Birchbox August 2016

Reminder: this box is £10 a month + £2.95 P+P.

First impressions:

Yellow bag! Noooooooooo! There was a 50/50 chance of me getting a colour I'd like and I got one I hate. It's dirty already from me taking photos of it. The material just absorbs dirt. The only way it'll stay clean is if I wash it endlessly. It's also much smaller than I thought it would be. The contents barely fit: the products info leaflet was folded up and squashed in amongst the samples. It has huge seams inside it that take up a lot of space. Can't say I'm a massive fan of the bag! I thought I'd be able to store lots of Birchbox goodies in it, but that's just not going to be the case. It's too small to fit most things in it. I'd much rather have had a box instead. 

For the products themselves, I was a little disappointed by what I saw this time around. A hand sanitiser in a beauty box seems like they're scraping the barrel. At no point in my existence have I ever wished for a more luxurious hand sanitiser. It's just hand sanitiser. It sanitises your hands. That's it. I wasn't overly impressed by the scrub or the moisturiser either: both are samples of products that are cheap to buy in full size. Part of me thinks that that's great if I like the products because then it won't cost me a king's ransom to replace the samples, but the other part of me doesn't get this box for samples of £3.99 scrubs. I can buy that full size and try it and if I hate it it's only £3.99 and I can use it up and just not buy it again. That's not quite how I'd feel if I bought that Rituals scrub in full size and found I didn't like that. Higher end samples make the box worth getting, because the samples themselves are more expensive, but it also saves me money in the long run as I don't end up buying expensive things that I then try and don't like (remember we cannot return cosmetics in the UK if they don't work out). That will be lost if they send cheap samples. It doesn't feel like this boxbagthing is worth the money, and I've never felt like that after opening a Birchbox before. Maybe the products will prove me wrong. As for brands, I've heard of Philip Kingsley from a previous box and heard of English Laundry from YouTube but the rest are all new. 

Here's what I got this month! As per Birchbox's competition instructions, I took my Birchbag to the beach for photos this time. 

1) Marcelle Waterproof Eyeliner in Expresso 0.8g/0.028oz - full size RRP £10.50

1/5
We got to choose the colour of the eyeliner that we got - brown or purple - and I was really happy that I got the colour I wanted. I really like brown eyeliners but I don't own many of them (I think I have two) so I was excited to have another one to test out, especially since none of the brown eyeliners that I have already are waterproof. Unfortunately, neither is this. I swatched it on my hand and then washed it off with water. It washed off in the shower without me even touching my eyes. It comes off with miscellar water when I'm cleansing my face. It doesn't stay put if my eyes water a lot on windy days. I could probably deal with that if it wasn't for the colour. It's brown, yes, but it's a shimmery brown. It's not a solid colour like I thought it would be from the preview. It's practically invisible on my waterline: I can only tell that it's there at all because my waterline has a faint bronze shimmer to it. There's no colour payoff at all. On my eyelid, it's impossible to get a smooth line. The shimmer isn't particularly consistent, and some strokes will dump a bit of darker pigment at random. Then there's a lot of back and forth to try and get that bit to blend in with the pencil strokes that were just pale and shimmery. It's weird, and it doesn't look good. The only use I have for this is the lower lash line. Because of the shimmer, it can be very subtle without the need for any smudging (if I smudged this it would just disappear anyway) so it's nice for some soft definition. I can fix any colour dumps with a cotton bud and it won't ruin whatever makeup I have on like it does when trying to fix it on the upper lash line. It took some serious eyeshadow surgery just to get the colour to be even on my eyelid, huge nope to trying that again. But on the lower lash line, it's nice. I do have to be careful with the outer corners because Marcelle's definition of "waterproof" is vastly different to mine, but it looks nice while it's there and it's subtle enough that it isn't very noticeable if my eyes do water enough to make it wander. It's pretty much useless for anything else though. I tried to sharpen it to see if that would improve it at all, but it just broke. I took the photo after this, and that's as sharp as it will go before it breaks. It's a shame because I really wanted to like it, but it just doesn't do what it's supposed to do. 

2) Philip Kingsley One More Day Dry Shampoo 50ml/1.7fl. oz - full size RRP £14.50

5/5 
This is the first dry shampoo I've ever used, so I can't compare this to any other brands. Dry shampoo isn't something I'm really into (I'd rather just wash my hair if it's that much of a problem) so I've never had one before. I didn't really know what to expect. My hair is so dry that it doesn't really get greasy between washes. All that happens is that it goes from being a fluffy mess to being a bit smoother and more manageable. It's very, very rare that I would need to use something like this. So... for this review, I purposefully left my hair alone one day so I could try it. It wasn't greasy still, but it was as "one day more" as it was likely to get. I sprayed this through as per the instructions, brushed my hair... and it was like I'd just washed it. It definitely works. It doesn't really have a strong scent, which I thought was a little weird considering the product, but my hair stayed nice all day until I washed it in the evening. It didn't make my hair feel sticky or crunchy or weird and it definitely took what little "wash me please" feeling my hair gets away. I can certainly see it having its uses and since it was so good I will definitely consider buying it once it runs out, but as I said, it's not something I will use a lot so that may take a while. That's not the fault of the product though, that's just my routine. If you needed a decent dry shampoo, this is definitely that.

3) Amie Morning Dew Matte Finish Moisturiser 10ml/0.35fl. oz - full size RRP £4.95

0/5
I wanted to like this so badly. Partly because there had to be something in this box that I actually liked beyond the dry shampoo, and partly because a cheap matte moisturiser would be nice and save me a lot of money in the long run if I liked it enough to switch to it. But it wasn't to be. I applied this before doing a basic makeup look for a day out. I had a rare day off work and I wanted to go and wander around in the sun for a change. I always do my makeup last because my skin is so oily that the closest to me leaving the house it is, the better. But after I'd done my makeup I felt that jeans would maybe be too hot to wear outside, so I changed into shorts. In the time it took me to finish up my makeup and get changed, I decided to wash my face completely and start over without this moisturiser. My face was so oily it looked wet. That's not normal. It'd been maybe 15 minutes since I'd cleansed, plus I had powder on as part of my base. It shouldn't look or feel that oily already. 

The moisturiser itself was nice to put on. It spread out nicely, wasn't too thick, and did feel moisturising. It wasn't matte though. My skin looked dewy straight away. And then it didn't feel right. I knew I had to wash my face without even looking in a mirror and seeing how oily it was. It didn't feel right at all. It felt ridiculously sensitive and when I cleansed it it was a bit sore. I redid my face with the Caudalie sunscreen from the July box and just a lip balm and mascara - no BB cream or powder this time and nothing on my cheeks. My skin didn't feel okay. It looked fine, but something was off. Then came the horrific reaction. Reviews this month were delayed by one of the worst skin reactions I've ever had. My skin felt burned, it was sore to touch and it broke out with what I can only describe as clusters of blood blisters that burst when they felt inclined to. It was really, really bad. It's left me with some pretty severe scarring. Over three weeks later, it is still healing in the worst areas. My skin went from being near perfect to a complete mess and very painful. I thought it may have been one of two other products that I'd recently been using "full time" so when my skin improved, I tested those one by one. I'd been using the face scrub from Huygens very regularly in anticipation of buying the full size (it's now on the way here) so I waited until my skin was better, used up the rest of the sample and nope, wasn't that. That actually helped if anything. Next potential offender was the Bodyshop's face base. This is my go-to lazy product, which I will probably stop buying now unless I can find a way to make it stay matte for longer because it's really not for my skin type, but this is the third or fourth compact of it that I've had so it was unlikely to be this. I was right, it isn't. I've used it every day for the last week and my skin is fine. So, the sore face post use and immediate heavy oil production points to it being caused by this moisturiser. I am not going to try it again to double check. My face still hasn't properly finished bleeding, thank you very much. Once is quite enough.

I'm not sure which of the 39 ingredients was the problem child here. 39 seems like a lot of ingredients to me, but I don't know much if anything about ingredients to know if there's a definite "oh that'll be your problem" one in this. What I do know is that parfum is ingredient number 13. That seems like quite a high volume of parfum to me. I don't remember it being particularly perfumed, and I also don't think I've had something on my face where parfum wasn't the very bottom ingredient even on a long list, so that may be it. Two of the ingredients also have "alcohol" in their name (8th and 9th on the list), which seems like it'd be in direct conflict with the whole "moisturising" thing, but what do I know. I'm sure enough that it was this product that caused the reaction and that's good enough for me right now. I don't love covering up scars enough to want to test it out a second time. On the plus side, I got to put the few concealers I own through their paces. Thanks? 

4) Anatomicals The Buff Stuff Citrus Body Scrub 50ml/1.6fl. oz - full size RRP £3.99

1/5

I approached this in pretty much the same way as the moisturiser. It would be great if I liked it because it wouldn't be expensive to replace, but I wasn't happy that I got a sample of something that was so inexpensive to begin with. I don't believe that there's always a correlation between price and quality when it comes to beauty products, I've had some fantastic things that weren't expensive and some truly awful things that were, but this is not quite why I buy these boxes. Still, I thought that maybe if Birchbox still saw fit to include it in boxes, then it must be good. Right? Nope. I assume the pumice in this is the "scrub" part, but apart from chunks of that the scrub itself just consists of a clear, thin gel. It contains parfum, which I don't mind in scrubs as they don't bother my skin (it's just my face that cares about things like that) and they add that extra bit of luxury, but this barely smells of anything. The Rituals scrub filled the whole bathroom with scent and I only used a small amount. There's no soaping or lather at all with this scrub, so you need a lot of it to do the same job as a fraction of the amount of the Rituals scrub. Yes, this is much cheaper, but if I'm going to use so much more of it and it isn't going to be a good scrub either then it's probably more cost effective to get the Rituals one anyway. Chunks of pumice in a thin gel are not very good at scrubbing, particularly when that thin gel is being used on wet skin. It's a miracle if it doesn't just slide off the skin straight away. I would rather get the Rituals scrub and have a body scrub that's amazing than bother with this.

5) Merci Handy Antibacterial Hand Cleansing Gel in New Wave 30ml/1fl. oz - RRP £2.90

4/5
I don't really know how to review this. It's a hand sanitiser. It smells nice, I didn't notice that I could taste it if I used it before eating, and I didn't notice it drying my hands out overly much. I guess that makes it worthy of praise. But it's still a hand sanitiser. The one thing I care about is something I can't test out: I'm not a scientist, I can't test its ability to sanitise hands. It doesn't have the usual claim on the packaging of how much bacteria it can kill, so I've no idea how effective it's meant to be because it doesn't claim to be effective at all. "Hand cleansing gel" is all that it tells you. It's a gel, you put it on your hands, I don't know about the cleansing part. My hands felt clean I guess? I ate food and didn't die? Seriously, how does one go about reviewing a hand sanitiser. Would I buy this from the Birchbox shop? No idea. I really don't see myself ordering a product like this online when I can get a different one in store that essentially does the same thing (or is supposed to, anyway). But if I was a few pounds short of the minimum spend for a coupon code? Sure, why not. It did smell nice, after all. And I'm not dead. 

6) English Laundry Notting Hill Eau de Parfum 2ml/0.07fl. oz - full size RRP £46

4/5
I actually really liked this perfume, to the point where this sample is now all gone. It wasn't heady or ridiculously strong, it was wearable. The only downside was that it didn't last very long. I would spray it on and then a couple of hours later it would be gone. It had to be constantly reapplied for the scent to remain, so the sample died very quickly. It's the first perfume sample that I've had from one of these boxes and until it ran out, it served me very well. I do like getting them for their size: it was absolutely perfect for taking out with me. I have a mini spray bottle to put perfumes in to make them more handbag friendly, but that tends to smell strongly of whatever the last perfume in it was. It's not really suited to someone who has a variety of perfumes and likes to switch them around. So, the size of this was really nice. I've never seen English Laundry perfumes for sale in the area, but I'd be very inclined to try some out if I did because this was very nice while it lasted. It was great for going out for a meal or something as it wasn't overwhelming. I could spray it without it making me cough. Sometimes subtle is nicer. 

Overall Impression:

Oh, Birchbox. What are you doing. Why are you doing it. Kindly stop.

The full size of the body scrub is 200ml so the sample is only worth about £1. The moisturiser is 100ml so the sample is worth about 50p (seriously!!). The perfume sample was tiny, the hand sanitiser is small too and that's only £2.90... I don't think that this box was worth the money. At all. It felt like they put the dry shampoo and eyeliner in the boxes and the rest of the items are just cheap filler to make up the product numbers. It's not just about making the box worth the £10, it has to be worth the £10 with good products. If it has £10's worth of crap products in it then it still isn't worth the £10. After the other boxes that I've had this one feels like it came from a different company altogether. I might as well have not had this box and just bought the dry shampoo in full size. I don't really care that much about anything else in here.

As for the "box" this month... that bag is the worst makeup bag I think I've ever seen. When I say the inside seams are giant I mean it. As in they take up the space of two or so products. They have these for sale in the Birchbox shop for £8 - I sincerely hope that this bag isn't the reason that so many of the products are awful, because it definitely wasn't worth the sacrifice. I'd rather have average products sent to me in a bin bag. After the other boxes that I've had from Birchbox, I really wasn't expecting this. Glossybox have sent me two dud products, yes, but included in otherwise good boxes. This was just a box mostly full of the meh and the terrible. 

Box average: 2.5/5
Cumulative box average: 3.9/5

The spoiler on the squashed products leaflet is that if you have referred a friend to Birchbox, you get an ugly bracelet included in your box. I haven't, so thankfully I won't be getting the bracelet (I understand that some people were excited by this, but that bracelet is really not my thing). There was no other spoiler until nearer the end of the month when we got an email asking us to choose a Model Co. product: a highlighter trio or another lip and cheek tint. I opted for the highlighter trio as they're cream highlighters and if they work, they look like something I'd get more use out of. I already have a balmy lip and cheek tint from Jelly Pong Pong but I don't have much highlighter. Here's hoping that September's box is a return to the Birchbox standard that I've had in all my previous boxes. This month's was definitely a box I'd rather forget about.

Glossybox July 2016

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

First impressions:

This month's box is very makeup heavy this time around. With the exception of the face tanning cream and the hairbrush, it's all about the makeup. But it's a summer box, and the makeup is mostly geared towards summer essentials, so that's good. I've only just ordered a Clinique waterproof mascara (sigh. It's the moisturiser all over again!) because I really needed a good waterproof mascara so it's great that there's one in this box too. That's something that I need to have all year round. There's also some very good sized products here. Everything is a full size except the Utan and Tone product and that's still a great size for what it is. The lip product here is seriously huge. For comparison, it's way bigger than some of the samples I get from Birchbox that are intended to be used on the whole face - that Huygens scrub is only 10ml, for instance. I have had plenty of items from both of these boxes that have been smaller than this lip product but intended for use on a much larger area. Definitely pleased with how much you get for your money with that!

I'm not overly thrilled about the inclusion of a hairbrush. A hairbrush is just a hairbrush to me; like the tweezers, I don't really go shopping around for the perfect hairbrush! I have very long hair, I have a giant paddle brush for it and I also have a comb and a few other bits that don't get used very often. If this even works at all, it's still going to go in the "not used very often" pile. I would much prefer it if Glossybox sent hair products for the "hair" portion of the box as that's what I'm more likely to be looking for and therefore keep using. For brands, I've heard of Hairon and Hawaiian Tropic from previous boxes but the rest of the brands here are new to me. 

Here's what I got this month! 

1) Utan and Tone Nourishing Night Crème 25ml - RRP £12.50

5/5
This isn't the full size as far as I can find - the full size is 50ml and retails for £25. I assume the price is just halved because the product is half that size, but I'm guessing it's a large sample as I can't find it for sale like this. As I said at the end of June's post, I was terrified to use this. Ideally I wanted to use it when I had two straight days off but with me working triple my usual hours, that just hasn't happened. I was just going to have to risk it! It feels exactly like a moisturiser to put on. I didn't need a lot - I could probably make this last for a whole summer of tan if I was careful enough with it - and it smoothed over my skin nicely. I put it on my face, neck and décolletage as per the instructions, and was careful to blend it out, particularly around my hairline. It sank in quickly, it wasn't greasy and then I went to bed feeling very nervous. I was expecting to wake up with marked bedsheets, but there was nothing there at all. It really was just like I put a moisturiser on and then went to bed. Best of all though, it definitely works! Far from the orange mess that I was nervously expecting, this looked really natural. It wasn't a huge difference - I don't know if this is because I have a tan anyway - but I had a very subtle and natural looking bronze to my skin. I could tell that it was there, but other people probably wouldn't notice. That's exactly what you want from a product like this. It lasted a few days to a week I think. When I cleansed my face, the cotton pad would come away coloured. Eventually it stopped being coloured. It was a very subtle fade - it didn't just outright wash off - and it stayed looking natural throughout. I would definitely repurchase this and am now really curious about the rest of the range - and this from someone who has never used or liked the idea of tanning products before. It was very easy to apply and really very quick too - I'd have had to go to sleep anyway after all - and I'm really pleased with how it turned out. 

2) Hawaiian Tropic Island Berry Lip Gloss 20ml - RRP £6.99

5/5 
I love this. This is my new favourite thing. I use it every single day. Lip balm, lip gloss and sunscreen all in one and it smells absolutely amazing. I put it on before I leave the house and it comes with me to work for touch ups throughout the day. If I go out, I have this in my bag. Without fail. It's the perfect formula. It isn't too thick or thin, it isn't sticky, it doesn't melt straight into nothing two minutes after applying... this will stay for a surprisingly long time, and will live through quite a few drinks of water while I'm at work. It's not really opaque, so it adds a subtle bit of colour that makes my lips look fuller. It's very moisturising and it doesn't have a chemical taste, it actually tastes exactly how it smells, so that's really nice for something that's so close to the mouth. Way too many of my lip products have a chemical taste to them regardless of what they smell like and it's disgusting if you accidentally taste it, but this isn't like that. I really, really love this. It's so nice to finally get a lip product that I love this much! The MUA one was great too, but I definitely prefer this one for its all-rounder qualities. Perfect for quick and simple makeup days. 

3) Icona Milano Emotion Allowed Mascara 10ml/0.34 fl. oz - RRP £13.04

5/5
This is another new favourite. I am really cursing Glossybox's lack of a shop because in all likelihood, when this is gone, it's gone. I'm assuming from the price that I'd have to import it from somewhere and that's not going to be worth doing for one mascara. It is a really, really nice waterproof mascara though. It's not clumpy, it's very black, and you can hear the brush combing product through your lashes when you use it. It has a very thin formula, so you need to be on your guard when applying it. It can actually leave little splashes of product on your skin if you're not careful. This isn't a huge problem though as I always apply mascara last and this has never ruined my makeup yet. Although it's waterproof I've never had issues with any mistakes being hard to get off my skin. It's easy to remove, too. I've seen so many bad reviews of waterproof mascaras because they're hard to remove and I think those reviewers must be using the wrong remover, because with an oil-based remover for waterproof makeup, this comes straight off. No rubbing or tugging at delicate skin required. I actually bought Clinique's waterproof mascara literally just before this one arrived as I didn't know it would be in the box this month, and I've been reaching for this one over the Clinique one because it's easier to get it looking nice without being too thick on the lashes. It creates a lovely natural eyelash look that isn't going to move if you get caught in the rain or watch a sad film or something. I have showered with this on and it's looked no different afterwards. Definitely love this, just no idea how I'll ever replace it once it's gone. 

4) Hairon De-tangle Brush - RRP £6.99

3/5 

Well. Hm. The shape is apparently meant to be easy to hold as it fits nicely in the palm of the hand. I don't know about you, but I don't have suction pads on the palms of my hands, so I need to grip things with my fingers like a standard human would. I don't understand the shape of this brush at all. It's not easy to hold and I have dropped it a few times. Surely a handle is not asking for the world when it comes to a hairbrush. For what it's intended for, I suppose it does work. I only really get tangles around my hairline if I leave my hair plaited overnight - when I take it out it can be tangled around the top - and at the ends. For the hairline tangles this brush works fairly well and it doesn't tug on the hairs and break them. For the ends of my hair this brush is absolutely useless because of how short the bristles are and how thin my hair isn't. I don't know if the bristles have to be that short in order for the detangling thing to work at all, but they're too short to use on the vast majority of my hair. Separating little bits and brushing them through is the only way that I can use this brush. It's effective, but it's not a quick process. It's also very annoying with the shape of the brush, as I already mentioned. So, as predicted in my first impressions, it works well enough but I still probably won't be reaching for it very often. 

5) Blank Canvas F20 Flat Brush - RRP £11.95

3/5
I really wanted to like this more because it looked so nice. I couldn't decide between a 2 and a 3 just because I've only tried it for liquid foundation and it might be really good for powder or something. For liquid foundation, it was okay. It wasn't great. I did one half of my face with this brush and the other half with the Real Techniques Expert Face Brush and the RT side was definitely better. The Blank Canvas brush required more product and didn't seem to blend as well as the RT brush. It's not as densely packed, and it didn't smooth over my pores in the same way and it looked a bit streaky in places. I got good coverage with it, for that it was no different, but I just liked the look of the RT side better. The kicker is that the RT brush is cheaper as well. I washed the BC brush before taking the photo but as you can see, it's still stained from the foundation I tested it with. The bristles are originally white at the end. I'm not too bothered about this, as I tested it with a foundation that I don't really like (I don't like to waste my nice foundation on brush tests) and I know that that foundation stains pretty much everything, but a few bristles fell out when I washed it and you can see on the enlarged photo that there are some that are sticking out a bit. They aren't loose, I've tried to remove them and they won't budge, so I don't know what's up with that. I know losing a few loose bristles on the first wash is pretty normal, but some fell out while I was applying the foundation as well and I didn't have that issue with the RT brush. This is basically a foundation brush for me to use when I don't have time to wash the RT one. I highly doubt I'd ever reach for it otherwise.

Overall Impression:

Neither of the "beauty tool" products wowed me this month, but I absolutely love the rest of the box. I use the mascara and the lip gloss almost every day and they both look fantastic. Definitely summer beauty staples, and I'll probably love them both in winter too. Very pleasantly surprised by how much I liked the Utan and Tone product as well. It would be perfect to use before a special occasion or something. I was expecting it to be a total disaster, but it's something I'm actually really likely to use. Even though I didn't like the foundation brush or the hairbrush, I really like all the other products in this box. Once again I've got my money's worth even with things in the box that I wasn't a huge fan of. But those things are still usable. The quality of the products has definitely improved from the dud products in the first few boxes. Glossybox haven't sent me a useless product for the last two months now. Look at the box average creeping up.

I still think that Glossybox is more of a makeup box than the Birchbox is. I'd really like it if Glossybox had a better range. They're definitely good at sending quality makeup products, but it'd be nice if the rest caught up a bit too and there was more of a selection. They sent out a survey about products that subscribers would like to see (I think in July, but maybe the very beginning of August) and it was about hair products, brow products (yes please!) and something else, I can't quite remember. Might have been perfume. But it's good that they're trying to work on their range and asking subscribers for things that they'd like to be getting in their boxes. I'm not sure how often these surveys come around - I got one from Birchbox at the same time - but I think it's great that they're actively listening to what people like, what people don't like and what people want from their boxes.

Box average: 4.2/5
Cumulative box average: 4/5

The spoiler for next month is an eyeshadow palette by MUA! Finally some eyeshadows! We've been able to choose which one we got from a choice of 4 different ones and the ones that we could choose from really would cater to everyone: warm neutrals, cool neutrals, pastels and brights. I obviously chose the warm neutrals one. I know I have a lot of palettes already but this will be my first time trying an affordable brand for this. I've used drugstore brand eyeshadows before but a really long time ago, and never a palette. Excited to try it! 

Birchbox July 2016

Reminder: this box is £10 a month + £2.95 P+P.

First impressions:

Hermes, the courier of choice for Birchbox, really screwed me over this month by losing an irreplaceable order from another company. I wasn't on great terms with them, and then to ice that cake when this box turned up it was damaged. It's one of the nicest box designs I've had so far, but one of the corners is smashed in thanks to the idiot delivery driver. Birchbox offered assistance only if the items themselves were also damaged and they weren't, so now I have a damaged box in my collection. Not exactly delighted about that. 

For the products themselves, I was excited to see that I had a sheet mask in this box as I've never tried one of those before and they are everywhere right now. I was also glad to get a facial sunscreen - I have Benefit's Dream Screen but I get through facial sunscreens pretty quickly, so another to lessen that blow was greatly appreciated. I was also happy to get the John Frieda product: we got to choose which one we wanted out of two possible options and this was the one I chose to get. That alone pays for the rest of the box, so this month definitely had a good value. With the exception of John Frieda, whose products I had tried in the past, I know all the brands from previous boxes except the face mask, which is a new one to me. 

Here's what I got this month! 

1) LOC x Millie Ultra-Gloss Lip Pencil in Bohemian Rose 2.5g - RRP £9

3/5
My worries about this suiting me turned out to be correct: this colour does not fit with my colouring at all. It's far too pale and just looked weird on me, in my opinion. It's much paler on the lips than it looks like it would be. Outside of that, I like that the crayon shape made for easy application, particularly on the corners of my mouth. It allows for a more precise application around the edges of the mouth, which I liked. The colour itself is not overly glossy but definitely not matte either: it's somewhere in between. It felt like any other lipstick on my lips, with a little of its own moisture to stop my lips from being overly dry. Unfortunately, it's not remotely long lasting. It transfers and smudges easily. It's harder to tell with paler colours but I think it bled a little too. It definitely would need to be reapplied for all-day wear. I don't wear products like this much. I have a few stick lipsticks already and I do prefer to just use a regular lipstick if I'm going to need to reapply it anyway. Application with the stick may be more precise but it also takes longer and it's harder to do without a mirror to hand, so touch ups aren't as easy as they are with a regular lipstick. I would definitely use this more if the colour was nicer, and I'm curious about the other colours now for sure, but I'm not going to reach for this particular one that often. I'm sure it looks great on people with paler skin or cool undertones but it isn't really me.

2) John Frieda Frizz Ease Forever Smooth Anti-Frizz Primer 100ml - RRP £9.99

5/5 
This is pretty much the size of the Birchbox, which goes to show how many products it's not possible for them to send in their standard size box, since there's plenty of things that would be bigger than this. As you can see from the picture, this product has a pump on it, but this pump is also locking: once you have opened it you can lock it again, so it's absolutely perfect for travelling. I don't keep products like this in the bathroom, they stay in my room, so a locking pump that stops product getting everywhere was very much appreciated. I have tried Frizz Ease products in the past (years ago, though) and honestly I don't remember liking them very much. They definitely aren't something that I buy now. I will be changing that and hunting this down when it runs out though. Even with my ridiculously long hair, I only need to use a pump and a half of this, so it's going to last a while (I've since had 4-5 inches of my hair cut off and now I need one pump, with a bit extra if I feel my hair needs it, so people with shorter hair will get a lot of use out of this bottle). There is a noticeable difference in my hair when I use this and when I don't. It makes my hair so much smoother and softer, even before the cut when the ends of my hair were clearly sick of existing, and this also makes it get less tangled at the ends. Overall my hair is much easier to work with, either if I want to style it or leave it long, and it looks and feels a lot healthier, too.

3) Nails Inc Nail Varnish in Sloane Street 4ml/0.13 fl. oz - full size RRP £15

5/5
First off, this is so tiny! The Nails Inc polish I got in my first Glossybox is a full sized one but this is a little baby nail varnish. I never use varnishes up though, so I suppose it doesn't matter too much. I should still get a few uses out of it. As for the product itself, it's very different to the other one I got. Not just the colour - hot pink! - but the formula, too. The other one is very thick whereas this one is very thin. It dried super fast and instead of being glossy, it has a matte or maybe satin finish. It would probably be glossy with my usual top coat, but I wanted to test it without. I actually really like the finish! I don't have any polishes that dry like this so it's really nice to try one. It's thin but super pigmented: I did two coats but I could have lived with just doing one. It was hard to get a full coating from one dip on my thumbnails but I assumed that was because the bottle is so tiny; however because of the thinness of the formula it was very easy to blend the brushstrokes together. The nails dried flawlessly. I am confused about why it's so different from the other one I have though. This one says it's £15, the other said it was £11, and one called itself a polish and the other a varnish, so I'm not sure if they're from different ranges or not. I definitely I prefer this one, but I'm not sure what I'd need to look for if I were to buy any. I suppose it will now be in the Birchbox shop, so I'll have to have a look when this gets used up. 

4) Caudalie Polyphenol C15 SPF20 Anti-Wrinkle Protect Fluid 15ml/0.5 fl. oz - full size RRP £29

5/5 

I loved this! I need to use an SPF on my face here, even in winter, so I was really happy to see one included in the box this month. I usually make sure that if I'm going out, there's SPF in my makeup, but sometimes I just don't feel like wearing makeup, or I want to use something that doesn't have its own SPF, so things like this are a must. As I said above, I already have and use Benefit's Dream Screen for this purpose, so it was nice to have something to compare it to. This has a thin consistency, similar to the Benefit one, so it will last a while. It's spreads nicely over the skin but you don't need a huge amount of it. I wore it when I went out painting for the day because I hadn't wanted a face of makeup to sit out in the heat all day, and it held up really well. I didn't get burnt and my skin felt nice and soft all day. Even with oily skin, it's not a remotely greasy formula. It feels mattifying and I couldn't really tell that my skin had anything on it. It sinks in really quickly. My face can catch the sun if I'm out all day, but it was fine with this. Sometimes it can feel dry from the sun once I get inside but I didn't get that with this either. I can definitely do a light makeup face for summer with this, a powder, a mascara and a lip balm and I love that. The sample is a pretty decent size - I still have loads left - but it's definitely going on my wishlist.

5) Skin Republic Collagen Infusion Sheet Mask - full size (10 masks) RRP £19.95

5/5
I'd never tried a sheet mask before I got this, so this was a little scary. I can see now why people are practically addicted to them. I used this at night after cleansing my face as a nice pre-bed relaxation thing. The sheet itself was easy enough to unfold even with all the product on it. The product helped it to stick down to the contours of my face so everything was evenly covered. I was worried that the mask would be sliding all over my face, but it's actually pretty well anchored once it's on. I did lie down while I had it on just because I wanted to relax, but I could get up and wander around and it didn't move. I sat up a few times and it didn't fall off or budge at all. It sticks really well. This mask has a few different types I think, and I got the collagen one. Once it was on, my skin started to tingle a little bit. It definitely didn't sting or hurt, it just felt like it was doing something. I kept the mask on for around 20 minutes and when it was time to remove it, it peeled off my skin easily. As per the instructions, I massaged the excess product into the skin on my face, neck and hands. There was quite a lot of product, considering. I had enough to cover my skin and then some, so I did end up wasting some of the serum. My hands feel butter soft after having that on them though. Once I'd rubbed it into my face, when I looked at my hands they looked like I'd been rubbing them into highlighter. They were very, very glowy. The serum is quite oily, so it's definitely not something I'd want to use at any other time of the day. It does sink into the skin to a certain extent, but it definitely leaves a decent glow behind. I only got one mask, so it's going to be hard to tell if it breaks me out or not. It works out at around £2 per mask, though, which is really good when compared to other single use facemasks that I've used before. These are definitely on the wishlist, I'd love to try more of them. It was very relaxing and my skin feels like I've just had a facial. 

Overall Impression:

This was a great box to get in the summer! I love the hair product and the facial sunscreen - I think a good facial sunscreen, especially with oily skin, is much harder to find than a sunscreen for the body, so I'm really glad that I got this instead of the sunscreens that Glossybox went for. I'm also happy about the inclusion of a full size hair product. Haircare seems to be the thing to ignore when it comes to beauty boxes, so it's nice to see that it wasn't ignored here. There's a lot of good quality brands in here as well as good quality products. I can definitely see myself regularly using 4 out of the 5 products in this box.

I really wish Birchbox would send better quality makeup items, as it makes these boxes more about skincare and haircare for me otherwise. They only usually send one makeup item: if you're only going to send one, make sure it's a really good one. I understand that the LOC product was a collaboration, but it's a bit weird that they didn't seem to think that maybe that one colour won't suit a lot of people. It would have been much better if they'd done a few colours and sent them out according to individual beauty surveys, or let people choose like they did with the John Frieda product. The LOC pencil isn't a bad formula, but it's not going to get used very often. I'll probably end up using it out of obligation because I got it in a box and I don't want that product slot in the box to be wasted. The rest of the products are great though. I loved getting a face mask, even if it was just a single use one, and there's definitely a lot of new favourites in here.

Box average: 4.6/5
Cumulative box average: 4.3/5

Sneak peek for next month is that it's a Birchbag! No box this time, it's a white/greyish makeup bag with a coloured zip. There are four colours but we don't get to choose which colour we get, so I really hope I get a blue or a pink one. We also got an email asking us to choose which Marcelle waterproof eyeliner shade we wanted - either expresso or mulberry - and I chose expresso, so I'm excited for that! I have two brown eyeliners I think, a Clinique one and a Bodyshop one, but it'd be nice to get another as I do use brown quite a bit. It's less scary than a black and I'm still very much learning eyeliner. No other previews for other products, so I'll have to wait and see! 

Glossybox June 2016

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

First impressions:

Glossybox has taken a leaf out of Birchbox: this box has a good skincare and makeup mix. It makes me wonder why they do the starter boxes that way if they aren't an indicator of what the proper boxes will be like. Not complaining though, as I much prefer this format. I'd like more in the way of hair products, as this box doesn't have anything for hair and the hair ties last month don't count as a hair product (to me anyway), but it's better than the starter box was. I'm hoping that it isn't a one-off.

Two sunscreens in a row! Hopefully this one is nicer than the one from the last box. It's good that there's some aftersun as well, as that's something I can get through very quickly so it's always nice to have another one. The spoiler for this box was the lip and cheek tint but the real star for me is that Konjac sponge. I have wanted one for ages and they're not sold anywhere around here, so I am really glad I got that to try. It was a total surprise as well, since I never saw anything about it anywhere beforehand. The eye cream is tiny but then it's just an eye cream, so I assume that it's still going to last for ages and be a good size for what it is. I've heard of Origins before but never used any of their products and the other brands are all new to me. I'm assuming that everything is full size except for the Origins eye cream.

Here's what I got this month! 

1) Spa to You Konjac Sponge - RRP £6.99

5/5
I was so excited to get a Konjac sponge that the rest of the products in the box seemed less interesting in comparison. I've wanted one for ages, but getting hold of one doesn't seem very easy. I was so excited to give this a try and it didn't let me down. It felt a bit weird when I got it out of the packaging as it was actually wet already, which I wasn't expecting. I'm not sure if that's to preserve it (it being made of vegetable fibres and all that: it does eventually break down) or not. I tried it with the Absolution cleanser from the Birchbox and it worked really well. It's a little exfoliating but it's not scratchy. It didn't hurt my skin or irritate it and afterwards my skin was like silk. I've used it with a variety of cleansers since, and without a cleanser at all as it can be used like that too, and it's been amazing every time. My skin feels so clean and smooth after using this that when it does break down and stop being usable, I will be able to tell the difference to my skin without it. That's the problem with Glossybox: they don't have their own shop, so I'm not sure how easy this is going to be to replace when it goes, but I can't not replace it now that I've had one. 

2) Origins GinZing Refreshing Eye Cream 5ml/0.17 fl. oz - full size RRP £20

4/5 
I was really curious about this as I've heard so many amazing things about Origin products but never had the chance to actually use one. Out of the tube, it looks like a lot like a liquid highlighter. There's a pinkish shimmer to it. On the eyes, this helps to brighten the skin. This cream is moisturising without being greasy. It didn't irritate my eyes, either by stinging the skin or making them water. I use an eye cream by Soap and Glory and I can't put that near my actual eyes as it makes my eyes feel like I have conjunctivitis and they water constantly. It's strictly for the skin under my eyes only, so it's nice that this one doesn't do that. It definitely made me more bright-eyed. Whether it reduces dark circles or not I don't know, mine aren't all that dark and I don't remember noticing a real difference, but there's zero puffiness and they're definitely brighter. Since it didn't bother my eyes, I would be really tempted to switch over to this once my Soap and Glory one has gone. 

3) De Bruyère After Sun Lotion Monoï 50ml/1.76 fl. oz - RRP £9.48

5/5
This. Smells. Amazing. It might not seem like you get a lot, but you only need a little. It's quite a thin, milky formula so a little goes much further than you'd think. It soaks into the skin well and is soothing and moisturising - just what you need after you've spent time in the sun. I don't generally burn anyway, but it's nice to soothe my skin with something when I get home as it can still be dried out from the sun and it can't hurt to moisturise just in case. I couldn't fault this product. I don't even care that it has perfume in it because it's such a lovely scent and it hasn't bothered my skin. I love that it isn't a thick goopy formula too, since it means that I'm not rubbing excessively on skin that may be extra delicate to try and work the product in. This glides over skin effortlessly. I'm not going to have leftover gunk stuck to my clothes and it isn't going to clog all around the opening (not yet, at least) of the tube. It's the perfect skin treat at the end of a day out.

4) Ladival Sun Protection Spray SPF 15 150ml - RRP £19.99

4/5
The second sunscreen in as many boxes and this is more like it! This is a much thicker formula than I thought it would be since it has a pump. It almost looks too thick for the pump to be particularly effective, but it seems to work fine. I haven't had it clog up on me yet anyway. The product itself is white but it does soak into the skin nicely (it didn't leave that white glazed donut look to my skin like some other white sunscreens can), it's not greasy and best of all, it doesn't have a really strong scent to it like the Hawaiian Tropic one does. It doesn't actually smell of anything at all. I don't want my sunscreen to smell really strongly, I want it to be functional. That's way more important. The only thing that bothered me about this is that it's only SPF15, which doesn't seem like a lot. I have other sunscreens around that and I would have liked something with a higher SPF just because I don't have one and on burning hot days, SPF15 just doesn't seem like it would be enough. Still, it's a nice sunscreen for general use and it didn't irritate my skin or attract any wildlife. The pump means that it's fast and easy to apply with minimal mess.

5) Emité Make Up Lip & Cheek Tint 6ml - RRP £12.50

4/5
This has become a staple in my routine when I'm getting ready for work. I use it on my lips, applying it with the wand like it's a lip gloss and then using the wand to blend for an even coverage. I can apply it more heavily if I wish by letting a layer dry and then reapplying, or I can leave it as one layer for a more subtle bit of colour. It will stay there on my lips all day. I can drink water and eat my lunch and it will still be there afterwards with no need for touchups. It generally comes off with my cleanser at the end of the day, but not before. The colour is really nice and suits my skintone really well. The only issue I have with it is the staining power. I said with the Jelly Pong Pong one from Birchbox that if that had a stronger stain it may not work so well on the cheeks, and I got that from this. This doesn't work on the cheeks for me. I can't blend it over my lips by dabbing with my finger as my finger will be bright pink all day, so I have to use the wand for that. If I use the wand to dot it on my cheeks and then try to blend with my finger, I get a bright pink finger and a darker dot of colour where the initial application from the wand was. I can't think of a way for me to apply this on my cheeks with the tools that I have: I'm not willing to sacrifice one of my two makeup sponges to see if it would work with that as I assume it would stain the sponge really badly, and while I could put the product on my finger first and try and apply it that way, I really don't like having bright pink fingers all day. Using cleanser on my fingers afterwards only cleans them so far. It seems that it needs the wear and tear of the day before it will come off. But for the lips this is an amazing stain. I haven't had any problems with mistakes as long as I correct them quickly. The formula is quite thin but not drippy, it dries fast and it definitely stays there.

6) Aussie 3 Minute Miracle Reconstructor Deep Conditioner 20ml - RRP £1.09

5/5
I forgot to get a photo of this before I ripped it open and smothered my hair in it. It's a sachet and there's enough for my hair to be mostly covered, which is quite rare. For people with shorter hair I imagine you'd get two uses out of this. It smells nice, it feels nice to use and it made my hair super soft and shiny. The effect has also lasted, which tells me that it actually did something. I've washed my hair several times since I used this and I can still feel the benefits. Definitely worth a go every now and then if you have dry or damaged hair.

Overall Impression:

I really liked the box for this month! It's definitely been the best one so far. Quite a few of the products could easily be daily use items for me if only they were readily available: I will forever lament the lack of a shop for Glossybox goodies. I love the konjac sponge and will be a little bit lost without it, and I use the lip tint most days for work because it will last for my entire shift. Glossybox seem to send better quality and much more usable makeup items than Birchbox do. They certainly have so far anyway. 

I don't really understand why they've sent another sunscreen though. It kinda seems like the one from last month's box is a waste of a product "slot" since this sunscreen is so much more wearable without the overwhelming stink of Hawaiian Tropic, and if I have to choose which one to use I'll use this one first every time. I'm glad I got the sunscreen for this month, don't get me wrong, but it does seem a bit odd that I have another sunscreen already. I know that it's summer and all that, but still. I wonder if this means I'll be wading through handcream once the winter boxes come around. Still, it's nice to get a Glossybox at last that doesn't have a dud product in it. They've broken that spell, hopefully it will stay that way. 

Box average: 4.5/5
Cumulative box average: 3.9/5

The sneak peek of next month's box is terrifying! They're sending a Utan and Tone facial overnight tanning cream. I'm scared of it already! I don't use tanning anything - I usually don't need to - so I'm already worried that this is going to either do absolutely nothing or make me very orange. And it's a tanning cream so I'm guessing it doesn't all wash off. What if it looks awful and takes a week to go away? Aaaaaargh! But, as I keep saying, trying new things is one of the reasons why I signed up for these boxes, so...