Birchbox Review – April 2016

April has come around SO quickly! My Birchbox for this month arrived a couple of days ago, and I actually got the chance to sit down and try the products today! This month’s box design is a collaboration with Rifle Paper Co. and I have to say, it’s beautiful! I’m glad I chose the pink version as it’s much more happy and colourful than the green one, IMO. Also included with this month’s goodies is a 25% off voucher to spend at Rifle Paper Co. They have some lovely things on their website, but I was sad to see that they are an American company and so the shipping and possible customs charges might negate the voucher’s use a little. But still! It’s a nice gesture.

Box Break Down

– Benefit Cosmetics Dew The Hoola
– LOC One and Done Shadow Stick in Empress Me
– NUXE Huile Prodigieuse
– PARLOR by Jeff Chastain Touchable Curl Cream
– Kueshu Foot Care Cream

Benefit Dew The Hoola (Sample Size) – £22.50 RRP // LOC One and Done Shadow Stick in Empress Me (Full Size) – £8 RRP

I was excited to see a sample of Benefit’s Dew The Hoola in my box as I’ve been seeing Benefit advertise their new Hoola range for a while now! I’m not really one for bronzers or self tanning, but I was curious about this range. This is a little sample size, and you could probably get a few uses out of it depending on where you apply it! I tried it on my face, and it blends in well – maybe TOO well – as I was disappointed that it barely made any difference at all, and I have pretty pale skin. It has a tropical, pineapple-y scent, that reminds me of something from my childhood but I can’t remember what!
I wouldn’t go out and buy the full size of this, so at least that’s helped my decision!

LOC is Birchbox’s in-house make-up brand. I’ve always wanted to try a pencil-type eyeshadow so I was happy to get this in my box! It’s a lovely shimmery brown colour, which will go lovely with darker shades to create a smokey eye, or just as a light smokey eye on its own! It applies smoothly and wears well.

NUXE Huile Prodigieuse (Sample Size) – £17 RRP // PARLOR by Jeff Chastain Touchable Curl Cream (Sample Size) – £17 RRP

I’m a bit wary of this oil as I have oily skin to begin with, so putting oil on it seems a bit strange to me! This NUXE oil is a blend of six essential oils, plant oils and vitamin E, to give your skin hydration and a velvety sheen. You can use it on your face and body, or in the ends of your hair if it’s particularly dry. I have tried it on the back of my hand, and it does make my skin feel silky and gives a healthy glow! It also smells amazing. I’ll have to try it on my face at some point and see if it makes it even more oily or not, but if it does, I’ll use it on my body instead because the scent is gorgeous.

I was pleased to see that Birchbox obviously read the profile for my hair – I have very thick, curly hair (though it’s very short at the moment!) and I never know what to do with it. I’ve never heard of this hairdresser, but I’m always willing to give curl creams a go! Not sure how well it will work on my short hair, but I’ll have to find out!

Kueshi Foot Care Cream (Travel Size) – £12 RRP

This made me laugh when I opened up the bag and saw it. Why? Well, I walk home from work for lunch, and on the way home that day I had complained to my friend that walking hurt, and felt like the heels of my feet were burning! So to find this in my Birchbox when I got home for lunch was like a miracle! Haha! I instantly applied it to my poor, dry heels (not sure why they were, I usually have very good feet) and it certainly made a difference! I had much less pain the rest of the day, and my heels don’t hurt at all a few days later. I’d say that’s a win! I’m definitely going to keep using this, even though I never use foot cream usually.

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Thanks for reading everyone!

Subscribe to Birchbox – If you use my link, you can also get 50 points (worth £5) to spend in the Birchbox shop, which is awesome!
Subscriptions start from £12.95 a month (free postage!) They have different subscription options that save you money over a year, and you are free to cancel your subscription at any time.

Red
xx

Birchbox Review – March 2016

Not content with having only one beauty box subscription,  I also signed up for Birchbox! I’d heard good things about them so thought I’d give them a go! The cool thing about Birchbox is that if you like any of the products you can buy them straight from their website! Here’s what I got inside my very first box – March 2016.

The first thing I saw when I opened up the brown outer mail packaging was this gorgeous little box with a wordsearch all over it, which turns out to be a competition to win £450 worth of beauty treats! I really should do mine, but I almost can’t bear to ruin the lovely box! Haha!
I LOVE the little drawstring bag that everything was inside too! SO cute.

Box Break Down

– Arrow Boost Colour Enhancing Lip Balm
– ModelCo More Brows
– Doux Me Comforting Face Mask
– Beauty Protector Beauty Cream Body Lotion
– NUDE ProGenius Omega Treatment Oil
– Number 4 Lumiere d’hiver Reconstructing Masque

Arrow Boost Colour Enhancing Lip Balm (Full Size) – £11 RRP // ModelCo More Brows Light/Medium (Full Size) – £13 RRP

Arrow is Birchbox’s own brand, so it makes sense that they’d include a full size! This little lip balm is really moisturising and leaves my lips feeling soft. It also changes the colour of the wearer’s lips according to their pH level! Mine turn a lovely pink! I love the slightly minty taste too! Sadly as it’s been in my pocket quite a lot it’s also been through the washing machine… oops! I think it’s still ok though!

I’ve heard of ModelCo before but I’ve never tried any of their cosmetics. I’ve also never used brow gel, so I was really excited to try this! Unfortunately I have quite dark eyebrows so the light/medium colour of this was a little too light for my brows, but I really like the idea of it and it did tame my brows quite a bit. I think I’ll look into getting a darker version of this, and this one can go to my mum who has pretty much zero eyebrows – we tried it on her and it worked amazingly!

Doux Me Comforting Face Mask (Travel Size) – £18 RRP // Beauty Protector Beauty Cream Body Lotion (Travel Size) – £10.90 RRP

Both of these products are Birchbox exclusives!

I’ve only used the Doux Me face mask as an exfoliator so far (another use for it) but it left my skin feeling really nice and smooth! It has little grains in that help to exfoliate and it smells good too.

Oh my gosh, the Beauty Protector cream smells SO GOOD. Seriously, guys. It’s so sweet! It’s like vanilla and candy floss and once I used it on my hands I wanted to eat them… which could be a problem…! I put it on a dry, itchy burn scar that I have on my wrist and it instantly moisturised it and stopped it from itching. Lovely!

NUDE ProGenius Omega Treatment Oil (Travel Size) – £58 RRP //  Number 4 Lumiere d’hiver Reconstructing Masque (Travel Sachet) – £36 RRP

I haven’t used the NUDE Treatment Oil yet but I hope to soon, though as I have oily skin I’m a little worried about putting more oil onto it! It says that it nourishes the skin so I’m looking forward to seeing what it does.

The description for the Number 4 masque says that it’s an SOS treatment for your hair. I’ve used half of my sachet so far and it really intensely hydrated my hair so it definitely does what it says! I did find my hair got greasier much faster than usual but I guess that comes from being so nourished!

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Thanks for reading everyone! Can’t wait for next month’s Birchbox! I already chose my box design… eeee!

Subscribe to Birchbox – If you use my link, you can also get 50 points (worth £5) to spend in the Birchbox shop, which is awesome!
Subscriptions start from £12.95 a month (free postage!) They have different subscription options that save you money over a year, and you are free to cancel your subscription at any time.

Red
xx

Glossybox Review – March 2016

I’ve only recently joined Glossybox and I was soooo excited when mine arrived in the post the other week! I think Beauty Boxes are a really great idea for people (like me) who want to try new skincare and make up products but have no idea where to start. Though I’ve seen some disappointment over this month’s box from others, I was really pleasantly surprised when I opened up the box and saw what I got!

Box Break Down

– 417 Catharsis Vitamin Mineral Shampoo
– 417 Catharsis Vitamin Mineral Conditioner
– So Susan Light Diffuser
– Luxie Rose Gold Large Angled Face Brush
– Hey Honey Good Morning Honey Silk Facial Serum
– Olay Regenerist Luminous Skin Tone Perfecting Cream

417 Catharsis Vitamin Mineral Shampoo & Conditioner (Travel Size) – £16.89 RRP each (Full Size)

I love that Glossybox sent both a shampoo and a conditioner – so helpful! Apparently “a combination of Dead Sea moisture balancing minerals, energising vitamins and essential oils” are packed into these! I’ve been trying them both for about a week now and I have to say… my hair feels so much better! I have very thick, coarse, curly hair, which always sticks up everywhere, but one use of this actually tamed it and it feels really soft. I might have to give the large sizes a go once I’ve ran out of these travel sizes.

So Susan Light Diffuser (Full Size) – £14 RRP // Luxie Rose Gold Large Angled Face Brush (Full Size) – £10.42 RRP

I’ve never heard of So Susan before, but this little illuminator and bronzer duo makes me want to check out more of their stuff! First off, it smells wonderful, which I discovered is due to the fact that it’s scented with dark cocoa and coconut. Probably not for everyone, but I really like it (and want to eat it). I found the darker shade just right for a nice subtle bit of contouring, and the highlighter is also subtle but nice.

I’m always happy to get new brushes, and this Luxie Angled brush is lovely! I’ve been using it a lot with my other contouring products and it’s really soft. Thanks Glossybox!

Hey Honey Good Morning Honey Silk Facial Serum (Travel Size) – £28.81 RRP // Olay Regenerist Luminous Skin Tone Perfecting Cream (Travel Size) – £29.99 RRP

Those of you that follow my Twitter know that I loved the Hey Honey serum literally the as soon as I tried it. You can use it morning and night after cleansing. The description says, “Infused with honey and propolis (two of nature’s most potent antiseptic and antibacterial ingredients made by bees), this light and luxurious serum replenishes and protects the skin, leaving you with a glowing complexion day after day.”
I definitely agree that it replenishes and protects the skin as my skin felt like it had been touched by the hands of angels the morning after I used it! Haha! I couldn’t stop touching my face. Will definitely be repurchasing in the large size.

I’ve never tried any Olay products before (GASP!) but it’s a brand I’m familiar with because my mum used to use it when she was younger. I still haven’t tried this one, but I’m really interested in seeing if it will start to reduce any dark spots on my skin with just the tester size.

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Thanks for reading everyone! I can’t wait to see what I get in April’s Glossybox… so excited!!

Subscribe to Glossybox!
Subscriptions start from £10 a month (plus £3.25 p&p). They have different subscription options that save you money over a year, and you are free to cancel your subscription at any time. I think that’s a pretty good deal!

Red
xx