Rambling on about books, baking and beauty…
I’m a stationery nerd, I love pens, notecards, notebooks, washi tape, stickers, post-it notes, the whole lot.
This is where Paper Haul comes in. A subscription box for stationery junkies.
Each month features a different illustrator – this month it’s Jodie Goolding, whose cute animals adorn the contents of the box.
Any other stationery lovers out there? Want to wander round the pen aisle with me. 📏📐📎📌📍✂✏✒📝✉📑📓📔 – all the emojis!
ramblingmads
This month’s Love Me Beauty ‘box’ arrived – it’s not a box as such. But here’s what I picked from the Boutique.
For £13.95 a month you get 60 credits, which you can top up if you want more products.
🍓Tangle Teezer Blow-Styling Full Paddle Brush (20 credits)
🍓Caudalie Make-Up Removing Cleansing Oil (15 credits)
🍓Dr. Lipp Original Nipple Balm for Lips (20 credits)
🍓Yu-Be Moisturizing Skin Cream (5 credits)
I needed a new hairbrush and this was an excellent way to get one without breaking the bank.
The Dr Lipp balm is an essential item, use it on dry lips, dry corners of your nose, elbows, hands, and anywhere else that needs some TLC.
Do you subscribe to Love Me Beauty? Thoughts? Drop me a note in the comments.
ramblingmads
This month’s My Little Box has arrived and it’s already causing a stir online – some subscribers aren’t very impressed.
The problem with theming every box you send out is that sometimes the contents only seem related very tenuously. And that seems to be the crux of the complaints I’ve spotted on social media.
For a box themed around bubbles this is curiously lacking in them. There’s a rather sad looking deflated balloon – think ‘Eeyore has a birthday’ where a mini bottle of bubbles would have made more sense.
Anyway, on to the box contents we’re really interested in – the beauty bits.
Firstly there’s a mini make up sponge and a little blue hairbrush.
Always nice to have some tools, I use a very similar sponge daily so spares are more than welcome and with my mind-of-its-own hair I can never have too many hair brushes.
Inside the little cloth bag are three beauty products designed to help you glow.
🎈Givenchy Noir Couture Volume Mascara – hand bag sized, perfect for touch ups on the go.
🎈My Little Beauty Bubble Blush Lips and Cheek stain – I thought this was nail polish at first but it’s a lip and cheek stain in a matt pink.
🎈Huygens Paris Body Scrub – citrus scented mini tube of scrub to help ready your skin for the post-tights spring we keep hearing rumours about.
As always there’s the in-house magazine My Little World, which not only profiles the box contents but also features articles on Creme Eggs, emojis, Pop Art and a cute fashion spread.
Did you get a Little Bubble Box? What did you think? Let me know in the comments. 🎈🎈
ramblingmads
If you’re thinking of subscribing to a beauty box, this is one of the cheaper options and you can pick two of the items in the box too.
March’s shortlist was quite varied and one of the items I wanted to try was sold out in record time.
The theme this month is ‘Best of British’ and all the items are from British beauty brands (try saying that ten times fast).
From the shortlist I selected The Body Shop’s British Rose Instant Glow Body Butter and Amie Morning Clear Purifying Facial Wash & Morning Dew Matte Finish Moisturiser Duo.
Also included in the box were Charles Worthington Moisture Seal Hair Healer Leave-In Conditioner and two facemasks from Ooharr – Rosy Glow & Dead Sea Cooler.
The booklet has a selection of discounts from the featured brands and the chance to win a goodie bag worth over £100.
ramblingmads
This month’s Look Fantastic box’s theme is Destination Beauty.
The box looks amazing with its world map in eyeshadow powder, well done to that artist.
There are six products in the box –
Lottie London Blend in Brush (from a selection – one per box). This super-soft brush makes blending a breeze.
Codage Masque Hydratant Moisturising Mask – French brand Codage formulated this revitalising mask without parabens, but with essential oils and is suitable for even the most sensitive skin (you may receive an alternative from the same brand.)
Revlon Colourburst Lip Balm – infused with mango, shea and coconut butter, this moisturising lip balm gives you a pop of colour and hydration – you can use it as a blush on your cheeks too.
First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream – a head to toe moisturiser, packed full of goodness, including liquorice root, white tea and shea butter.
Nuxe Creme Prodigieuse – apply to your face and neck after cleansing in the morning, massaging to penetrate this lightweight moisturiser deep into your cells.
Caudalie Micellar Cleansing Water – gently cleanse and remove make up with this soap free and hypoallergenic cleanser.
Inside the mini magazine are the Look Fantastic team’s pick of Paris Fashion Week beauty faves, world beauty trends, recipes and other beauty insider news.
There’s a few too many moisturisers in this box, a bit more variety would be nice but overall I quite like this month’s box.
Are you a Look Fantastic subscriber? What are your thoughts on this month’s box?
ramblingmads
February’s My Little Box arrived on the bonus day of the month.
The box is all about home, cosying up in the warm, because, well, baby, it’s cold outside.
Inside the box are some sweet little touches for your home and some goodies for your face.
There’s a sweet blue picture frame with this month’s illustrated card tucked inside, an excellent holding place while you find your own or not.
There’s also a patterned cushion case to jazz up your sofa, chair or bed. Just add cushion.
There’s also the regular My Little World magazine.
Then there’s the little bag of beauty goodies. This month three items to treat your skin.
My Little Beauty Easy Morning Skin Perfecting cream – apply on its own or under your make up to give skin a healthy glow.
Polaar Genuine Lapland Hand Cream – made with antioxidant rich berries from the Arctic this non-greasy cream soothes frozen fingers and dry winter skin.
Noxidoxi Mask & Peel Perfection Éclat – a skin mask to reveal fresh spring skin and slough off dead and tired cells.
ramblingmads
With every Birchbox there’s the opportunity to accrue points to use in their shop. 100 points = £10 to spend.
But they only last six months and mine were stacking up. Time to hit the (virtual) shop!
As you know I love balmi’s lip balm blocks so I snapped one up pronto – running a bit low on my supplies.
Cowshed is another brand I quite like, although a little out of my budget. But this cracker, featuring the famous Cow Pat hand cream and a Lippy Cow lip balm, was in the sale and I snapped it up.
Finally I popped the Birchbox x Benefit box “Good Things Come in Small Packages” into my virtual basket. Featuring sample sized Benefit goodies including the new Dew the Hoola, it’s a great way to trial more products without breaking the bank.
If you want to join Birchbox and score some great beauty treats – click this link, get £5 of points to start yourself off.
ramblingmads
I think the Glamour collaborations with Latest in Beauty are among the best beauty boxes out there.
This one is jammed full of great products to play with as it hopefully warms up outside.
MUA Luxe 10 shade palette (1 of 2 variations) – this palette is gorgeous and MUA is a brand I love.
Morocanoil Treatment Light – I love argan oil, it healed my split ends and adds shine to my hair post wash. So this bottle is a bonus.
Rosie for Autograph Nuit Parfum EDP – funnily enough I just bought this M&S exclusive perfume a week ago. This little bottle will be in my bag to refresh my scent on the go.
Bareminerals Bare skin Pure Brightening Serum Foundation SPF20 – I’ve been hearing good things about this product so I’m looking forward to testing this out.
Illamasqua Precision Ink Eyeliner – I can’t do a perfect cat’s eye flick to save my life but it doesn’t stop me trying and this liquid liner is supposed to be the bees knees.
Murad AHA/BHA Exfoliating Cleanser – a 3-in-1 cleanser to leave skin hydrated and happy – will definitely try this out, my skin needs to glow in this gloom.
Malin+Goetz Vitamin E Face Moisturiser – vitamin E is a skin friendly vitamin, and it boosts sensitive skin too.
There’s also discount vouchers in the box for some of the featured brands.
ramblingmads
Glossybox – 5 products, two full size. This month; -417 Catharsis Vitamin Mineral Shampoo & Conditioner (travel sized), Olay Regenerist Luminous Skin Tone Perfecting Cream (sample size), Hey Honey Good Morning Silk Facial Serum (sample size), So Susan Light Diffuser Highlighter (full size), Luxie Rose Gold Large Angled Face Brush 504 (full size).
Birchbox – 6 products, three full size. This month; Arrow Boost Colour Enhancing Lip Balm (full size), ModelCo More Brows gel (full size), Lanolips Antibacterial Hand Cream (full size), Crea-m Anti aging Serum (sample size), Amika Nourishing Mask (sample size), Doctor Duve Anti-aging & Firming Eye Cream (sample size).
Birchbox is themed and the box decorated with a beauty themed wordsearch.
Glossybox is in its usual pink and black.
To be honest, I’m a little bored with Glossybox, every other month seems to bring similar samples and it feels a little lacklustre.
Birchbox has been powering along, this month brings the launch of their second in-house brand, vegan, paraben free Arrow, with a lip balm in every box.
What are your thoughts? Are you a Glossy or Birchbox subscriber?
ramblingmads
This month is Women’s History Month, and I’m reminded of the Virginia Woolf line “For most of history, anonymous was a woman”.
For much of our history women have toiled in the background while men filled the history books with their deeds.
So in honour of International Women’s Day, here are some of my top historical women.
Ada Lovelace – daughter of the ‘mad, bad and dangerous to know’ Lord Byron, Ada’s passions were for science not poetry. She wrote some of the first computer code while working with Charles Babbage, the father of computers.
Rosalind Franklin – the only woman in the team that first sequenced DNA, she missed out on the Nobel Prize won by her colleagues as she had died of cancer and it’s not rewarded posthumously. Then she was pretty much written out of scientific history. Which is really bad. Watson and Crick failed to thank her when they received their prize and she doesn’t feature in many textbooks.
Boudicca (Boudicea) – queen of the Iceni tribe, scourge of the Romans, fierce and fabulous. Her statue stands at one end of Westminster Bridge to remind Parliament of the wrath of angry women. Or what happens when you try to crush the spirit of these isles.
Marie Stopes – a controversial figure, Stopes pioneered safe abortions and taught women about contraception. Her work saved lives and continues to through the organisation named after her.
Elizabeth I – my favourite of the small group of women to have held the British throne. She was the last female monarch to hold absolute power, famously never married and is thought to be the hand behind several anonymous poems (some to the French ambassador! Scandal!). Good Queen Bess was a tough cookie, seeing off claims to her throne, Spanish armadas and amorous attempts to control her through marriage. The last Tudor monarch was also famous for her incredibly pale skin – created by wearing lead based paint, which ate at her skin. Beauty was definitely painful.
Which historical women inspire you?
ramblingmads
ramblingmads 