TheBalm How 'Bout them Apples? Palette and Giveaway!

Since the April Birchbox, I have been so excited about this palette! It's finally arrived, and I am just as much in love as I thought I would be.

For starters, adorable packaging. Anything with a vintage pinup AND pugs?! It's like this was made for me, I love it! 

The inside packaging I'm not as in love with, but the blushes are stunning. These are super creamy, and you really do not need a lot of product to get a gorgeous build up of colour. 

The blushes are all matte, apart from crisp which has a tiny bit of peach shimmer to it. The swatches were all done with one swipe, so you can see what I mean when I say you won't need a lot of product. I can definitely see myself having to be careful with Cobbler to avoid the Coco the Clown look, but I basically can't wait to get these on my face!

I've been a bit of a sneaky blogger and bought a spare palette for one of my lucky readers to win! If you love the look of these gorgeous blushes, just fill out the details in the Rafflecopter below. This giveaway is open internationally, so make sure you do complete all the options to get the maximum entries (and no cheating! I will be checking to make sure people have entered correctly).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Birchbox - April 2014

This is probably the first time I've been really impressed by Birchbox. The other boxes I've received haven't been terrible, but I was really genuinely excited about this box, and I'm really pleased with what I got!

The item I was most excited about was this mini blush from the How 'Bout Them Apples? palette by TheBalm. I saw this palette being advertised a while ago and knew that I would have to get it, but at £26 it's slightly out of my budget. Luckily, I had £20 worth of Birchbox points, and the palette was in the shop so I've managed to nab it for just £6! Bargain. I shall have a review up as soon as I get it! As for this cute sample, I'll probably pop it into the up for grabs album on my blogs Facebook page for some lucky reader to nab, which is why I haven't swatched it. I just love the packaging for this blush. You can't beat pugs and a pin-up! 

There was also this primer from RMK. This isn't a brand I've tried before, and I'm always interested in trying out new primers! I think this is one of those crossover products that you can use on it's own to improve the appearance of skin, but also works as a primer as well. I can't wait to give it a go!

This month Birchbox gave us the option to choose the shade of nail polish we received from Colour Club. I managed to talk myself out of the mint green and sky blue shades (as I already have a ton) and went for this gorgeous shimmery gold. Colour Club is another new brand for me, but I love the formula for this polish so I can already see myself buying more!

Yes to... is a brand I've heard of before, but never tried. These face wipes smell fantastic, and I can already tell that they are going to have a lovely cooling effect on my skin. Looking at the full range on their website, they have some amazing sounding products. I'm particularly interested in the fruity lip balms! Unfortunately, only a small section of their stock is available in the UK, and the fruity lip balms are not included. 

We also received this Yin Yang Gold Defence Lotion. I think this is intended to be a moisturiser for hands and body for those who spend a lot of time outdoors. In other words, pretty heavy duty. I've used some on my hands and it sinks in really nicely, and doesn't leave any greasiness behind which I was surprised about as it's for outdoorsy types. My skin isn't overly dry but it just drank this up.

Finally, as a little extra, we received this cute bag of Propercorn. I am a massive fan of popcorn, but I tend to stick to salted! You can really smell the coconut when you open the bag, but I found the flavour was very similar to standard sweet popcorn. I couldn't really detect the vanilla. I think this was a cute little extra, but I'd have preferred a different flavour personally. 

Unfortunately, this will be my last Birchbox. I pay the same amount for this box as I do Love Me Beauty, and it just doesn't seem worth the price in comparison. I'm going to stick with Love Me Beauty, You Beauty Discovery, and Pooch Pack for now, and I've also just ordered my first Wantable box! I definitely have a subscription box problem...


Do you subscribe to Birchbox? What did you think to this month's box?

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Benefit Rockateur Blush

I think I might be addicted to Benefit. I've never used their blushes before, but if they're all as nice as this one, I might need to start saving up my pennies for a splurge!

 

Rockateur comes in a beautifully designed box, which definitely fits with the rock aesthetic. Lace, studs and golden animal print decorate the outside of the box, and the inside is just as stunning.

How pretty is that?! This has such a gorgeous rose gold shimmer to it, and I don't know if it's just me, but the blush seems to have a really nice scent to it as well. Included with the blush is a lovely wooden handled brush with super soft bristles.

Here I've swatched the blush with my finger (bottom swatch) and with the brush. Clearly the brush gives a much lighter sweep of colour, which almost diffuses the rose colour to peach. Very nice.

Apologies for the horrible lighting in these pictures! The weather has not been kind to me recently. On the face the blush can be built to be really strong, or just lightly dusted on. I've built it up a bit here so that it showed up better in the photos, but it's still not ridiculously overpowering.

I think I might be in love! Have you tried the Rockateur blush? It's available here for £23.50.