Birchbox December 2013 Review

 

 

Another Christmas Beautybox offering. Hooray for Birchbox! They have the right idea anyway, something useful, and something sparkly! Only thing that's remotely annoyed me: new subscribers were given a bracelet from Baublebar. As existing subscribers we were given a $20 gift voucher to use on their website. Great, but hey, shipping costs more than the item I wanted to buy. Pointless. But still. Everything else wasn't too bad. Let's have a nosy at the items then!

 

 

yey! Aromatherapy Associates Revive Oil. Happy to this in a box. You can get this kind of thing in a gift set for like £10, so already I've almost made all my money back on this one product. That's what I like to see. And it's a great product, I like to put some on before I get in the shower then as you wash the essential oils seep out and smell divine and wake you up. I've been using it sparingly, but I love it.

 

 

Non-Aerosol Hairspray from No 4. Much better for the environment and it still keeps your hair in place. Great stuff! I used this mostly when I have curly hair and it helps keep the curl without being crunchy so a lovely product. But can't say I could afford the £19 price tag for the full size!

 

 

Classic Twistband, I have had these in a box from Birchbox before. They are really handy and don't crinkle your hair the same as regular hair bands. Another for my stash!

 

 

Party Girl Serum by Sin-Care. This is an expensive Serum (£46!) that helps brighten skin after too many parties. It's certainly nice, and goes on well before my moisturiser. But no way am I paying that price tag!

 

 

Sparkly Eyeshadow from Alima Pure. Love this over other colours at the moment. I have been applying a dark colour or even just a winged black liner, then gently patting this on the top and it just adds that little bit of sparkle that makes my day better. Subtle but sparkly.

 

 

Talking of sparkly. Wowza this is sparkly. You apply two coats of the polish then when it's still wet push your nail into the glitter pot then brush off the excess with a makeup brush. Its very glittery. Only thing I don't like is you can't really apply a top coat after so I tend to find the glitter falls off fairly easily and I wouldn't think this would last more than 2 days max. I only wore it for one evening at time. Good for an accent nail so it's easy to change I would say.

 

December Birchbox is definitely more up my street anyway. Glitter is what every gal wants for Christmas right?! (well, me anyway!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glossybox December 2013 Review

 

Again, this month I was looking forward to a little Christmas Cheer and a slight improvement on Glossybox's part. Again, I'm not sure I'm convinced. In the past, boxes at Christmas are just more special, with some glitter and sparkle and exciting products you felt made you feel rewarded for just being a customer. But instead, this is what Glossybox offered in Decembers box.

 

 

This is without a doubt the single most random item I have ever received in a beauty box. Well, as far as I remember. If I needed a razor I would have gone out and bought one. Not something I can say I expected to get in this method. It's one that you only need water to use so it will be handy to use on holiday perhaps, but not much else really. This took up much of the box space and I would rather have had more make up than this to be honest.

 

 

And... they're back up to their old tricks. Samples of moisturiser. The actual product by Yin Yang Skincare is £20 for the full size. No thanks. The smell really put me off this stuff and I couldn't even finish one of the samples. I'm guessing I could have picked up these samples on a magazine page or in boots. Let's have a change please Glossybox!

 

 

Nude lip gloss by Beautiful Movements Cosmetics. Worth £12. Fairly standard lip gloss, and as a girly that doesn't really ever reach for lip gloss, I'm guessing this product will get passed onto someone who loves this kind of thing. More not for me.

 

 

Ahh, more comfortable now we have some nail polish haha. This is by Seche and I got the colour Irrestible, a very deep red with pinky undertones. It could be safe in one coat, I do like Seche polish, but this is not a colour I am ever really attracted to. Into the for sale pile this goes.

 

 

Finally, we have the smoky eyes colossal mascara from Maybelline. A lot of bloggers rave about some Maybelline mascaras so I was a little curious as to how this one would fare. It's meant to have black Kohl in it to make it more intense black colour. But I didn't find it amazing in anyway really. I needed at least 3 coats to get a black I was happy with, whereas my regular mascara only takes two. I'll use it up, but not something I would buy myself.

 

So, maybe I set my expectations too high. I maybe should have looked at recent Glossyboxes rather than thinking of the previous Christmas ones that were awesome. I was hoping Glossy would take from their previous awesome Christmas boxes, but nope. I have to say, I've now spent all my Glossydots on the January box, so I can then cancel my subscription after that. I've had Glossybox for years now but recently, I just don't feel it's worth it. I'd rather keep the money and hit Boots!