beauty boxes, my little box, reviews

My Little Home Box

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February’s My Little Box arrived on the bonus day of the month.

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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.

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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.

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beauty, beauty boxes, birchbox

Birchbox Bonus – spending my points

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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. 

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If you want to join Birchbox and score some great beauty treats – click this link, get £5 of points to start yourself off.

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beauty boxes, latest in beauty, reviews

Glamour Spring Edit

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I think the Glamour collaborations with Latest in Beauty are among the best beauty boxes out there.

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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.

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beauty boxes, birchbox, glossybox, reviews

Box Battle – Birch vs. Glossy

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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).

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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?

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feminism, life

International Women’s Day

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Which historical women inspire you?

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beauty, beauty boxes, make up, reviews, skincare

Blogger Beauty Box

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This is a beauty box designed by a blogger for bloggers and all for only £10 a month.

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It’s a pretty new venture and doesn’t yet have a whole slick website set up, and in a way, I prefer that. It feels more friendly and hands on.

It’s a really packed box, full of fab products. Many of them full size, which is always a plus in my book.

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Merumaya Eye Make-Up Remover – this skin kind remover says it removes even stubborn mascara, while not causing upset to your skin.

DHC Mineral Mask – mud mask that only takes 10 minutes to deep clean skin and brighten complexion.

Threads Sex Kitten Lashes – while I don’t wear false lashes (I don’t have the knack and have ended up with lashes on my cheeks) these feathery, soft lashes come with adhesive and would look amazing.

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Madame La La Tan – instant bronzing for your face, already swiped by my bestie for her winter glow. Not tested on animals, paraben free this builds up a bronzed finish.

Puriskin Lip Treat – a clear balm that is suitable for vegans, gluten-free, and contains lots of lovely ingredients to keep lips moisturised and soft.

Jrnaturorganics Mandarin & Chamomile Hydrating Mist and Balancing Moisturiser – designed for sensitive skin, choc full of essential oils and skin friendly natural ingredients, these tiny pots smell gorgeous too.

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beauty, beauty boxes, nail polish, reviews

Nailbox February – Retro Disco Nails

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This month’s Nailbox arrived and it’s full of bright colours and sparkles in a retro disco theme.

Inside the box are four colours to make your nails pop.

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Rimmel lasting finish in Wedge of Lime

Essie in flowerista

Nicole by Opi in Sky’s the Limit

Eye Candy London in Juicylicious

Then to make your nails into disco balls of sparkles Eye Candy London 3D nail wraps.

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beauty boxes, make up, reviews, skincare, vegan kind

The Vegan Kind Beauty Box Spring 2016

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Every three months TVK dispatch a beauty box of cruelty free goodies. And they’re usually all full size.

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Let’s dive in to the first box of the year.

Amie Morning Clear Purifying Facial Wash – no harsh chemicals, great for sensitive skin, pH balanced, not tested on animals, smells fairly pleasant. Not sure what else you need – oh and there’s a 25% off voucher in the box.

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Saturated Colour KISStick in First Kiss (different colours in different boxes) – unfortunately this isn’t my colour, but bright colours and moisture aren’t bad.

Barry M Radiant Rod Highlighter – I use this every day, basically a gold crayon that makes me look bright and healthy. I love that Barry M is cruelty free when so many high street brands aren’t. It doesn’t cost more to be kind.

Floral Engraved Wooden Incense Holder and Sacred Elephant Sandalwood Incense – something a bit different, sandalwood is a delicious, woody scent, used all over the world.

A donation from each box sold goes to the Dr Hadwen Trust – the UK’s leading non-animal medical research charity.

I really like this box, even though the lipstick isn’t my colour, and it saves me a trip to Boots for a new highlighter!

Do you subscribe to this box? Share your thoughts below.

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challenges, crafty stuff, jewellery, lifestyle boxes, reviews

Blackheart Creatives DIY Jewellery Box

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I discovered Blackheart Creatives through Twitter and loved the fun things they sell.

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So when they released a DIY jewellery box I leapt at the chance. For £20 you get everything you need to make some pretty cool, totally unique jewellery.

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Unique and fun

I sat myself down in front of The Good Wife last week and had a go. Following the step-by-step instructions was super easy and since the box not only contained the components but also the tools I needed, there was no faffing about.

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Super duper easy peasy

This month’s box contained a pair of earrings and a necklace, which you can put your own unique spin on and make something no one else has.

This was a limited run of 30 kits, but if there’s enough demand, I imagine there will be more in the future. The plan is to give you something different each time and build up your skills and tools at the same time.

The lovely Charlotte even made a how to video for you, if you’re all thumbs or just want tips from the pros.

As a not very crafty person I found it really fun and as you get something unique to keep and wear at the end, complete value for money.

To find out more, visit Blackheart Creatives online, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, they’re a friendly team and respond quickly, should you have any questions.  You can also see everyone else’s fab creations there.

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