GLOSSYBOX UK MAY 2012 ANNIVERSARY BOX REVIEW

So everyone or nearly everyone is complaining about Glossybox's anniversary sample box on Facebook. I've been hearing things like people receiving Collection 2000. Full size fair enough but not high end as promised. I can see where people are coming from with this. I remember seeing a sample of Baptise dry shampoo last year!! How awful and what a way to bring down brand image.

This is the box I received this morning. No Collection 2000 thank God.

I've lost the card it comes with already :/

But the things are

2 sachets of Apvita honey mask

10ml of Berber (argon) hair oil

Noble Isle shower gel 75ml

Eldora eyelashes

2 0.8ml samples of Lolita Lempicka perfume

A mirror and a balloon (Birthday gifts)

This is overall an ok box, not amazing but I don't have much to complain about, seeing as I didn't receive the Collection 2000 pencil. It's not an expensive box but still worth more than £10. Very disappointed with the eyelashes, I remember the status price was £3.80 and seeing as my standard Ardell ones retail over £5, it's not great, is it?

Here is a close up

The 30p sheet mask

What do you do with all the serum left behind in the packet of your sheet mask?

The brands I have chosen to buy, SaSa, My beauty diary etc are very generous with the super tonic serum and often there are loads left behind even after the mask is saturated. I've been wasting it until not very often when an idea struck me. I decided to empty the contents in a free toner bottle and planned to pat the serum on my face when I wanted a treat. After visiting Muji, I came up with a much more ingenious plan.

These paper face masks come 5 for £1.50. I simply pop the mask in a vaseline line, squirt the mask with the serum until it's saturated and unfolds. AND VOILA a mask for 30 pence. These Muji masks are not as thick and as soft as the ones from korea but hey ho, my skin still gets the whitening moisturising treat it craves.

No7 beautifully balanced toner review

I ran out of toner today and found this ones lurking in the back of my treasure chest. There's a simple reason why it was there... It's awful. When I bought this, there was an offer for 3 for 2 and teamed with the description online, being that it was alcohol free, I decided to give it a try. It's NOT alcohol free, in fact the second ingredient is just that. It stinks so bad of the stuff, it's likely to give you a hangover. With all alcohol based products it leaves the skin feeling sticky not clean. Alcohol is a common ingredient for toners for oily/combination skin, this is to dry it up mainly. However, it's really bad for that skin type, in fact it encourages skin to produce more oil and sebum, which in turns means more breakouts. A good toner for oily combo skin without alcohol and on a budget is Garnier essential ones, the rose one for sensitive skin being one of my favourites. So save your money and your £5 vouchers and steer clear of No7 toner. However, if you need a good desk cleaner, this will do just the trick.

Migranes and pixlromatic

Sasa Haul

Here are some of the contents of my haul from sasa.com that I received last week.

Well I actually I bought multiple of all the items posted... as well as lip balms and Rohto eye drops which I've already misplaced! In the picture though are: Skinlite hair pack (mask as thick as toothpaste and an essence cap. Like the Japanese essential hair care brand smells indulgently of honey. Next are four Laniege water sleeping packs. In the UK where you get generous sample packs form brands like Clinique when you buy two or more products, HK actually sell these samples individually. I bought four as it equated to the full size jar but I saved a couple of quid. A single foam hair curler (from a pack of 6) curls hair into lose japanese style curls without heat. CM papaya and tomato whitening gels, this is something I've never tried before but the texture is like a more fluid Clinique moisture surge (FYI, tomato smells horrible). I think the small green face masks are Cosline? whitening green tea fluid masks... I thought these were sheet masks :( Attirer cotton sheets/pads. This seems like a silly thing to export from abroad but I love asian cotton pads, they never flake and even the cheapest brands are soft and silky. Lastly there is a lifecella mask, which Sasa sent as a complimentary gift. All in all, this haul was a waste of money, I had spent a few weeks building up my basket to get free shipping. However when that date came, nearly half and the good stuff was removed due to no stock and I ended up purchasing all the filler items.

Here is a picture of Laneige sleeping pack. As you can see, its a milky translucent gel. It smells wonderful and works as an overnight moisturiser/mask which is to be washed off in the morning. Hydrates and plumps skin very well, yet is absorbed as soon as it touches the skin.

Missha PK05 nail polish. Milky, gel, coral.

And my favourite polish remover, Suki in rose. Smells wonderful from Sasa and retails at about £1.50. Hard to find on their website though.

She said beauty box

Here is a sum up of my overall experience with She said beauty monthly premium sample boxes. I have received all three boxes I subscribed too and overall I would rate the experience 8/10. However, under experiences, it's things like the expectation, the surprise etc. The products I received in the box, I would rate 5/10. The reason for this is due to the promise of premium samples not being delivered, I received things like cheap soap made in China, collection 2000 lip puffs,Kim Kardashian perfume samples and stingy amounts of sample sachets. Some of the more expensive products and full sized ones like Inka make up, didn't appeal to me. It didn't help that the colours I got were disgusting and unflattering. Having said all that, I understand that everything is random but I do feel that She said beauty being a new service doesn't have many good brands under their belt, hence the products are not as good as ones offered by Glossybox. I've barely even tried any of the samples I got from She said beauty; they're all still in their boxes stacked on my windowsill. :/ My Glossybox subscription will continue. Lasts months box was full of full sized delights and with their birthday coming up, I can't wait for more and hopefully bonus surprises!!!

Quick Reviews

I'm back at home from uni and have decided to do some quick reviews of the products I have back in my room and also a few which I have recently purchased. Lighting has been very poor due to my room being back facing and also the heavy amount of clouds in the sky, so I tried to spruce them up with some photoshop.. Did I fail?? haha.

So what's up first. Two Maybelline products, Illegal lengths (fiber extension) mascara and the Dream fresh BB cream.



The mascara, as its description has little fibers which are meant to brush on to the end of the lashes, creating lengths. There are loads of these type mascaras in Asia, having tried more than a few, I don't feel this product matches some of the standards. There are little fibers in the formula, so it doesn't create the overall desired outcome. However, this may be because it's new and needs to dry up a bit. Having said that, thumbs up to Maybelline, it does a good job of volume and hold and also comes in a waterproof formula, which is rare in the UK for a new release.
On to the BB cream. to my knowledge, they come in four shades, one of which is called 'universal glow' which I presume is a tanning type product. It boasts 8 benefits, the most important one being SPF30 and is oil free. The colours I tested come in a yellow based formula, thumbs up for me! I saw Maybelline's BB cream last year in Hong Kong but decided against it because of the ashy colours, the UK versions are more suited for me. I feel the only pro for me is the SPF, the cons are that its extremely shimmery and has very light coverage, thus, why I'm going to reserve this product as a primer. Another con and this maybe just for me, is that although it states 30ml (standard amount of product for a foundation) when I opened it, about 50% was air in the tube, so really only 15/20mls at most.

Next up, L'oreal color riche polish in 305 and total nail RX, build me up, nail hardener.



I was disappointed with the polish, it does give an amazing shine but only with two thick coats, its also a bit streaky. Another fail, is the bottle, a perfect 5ml size to travel with, especially compared to Revlon's but the long neck of the bottle makes painting nails a little more difficult than normal.
The Total nail RX, I bought for only £1! from Boots clearance sale. It does an amazing job too. Recently my nails have been splitting (too much washing up.. note to self, most stop!) but this product has definitely made a difference, especially to polish staying power. I have only tried it with Mavala varnsihes though, which themselves are really good, so we shall see how it fairs up with L'oreal color riche. This nail hardener is brilliant especially compared to the more costly Orly one I have been using.