Category: perfume

beauty, beauty boxes, haircare, make up, nail polish, perfume, reviews, skincare

M&S Best of British Beauty Box

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Good ol’ M&S jumping on the beauty box wagon with their Best of British box. It’s priced at £120, which is a lot but Sparks card holders can get it for £25 delivered free to your nearest store. Check out the Sparks app or the website for details.

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I had a gift voucher to use and since I only really buy underwear and Club sandwiches (except when my local shop stops stocking them :'() in M&S it seemed worth spending it on this box rather than more pants.

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The box has 13 products from British brands, and seems to have been launched to celebrate the new M&S beauty halls, stocking brands like Pixi, REN and Nuxe.

🌹M&S Pure Super Grape Day Cream

🌹Leighton Denny Britz & Glitz Nail Colour

🌹Pixi LipLift Glossy Lip Plumper

🌹Eyeko Black Magic Mini Mascara

🌹REN Wake Wonderful Night time Facial

🌹Percy & Reed Perfectly Perfecting Wonder Balm

🌹M&S Rosie for Autograph Amazing Radiance Cream

🌹M&S Rosie for Autograph Nuit Parfum Eau de Parfum

🌹Joan Collins Timeless Beauty Class Act Lash Growth Treatment

🌹Rodial Stemcell Super Food Cleanser

🌹Look Good Feel Better Eye Shading Brush

🌹Nails Inc 45 Second Top Coat with Kensington Caviar

🌹Studio 10 Age Reverse Perfecting Lipliner

There’s a great assortment of products from haircare to nails, skincare to make up. It’s a rather packed box, but I don’t know if it’s worth the full £120. Most of the products are full size, which is nice as so many boxes have the tiniest possible sachets, which aren’t exactly worth getting a lot of the time.

Will you be indulging yourself in M&S Best of British beauty box?

beauty, beauty boxes, make up, perfume, reviews, skincare

Cohorted April – Beauty Powered by You

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I decided to give Cohorted’s new beauty box a go, having been massively disappointed the last time.

Worth £93, this box is £35 including postage, making it one of the more expensive beauty boxes around.

The postman dropped it off bright and early, it’s a big box so I hope he has his van, he’s normally on foot.

Inside are fullsize products from five brands, some more familiar than others.

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First up MAC’s Patent Polish Lip Pencil – RRP £17.50. I received the shade ‘Clever’ which is rather nice light red, happily not orangey, but with pink undertones. It feels like lipbalm and is super easy to apply. Available in 14 shades.

Gold Elements Nail Care Kit – RRP £29.49. Four products make up this kit;

Hand & Nail Cream
Cuticle Oil
Nail File
Buffing Block

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These are all useful things and caring for your hands and nails is important as they get pretty battered throughout the day.

Miss Patisserie Bath Melt – RRP £3.99 for one. These little cupcakes are not for eating, made with Shea and coconut butter, each one contains antioxidants and minerals, decorated with detoxifying salts and cosmetic grade glitter.

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Body Shop White Musk Libertine EDT Perfume 100ml – RRP £24. Containing cruelty free musk, this is a modern twist on a Body Shop classic, sweet and classic.

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MDM Flow lipstick in Panther – RRP £18. Bizarrely, inside the box guide the whole article is about a shade called Milkshake but I’ve got a completely different one, which is a horrid neon pink.

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Not the best box in the world – who needs two lipsticks in one box, and the bath bomb won’t get any use, although it would make a nice addition to a birthday gift. The nail kit seems quite an impressive inclusion, most boxes would only put one item in, not the whole kit.

Might give this another go at some point – bit too pricey for every month.

beauty, beauty boxes, make up, perfume, reviews, skincare, you beauty

You Beauty Discovery Box

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I have become increasingly disappointed by YBD, this month is no different and I think it might be my last box from them.

I like the idea of picking some of your samples but the selection is often quite poor and you get little bang for your buck.

Yes, it’s possibly the cheapest beauty box out there but does that mean it should be lacking?

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From the shortlist I picked;

Philosophy renewed hope in a jar eye cream – or rather a tiny tube. My under eye shadows are rather dark and tired looking at the moment, insomnia does that, and I thought I might road test an eye cream or two. I’ve heard good things about this one. Just a shame it’s such a teeny sample.

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Not the best swatching but hopefully you can see the golden shimmer

Kilo Long Lasting Stick 8 Hour No-Transfer Eye shadow in 05 – a gold shimmer eye shadow crayon, and you know I love an easy to apply make up item.

The extra samples they threw into the box are a tiny sachet of Studio 10 Miracle Effect Priming Serum and Narciso Rodriguez Narciso Eau de Toilette spritz sample bottle.

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I dont think there’s enough primer in the sachet for one human sized face, except if you were for some insane reason, making up a baby (they have little faces mostly) but not for an adult.

I have a problem with sending out perfume samples – scent is highly selective, what one person loves and smells amazing on their skin, may not work with anyone else. This mostly smells of alcohol to me. Not nice.

Overall a bit underwhelming. Time to bid adios to this box I think and move on.

Anyone else cancelling beauty boxes they’ve been disappointed by? 

ramblingmads

beauty, beauty boxes, instagram, lifestyle boxes, make up, perfume, skincare

Advent Calendar Opening

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Hello lovely blog readers,

Today is December 1st, aka the first day of Advent. You may now put up your tree and hang your stockings.

This year I bought a beauty advent calendar as opposed to the chocolate ones I seem to have every year!

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I went with L’Occitane’s rather sweet one as I love their products and thought a mini treat from them every day would brighten up a cold, damp December.

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So, let’s see what’s behind door number one!

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Ultra rich face cream!

I will most likely be posting these on Instagram so come follow me there, as well as all sorts of Christmas fun and games as we head further into the festive season.

ramblingmads

beauty, beauty boxes, my little box, perfume, reviews, skincare

My Little Sweet Box

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This month MLB managed to get delivered in plenty of time! Hooray.

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It’s also a tin for treats as opposed to a box, rather sweetly decorated too.

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Inside are baking themed goodies, including jar labels and a cute apron, as well as some beauty treats. They’ve teamed up with food blogger Mimi Thorisson.

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The beauty items are mostly skincare;

* Dr Pierre Ricaud Neck & Decolletage Lifting Cream – this little pot of cream plumps and perks skin cells.

* Yves Rocher Sensual Fragrance – a rather warm and sexy scent in a tiny bottle of perfume.

* My Little Beauty Sweet Hand Cream – marshmallowy sweetness in a rich and soothing cream.

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beauty, beauty boxes, perfume, reviews, skincare, you beauty

You Beauty Discovery Box – October

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Every month I um and ah about whether to cancel this box. Then there’s a really good one (like September’s skin care special) and I stay. When it’s good, the £6.95 is totally worth it, a bargain in fact but then there’s month’s like this.

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I really struggled to pick my two samples, as I didn’t really like any of them. Nothing jumped out at me, waving and shouting. It was all a bit meh.

In the end I went with a product I will inevitably use and one I will try.

Roger & Gallet Gingembre Rouge body lotion and perfume samples – I slather body lotion on my dry legs every morning after a shower and I tend to be fairly indiscriminate about what I use. The scent is inspired by Zanzibar and has hints of ginger – though it smells very floral to me.

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The other item I picked was Kore’s Foaming Cleanser, Pearl Revitalising Toner and Pearl Gentle Exfoliator Trio. Kore is not a brand I’ve come across before – from Australia, free from animal testing and parabens.

Also in the box:  The White Company’s Day and Night perfume samples and Vichy Dermablend corrective foundation samples in shades 15 (opal) and 25 (nude).

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Not overwhelmed by this month’s box. If November’s is as naff, I think I’ll be speaking with my purse and saying sayonara to You Beauty. 

ramblingmads

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Latest in Beauty – The Perfume Society

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LiB has teamed up with the Perfume Society to bring you three curated boxes of scent. I picked the Little Treasures box but you can also get Florals and Florientals and Designer Discoveries, depending on your preferences. The boxes are £12.95 each.

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The scent that caught my eye and swayed me to pick this one was L’Occitane’s new The Vert Bigarade, which I tested in their store. The full size bottle is £45 and as it’s my birthday next month, is on my splurge list.

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There are some scents I’ve never heard of tucked in here as well as brands like Yardley and Liz Earle.

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The Perfume Society has included postcard guides to the included scents, of which there are ten.

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This is a really good way to sample new scents and there’s also a discount voucher to join the Perfume Society. 

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