Memebox Special #6 Whole Grain

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to win my first blog competition over at Kelly's blog, and my prize was a Whole Grain themed Memebox. This box was sold out on thier website, so I was pretty excited to see what was inside!

As you can see, the box is jammed full of goodies! The first item I pulled out was this Herbclinic Rice Bran Powder ($8, full size). This is meant to be mixed with milk and either oatmeal or rice to create a face mask. I haven't been brave enough to try it out yet, it seems like quite an odd product!

This Grinif Nature Oatmeal Scrub Bar ($9, full size) is another quite odd looking product! I don't normally tend to use bars of soap but my face wash is starting to run low so once that's out I'll be using this. I'll definitely report back on how I get on with it, normally I find bars of soap quite drying but I'm hoping this will be different!

This Purebess Galactomyces 80 Eye Cream ($20, full size) has to be the biggest tube of eye cream I've ever seen! It does say that it can be used on other areas of your face too which is just as well, I'd never be able to use it up otherwise! I've had to Google Galactomyces, which is apparently a type of yeast.

We also received this Purebess Galactomyces 100% ($15, full size). This is meant to be used at the beginning of your skincare routine. One to two drops are all that is needed, so this is another product that will last me ages!

I received one of these Purderm face masks in the Aloe Vera box but I still haven't had a chance to try it out yet! This one is the Purederm Anti-Stress Heat Therapy Mask in Oatmeal ($12, full size). It smells really nice although I'm a little apprehensive about the 'heat therapy' aspect of it, sometimes masks like that can irritate my skin but I'm definitely willing to give it a try!

We received quite a few Purederm products in this box, these Purederm Rice Bran Collagen Mask ($5 for 2, full size) look great, I've gained much more of an appreciation for sheet masks after trying out the lovely aloe vera ones! I shall be saving these up for a pampering night.

I tried this Purederm Daily Moisturising Hand Mask in Oatmeal ($7 for 1 pair, full size) over the weekend as once you put them on, you have to leave them for 20-30 minutes. My hands still feel super soft three days later so this was definitely a winning product in my opinion, even if it does feel a bit bizarre to be sat wearing gloves in summer!

The final product from the Whole Grain box is this Purederm Invigorating Foot Scrub in Walnut ($4, full size). I used this the other day after having a long day of running about in uncomfortable shoes, and it felt lovely to pamper my feet a bit! As well as walnut, this scrub also contains apricot seed and lavender oil. My feet felt lovely and soft afterwards, I wish there had been more than one sachet of this in the box!

Another fantastic box from Memebox, and even better, it was free! If you're interested, there are loads of amazing boxes available at the moment so definitely have a look at the Memebox website.

I've already got four more boxes on pre-order, I think I've developed an addiction! Have you tried Memebox yet?

You Beauty Discovery Box - June 2014

You Beauty have outdone themselves again this month with another fab menu, with the theme being an introduction to summer. Here's what I picked!

I decided (after much deliberation) to go for the Urban Veda Daily Purifying Facial Wash and the L'oreal Paris Infallible 24 Hour Lip Colour in Timeless Rose. We also received a face mask from Montagne Jeunesse and a wash cloth.

I love seeing Urban Veda in beauty boxes, it's become one of my favourite brands! I've tried creams and face washes from them before and I'm always impressed. This is a face wash that I haven't tried before, but it feels like it will be a lovely product to use over the summer. It has a very refreshing scent, sort of minty.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this lip gloss but I just decided to give it a go. It's a double ended product, with gloss at one end and a sealing balm at the other. Whether the balm really does work for 24 hours, I dont know, but it certainly held up very well whilst eating and drinking and it's a gorgeous colour. The gloss feels very luxurious as well, not sticky or tacky.

The freebies! Having just gotten into face masks I was quite excited to see that we'd be getting one from Montagne Jeunesse. They're a brand I've heard a lot about but never tried, so I'm excited to try this out! The wash cloth has come in really handy, as I've been suffering rather a lot with hayfever at the moment so having a nice cloth to cool my itchy eyes has been a lifesaver!

I just can't get over how consistently good these boxes are. The range of products to choose from is always so wide, with quality brands to pick. For £6.95 a month, you really can't go wrong!

Do you subscribe to You Beauty? What did you pick this month?

You Beauty Discovery Box - May 2014

I've come to really enjoy You Beauty. I love how they have a theme every month, and I love waiting excitedly for the new menu to come out, and planning which two items I'm going to choose for my box! This month's theme is the UK CEW Beauty Awards, and the shortlist had plenty of winners to choose from.

First on my list was one of the two Glamglow products that were available on the menu. I've heard a lot of people raving about Glamglow, so I decided that I had to give the Supermud Clearing Treatment a go. I received a 10mg tube which I've worked out (with terrible maths skills so this is only an approximate total!) is worth about £13. I think I'll be able to get quite a few uses out of this, I'm really excited to try it out! 

I really struggled with my second item, I just couldn't choose! I eventually settled on these Burt's Bees face wipes. I've tried Burt's Bees products before and absolutely loved them, especially their lip balms, so I figured I'd try these out. They're not the most expensive item that I could have picked, but I'd rather have things I'll actually use in my box which is the beauty of this service! I received 10 face wipes, which works out as being worth around £1.99. These really do have quite a strong tea scent, but I find it quite refreshing! 

Sample wise, we received a bag of Lizi's granola which found it's way into the husband's tummy before I could photograph it! Granola is not my kind of thing, I'm more of a toast person in the mornings, but it was quite a good sized bag and it seemed to fill Luke up when he got home from work. We also received a sample of Caudalie's Divine Leg Tint. I'm not really sure about this as I usually tend to steer clear of anything that even hints at being fake tan, but it promises to give a lovely glow to post-holiday legs, so I might bust this out after Corfu. The final sample is Charles Worthington's Moisture Seal Hair Healer Leave-In Conditioner. I think this has the potential to be another good post-Corfu treatment, especially after having sea salt and lots of sun on it, my hair might well be in need of a pamper! 

All in all, another great box from You Beauty. Next month's theme is set to be holiday related which is a bit of a shame as I'm off to Corfu on Friday! I'm sure there will be some goodies that will take my fancy though.


Don't forget to enter my giveaway HERE to win TheBalm's How 'bout them Apples? palette!

Lush Cambridge Visit

I wasn't aware until one of my fellow bloggers (Jade) pointed it out, that Lush is very blogger friendly and frequently invite bloggers to come into their stores for consultations. I had my consultation with Freya, who was incredibly friendly and very knowledgeable about the various ingredients and products that Lush supply. We talked about my hair and skin types, so that Freya was able to recommend products that would be most suitable to me. 

I'm quite embarrassed to admit this but before my consultation I'd never actually used any of Lush's products before. It was really interesting to try out the face masks and bath bombs, and get more of an idea of the brand itself. I had great fun setting off Fizzbanger in a bowl of water, experimenting with exfoliating shower gels, and smelling different shampoos!

I was lucky enough to be given a few small samples to test out. I was given Daddyo and Veganese to try out on my hair, and a sample of Love Lettuce.

Daddyo was recommended to me as a brightener for for blonde and silver toned hair. My hair is sort of between brown and blonde, and since using this shampoo I have definitely noticed that some of my natural highlights have started to look brighter and more obvious, without looking brassy. Veganese was suggested as a soother for my dry scalp. It contains rosemary and lavender which are both herbs that contain soothing properties. My scalp has been slightly less itchy, but I think I'd probably need a more extended period of usage before seeing proper results.


Love Lettuce is a gorgeous face mask containing seaweed gel, honey and almond oil, and almond shells to exfoliate. It has a slight lavender scent, but it isn't overpowering. I used this on a Friday night after showering, and found it incredibly soothing. These face masks need to be stored in a fridge to keep them cool and fresh, and it definitely felt refreshing when applying! After 10 minutes I gently removed it with a damp cloth, and was left with gorgeously soft skin. I can't wait to use it again! 

I'm so glad I had the opportunity to visit Lush and learn more about their products. I will definitely be trying out a few more of their face masks, and I'd like to get my hands on some of their snazzy bath bombs too! Thanks for inviting me to your store guys!

Are you a Lush addict?

Murad Pomegranate Exfoliating Mask

This is another product that has been brought to my attention by Love Me Beauty. The Murad Pomegranate Exfoliating Mask sounded so good on the boutique menu, which was a major factor for my in choosing option three this month. I'm not usually one for face masks, there's no particular reason for this, it's just something I've never really gotten into.

 

The mask contains Pomegranate and Ginkgo Biloba extracts which contain antioxidants, natural fruit enzymes which exfoliate away trapped impurities and dead skin cells and Sodium PCA which restores essential moisture to soften, recondition and rehydrate your skin.

I applied the mask onto clean skin, as directed. The mask itself is a kind of clear gel, and I was expecting more of a fruity pomegranate fragrance than it actually had. This mask made my skin feel quite tingly/burny and I was on the verge of washing it off before deciding to hang on for the full 10 minutes. The mask didn't set into a hard layer, so it was quite easy to remove and I could instantly see results after washing the mask off. My skin looked incredibly clean, cleaner than I think I've ever seen it before! The tingling feeling stayed behind for a while after I'd removed the mask which I was initially a bit worried about, but having read some other reviews, I think that's a sign that the fruit enzymes are exfoliating away.

The sachet I received is quite large, and I'm definitely going to try and get a couple more uses out of it. I'm not sure whether I'll be repurchasing this when I've used it up, as 6 sachets of this mask come to £25, which is pretty pricey. If the product came in a bottle or tube I think I'd definitely consider it, but sachets are just too fiddly and quite wasteful really. 

Have you tried this mask before? Would you buy a product that only came in sachets?



Love Me Beauty Box - March 2014

When I first saw the menus for this month's Love Me Beauty box, I was a little bit disappointed. All of the options this time around included false eyelashes (which I don't use) and toothpaste (I have to use a special toothpaste as I have sensitive teeth). Since I've received the box though, I've been pleasantly surprised.

Obviously, the toothpaste and I were never going to get along. I think this is a decent sized sample though, and I definitely think that you would get enough uses out of it to find out whether its claims of super shiny smiles are true. This will be finding its way into my up for grabs album on Facebook though.

 
 The false eyelashes were also not my kind of thing unfortunately. They look like a really decent product though, they're reusable and the lashes themselves aren't ridiculously over the top. You could probably wear these during the day and not look too 'done up'. These retail for £6, but will be joining the toothpaste in my up for grabs album too!

 
We also received this Deep Steep foot stick. This is a kind of solid balm for feet which melts upon contact with skin. It's got a really strong minty scent which I'm not too keen on, but if it's going on my feet then it's not going to be too near my face, so I guess I can live with it. This is a full-size product which retails for around £5. 

 
 Also in this months box were these lovely bath salts. The option that I chose came with the 'Vintage Bouquet' scent, which is a blend of Bergamot and Geranium, and smells absolutely divine. I'm not normally one for floral scents so I was really surprised to find that I loved the smell of these. I actually can't wait to have a bath now! There are also little pieces of dried flowers in the sachet as well. I'm not sure I'll be putting those in the tub with me though.

 Each of the boxes this month featured a product from Murad as well. The option I chose came with this Pomegranate exfoliating face mask. Face masks are not something that I use regularly, but I love the idea of this being fruity smelling. I've not opened the sachet yet as I'm saving it for after my lovely floral bath, but I will definitely be letting you know how I get on with it.

 
Finally, the star product of the box for me is this Viper Venom Eye Fix from Nip + Fab. This is full-size and retails for £14.95. This claims to target dark under eye circles and fine lines in the eye area. I've had a quick go with this, and it feels absolutely lovely when you apply it. There is an instant cooling feeling and my eyes definitely felt refreshed. Overall, very pleased to see this in the box!

 
So that's my round up of the March Love Me Beauty box. I haven't been as impressed this month as I have been previously, as there were a couple of items in the box that I won't be using. However, the items in the box that I will be using look fantastic and I can't wait to start testing them out! Hopefully this has just been a bit of blip and April will see Love Me Beauty back on top form.

Do you subscribe to Love Me Beauty? What box option did you pick this month?