Tuesday 31 May 2016

Glossybox May 2016

Reminder: this box is £10 a month + £3.25 P+P.

First Impressions:
The box is the same size as the starter box but it has a different design: there were four in circulation I believe and I got the New York box design. Pen and ink style cityscape. I do like this design, but I prefer the usual pink. I suppose if you've been subscribed for longer than I have, it's nice to have a change. Again, it does seem a little bigger than is necessary, but maybe there are some months where the products are larger and I suppose this size means they aren't automatically restricted with what they can include. The addition of the Proper Corn filled the box that much more, for instance.

Inside, the box has more of a makeup lean to it than Birchbox seems to. I like that the two boxes are different though, or there's not much point in having both, and it's still a good range of products. It has a very summer holiday theme which is great right now. Two skincare products, two makeup products and a hair product certainly makes for a more balanced box than the starter kit. As far as brands go, I've only heard of Revlon and Proper Corn. I've never tried the latter, and for Revlon I think I have one emerald green nail varnish or something like that. I've never tried anything else from that brand. I know that the Revlon mascara was a choice, but it was only a choice if you were subscribed before the first few days of April I think. Because I subscribed in the middle of April, I didn't get to choose which one I got. I was happy to get a lengthening mascara as I trust that they aren't going to clump all over my face. I was a little disappointed to get another moisturiser though. I know that Glossybox can't help that I got one in my Birchbox as well, but I got a moisturiser from Glossybox last time and I still want to build a shrine to it. It made it take longer to do these reviews because I couldn't use the one in this box at the same time as the one in the Birchbox and I was a little sad that I had to hold off on the Être Belle for the time being. I'm not sure if that's more of a mark against this box or praise for the last one though! I'm going to guess that the mascara, lip product and hair ties are full size, and that the sunscreen and moisturiser are travel sizes. The card this month doesn't actually say which is which, it just gives the full size price, which was a little annoying.

Here's what I got this month!



1) Hairon Zero Crease Hair Tie pack of 3 - full size RRP £3.99


4/5
I wasn't remotely fussed about these when I saw them in the box. They're a fun colour but I don't really put my hair up. It's too long and too heavy to do things that would call for something like this. I tried them after letting my hair dry naturally while leaving it loose. It was still a bit damp from being washed and after a while it did have a barely there kink in it when I took the hair tie out, but since my hair wasn't fully dry I will give them the benefit of the doubt on that score. It felt weird because of the design and I have no idea what it looks like while it's in my hair. The design and the material used for these ties are great for a major pet peeve of mine when it comes to hair ties though. You know when you put your hair in a ponytail and over time the hair tie just slides off your hair and the ponytail gets loose? These don't do that. It stayed put. I was pretty impressed with that, considering how much hair it was having to hold together. I did put the ponytail at the base of my neck and not higher up because I didn't want to die of a headache, but usually even like this hair ties still get loose and these didn't at all. When I took the tie out of my hair I was disappointed at how stretched out it was. The one I'd used was double the size of the other two and barely fit back in the little box they come in (which is super cute). But as you can see from the photo, it does shrink back to size: the one I used is at the top of the triangle. I have no idea if that's something that will change with time and use or not. At the moment though, if for whatever reason my hair isn't already braided out of my way and I want to tie it back, these are great. 


2) Absolute New York Velvet Lippie in Rumba 6g/0.2 fl. oz - full size RRP £4.93


0/5
Where do I even start with this. I really, really wanted to like it. It smells exactly like the Nyx Soft Matte Lip Cream. I have that in the shade London and I really like it, so I expected to like this as it's basically the same thing. The tube colour looks a bit out of my usual zone, but it's still nice and after the MUA gloss from the starter kit box, I had high hopes. But inside, it's just orange, not coral. The picture doesn't really do the orange justice. It doesn't suit me at all and it makes my teeth look very yellow (they aren't). Normally I could forgive this. I'd hate the colour, but I'd be curious about the other available colours and go hunting to see if there was another that I liked. But the formula is horrible too. It feels the same as the Nyx one in that it's more of a mousse but unlike the Nyx one, this looks awful. It manages to be streaky and patchy at the same time. It just looked worse the drier it got and it dried my lips out too. No matter how many layers I tried to get the colour looking even, it wouldn't cooperate. It settled into every line on my lips and made them look instantly really dry and about 50 years older even though they were really hydrated before I put this on. I put up with it for about ten minutes before I removed it. Then I thought it couldn't be that bad, and really since I was going to review it I should give it another try. The second time, I had it on for around fifteen minutes before I couldn't stand it anymore. There's nothing I could ever do to make it look good, so I can't say how long it would last. There's no way I'm wearing it long enough to find out. I've heard some bad things about some of the Nyx shades and that the formula isn't the same for every shade, so maybe this product suffers from the same issues and other colours are nicer, but I'm not really inclined to spend any money on finding that out after trying this one. It's unusable.


3) Hawaiian Tropic Protective Dry Oil SPF 15 100ml - full size RRP £13.99


3/5
I was worried about using this when I saw the word "oil" and saw the cap because I just assumed it would spill everywhere and be super messy, but it's actually more of a gel that turns to oil when you rub it into your skin, which I really liked. I don't generally get burnt from the sun. It takes a whole day on the beach with little to no sunscreen for my skin to care about the injustice that's being done to it, so I'm not sure how well this works to guard against actual sunburn. I wore it when I walked to work and walked around the shops and to and from the supermarket and yes it was warm and sunny, but I wouldn't ordinarily get burnt from doing that. It's nice to know that there's some protection there, though, and I was impressed with the application. The only reason this isn't a full five stars is because of the scent. It's not a bad scent in small doses, but it's a bit overpowering for something that's designed to be all over your skin. I only applied it to the tops of my shoulders because that's where I get burnt if it happens at all, and the scent completely covered the perfume on my neck. I didn't even use a lot of this, but I could smell it the entire way to work and for quite a while after I arrived. It would really benefit from having the strong scent removed (yes it contains parfum in case that's not obvious) as I don't think it's particularly necessary. Scented skin is what perfume is for! Something to neutralise a chemical smell I could understand, but this is clearly way beyond that. My usual sunscreen is an invisible waterproof spray by Soltan and that is fantastic. It's also not got a strong smell, so I'm not sure that I'd use this over that. But I do really like the formula of this. I'd never heard of the brand before - my Soltan spray works well enough that I don't go browsing for anything else - but this is actually available locally, and in little travel sizes as well. I think that's perfect, as my spray is huge and if you were going away for a week, perhaps a little unnecessary unless you have a whole family to use it on. I'm not even sure if my spray is still sold. But even if it isn't and I run out of the spray, I don't think I'd be turning to this brand with a scent that strong. It's a shame but it really is off-putting.


4) Bee Good Youth Enhancing Plump and Firm Moisturiser 15ml - full size RRP £23.50


4/5
This is sold at this size on the brand's website as a travel size for £9, so this was actually a really good deal for this box (the full size is 50ml, for comparison). It also has the cruelty free bunny on the packaging, which I appreciate and wish companies were more transparent about. It was tough to get a moisturiser in each box and did push these reviews back somewhat, but this is a nice one. It's a really good size, has a fresh citrus-y scent, and it definitely does do what it says it does. Unfortunately, it suffers from the same issue that the Caudalie one does: it's not for oily skin. It does address other things that I ticked boxes for, but it kinda seems like the number one priority is ignored when it comes to these products and that's my skin type. It can do all the plumping in the world but if it's not suitable for my skin type then it's not really all that suitable, is it? It gives the skin a beautiful dewy finish that initially looks great, but for oily skin that really doesn't last very long. I'm really curious now about the serum and eye cream from this brand, just because for plumping and firming the skin this does a really good job. Same as the Caudalie one, it's been a night cream for me and I obviously couldn't use them at the same time, so that was a bit of an issue. But when I wake up after using this, there's a noticeable difference to my skin. It looks fantastic. I'm assuming there's no law on using it at night only, because it's been doing a great job so far and it's definitely got me wondering about the rest of the brand.


5) Revlon Super Length Mascara 8.5ml/0.28 fl. oz - RRP £9.99


4/5
It was a little exciting to be getting a newly released product in a full size like this. As I said at the top, I didn't get to choose which one I got, but I was happy to get a lengthening mascara as it usually means it's going to be more suitable for a "your lashes but better" kind of look. I was really weirded out by this mascara at first. I've never used a mascara with a fibre formula before and it just looks like the brush is falling apart. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about putting it near my eyes! But this mascara really, really works. Perhaps a little too much for me. I naturally have quite long lashes, and this mascara makes my eyelashes travel into eyebrow territory. It's also really hard to wear with my glasses, because my eyelashes touch the lenses. Several times, I've taken my glasses off to clean them and there's been streaks of mascara on them. It's also not the most comfortable feeling in the world when it happens. I wonder if I might have gotten along better with one of the other new releases instead. But if I had shorter eyelashes I would be singing the praises of this mascara. It doesn't add much (if at all) by way of volume, so the effect is quite natural but it also means that it's nice for more than one coat too if you wanted to build it up. The only real downside is that I have had some fibre-related fallout after using this, both after a while of wear (probably scraped off on my glasses, in fairness) and immediately after applying. It's maybe not as big a deal as eyeshadow fallout, which can lead to sparkle and colour in places where neither particularly belongs, but it's still a thing that can happen. It also isn't as black as I'd like it to be. It's more of a natural black, which I suppose does suit the overall natural look of the mascara, but I like black-black mascara better. Maybe I'm just being picky though. It's definitely a "super length" mascara.


6) Proper Corn Lightly Sea Salted Popcorn 10g
5/5
I haven't added a price for this one because there's nothing about it at all on the products card. It was just in my box. But this added bonus was delicious. There's no solo photo of it because it didn't live long enough. It was the size of your average bag of crisps, so a nice amount, but I wish the bag had been bottomless. I've never had salted popcorn before. The idea of savoury popcorn just seemed weird: in my head it's a sweet snack. But this was really nice. Not too salty but still flavoured enough. And sometimes I just feel like eating something savoury. I'd definitely pick this up if I saw it in shops. Yum.


Overall Impression:
I was most excited for the lip product when I first opened this box and that turned out to be a huge disappointment so it let this month down. The rest of the box had to try and make up for it, since I tried the lip product first. However, I'm going to cut the box some slack. With boxes that contain more makeup I think I'm going to find more things that I don't like, unlike skincare and haircare, since those products are rarely completely awful. With those, I feel like even if I didn't completely love it, it's still usable somehow. It's easier to be on the fence about those products. I don't remember trying many skincare or haircare products ever in my lifetime that I absolutely hated and would never use again. But with makeup, it either works and I like it or it doesn't. There's not a whole lot of middle ground for me. I'm either going to use it or I'm not. If Glossybox continues to have more makeup items in it, there's going to be more room potentially for products that I can't stand to be included.

On the other side of that, though, I felt that this lip product was so bad that it was hard to understand how it ended up in the box at all. It's like nobody at Glossybox's HQ tried it before they thought it was a good idea to send it to everyone. I have no idea how products get selected for boxes, but it seems hard to believe that nobody noticed that this one wasn't very good. Ignoring the lip product, the rest of the box wasn't bad. If I don't count it in the box average score, then this box would get a 4, which is much better. It's just a shame that I've had one dud product for both boxes now. Since this month's box has a different design to the rest, if my other boxes stick to the usual pink, then this box will be used as a Glossybox Sin Bin and will just serve as a home to the worst products I get from this subscription. As I said, it's easier for Glossybox to send me something I hate with the kind of products that they're sending, but it's also hard to ignore that I haven't completely hated anything from my Birchbox subscription yet. I'm hoping the dud-per-box trend stops, but I also feel that even with it, both times I've still had my money's worth, so it's hard to take a stance on.

To prove the point about skincare and haircare, the sunscreen isn't amazing when it has that scent, but it's still usable, and I will still in all likelihood use it up eventually. It's much better suited to my bag for use on the go than my current one is, if nothing else. The moisturiser didn't suit my skin type, but it's great at night and I am still using it. I don't wear my hair in anything but a braid very much because of the length, but if I do feel like having it down and then for whatever reason I need to tie it back quickly, the Hairon ties are great. Makeup isn't like that.

The star of the box, if the popcorn doesn't count (although that was a really nice surprise, I wasn't expecting to get anything like that) has got to be the mascara. I've never been a giant fan of Revlon as a brand, but I do find myself still using that mascara almost every day, even with the lashes-on-glasses issue, just because it really opens my eyes up and looks great with any eyeshadow look. That alone is £9.99, so really that's paid for the box. Even with the dud the box has still managed to offer good value for the subscription cost, and I've got to hand it to Glossybox for managing that.

Box average: 3.3
Cumulative box average: 3.6

I actually do know something about the next box and I am really excited to try it - everyone will be getting a lip and cheek tint from Emite in their June box. I only have one lip and cheek tint already and it's a red Bodyshop one that was in a members promotional freebie bag, but it's a sparkly red and I've only used it once or twice. I did like it, though, so that's caused the excitement over this one. I've never heard of Emite - the sneak peek info says they're a Swedish mineral makeup brand and I'm really curious about this product. There was an email sent mentioning this at the end of the month as well as a small section on the products leaflet about it too, which I thought was nice for anyone who got a starter box in May (and therefore maybe not the information on their leaflet) as they'll still get the email letting them know. I only own one blush (yeah I know - new thing for me) so I'm hoping that the colour is nice for cheeks. There's going to be four full size products in June's box, which is also exciting. Now I'll get to play Guess the Sample. I have no idea what the other products are going to be but the lip and cheek tint combined with the guarantee of four full size products seems promising, so fingers crossed!

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