Glossybox February 2014 Review

So, time for the February Glossybox! What a cheesy box print we had this month, but as much as it pains me, I am actually fairly impressed with this months box. Uhoh. The theme was 'Be Mine' so I'm guessing this is rather obviously directed at Valentines day! Much happier the box came earlier in the month this month as well and I've actually got my review done on the same day I received the box! Go me! It does mean that I can't really comment on the products as I have only had a little test though, but anyhoo! Onto the products!

 

Eldora - False Eyelashes £3.90

 

 

I really need to be able to put on false eyelashes. I discovered today that I have more than 10 sets of lashes (all from previous beauty boxes) but I never wear them. Mostly, because I just can't put them on. I sense a lot of youtube tutorial watching coming up! This pair look nice, so I'll try and give them a shot this coming Saturday night.

 

Nought London - Sparkling Body Shimmer £14

 

 

This is basically a cream with a slight shimmer in it. It's fragrance is cherry blossom and it does smell pretty yummy! The shimmer is very subtle and pretty so again, I'll be trying that out properly for next Saturday night, yey!

 

Lindt - Lindor Treat Bar 79p

 

 

I can't believe I actually managed to get a photo of this. It was gobbled up pretty quickly to be honest!! Damn tasty.

 

Giovanni Eco Chic Cosmetics - Ultra Sleek Range from £7.99

 

 

Ok , I'm not gonna deny that getting samples is pretty annoying. But to be honest, for once I'm glad it's hair stuff and not more frigging moisturiser or serum or something. And these look interesting at least. I got the ultra sleek range, handy since I almost always straighten my hair, and it comes with a shampoo, conditioner and a leave in conditioner so a good selection to try. I'll try these out next week!

 

Maybelline New York - Color Sensational Stripped Nudes Lipstick £6.99

 

 

I'm a sucker for nice packaging (ha!) so this lipstick caught my eye before I even saw the colour. Whoops. This is the nudes collection so this is very different from anything I might normally pick up. I have swatched it quickly on the back of my hand and it's definitely a really nude shade (it was called coffee I think) and only has a subtle colour pay off. I'm looking forward to wearing this properly tomorrow, might as well give it a go! I've decided to try and wear lipstick more often so it looks more normal on me, at the moment my other half looks at me strangely when I wear it, because it's so rare I ever do, even though I have a good selection! Must try harder with this!

 

Ciate London - Paint Pot £9

 

 

Wahey again! I love me some Ciate polish! Again, this isn't a colour I would normally gravitate towards, so it's nice to have a change. This very red colour is called 'Cocktail Dress' and it's fully opaque in two coats. I reckon this will be saved for my toes in the summer months! It's very rare for me to wear red on my nails, but I might give a shot with some extra designs over it, I might manage to use this some!

 

Well, like I said at the start, annoyingly, I actually liked this box. Are Glossybox trying to make a come back? I still feel overall that Birchbox are winning here, but this month Glossybox made a much better attempt than normal and it has left me debating again over keeping my subscription going or not. I think it depends how many glossydots (reward points) I have left. We shall see!

Birchbox February 2014 Review

 

Birchbox were quick off the mark this month, boxes out in great time, love receiving it quickly! This months theme was London Fashion Week and We Love Your Style and it's showcased a lot of products to help you look fab and survive a hectic week! As usual, birchbox were doing pretty great this month, so let's get onto the products!

 

Eyeko - Skinny Liquid Eyeliner £12

 

 

I've used this product before, but not in black, but olive green. I tested it out on dress down Friday just passed at my work, and even over a very strong silver eyeshadow it went on well and lasted all through my shift without budging. It did look a little worse for wear later in the evening, but otherwise, all good and I'm pretty impressed with this one.

 

Beauty Protector - Protect & Oil £16

 

 

This was pretty hard to photograph, but hey! It's a small bottle of hair oil. You put a few drops onto damp hair and it'll help smooth and protect against UV rays, heat and breakage. Not half bad. I love the smell of it. It's just lovely, and I can smell it all day too. It has made a difference to the feel of my hair as well, it seems a lot smoother. Only small thing that annoyed me about this was the fact that it doesn't have a pump (the full size might though I guess), which means that sometimes I was getting too much oil out from it, but otherwise, I do really like it.

 

Janjira - Argan Oil Concentrate Serum £48

 

 

Serums have become a stable in my morning skincare routine now, so I do actually like trying new ones. This one so far has been lovely feeling on my skin, it smells ok but I've yet to see if it'll make any difference in my skin. It's meant to be youth boosting and plump up the skin, this still remains to be seen! But either way, no chance would I be paying the full price for this. Holy moly.

 

Green & Blacks - Dark Chocolate £2.29

 

 

Nom Nom. That is all.

 

Gilchrist & Soames - The London Collection Shower Gel £13.75

 

 

Standard showergel sample again, but this one smells pretty yummy so they're almost forgiven. It wakes you up nicely in your morning shower and it has left my skin feeling really soft today, so wahey!

 

Leighton Denny - Nail Colour £11

 

 

Yey a nail polish! by now you all know I love me some nail polish. Just a tad. Honest. I'm not the biggest fan of Leighton Denny, but it's a nice dark silver colour and probably worth a shot. I feel like I already have a colour very like this in my stash though, so I'll have to compare and keep the best one! I'll let you know how I get on!

 

Now, I really can't wait until the march Birchbox. Apparently, Birchbox have partnered with Lulu Guinness for this one, so that's really exciting! Hopefully it'll look gorgeous as well! I'm looking forward to reviewing it anyway!

Tara's Talons Polish Club

 

Well, finally! A UK Indie Polish maker is onto a winner! Let me introduce you to the Polish Club from the lovely Tara of Tara's Talons. The basic idea is for only £10 a month, Tara will send you 2 limited edition polishes, one 5ml size and one 10ml size. This was my first time using polish from this brand and I was really impressed! It's great value as well! and nice to get something different every month that's just nail polish related.

 

 

The 5ml bottle I got was called Autumnal. It's a blue tinged kind of silver colour. A wee bit hard to describe! It looks really classy and shiny and with 3 coats it's opaque.

 

 

Secondly, I got a very very glittery polish called Oktoberfest! This has stars, bar glitters, hexes in all sorts of colours - red, black, great, silver. Naturally, I paired it with Autumnal and made a funky mani! I popped this on instagram and Tara noticed it and it's not my entry to her lovely Blog competition! Please go and vote for it at www.tarastalons.co.uk (shameless plug over!) here's the finished mani - look at the shine! I was really impressed with these two and I like the fact that the two polishes work well together as well.

 

 

 

If you guys fancy getting your polished paws on one of these pop on over Tara's site.

 

 

 

 

 

Bondi New York Monthly Box - The Original August Box

 

Well, this has taken me a long time to post about! I couldn't decide if I should blog about it, as it took me a long time to actually get my box, but decided I should share the wonderus polish anyhoo! So! Bondi launched a monthly subscription box back in August which is $19.99 plus free shipping (even international!) so I jumped at the chance to see what their polish was like! Unfortunately, I had a bit of a bad experience with my first box. Basically, I never received it. Luckily, I contacted their lovely customer service and I managed to get another box sent out, which came so hooray! Their September box has been delayed and won't be dispatched until mid October so I'm hanging on for that one still too, but after that I think it might well be the end of the subscription - trying to save money means a bad experience leads to cancellations with me! But long story aside, onto the 3 polishes I received in my August box.

 

 

First up we have a super limey green called The Limelight. All the polishes have a excellent shiny finish and are really long wearing so this green looks really good. It was an excellent summer colour to get, and stamping over it looked really good so I'll be breaking this out every summer I think!

 

 

 

Next is the classic blue of NYPD. Again,  really lovely shiny finish, and this time a much more all round kind of colour that I could wear with any outfit at any time of year.

 

 

 

Finally, the wee cute polish of Botanical Beauty. Lovely slight purple toned pink it's a much more girly colour than I would normally chose, but I like it. Guess that's the fun of a polish monthly box, you'll get polishes you might not normally try! I like the concept, so I'll let you know how the September box is! I got to chose my colours for this one, so that's exciting!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blog Sale Update

 

Time for an updated clear out! Few more polishes up so please feel free to check them all out!

 

http://boredatthenailbar.blogspot.co.uk/p/blog-sales.html

Ciate Polish Haul!

Well, in June/July Ciate had a promo on their website with 50% off and then another code for a further 30% off, so I thought it was worth me buying a few pretties of course! I've not really used ciate polishes a great deal before, so I have to say I was really impressed with the quality of the colours and the polishes, as well as the brushes are easy to use! Really glad I had the chance to get my paws on so many! So I'm going to let you guys have a nosy. This is a very picture heavy post. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!

First up we have a gorgeous summery green called Palm Tree.

I really loved this colour on, and it was just so summery! Only issue I had with it, was it stained my nails summat awful! So defo wear a good base coat and be prepared that it may stain! It was worth it to be honest, I wore this colour for nearly a week and the lasting power was great! no chips as such, just some tip wear!

Next up, a sparkly black number called Jewellery Box

This is a very glitterified polish with holo glitter throughout and it looks fab on the nail. Been using this one mostly as an accent nail so far due to my hatred of glitter removal! Again, it has good lasting power and didn't chip, so wahey!

Thirdly, we have an oily looking lovely called Starlet:

 

One minute it looks purple, the next grey, the next blue, green or silver. Love it. Currently wearing this one as my mani - pics will doubtless be up on instagram shortly!

 

 

Next up we have a classic teal called Superficial:

 

 

This is a gorgeous teal with grey tones. Very classic shade and a great one for work in my opinion! It has a lovely sheen and just looks very professional but modern, fab!

 

And as always, I can resist me a purple - this one is Talent Scout:

 

 

I love me some purple, and this is no exception. Again, it has a lovely sheen and just looks classic and even better in the summer. Looking forward to wearing this for my next mani!

 

Pale blue polish is a summery hit for me this year, its taken me a while to get used to pastels but this one I love, called Ferris Wheel:

Just a nice cute, bright and friendly colour. Simple really!

 

Back to some sparkles now, with this silver glitter called Locket:

 

 

This a really pretty silver, and it looks great over the other colours just to add a pop of sparkle on an accent nail, love this effect right now.

 

Continuing the glitter theme here's a goldie-coppery one called Antique Brooch:

 

 

This is very rose gold looking and it looks stunning on by itself or over a pale colour. It has a shimmer running through it as well just to make it more special!

 

Jumped to get my paws on an iridescent glitter too, this one is Snowglobe:

 

 

I've shown Snowglobe here by itself and over Superficial so you can see the lovely chunks of sparkle. This is a night out polish that's for sure!

 

This has to be my favourite polish I bought I think, another duo-chrome, called Heirloom:

 

eeeee, so pretty. Gold, pink, yellow, green. just amazing. I couldn't stop looking at my nails when I had this on, and I can't wait to wear it more!

 

Finally, I thought I would show off the funky colour from Ciate I got in my July Glossybox just while I was at it! It's called Mistress:

 

 

This is a yummy jelly red for summer. It looks delicious! I don't tend to wear red but this might just tempt me! It's certainly gonna grace my toes that's for sure though!

 

Well, that was just a slight haul, hope you guys liked it and I've maybe enabled some of you to love Ciate! They were definitely new to me, but I love the colour selection I chose and I'm really enjoying wearing them so far!