Birchbox - August 2014

Another month, another Birchbox and this month the theme is Away We Go! Having already been on my holiday this year, I'm a bit jealous of everyone else that's jetting off!

We've got a really good selection of products in this month's box, with lots of holiday sized samples to take away with you. I like that my box came with samples for hair, beauty and skincare, but some of them will definitely be more useful than others!

The first product I wasn't too pleased to see in my box was this leave-in conditioning spray from Number 4. I don't tend to use this sort of thing as my hair can get very greasy, so I shall be looking to rehome this with someone who actually uses hair products!

I've already tried this treatment oil from Nude. I decided to use it as an overnight treatment but it didn't sink into my skin at all and left it feeling really greasy. I won't be using this again!

One of the better products from this box is this exfoliating cleanser from Vasanti. I've already tried this and I love it. It's not a rough exfoliator at all, it has very small exfoliating particles in it that gently buff your skin to leave it shiny and resfreshed.

Sadly, this is another product that I will be looking to rehome! While I'd have loved to try this CC cream, the shade 'light to medium' is too dark for my skin tone. I wonder how many people can actually use samples like this. I'm sure there are lots of people out there who subscribe to Birchbox that are either too pale for it or their skin tone is too dark for it.

I also received the Chella Ivory Lace Highlighter. I've unfortunately yet to get the hang of highlighting, but I've already managed to swap this with someone for one of the Wild About Beauty eyeshadows so at least it's going to someone who will use it!

This month, the lifestyle extra was the first chapter of a book by Tasmina Perry. I think that this is a really good idea, lots of people read on their holidays and I'd definitely like to see more books in the Birchbox shop!

This month's box was a bit hit and miss for me. Not many of the products are ones that I'll actually use, but I'm hoping to do some swapping to get the ones I do want! Hopefully the September box will see Birchbox back on form again.


What did you think to this month's Birchbox?

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?

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?

Birchbox - June 2014

Another month, another great box from Birchbox! Never have I been so glad to be resubscribed to a beauty box. Birchbox have been absolutely nailing it recently and even though I was apprehensive about a 'football' theme, they've carried it off with aplomb!

Having recently discovered OPI through my duty free bargains, I was pretty excited to see a mini bottle in the box! This is from the OPI Brazil collection and even though this isn't a shade I would have picked for myself, I actually really like it. It has a sort of carnival feel to it that fits with the theme really well.

Yves Rocher is a brand I've tried before, but I haven't tried out their make up. Initially, I thought this peachy lipstick was really not my kind of shade but once I swatched it, I immediately changed my mind. It doesn't add a full on peach colour, but it is pretty unforgiving on dry lips. It does say that it contains cherry oil to moisturise though so leaving it on for a while might do me some good!

This hair mask from Silk + Honey is pretty intriguing. It's a really decent sized sample so I should be able to get a couple of uses out of it, and it smells really nice too. I've not tried hair masks before so this is definitely something I'll be giving a go soon!

I also received a diddy sample of the Embryolisse Lait-Creme Concentre, which is an ultra soothing moisturiser, and can also be used as a make up remover and all over body moisturiser. I might give this a try on some of my dry patches to see how it handles them, French products are always pretty spot on though.

Finally, I received the Naobay body lotion. This smells really nice and I was pretty happy to see soemthing like this in my box as I 'm actually starting to run pretty low on body lotion! It's got a lovely lemony scent and contains shea butter, olive and avocado oils. 

For this months lifestyle extra we received this cute little flip flop keyring! I've already put this on my 

work keys, I think its a really nice little addition to the box.

Overall, such a good box! I feel like the samples are mainly really well sized, and everything fits the theme really well. I think this must be the third box in a row now that Birchbox have done really well in my opinion, I can't wait to see what they come up with next!

Do you subscribe to Birchbox? 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?

Birchbox - May 2014

I know I said that the April Birchbox was my last box, and I did unsubscribe, but then I saw the amazing things that everyone was getting in the special Harpers Bazaar collaboration box and I knew I was going to have to resubscribe!

I think you'll agree, a pretty impressive range of products! The item that really pushed me into subscribing again was the Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish sample. I've heard so much about this from other bloggers that I just couldn't pass up the chance to give it a go! This came gorgeously wrapped up with a muslin cloth and instructions on how to use the product to get the most advantage from it, and I can't wait to give it a go!

Next up is this cute little bottle of bath and shower oil from Aromatherapy Associates. I've already had a bath with this and it smells divine. It's a gorgeous scent that definitely made me feel invigorated. I felt like it would probably be really nice to use if you have a cold, as it felt lovely when I breathed it in. The scent also lingered on my skin after my bath as well which was a nice bonus!

A couple of months back we received the Beauty Protector hair oil from Birchbox which I really loved, but unfortunately I knocked the bottle onto my bathroom floor and it smashed! Thankfully, the shampoo and conditioner in this months box are in plastic bottles so clumsy people like me don't waste them! I can't wait to give these a try, if they're anything like the hair oil then I'll love them.

I have been loving how much Benefit has been in the past few Birchboxes! I'm really pleased to add a sample of 'They're Real!' to my collection. This is a must-have mascara and I absolutely love it. It really does add volume and definition to your lashes, and if you haven't tried it yet, then you really need to! The only slight downside to it, is that it's notoriously difficult to remove.

 

This polish is absolutely gorgeous. I think this shade is called Cerise, and it's a lovely berry pink shade. I was super impressed with the application, the brush is a great size and the polish was incredibly easy to work with. It's also really high shine as you can see below, that's two coats without a top coat.

Birchbox have really blown me away this month. The April box was good, but this is even better! Obviously the boxes won't always maintain this standard, but I can't get over what a fabulous selection of products there is this month. Not only have you got make up, you've hair care and skin care, as well as a nail polish. I'm sure some people will be a bit grumpy about the lack of a lifestyle extra this month, but the fact that Birchbox have included both a shampoo and conditioner more than makes up for that for me! I'll be staying subscribed for a bit longer it seems...

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