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

Happy Birthday Glossybox review

This month, Glossybox are celebrating their fourth birthday and as a treat they've included four full sized products. I was really excited by this month's selection of goodies. It includes the MeMeMe Lipglide crayon in playful peach which retails at £6.95. I was slightly unsure when I opened this as I'm not usually one for lip crayons. I used it straight away and I absolutely love it. The colour isn't too bright and looks quite natural on the lips. The MeMeMe lip crayon is more a coral colour with a light pink hue. The formula isn't too greasy nor surprisingly waxy and blends well on the lips. To apply, I start by outlining the lips and either colour in the middle or blot the lips together to get even coverage. The crayon didn't dry my lips out either and seemed to hold its' ground well until food. I'm always a little unsure of crayons and expect them to be drying but the MeMeMe lip crayon helps to hydrate the lips. This is definitely going to become a firm staple in my make up bag/handbag because it's so small and convenient.

Next up is the Manna Kadar lash primer which retails at £14.55. This was highly anticipated from last month's box as they offer a sneak preview of their favourite product for the upcoming month. I'm not completely sold on this. I don't wear mascara, when I have in the past, my eyelashes become spidery and stick out. My eyelashes are quite dark and long anyway so I don't really need to apply mascara. As the Manna Kadar is a conditioning lash primer I thought I would try it out. You can use it as a base for mascara which I imagine helps the mascara stay put. I really didn't like this primer, it dried my lashes out and made them really stiff having the opposite effect it was designed for. When applied the primer is white and didn't dry into the lashes fully leaving white spikes on my lashes. It works in the same way as mascara and gave me the same spidery pokey eyelash look. Unfortunately not one for me.

I always like getting new bronzers or blushers to try out. The St. Moriz bronzer that I currently use is perfect for my skin tone but I'm always on the look out to see if anything can replace it. I really liked that the Emite artist colour powder blush IO8 lasted all day and stayed put on my face. However, I didn't anticipate that a lot goes a long way. I usually sweep my blusher brush across the pad a couple of times to layer up the bronzer on the bristles. One dab of the Emite bronzer would have sufficed as unfortunately it sat on my face at first. It's quite a dark colour and unless blended, too dark for my pale skin tone. It's also not as creamy as I would like so doesn't blend very easily. It did give me a nice glow but unfortunately for £20.59 it won't replace my current staple fave.

I was happy to find that alongside new make up Glossybox had also included a facial toner and cleanser. I really liked the Naobay calming face toner as it refreshes, cleanses, tones and soothes the skin. This 4 in 1 formula is a perfect make up remover although I needed a couple of applications to completely rid the lash primer from my eyes. Priced at just £10.65 this will definitely become a new staple and may even replace make up wipes (although I still prefer their convenience to toners). I could tell before I opened it that Naobay is an organic product with the wooden lid and plain plastic packaging screaming organic. It's made from almost 100% natural ingredients with a further 12.16% of the total ingredients sourced from organic farming. I really liked this and it made my face feel really clean and refreshed. It removes make up easily from the face but a little perseverance is needed for stubborn eye make up.

Last up was the SASS Purifying Cleanser priced at £7 for a full sized bottle. The directions state two pumps and apply but the cleanser is very watery so one small dollop is all that was needed. It's a greyish liquid with small white bits that works to cleanse and refresh the skin daily. Applied to dry skin SASS foams immediately which needs to be washed off. My skin looked really clean and fresh after I used this making my face look bright. Another new favourite this month so three out of five isn't bad. As I'd never heard of SASS before until receiving it I decided to Google it. I hadn't realised that it's specifically designed as a PH balance intimate cleanser. The instructions don't specify much and I had instead assumed it was a facial cleanser or at the very least an all over body cleanser. I haven't actually tried this product out to its' full potential but it works well as a facial cleanser.

           

          

Feel free to leave me comments below I do enjoy reading them and I don't have very many to re-read at the minute xx

Birchbox UK beauty box product review

I'm very excited by my latest beauty find although I am a little late to the game. I've recently signed up for a subscription based service that sends you samples of beauty products in the post. I've heard a lot of good reviews about the company and if you're not happy with your products they offer a full reimbursement. This month's Birchbox came with seven sample products and a beautiful box for you to colour and shade to display your products. (Although it's more like ten items really if you count the box, the free pencils that came with it and the handy drawstring bag that the items were packaged in). Usually you get about five so this is super exciting that there's even more freebies in it. My first box cost £10 and with a code applied it vetoed postage and packaging charges. There are options to buy a six month or twelve month subscription which automatically renews and takes payment each month. Unfortunately Birchbox were a little sneaky this month and after they'd sent the first batch of boxes out they included a further two products on top of the extras' to new customers, instead of the free postage and packaging. A lot of customers (myself included) were a slightly irked at this and feel that June's box should have included the other freebies. This is only a slight criticism however and it won't affect my choice to continue with the subscription.

In an attempt to encourage a higher customer base the company have created various codes to entice you in. If you recommend it to friends it gives you 50 points or you could get up to 100 points for other codes. 100 points are equivalent to a £10 spend in the online shop and when you first sign up your account is credited with 10 points. They also send you regular emails that offer little hints and tips and gives you a sneak peek at the box for the following month. They also try to tailor your box to you and match it to your profile each time. 

I was really excited by my make up bundle that when it arrived I used three of the products straight away. My hair's naturally curly so I've never really embraced the sea salt look. I've tried sea salt sprays in the past but I've always found that the product sits on my hair and doesn't sink in. Unfortunately it makes my hair look messy and tatty instead of the beautiful beach goddess you're supposed to channel. My hair's a lot shorter now and whenever I brush it the curls drop out so I used the Moisturizing Sea Salt Spray by Parlour (Jeff Chastain) to create definition in my hair. The product is available to buy for £17 for a small 147ml bottle. It's a really light formula that sinks into the hair and after I scrunched my hair a few times, my hair was back to being it's usual curly self. I really liked this product and it was easy to brush out unlike other sea salt products. As it's quite light it doesn't stay in the hair. What I mean by this is my curls and waves dropped out fairly quickly so you need to use a stronghold hairspray to maintain the look. I like Elnette Satin by L'Oreal Paris as it's cheap and available from most supermarkets. A 200ml can lasts forever and it holds the hair in place but can also be brushed out easily.  

Next I tried the Jelly Pong Pong Cosmetics Caribbean Sun Bronzer Duo (£15.95) and the Stilla Lip Glaze (£15) to complete my look. The Jelly Pong Pong company prides itself on the fact that they use natural ingredients and advertises their ethical policies. All of their cosmetics are dermatologically tested so no animals are mistreated by the company. The duo comes with a rose blush and a bronzer in the other half alongside a handy swivel mirror. I used both colours to define my cheeks and colour the apples of my cheeks. Although it has quite a subtle glittery formula, the colours are really quite dull and do little to define the face. I'm willing to preserve with this and I think the angle on my blusher brush was too wide to get full coverage on the brush. I did have to reapply my own St. Moriz bronzer over my cheeks as the colours did not show at all on my face. As for the Stilla lip gloss there were several flaws with the item. It takes a while to get any liquid to come out as you have to twist the end a lot before any product is dispersed. It's quite sticky and thick which wasn't great when it was windy as my hair ended up on my lips most of the time. The product looks really nice on and provides a subtle pink hue to the lips but it rubs off quite quickly. My lips felt very smooth after I had used it but it also rubbed some of my skin off as it was cracking them.

A disappointing start to my bundle so far. After this I tried the NUDE  ProGenius Treatment Oil, which costs a whopping £58 for 30ml and the Cleanse and Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser by Liz Earle which retails at £15.50. The tiny treatment oil bottle is packed full of Omega 3, 6, 7 and 9 which makes it very oily for your skin. This is another company that refuses to test its' products on animals and is also paraben free. You have to pump it three to four times until the oozy orange liquid comes out. I pumped it three times once the oil started flowing and this was probably too much as it is really greasy and doesn't sink into the skin straight away. It's best to use this after cleansing with Liz Earl Cleanse and Polish and apply the treatment oil overnight. I really liked the Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish. It's packed full of natural ingredients and has a really subtle smell which I think might be the rosemary coming through. You apply the cleanser to dry skin and then polish it off with the muslin cloth and hot water. It was a little bit greasy when I first applied it but my skin felt soft and oil free after polishing it off.  

The Nail Art pen by Wah London was the extra addition to the bundle and there was a choice between the pen or false nails. I opted for the nail art pen in an attempt to force me to try something different with my nails. There were two colours up for grabs and I was sent the bright orange colour shown in the image. I don't normally go for really bright colours but I was surprised to find that I actually liked it. I played around with it doing different designs just to mess on with it (I don't normally paint my nails in wacky designs like this). The pen provides even coverage and can be used as nail varnish or as a pen depending on which top you use. (The larger top comes off to reveal a thin brush or you can use the pen nib in the top lid). It's quite thick and dries really smooth, (even the areas where I drew crazy designs). It's really easy to use and you just need to gently squeeze the pen to allow the liquid to come out. I did like it but I'm just not one for playing with nail art pens, in all honestly I don't have the level of concentration needed to execute nail art designs.

Last but not least I tried the Lumiere d'hiver hair masque which retails at £36 normally. I'm not entirely sure about this product. When I opened the packet I found the sample to be quite thick and gloopy which I'm never really a fan of when products are like this. I've read other reviews and they complained that the 7.5ml sample was too small. Honestly I think there was probably too much in that small packet as my hair's quite short so I didn't need a lot of it. I probably should have waited until I'd gone swimming or something to properly reap the benefits of this. At the minute my hair is dyed so technically this is a form of damage but my hair's in good condition. As for the scent I'm not sure I can comment on this. I was using a variety of different products all at once when I sampled this but something resembled the smell of a hairdressers which I assume was this product. Unfortunately I think I might be allergic to it as shortly after using it my scalp started to hurt. It might be coincidence but this has never happened when using other products. I found that it also sits on the hair and doesn't sink in which makes the hair feel greasy. For £36 this was a very disappointing product and one which I'm not overly keen on if it causes me to have a reaction.   

Although there were some items I probably wouldn't reuse in this months Birchbox, I really liked that a lot of the products have natural ingredients. I like the idea of Birchbox and £12.95 isn't too expensive considering the price of some of the items in the box. I love trying out new products so this subscription service is perfect for me.

I've included a link here: if you want to try this service out as well.