Tag: reviews

make up, reviews, skincare

Beauty Boxes: Naturisimo

ramblingmads

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 .

ramblingmads

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 🙂

ramblingmads

books, reviews

Book Review – Frog Music by Emma Donaghue

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Based on a true story about a murder in San Francisco when it was still a new city, Donaghue spins a story involving circus folk, music, measles, baby farms, dancing girls and frog hunting.

Jenny Bonnet (pronounced Bonn-ay) was a teenage tearaway who spent time in a reform school before becoming a trouser-wearing frog hunter in the ponds and swamps around the fledgeling San Francisco, supplying the restaurant trade with that delicacy, frog legs.

When she was 27 she was shot dead in a guesthouse outside the city. No one was ever convicted of the killing.

Using old newspaper articles and court records, Donaghue fleshes out the story of Bonnet’s life and death. Narrated by Blanche Beunon, a French acrobat turned stripper and prostitute, who befriended Jenny shortly before her death, the novel depicts the struggles of immigrants, living hand to mouth in Chinatown.

The details of Bonnet’s life were scarce so this allowed Donaghue, whose last book was the harrowing Room, a lot of scope to write an imaginative, colourful narrative peopled by outrageous characters and a complex tangle of emotions and motives at its centre.

This book is well worth a read, whether historical fiction is your thing or not.

ramblingmads

books, reviews

Book Review – Hope in a Ballet Shoe

ramblingmads

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Michaela DePrince is currently a dancer with the Dutch National Ballet, before that she was a ballet student in America, and before that she was an orphan in war-torn Sierra Leone.

As a little girl I wanted to be a ballerina, and although that never worked out, I still do the positions on Underground platforms and try to see as much ballet as I can afford.

Michaela wanted to be a ballerina too, but her journey would be long, hard and at times painful.

If you’ve seen the documentary First Position, you’ll recognise the teenage Michaela, one of the few black ballerinas around. She’s got a beautiful smile and dances wonderfully.

Her book takes you from the tragedy of her early years, orphaned by age 4, sold to an orphanage by her uncle, she witnessed the murder of her pregnant teacher and had to flee along with the other children to neighbouring Guinea. Throughout it all she clung to the dream of looking like the ballerina on the front of a magazine she found in the street.

She and her best friend were adopted by a white couple from America, became sisters and began to dance.

Her story is inspiring, heartbreaking and ultimately full of hope and joy.
I stayed up late reading it, not wanting to put it down, desperate to know whether she achieved her dream.

Written with her adoptive mother’s help, Michaela’s story is brilliant for reminding you that thinks can be achieved and if you work hard dreams happen.

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ramblingmads

beauty, beauty boxes, glossybox, make up, reviews

Glossybox review

ramblingmads

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Yesterday I received my first Glossybox. Having previously bought a few Latest in Beauty, which contain a mixture of full size and mini products, most of which I ended up not using and giving away.
Glossybox is a box of full size surprises. This is the February box and contains

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A Wilkinson Sword HydroSilk razor, Marsk mineral eye shadow in grey, Royal Apothic tinted lip butter in coral, So Susan Rose Quartet for lips and cheek, B. All waterproof mascara and a mini pack of Love Hearts sweets. All beautifully packaged like a present.

Cheaper than Latest in Beauty boxes, but with fewer products, these boxes are clearly a promo product for the brands featured, which apart from the razor, I’d never heard of.

I will probably use most of the products, minus the mascara, due to my very sensitive eyes. I like eyeshadows and the lip/cheel tint is hypoallergenic.

The packaging is cute and the box sturdy enough to be reused.

My plan is to subscribe for three months and if I don’t use the products to cancel my subscription.

Do you subscribe to any beauty boxes? Want to recommend a product. Write me a comment below. 🙂

ramblingmads