August Empties

Once again, I can't believe that another month has flown by! August has been a busy one for me, and as a result I haven't managed to get through as many products as I would normally, but there's still some lovely things to talk about!
 

This Vineyard peach shower gel has been so lovely to use! It's such a gorgeous summery scent and my skin has loved using it. Body Shop shower gels are a bit of a treat for me, I don't tend to buy them very often but I've loved this one so much I can easily see myself buying it again!

Urban Veda are one of my favourite skincare brands, and I loved using this exfoliating face wash. It has tiny exfoliating particles in it that gently buffed my skin so that it was silky smooth. I can definitely see myself purchasing a full size tube of this at some point.

I also finished up this tube of Embryolisse Lait-Creme Concentre. This was such a fantastic moisturiser to use. It felt really light on my skin and was a dream to apply make up over. I have a lot of moisturisers to use up at the moment but I will definitely consider repurchasing this when I eventually get through them all!

This sample of the Vasanti exfoliating cleanser came with this month's Birchbox, and I was really excited to try it out. I did find that this was a bit rougher on my skin than the Urban Veda face wash, and much thicker too. I also didn't find that it was fantastic at removing my make up so it's unlikely that I'll be buying this in the near future!

Have you tried any of my August empties before? What did you think to them?

June Favourites

 June was a great month beauty-wise. Lots of new products were introduced that I'd been dying to get my hands on, as well rediscovering some old favourites!

I've completely fallen in love with the Benefit lip balms this month, they've been especially helpful in keeping my lips hydrated as I've been recovering from a cold and hayfever which has left me feeling a bit rubbish at times! Luckily I haven't had to worry about chapped lips because these balms have been keeping them soft and moisturised, with a cute tint thrown in!

I've rediscovered my love for Urban Veda this month as well. This face wash in particular has really worked wonders on my skin, and I've decided that once I've used up my Simple face wash, I'm going to stick to this one from now on! It makes my skin feel so refreshed and clean, and even though £7.99 is more than I would usually spend on a face wash, this one is good enough that I don't mind paying a little bit more.

As it was (at times) a bit hotter last month, I've decided to ditch the foundation and BB creams and just use the Porefessional on my face to blur my pores and make my skin look a bit better than normal. It feels so lightweight on my skin and I haven't had to worry about my foundation slipping during the day. 

This Starry Night palette from MUA has been a recent discovery in Superdrug and I've been loving it ever since! I love a bit of shimmer in my eyeshadows and this palette more than delivers that. I don't find them too over-shimmery for daytime wear, and they have the usual gorgeous pigmentation you'd expect from a MUA palette! 

Have you tried any of my favourites? What did you think of them?

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?

Love Me Beauty Box - June 2014

After last month's Love Me Beauty box went off on a bit of a lifestyle tangent, I was interested to see where the June box would go. This month there seems to have been more of an emphasis on make up which I was happy to see, and I decided to go with option 3 (again).

To get the bad stuff out of the way first, I'm really disappointed with the shade of nail polish I received. I haven't tried any nail polishes from Nyx before, so I was pretty excited to see a shimmery gold colour pictured for option 3. However, it does say that colours may vary and unfortunately I've picked up a rather boring brown shade called 'Truffle'. I really don't like it, and I don't think I'll be able to rehome it easily.

With that out of the way, on to the good stuff! I received my second Montagne Jeunesse masque from a beauty box, this is a peel off formula with black seaweed. I have a lot of masques at the moment that have a 'clay' type formula that set on your face, so I'm intrigued to try a peel off one! I might be busting this out on Friday after work as a bit of a treat.

Initially, the colour of this lipstick from ModelCo really put me off. It looks so dark! But once applied, I actually really liked it. It feels quite creamy and comfortable on my lips and the mirror on the side is a really cute touch too!

I also received the Define-fx mascara from Beauty UK which is another brand I haven't tried before. The wand is exactly what I want from a mascara, not too big and unwieldy, with the smaller plastic bristles. I've had a quick go with this and it definitely defined my lashes, there was no clumping to be seen!

I also received my second Urban Veda sample for the month! This is the exfoliating version of the face wash I received from the You Beauty Discovery box. I absolutely loved that face wash, it left my skin so clean feeling and refreshed, so I'm pretty sure I'll love using this as well!

I think this was a birthday extra from Love Me Beauty, as I haven't filled out enough surveys to receive any extras yet. I like Jelly Pong Pong but I don't use eyeliners so I'll be giving this away, but a nice touch nonetheless.

I think Love me Beauty have redeemed themselves this month, I'm a little bit disappointed to only have a small sample of Urban Veda as they aren't an expensive brand and Love Me Beauty have always (in the past) provided bigger items in their boxes and that was what made me subscribe in the first place. The other items are full size though so I shouldn't really be complaining, but the value of the boxes have definitely gone down dramatically since I first started subscribing to Love Me Beauty.

What did you think to this month's box?

 

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?

April Empties

 Another month has whizzed by, so I've got my empties to show you all! I managed to get through quite a few things again this month.

I've been using this Rodial moisturiser for ages. I got it in the December Love Me Beauty Box, and initially I wasn't that impressed. After a while of using it though, I found that it moisturised my skin really nicely, and it was also great as a base for make up. Unfortunately I don't really like Rodial as a brand, and they're really expensive with a full-size tube of this coming in at around £60-£75.

Repurchase? No.

 

This Dr Brandt Pores no More Pore Refiner lost out to the Porefessional in one of my recent posts, and I didn't really enjoy using it. I stuck with it all the way to the end of the tube though! I found that it made my skin feel quite oily and almost grimey at times, although it was quite effective at blurring my pores.

Repurchase? No. 

 

I was really sad to finish this little pot of La Claree's gentle cleansing milk. This was great at removing make up, and left my skin feeling really refreshed. It's about £19 for a full size bottle, so if I'm feeling flush one day it might fall into my basket!

Repurchase? Hopefully!

Urban Veda is one of my favourite brands, so this sample was never going to last long! This has that trademark Urban Veda scent, quite floral with a hint of herbs, and my skin felt great after using it. At £8.99 a tube, I think I could see myself buying some more items from this range!

Repurchase? Yes.

 I've managed to get through a couple of hand creams this month. This Lavera cream initially put me off because I found the scent to be a bit sun creamy, but it definitely grew on me the more I used it. It didn't sink in as well as I normally like my hand creams to, and left a slight greasy feeling. 

Repurchase? Probably not.

 The other hand cream I used up was this super cute sample from the March Birchbox. This hand cream smells absolutely amazing! Rhubarb is definitely the main scent, I could hardly detect any rose at all. It sinks into your skin very quickly, and left my hands feeling soft and nourished. 

Repurchase? At some point, yes.

This sachet of the Organic Pharmacy's Antioxidant face cream came with this month's You Beauty Discovery box, and I loved it. It's had a very thick creamy formula that meant that I hardly had to use any, and it sank into my skin like a dream. I just wish it wasn't £40 a pot!

Repurchase? No, too expensive.

 

Finally, I managed to get down to the bottom of my bottle of Soap and Glory's Sugar Crush shower gel! This came with the Yule Monty set and it has literally taken me 4 months to use it all up. This has a lovely lime scent, and worked really well with the body butter I got from the same set. I'm not sure I'd repurchase Soap and Glory products individually as they're quite pricey, but I'd definitely get another set similar to Yule Monty!

Repurchase? Maybe as a set.

I can't believe how many samples I got through this month! I can't promise that May's empties will be as jam packed as this month, but I'll try my best! 

Have you tried any of this month's empties?

March Favourites

I haven't really bought a lot of beauty products this month, so my favourites are a bit sparse! It was my birthday on the 20th, and I mainly received books, dvds, and games for my new Nintendo 3DS. I'm not complaining, it's just meant that things on the beauty side haven't really featured much for me this month!

I've definitely been loving this Nip + Fab Viper Venom Eye Fix. You can see my full review here, and it has basically become a new daily staple. Not only does it feel super refreshing on application, it also visibly reduces my dark circles. I'm super pleased that I was introduced to this by Love Me Beauty this month! You can get the Nip + Fab Viper Venom Eye Fix for £14.95 here. 

Having finally finished up my Peaches and Clean face wash, I've been able to crack open this Urban Veda Radiance exfoliating facial polish. I really like Urban Veda, I've used their moisturisers before and loved them, so getting this sample in a recent Birchbox made me really happy! This face wash leaves my skin super smooth, and I really like the scent. It's quite floral but also a bit fruity, and quite hard to describe! If you've used their products before, no doubt you'll know what I mean. You can get it here for £8.99.

I've definitely been loving Benefit this month. The Porefessional has been tried and tested by me this month, and you can see how it did against Dr Brandt's Pore no More here. I know that a lot of people find the Porefessional to be a bit hit and miss, but I've found that it works really well for my skin, and I just absolutely love it. The Porefessional is available here for £24.50.

 I've also picked myself up a few extra Benefit goodies in the form of these gorgeous eyeshadows, a lovely blush, and a super girly lip gloss. You can read a more in-depth review about these here. I'm particularly in love with the lip gloss and the powder eyeshadow. The packaging is totally gorgeous too! All of these goodies are currently available on the Benefit website.

Have you tried any of my March Favourites? What do you think of them?