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 BUT and this is a big but, I couldn't even try it as it went out of date in January 2012.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.

Autumn Beauty Favourites

Ahh I've done it again haven't I? Been neglecting you lovely people over the last few weeks! I do apologise been quite busy with uni work, and Tayla's been catching every illness known to man, this week it's a chest and throat infection, so happy days! 

Anyways I did promise an autumn favourites post quite a while back so I thought I'd better keep to my word and show you what I've been loving lately. 

Ta-dah!

I've already mentioned the Barbara Daly highlighter in the last post; Time to prime and shine! which I'm still in love with (now that I know where on the face to put it) and the Maybelline Fit me foundation  which surprisingly is the same bottle I got in that post (link above) and I've been using it pretty much everyday! I've also already mentioned the Orly red sparkly nail varnish which I've been using quite a lot lately, as I'm in love with red this season!

The other thing not mentioned but I'm not really going to go into too much detail about is the Nivea pure and natural facial cleansing wipes, which have actually been some of the best facial wipes I've bought. They're great for sensitive skin and they get make up residue off really well! Only thing is they're perfumed (it's a lovely smell) so if that usually irritates your skin, I might stay away.

I have previously mentioned this pallet in the NAKED copycats post a couple of weeks back, and told you all of how Tesco have stopped selling this brand in stores. Well as I love VIVO and they did actually have one (yes one, how lucky am I?!) in the clearance bin at Tesco the other week, naturally I had to buy it. I'm usually strictly a pinks and purples kind of girl, but lately I've been really really into browns and bronzes for eyeshadows, it must be the weather! I really am running out of room to do swatches due to my tattoos creeping their way up my arms, but here they are. I've been favouring the lighter colours as a base and then putting one of the more matte brown colours on the outside corner and swiping over the gold in the crease to give my eye a bit of sparkle and I must say I'm loving it and it goes with any outfit!

I got this Seventeen cream eyeshadow from Boots when they had their 3 for 2 offer on last month. I'd been on the lookout for a cream eyeshadow but I've always been a bit skeptical as I used to use them daily and they made my eyes feel really sticky. This one I must say is very light and quite vibrant as well, it doesn't stick at all! I love the little pot it comes in too, I'm a sucker for leopard print! Unfortunately it appears that Boots no longer sell this eyeshadow so it may have been a limited edition. 

These are the other two items I got on that same 3 for 2. I have never actually bought anything from the Seventeen range, but from the three items I have I can only say positive things. The Instant glow bronzing powder is actually my first bronzer, I don't really need it during summer time as I usually get quite a natural blush anyways. This particular bronzer was £4.59 and it's been working great to give my face a healthy glow. I've been applying it with this Seventeen shimmer brush, which is really really soft and does apply it quite well, but I think it would go on better with an angled brush. (I do need more brushes, so maybe I'll have a look for a good angled one, any recommendations?) 

Now for the body and hair! 

During these horrible winter months, my skin goes so so dry, especially my legs. I've found that by putting this scrub from Calcot Manor (only £1.99 at Tesco!) on my legs before shaving them and then following it with the Nivea in shower moisturiser has made my legs unbelievably soft! And it's only £1.99! Another favourite of mine lately has been this dry shampoo from Batiste that my Dad actually brought me home from work as they were handing out samples in Leicester. This particular one is supposed to have a hint of brown, which I obviously can't see because I have black hair, but still. It is a lot better than the last one I've used, makes my hair feel quite clean even if it looked horrible before! And it strangely smells like popcorn.. not sure if this is good or bad, but there you go. 

As for what I've been washing my hair with lately, I always favour the Herbal Essences collections and as I'm incredibly lazy and hate straightening my hair during the winter, this Tousle me softly shampoo and conditioner gives my hair a bit of a tidier wave to it meaning I only have to straighten my fringe!

Anyways there you have it, my top beauty items of the season. I'll be researching for the best beauty and fashion gifts for Christmas hopefully to post tomorrow or Wednesday (I promise you!) so keep your eyes peeled! 

xo.

This month's beauty freebies!

I love this time of year with magazines. They're always giving away stuff you'll actually use during this party season! I saw a blog post (can't remember which blog I read so many!) talking about this month's magazine freebies so I thought I'd give you a sneak peek at this month's GLAMOUR and Cosmopolitan magazines! 

Here's this month's contents and covers! First of all lets do the GLAMOUR magazine. Free with this issue was one of four full sized nail varnishes by Kate Spade @ Nails inc. I've never really tried any of Nails inc.'s products and I was pleasantly surprised!

I only picked up the gold, I can never justify buying four of the same magazine so it irritates me when they always say 'Collect all four!' This gold is called 'Uptown Glamour' and is actually pretty good. I never buy gold nail varnishes, don't know why, they always remind me of my Nan (which I was right about as she did steal a bit when I was at her house last!) but I loved this one. It's a very subtle metallic gold, almost silver in some lights but I think with the classic Little Black Dress, it would go perfectly to add a bit of colour. And it dries in about 30 seconds which is always good! The shades aren't actually available to buy in stores (I've been hunting for them and no luck just yet so if you find them let me know!) but the Nails Inc. bottles are usually £11 or £12 each. The other shades in the magazine were Soho Silver, New York Noir and Big Apple Red.

That was the only real freebie in Glamour's issue this month, that and a gift guide for Debenhams which actually had some good deals in!

Onto Cosmo.. 

Again another nail polish! I'm particularly fond of this one as I love red nails at the moment, especially with my now black hair - I feel like snow white being all pale with red lips and nails all the time!

This is half the size of a normal bottle; only 5ml, but hey unless we really really love the polish how often do we get to the bottom? Like Glamour, they were giving away 4 different colours, this one is called 'star spangled' (which I love the name of), a sparkly gold, a nude and a more berry almost black colour (which there weren't any left of when I bought mine!). This is actually only one coat of the polish, but I've seen on other reviews of it that it goes almost the same colour as it looks in the bottle which is always something that's appreciated. I love the sparkliness (is that a word?) of this red, it twinkles as it catches the light :). You can actually buy it this size for $3.99 so it's quite cheap really. I definitely think this one is one I'll be using again and again throughout Winter.

Also in Cosmo were two perfume samples. I apologise profusely for the awful photographs here, my camera has seemed to have a fit of late and the adverts were on those stupid shiny pages so they pictures look blurred :(. Even so, the first is 'Angel' by Thierry Mugler and I know it's been out quite a while but this is actually the first time I've smelt it! When I first put it on I wasn't a fan at all as it's quite a spicy sort of smell, but after a while it settles and it's quite nice. I don't know if I'd necessarily buy it, but it is nice. The second sample was the Katy Perry Killer Queen fragrance. I did receive this in my latest Glossybox and I wasn't a fan, and I still am not. It's just not something my nose seems to like! 

I also got a sample of the Aveeno body moisturising cream. This is another of those supposed 24 hour lasting moisturisers. I've yet to use it, but if I like it I'm sure I'll be buying it soon as I've been on the lookout for a good body moisturiser and they aren't too expensive in Boots :)

Cosmo included a Gift guide for him and her as well as the actual magazine, which was 25 pages of gift ideas for both men and women. I may be doing a gift guide in the near future so keep your eyes peeled!

One more quick note, I've been thinking lately about starting up a YouTube channel, for stuff like hauls and my daily routine and maybe some tutorials like the enrapture rollers etc. If you'd like to see this leave a comment below, and maybe give me some ideas of what else you'd like to see! 

XO.