9 items Beauty Guru ÂŁ18 a month or ÂŁ25 one off (+ P&P)
A little while ago the lovely team at Latest in Beauty invited me to create my own Beauty Guru box from their line up of beauty goodies, with new additions coming regularly I can see why this would make a great monthly subscription.
I think a lot of people’s issues with subscription boxes revolve around the lack of choice and being unable to decide what items you receive. LiB have worked out how to change this. There are three levels of subscription from 3 items to 9 – prices ranging from £9 to £18, cancel anytime. Or you can opt for the slightly pricier one off option if you’re not sure about making the commitment.
The items in my box are a mix of sample and full size, and high street to high end, online only brands.
As a natural blonde summer is when my hair comes into its own, picking up extra radiance from the sun and shining in a way it struggles to do in winter. However it does need a bit of TLC, swimming pools turn it green, and it can end up bleached and dry. So I chose Charles Worthington’s Colourplex Enhancing & Restoring Blonde shampoo and conditioner (full size). Sulphate and paraben free, not tested on animals, ticking all the boxes. It contains honey and lemon, two things blonde hair loves too.
I am always in search for my perfect red lip, and to help keep it on my lips and not on my teeth I picked a little tube of original Lipcote (fullsize) With vegetarian and cruelty free ingredients, this is one handbag stalwart that has more than earned its legacy.
Merci Handy is a brand I know from their scented hand gels, but this Refreshing Face Mist is designed to refresh tired and overheated skin, with a gentle, cruelty free formula. I keep something similar in my bag, but since it’s almost used up, this is very much essential.
This Works Sleep + hair elixir is my current night time go-to. I credit it for helping me sleep and giving me happier hair (although that might be some other haircare changes, but whatevs) so another item from this range was always going to please me. The Trouble Shooter is designed to “help reclaim sleep and de-age skin” and is recommended for trouble spots like knees and elbows. Now my knees are not looking their best, a tumble up some concrete stairs a while ago has left me with some very slow healing bruises, so maybe this will be the key to getting them up to scratch.
I am a sucker for a palette, seriously who needs so many eyeshadow options, I have one pair of eyelids! Well, clearly I don’t agree with myself, as yes, I picked another palette. But this is a dinky handbag, great for jazzing up your day look on your way to dinner or drinks, palette. With a mix of glittery gold shimmer and matte tones, Sleek have created a clever tiny pocket sized fix. There’s no brush, because let’s be honest who actually uses the palette brush, but there is an all important mirror.
Amie Morning Dew Matte-Finish Moisturiser is one of those products that I keep meaning to buy but never remember to. It’s a great daily moisturiser, designed for sensitive skin like mine, with natural extracts, it smells inoffensive, it dries matte, why don’t I buy this regularly, I just don’t know.
Occasionally I like to try new products, ones I can’t entirely say I know much about, and Bali Balm falls firmly into this category. I picked it by scent from two options – this ones contains bergamot, a citrus fruit whose scent really appeals to me and pops up in several of my favourite go to products.
A lip balm in possibly the fanciest packaging for this kind of product, this vegan and natural ingredient new kid on the block comes in four varieties and is ÂŁ20 to buy, which seems a little pricey for such a small product in a somewhat overflowing market.
Finally, I have never really stopped being a glitter queen and this little pot of eco-glitter from Glitterlution in Superfly Unicorn speaks directly to the girl who owned every shade of Barry M’s dazzle dust back in the day. The only downside is that this has leaked all over the inside of the box and over the other products, so I’m not exactly getting every flake (it’s also all over my laptop now). I am really pleased to see more and more ecologically designed glitter, as it’s not normally biodegradable and I don’t want my habit of making things sparkle to make sealife sick.
The box itself was a bit of a surprise, in that there isn’t a separate box inside the packaging, so if you like to keep the box to store your bits and bobs in you will be disappointed, however the packaging is all recyclable being paper and cardboard (but do check local restrictions), which is good news.
Overall I think this is a great idea, I managed to pick all cruelty free products (which is very important to me) and items I will actually use, as opposed to the contents of other beauty boxes, which vary so wildly. They were dispatched super quickly too, and arrived intact, which I’ve also had a moan about with some of the boxes I’ve received before. If I was going to sign up to a new monthly box, this one would definitely be high on my list. You can check it out for yourself here along with LiB’s other pre-selected boxes.
*This item was gifted to me in exchange for a review but all words and opinions are my own.
ramblingmads 