Latest in Beauty - The Glamour Beauty Edit Summer 2014

Now, here's a beauty box that never disappoints. I think I've ordered this every time it's become available. It's immense value for money, and it's nice to know what you are getting in the box, then you know how much you will use everything or what you are keen on trying before you even order it! You get this box from latestinbeauty.com, it's a one off box costing £16.95 including postage, and the stuff in it is apparently worth £86.15! Now, that's worth treating yourself to.

That's a lot of stuff crammed in that box! Let's get looking at the items in more detail!

DHC Deep Cleansing Oil

I've had this product in at least two other boxes before now, and I know it works. It takes off makeup really well and is a good cleanser. It's very hydrating too and unclogs pores. Like it.

Illamasqua Glamore Lipstick

This is a lipstick I actually like. It's a very non offensive colour and it goes on so well. It's really creamy and feels nice to apply. I've actually worn it out places, that says a lot with me!

Crabtree & Evelyn Nail Lacquer

I have to admit here, I've not even tried this. It wasn't my kind of colour at all so it's gone straight to the Mother unit. She's been enjoying it, and hasn't reported anything bad back as yet!

Velvotan Tanning Mitt

This looks amazing for applying self tan. Again, this hasn't been tried as yet (it's been packed away for the move!) but it should help me try and get a streak free tan, so I'm all for it!

Rimmel Sun Shimmer Instant Tan BB Skin Perfector

So, tanning is rather new to me. I attempt it at times, but I've never really got into it. I aim to change that this year, I think I'll have to get myself a spray tan for the wedding I'm part of in the winter months, so I'll be trying that shortly to see how it looks. So I might as well start off simply. This Rimmel tan is instant and only lasts until you wash it off. Commitment free. Use the mitt that came in the box as well and it should apply streak free. More things I need to brave!

Toni & Guy Volume Plumping Whip

This helps increase volume without any sticky residue. I've been using it when I have curly hair recently and it's helped the curls stay more voluminous, so I'm happy!

Bourjois Cream Blush Shade 2

This wee blush is so cute. It even has a wee mirror inside! I like this product a lot. It's a cream to powder formula so it goes on well, but then sets like a powder. And it's so small and compact. Win.

Hawaiian Tropic Satin Protection Ultra Radiance Sun Lotion

Annoyingly, this arrived when I was back from my holidays and when the weather up here in Scotland has now decided to be cold and depressing again. Arg. It smells amazing however, with coconut and jojoba. I will use this at the smallest slight of sun. Have no fear.

Magnifibres Brush-On False Lashes

These are fibres to help you look like you have false eyelashes on. When it's really just mascara plus this stuff. I'll be doing a full review of this on the blog shortly, so I won't go into too much detail here. It's a clever product though and I've never been good at using false lashes, so I was keen to investigate this idea!

It's official. This is the best beauty box around. Great value for money and I will use everything (other than the polish!). I think I will always invest in these boxes when they become available. Keep your eye out for the next one!

Stars and Stripes - Glossybox July 2014 Review

Yup. I got sucked in. I had acutally managed to unsubscribe from Glossybox for around 2 months, and then I saw the reviews for this box. I had to get one. To be honest, it was mostly for one of the products only, but everything else was pretty decent too. It seemed good value this month. So, yup. I subscribed again. This month's theme comes from it being the 4th of July celebrations, so everything was famous American brands and the box was pretty awesome too.

Literally, Stars on the top, and stripes on the bottom. I loved the design. In our attempt to cut out having extra stuff though, I had to give it up for recycling which I was a little sad about. But hey, I got to keep the contents of course!

Carmex Lip Balm

Starting with a classic. Carmex. This is a good lip balm, really moisturising, Ive had lots of their products before and they never really disappoint so this is defo useful and I'm glad I've got it.

Bellapierre Cosmetics Ltd Mineral Lipstick

Super orangey red. This will take some bravery on my part to wear this. It has natual mineral pigments in it and it has a nice formula. One day I might be brave enough to wear this, but I'll have to have lost more weight than I have so far before I feel confident enough! (yup, I've started a good eating plan, if you fancy a few food posts and weigh in updates, let me know!). 

Absolute New York Prefecting Eyeshadow Primer

An oil free primer, this helps even out skin tone and locks in eyeshadow. So far, this seems pretty decent. It's not as great as my usual Benefit or Urban Decay Primers, but it beats the Rimmel one hands down. So, value for money wise, this one wins. But I'll probably keep investing in my other ones, I don't mind paying a tad extra for something that really works.

Color Club Exclusive Nail Polish In Glossy Seal

Two pictures here, because I struggled to get this in the right light to show the colour! I love color club polishes and have many in the ol' collection and it's funky that this was an exclusive colour for Glossybox. It's a fun darkish blue, and quite different from any others I have, so I'll no doubt get using this at some stage.

Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes Mascara

Now this, Ladies and Gentleman, is why I was sucked into getting this box. I have heard so much about Tarte products through the lovely vloggers on youtube, and I've been dying to try it. And also the higher impact one called Lights, Camera, Flashes. I frigging love this. It really makes lashes look amazing. And it lasts. I will be saving for a full size of this (or the other one if I can get my paws on it!). And they sell it on QVC, so I'll keep my eye on that!

I was well impressed with the box, I knew I would be! I was just praying I got the mascara the whole time! I've now unsubscribed from Glossybox again, but I timed it wrong so I'm still getting the August box, so we'll see how that goes. I'm trying to save with all this house moving happening soon, so I'll try and just keep one box going at a time where possible. I think I might stick to waiting for reviews to come out, then buying it if it's worth it, like I did here. 

Sun, Sea and Sand - Birchbox July 2014 Review

Well, July Birchbox was all centred around holidays and sun, sea and sand. It's all lovely and summery and full of use travel items for holidays! Now, a couple of apologies first guys, I know this is late, but I'm doing catch up today and there's several exciting posts going up! Secondly, when my July Birchbox arrived the bath/shower gel had leaked all over everything, so the box and lovely inner bag were all damaged so I've had to do the photos without them this month, so I really apologise if they look rubbish today! Anyhoo! Let's dig in and see what I got!

Gilchrist & Soames English Spa Sea Kelp Extract Mineral Bath

I was lucky there was some of this left to try to be honest! When I opened the box it was already open and all over everything. At least it smelled nice! I actually used it as a shower gel rather than in the bath and it was lovely. The smell is really fresh and it lathered up nicely. Wish I'd had more to use!

Balance Me Wonder Eye Cream

I feel like beauty boxes all have an obsession with Balance Me stuff for some reason. I don't think I've ever actually bought any of their products, I think I've had a constant supply from my boxes instead! I've not always been a fan of everything I've had from them though, especially all the rose scented things (just not for me!), but in this case, my Clinique eye cream had just run out, so this was well timed! So far I quite like this. I've not noticed any major differences in my skin as yet, but I'll keep using it and see how I get on!

Weleda Millet Nourishing Shampoo

More shampoo from Weleda. Again, I think I've had a version of this previously in a box. And I wasn't a fan of that one. And the same with this one. I dunno what it is, maybe it's just because it doesn't lather up at all, but I just don't like this. And to be fair, there was really only enough to use to twice or so, so it's hard to say if it had a great effect on my hair as yet. I won't be investing in this anyway.

Ultradex Fresh Breath Oral Spray

Ok. Honesty Time. I've been always been slightly perplexed by these kind of products. I'm more of a Smint girl. I've kept this, but it's been packed in a box (like most of my house at the moment!) so I might give it a proper shot at a later stage, but I just wasn't keen enough to use it immediately, so it'll get saved for another time!

Laqa & Co Sheer Lip Lube Pencil

I'm sure that I've also had a lip product by this company before too. This one was a more sheer effort though, so slightly different. It's very moisturising and goes one well. But the colour. Hell no. This is not me. It makes me look very pale and just didn't suit me at all. Coral, in this bright state is not a Lynne colour it seems. But maybe in a nude colour I'd get on better?

Compagnie De Provence Mediterranean Sea Hand Cream

I'm sure I've used products from this branch beforehand as well. This is pretty much just your standard hand cream in a handy travel size. To be honest, there's nothing much that stands out about it. It's quite a light formula with shea butter and just a slight scent. I'll get it used up, but otherwise, I'm not keen on it enough to run out and buy another one really.

July's Birchbox wasn't the best one I've had at all really. Especially when you compare it to July's box from Glossybox. It was that impressive I actually signed up for it. That says a lot. But more on that later. Hopefully August's box will be more exciting, we're getting a cute wee travel makeup bag thing included, so that'll be handy for my trip in September, but hopefully the samples will be good too!

Summertime! Caudalie Divine Legs Review

Welcome to a bit of a different post! I was lucky enough to be sent a full size bottle of Caudalie's Divine Legs from the lovely people over at BirchboxUK to review. I've never really used a product like it! I've always been slightly afraid of any kind of tanning or tinting product, honestly I'm not quite sure why! I think I have the fear of the white patchy factor, or looking like I've missed a bit! I must be just more than slightly paranoid about it! I've never been that brave about getting my legs out, so anything that might help can't hurt to try I guess!

Divine legs is basically a tinted body lotion. It's quite light and goes on easily. You really just need one pump for each leg. It does look a little frightening (read: very dark brown) when you pump it out to begin with but it spreads easily over the legs and just leaves you with quite a subtle and shimmering tint of colour. It has the classic Caudalie smell, the same as the divine oil, which is nice, it doesn't have the usual fake tannish smell either so that helps! It's meant to suit all skin tones as well, bonus! The other exciting thing about this lotion is it is also meant to encourage your skin's natural tanning process, so I was impressed with that, nice to know it does more!

With it being such a lovely sunny week here in Scotland, I have braved bare legs a few times. I've popped this on in the morning and it looks really nice and did seem to last all day. I've put in on the rest of my body as well, so it's not just for legs! All I would say is, this clings to your hands when you put it on, same as most tanning products I guess, but make sure you wash your hands after putting it on! It's great that this product does just wash off with water as well, so you can use it when it suits and get rid of it when it doesn't! Overall I'm really impressed and I think I might need to get more into the habit of using something for tanning, rather than just waiting until I head somewhere on holiday! It looks nice on your dresser in it's nice glass bottle too! This sells for around £26 so it might be a bit of an investment, but you do need so little it should last well!

Birchbox June 2014 Global Strikers

Ok. So I know I'm running super behind with everything. Life's been getting in the way I guess. But with today off, I thought I'd try and use it to get all caught up. So be prepared for several posts today probably! 

First up, it's June's Birchbox. This came when it was world cup time in Brazil and it was celebrating some amazing global beauty brands. My box included products based on Brazil, some from France and some from America. So let's have a nosy!

France

Yves Rocher - Sheer Botanical Lipstick £9.90

This product is a sheer colour lipstick. It contains cherry oil and is very moisturising on the lips. It gives a very sheer wash of colour and I really like the packaging too. It's actually a really nice product and I'm comfortable with the lighter colour effect since I'm not really used to wearing lipstick anyway. 

Brazil Inspired

Birchbox Keyring

A cute wee extra. Might be handy for my new house keys! 

United States

Coola - Classic Face SPF30 Cucumber £26

Suncream for your face. And it smells like cucumber. Nice. It's been a handy sample size to have, especially since it's been so damn hot this last week. But there's no chance I'd be shelling out £26 for the full size. Nope.

Brazil Inspired

OPI Nail Polish - Full Size £11.95

This is a polish from OPI's Brazil collection that came out earlier this year. From what I can see I got the colour called 'Where did Suzi's Man-go'. This is a orange polish, not something I've really owned before and I would be unlikely to pick up at the beauty supply. But still, it's a nice summery colour and I'm sure I'll get it used up!

France

Caudalie - Divine Oil £18

Now, I've had this same sample size of this product before in another box at some point. And I've still not used all of it up! This is a oil that can be used on the face, body or hair to help hydrate. I've tried it in my hair, but I find that even a very small amount in the ends makes them look a little greasy, so I've preffered to use it on my face just before I go to bed. It's a nice product and has a nice spa like scent. It just seems to be taking me ages to get through! I would think if you used it on the body it would go quicker though, I might pop it in the spray bottle to use after the shower and see how that goes.

United States

Beautyblender and Blendercleanser Solid £16

Now this product is quite a cult one. And all us subscribers were very happy to be getting one on our boxes in June. I've seen this spoken about on many blogs and youtube beauty gurus seem impressed by it's ability to help apply your makeup and blend products flawlessly. I was keen to get trying it. And I was impressed it came with the cleanser to keep it clean as well, this stuff is great for cleaning brushes too by the way. I'm still not sure what I think of the blender though. I feel it does help blending everything into the skin well. it's just a bit of a faff because you need to wet it first. I'll keep trying to get used to it though, it's a good find.

I really liked June's box. Everything is useable and will get used so I always appreciate that. It was nice to have a different coloured bag everything came in too, I love putting stuff in those for when I go on holiday!

Birchbox April 2014 Review - Good Enough to Eat?

Well, happy April Birchbox all! This month's box was featured around the idea of Good Enough to Eat. It featured delicious scents and foodie elements to tie everything together. Now, before we dive into what came in the box, I must first apologise. Normally, I take the photos of the items that come in the box, or with a nice background etc. This month, my Birchbox arrived like this:

 

Not too great for taking photos of. Great impression there! Had to contact their customer service regarding this, I was honestly really lucky that nothing in the box was damaged I guess! Anyhoo! on the photos of the products I managed to take!

Propercorn - Sweet Coconut and Vanilla (90p)

Let's start with the actual food! This sweet popcorn by propercorn was immense. And I liked the size of the packet, the whole lot was only 40 calories which I thought was awesome, so I'll be keeping my eye out for more of their stuff in this size. I don't think I could eat more than this amount of this flavour anyway, it is very sweet and a tad sickly, but a good sugar and sweet hit I' d happily enough again!

Color Club - Gala's Gems Nail Polish (£15 for a set of 4)

This month, we were emailed earlier in March by Birchbox asking us to choose which colour of 4 we would like from this collection of polishes. I liked this option, and I went for the shimmery pastel green colour that is called 'Breakfast At...'. It's really creamy and long lasting with a nice subtle shimmer, perfect for spring and summer I think. I've always liked Color Club polishes when I've come across them and this one is great as always.

Campos De Ibiza - Almendra Body Milk (£16.55)

Right, omg this body lotion smells like holidays. I can't place why this is. But it does. I used this once and I could smell it all day. It literally made me think of holiday and sun all day. Immense stuff. I've since then decided to keep it for when I go on actual holiday as it's a perfect size. The lotion itself is classed as a body milk, it is runnier than other creams certainly, but it is hydrating and like I say, it smells like being on holiday and the scent clings to your skin all day. I might treat myself to using this again tomorrow after going on about it there again! Doubt I would really pay the full amount for this, but it is lovely.

Lord & Berry - Couture Kohl Eye Pencil (£10)

A black eyeliner. Always useful I guess. But I feel like we've had a lot of these in boxes recently! This one is a mini size which is handy and Lord & Berry are a good brand so I'll let that slide. It is quite long lasting and goes on easily. I've yet to try it in my waterline though, it'd be great if it worked well there! I would probably stick to my Rimmel eyeliners though, they are cheaper and do last all day!

TheBalm Cosmetics - How Bout Them Apples? (£26 for whole Palette)

Last time we got a thebalm product I loved it. This time is exactly the same. This is a cream blusher/lip cream, I got the very pink colour called Pie. It's a great product for someone like me. I worry about putting on too much blusher sometimes and this is great for finding a good balance. I literally dip my finger in it like 3 times then just pat it over the apples of my cheeks and it just looks so subtle and pretty. Great product. 

Yes to Cucumbers - Facial Wipes (£4.99)

I've used these before having bought them myself once and I do like them a lot. Very refreshing and manage to get makeup off fairly easily. Again, due to this ones handy size these have been put towards my 'taking on holiday' pile. Just the right number of wipes to last a week on holiday! 

Well, that's April's fun over. I have to say I really liked the box, I will actually use everything in it without an issue (and the popcorn has been munched already). I'm really enjoying Birchbox at the moment, so hopefully they can keep it up! Minus the damaged boxes of course! See you later guys!

March 2014 Degustabox Review

Well. I may be running a tad behind it seems. But I will catch up. I will. Honest! So a quick review of march's yummy box coming up!

Moma Porridge - £1.50 each

Instant Porridge - just add hot water. This sounded right up my street! The plain version needed some honey/syrup but I really liked the cranberry and raisan version and took it with me to work, it was very handy! Not sure I would pay £1.50 each though, but handy if you like porridge and need to eat breakfast quickly!

Drink Me Chocolate Chai (£2.55) and Tea Latte Multipack (£6.50)

Right. I have to be upfrront about this. I don't drink tea or coffee. I know. Weird. So needless to say, I haven't tried the tea latte, but I'm keeping them for a lovely person we visits me and fancies a cuppa hehe. But! I did try and hot chocolate, it has a nice spicy aspect to it which is different and makes it interesting. I've made a chocolate cake with it too and that was successful so it's been nice to try it.

Schwartz Shots (£1.40 each)

These are so easy to use. Just add them to the pan with some meat and anything else you fancy and they give basically a shot of flavour. I got two of each type and I've made a chicken paella and a basic pasta dish with the Italian sauce and they're really effective, if I come across one at a slightly cheaper price I will pick it up!

Tyrell's Popcorn Sweet and Salty (£1.80)

Really there's not much I need to say about this. It was delicious and I think I ate it almost within 5 minutes of discovering it in the box. Loverly.

Shaken Udder Milkshakes (£1.89 each)

These were really nice as well, they'd be great for kid's lunchboxes but I took mine into work. There made with real fruit and they are really tasty. Shame they're so expensive for just a little milkshake!

Organico Durum Wheat Pasta (£1.49) and Tomato and Basil Sauce (£1.99)

Pasta and a sauce. These were really nice and worked well together. Happy to get ingredients I would easily use and really nice products and good quality.

Mexican Daves Tortilla Chips (£1.00)

This was my favourite thing in the box. These were delicious. Very cheesy and easy to consume far too many once they are put in the bowl. I would really buy these again, great chips and at a good price for a big bag.  The recipe card has a great looking recipe using them to make loaded nachos as well which looks really good, but I didn't let them hang around long enough for me to try this oops.

Well, another yummy box from Degustabox. Second box I've had and so far it's paying off money wise with what is coming in the box and things I will actually use. As well as being worth more than I paid for it all. I'll keep it going for now, it's been really handy for discovering new foods!