Category: make up

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

Birchbox Merry & Bright 

ramblingmads

This month’s Birchbox has arrived. Instead of the classic box they’ve sent a pop top style box, which they claim can be used as a keepsake box. However it is smaller than the usual box and I can’t really work out what I’d keep in it. 

Inside are five beauty items – they tie into the colour scheme rather neatly. 
💋Ciatè London Fierce Flicks Eyeliner (fullsize RRP  £15) – felt tip style eyeliners are my preferred kind, mostly because I can’t quite handle gel and I have never managed to get a decent line from a kohl pencil. 

💋Bobbi Brown Smokey Eye Mascara (RRP £23) – I’m not entirely sure what makes this specifically a smokey eye mascara but there you go. 

💋Benefit Cosmetics Benetint  (RRP £24.50) – teeny tiny Benefit samples I’ve had a few. I used to love benetint but I haven’t used it in years. 

💋Leighton Denny Nail Polish in Just Perfect (fullsize RRP  £12) – this is a really baby pink polish which I really don’t see getting used. Which is a shame as these are good quality polishes. 

💋Amie Skincare New Leaf Deep Pore Exfoliating Polish (RRP £5.95) – this uses rice proteins to exfoliate away dead skin cells rather than nasty plastic beads so yay. Plus this range gets on well with sensitive skin – I just wish it was a bigger bottle. 

This box was a bit mixed, it’s nice that the colours all tie together and I will definitely get some use out of most of the contents which is nice, especially considering the very hit and miss year Birchbox has had. 

beauty, beauty boxes, glossybox, make up, reviews, skincare

Glossybox December 

ramblingmads

The seasonal Glossybox has arrived all white and gold. 

Inside are five fullsize products. 

MDMFLOW Semi-matte lipstick in Vamp – subscribers were invited to pick their choice between two shades for this month’s box. I went for this plum shade over the nude option as I quite like a statement lip. Wearing glasses means no matter what I do with my eye makeup it doesn’t really show but a bold lip pops  every time. 

Essence Light Up Your Face Luminizer Palette – other bloggers have said that Glossybox used to be packed full of high end cosmetics – well now it’s full of budget options like this. Essence is stocked in Wilko and this is £3. It’s also really too dark for my skin. If I used this, my face would just look dirty. 

Collection Cosmetics Define & Perfect Eyebrow Powder – another budget choice and another that seems aimed at someone else. This is just frustrating. I’ve told them I’m blonde and that includes my eyebrows but no – more brunette products. Having said that this is a nice slim brush but the rattling noise it makes worries me. 

Lipcote – my mum uses this to secure her lipstick but I found it unpleasantly tacky last time I used it. But I am going to try it again as I think I eat an awful lot of lipstick. 

Revlon Nail Enamel in Valentine – an old school vampy red polish in Revlon’s iconic bottle. 
This box was a bit hit and miss. All the products are fullsize and I like the colours of the polish and lipstick but the rest is a bit ‘meh’. Hopefully next year there will be a better mix of items, and not just the cheap end of the range. 

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

#LFXmas 

ramblingmads

Look Fantastic’s December box has arrived and it’s rose gold decor lines up with one of the big trends for 2016. 

The new issue of Elle was also included – The feminist issue – because feminism only matters once a year *eyeroll* 


Inside are six beauty products collated for the party season. 

💋Illamasqua Hydra Veil Primer – part primer, part hydrating moisturiser, this is designed to create a flawless base for your make up. While I am pretty wedded to my Soap & Glory primer at the moment, I might just try this out – just a shame it’s such a tiny pot. 👎

💋Philip Kingsley Elasticizer – this has been in dozens of beauty boxes this year and has never made any difference to my hair. 🙁 It’s supposed to give my hair a boost and make it shiny. But no. 👱

💋Balance Me Pure Skin Face Wash – with grapefruit oil to gently cleanse the skin and keep skin happy. 🍑

💋Bubble T Bath Bomb – why don’t I have a bath tub? Why? Sadly this is completely wasted on me. With Hibiscus and Acai Berry, Goji Berry, vitamins A and C, this is a super soak for party weary body and soul. 🍒

💋Skin Republic Caviar and CoQ10 Face Mask – yes this contains fish eggs but 2016 beauty trends have included some weird things (like snail gel). It also contains Vitamin E, Witch Hazel and CoQ10 to fight blemishes and boost skin health. If you can get your head around smearing fish eggs on your face. 🐟

💋Mellow Cosmetics Lipstick in Madness – a matte formula in a rather nice red, although not as deep red as I’d like. Long lasting with smooth application full of pigment and polish. 💄

All in all I quite like this box even if the elasticizer and bath bomb are more miss than hit. 
 

beauty, beauty boxes, make up, reviews, skincare

Bow’s Beauty Box 

ramblingmads

“Brown paper packaging tied up with string – these are a few of my favourite things” so sang Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music. 

This new beauty box, curated by two bloggers, just launched on etsy, is very well wrapped in brown paper and string with a candy cane as well. 

Inside this neat little package are five beauty items.

– technic Colour Mix Cream Corrector Palette  – I’m never sure what colour corrector to buy in the shops but this palette has eight different colours to correct a multitude of sins.  

Pure Potions Skin Salvation Intensely Moisturising Ointment – suitable for sensitive and stressed out skin (conditions including eczema, psoriasis, dermatitis etc). My angry skin might just have found a new friend. 

Earth Conscious Natural Deodorant in Spice – this coconut oil based, cruelty free, organic deodorant smells like Christmas and is a bit too strong for me. But if you’re allergic or irritated by conventional products, this might work for you. 

Dr Botanical Japanese Orange Superfood Facial Oil – a vegan oil for your face, designed to renew and refresh tired skin. Smells fairly nice too. 

 Mitimo Natural 512 Avocado Seed Facial Essence Mask – Korean skincare has blown up in 2016 and sheet masks like this are everywhere. Infused with Avocado seed, aloe vera extract and other skin loving ingredients, this mask is designed to deep cleaning skin and leave you looking all fresh faced and shiny. 

For a brand new beauty box put together without the backing of a big firm this is a great start. At the moment they don’t have a subscription plan but considering they’re all sold out, that’s presumably in the plans. 

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

#LFSparkle Look Fantastic Party Edit

ramblingmads

This festive looking box of beauty treats landed on my doorstep on a very dreary day to sparkle things up. 

As well as the 5 listed beauty items, there was a nail file and a copy of this month’s Elle. 

Look Good Feel Better Angled Blending Brush – LGFB looks after women who have been diagnosed with cancer and helps them feel better about their changing appearance. This brush is super soft and angled enough to get eyeshadow into the crease. 

Model Co Blush Cheek Powder – a peachy toned blusher that once blended leaves you with a gentle flush. 

Sebastian Professional Volupt Spray – a non sticky formula designed to boost your hair’s volume without making it greasy or stiff. 

Bloom and Blossom Revitalising Foot and Leg Spray – perfect for those days when you’ve been clomping around all day in heavy winter boots. This spray refreshes tired feet and alleviates water tension with a blend of Horse Chestnut Seed and Yellow Sweet Clover. 

L’Oréal Professionnel Mythic Oil – with Avocado and Grape Seed Oils, this nourishes hair and protects against the environments stresses and damage. Essential for winter and pollution. 

Monu Recovery Balm – lots of lovely skin friendly oils and peptides in this cold weather fighter. Refreshing and reviving cold nibbled skin and leave it healthy and hydrated. 

This is a lovely mix of items, I can definitely see them getting used every day more or less. Just a shame  so much is teeny sample size. 

beauty, beauty boxes, glossybox, haircare, make up, reviews, skincare

Glossybox November 

ramblingmads

There’s a lot of gold in this box. 

Ruby Professional Large Tapered Blending Brush – cruelty free and soft, this brush is a versatile eye make up tool. A new brush is always handy. 

Nuskin Bio Cellulose Facial Treatment Mask – a sheet mask full of skin loving, cell stimulating ingredients. 20 minutes to happier skin. 

Wilkinson Sword Quattro for Women  Raspberry Rain Disposable Razors – as when they include a razor every February – why?? 

Nanogen Root Boost Hair Thickening Spray – I’ve had this before and wasn’t too impressed  with its ability to make my hair a bit more volumnised. However this does contain keratin and other ingredients that look after hair. 

De Bruyere Beaute Jumbo Eye Pencil in Bubble 07 – this is a chunky gold eye pencil and my favourite thing in the box. It goes on smooth and soft, with lovely coverage. 

Shiny

Raffaello- a little coconut coated and almond chocolate treat from the people who provide ambassadors with their Ferraro Rocher. 

Nom



 

beauty, beauty boxes, glossybox, make up, reviews, skincare

Glossybox October Unboxing

ramblingmads

This box has been put together with blogger Estee Lalonde as part of the promotion for her new book, which features heavily in the box card insert. Beyond that I don’t really see the connection as it’s the usual pink and black packaging, unlike previous collaboration boxes. 

Inside are five products and a bonus mystery item.  

Trifle Cosmetics Lip Parfait – the packaging on this is very cute but the actual lipstick is a really pale, almost translucent pink. To be honest I don’t know if I’ll get much use out of it as it’s several shades lighter than my actual lip colour so wouldn’t even work as a nude tone. 
Nuxe Shimmering Dry Oil Huile Prodigeuese- I’ve had this in so many boxes now it’s getting a bit silly. However as Christmas party season looms and I like glitter, the shimmer in this oil is a good look in my blonde hair or on my pale skin. 

Top – lip parfait, bottom – cheek/lip stain

Universal Beauty Cosmetics Secret Flush Soothing Cream Blusher and Lip Stain Duo – I used to be very into these two-in- one products and the pink on this would work better as a nude lip colour than the Parfait.  But there’s probably too much shimmer in there for a blusher. 

Bee Good Honey & Camomile Facial Exfoliator – I really like the lipbalms and moisturisers I’ve had from Bee Good so this gentle exfoliating mask, made with honey from British bees (and the company helps keep bees going – which is vitally important) is definitely being added to my bathroom stash of masks.

 

PS…Pro Illuminating Primer – so Glossybox supposedly is always full of premium brands right. Well this primer is from Primark’s own range. It just seems an odd addition. 

The bonus secret item – mystery shampoo. Possibly a Head & Shoulders number  (due to bottle design) this will be revealed on Estee’s blog at some point. It seems a pointless exercise for a travel bottle of shampoo. 
To be quite frank this was supposed to be my last Glossybox, I was cashing in the points for a freebie but due to a glitch in the system, that will now be November’s box. While this box wasn’t as bad as some have been, it wasn’t the best ever.

 

beauty, make up, reviews

Doing the Dupe Shoop…

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For a while I was a bit of a snob about buying dupes, thinking it was always better to buy the fancy, expensive version. 

But buying dupes allows you to try the product before spending your hard earned pennies on the premium version. 

EBay and Amazon marketplace are a dream for dupe hunters – ok so the quality isn’t 100% but at these bargain basement prices it’s hard to argue.  

Shipping is often from China and pretty cheap or even free so while it does take a whole to arrive, it doesn’t cost you an arm and a leg just in postage. 

These are some of my favourite dupes so far. 

Kabuki brush – Sal Ummbaby mentioned this a while ago and I had to give it a go. It’s probably my favourite dupe item ever – and despite being cheap as chips it’s lasted really well and washed nicely, holding its shape and not shedding much – better than some of my pricier brushes have. 

Beauty Sponge – I wanted to try a sponge but didn’t fancy paying 10 quid for one so these beauties were a great alternative. They last a while and wash ok, although be gentle when washing them as the sponge shreds if you’re too vigorous. 


Brush Egg – I saw a very expensive brush washing mat on a blog post somewhere and wanted something a bit less pricey to get my brushes properly clean and this little gadget does the trick. You swirl the brush over the ridges and the grime shifts (I use a little blob of gentle shampoo and warm water too). 

Oval brush – these seemed to be a big thing and once again a bit pricier than I was willing to pay to try it out.  I don’t think they’re for me.  And it didn’t cost much to find that out. This was OK as cheap brushes go, fairly soft and stiff, washed well without too much shedding. I just prefer my sponge blender. 

Rainbow highlighter – I think it’s wanting to be a mermaid/unicorn/pirate/spacewoman/superhero/princess that attracted me to the idea of a rainbow highlighter. Swooshing colour across my cheeks. I blame Rainbow Brite. Again this was expensive and almost impossible to find. But this cheap and cheerful knockoff was easy and simple to buy and while it isn’t the fanciest packaging ever, it’s good for a bit of the ol’ I’m a rainbow shimmy. 

Nail Polish holder – this is pretty ingenious, although the original is more than some of my nail polishes. It sits on your fingers and holds the polish bottle so if you haven’t got a flat surface (or surprisingly firm and well balanced thighs) it keeps the polish from spilling. 

I haven’t written about high street dupes because they’re everywhere and I think most of you know about them, but feel free to suggest them, or any other clever alternatives in the comments. 

beauty, beauty boxes, love me beauty, make up, reviews, skincare

Love Me Beauty – The Sundown Edit

ramblingmads

I haven’t done an order from Love Me Beauty for a while. But I heard they had a few of the soon to be in Debenham Kat Von D products, so I thought it was time to have a look at their boutique again. 

Every month you get 60 credits to use and you pick your products. Recently they’ve scaled back the options and shrunk everything down to sample size, which is a bit disappointing when everything used to be fullsize. 

You can buy top up credits if you want more treats from the selection. 

I picked five items which arrived in a stripy make up pouch. Gone are the boxes. 

Omorovicza Budapest Copper Peel – this two part at home facial uses minerals from the healing waters of Hungary. Combining a blue copper paste and a lactic acid activator. My skin’s not too happy at the moment, between commuting on London’s Underground and the cold brewing in my head, so hopefully this will strip out some of the gunk and cheer it up. 

Aromatherapy Associates Hydrating Rose Skin Toner – refreshing and cooling to tone the skin after cleansing. I haven’t been using toner recently but I read a few articles recently from beauty writers I trust and look up to saying it’s a good step to look after skin so using this tiny bottle for a bit to see the difference before committing. 

Omorovicza Budapest Deep Cleansing Mask – this Hungarian brand seems to be the pick of the boutique and this clay mud mask is full of minerals to deep cleaning skin. 

Kat Von D Studded Lipstick in  Magick – a pinky nude tone with a hint of sparkle, this is quite a nice everyday shade. The tube is studded and looks quite fun in my collection. 


Kat Von D Ink! Liner – I am so rubbish with eyeliner but this superfine pen is supposed to be one of the best on the market and easy peasy to use.  


Swatches

I really liked this selection and the new edit style of options in the boutique. 

It will be interesting to see what the next selection is and whether they bring back full size items. 

Do you subscribe to Love Me Beauty?? Thoughts? Let me know in the comments below. 

beauty, beauty boxes, make up, reviews

Little Known Box – Face Firsts

ramblingmads

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.