Glossybox Birthday Box May Review

So this month was Glossybox's first birthday - they held a big party for all their ambassadors and held competitions on their FB page so we were all expecting an AMAZING first birthday box....

Love the printed tissue paper, the ribbon is printed with Anniversary Box, little sticker with one printed on it - how exciting....

Shower gel and perfume samples..erm

Face mask, hair oil and Eldora lashes (can't believe these have appeared in yet another beauty box)!!

There was a balloon and a mirror too as little birthday extras.

Noble Isle Summer Rising bath and shower gel, this is a 75ml sample.  250ml retails for £20.00 on their website making the sample worth £6.00.

It smells nice and luxurious, but I wouldn't pay £20 for a full size bottle.

Two Lolita Lempicka perfume samples - these samples are tiny 0.8ml.  The sample tubes are standard sized so they only look half full!

Si Lolita retails at £31.50 for 80ml at Fragrance Direct, making the sample worth 32p

Lolita Lempicka EDP is £23.99 for 75ml at Fragrance Direct, making the sample worth 26p

I like trying new facemasks and I like honey so I'm hoping these smell really nice and that they do nourish my skin.

There are two masks and they both contain 8ml of product.

The masks retail at 3.50 euros for two masks on their website, making them worth £2.90

Next up Berber Oil hair treatment with Argan Oil from Osmo.

This is a 10ml sample and I found it for £5.99 on Sallys website

The oil smells really nice like jelly sweets! I have never used argan oil before, as I'm still in love with my ojon oil but will take this on holiday with me as the Ojon is a full size bottle.

And lastly, yet again eldora lashes. I have had these in so many beauty boxes that I have a box full of them! Plus at least the styles I have been sent in the past are nice, I would personally never ever wear these.

Incase you do like them they retail at £4.25 on their website (and they look much nicer on the pic selling them than they do in reality!)

There was also a handy compact mirror and a pink balloon as birthday extras.

I will use everything in this box apart from the lashes so I suppose that must mean that I like the box, and I would if it was a normal non hyped up regular monthly box but all the fuss that Glossybox have made about it being a birthday box has made me feel disappointed with the contents.

Shower gel, face mask, hair oil, teeny perfume samples - hardly exciting.  Plus lashes that have been in every other box apart from Joliebox.  Disappointing.

I actually think this is the worst box that I have had from Glossybox and I have just purchased a 12 month subscription - lets hope I don't regret it!

I have now seen reviews of other boxes that people have received and I accept that Glossybox send out a variety of different boxes every month - it seems to be luck of the draw what you get BUT this month boxes have contained full size HD brow products that alone nearly equal the value of the whole of the box I received!

Fair Glossybox? I think not.

Joliebox in Bloom.... May Review

This months box is Joliebox in Bloom...

Giving us the opportunity to mix a little flower power and plant-based products - their words not mine!

Arrived as usual in the black Joliebox box with the little bag inside.

Only four products this month BUT one of them is a full size bottle of China Glaze so all is forgiven!

Essential Care Organic Rose Moisturiser, 15ml sample which can be purchased for £7.50 on their website

I quite like rose scented products at the moment and find that they don't irritate my skin so I'm looking forward to trying it out.

I could have either got the eye therapy patch or the lipocils expert and I was lucky to get the lipocils in my box - its an eyelash growth product with extracts of nettle (!) to stimulate the growth of short and frail lashes.  The sample size is 2ml, full size 10ml retails at £27 on their website making the 2ml sample worth £5.40

I have tried this product before, I got a full size tube duty free on the way home from my holidays last year. I never managed to use the whole tube so the 2ml should last for a while. You have to make sure you get right to the base of your lashes with the product, it was a little stingy to the eyes to begin with but I soon get used to it and it stops after a few days use.  I did see quite a different in the length of my lashes, I had to stop using it on my lower lashes as they got really long! I could see the most difference on the little short lashes and the ones that don't seem to grow as much as the others.  Definitely looking forward to using this again.

RMK Make up base 15ml sample. Its £28 for 30ml, I could find it for sale in the UK here. Making the sample worth £14.

I really like this product, it's light and easily absorbed. It contains shea butter to add moisture and my make up looks lovely over the top of it.  I have tried so many primers and I think this is one of my favourites!

Full size China Glaze in Pink Chiffon, retails for £5.95 on amazon. I love pink nail varnish so this is the perfect colour for me. 

I own over 100 nail varnises (shhhh don't tell hubby!) and this is actually my first China Glaze.  I love it!! Its fast drying, non streaky, really glossy and has a great depth of colour.  I will definitely be purchasing more from this brand.

I love this months Joliebox.

Joliebox are now my favourite beauty box, they don't feature duplicate products like the other boxes (please don't let me down on this one JB!). I always use all the products that they send me, sometimes the box is a "grower" and takes a few days for me to like but then I always love everything.

I'm really looking forward to next months birthday box, think they may show Glossybox how its done!

Hey, Sailor! Red Racer Review

MAC have released a limited edition collection called Hey, Sailor! 


Set sail this summer with a colour collection inspired by the glam of vintage pin-up girls.  Go overboard with the never-ending colours of Pro Longwear lip pencils, Zoom Waterfast Lash, Lipglass and more! Limited Edition.

My hubby bought me the Red Racer lipstick (for our wedding anniversary, last week!) which is now sold out everywhere.  The packaging is nautical themed in navy and white stripes, love the red lippy in this themed packaging - it matches perfectly with the image of vintage pin-up girls.

Red Racer is a bright yellow red in a satin finish. I have quite a few reds in my lippy collection and I thought this may be a bit similar to other colours that I already have but after the colour has settled it becomes a gorgeous almost raspberry red on me.  If I'm feeling brave I'll do a lip post to show you!


Did you manage to get your hands on this gorgeous lipstick?  I am so tempted by other products in the collection especially the High-Light powder - looks soooo pretty!

Beauty Box Swaps Meet Up!

Yesterday I meet up with the most lovely group of ladies from the Beauty Box Swapping page on Facebook.


We met up in Chester, which is a beautiful walled city founded by the Romans in AD79 - the city is full of important historic sites but also boasts top class shopping which we took full advantage of! You can read more about Chester here, its definitely worth a visit.

We started off the day at Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet, a huge outlet village about 10-15 minutes in the car from Chester train station.

I picked up this gorgeous coral coloured silk dress/shirt from Warehouse at Cheshire Oaks, bargain at £20 reduced from £70! Perfect for holiday with gold jewellery and sandals.

After a few hours of shopping we made our way back into Chester and had lunch at The Living Room in the town centre.

L-R Emma, Nardine, Nora, Wendy, Nina and Caroline

Having been fed and watered we were ready to hit the shops!

First stop Debenhams - as I said when I walked in it's a BBS heaven!

This lippy was on my wish list, look how pretty and pink it is!

Next stop the Lancome counter.  

I got the Hypnose mascara, which came with 30ml of Bi-Facil and a mini L'absolu rouge lippy, plus Teint Idole Ultra foundation. This is one of the only foundations I have found that is pale enough for my skin, I didn't like the matte finish when I first tried it but I love it now. When I finish this bottle off I am going to try the Estee Launder Double wear as recommended by Emma and Caroline :)

There was a free gift with 2 purchases offer on - look at all the goodies I got!

Can never resist a Lush purchase!

I got my son the Dorothy bubble bar, I get him something different everytime I go.  The products are all natural and don't irritate his skin.  He used to love the bath bombs but now he prefers the bubble bars! As the name suggests they make lots of bubbles and they last for more than one use.  Should get three baths out of this bar.  How cute is the rainbow?!

I got a bath melt called Happy Blooming, again this will last for three baths.  The smell of cherries is gorgeous.  I've not seen or tried this bath melt before, looking forward to a nice relaxing bath to try it out.

Once we were shopped out and had said goodbyes to Caroline and Emma, we made our way over to Chester Cathedral to sit in the sunshine and enjoy the surprise that Nardine and Nina had bought with them....

BBS Cupcakes!!! Sparkly ones!

Made by Laura, she couldn't make the meet up so she sent us some cupcakes.

Yum, yum! 

 Laura sent us three boxes of the most delicious cupcakes, she is super talented and should really think about starting a cupcake business - the girl has talent.

A Beauty Box Swap day wouldn't be complete without a little swap! Thanks Emma for the MAC Lovelorn lippy, this is a perfect daytime pink.  I will be wearing this everyday for work.

I had such a great day, they are a bunch of amazing ladies and I am proud to call them my friends.  We chat all the time on the swapping page but this is the first time we have all met up (I have met Nardine before in February) and it was just like we have known each other all our lives! We laughed so much our sides hurt and we shopped so hard our feet hurt! We will definitely be having more meet ups and I'm sure they will become a regular event :)

Breakfast this morning! Thanks for the cupcake Laura and for the chocolate Nardine!

Glossybox - Eco Box

I got my second Glossybox on the same day as my May She Said Beauty Box, my postman may think I have a beauty box addiction.....

Was really lucky and got a different box than my first box

Caudalie Serum, I think this is in all the versions of the boxes.  I have tried this and its lovely so I'm pleased to get another sample.

Philip B styling gel - not something that I would use, will pass this onto my son.

Again I think this is in all the boxes, I got a different scent this time.  These are ideal for chucking in your handbag and they do make your lips super smooth.

Monu Rosewood Reviving Mist - I prefer this to the collagen cream I got in the first box.  It says you can use it to fix your make-up and I don't have another product like this so I'm looking forward to trying it out. 

Inika lip liner in Nude Delight - a nice soft highly pigmented product but its really not my colour.  I might try it as an eyeliner!

Do you think this box is better than the first one? Did you get anything different?

She Said Beauty - May Box

She Said Beauty May box, arrived on my doorstep on Friday. I thought it was late this month but looking back I received my April box on 3rd April so I don't know why I thought it was late!

Kim Kardashian perfume - 3ml sample.  A good sample size as most other perfumes we have had are 1-2ml. It has a rollerball for application, which is again a nice touch. It smells quite fruity to me and I couldn't work out what it reminds me of, but when my friends came round on Friday night I was showing them the goodies in the box and we all agree it smells just like The Body Shop Dewberry perfume! Takes me back to my teenage years! I'll use this sample up but I wouldn't purchase it as its far too sweet for me.

The Vintage Cosmetic Company false lashes, I got these in Betty.  I love the packaging and I really like the style but we keep getting lashes all the time in the boxes and I now have a drawer full! Maybe I should start wearing them to work...

Green People SPF15 with Tan Accelerator.  I am off on my holidays in a few weeks so will take this with me to try, it claims to speed up your tan by 25%.  Its only a 20ml sample so it may do one leg!

Natio Soap - I've never heard of this brand and I cannot remember the last time I bought a bar of soap! Its a huge bar and will last for ages.  It contains all natural Indian Attar perfumes, with mind calming and mood enhancing scents used during yoga.  I won't be able to tell you what its like as Vicki snaffled it! 

Inika - Vegan lip whip in Apricot.  This smells gorgeous! Like Terrys chocolate orange.  Its not a shade that I would have chosen myself but may go nicely with my holiday tan!

Bonus item - Snowberry 3 samples.  I got smoothing eye serum, cellular regeneration night cream and nourishing lite day cream.  I'll give these a try but I don't think you can judge whether or not you like a product from a 3ml sample.  I'd much rather have had a bigger sample of just one product.

I like the fact the everyone gets the same in this box and that the only variation is the colour/scent of the products.  

Did you get this months box?  What did you think?