrush!), a set of small, round-ended tweezers and the applicator which is a small, slanted brush. The first thing I noticed about the Chanel brush is that it’s very hard. The bristles on the brush are very short and densely packed which at times means that it scrapes the product from the container, spilling excess powder and leaving a groove in the powder. It is fairly good for the actual application to the eyebrow, as long as you keep topping up the powder on the brush, but not something I would recommend to people who need a lot of precision. It’s difficult to retain a pointed finish to the eyebrow and tends to look just like a thick line with no definite end.

The HD Brows palette came with two applicators, an eyeshadow applicator and another double-ended brush (not pictured, click here to take you to the post). One end is a very thin, very soft slanted brush and one is a short, dense nib, possibly made of foam but I’m not sure. I much prefer the slanted brush in this kit to the Chanel one. It’s much softer and much easier to apply the powder to the brow with precision, avoiding a thick line. The eyeshadow applicator isn’t my favourite but that’s just because I prefer bristled brushes to these small, round applicators. They remind me of being 13 and having no idea what to do with eyeshadow!

Looking at the powder in each of these products I’d have to say that the HD Brows comes up ahead here. The colours are highly pigmented and stick well to the brush. The Chanel powders require a good scraping to gather any of the product on the brush which is a shame as there it results in so much wasted powder and aren’t as pigmented.

You can see in the swatches that the Chanel powder at the top is thick and quite smudged whereas the bottom HD Brows swatches are much more defined. It should be noted here that the Chanel swatch had to be applied about 3 times to even get a colour sample to show but the HD Brows used a single swipe and gave a defined and clear line.

Overall the HD Brows palette is definitely my favourite. The palette doubles up as an eyeshadow/liner as well as a brow filler and the colours are much longer lasting, less messy and easier to apply. I feel like I’m blaspheming saying this but the Chanel kit doesn’t even come close to the HD Brows. The only things it has that the HD kit doesn’t is a set of tweezers to get those pesky short hairs and it’s mirror is slightly magnified to get a better view of what you’re doing. If HD Brows ever came out with a kit that had those two features it would be absolutely perfect.

HD Brows retails at £19.95 and Le Sourcil De Chanel Perfect Brows is £41.00

Which would you choose?

xo xo 

September Glossybox. What's in the box?

After signing up for Glossybox in July I have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of my first box. Due to such high demand for August’s box I had to wait until now to receive one. It was well timed really as I have just moved into my second year uni house so I consider it a house warming gift to myself.

I was very pleased with the selection I received in my box. After reading from blogs/twitters what other people had I was hoping for the Neal & Wolf Harmony Intensive Hair Treatment which luckily, I got! As you can see from the photo I also received the Spa Magik salt brushing sample, Moa Green Balm, Plum by Mary Greenwell and the HD Brows palette.

I have only managed to use 3 of these products so far, the brow palette, the hair treatment and the balm.

I’ve found the balm works best for me on my cuticles and the skin around my nails and on chapped lips, (rather than a cleanser which is recommended on the Glossybox site) as that is one of my biggest problems with my nails, as an ex-nail biter I’m still stuck with some bad habits. It has a scent not dissimilar to Olbas Oil, which personally I like as it’s quite refreshing.

The Neal and Wolf hair treatment is something I’m a big fan of. I have quite long hair so to use it successfully I parted my hair into two bunches and massaged the product from the roots to the tips one side at a time once wet in the shower. It doesn’t lather up like shampoo and it’s not runny so it’s very easy to apply.  The packaging is very simple and there’s very little “fuss” in the blurb on the back. My only criticism is that it doesn’t state on the back whether to use before shampooing/after shampooing/before conditioning/instead of conditioning or give a recommended usage such as once a week/month etc. That is only a very minor criticism might I add, it ticks a lot of the boxes for me in terms of hair treatment; it didn’t leave my hair feeling heavy and the scent while I used it was divine (it was similar to something I’ve smelt before but I can’t place it).

My hair felt soft and smooth afterwards and although the scent didn’t linger after that’s not really a problem for me as I wear perfume most days and wouldn’t want the scents to mix.

I used it alone when I first tried it, so I didn’t shampoo before or condition after as I wanted to see the results without being affected by other products.

The HD Brows Palette is probably my second favourite item in the box after the hair treatment. I received the palette in “Vamp” which is perfectly matched to my brow colouring. Although I’m likely to only use the brown on the bottom left of the palette I’m pleased at the variety of shades supplied within the palette. Having colours both lighter and darker than what I use now means that if I choose to colour my hair lighter or darker I won’t have to go out and buy another brow product to match my hair.

 The Neal & Wolf “sample” in this month’s Glossybox is actually full size and has a retail price of £12.95, as is the HD Brows Palette which retails at £19.95 so in paying £12.95 for my Glossybox I’ve already made a saving!

I have yet to try the Spa Magik samples but when I do I’ll post about it straight away!

Did you get a Glossybox this month? What did you think? Link me to your posts/reviews in the comments section :)

xo xo