July 2012 Glossybox

Hello everyone. I recently received my GlossyBox and thought I would share my views. I had a look at a few other boxes and think I probably got an alright one, but not the best and not the worst. This months box was all about festival season, with items you can take along with you to a festival or experiment with at home.

Paul Mitchell - Awapuhi Moisture Mist - Full Size £9.35
This refreshing spray is designed to give your hair and skin moisture and keeps you feeling refreshed. My glossybox arrived on one of the hottest days we have had this year and the first thing I did was spray this all over my face, and I can’t tell you how nice it was. I have put this product straight in my handbag and will be using this to keep myself felling refreshed all day.

Bex London – Londoner Urban Fragrance - Full size £81.00

I received SE1, or Southbank. When I first smelt this I thought it smelt like a male aftershave, then I read the information provided and it claims to be androgynous. I think this is a good idea if they want to produce unisex products, as there is a market for these, but personally I prefer a more feminine fragrance. This perfume smells of citrus with a hint of woodyness.

Monu - Night Renewal Complex - Full Size £36.95

This moisturiser claims to smooth and firm your skin whilst you sleep. I put this on before bed last night and didn’t really notice much difference at first, but today my make-up seems to have gone on smoother, and I don’t know if that’s coincidence or because of the cream, but I am going to keep using it and see if it continues to make a difference. I think this smells a bit like citronella which is offputting, but it seems a lot of my products smell like this, and I am starting to think.. is it just me?

Jelly Pong Pong Cosmetics- Lip Frosting - Full Size £10.00

This cream gloss can be used on your cheeks or lips to give you some colour. This creamy formula smells delicious, I can’t decide what it tastes like, but it is a very familiar scent, and I absolutely love it. This gloss stayed put for a long time and gave a nice subtle colour to the lips. I am yet to try this on my cheeks, I feel it might be a bit sticky, but I will give it a go when the weather isn’t this hot.

Nuxe - Huile Prodigieuse - Full Size £17.50

This was a little sample of oil which can be used on your hair, face and body all year round. I’m not one for putting oil on my face as my skin sometimes gets a bit oily. I’m not really 100% sure on how I use this product, so any advice you have would be greatly appreciated so I can give this a proper trial.

Bonus Item: Elizabeth Ardens Visible Difference Skin Balance

This sample was a little bonus in our beauty box this month, and contained 3 little samples and the chance to go and pick up a deluxe sample from any Debenhams store. I might go and pick this up this week and try it out, but it depends if I have the courage, I hate getting free things, I always feel a bit rude!

Anyway overall I was quite happy with this months glossybox. I would have liked to receive the HD Brow palette like some people have received this month, but I think the range of products I received were quite different and there are a couple of things that I love. What did you get in your glossy box?

Ren Skincare Review

On Sunday I was advised by my good friend Kelly that Ren Clean Skincare had a good offer on their website, and I can't resist an offer. They were offering a 10% off your first order, 4 free samples with every order and by entering a code I would also get '6 of the best' products worth £20.

I thought seeing as I had a day off work I would try all of the products out and write up a review.

Ren products are completely clean and free from any synthetic products, fragrances and any pore blocking products, which sounded perfect to me as I hate putting heavy products on my face so my skin can't breath.

With my initial purchase, I bought the Pro-Vitamin Conditioner, mainly because it was the cheapest product and I wanted the freebies, but also because I have long thick hair I could always use a conditioner.

Upon first impressions I wasn't a huge fan of the smell. It smells of citrus and lavender, which reminds me of citronella that you attract flies with, but that's just my opinion. This conditioner comes in a small 100ml bottle however it is very concentrated and you don't need much. This left my hair feeling smooth, shiny, easy to brush and most importantly clean. I love it! The Sample products I chose were the Photoactive Sun Veil SPF15, Invisible Pores Detox Mask, T-Zone Balancing Day Fluid and the Hydra-Calm Cleansing Gel.

The Photo-Active Sun Veil protects your skin from the sun and helps to give your complexion a radiant finish. Smells just like suncream, is non greasy and leaves no white residue on your face. It's not exactly sunny at the moment so I haven't worn it outside but I will be using this on holiday.

The Invisible Pores Detox Mask was probably my favourite thing out of the samples I received. Initially I wasn't a huge fan of the smell, but the texture of this mask was really nice and thick almost like clay. After using this my skin felt amazingly soft and CLEAN, these products really do make you feel fully refreshed. I am tempted to buy the full size version of this.
The T-Zone Balancing Day Fluid claims to leave skin clear and healthy and this is the exact reaction I had. Less is more with this product, as the first time I used it my skin felt a little oily, but if you use a really small amount it works wonders. Only downside is that it smells a bit citronella-y.

The Hydra-Calm Cleansing Gel is great to quickly pop on before a shower then rinse off after a few minutes. It's very lightweight and removes all the dirt from the skin. I think I will use this up very quickly.

I was then lucky enough to receive the '6 of the best' products in a little box which says this is a weeks supply. I haven't used any of these because I want to spend some time using them all, unfortunately one of the products (The Mayblossom Balancing Cleansing Gel) came with the top of the tube broken and it had all spilled out so I may not be able to try that one out.

EDIT: Ren have since sent me a replacement pack for the above - fantastic customer service! Thanks Ren!

Look out for a future review on these 6 products, and in the meantime, please check out Ren Skincare for yourself :)

How I Style.. Peplum Dress

Black chiffon dress, $23 / Jeffrey Campbell spiked platform heels / Marc Jacobs quilted shoulder bag / Ring, $12 / Studded jewelry, $25

Outfit & Face of the Night

I went out last night and this is the make-up look I went for, inspired by Tanya Burr's Birthday look. Click here to see the tutorial by her.

Eyes
Maybelline Color Tattoo - on and on bronze
Bronze by MAC
Darkhorse - Urban Decay Naked Palette
Stargazer Gold Glitter
Soap & Glory Supercat liquid eyeliner
Miners Cosmetics Super Phat Liner
Superdrug double eyelashes


Lips
Revlon ColourBurst Lip Butter - Peach Parfait

Face 
Benefit Porefessional Primer
Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation
MAC Studio Fix Powder
Sleek Contour Kit
Blusher - Melba by MAC
Benefit High Beam
HD Eyebrows Kit

Outfit
Playsuit by Lipsy
Mr Shoes Wedged Style Creepers

Hope you've all had a lovely weekend :)

Product Dupe! - Naked Palette

I have seen this dupe on a few blogs now but I had to try it out for myself! After buying and loving Urban Decay's Naked Palette I was excited to hear that MUA had brought out a very similar palette at a fraction of the price.

Urban Decay Naked Palette retails at around £36 and contains 12 gorgeous highly pigmented colours. I have been using this for a while now and love the effects I can get with mixing and blending a variety of these colours.

MUA have now released a palette called 'Undressed' also containing 12 highly pigmented colours, which look remarkably similar to the Urban Decay palette don't you think? However this is prices at just £4!!

I don't know about you but I have bought this palette and think its a great alternative to those not wanting to spend a lot of money. I'm going to be taking this on holiday, as it won't matter too much if it gets lost or damaged.

Here is a quick comparison of a few of the colours in the 2 palettes.

Review: ‘She Said’ Beauty Box

I recently cancelled my Jolie Box subscription due to poor customer service and the fact I wasn’t really enjoying the products anymore and decided to fill that hole with the She Said Beauty Box. Upon first impressions I was very excited having seen what other people had received. I must admit I have seen better variations of this box, and there are some things I would have preferred over others but generally I am pretty happy and will be keeping my subscription.

This months box was packed with summer essentials, perfect for your hand luggage if you’re going on holiday.
Anyway, I’ve had a chance to try out the products, and this is what I thought!

The box came wrapped up neatly, however I have unfortunately torn it apart. I think the colour is lovely!

Eden Natural Nail Polish Remover (Full Size £12)
The first thing I liked about this was that it was in a glass bottle. As this is remover is non-toxic and made of plant-based ingredients I didn’t think this would be very good at taking off my nail varnish,  however it did work really well. It had a slight lime scent to it. The only problem is being sample sized, I only had enough to do one hand and it did leave my cuticles feeling a bit oily so I needed to wash my hands afterwards. Not something I would purchase but I would re-use this product.

Freeze 24/7 IceCrystals Anti-Aging Prep & Polish (Full Size £35)
The product claims to improve circulation and help the production of elastin and collagen and can reduce the appearance of wrinkles, fine lines, sun spots and enlarged pores. This product was amazing. I don’t have aging skin so was a bit skeptical about how well this would work for me, but I definitely noticed results straight away. My skin was smooth and even and felt rejuvenated. If it wasn’t so expensive I think I would purchase the full size.

LaylaD Natural Beauty Honey Moisturiser (Full Size £12.99)
This organic moisturiser aims to heal and nourish your skin. The honey smell is pleasing and the formular is creamy and smooth. I admittedly have only used this once as I don’t think it does anything extra compared to what my Liz Earle moisturiser does, however this a perfect to take on holiday or pop in your bag when your skin just needs a quick refresher.

Miners Cosmetics Love Phat Liner (Full Size £3.99)
Absolutely loved this eyeliner and would say it was probably my favourite item in the whole box. This pencil is perfect for creating a smokey eye as it smudges really well, but also lasts all day on the waterline too making it multi-functional. The colour is a deep black and I cannot fault it. My only problem is that it may not be the easiest of things to sharpen when it starts to get blunt.

Murad Time Release Blemish Cleanser (Full Size £5.50)
I personally don’t get that many breakouts but I thought I would give this product a try anyway and I am glad I did. This is a great cleanser and makes my skin feel really clean. Since using it I haven’t had any new blemishes, however I have not noticed any reduction of fine lines and wrinkles that it claims to be able to do. I would buy this product, and when it runs out I may purchase the full size.

Stylfile S-File (Full Size £4.49)
Created by Tom Pellerau from The Apprentice I had seen this product in Boots and online and was curious to try it. The S-Shape of the file follows the natural shape of your nail to give a professional smooth finish across the surface. I think it works well, however I wouldn’t have personally gone out of my way to buy this product, as I think it is slightly overrated, and doesn’t do anything a normal nail file wouldn’t do. It does make the filing time a bit quicker as you can do the whole nail at once rather than having to angle a flat file, and that is my favourite thing about this product. Perfect for your handbag.

Are you a subscriber to the She Said Beauty Box? What did you think?
If you would like to find out more information about the box, or sign up, please click the link below.

 She Said Beauty