Skincare Favourites from 2014

LoveLula November Beauty Box Review

After the success of LoveLula's October Beauty Box I was worried that the November box might not excite me. How wrong was I! This month's box is absolutely packed full of goodies, some of which I've wanted to try for a while (Jason and Barefoot SOS I'm looking at you) and some which I hadn't really considered before. LoveLula's beauty boxes are £12.50 and I think that the two boxes I've had so far have both represented excellent value for money as well as having showcased some really great natural beauty brands.

The contents of the Love Lula's November Box are as follows:

Living Nature's Nourishing Hand Cream 50ml (£16 for 50ml)

Jason's Apricot Scrubble 113g  (£5.49 for 113g)

Barefoot Botanicals SOS Face and Body Rescue Cream 50ml  (£10.50 for 50ml)

Giovanni Smooth as Silk Deep Mositure Shampoo 60ml (£7.99 for 250ml)

Suti Cleanse Balm 4ml (£28 for 50ml)

1 x £25 voucher for Hello Fresh

Excluding the Hello Fresh Voucher (which I know many people wouldn't use) this box has a collective value of £36.15, which is a very good return on the £12.50 I invested in it. I thought I'd outline this at the outset because one comment I often get is that beauty boxes aren't really worth the money, but sometimes they can actually offer brilliant value for money and allow you to try brands you might not otherwise be able to afford. However, for me the success of LoveLula's November Beauty Box lies in the fact that I really love all the products in the box. Unlike other beauty boxes I've received in the past, LoveLula keep including brands and products that I'm very happy to introduce into my beauty routine. My only comment is that it is a shame that the Giovanni Shampoo isn't accompanied by the matching conditioner as I know many people prefer receiving haircare as part of a set. However, I am actually lucky enough to already have a sample of the conditioner so I can test them out together and report back on whether they're worth investing in as a pair. I'm particularly excited to see Jason's Apricot Scrubble included in this month's box as I'm just about to run out of Lush's Let the Good Times Roll and this will make an excellent replacement. 

What do you think about this LoveLula's November Beauty Box? Personally I'm thrilled - and already can't wait for December's beauty box! - but which products would you like to see reviewed first? 

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Collective Beauty Haul: High-er End Treats

Sooooooo... I went a little bit crazy on the shopping front. I've had a wish list the length of my arm for a while now and all it took was the promise of a few bargains for me to finally crack out my debit card and submit to the shopping urge. Now, don't get me wrong, I didn't get all of these beauties on the same day but rather over the last three or four weeks. I've tried a couple of them out but some of these items only arrived in the post this morning so in their cases it'll be more of a case of showing you them rather than having much to comment on!

Up first is my Escentual order, 30% off many french pharmacy brands (and a lovely £5 discount on the much acclaimed Dior Nude BB Cream) was too much for me resist. I picked up a 100ml bottle of Bioderma's Micellaire Water (with the intention to stock up on it later in the month if I like it),  Bioderma's Photoderm AKN Mat SPF 30 Mattifying Fluid and Dior's Nude BB Cream in shade 001. Look out for a review of each other these over the coming month! 

This purchase was very much made in the spur of the moment. With FeelUnique offering me a 10% off code I just couldn't help myself, Antipodes Divine Face Oil has been luring me in with its promise of plumper (and less oil prone) skin for the last few months. Along with my order came a lovely little perfume freebie.

I also made the most of Boots' 3 for 2 offer on skincare, one item has escaped this post (a Garnier moisturiser) but truth be told I don't really like it so it is not great loss, although I will still be reviewing it later this month. I was excited to finally get my hands on some Hydraluron (you can see I've stocked up!) and I'm currently trialling this with the hope of reviewing it next month. I haven't started using the Peptabright but I love the sound of it, I have a few marks left by blemishes which I'm hoping it can set straight. The other two products, both Soap and Glory, are wonderful and I've been using them daily since I bought them. I'll definitely be reviewing them both soon!

Lastly, I placed a small order with Naturismo so that I could pick up Jason's Vitamin E Oil 32000IU which is scar/stretch mark treatment. It isn't what I expected at all (but in this case that is a good thing) and I expect promising results for this. I'm testing it out on both scarring and stretch marks to see if it makes any difference. I don't expect I'll be reviewing this for a while as I'll want to use it for a month or two to see if it really works. In the meantime, I also picked up some Elemental Herbology sample sizes (Naturismo is brilliant for samples) and I'll be giving them a go and probably reviewing them all together. 

Sometimes you have to treat yo'self, and that I certainly did. Spending is going to be curbed in the meantime (although I do have a small Fragrance Direct order still to arrive, naughty me). I have a hell of a lot of products to test out and a whole backlog of reviews which I'm going to be catching up with. It's going to be a busy month, but a really fun one!

Have you been shopping recently? Found any absolute wonder products that you'd recommend?

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Mini Review Round-Up #1

I'm going to start doing 'Round Up' posts featuring any small or sample size products that I would like to review but that don't quite merit a full review of their own! I've got 5 products to talk to you about today.

January Glossybox 2013

I resubscribed to Glossybox about a week ago and this is my first box from them in about 6 months. I only unsubscribed for financial reasons not because I didn't enjoy their boxes although admittedly they weren't my favourite beauty box. If you don't already know, beauty boxes are a subscription service where you receive a monthly box with a number of sample size products in it. The samples in Glossyboxes are unknown at the time of purchase so it can be a little bit of a lottery but for £10 plus p&p it can be quite a fun monthly surprise! You can find out more about Glossybox here.

This month's Glossybox was a detox themed one and the value of my Gossybox this month is £31.06. (This is based on the RRP of the products as informed by the leaflet which was included in this month's Glossybox.) It is, however, worth noting that nearly HALF of my 'Balance Rose Face Tonique' had leaked out in transit. This substantially lowers the value of the box as it is the most expensive item in it.

First up is Jason's Lips Bee Healthier Aloe & Beeswax lip balm. I haven't tried this before and it is just lovely, really lovely. I didn't need another lip balm but I am glad that it was in the box as otherwise I wouldn't have tried it.

Full size price: £1.99     Value of Sample: £1.99

The second product is Duck Island Limited Body Lotion. Some of the people I've spoken to who got this in their Glossybox were a little but unhappy with it but I actually really like it. Granted, it isn't really 'detoxing' and it isn't the best of samples as 30ml is really enough of a body moisturiser to get much use but the scent! My goodness do I like the scent! It's called 'Mandarin and Bergamot' but it's mainly quite a heavy scent with the undertones being the sweeter element to it. I like it but I can see that a lot of people might not.

Full size price: £24.95     Value of Sample: £1.49 

The next product in the box is Elemis' Skin Glow Exfoliating Face Wash. I haven't tried any of Elemis' skincare before so I'm quite pleased with the inclusion of this, I also don't have a stash of exfoliaters like I do with other face products so I'll actually get some use out of this in the near future!

Full size price: £12  Value of Sample: £3.60

Next, the infamous toner! This is Balance Rescue Face Tonique, a 'refreshing face toner for combination skin'. The inclusion of this is nice as it shows that Glossybox have sent me a box catered specifically for my skin type. I love rose water toners so I'll definitely be using this, it's just a shame so much of it was wasted in transit! I have emailed Glossybox about it so hopefully they can offer me a replacement- we'll see!

Full size price: £27.50  Value of Sample: £16.50

The last sample product is Monu's Warming Aromatic Mask, a warming clay face mask aimed at deep cleansing and invigorating the skin. I love face masks, I love self-heating products so I am doubly happy with this. I'll definitely be using this soon as my T-Zone could use some deep cleansing!

Full size price: £24.95      Value of Sample: £7.49

Glossybox also through in an extra this month, a Glossybox eye mask. This isn't something I'd get regular use out of but I do occasionally get migraines and this will no doubt be helpful at keeping light away from my sensitive eyes! A nice little extra but nothing to write home about.

Overall, I'm pleased with the box. I was worried about resubscribing because I have been disappointed by beauty boxes but this one was really quite nice. I know that it will seem a bit skincare heavy but I'm a real lover of skincare products and enjoy trying new things so for me this is just perfect! I'm going to stay subscribed so look out for a similar post next month!

Did you subscribe to Glossybox this month? What did you think of your box? I'd love it if you left links to any posts you've done on yours!

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