Tag: make up

beauty boxes, birchbox, make up, reviews, skincare

May Birchbox – Free Your Mind

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This month’s theme is Free Your Mind and so Birchbox have sent out a colour-it-yourself box.

Personally I think they’re just jumping on the adult colouring book fad, which I do as part of treating my anxiety but isn’t for everyone. This box feels both try-hard and lazy at the same time.

On to the contents.

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As well as your booklet on the items this month’s cloth bag features;

– Mirenesse Mattfinity Lip Rouge in a deep pink. Weirdly it seems to have dried up despite never having been opened so I’m not really impressed.

– Lumiere d’hiver reconstructing face masque in a sachet. It says it’s 100% vegan but worryingly for me the second ingredient is a form of alcohol, which I try to avoid in skin products as it has drying properties that inflame eczema and sensitive skin.

– Parlor Moisturizing Sea Salt Spray – this has been discussed on a lot of blogs and there seems to be a concern about whether this will wreck your hair or give you the tousled surfer babe waves it promises. Sea water is not your hair’s best friend and neither is salt so I totally get the questions. I have to quite naturally wavy hair so it’s hard to tell if it had any effect. My furry assistants thought the noise it made was interesting but less so than their dinner. So the jury’s still out.

-RMK Point Make Up Remover. This is a Japanese brand and helpfully no one translated the information on the bottle and my kanji reading skills are non-existent. It’s an oil remover, which have become increasingly popular but I’m still not sure about. The last one I tried made no difference to my skin and still needed a cream cleanser to actually take my make up off! However after the hand incident (see next product) I used this to remove the make up with just a tissue so maybe oils need another go round!

– Caudalie Vinoperfect Tinted Moisturiser SPF20 in 01 Light. I am very pale and this is way too dark for me. As you can see in the below photo of my hand. I squeezed a blob out that could coat my entire hand but be way too obvious, not something I want for a product designed to be subtle.

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This month’s ‘choose your own’ product was from a line up of WAH nails items. I chose a nail art pen as I have so many polishes and don’t wear stick on nails. I haven’t had a chance to play with it yet but it is a very deep blue so I’m not 100% sure which nail polishes it would work well with.

– Finally the lifestyle item. A pack of 6 mini colouring pencils to decorate your box with. Needless to say I think that’s pretty pants. None of the decorated boxes on their Instagram were done using just the six colours and some were done with pens and paints. Pencils cost pennies. It would have been nice to have something that spoke a little more to the theme.

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Do you subscribe to Birchbox? What did you think of this month’s products?

  

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beauty, beauty boxes, make up, reviews, skincare

You Beauty Limited Edition CEW Awards

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This is a limited edition box in conjunction with the CEW Beauty Awards.

At £19.95, it’s not a bad price considering how packed it is.

Philip Kingsley Elasticizer sample size

Benefit They’re Real! Push-up Liner sample

Vita Liberta Luxury Tan sample and applicator mitt

Aurelia Miracle Cleanser sachet

Too Faced Better Than Sex mascara sample

Encore Noire Sport pour homme sample (men’s smellies in a women’s box?!?!)

Bee Good Honey & Propolis 2-in-1 Cream Cleanser sample bottle with face cloth and 20% off voucher.

Elemis pro-collagen marine cream full size (30 ml)

Dr Organic Bioactive Skincare Organic Snail Cream full size (50ml) – not suitable for vegans, contains snail secretions but no snails are harmed.

20% voucher for M&S selected beauty and fragrance

Booklet about the products.

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Plenty of things to try, including two full size products. Definitely worth the cost, as long as you make use of them!

Get yours here and remember it’s limited edition so they won’t last.

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beauty, beauty boxes, make up, reviews, skincare

You Beauty Discovery Box

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You Beauty is an off-shoot from the Mail on Sunday’s You magazine.

The box is £6.95, significantly cheaper than most beauty boxes. You only get four sample size products however.

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Yours Truly Organics Fix Me! Repairing Serum sachet, Tisserand Aromatherapy Bath Oil, Deborah Mitchell Heaven Chamomile Desensitizing Hydrogel & Linwood’s Milled Flaxseed, cocoa & berries sachet.

There’s also a card offering you an opportunity to win a luxury spa day and a booklet about all the products you could have had in your box.

Their USP is that you can select two of the items, however things go very fast and I didn’t have a huge selection to choose from.

I think this is an OK starter beauty box and not all of the brands were familiar to me. If you’re interested, check out May’s options here.

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make up, reviews, skincare

Beauty Boxes: Naturisimo

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This is a one off box of organic make up and skincare, I ordered it after seeing it on Which Beauty Box UK a really good blog all about beauty boxes.

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It’s a small box, should fit through most letterboxes.

Inside is a selection of sample sized items.

Jane Iredale Mascara

Inti Ultimate Lip Tint in candy

Jane Iredale Just Kissed Lip & Cheek Tint

Bella Pierre Cosmetics Kabuki brush

Madara Moon Flower Rose Beige & Golden Beige tintinflg fluid sachets.

The Green People Tinted SPF15 Moisturiser sachet

The mascara is really hard to open, the cheek tint so pale I can’t see it on my skin, the lip tint is sheer but very soft.

Haven’t tried any of the sachets yet, and I already have 3 kabuki brushes (not sure how!) but will keep it in case any of my others start moulting.

I think that it is a nice little introduction to see organic skincare and beauty brands, I had only heard of the Green People before, and if that is important to you, then this a good box.

The products are small but would do well in a handbag for touch-ups although I don’t think the sachets are good as there’s probably only one use in each of them.

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If you’re interested the box is available here .

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beauty boxes, lifestyle boxes, make up, my little box, reviews, skincare

My Little Dream Box

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This month’s My Little Box finally put in an appearance (thanks Mr Postie) and it’s a good un. The theme is dreams and they’ve curated a really lovely box.

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The packaging is gorgeous, they pay a lot of attention to details.

Inside is a selection of lifestyle and beauty products.

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As well as the usual My Little Magazine, there’s a cute cotton bag containing a My Little Beauty branded hair mask, Lip Balm Loved By Lou Lesage in a creamy rouge, Soft Perfumes by Sabe Masson in Copacabana (a solid perfume stick).

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It also includes two lifestyle items. A necklace in a cloud, which when opened is a charm necklace with ‘Bonne Etoile’ engraved on it. Another cute packet contains a stamp pad and rotating stamp with 12 different designs.

In total the box is worth £58 but I only paid £13 including P&P.

At the moment this is far and away my favourite beauty box. They are always beautifully put together and a good mix of beauty and lifestyle items. The box itself is sweet and reusable, so less rubbish is generated. It doesn’t have the largest selection of beauty products but they’re all fullsize this month.

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

Birchbox – A Royally Good Box

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This month Birchbox is celebrating the fact that a woman who married into a dynasty full of cousin marriages, dodgy relatives and scandals is fertile enough to get pregnant with a ‘spare’ heir to the throne.

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As you can probably guess I’m a bit cynical about the Royal Family and think the obsessing over them is a bit insane.

Anyway, back to the beauty box.

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I got the blue box but some were pink. Presumably they contained the same stuff, which didn’t include a mascara (thank heavens – every other one seemed to). Instead there was a little cloth bag containing:

Liz Earle Hot Cloth Cleansing sample – I’ve got a couple of these now – not tried it yet.

Percy & Reed No Oil Hair Oil sample – I’ve used this before and it’s OK, but I prefer my Argan Oil.

Laura Mercier primer sample size, this month you could choose a Laura Mercier product and as the others were mascara and eyeliner I picked this.

Exclusive to Birchbox Lola nail polish in the ubiquitous nude shade (it’s everywhere at the moment)

Korres Bergamot Pear Bodymilk – sample size. The packaging is quite sweet, couldn’t get the foil seal off for that all important sniff test!

And a Befine warming clay face mask instead of the slightly rubbish ‘lifestyle item’ (last month it was a chapter sample of a novel & a teeny tiny note pad).

To be honest I was pretty sure it was all over for Birchbox as last month’s was really disappointing, but this one is a lot better. I can see myself using the products and the box is a good size for reuse. This was the standard size box but a letterbox size is also available.

P.S use this link to get yours 🙂

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beauty, beauty boxes, glossybox, make up, skincare

Glossybox – Hollywood Glamour

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This month’s Glossybox is themed around Old School Hollywood Glamour, from Marilyn Monroe to the Hepburns, via Elizabeth Taylor and other fabulous women.

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The box is quite pretty with Monroe pouting on the front, inside is a quote from Taylor, the presentation is all very pretty but unfortunately the contents had shifted in transit and escaped from the tissue paper and ribbon.

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There are five products inside, again inspired by the glamour of Hollywood’s hey day.

Lord & Berry lipstick crayon in Kiss – meant to be the red of Monroe’s perfect pout. I like an eye crayon and adore Clinique’s chubby sticks for lips so certainly will give this a try.

Astral Original face and body moisturiser – a classic product, still made to the same formula since the 50s. I am very fussy about my moisturiser, and this is not one I’ve tried, although I’m sure my mum used to.

POP Beauty Kajal Eyeliner Pen – kohl pencil in sooty black with a sponge at one end to smudge your line. As frequent readers will know I am not very confident about eyeliner, and there are hundreds of unused eyeliners in my make up past.

Colour Club barely there nail polish – another nude polish – they are literally everywhere. The decal on the bottle is a mess, and the colour is one I have several variations of at the moment.

Nougat London Soothing Bath Pearls – baths don’t happen in my flat – there isn’t one. This smells quite nice and will probably work well as a foot soak too.

Not overly enamoured with this box to be honest, feels a bit repetitive, would be nice to see unusual brands and colours, I think the first Glossybox I had was the best.

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beauty, make up, reviews, skincare

Gaya Cosmetics Review

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Gaya is an Italian vegan (no animals were tested upon) cosmetics firm newly launched in the UK. At the moment their products are only available on Amazon. Their range includes skincare, make up and those all important brushes. 

Quick disclaimer: I was lucky enough to be invited to test two of their products in the run up to their full UK launch but my review here will be unbiased and my honest opinion of the products I tested.

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Primer  (£32.99) – this is not something I regularly use so I was interested in seeing what difference this would make to my make up routine and application.
The bottle is rather pleasing to look at, not too fussy a design – simple and elegant. A lot of my make up lots like either a kid’s colouring set (I do love an eye crayon or a chubby stick) or incredibly plain and boring, except all the glitter. This looks grown up and makes a nice addition to the dressing table (in my case, shelf).

I had to pump the nozzle a few times before anything came out, but as this was the first use I actually rather preferred that to it all oozing out.

You only need a really tiny amount so this will last ages, I applied it with my fingers, but you could use a sponge if you prefer.

It went on very easily, and left a smooth, soft finish. I applied it as per the directions, over my moisturiser, and it added another layer of moisture to my dry skin.

It did make applying my CC cream and foundation smoother, my moisturiser soaks in fast so this left a smooth, silky surface to work with.

I have really sensitive skin and this did not cause any upset, which was definitely a bonus to me. I will probably use it again and may even decide to buy it once I run out.

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The other item I was given to try was an eyeshadow powder in shade F23 (£12.99 currently discounted  – normally £18). This is a light gold/bronze shade, there is a wide range of other colours to choose from.

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As I like to layer my eyeshadow up, this was a great colour to work with.

Again the packaging is rather elegant with a wooden lid embossed in gold. This will also look grown up and rather attractive on the dressing table or shelf.

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The only problem I had was that as the pot was super packed with powder I had trouble getting it out of the tiny holes. I usually use eyeshadows in cake form, either in a palette or solo, whereas this was a very fine powder.

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Using a soft eyeshadow brush, not a sponge applicator, I swept it over my lids, building up the colour in layers. Finished with gold glitter liner and mascara, my eyes looked bright but not overdone or too heavy for daytime.

The pot is very generously filled, so you definitely get your money’s worth. Again I will most probably continue to use it, but may not purchase it as I own other eyeshadows in similar shades.

These are not cheap products but I feel you get value for money. From a quick google of their ingredients it looks like they go for quality and as they are vegan, not tested on animals and in good quality packaging, it’s understandable. I don’t know if I would willingly spend the money but you get what you pay for.

ramblingmads

beauty boxes, glossybox, make up, reviews, skincare

March Glossybox Review

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March’s Glossybox arrived today, so let’s take a look inside. The theme seems to be pink and black.

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NCLA nail polish in Like…Totally Valley Girl. This is very pink and I don’t really feel I will get much use from it.

Sleek Make Up Pout Paint in Rosette – another really pink product. Although giving it an experimental squeeze produced clear, very sticky, goop.

Essence Lash Princess Volume Mascara – clearly beauty box companies think we can never have enough mascara. The bottle’s pretty but due to the extreme sensitivity of my eyes I doubt this will be for me – one for the Give and Make Up box I’m putting together.

Naobay Moisturizing Peeling milk – apparently this is designed for removing dead skin from your face. Will have to give it a go.

Dove Youthful Vitality Shampoo and Conditioner for ageing hair – I am 28, as is my hair (I was born with a full head of dark curls that gradually went blonde) I am not ageing. My mum will be getting these – she’s almost 60 and was complaining about her thin hair the other day!

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All in all a mixed box. Next month is crunch time, which box will I keep and which will be cancelled?

Apparently next month’s Glossybox is inspired by the Golden Age of Hollywood. As my profile pic is Rita Hayworth, that should be (hopefully) right up my street.

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beauty, beauty boxes, love me beauty, make up, reviews, skincare

Beauty box review – Love Me Beauty

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Another beauty box in my quest for the perfect one.

I filled in a beauty questionnaire intended to make the ideal selection, but there was a definite mis-fire amongst this little lot.

A fullsize Nails Inc. polish in bruton lane, which is a pastel shade (and if you read my post about nail polish, you’ll know they’re not my favourite).
Mirabella lip gloss in Muse, which is baby pink in the bottle, so will be used sparingly.
Cailyn eyebrow gel in Cocoa. Now I told them I’m blonde, which is my natural colour so a dark brown gel would make my very pale brows look silly.
Organic Surge Perfecting Face Polish (sample size) this says it’s suitable for sensitive skin, which I have, and contains rosemary and lemon essential oils, which means it smells amazing.
Monuspa Conditioning Bodywash (sample size) for all skin types – this contains honey and essential oils, and again smells delicious.

The goodies come in a little cloth bag inside a frankly enormous box. Their USP is that if you refer a friend with a unique code on their site you get credits towards products in your next box and so will your friend.

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