Glossybox January review

It's that time again folks! The monthly Glossybox review is here and it's not a good one. I shall try not to rant, but it's a bit inevitable at this point. 

So they've 'revamped' the Glossybox! I don't like it.. Yes it is more 'Glossy' but I personally preferred the matte effect to the box, gave it more of a sophisticated feel. Also, they've made the lid deeper giving the impression you're going to get more in the box, although that's not really the case. There was a lot less of the silly tissue paper than usual but the products also were a lot less in quality if you ask me.

First up is the Anatomicals 'Puffy the eye bag slayer wake-up under eye patches'. That's a mouthful for a product name! Quick and catchy definitely isn't the anatomicals way. The full price is £6.99 for 3 pairs at Asos.com. We got two pairs in our pack, why they didn't just give us the full size pack I don't know but there you go. They apparently reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles and all that usual stuff under eye products promise to do. They feel pretty weird to be honest, and be careful when you take them out as I put mine on in the bath and one fell out and stuck to the side of it. 

I can't quite say it made me less wrinkly, as I don't have wrinkles, (yet!) but it made my eyes feel more awake.

This is the Yu-be moisturising skin cream, which according to the tube can also be used for dry lips. It doesn't smell which is quite good, and did make my lips a tad smoother. It's £13.50 for the full 33g tube and I think the ones we got were 3g each. I've only used it the once, so I don't have much more to say on it, although I have heard you can get these exact samples for free on their website, which if true, I'm definitely not impressed with Glossybox.

The first make up we've actually received in ages from Glossybox! It's the beautyuk cc cream with spf 30. I'd say this is my favourite item of the box, because it's actually my shade (10 natural) and it does just as good a job as my Maybelline foundation! It's £4.99 for the 25ml which is what I got in the box. I'd most likely buy this again, although I'm still not sure what the big deal on these CC and BB creams are..

Oh look, more skincare! Seriously Glossybox, you are a BEAUTY box, give us some more make up! This is the Balance Me super toning body wash, retailing at £10.25 for the full 250ml. It can be used as a body wash or added to your bath for an 'all over luxurious soak'. Again I've only used it once, and it was okay. It has a really nice smell, but it smells like something my nan would be using!

Not my favourite.

And the star product of the 'back to basics' box was a pair of tweezers from The Vintage Cosmetic Company. Yes, I pay £13 a month for this box and they gave me tweezers. Yes they're worth £8 and they look pretty and I adore anything vintage, but I don't use tweezers! So that's another wasted product. 

All in all, this box was an utter disappointment. Yes I like the CC cream, but it's £4.99, and I paid (well I used my glossy dots so I got it free but that's not the point) £13 for the box, and it's the only thing I would actually buy in there! After receiving this box, like many other blogs I've read out there, I promptly cancelled my subscription. I gave them a chance, I gave them 5 months of chances and over £50 and each month it got worse. If they spent less time and resources on changing their box and writing the magazine and more on the contents, maybe they'd be better, but for now I'm not going to continue. But not to fear, I'll still get my beauty box fix as I've moved on over to Birchbox. Let's hope it's better and I get more make up! Review to come soon as it's arrived :)

How did you find this month's box?

xo.

December 2013 Glossybox

Yes, yes I know. I've neglected you all again! But it's a new year and I promise to try not to! 

I realise this is late but I thought I'd post it anyway just for anyone who hasn't seen it. 

Now this was the Christmas box so of course I expected lots of sparkly things and golds and reds, you know, christmassy stuff! But alas, this was not the case. I do love the box design, a little christmas tree made out of different cosmetics, that's pretty cool. 

First up is the most disappointing item of the entire box. I received two 5ml samples (that look similar to ones you can just pick up at any old beauty counter) of 'Rich Skin Food' by Yin Yang Skincare. The full size bottle is £19.50 for 50ml so I got about £3.90 worth. It's said to repair and revitalise even the most damaged of skin. BUT and this is a big but, I couldn't even try it as it went out of date in January 2012. Yes that's right folks, two years ago. Glossybox did notify me (making it clear it was not their fault as they are just sent the samples) and Yin Yang offered to replace the samples for me which I will review in tomorrow's post.

Second is another disappointing product. A razor. Seriously Glossybox? Surely this can't class as a 'high end product'? The Intuition Naturals razor from Wilkinson Sword is priced at £6.49 (£3 in Asda at the moment) and obviously we got a full sized product. Now if it wasn't already bad enough we got a razor in the beauty box, I hate this razor. With a passion. I bought it a while ago thinking it would moisturise my legs while shaving and make them silky smooth but that was definitely not the case. In fact they barely shaved my legs at all. 

Next up is the Beautiful Movements Nude Lipgloss. It's £12 for the full sized 8ml tube and I think the one we got was about 5ml so not too bad price wise. I was actually okay about getting this product as I have been on the lookout for a good nude lip gloss lately and this one seems to do the trick. It does give your lips a bit of a peachy hue, but it's nothing too in your face. The formula itself is a tad sticky, but I've come to expect that with lip glosses these days, maybe I'm just more of a lipstick kind of girl nowadays! 

My nail varnish collection is becoming even more vast than my eyeshadow collection, which if you've read my blogs before, you'll know is ever-growing! Although I'm always happy to receive a good nail polish I don't really see how this duck egg blue colour really relates to Christmas. That point aside the Seche Cool baby blue nail polish is quite a good one, although I think I might keep it hidden away 'til Spring. It retails at £8 for the 14ml size which is what I got so I'm not going to complain too much. 

The star product this month was a Maybelline product, other people got a brow definer or the 24 hour colour tattoo eye creams, I got the Volum' Express Colossal Smokey Eye Mascara which retails at £7.99 for 10.7ml. Although I do have an eyeshadow obsession and wouldn't have minded one of the colour tattoo creams, I did see that people were getting a blue or bronze colour so I'm pretty happy with the mascara. I'm always on the lookout for new mascara and this one has become a favourite of mine, I've used it pretty much everyday since I got the thing! 

Total box contents - around £25.

This box was just not my favourite at all, (sorry for the ranting!) from the first box I received they've definitely gone downhill in my opinion the last couple of months. Next month is my free box so I'll wait and see what I get in that but I think I'm going to end up cancelling my subscription and just buying the odd box here and there once I know what's in it.

Have a great day everyone! xo.

November Glossybox review

It's that time of the month again! I'd been eagerly checking my emails for the shipment information and yesterday morning my Glossybox appeared at my door! 

After the disappointing first impressions of last month's box, I was a little apprehensive about this month's issue, even going as far as saying if it doesn't improve I'm going to cancel after Christmas! I feel quite bad about that really, as last month's box introduced me to lip stains and the amazing monu primer which I've unfortunately ran out of and can't afford £23 on a new bottle :( Maybe one for Christmas?

Anyways here's this month's box;

This month's theme was the 'Glossy wish list'. I'm quite happy they didn't hype up the theme like they did last month, we weren't expecting anything particular from this box, so it was all a surprise! Well, apart from the Vichy creams which were a featured spoiler. 

First up is the spoiler, which is the Vichy Idelia Life Serum. I love the fact this came in it's own little pouch, it's so pretty! What a lovely way of keeping the samples together :). The pouch contained three 3ml sized samples, which in retrospect is a pretty good amount, but then you get the usual issue of two thirds of that sample being just air. I think I used nearly a whole bottle on just one application! It's supposed to give you more of an even complexion and smooth your pores so that you get a more flawless look. I must say it did make my skin feel very smooth, but I don't know if my pores were less visible. The serum is quite a metallic looking white cream and doesn't have much of a fragrance which is always good with skincare in my opinion. The bottle's full sized (30ml) price is £29.50 in Boots, making our samples worth about £8 or £9. 

Would I buy? - Probably not as it's quite expensive and I don't think it would last me very long.

Next is the Yves Rocher cacao collection hand cream. This was a full sized sample, which I'm always happy to receive. It's only £1.75 a bottle, but it's pretty amazing. Hand creams aren't a thing I ever feel the need to pick up as dry skin on my hands is never a problem I've had. This one might be my favourite of the box just because of it's delicious smell. It's very subtle at first, but when it's set into your skin you'll be smelling the amazing combination of chocolate and pistachio for hours. It's so good that I'm hunting the internet for chocolate and pistachio recipes to see if it tastes as good as it smells! The only flaw with this is that it feels a little sticky on your hands while it's drying, but that goes away as soon as you wash your hands a little (but doesn't get rid of the smell!)

Would I buy it? - I'm not sure as I'm not a hand cream kind of girl, but at only £1.75, it is a possibility. 

This is my first eyeshadow from Glossybox and is the Emite micronised eyeshadow in Nect. It retails at around £16.80 full sized, which is what we received in the box. This eyeshadow is paraben, nickel and perfume free, which is great for those of you with sensitive eyes. I like the high end feel of this eyeshadow, but it doesn't really come out all too white as you can see from the swatch, it's very light and is probably the exact same as one of my MUA single eyeshadows. Considering I'm quite pale skinned, I'd only use it as a base colour.

Would I buy it? - No. For £16.80 on a base colour I can get for £1 at MUA it's just not worth the money, even if I do like it's cute little packaging.

This is another full sized product. It's the Elegant touch rapid dry for nails which can be found at Boots for only £3.05. Its a mist that you spray over wet nails, wait 60 seconds and they then promise you are 'good to go'. I have never tried a dry nails mist or equivalent product before, so I after reading the '60 seconds' promise I had quite high hopes! I painted my nails with my Barry M nail polishes and did as directed and sprayed 10cm away from my nails and then proceeded to wait. First of all, the mist gives off quite a greasy feel to me, but it's not perfumed so that's a plus. As to the 60 seconds thing, that's not entirely true. I did two coats and a top coat and sprayed in between each, and after 5 minutes my nails felt a little greasy and some still weren't dry, which resulted in a lovely smudge all up one of my skirts I was putting on.

Would I buy it? - Well, at only £3.05 a bottle, you get what you pay for but it's not the best product out there.

This is my last product I have to show you, which is the Jelly pong pong lip blush in Cranberry. Thanks to the Mememe lip stain of last month, I've become very fond of red lips lately and I was really pleased to see this in my box. I've not tried lip crayons before, as I always think they'll make my lips look patchy if they're a little dry, but this one is actually moisturising as well! You can see the shade in the swatch on the right and it's quite a bright red, which I love. 

This is a picture of me wearing the lip stain, which wasn't patchy and made my lips feel great! Feeling particularly Snow White-esque with the red lips and black hair, but it's all good. The crayon we received was again full sized and retails at £12.

Would I buy it? - Hmm, it's a little pricey, but due to my growing red lip obsession I think I would!

Total price of this months contents adds up to around £35 - £40 which is almost triple what we paid for it, so I think it's definitely a good one this month! Apart from the nail spray, I'm pretty sure I'll use all these items again and it's made me extra excited for next month! 

Glossybox October review

So it's that time again, I must say I quite like getting my five little make up samples in the post each month. I like trying something new that I've never tried before, helps to broaden my make up horizons :)

The theme this month was Dark Romance and I, like so many other subscribers was pretty excited. We were all imagining the different lipsticks and eye shadows and what not we'd be getting through our doors come mid October.

Here's this month's box. It's just the standard pink Glossybox box, not like the fancy Union Jack one we got last month which is now home to my many eyeshadows (hmm may do a make up storage post, keep an eye out!). I was so excited for this box as I've recently just dyed my hair back to black (was supposed to be dark brown, don't get me started on these silly hair dyes and their reactions to my hair..) and I couldn't wait to use all the dark themed products. As you can see we didn't get many.

First up lets talk about the (in my opinion) worst idea of the bunch. Vita Liberata skin illuminator in Latte. It's £29.95 per 30ml bottle, so quite pricey, but Glossybox do promise us the more high end stuff as well! The reason this is the worst idea to me is not that it's just tan (and you all know my fear of fake tan as mentioned in Facing the Fear) but if you actually follow the link to the site it looks so so dark. I mean I'm not exactly Snow White (well I am a little more so with this hair) but I'm still pretty darn white. There's no way that this tan would not go wrong on my skin so I've not even opened it. It might be good you never know! If any of you not so pale people wanna give it a go be my guest and let me know how it is!

Next up is the Harmony moisturising smoothie serum priced at £22.50 per 50ml, again, a little pricey for such a small bottle. I'm not entirely sure if this is a primer or if it's a moisturiser as the card says it's to 'prep and prime your skin' but then it's a moisturising serum so god knows. I've only used it once and I used it as a serum before putting on my usual moisturiser. Harmony are a brand that caters to women between 25-60 who want affordable skin care that will help any skin type from sensitive skin to adult acne sufferers. This particular serum is supposed to help soothe redness which I'm  not really a sufferer of so I didn't really reap the benefits so to speak. It does smell pretty good though, made with Lemongrass oil and it's not a thick formula so it doesn't feel like you've caked on too much product even with your normal moisturiser and primer on top. 

Would I buy? I don't think so, mainly because it just isn't anything I really need and it's quite expensive.

The second primer type product of the bunch. Why we needed two I do not know. This is the Monu skin illuminating primer for all skin types with SPF 15, it comes in at £24.95 per 100ml, so not too bad. I'm pretty new to primers I'll admit, having only used my little Fashionista bottle I got in my MUA haul a couple months back, but I can find that one a little greasy when everything else has been applied. This  one I'll admit is pretty great. It reminds me of those little hotel shampoo and conditioner bottles they put out in the more fancy of establishments. It smells pretty good, the word that comes to mind is 'neutral', as in it doesn't really have a strong fragrance it's just fresh if you know what I mean? If not don't worry about it I'm just rambling nonsense again! I've been using this everyday since I got my box last Tuesday and although the formula is quite thick it's not greasy and it does make my make up stay all day. You only need a little splodge to lightly cover your face before applying foundation and you're all set to go!

Would I buy? Hmm, it is on my 'maybe' list for now, it's a pretty good product but I really want to try the clinique ones before I commit.

This is the Katy Perry Killer Queen perfume which can be found at boots for £22.99 per 30ml. Why are perfumes so darn expensive?! I'm pretty rubbish at describing fragrances to be honest, but this one has a real fruity smell to it, with a mix of some sort of flowery note. It does tell you in the card it comes in what it smells like but if you're like me, what the top and bottom notes are won't really help with your perfume purchase. Compared to the amazing smell that was the Elizabeth Arden Untold of last month, this doesn't come near. I am still in love with it and will be bribing someone to buy me it for Christmas! This Katy Perry one is a very small sample, I've only sprayed it three times and it's already a quarter finished! Like the majority of other perfumes made by singers is nothing really all too special. It's nice, yes, but it's not something that would have me rushing out to stores to pick up.

Would I buy? Compared to other perfumes out there it doesn't really make my top five.

Now for the Pièce de résistance of the box; the Cherub's blush lip and cheek tint from Mememe cosmetics. This is the only full sized sample in the box (which was disappointing, but the other products are a little more high end so I suppose we've still got our money's worth) coming in at only £5.50 per 12ml bottle. This is by far the best product in the box and I've been using it religiously this past week. I haven't actually used it on my cheeks as going by the colour in the second image, it is way too dark to be put straight onto my skin. I have quite dark lips anyway so this just brings out the colour a little and makes them pop. It's probably the only thing in the box that keeps in touch with the Dark Romance theme it supposedly has, unless you can count the dark tan! It's actually the first lip stain I've tried and I'm pretty happy with it. And it's also made me confident I can rock dark lips without looking too over done so expect some new lipstick posts in the near future!

Would I buy? Definitely would!

Overall verdict: 6/10

Mainly because I didn't think it was actually a 'Dark Romance' box. I didn't initially like the box at all but after trying out the products I was quite pleased. Hopefully you can do a little better on your contents next month though Glossybox!

Have a great weekend everyone xo.

September GlossyBox

Last month I was scrolling through Facebook as usual and saw a Birchbox advertisement. I hadn't heard of beauty boxes before and was pretty interested in the idea of getting 5 possibly full size samples  every month. I spent hours reading reviews of Birchbox and Glossybox and decided that Glossybox looked like it would have products I'd actually use, so I thought I'd give them a go.

You receive one box a month for £10 plus £2.95 P+P which is a pretty reasonable price considering the contents!

This box is the London Fashion week edition. I love the Union Jack flag on the box and the little pictures on the tissue paper just give it a real unique feel to it. Plus the box is a real good quality so it could be used again for storage or something (probably a place for my ever growing eyeshadow collection).

Onyx eye liner from Be a Bombshell Cosmetics

Full size $14 (which is about £8.85)

This is actually the full size eyeliner which already has nearly added up to the price of the whole box. It's a felt tip liner and I must say, I don't use these very often as I'm quite partial to the gel liners, but I was quite surprised. I haven't actually tried it on my eyes yet as the box came at stupid o'clock this morning and I haven't done my make up yet. But it's quite a fine point and it's easy to create a straight, un-smudged line as you can see in the swatch picture. 

Would I buy it? Probably not, as I've never thought that felt tip liners last long enough compared to the gel ones, but it is a pretty good product.

Original nipple balm for lips from Dr Lipp 

Full size £11.50 for 15ml

This is only the sample size of about 3ml (so about 2ml actual product 1ml air) but you don't really need a lot of it. This is 100% natural and according to the leaflet, can be used on anything from lips to burns and even as last minute shoe polish! The product itself is quite sticky but a little goes a long way. You wouldn't want to be slapping this on like gloss. I've had it on for about an hour now and I can still feel it and my lips do feel less chapped. 

Would I buy it? Maybe, but at £11.50 a bottle it does seem a little expensive. Depending on how well my lips react to it by the time I've finished the sample, I may purchase it in the future. Although it is only an in store kind of purchase and stockists are available on the Dr Lipp website (link above)

Eyelure pre-glued lashes 

One set - £5.06

Another full sized sample! Well, it would be a bit hard to only give you a mini sample of eyelashes really, wouldn't it? Again as the box came so early I haven't actually tried them yet but I'm very optimistic. The reason normal eyelashes don't stick to me as my eyelids seem to react to the glue and they just fall off, so these pre-glued lashes will be a god send. 

Would I buy it? If they stick to my eyes, then definitely! 

Elizabeth Arden Untold perfume from  Debenhams

Full size £48 50ml and £69 100ml

Obviously I didn't get a full sized sample of the perfume (Glossybox can only be so generous!) but I love the fact it's actually in a small bottle, not that stupid little swab where you can't actually tell if you like the smell or not. It's just so cute! And I think this will actually last me quite a while as it's a very classy scent, something only used for special occasions. I'm rubbish at describing fragrances but the leaflet says it has a fruity introduction with a radiant floral heart. It's such a nice smell! It's a tiny bit like Victoria Beckham's intimately for her which I lived off of when it first came out. 

Would I buy it? I would love to! But the price of perfumes is extortionate nowadays, so I think I'd only be able to get it if I had vouchers or wouldn't say no to it as a christmas pressie.

Toni&Guy Hair meet wardrobe Classic shine & gloss serum

Full size - £7.19 for 30ml

This is another full sized product! It's the limited edition serum from Toni&Guy for frizz control with lightweight shine. This sounds like a pretty good product for me as my hair is quite static when first dried. You just rub 1 or 2 pumps into blow dried hair, running your fingers through the lengths and avoiding the roots. I apologise it's another product I haven't actually tried as intended but I have squeezed a bit out into my hand and it smells lovely. Bit like the smell of walking into a salon when all the products and serums hit you (in a good way though..) It's a clear oil like product and I am a tad scared as oils make my hair particularly greasy.

Would I buy it? Well, considering my hair's fussiness probably not as I tend to waste quite a lot of money on hair products I never end up using.

Also I received A Glossybox magazine 

This is their first magazine and features interviews from Angela Scanlon ('one to watch' blogger, tv presenter and writer on Vogue's list), a two page spread of A/W 13 trends and 24 hours in the life of designer Mara Hoffman. 

All in all I'm pretty darn pleased with my first Glossybox and definitely will not be cancelling my subscription just yet! In total (not including the samples) the contents of the box cost just over £20 so already double the price of the box in the first place, so quite reasonable!

Check back next month for the review of my October Glossybox, which I'm hoping might have some sort of Halloween theme as I love Halloween!