Beauty Box Buys - July 2014

This month has seen me finally make a decision about which beauty boxes I'm going to cull. I've decided to cancel Glossybox and Love Me Beauty, which means I'm left with Birchbox and You Beauty Discovery. I'm also planning on getting more Memeboxes in future!

Glossybox 

My two favourite items from this box had to be the Mary Kay mascara and the Bellapierre lipstick. Whilst I would have preferred the red lipstick, the pink suits me really well and I really like the formula! I also love that it's quite a high end product compared to what we normally receive in Glossyboxes, retailing at £20 here. The mascara was a real surprise, as I expected it to not be great quality. Having tried it though, I really like it. It really lengthens and adds definition to my lashes, and it's another high end product! You can find it here for £16.

Birchbox 

Birchbox had some great brands this month, but my two favourites were the Whish body lotion and the Balance Me Eye Cream. The Whish body lotion was another surprise for me, as I'd expected to hate it! Lavender is really not my kind of thing but it is drowned out by the other gorgeous ingredients included in this lotion. It sinks into my skin much quicker than your average body lotion, and leaves a lovely scent behind. The only UK stockist for Whish at the moment seems to be the Birchbox shop, but having a peek at their US website has me drooling over the different flavours available! I'd love to try the blueberry one! You can find it here for $24. The Wonder Eye Cream from Balance Me has done wonders for my puffy eyes! It's meant to work really well for fine lines around the eyes as well but I don't really have nay of those (yet!) so I can't comment on how well it deals with those, but it's certainly a nice refreshing eye cream to use in the morning before I put the rest of my make up on. You can find it here for £20.

You Beauty Discovery 

This month's YBD was a bit odd, what with the men's shaving cream. I went for the L'occitane shampoo and conditioner but I found that they made my hair quite greasy. My other pick for this month was the Miss Manga mascara from L'oreal. Whilst I haven't been blown away by it, I still think it's a really nice daytime mascara. You can find it here for £8.99.

Love Me Beauty 

Clearly mascara has been a theme for this month's boxes! This So Susan mascara is unlike any of the other mascaras I own. The wand has a very small brush which means that I can nab the tiny lashes at the corner of my eye, whilst also providing a decent coverage. I also really like the cute tube with the hummingbird design, it's adorable! It's here for £14.95. I also really love the Ofra eyeshadow from this month's box. It's a lovely soft pressed shadow and you should know by now how much I love a shimmery eye! I can't seem to find a UK stockist for these but they retail for $15. 

What do you think to my beauty box picks for July? Would you buy any of these products?

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?

Glossybox January 2014

I have to say, my review of this months Glossybox is probably going to be a minority opinion! I've seen a lot of bad or slightly disappointed blog posts floating around, but I actually quite like the box we've received this month. Here's what I got in my box.

First up, Yu-Be moisturising skin cream. We received two small tubes of this. Having just rubbed some onto my hand, it's got quite a strong scent, which I'm not sure many people will like, and the texture is almost waxy. Apparently this can be used as a lip balm, a remedy for dry skin, and a moisturiser. The product is Japanese, and I'm quite intrigued to see what it would be like as a lip balm. Judging by the smell it might taste a bit odd. As I was taking these photos, I realised that one of the tubes had split open, so that's had to be thrown away.

We also received a Balance Me body wash. This is apparently 'super-toning' and contains Juniper, Bergamot, Geranium and Lavender. It smells quite nice, slightly too floral for me, but for a sample sized bottle I can live with it. I've been pretty impressed by Balance Me products before, so hopefully this one will live up to my expectations.

I was pretty happy to see the tweezers from the Vintage Cosmetic Company in this months box. A pair of tweezers always comes in handy, but I know quite a few people out there have been unimpressed by products from this company before. I'm going to see how I get on with them before I pass judgement!



Next up, we have Puffy the Eye Bag Slayer Under Eye Patches from Anatomicals. I'm really interested in these, I'm definitely going to be doing a follow up post to let you know whether they're any good! Having had a look at the packaging to find out how to use them, they're not a quick fix. You've got to wear these bad boys for 30 minutes! Definitely an interesting product to try out though, and perfect for recovering from too much partying in December.

Finally, the other product that's caused some controversy this month. This is is the Vaseline Essential Moisture Lotion, and at £4.99 for a full size bottle weighing in at 400ml, we've been sent a small 50ml bottle which some people have seen as a bit of a swizz. I'm not massively bothered about this as I've got loads of body lotion to use up already from Christmas, but it's a bit of a poor showing from Glossybox when you look at the full-size products I received from Love Me Beauty this month. There's not really a lot more I can say about this product, other than it smells really nice!

Overall, I think Glossybox have done really well to stick to their theme of 'Back to Basics' for January. I think all of these items tie in really well, and while they may not blow you away due to the sizes of the samples, they're still handy things to have. I'll probably keep the shower gel and body lotion aside for my holiday in May.

I am pleased that I got this months box with Glossydots, and I have cancelled my subscription. I've had a few too many boxes that just didn't impress me, and since signing up to Love Me Beauty, it's been a bit of an eye-opener to see how well other boxes are doing in comparison.
I will still be keeping my eye on Glossybox's future efforts, in case they start to improve, but for now I think I'm going to see how I get on with Birchbox and Love Me Beauty.



Handbag products

Everyone has handbag essentials right? So I've decided to kick off this blog with mine. I mainly carry lip products around with me, as my lips get dry very easily.

For every day use, I carry around these lip balms from the Body Shop.

 I have them in Strawberry and Pomegranate. They smell absolutely fantastic, and definitely keep my lips from getting dry. They are also available in Plum, Pink Berry, Lychee, and Toffee. They don't have much pigment, which I actually find quite handy, as I don't have to faff about with a mirror.
 These are a steal at £3 a go, and are available from the Body Shops website and instore.

I also have a more heavy duty lip balm, and a Revlon lip butter.

The intensive lip salve was an item I received in a Glossybox a while ago, and in winter this gets a lot of use. It is fantastic at healing my lips when they are super chapped, however, it costs £12 for 10ml, which is pretty pricey, even if it is a must-have. You can buy it here. The Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter (in Berry Smoothie) is perfect for adding a slight colour to your lips. I don't find them to be particularly nourishing, but they are beautifully packaged, and the colours are lovely. I purchased mine from Boots for £7.99.

I apologise for the close up pictures but these show the lip balms and butters best!

My lips naturally:

My lips with the Pomegrante lip balm:

As you can see, not much pigment at all.

My lips with the Revlon Lip Butter:

Lovely shimmery colour!

And so concludes my first beauty post! I hope everyone who reads this finds it helpful :)



xxx