Category: beauty

beauty, beauty boxes, make up, reviews

Little Known Box – Face Firsts

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This month’s box is all about trying new things as it’s a new season (autumn!)

Peeks Cosmetics Matte Lipstick in shade Quick Sand. This is a matte brown-y colour which to be quite honest is not really my thing. It would probably be good on someone with a darker skin tone but not on my ridiculously pale face. 

Lash Unlimited Strip Lashes – another dud for me, I have naturally long, very pale lashes, so I’ve never bothered with falsies, but I do think they can look amazing.  

Nanshy 4-in-1 Marvel Blender – this is more my speed, I’ve really got into using a sponge blender so a spare is always welcome. 

Siskyn Skincare Oils Frankincense & Jasmine Night Facial Oil – this scented oil is a blend of 18 botanical oils to soothe, replenish and rejuvenate skin while you sleep. I am starting to get quite into oils – especially the new generation that neither dry you out or leave you looking like an oil slick. 

Epic Blend Vegan Lip Balm in Wild Berry – petroleum and gluten free lip balm. Added to my stash already. 

beauty, beauty boxes, glossybox, reviews

Red x Glossybox 

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I honestly think I’m done with Glossybox. This month’s collaboration with Red Magazine just isn’t good enough. 

Also where is my bonus MUA palette?? Last month Glossybox sent out an email saying that people had received the wrong palettes so a replacement would be included in this box. But nope. 

Too Faced Better than Sex mascara.  You know my feelings about mascara in beauty boxes. I am not going to repeat them. 

Revlon Gel Envy Diamond Top Coat – eh. Not feeling particularly thrilled by this. 

Radial Smokey Eye Pen – what is the point of filling out a beauty profile if almost every month they send another eye liner. 

The Organic Pharmacy Antioxidant Lip Balm – this may be the only thing in the box I get much use of. Even though I have 9 million lip balms. 

Just completely underwhelmed. 

beauty, beauty boxes, birchbox, make up, reviews, skincare

Birchbox Heroes

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It’s a Birch-drawer this month, which I prefer to the boxes – they’re really reusable too. The top is decorated with a pastel geometric design which I like. 

Inside is possibly my favourite Birchbox collection ever. 

Starskin Eye Catcher mask – a bio-cellulose mask with coconut juice and liquorice root to brighten, smooth and de-puff. My eyes often need a little love by the end of the evening so these little pads will come in a treat. 

Nuxe Prodigieux Shower Oil – this is very nice, I’ve had it before, it’s fab on freshly shaved legs in the shower. 
Nailtiques Protein Formula 2 – keratin, protein and calcium to bond the layers of nails to stop them splitting and peeling. Which is something that happens to my stressed out nails desperately need. 

Model Co Highlighting Trio – slightly sparkly, this cream highlighter gives you a glittery glow on cheekbones, brow bones and eyelids. 
Amika Bombshell Blowout Spray – volumizing, smoothing and texturising in one, with sea Buckthorn Berry oil antioxidants to strengthen and repair. My hair is a law unto itself – but maybe this can tame it. I’d like some volume and less madness please. 

As a bonus for introducing a friend to Birchbox  (not 100% sure who) I got a dinky little bracelet, embossed with ‘Imagine’ 

There was also a voucher for a photo box from Lalabox – a photo printing app which sends out your snaps in a gift box.  

The drawer/box will be reused too, like previous ones, to store various bits and pieces, and I wish they did it every month, they’re much nicer than the boxes. 

After a few slightly lacking months which have seriously had me thinking of cancelling the box, this was a really good selection of bits. So Birchbox is on notice – next month’s will make or break it. 

beauty, beauty boxes, look fantastic, make up, reviews

Happy #LFBday #LFBeautyBox 

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Look Fantastic is celebrating its second birthday, conveniently in the same month as I celebrate my 30th. 

Inside the box are six mini treats to celebrate. 

Argan Liquid Gold BB Cream – infused with argan oil and 24 carat gold this has a clever formula designed to adapt to your skin tone for a healthy glow. 
BareMinerals Mini Moxie Lipstick – packed with Vitamins A, C and E, Omega Fatty Acids and Abyssinian Oil to nourish your lips while delivering a hint of colour.  

Lord & Berry Mini Luminizer Stick – doubling as a concealer, this super silky formula blends into skin to leave a radiant look. 
Bliss Lemon and Sage Maximum Moisture Cream – Coconut oil and Vitamin E improve skin tone and Sodium Hyaluronate locks in moisture. Plus it smells nice. 

Christophe Robin Purifying Shampoo – chemical free with Jujube Bark and Cherry Flower Extracts to remove dry skin and flaking. 

Gatineau Collagene Expert Eye Pads – designed to refresh and revive tired eyes with Collagen, Glycerin and Allantoin.

Not a bad bunch really.  A bit of everything in a box. And after the week I’ve had this is a real treat. Now I’m off to pamper myself. 

beauty, beauty boxes, make up, reviews

Little Known Box – Summer Nights 

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Five new products this month and I’ve only seen one before. 

Glittereyes Pressed Glitter – new to the UK Glitter Eyes is a range of glitter in 30 colours, nontoxic, waterproof and easily removed even though it’s designed to stay put once applied. I am a glitter fiend and must have gone through a hundred pots of the old school Barry M Dazzle Dusts so this is right up my street. 

Amygdala Beauty have a range of single note solid perfumes which can be blended together or worn alone. Solid perfume is such a brilliant idea and I have a dozen kicking around. 

Fairypants Vegan Lip Balm in Peach Bellini bring on the lipbalms! This one is yummy. 

Bardou Immaculate Spray Dry Shampoo. Right confession time, I am on the hunt for the perfect dry shampoo – one that isn’t too scented, doesn’t leave a weird dust and actually makes my hair matte and not in need of a wash. So I will try this and then throw it across a room in fury if it’s not the one. 

PHB Ethical Beauty Natural & Organic Black Eyeliner. I must be in a confessing mood today – I can’t line my eyes to match to save my life. One always looks great and the other just a sad mess. But I persevere. 

Quite happy with the range of items this month, a little bit of everything, and all of it that will get at least one use (I’m looking at you dry shampoo). 

Do you subscribe to Little Known Box? Would you like to? Tell me about your beauty confessions.  

 

beauty, beauty boxes, reviews, skincare, vegan kind

TVK Beauty Box 8 

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Inside TVK’s latest box are seven cruelty free beauty products. 

Vitala Spa  Chakra Balancing Compassion Bath and Body Oil – full of natural extracts and essential oils, designed to soothe skin and leave it smooth and supple. My skin doesn’t like oils so passing this on to my mum. 

Figs & Rouge evAcalm Perfect Calm Moisture+ AM PM Cream –  specifically for use on dehydrated and sensitive skin, to reduce redness and calm stressed out skin. Maybe this will help with my rosacea and grumpy hot face. 

Spectrum CollectionsTapered Finishing Brush – these brushes are gorgeous. Hair free but super soft and gentle. 

The Konjac Sponge Company French Pink Clay Facial Puff Sponge – made from biodegradable vegetable material this cleans your skin without needing cleansers. I’ve used a different one of these sponges and wasn’t that enamoured. 

Weleda Almond Sensitive Skin Travel Size Body Wash – almond oil soothes stressed out skin, with shea butter and other skin loving ingredients. This smells pretty nice and as it’s for sensitive skin I’ll pop it on the shower shelf. 

Weleda Almond Sensitive Skin Travel Size Hand Cream – to accompany the body wash this hand cream is perfect to pop in a handbag or overnight bag. 

Sheila’s Natural Products Face Cream Deluxe Sample – this is a bonus item containing ingredients designed to appease eczema and acne. I’m always looking for the best moisturiser so maybe this will be it. 

As always 20p from every box sold is donated to Dr Hadwen Trust, the funder of non-animal research in biomedicine.  

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Seven Deadly Sins Tag 

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The lovely Karen of Confetti and Curls shared this tag post and I thought ‘why not’. Feel free to join in on your blog too.

GREED: What is your most inexpensive beauty item? What is your most expensive?

Cheapest – my MUA blusher in Cupcake – it’s only a squid! 

Most expensive – my current Lush moisturiser – over thirty quid but it is gorgeous. 

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WRATH: What beauty products do you have a love/hate relationship with? What product has been the hardest to get?

Eye liner – it never looks even, just utterly awful. 

I have pale, fussy skin and getting the right foundation is hard, too many are orange or too dark. I found a perfect one, it’s no longer produced. 

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GLUTTONY: What are your most delicious beauty products?

Lush Cupcake facemask or Bubblegum lip scrub. 

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SLOTH: What beauty product do you neglect, due to laziness?

Toner – I can’t work out if it’s still a thing or if I need it. 

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PRIDE: What beauty product gives you the most self confidence?

A good highlighter that makes me look all glowy and healthy. 

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LUST: What attributes do you find most attractive in the opposite sex?

Relevance to make up? Anyway, humour, a good smile and excellent personal hygiene. 

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ENVY: What items would you most like to receive as a gift?

One of those slightly too pricey Urban Decay palettes – I won’t buy them for myself. 

beauty, beauty boxes, make up, reviews, skincare

Powder Beauty Drawer Season Three

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When you order this box (£29.99 with free P&P) you fill out a questionnaire so the 13 products are tailored to your colouring, skin type and hair colour. This means every box is slightly different – as a blonde with pale, sensitive skin, this is what the Powder team selected for me. 

💄Gold Collagen Pure Gold Collagen Mini – this supplement is designed to boost collagen levels – plumping out skin and strengthening nails. 

💄Nude Skincare Rescue Oil – packed with antioxidants, this oil soothes and perfects skin, blurring imperfections, plumping and purifying, ridding you of toxins. (Too good to be true??)

💄Shiseido Ibuki Gentle Cleanser – lathers into a foam, removes impurities without stripping skin of the good stuff. 

💄Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure (fullsize) – with built in base coat this polish is apparently almost impossible to chip – if only it wasn’t such a baby pink shade I’d put it to the test. 

💄Mii Cosmetics Heavenly Bronzing Gel – with SPF15, this gel bronzer blends easily onto skin for a summery glow. 

💄Marc Jacobs Divine Decadence Eau de Parfum – this contains champagne as an ingredient – making quite (to my nose) an alcohol strong smell. 

💄MUA Undress Your Skin Highlighting Powder in Iredescent Gold (fullsize) – I keep meaning to pick one of these up, so thanks Powder. 

💄Eucerin Hyaluron-Filler Day Cream for Normal to Combination Skin (fullsize) – with SPF and hylauronic acid to replenish moisture and protect skin. 

💄Caudalie Vinoperfect Radiance Serum – oil-free and non-greasy, this brightens skin while soothing and blurring imperfections. 

💄bareMinerals Skinlongevity Vital Power Infusion – made with superfood ingredients to improve skin’s elasticity and bounce.

💄Moroccanoil Treatment Light – formulated for blondes the argan oil nourishes hair and makes it easier to brush (oh and from personal experience means no more split ends) 

💄Paul Mitchell Awapuhi Mirrorsmooth High Gloss Primer – controls flyaways, protects from heat styling and strengthens hair to prevent breakage. For greasy hair – just apply to the ends.

💄Schwarzkopf Live Colour Refresh (fullsize) – apply like a conditioner, let it soak in for a few minutes then rinse to revive coloured hair or boost your natural colour. 

There are discounts and offers included for every brand included in the box  and beauty tips in the booklet. 
Quite a good selection of products – for me the best is the MUA highlighter and the worst the pink nail polish. If the last beauty drawers are anything to go by everything in this box will get used. 

Bring on season 4 in October. 

beauty, beauty boxes, birchbox, reviews

Birchbox – Dive In

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This month’s Birchbox is actually a bag, a little grey scuba bag to be precise – not exactly as jazzy as Birchbox’s usual standard to be frank. 

Luckily what’s inside is better. 

Marcelle Waterproof Eyeliner in Mulberry – this month’s choice was one of these dinky pencils – I went for this black with a tiny hint of purple number. 

Voya Silky by Nature Shampoo – I really hate getting shampoo or conditioner in beauty boxes, it seems a bit of a cheat to me. Still this one claims claims to leave hair healthy and shiny with its organic oils and other super ingredients. 

Amie Morning Clear Purifying Facial Wash – this is a really nice face wash, gentle but thorough. Shame the sample is so tiny, but it fits neatly into my washbag for the next weekend away. 
Anatomicals The Buff Stuff Citrus Body Scrub – grapefruit based for a citrus burst with little pumice granules to scrub away dead skin. 

Merci Handy Antibacterial Hand Cleansing Gel – I had a different scent in last month’s My Little Box, and while this is a handy thing to have, especially when commuting, it feels a bit out of place here – and there could have been a better item here. 

There’s an extra sample this month, a teeny pod of Nude Perfect Cleanse Omega Cleansing Jelly – it turns from a gel to a milk on contact with water and clears away impurities. 

This month wasn’t the most exciting offering from Birchbox, it seems to fluctuate a fair bit. I will be cashing in some points this month to buy a few favourites in the shop, but it won’t be any of these. 

beauty, beauty boxes, my little box, reviews

My Little Box – Coconut

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The theme for July’s MLB is not actually a nut, but a drupe, whatever that is. 

Anyway, onto less scientifically confusing things. 

Inside the box is a cute selection of treats inspired by everyone’s favourite hairy brown not a nut. 

There’s a patterned passport holder, sweetly packaged up in it’s own envelope. 

A Stella & Dot bracelet which speaks to my current love affair for tassels on jewellery. 

In regards to the beauty portion of the box, there are five treats in the little cotton bag. 

From the My Little Beauty range comes a Coconut Spritzer after sun spray – something that will come in handy in the summer sun. 
Mexci Handy Coco Rico Hand Cleansing Gel – popping this in my bag for commuting on the never clean tube. 

Yves Rocher Noix de Coco Eau de Toilette – this is very coconutty, and reminds me of Pina Colada cocktails and summer evenings. 

Ojon Rare Blend Moisture Therapy Oil – intensely moisturing hair oil for those days air con, sun, swimming pools and the sea (if you’re lucky) have done their worst. 

All this and the regular art print by Kanako and the My Little World magazine, which I can be spotted perusing on the Northern line. 

This box is like a slice of summer, a refreshing cocktail of coconut water blended with watermelon and lime.