Glossybox - July

Ever since I got my years’ sub to Glossybox (a steal at just £50!) my boxes have been awful (perhaps not a steal?!). You may have noticed a distinct lack in monthly beauty box posts (aside from the LIB themed boxes), and that’s because they’ve been rubbish. In fact, the contents of the last few boxes have all been given to friends/family.

So yesterday when the Hermes guy delivered my box, I wasn’t feeling that excited. Okay, I was a little. But only because it feels like ages since I got the last one.

  

So. In the box:

HD Brows Eye & Brow Palette – full size worth £19.95

Clynol Colour Enrich Shampoo – 50ml worth £1.55

MONU Golden Glow – 30ml worth £3.45

Jelly Pong Pong Irish Cream Pavlova Lip Frosting – full size worth £10

Elizabeth Arden Visible Difference Skin Balancing Lotion – 5ml worth £3.20

*BONUS Elizabeth Arden Visible Difference sample set*

HD Brows Eye & Brow Palette

This item probably made this box the ‘best box’. Although now I’ve tried it I really don’t see the hype. I know if I didn’t get it I would have moaned, but now I do have it it’s just a bit meh.

Clynol Colour Enrich Shampoo

My hair isn’t dyed so this didn’t excite me. I tend to use a lot of shampoo so this would only have lasted one wash anyway.

MONU Golden Glow

<rant> Eugh. Don’t. Just don’t. I can’t wait to get my tan on with this … NOT. I stated in my beauty profile that I’m black – if they didn’t know then I wouldn’t be mad. But they do know. Don’t ask if you’re not going to use them! </rant>

T: Heavily swatched. B: Blended.

Jelly Pong Pong Irish Cream Pavlova Lip Frosting

I’ve actually been wanting to try these for a while as I’ve seen a few people on BBS with it. But it smells sickly, like kids’ sweets – i.e. sugar and E-numbers. Not only that but mineral oil? Why would I ever use this on my face when it contains mineral oil? Especially as it’s the first ingredient. And parabens too? No ta.

Elizabeth Arden Visible Difference Skin Balancing Lotion

The sample is a bit on the small side so I’m not sure whether I’ll really be able to test this thoroughly. Will be good to try though.

The bonus samples were a nice touch, but one-use samples are of no use to me (I know that sounds so diva-ish, but you never truly know what a product is like after one use).

Worth over £38, this box was pretty decent. But I’m so over the GB hype. I won’t cancel my sub, it was such a deal and honestly speaking I’d feel a bit out of the loop if I wasn’t subbed.

Did you get a box this month?

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Late. Last week in Instagrams #4

I’m sorry this post is so late; I’ve been really busy trying to get my last assignments in at uni!

Last week wasn’t very eventful at all, but here it is …

Made a beauty box for the boy, as he’s jealous of mine!

That’s the last time I let the boy loose in the kitchen. Took us days of scrubbing and it’s still not off!

New Muller yoghurt, mint chocolate chip. Not again thanks.

Diet was getting boring. Yoghurt in a glass – didn’t liven things up at all! Haha

HORRID rash came up on my face – post to follow on this – so I did a Sudocrem facemask! Casper has got nothing on me!

My eyelash extension and brow dye results. Hated. Blog post will also follow.

NANDOS.

Strawberry FroYo in Nandos.

Eyelashes out already. Really painful.

Discount Soap & Glory heaven!

 April GLOSSYBOX. Blogged here.

PO are charging me £15.57 to pick up a package – in their dreams!

Venti Skinny Sugar-Free Vanilla Latte from Starbucks. The only thing that gets me through a day at work!

What did you get up to last week?

April GLOSSYBOX: Natural Earth Day Theme

It feels like an absolute age since the last Glossybox, so I was excited when they finally sent the despatch emails a couple of days ago. 

However, when it comes to Glossybox I’m always pretty harsh on them. They’re a big company, with good links in the beauty industry and lots of subscribers so I expect decent boxes. Unfortunately, Glossybox always seem to disappoint and when I heard that this month’s box was an Earth Day themed box, my expectations weren’t very high at all.

However, Glossybox have surprised me and the box that came today was actually pretty good. I was a bit shocked when it arrived, simply because they ditched the usual purple/pink polka dot mailing box for a normal brown one. I didn’t even realise it was my GB so I went back to bed!

The actual box is biodegradable, and an earthy tan colour along with the tissue, stuffing and sticker, and the ribbon is made out of a beige canvas material. I liked the extra touches.

  

So, without further ado, in my box was:

Caudalie Vinosource SOS Thirst-Quenching Serum 10ml – worth £9.66

Inika Organic Eyeliner in Sapphire full size – worth £11.75

Monu Enriched Body Cream 30ml – worth £3.45

Figs & Rouge Peppermint & Tea Tree Balm full size – worth £3.29

Philip B Drop Dead Straightening Balm 15ml – worth £2.55

Total = £30.70

Caudalie Serum – Full size £29/30ml

I think this was the staple product that came in every box – the size was apparently specially made for GB. I’ve always heard good reviews on Caudalie products but never actually tried any. Looking forward to trying this!

It doesn’t feel full though, which is very disappointing!

Inika Eyeliner – Full size £11.75

It’s blue. And it rubbed off of my hand straight away when I swatched it. Not overly impressed, but I should try it properly before I make up my mind. I like that they’ve put some makeup in the box though!

Monu Body Cream – Full size £23/200ml

I’m a big Monu fan now, after trying their enzyme peel – blogged here – so I’m looking forward to trying this. Smells citrusy with a hint of nutmeg. Mmm!

Figs & Rouge Balm – Full size £3.29/8ml

I already have two of these balms in Sweet Geranium, and I love the fact that they’re multi-use so can be used all over the face and body. Yet another lip product to add to my overflowing collection!

Philip B Straightening balm – Full size £17/178ml

This is probably the product I’m most disappointed with. It has ‘Not for sale’ on the back which makes it look like they give it out as a freebie and not an actual paid sample. I will try it nonetheless and see what it’s like. The full size is only 178ml and retails for £17, so it can’t be awful, right?

So that’s what I got this month. Some people on BBS saw a spoiler of this early this morning and deemed it the ‘worst’ box, but to be honest I’m really happy with it. It’s honestly one of the first boxes that will actually get used in its entirety.

I was lucky enough to be in the ‘first wave’ of boxes, but in my experience the second wave is always best. Looking out for what people receive over the next couple of days!

Did you get a Glossybox this month? What are your thoughts?

Beauty Box Secrets: The £4 Glossybox

Just wanted to let you know about an amazing deal that I’ve just come across over on Beauty Box Swaps.

Get 12 GlossyBoxes for less than £4.20 a month! I know, I know it sounds unbelievable, but …

Due to the Carmine merge GB are offering a 30% discount on the 12-month sub when you use the code 'WELCUM30OFF' , bringing the £135.40 (price including P&P) down to £100. But it doesn’t stop there…

TopCashBack after offering a crazy £50.50 cashback when you buy a 1-year Glossy subscription. The cashback deal means that you end up paying less than £50 for your next 12 Glossyboxes. If that’s not a good deal then I don’t know what is! The cash back isn't instant, it takes a couple of weeks but we can wait, right? :)

To take advantage of this momentous deal, click here, search for Glossybox and follow the instructions.

The deal ends soon – I think someone said midnight, but don’t quote me on that! – so grab it while you can!

March Glossybox: Harrods Collaboration

This month’s Glossybox was a collaboration with Harrods and highly anticipated by beauty box subscribers. Harrods means high end products for sure, and no Collection 2000!

Or so we thought…

I was among the first wave of people to receive the boxes just a day after they were posted, but held off writing my review because I’d accidentally ordered two and hoped the second would be better.

IN THE BOX:

Narciso Rodriguez For Her EDP Sample

Molton Brown Heavenly Ginger-Lily Moisture Bath & Shower

YSL Forever Youth Liberator Serum

Burberry Beauty Miniature Lipcover in Rosewood N^o 4

Clarins Extra Firming Body Cream

Now before I start my review, don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t unhappy with the box. But you don’t rave on about Harrods and then not deliver!

Narciso Rodriguez For Her EDP Sample

LOVED the fragrance but it was tiny. You could pick this up from a perfume counter for free, and seeing as other samples were in small glass bottles I thought it was a bit of a cop out. I’ll definitely be purchasing this at some point, without a doubt.

Molton Brown Heavenly Ginger-Lily Moisture Bath & Shower

Getting fed up of body washes in beauty boxes. It’s just getting boring to be honest. Whilst this does smell really nice, it’ll end up going in the pile of ‘don’t wants’.

YSL Forever Youth Liberator Serum

I’m 21, admittedly I do have one laughter line because I smile way too much and yes it’s the bane of my life, but I don’t think it’s time to start using stuff like this yet. Prevention is better than cure; start early, blah blah blah. I look after my skin, I have a good routine going so I don’t need anti-ageing products – just yet. If GB looked at my beauty profile then they’d realise that!

Burberry Beauty Miniature Lipcover in Rosewood No. 4

Probably the best item in the box. But lipstick just isn’t for me. Swatched it on the back of my hand and I can tell it won’t suit me. BOOOO! Still sticking with my Nivea Big Berry!

Clarins Extra Firming Body Cream

I use oil on my skin so I probably wont use it but it’s the perfect size for my handbag so when I switch back to my suitcase (!) this’ll definitely go in. I hate getting caught out in the summer with dry legs!

All in all not a bad box? Wrong. Clearly shows that they don’t take any notice of your beauty profile. And I feel a bit cheated. If I’d gone to Harrods myself and to all of the relevant counters I could have gotten all of this and more, and NOT paid £12.95 for it.

I think I was also disappointed because I really wanted the Ojon Oil. But there was a silver lining to my cloud …

My second Glossybox arrived this morning, this one with six items – one of them was a *bonus*

Molton Brown Vitalising vitamin AB+C Bath & Shower

Lancome Hynose Drama Instant Full Body Volume Mascara

Valentino Valentina EDP Sample

SK-II Skin Signature

Clarins Extra Firming Body Cream

*Shu Uemura Cleansing Beauty Oil*

For me, this box was more disappointing than the first. I don’t doubt that it’s worth more and definitely better value for money, but that’s as far as it goes. Apart from perhaps trying out the cleansing oil & the perfume sample everything else is useless to me.

SO. I’ve organised to swap the entire contents (Minus the Shu Uemura) for the wonderful Ojon Oil Serum. On the surface I’m getting the short end of the deal, as the SK-II is worth almost £25 alone and the Ojon is just £16. But I’d rather have a £16 product, than £40 worth of products that will just sit in a box.

Source

As much as I complain about GB sometimes I know I won’t unsubscribe. I got a really good box last month, and these boxes weren’t awful. I love the surprise every month, even when it is a bit of an anticlimax!

Lola ..x