April Glossybox product review

I was quite excited by April's Glossybox and felt that it had a lot of promise compared to March's Glossybox and admittedly previous Glossyboxes too. Aside from the STYLondon Temporary 'Henna' Tattoos (which retail at £5.99) which I won't be trying because I'm not into temporary tattoos, I was looking forward to April's box. First up I tried the Studio10 Brow Lift Perfecting Liner which retails at a whopping £22 for eyebrow pencil!! For the hefty price tag I expected great things but in all honesty the Studio10 Brow Lift Perfecting Liner was too light for my dark eyebrows. The Studio10 Brow Lift Perfecting Liner was heavily sharpened and pointed at both ends so of course you're supposed to blend the ends before use. I didn't have time and needed a quick fix but unfortunately the colour didn't match my gappy eyebrows at all. The brown shade on the Studio10 Brow Lift Perfecting Liner was far too light and the other end is a pale off-white colour assumedly to lighten the brown eye pencil that you've already applied. The Studio10 Brow Lift Perfecting Liner was a disappointing eyebrow liner for me. (If you're looking for a cheap eyebrow liner you can read my review on Constance Carroll eyebrow liner here).

Next up I tried the essence Mosaic Compact Powder which retails at £3. It seems that every month or so there's a new blusher present in the Glossybox and April's box was no different. As a result of this I have about 5 or 6 blushers that I need to power my way through. The essence Mosaic Compact Powder is made up of various different shades and sizes. The idea is that when you sweep your blusher brush over it the true colour is blended nicely onto your face. I'm a huge fan of the mosaic look in compact powders so I was excited to try this essence blusher. I found the colour quite neutral, I'm used to an obvious dark glow on my cheeks from my usual St. Moriz bronzer. The essence Mosaic Compact Powder however is very light on the skin and it hardly looked like I had any make-up on at all! My face looked natural and my look simple and understated. I like the essence Mosaic Compact Powder although I would have preferred it to be a tad darker just so I didn't feel so washed out.

I was excited to try out the Leighton Denny Expert Nails Miracle Mist as I'm always on the look out for a product that promises speedy results. I was a bit eager and applied the Leighton Denny Expert Nails Miracle Mist straight after applying my black nail varnish. Of course I touched it to see if it was dry and found it to be tacky still. On the back of the bottle however, it states that you should leave the nail varnish to dry for a minute before applying the Leighton Denny Expert Nails Miracle Mist. To me this defeats the point of a speed drying nail varnish spray. Usually my nail varnishes dry in around 60 seconds or less so with this in mind a nail varnish speed drying spray is irrelevant. I do like the idea of the Leighton Denny Expert Nails Miracle Mist however, and although I'm impatient I will continue to use this product straight after a nail varnish application. I will just make sure that I don't touch it straight away! You can buy Leighton Denny Expert Nails Miracle Mist from any good M&S store and a full-size bottle of only 75ml retails at £12. It's pricey but I do credit that it works. The metallic silver canister looks a bit like an aerosol deodorant can but it's quick and simple to use. A definite keeper in my books!

Last up for April's Glossybox was by far my least favourite product The Body Shop Oils of Life Intensely Revitalising Facial Oil which retails at a whopping £28. Personally, I don't like facial oils because they leave my skin feeling oily and greasy. As I have problematic combination skin with an oily chin and cheeks, excess oil is the last thing I need to put on my face. I also don't actually know how to properly use facial oils and as there was very little write up on the Glossybox cards, it didn't really help me in how to apply it. The sample size bottle of The Body Shop Oils of Life Intensely Revitalising Facial Oil comes in a tiny bottle with a dropper application. Instead of dropping the oil onto my face I literally scraped the dropper onto my skin and then rubbed it in. Straight away it's noticeable how greasy The Body Shop Oils of Life Intensely Revitalising Facial Oil is which wasn't great for my skin. If you have dry skin I assume The Body Shop Oils of Life Intensely Revitalising Facial Oil is fantastic as it's packed full of restorative oils but unfortunately it just didn't do anything for me sadly.

Let me know what you thought of April's Glossybox in the comments below or, if you have any tips on how to use facial oils I'd love to hear from you! xx

A review of the best hand creams

It may surprise some of you to learn that as well as writing a beauty blog, I am currently studying Archaeology at Uni. I know the two are never normally connected with one another but on the days I'm not spent digging dirt, I do try to look nice. I also try and keep my hands clean as much as possible and constant washing or cleaning dries them out.

My favourite hand cream is by The Body shop and it's lasted me ages. The Body Shop had an offer on last year where you could try their 30ml hand creams for free of which there were four in the range. I really like the Almond Hand and Nail Cream as it sinks into the hands straight away and gets to work moisturising those cracked hands. Almonds are great for your hair and nails and the cream is really easy to moisturise into your cuticles. It smells wonderful too. I love how light it feels and how quick it sinks into the skin. It's also made from Community Fair Trade Brazil nut oil so you can do some good when you use it.

I tried the other three in the range; Wild Rose, Absinthe and Hemp and found all three to have overpowering scents, (especially Wild Rose). I find that the Almond cream leaves my hands soft and smooth but I found the Hemp hand cream too thick to sink in and the Absinthe too greasy. The Wild Rose cream works to soothe cracked skin but the smell was too flowery for my liking. A small tube retails at £5 and it's presented in an unusual silver tube rather than a plastic container. It's because of the tube however that it has pride of place on my bedside shelves. The tube is easily squashed and so it can explode with pressure. My handbag is already a mess so I don't need hand cream leaking into it.

Another favourite is the Amande l'occitane hand cream which although it comes in the same silver tube, my sample came with a little knitted hand cream container. I can throw this into any handbag and not have to worry that the liquid will ooze out. I received another two samples with this; Fleur de Cerisier Cherry Blossom and for dry hands Shea Butter. I love the smell of the Shea butter and almond hand creams but again, the cherry smell is too strong for me.

Lastly, if I'm travelling my skin dries out quickly on planes so I need an intense moisturiser that will get to work straight away. I received a small sample of the Rituals hand cream and as it's less 10ml, it's the perfect size to fit in your hand luggage if you travel abroad a lot. Both the l'occitane hand cream and the rituals hand cream take a little while to sink in which is a bit restricting.

Release the cracken -- Help combat cracked lips

As I mentioned in my last review, I said I would share with you how to stop your lips from cracking. I use a variety of products and I have a range of lip balms that I favour. When my lips are particularly dry and cracked I like the greasy formula of Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Lip Care. It doesn't stay on the lips for long but I like to re-apply this throughout the day as it helps to soften and moisturise the lips. A downside is that it doesn't taste particularly nice if you accidently lick your lips. I bought this from Boots some time ago and priced at £2.80 it's a bargain. Quite a lot of the make-up I use has SPF in it and this is no different. I originally bought it for a holiday to protect my lips as it has SPF 20 in the formula. I have different lip balms and glosses that I use when I'm abroad (depending on the SPF factor), unfortunately I don't take this one away with me. When I'm on holiday I prefer AVON's 2 in 1 lip colour and eye duo or Hawaiian Tropic lip-gloss (the SPF are quite high for both products, and, they double up as make up as they give a bit of colour to the lips).

When my lips are dry and sore from constant cracking I use Rituals lip balm. I love the creamy formula of this and as it's small and light, you can pop it in your handbag. I received this as a free sample (along with a miniature hand cream) after a commercial flight. Unfortunately it seems they're no longer available to buy, although Amazon promises that it will eventually come back in stock.

I'm a sucker for quirky things and when I saw Anatomicals had a lip gloss called Stop Cracking Up, I had to buy it. They've updated the older package and the tube currently resembles cheap lip gloss that you might have bought when you were younger. I prefer the older tube which was really simple in its' design. Unfortunately, it's not practical to carry around with you as the lid on the older tube is a lot less secure. It dries clear and helps soften and moisturise your lips and lasts all day so top ups are unnecessary. It adds a really nice shine to your lips too. Again, I'm a huge fan of products that have natural ingredients so apart from the quirky labelling, I originally bought it as it has almond oil and beeswax in the formula. It's no wonder your lips end up soft and the product is honest when it says it gives your lips "therapy... with this soothing balm." Another benefit to this product is that I bought it on a weekly shop in my local Morrisons supermarket so you can pick it up whilst you shop. It's priced at £3.38 from Amazon so it's fairly cheap.

Finally, if I'm planning on using lipstick I use a lip scuff beforehand. This essentially is a lipstick shaped exfoliator that buffs and scrubs away the dead skin cells. It leaves your lips really smooth and free of dry skin. I cannot recommend lip scuffs enough. I bought mine from the Body Shop and it was priced at £8. They're a little pricey and if you're on a budget a dry cloth or flannel works just as well to buff away the dead skin cells. Unfortunately, I've used mine so much that I've squashed it inside the lid but it still works really well.

Ideally you should use the lip scuff first and then put a base coat of Vaseline or another greasy lip balm on before you apply lipstick. The final stage should be an application of Lipcote to set the lipstick. Personally, I don't believe this works, I've tried it time and time again. By using a greasy base the lipstick has nothing to stick to and slides off easily.

I have to combat dry and cracked lips on a regular basis and I decided to post this review after reading an article on cracked lips. Having read it, it suggests that lips that excessively crack could be a result of a vitamin D deficiency. I'm not too worried about mine as they're easily treated with the above lip balms.

If you're interested the article is here: Mind Body Green article