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?

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?

Memebox Superbox #30 Aloe Vera

It was always going to happen eventually. I've finally been suckered into buying my first Memebox! Memebox is a Korean beauty box company that produces several different boxes every month, and dispatches them at different times throughout the month. There is no subscription fee, you just pick the box you like the sound of and buy it! For my first box, I decided to go for the Aloe Vera Superbox.

The box comes wrapped in a pink bubble wrapped bag, and contains a card listing everything in the box and instructions on how to use the products.

As you can see, my box was jam packed with Aloe Vera goodies! The first thing I picked out was this Purederm Skin Soothing Moisture Mask (full-sized, $12). It smells really nice and the product itself is a really interesting texture, it's quite unlike any other masks I've tried before! I can't wait to give it a try.

There were also six of these Purederm Nose Pore Strips ($6 for a box of six), I've never tried nose strips before but I do tend to suffer from spots around that area of my face, so these will definitely get used up!

This Enesti Aloe Vera Soothing Gel (Full-sized, $14) is going to come in very handy! I read a review of this box that mentioned putting this product in the fridge, which I think is a fantastic idea for when it gets really hot. The UK has had some very warm weather recently so I've put this in the fridge in preparation!

  

The Real Beauty Morning Dew Bamboo Serum (full-sized, $28) is one of the more expensive items included in the box. The serum is meant to provide gentle hydration to dry and lacklustre skin. It is very watery, and I've been putting it on at night before I go to bed. It seems to leave my skin quite sticky and I haven't noticed any obvious benefits yet, but I'm hoping with extended use I should start to see some results!

There were also two Enesti Suanbo Spa Aloe Multi Care Masks (full-sized, two masks for $10) in the box. I tried one of these last night and loved it! The mask fit to my face really well and stayed there, normally I find these masks much too big for my face and they always end up falling off. I left it on for 10 minutes and once I'd removed it, I gently patted the excess gel into my face. My skin felt incredibly refreshed afterwards.

The Ramosu 100% Pure Aloe Vera Extract (full-size, $11) is a bit of a mystery product for me! I had a real struggle to actually get into the bottle to put the little plastic topper on, and now I'm not really sure what to do with it! I think I might try using it on my face for a bit, if that doesn't seem to do anything I might just save it for sunburn.

This Grinif Aloe Mist Moisture Care was the most expensive item in the box (full-size, $36). I've used it a couple of times and I would definitely suggest holding this well away from your face when you use it! It spritzes quite a large amount at a time so you don't need a lot of sprays to get full coverage.

For my first box, I'm really impressed. I only paid £15 for this box as I had a discount code, and the value comes in at $117, nearly £70. I've already ordered some more Memeboxes, and I was lucky enough to win one over at the lovely Kelly's blog, which I shall be reviewing shortly! 

The Aloe Vera Superbox is still available here for $32, but you might want to move fast, boxes sell out quickly!         

Weekly Book Round Up #50

This is such a fun series, I'm always excited when a new Charley Davidson book comes out! Charley is a P.I. with a difference. She's the grim reaper incarnate and in addition to guiding souls to thir final destination, she can communicate with ghosts to help them resolve any unfinished business. Think Stephanie Plum with a supernatural twist, these books are fun, dramatic, and a riot to read. I'm already looking forward to the next one!

Nicola's rating: 5/5

Rebel Belle is the a new offering from Rachel Hawkins, and while I wasn't expecting much, I actually really enjoyed it! Harper Price is the queen bee at her school, but after a strange encounter at her school dance, she finds herself gifted with super strength and lethal fighting abilities. She has become a Paladin, a guardian for one of her classmates, who just so happens to be her worst enemy. In some ways this reminded me of Buffy the vampire slayer, there's a lot of kick ass fight scenes and the dialogue between charaters is always entertaining. I really thought that this would be quite a boring read but I was pleasantly surprised!

Nicola's rating: 4/5

Birchbox - July 2014

The past few Birchboxes have been absolutely amazing, and I was fully prepared for the July box to take a bit of a dip in quality, but it really hasn't!

I always love the cute postcards that come with the box, such a lovely touch! The first item I spotted in this month's box was this sample from Weleda. I've tried a hand cream from them before and I really liked it, so I'm hoping this will be another winning product!

I've also tried Gilchrist and Soames before, and wasn't overly impressed. I received one of their shower gels in a previous Birchbox and just wasn't really blown away by it, it was just an okay product. I'm not really sure if this is bubble bath, or meant to be used as a body wash, but it definitely smells nicer than the shower gel I had previously!

This was the first item I picked out that I hadn't heard of! It's an adorable lip crayon in a vibrant purple shade. I'm not entirely sure it's my kind of colour, but quite a fun addition to the box anyway.

I was a little bit apprehensive when I saw that we'd be getting a lavender body lotion, as I absolutely can't stand the smell of it! However, this lotion was a pleasant surprise. The lavender is definitely there, but it's muted by the other ingredients. I've used this a couple of times already and I love it!

We also received a cute sample of the Balance Me Wonder Eye Cream. I've used Balance Me before and was seriously impressed, so this eye cream has a lot to live up to! That said, I don't really have many wrinkles around my eyes (yet!) so I'm not sure how much of an obvious difference this will make to the skin around my eyes.

The lifestyle extra for this month was this Ultradex oral spray. It's a bit of an unusual choice but it's always incredibly handy to have something like this in your handbag, I haven't tried it yet but I'm hoping it's not overpoweringly minty!

Not a knockout box like the previous two boxes have been, but still a great little box with some lovely products to try out! I've recently cancelled Love Me Beauty and Glossybox as I've found that Birchbox suits me better. 

What did you think of this month's Birchbox?

First Impressions: I ♥ Makeup Death By Chocolate Palette

I am so pleased I have this palette, it came out before I got paid and when I went to buy all of my other Makeup Revolution goodies, it had sold out! Luckily it came back into stock not long after that so I put in a super quick order and now its here!

How beautiful is that packaging? I just love the feel of this palette, it has a lovely weight to it and the outer casing is just so unusual! I've read on other blogs that they couldn't detect any chocolatey scent from this palette, but I definitely can. It's a little bit synthetic but still quite a unique touch!

And there they are, another lovely palette full of shimmery neutrals! I'm so easily pleased.

 This is the top row. Don't Let Go and Consume Me are obviously my faves, but I'm in love with how jet black All is Lost is. White Light is basically the same shade as my skin, but I probably won't use it anyway.

The second row is where we really get going. There's a couple of mattes in there, but just look at the shimmer on Fool's Gold. It's beautiful. The mattes are a bit better than in the Salvation palettes, but I'd still probably skip them.

This is the bottom row and I want these shades on my eyelids right now. They're all gorgeous and really fit with the chocolatey theme of the palette. I honestly couldn't pick a favourite shade, I love them all.

The Death By Chocolate palette retails for £7.99 and is available here. If you're a fan of shimmery neutrals then you need this in your life, it's quickly become one of my go to palettes!

Glossybox - July 2014

This box is the last one from my 3 month subscription to Glossybox, and I'm quite glad it's come to the end of it's run! I won't be renewing, out of the three boxes I've received this one was definitely the best, but I was really not impressed by the others.

The July box promised four full-sized products, all from American brands. I love the design of the box, with the stars and stripes!

I love me a nail polish, so I was pretty chuffed to see I'd gotten a box with a full-size Color Club polish. It's not a particularly summery colour, but it fits with the theme of the box really well and I love blue polishes so I didn't mind!

I'd never tried Carmex before, but I am a total lip balm hoarder so I tried this straight away thinking I would love it. Unfortunately it's one of those tingly lip products so I wiped it off more or less straight away and binned it. Bit of a disappointment!

Besides the Carmex, this is the only other product in the box that won't get used. I don't tend to use eyeshadow primers unless I'm going out and doing a bigger eyeshadow look than I would during the day. I shall be looking to rehome this with someone!

I hadn't heard of Mary Kay before, but I love trying new mascaras, and I was pleased to see that this had a thinner plastic wand. I find these much easier to use than bigger bristley wands, and having tried this out it definitely gives my eyelashes volume and definition. I'm pretty impressed with it overall.

The final item in the box that I think most people were super excited about was the Bellapierre lipstick. There were three different shades going out in the boxes (pink, orange and red), and I landed the pink. It has a very creamy formula and felt quite comfortable when I tried it on, but I didn't wear it for an extended period of time so I'm not sure what it would be like for day to day wear.

As I said before, this is the best box I have had from Glossybox since taking out my three month subscription. There was a really nice selection of brands and different types of make up in the box, I just feel like Glossybox have lost their touch compared to other beauty box companies. 

What did you think to this month's box?