Category: skincare

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

Birchbox x Oliver Bonas 

ramblingmads

September’s Birchbox is in collaboration with lifestyle brand Oliver Bonas. 

There was an option to select your box design and to add a candle as an upgrade. 

Inside the box are 4 sample size items and one full size, as well as some stickers and a discount voucher for Oliver Bonas.
R+Co High Dive Moisture & Shine Cream sample size (full size RRP £23) – this is designed to smooth flyaway hair and add shine. It can also be used as a leave-in conditioner. I like a double duty product and this smells pretty inoffensive. 
Manna Kadar Fantasy 3 in 1 Blush, Highlighter, Eyeshadow full size (RRP £15) – this is way too dark for me to use as a blush or highlighter but I think it would make a nice eyeshadow. 

Polaar IcyMagic Instant Eye Contour Energiser sample size (full size RRP £22) – roll on eye gel to refresh and revive tired eyes, bags and dark shadows. 

Dr PawPaw Original Clear Balm sample size (full size RRP £6.95) – this is a handbag hero – lipbalm, hand cream, split end soother, dry skin moisturiser. Shame they didn’t put a full size tube in the box, it’s not exactly pricey. 

Rouge Bunny Rouge Bronzing Glow Liquid sample size (full size RRP  £51) – this should be an added extra not a product, it’s piddly. This is way too dark for me too, although the suggested use is mixed with a little moisturiser or lotion, which presumably dilutes it. 

The candle is bergamot and mint and matches the box, I like the drawer design. It smells quite nice but the bergamot isn’t particularly distinct, which is a shame as I really like bergamot and buy perfumes that contain it. 

Overall this box was a bit uneven, good mix of products but too many tiny samples, which makes it feel less like a treat and more like I wandered around the beauty department and got given some handouts. The candle was a nice add on but it costs an extra £8, which seems excessive as Oliver Bonas isn’t exactly hard up as a company and could have been more generous. 

beauty, reviews, skincare

Skincare Review: Oyster Brightening Eye Serum

ramblingmads

I have terrible dark shadows under my eyes and when I haven’t slept very well they look more like bruises. 

So when the team behind this British skincare company got in touch and asked if I wanted to try their brightening eye serum I said yes. 


With skin friendlies like Hyaluronic acid, co-enzyme Q10, Pentapeptides and green tea, I found this to be quite gentle on my sensitive skin, which is really important to me.  

You only need a tiny bit twice a day patted gently under the eye and along the brow bone. 

It smells quite pleasant too – with lavender, grapefruit and mandarin.  

While I don’t think anything will completely erase my dark circles, except maybe several nights of proper sleep (I wish), this was nice and cooling – and my skin felt soft and smooth after using this for several weeks. 

You can buy the serum from Amazon or visit the website.  

*while I was gifted this item all opinions are my own*

beauty, cruelty free, make up, skincare

A little high street haul

ramblingmads

I had to pop into town and obviously went to Superdrug and Boots for a few bits and bobs. 

From Superdrug; 

Make Up Revolution Fortune Favours the Brave designed by British Beauty Blogger. This palette is my favourite and my original got dropped and broke so this is a replacement. 

B. Individual eyeshadow pots – these were 49p each as they’re being removed from stock so hello bargain. 

Make Up Revolution Amazing Make Up Fixing Spray – another restock item. I use this to fix my make up in the mornings. Personally I find this lightweight spray works great but like most things it depends on your skin/make up. It also lasts for ages. 

Superdrug 4 way nail buffer – this is the best nail buffer around. I picked up 2 but one is already in use. Plus total bargain. 

B. Hydrated Hyaluronic Acid Facial Spritz – I haven’t used this before but I keep reading that this is really good for skin and because mine is so sensitive I thought a spray would be the best way as it won’t mean too much acid on my skin. 

B. Make Up Brush Cleanser – this contains a disinfectant and really gets my brushes clean. It’s my favourite cleaner and super easy to use. Restocking as my current bottle was struggling a little this weekend. 

From Boots; 

This was a total Soap & Glory shop – I think I might have a problem. 

Happy Glamper gift set – this has a lot of goodies and a shower proof jacket – which I unfolded and will now never be able to fold up again. There’s also face wipes, dry shampoo, folding hairbrush, lip gloss, eyeliner, hand sanitizer, body spray – all of which are just as useful in London as they would be camping or at a festival. 

Hand Food hand cream – a pump bottle makes this a lot easier to use, no trying to put a lid back on with freshly moisturised hands. 

Clean, Girls Body Wash – for that lovely soft clean feeling as I get out of the shower. 

So there you go, my little beauty shop. 

Any favourites in my basket? 

beauty, beauty boxes, cruelty free, nail polish, reviews, skincare

#WBBSummer Edit

ramblingmads

When the Queen of beauty boxes, Jaina from Which Beauty Box UK, releases a beauty box of her own, it’s a must buy. 

This summer edit is gorgeous. The box itself is good quality, with a magnetic strip and a ribbon, gold embossing. Just lovely. 

Inside is a beautifully scented tissue paper wrapped bundle of gorgeous items from indie brands, most of which are vegan and cruelty free. 

Alphabet Bags Stay Wonderful Ombre Make Up Bag – RRP  £22. This make up bag is really pretty and a great size for all your holiday bits and bobs. 

Danglefoot Nail Polish in Atlantis (exclusive to the box) – RRP  £6.50. I love the polishes I already have from Danglefoot, so this gorgeous, sparkly teal polish is perfect. 

Saturated Colour Make Me Matte Lipstick Mattifier – RRP  £8. I am super intrigued by this nifty little tube. Applied over any lipstick it instantly mattifies it for a completely different look. 

Bloomtown Botanicals The Hedgerow Organic Hand & Body Wash – RRP £12. I love Bloomtown’s products and this smells heavenly as will I after using it. Blackberry and honeysuckle – almost good enough to eat. 

Make Feet Revive Lime and Lavender Foot Cream – RRP  £12. My feet ache after walking all day so this is actually making me super happy. With lots of essential oils and refreshing ingredients, I now have happy feet.

AA Skincare Green Tea and Aloe Vera Cleansing Wipes – RRP £3.30. I’ve used these wipes before, they’re super gentle on skin and lift grease, make up, grime with ease. 

PHB Ethical Beauty Refresh Gel with Seaweed & Mint – RRP £13.75. This is really nice, perfect for use on sunburn and bug bites, or just irritated skin. Cools and soothes and smells really good too. 

PHB Ethical Beauty Brightening Body Lotion – RRP £3.50. My sensitive skin prefers natural ingredients and this is packed full of them.

Gifts by Little Miss Popsicle Bath Fizzy – RRP  £3.25. I was disappointed this wasn’t edible, it looks so delicious. I don’t have a bathtub but will be taking this away with me hopefully to somewhere with one! 

Raspberry Sangria Candle Jar by Flamingo Candles – RRP £3.50. This is so yummy, I need to go make a jug of sangria and add raspberries to imitate this. 

So it’s pretty safe to say I love this box. Jaina has done a fab job, she really knows her stuff. I think the price (£37) is pretty fair for all the stuff packed into this box. I really hope there’s another. You can buy yours here and get 15% off with the code WBB15.  

beauty, beauty boxes, lifestyle boxes, make up, reviews, skincare

Hello Summer! Pink Parcel Summer Edit 

ramblingmads

I had a very brief subscription from Pink Parcel a while ago but I am still on their mailing list so when the Summer Edit popped into my inbox I decided to place an order. 

A huge box arrived, carried to my door by the invisible postman (I never see him but parcels arrive and someone rings the doorbell and I once heard a man whistling). Inside was a flamingo print canvas bag full of goodies. 

I love flamingos – this bag is very me 

Scrub Love Coconut Affair Coffee Scrub – I’m not personally a fan of coffee scrubs probably because I don’t like coffee, but my fiance loves coffee in all forms so this will be his to use. 

Barnaby Cross Gemmotherapy Face Mask – not exactly sure what gems have to do with face masks but this seems to be a plant based sheet mask. 

Figs & Rouge Combat Cream- this is designed to eradicate blemishes, which is handy as my skin can be a bit reactive. 

Malibu SPF 30 Lotion – sun cream is an essential in my skincare arsenal. 

Spa To You Konjac Sponge – I am really not that keen on these sponges but some people love them. 

Your Tea Face Scrub – this has tea in it which is new, and claims to be gentle enough for sensitive skin. 

Colorsport 30 Day Brow Tint – dark brown shade so not for me. 

Pink Parcel For Now Tampons 

Beauty Papier Green Tea Blotting Paper – shiny t-zones be gone with soothing green tea extract. 

Stylondon Henna Tattoos – just no. 

Bic Soleil Razor 

Elegant Touch Nails (Colours vary)

Sass Intimate Purifying Cleanser – there’s a whole rant I could do about this. 

Eyeko Skinny Liquid Eyeliner

Burt’s Bees Deep Cleansing Cream 

Jelly Pong Pong Eye Shadow Duo

Sportfx Sport Stamina Mascara

Amie Deep Pore Exfoliating Polish 

Bonnie XO Lipstick 

Pink Parcel make up bag 

Dr Paw Paw Original Balm (not pictured as it rolled under the bag!) 

Candy Kittens sweets – 2 sweets! 2 sweets! 

Estella Bartlett bracelet – this is pretty. 

Joe & Seph’s Coconut & Chia Popcorn (which was supposed to be Not.Corn made with sorghum) – leave out the chia seeds and this is s nice coconut popcorn. 

Yuyo Mint Tea

Yuyo Zing Tea

We Are Tea Soothe for tummy relief

Make up close ups 

Bit of a mixed bag (quite literally). Some of these things I will definitely use but others will be going to new homes. 

beauty, cruelty free, make up, reviews, skincare

Review: Arbonne Cosmetics 

ramblingmads

As you may be mildly sick of me mentioning, I went to the Allergy & Free From Show recently. 

One of the brands I discovered there is Arbonne – a Swiss beauty company that makes cruelty free, vegan friendly make up and skincare. 

After a little test session with friendly make up artist and rep Sarah my lovely mum bought me a foundation and a blush. Sarah kindly threw in a primer for me too.

I love make up but the combination of sensitive skin, eczema and rosacea means I have to be super careful with what I use on my face to avoid breakouts and flare ups. 

Sarah explained the ingredients and ethos used by Arbonne – from their website; 

Ingredient Policy

Transparency and honesty. For over 35 years, this has been the hallmark of our product integrity. From the beginning, Arbonne has developed products by combining the best of nature with leading science. Our mission is to always improve and evaluate our ingredient policy as an ever-evolving standard of excellence. This means we continuously challenge ourselves to do better and better.

We formulate without

animal products or by-products | artificial flavors | artificial sweeteners | benzene | bisphenol-a | carbon black | formaldehyde-donating preservatives | hydroquinone | mineral oil | parabens | petrolatum | phthalates | sodium laureth sulfates (SLES) | sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) | synthetic dyes | talc | triclosan | triethanolamine (TEA) And so much more …

A lot of the things I avoid are absent from these products which is great for me. 

The foundation I chose is in the lightest shade of the range, quelle surprise, Alabaster, a gentle medium coverage liquid foundation that sinks in without looking chalky or leaving a residue. 

The blusher is in a light shade called Ballet – it seems a little pale in the pot but once on its peach undertones appear, making my skin look warm. 

The primer is quite gel like but blends down smoothly leaving my skin even and ready to apply my make up. 

I am definitely going to keep using these products and potentially re-purchase, although I also have my eye on some of the skincare Arbonne produces. 

If anything catches your eye – do contact Sarah and check out her Instagram too for some amazing make up looks. 

beauty, reviews, skincare

Review: Bloomtown Botanicals Sampler Set

ramblingmads

Bloomtown Botanicals is a small firm making beauty products from natural ingredients, 100% palm oil and cruelty free. 

I picked up the sampler set as a little treat, but totally forgot to pick my fragrances at the checkout so the team at Bloomtown did it for me! 

The sampler set has four products from across the Bloomtown range to give you a good feel for the things they produce. 

The box smells amazing. 

The Woods Sweet Almond & Shea Sugar Scrub

This scrub smells delicious – but do not eat it! A mix of soothing, skin loving ingredients that didn’t only leave my legs smooth but also feeling soft. 

The Hedgerow Pink Himalayan Salt Soak 

I don’t have a bath tub unfortunately but I do enjoy a good foot soak of an evening in my DIY foot spa (it’s a bowl) and this made my feet soft and smell delicious, like blackberries and honey (it contains huneysuckle). You only need a little. 

The Grove Shea & Coconut Soap Bar

I don’t normally get on with soap as lanolin makes my hands dry and scratchy. But this little beauty contains Shea butter and not lanolin. So it left my hands clean and happy. 

The Meadow Infused Oil

With lavender, rose geranium and chamomile this roll on is relaxing and light. I’m using it on pulse points before bed to help calm me and help me sleep. 

Now I have a little treat for you all. How do you fancy getting 20% off across Bloomtown’s products? Well here you go! Enter the code RAMBLING20 at checkout and tah-dah!

This is an affiliate program and I will get a tiny something if you use the code while making a purchase. 

beauty, lifestyle, make up, reviews, skincare

Lately I’m Loving…Skin Special

ramblingmads

I’ve not done a post like this before but I see a few on blogs I read so I thought I’d share my favourite products of the moment. 

Superdrug Vitamin E Spray On Body Lotion – I am really lazy, and hate mornings, so any shortcut that does the same trick is fine by me. This moisturiser in a can is great – especially for doing the backs of my legs as it sprays upside down too. 

Superdrug Vitamin E All Over Body Cream – in the evenings this is perfect for smoothing over tired, dry skin. It’s also really good at soothing my eczema after being irritated all day by clothes. 

Soap & Glory Rushover Dry Shampoo – I try not to rely on dry shampoo too much but I’m still lazy so… this was a total bargain at the time, and there’s always offers on S&G. This is also a great dry shampoo, slightly fragranced with the signature scent, no dandruff-like residue, no sticky roots. 

Ladival Sun Protection Factor 30 – this is my current go to sunscreen, as a very pale blonde my skin needs all the protection. This spray is super easy to apply, doesn’t smell funny, absorbs quickly and doesn’t leave a tacky residue. 

Superdrug Simply Pure Micellar Water – Micellar Water is something I use daily to lift the top layer of grime and make up before a thorough cleanse. This one is inexpensive and doesn’t smell weird or contain alcohol. Plus it’s cruelty free and hypoallergenic. 

Bio Oil – my mum swears by this and I’ve started using it on some of the odd scars and marks. It takes a while but it seems to help them fade. 

Nip+Fab Kale Fix Make Up Removing Pads – I use these when I’ve got slightly heavier make up on that the Micellar Water alone won’t start to budge. 

L’Occitane Vervaine Agrumes Eau de Toilette – this is my favourite summer perfume, a mixture of verbena, orange and lemon essential oils and grapefruit extract. It’s light and fresh, and the essential oils mean it stays on the skin for longer. 

So those are my current favourites – any that you love too? 

Let me know what you’re loving below. 

healthy, life, skincare

Stay Cool Kids

ramblingmads

The sizzle of sunburn is not something I enjoy so I am very grateful for Past Me who stocked up on suncream. Here’s my top tips for keeping your complexion healthy and avoiding lobster doom whether you’re going abroad or staying home.  

🌻Use suncream every day and top it up regularly, especially if you’re outside during the day. 

🌻Drink lots of water, you get dehydrated quickly in the summer and being taken to hospital and put on a drip can really wreck your holiday. Buy a water bottle and carry it with you – pop it in the fridge before you go out to keep it cool. 

🌻Moisturise! Your skin gets thirsty too and needs love. 

🌻Stay out of the midday sun – the hottest part of the day is the worst. 

🌻Eat delicious water filled nutrients in watermelon, cucumber, and other fruits. Ideally eat things in season as they taste better. 

🌻Don’t forget our furry pals – they can’t take off their fluffy jackets so make sure they have plenty of water, add an ice cube or two to help them stay cool. 

🌻Stop sleeping under your winter duvet! If you need covers a light blanket or spare sheet instead so you don’t get too hot at night. 

🌻Open the windows when you get home. Air out your home and cool it down. If you can, open your doors as well. 

🌻Water your plants. Use water left in your kettle or water bottles rather than pour it away. If you have a garden get a water butt – they’re inexpensive and will save on your water bills, as long as it rains. 

🌻Most importantly have fun! 

beauty, beauty boxes, fun stuff, gardening, healthy, lifestyle boxes, my little box, reviews, skincare

My Little Garden Box 

ramblingmads

This is April’s box, the reason for the delay was because I wanted to take photos of my box in the wild – I don’t have a garden but the bonkers weather meant I couldn’t get a break to find some grass and take some snaps. Let’s dive in. 

This garden to table lists the vegetables and fruit in season for every month. Eating seasonally is something I try to do – it works out cheaper when there’s an abundance and you get the best of the crop, sweeter strawberries in June for example. 

I have a larger version of this infuser bottle somewhere, pop your favourite fruits in the infuser core and fill the bottle with water. My favourite fruit combo is lime and watermelon – so refreshing. 

Recipe cards/magnetic shopping list – this has some of the MLB team’s favourite fruit based recipes and then pages to pop your shopping list on with a magnetic backing to stick neatly on the fridge. 

Ape Crunchy Coconut Bites – tasty little discs of crunchy coconut – yummy. 

A floral patterned green and blue square scarf which can be worn in a variety of ways – the last scarf MLB sent out is a firm favourite so this one will be too. 

This month’s beauty treats are all skincare savers. Mixa is a French skincare brand now available in Superdrug (home of many a beauty bargain). Suitable for sensitive skin (yay) this dermatologist tested paraben free moisturiser can be used all over – giving you soft summer skin. 

My Little Beauty Vitamin Shot Facial Scrub – made with bamboo extract, apricot seed powder and argan oil this twice weekly scrub will buff skin and leave you all shiny. 

My Little Beauty Easy Morning Skin Perfector – once you’ve rinsed off the scrub this moisturiser softens and smoothes skin with a subtle shimmer. Just remember to top with SPF!