Love Me Beauty - July 2014

Love Me Beauty are obviously taking steps to try and improve after thier recent boxes, but unfortunately I feel that the July box is still a bit disappointing, which has prompted me to cancel my subscription.

Twenty bags of tea! I know that not everyone doesn't like tea, but for the people out there like me who have no use for it whatsoever, it's a bit disappointing to see one of the main items in the box be tea. I can rehome it so it won't be going to waste, but still a disappointing start.

So Susan is one of those brands I'm a bit 'meh' about. The contouring kit that I received from them in the June Glossybox felt very cheap, but I really like the look of this mascara. The packaging is adorable and the wand seems fairly sturdy.

But, then we get onto the eyebrow kit. Back to the same cheap feeling packaging and useless tiny brush. This will be rehomed as I'm pretty sure both of the shades included are too dark for me.

Ofra isn't a brand I've heard of, and we received two products from them in this month's box too. I went for the box option that contained the lip gloss but I won't be using it. It's a very bright girly pink that I'm sure some people will love but it's just not really my sort of thing.

I much prefer this product from Ofra, this eyeshadow is absolutely gorgeous and the packaging is brilliant. The eyeshadow pops up to reveal a mirror concealed underneath. Very cute, and the shade itself is a gorgeous shimmery gold.

Finally we have this sample of the Lashem eyelash and brow serum. This is supposed to enhance the growth of your lashes and brows, but I'm already lucky enough to have quite long lashes, and don't really fancy overgrown eyebrows.

Overall, some items I really like, and some that I really don't. I used to really enjoy Love Me Beauty and get really excited when it was time to pick out my box, but the quality of the products included has gone downhill and I'm just not as impressed with the boxes as I used to be. I'm sure lots of people will have loved this month's box and I'm sorry for this to be such a whingy post! I'll still keep an eye on the boutique to see what comes out and if there's a particular box that I really like the look of then I might resubscribe, but for now I'm sticking with Birchbox!

What did you think to the July Love Me Beauty box?

Beauty Box Buys #3

Another month, another round up of picks from beauty boxes! There have been a couple of fantastic boxes this month so I've found it quite hard to keep my selection down to just two products per box.

You Beauty Discovery 

 

This was a great box. The lip gloss was a bit of a random choice for me but it really paid off. I love the creamy texture of the gloss and the sealing balm works amazingly well. You can find it here for £9.99.
 

I also loved this face wash from Urban Veda, I think I might actually buy a full size bottle of this as it left my skin feeling and looking incredibly refreshed and clean. It's available here for £7.99.

Birchbox 

 


This was another tricky box to pick from! I genuinely loved everything I received, but the Yves Rocher lipstick was a stand out product. Initially I thought I wouldn't like it because of the colour, but I actually love it. It's hydrating and looks lovely. You can get it here for £9.90.

My second choice from Birchbox is this Naobay body lotion. It has a lovely citrusy scent which is perfect for summer, and it feels gorgeous on my skin. You can find it here for £12.95.

Glossybox  

I was less impressed with this month's Glossybox, but the two products I decided to keep have been well worth it. In particular, this Nail Girls base/top coat is brilliant. I own several top coats and they only last a day or so before my polish starts to peel or chip. The top coat has been on my nails for 3 days now and I have minimal chipping. I'm in love with it. I haven't been able to find a link for this online but I think the card that came with the Glossybox said this retails for around £13.50.

This eyeshadow brush from Teeez cosmetics is great too. I've been having a lot of fun playing around with it and trying different looks, unfortunately I'm having trouble finding a link to buy this as well, and I can't remember the price listed for it. I think it was listed in euros.

Love Me Beauty 

Love Me Beauty had a great box this month, full of lots of make up! I especially loved the Beauty UK mascara, it adds great definition and length to my lashes all for the bargain price of £2.99! Get it here.

I was also really impressed with the ModelCo lipstick. I wasn't expecting to like the colour, but I actually felt like it really suited me, and the formula was very nice too. I'd be really interested to try out the other shades shown for this lipstick on the website, particularly Peony. You can find them here for £12 each.


Would you buy any of these products? Which was your favourite beauty box this month?

Love Me Beauty Box - June 2014

After last month's Love Me Beauty box went off on a bit of a lifestyle tangent, I was interested to see where the June box would go. This month there seems to have been more of an emphasis on make up which I was happy to see, and I decided to go with option 3 (again).

To get the bad stuff out of the way first, I'm really disappointed with the shade of nail polish I received. I haven't tried any nail polishes from Nyx before, so I was pretty excited to see a shimmery gold colour pictured for option 3. However, it does say that colours may vary and unfortunately I've picked up a rather boring brown shade called 'Truffle'. I really don't like it, and I don't think I'll be able to rehome it easily.

With that out of the way, on to the good stuff! I received my second Montagne Jeunesse masque from a beauty box, this is a peel off formula with black seaweed. I have a lot of masques at the moment that have a 'clay' type formula that set on your face, so I'm intrigued to try a peel off one! I might be busting this out on Friday after work as a bit of a treat.

Initially, the colour of this lipstick from ModelCo really put me off. It looks so dark! But once applied, I actually really liked it. It feels quite creamy and comfortable on my lips and the mirror on the side is a really cute touch too!

I also received the Define-fx mascara from Beauty UK which is another brand I haven't tried before. The wand is exactly what I want from a mascara, not too big and unwieldy, with the smaller plastic bristles. I've had a quick go with this and it definitely defined my lashes, there was no clumping to be seen!

I also received my second Urban Veda sample for the month! This is the exfoliating version of the face wash I received from the You Beauty Discovery box. I absolutely loved that face wash, it left my skin so clean feeling and refreshed, so I'm pretty sure I'll love using this as well!

I think this was a birthday extra from Love Me Beauty, as I haven't filled out enough surveys to receive any extras yet. I like Jelly Pong Pong but I don't use eyeliners so I'll be giving this away, but a nice touch nonetheless.

I think Love me Beauty have redeemed themselves this month, I'm a little bit disappointed to only have a small sample of Urban Veda as they aren't an expensive brand and Love Me Beauty have always (in the past) provided bigger items in their boxes and that was what made me subscribe in the first place. The other items are full size though so I shouldn't really be complaining, but the value of the boxes have definitely gone down dramatically since I first started subscribing to Love Me Beauty.

What did you think to this month's box?

 

Beauty Box Buys #2

 May was another great month for beauty boxes! Birchbox in particular did a fantastic job with their Harper's Bazaar collab, and You Beauty's theme of the CEW awards resulted in a great selection of products too. Here are my favourite products from each of the boxes I received this month.

Love Me Beauty    

I wasn't overwhelmed by the selection from Love Me Beauty this month, however there were a couple of items that I liked. The Raw Skincare lip balm in 'Rescue Me' has been a life saver at times this month. I suffer from dry lips and this balm has kept them moisturised and soft. It's also a total bargain at £2.98, and you can find it here. We also received these cute notebooks from Go Stationery. I am a bit of a stationery geek so I was pretty excited to get these in my box! The patterns are really cute and I will definitely get plenty of use out of these at work. Having a notebook handy is always a plus! You can find these cute notebooks in sets of three here for £5.

You Beauty Discovery  

This month I've totally fallen in love with the Glamglow Supermud Clearing Treatment that I was lucky enough to get my hands on when the menu went live! The mask is applied quite sparingly, and dries to be quite solid. I could really see it working on my pores and after rinsing it off my skin felt and looked incredibly clear and refreshed. It's an expensive one, but if you're feeling flush I really would recommend it! You can find it here for £39.99.

Birchbox 
 

Birchbox managed to entice me back into subscribing by producing (in my opinion) thier best box to date. It's been incredibly hard to pick just two favourites from the box, but I've just about managed it! Firstly, Benefit's 'They're Real!' mascara. This mascara really is amazing. It's not a product that's new to me, it's just a fantastic mascara and if you don't have or haven't tried it yet, get it! It's available here for £19.50. 

We also received a sample of the Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser. I was intrigued to try this out after hearing so many bloggers rave about it, and it's definitely worth the hype. My skin feels so soft and clean after using this, it's definitely better than any other cleanser I've tried! You can find it here for £14.75.

Do you own any of these products already? Which are your favourites?

Love Me Beauty Box - May 2014

This month's Love Me Beauty menu was a bit of a surprise, as they decided to take their boxes in more of a 'lifestyle' direction. Each menu contained some tea bags and notebooks as well as some beauty items. Here's what I received!

First up, the tea. I don't drink tea, so I was a little bit disappointed to see tea bags included as one of the items in each box. I do have friends who are total tea addicts though, so these will be rehomed!

I loved the idea of including notebooks in the boxes, especially with these adorable prints! I can never remember things unless I write them down, and one of these notebooks has already found it's way into my desk drawer for taking notes in meetings. I've no doubt that these will come in handy while I'm on holiday too!

 I already have a lot of pink nail polishes, so I will probably be looking to rehome this as well! It's a very vivid shade of pink, as opposed to the baby pink it's described as, but the formula seems really nice.

We also received these cute little tubs from Suti. One of them is a foot balm, and the others (I think) are for your face. They all smell very herby which I don't mind but I know not everyone will like. They seem quite oily which I am always a little bit wary about with facial creams. They don't always tend to work well with my skin but I will try them out and report back!

Finally, we received this lip balm from Raw Skincare. This was the main reason for me picking menu number 3 this month, as the other options were mint and ginger beer flavour balms. This one should be perfect for me as it's meant to be super moisturising! 

Overall, I'm happy with the box but it could have been better. Love Me Beauty have recently been slightly slipping in my opinion which is a shame because they were my absolute favourite box for a while! I still really like them, but I think they need to up their game a bit in the next couple of months otherwise I will be unsubscribing.


What did you think to this month's box? Did you prefer the lifestyle theme?

Beauty Box Buys #1

The idea for this post was suggested to me by one of my friends (Thanks Kat!) via the blogs Facebook page, and I instantly loved it! This is going to be a new feature once a month, in which I will mention the items I have received in beauty boxes that I would most recommend! 

Birchbox

This month's Birchbox was a good one. The standout item for me was the TheBalm blush palette, How 'bout Them Apples? I loved it so much I bought the full size palette with my Birchbox points! The palette is available from TheBalm's website, but it'll have to be shipped from the US. A better bet is Cloud10Beauty, they have the palette listed for £24.50 which is £1.50 cheaper than in the Birchbox shop, and you won't be running the risk of customs fees. 

Alternatively, you could enter my giveaway HERE and win yourself one!
 

This month's Birchbox also featured the Yes to...Cucumbers face wipes. These are great at removing make up and super refreshing. I know face wipes aren't everyone's thing, but I find them really helpful for removing mascara and clearing off any bits of make up I've missed with a cleanser. You can find the full-size packs of these here for £3.74.

Love Me Beauty    

Love Me Beauty had some great products this month, but my absolute favourite was this shampoo from Neal and Wolf. It smells amazing, and my hair feels so soft after using it! It is a bit pricey for an everyday shampoo, so I'm not sure if it's something I'll be repurchasing, but I'd definitely recommend it! Especially if flyaway hair is a problem you suffer with. My hair is quite fine so it does occasionally get quite irritating, but since using this I've not had any problems. It's available here for £11.50 for 250ml.

You've all heard me raving about the Betty Hula Secret Wonder Oil this month. I've mainly been using it for stretchmarks, but this can also be used for scarring, dry/sensitive and aging skin, combination skin, oily skin and for soothing sun burn. It is also recommended for eye wrinkles. The travel size rollerball is £6.25 and is available here along with Betty's other lovely goodies!

You Beauty Discovery   

This month's You Beauty box was fantastic. I loved both of the products I received, but my favourite was the Essential Care Creamy Coconut Cleanser. I picked this for my box on a bit of a whim, but I really love it. It removes all of my make up incredibly easily, and even removes mascara to a point. My skin feels clean and refreshed after I've used it, and I just think it's a great product! You can get it here for £14.50 (150ml) or £6 (30ml).

I also love the Clayspray from this month's box. This is probably going to be slightly out of budget for most people, but if you're feeling flush then I'd recommend giving it a try. These are literally cans that contain a clay mask. These dry to quite a solid mask and I found that it could be quite tricky to remove, but your skin feels amazing afterwards, so definitely worth the hassle. Don't get it in your hair though, I got a couple of stray strands in by accident and spent ages trying to get it out! Feelunique have the smaller 30ml sizes which might be better if you just want to get a feel for the product, which you can find here for £15, or you can get the larger 125ml cans here for £44.50 each. Feelunique also offer sets of clayspray masks with a spring water spray which is what Clayspray recommends you prep your skin with before applying the mask. I personally don't think it would make that much difference, but if you're interested, you can find those here for £35 each.

What do you think of my favourite beauty box picks from April? Would you buy any of these products?

 

Love Me Beauty Box - April 2014

I can't lie, initially I was quite disappointed when I saw the menu for this month's Love Me Beauty box. There were only four products instead of the usual six! However, since looking into it a bit more and deciding which box I wanted, and receiving the box, I've talked myself around.

What really made my decision for option three this month was this full-size shampoo from Neal and Wolf.  The other options included a blow dry balm or a super shine spray, and being someone who doesn't like to spend too long on their hair, I decided that the shampoo would be the best option! I've never tried this brand before, but this shampoo smells amazing, I can't wait to use it! 

Option three also included this full-size Models Own polish in the shade 'Fuzzy Peach'. This is a great spring/summer shade, and who doesn't love a Models Own polish? I only have one of their polishes, but it's one of my favourites so I was happy to add another to my collection. I might wear this when I go on holiday next month, it definitely strikes me as a holiday polish! 

Betty Hula is another brand I've not heard of, but this Secret Wonder Oil rollerball is exactly the kind of thing I am interested in! I have a few stretchmarks from quickly gaining and then losing a bunch of weight (through diet), so receiving this now is perfect timing! I'll use it before I go on holiday and report back to see whether it has made any difference. I've always sworn by Bio-Oil, but it is incredibly greasy and doesn't have a handy rollerball application! 

We also received this sample of Redken's conditioner for coloured hair. My hair isn't coloured, but I think I'll probably use this anyway as it smells really nice! It has a very similar scent to shampoos that have been used on me when I've visited the hairdressers, so I'm sure it'll give me that 'just visited the hairdressers' feeling!

As additional extras, we received a £25 voucher for HelloFresh, a company that delivers recipes with the exact ingredients to your door, and an extra sample. Some people have received Weleda stretchmark cream sachets, but I've received this sample of Melvita rosewater. I think this is meant to be used before cleansing, but the rose scent is very overpowering. It's not really my kind of thing at all so this might end up in the up for grabs album! 

Overall, I liked this box a lot more than I thought I was going to. I think I'd have preferred it more if the voucher had been for something beauty based, or if it had been another product to try in the box, but I still think that this is an improvement on last month and Love Me Beauty is still my favourite out of all the beauty boxes. Glossybox, Birchbox and You Beauty don't put anywhere near as many full-size samples in their boxes, so here's hoping that the May box is going to really wow me!