Haul #4: Beauty

A few weeks ago I went on a bit of an insane online beauty spending spree. I've been trying my hardest to limit the amount of beauty products I buy recently due to having way too much makeup that I don't use and spending money I should really be saving. However, I had a bit of a set back due to the Laura Mercier Souffle Body Creme, that I've wanted for ages, came back in stock on the Birchbox website where I had £10 of reward points to spend.. and it all went a bit downhill from there.

Birchbox

The first and gateway purchase was the Laura Mercier Souffle Body Creme in Ambre Vanille from Birchbox. As I've been getting Birchboxes for a while now I have built up my reward points to 100 which means £10 to spend on anything in the Birchbox shop. Seeming as I'd wanted the body souffle for a while now I thought why not spend it on that which made it £34.50 instead of £44.50. I'm so glad that I finally purchased this product. I love the rich scent and texture and a little goes such a long way. This purchase was definitely worth it. However once one online purchase had been made it was difficult to stop. 

Space NK

Then I received an email for £10 of any purchase over £40 at Space NK and I couldn't resist. As you can probably tell I like a good bargain and can justify a purchase if I've saved money on it. Plus it gave me a chance to build up my Space NK reward points. With all the freedom to buy what I wanted out of a choice of so many great products I decided to buy a Nars Lipstick in Damage, a Nars Eyeshadow in Ashes to Ashes and a Stila Eyeshadow in Golightly. This came to a total of almost £40 including the £10 off, oops. However I'm so happy that I decided to make these purchases too! I love the Nars Lipstick! The grape colour is so pretty but sheer so it's great as a day time lipstick and the texture and the formula is so moisturizing. Also after recently trying and loving Nars eyeshadow from my recent purchase of the Nars Hearts New York set, I wanted to try some different shades out. My other purchase from Space NK was a Stila single eyeshadow in the colour Golightly. I've never tried Stila eyeshadow before and mainly purchased it because I loved the name (named after Holly Golightly played by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's) and the colour. It's a gorgeous gold/bronze shade similar to Mac's Woodwinked and the texture is so soft. I can tell I'm definitely going to get a lot of use out of it. 

Feel Unique

California Coral

Watermelon

Now my addiction was out of control and I just wanted to spend. Then I found a Feel Unique Voucher for 20% off. The next thing I know I had bought 2 Essie Nail Varnishes in California Coral and Watermelon and a Tanya Burr Lips and Nails lipgloss in Aurora. However I was quite glad I made these purchases as I'd had my eye on all 3 for a while now. I love the Essie Nail Varnish in Watermelon. At first I was a bit scared to wear such a bright pink nail varnish but I  love the bright shade now, it's perfect for summer. Also it lasts a really long time and has only just started to chip with no top coat after 5 days. I also love the colour California Coral. This is the perfect Spring/Summer shade and it isn't available in most shops like Boots and Superdrug. Also I'm glad I finally got the colour Aurora from the Tanya Burr Lips and Nails collection. After trying Afternoon Tea and liking the formula but feeling quite neutral about the light shade I decided to get one of the favourites from the collection which is a brighter pink shade called Aurora. I much prefer this colour and it's great for an everyday gloss. 

Selfridges

Finally my beauty haul ended at Selfridges and although I had already spent way more than I should have and finding many great products, this last product was essential. I had to replace my Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer as I've almost run out of my old one in the colour Custard. I bought the same shade this time around and although it is quite expensive at £22, I think it's 100% worth it as it's the best concealer I've tried and it has lasted me about 4 months, which is quite good considering I've used it nearly every single day.

Favourite Birchbox Products

I have been subscribed to Birchbox now for 4 months and I absolutely love it! It's a great way to try out new products and brands which you wouldn't necessarily use or know about - it's also great getting a little treat through the front door every month too! I have loved pretty much everything I've got from Birchbox so far so I am going to try and narrow it down to my favourite few...

Laura Mercier Long Lash Mascara

I love to wear this mascara in the daytime as it looks so natural, much more so than my Le Volume De Chanel one which I reviewed a few weeks ago . It really separates the lashes and coats every single one without ever clumping. The small thin wand is not what I usually like with a mascara however, this one is an exception - it is especially good for bottom lashes too. It has the usual sleek Laura Mercier packaging and I will definitely be buying a full sized one when I get round to it. 

Philip Kingsley Hair Elasticizer

I only got this in this months box so have only tried it out once but on first impressions I really like it. It is a pre-shampoo treatment and I worked it into the ends of wet hair and left for 15 minutes before shampooing and conditioning as usual. I found it made my hair look and feel much nicer as well as leaving it tangle-free. I'm not sure if I will buy the full sized product as it is £28 which is a little on the pricey side, I'll see if I think its worth after using for about a month then decide. 

Korres Citrus Showergel

I keep hearing about the brand Korres so I was really excited when I got a (very large) sample of this shower gel last month. I have used it a couple of times but I have decided to save the rest for when I go on holiday as it is the perfect size and it has a really fresh, holiday scent. It lathers up into a really creamy texture and leaves my skin feeling very clean, refreshed and moisturised. I am definitely going to try some other Korres products- can anybody suggest any good stockists?

Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturiser in Nude

I am a massive fan of Laura Mercier and have been using her Silk Crème foundation for a while now and I have had my eye on this tinted moisturiser for a while. It is a really lightweight tinted moisturiser and the coverage can be built up really easily. It is perfect if you are having 'a good face day' and you just want something to even out your skin tone and add a little radiance. It also has SPF20 which is another plus. I will certainly buying a full sized one in the summer.  

Chella Ivory Lace Highlighter

I have never heard of this brand before but I really like this highlighter pencil/crayon. I use it on my bottom waterline of my eyes to brighten and make them look wider but it is really multi-functional; it can be used on the brow bone, cheek bone, in the eye inner corner - basically anywhere you might want to highlight. The pencil is really soft so it doesn't scratch and it stays put for a really long time. It has definitely become a staple in my make up bag. 

Are you subscribed to any beauty boxes, if so, what have been your favourite products?

p.s. thinking of subscribing to beauty boxes? Click here to see Sophie's review of Birchbox and Glossybox.

Beauty Boxes

Recently I was reading a few beauty blogs online when I came across beauty boxes. Beauty boxes are little packages that contain a few samples of beauty products for a small price. They usually cost around £10, depending on which company you subscribe to, and they are usually produced on a monthly basis. I love these boxes because you get so many unique and varied products that you may not usually try. Granted, sometimes you may not like some of the items you have received but I have been pleasantly surprised by some of the products I have gotten. I have recently bought beauty boxes from  2 different companies so I thought I'd review and compare them.

Birchbox

I first decided to subscribe to Birchbox because they had an offer on and they were partnering up with Instyle (one of my favourite magazines) for the month of August. I'd been looking into subscribing for a few months but never got round to it but I thought if Instyle have collaborated then I should try it. When signing up to Birchbox they ask you to fill out a little questionnaire to see what your preferences are, which I liked about them. The box arrived mid-August and contained 7 products, which is more than you would usually receive in one of these boxes. The packaging isn't the most attractive with Birchbox beauty boxes - they are a plain brown colour, but I really liked the products that I received. The box included a small bottle of Molton Brown Ylang Ylang body wash, a decent sized LAQA&CO red lip crayon, some Inner Me Luscious Locks tablets to help restore your hair's health, a small tube of Gerda Spillmann Primer, a small tube of Skin Life Energetic Cellular Cream, a Philip Kingsley Elasticizer in a decent sized tube and a Birchbox eye mask to help reduce dark circles. I definitely liked this box straight away as it had a mixture of brands that I had heard of before and new ones to try as well. Also the sizes of each sample were decent and I will use all of the products I was sent. 

Glossybox 

Glossybox was the first beauty box company I came across however after reading reviews many said the samples weren't as good as Birchbox so I thought I'd try them first. However I checked the Glossybox website and came across a summer sale deal that included the April box and the July box for only £12 - which was almost half price for both of the boxes. What I liked about this deal was that the items seemed quite large and one item seemed worth the price of the whole box, also it wasn't a monthly subscription but a one off deal . I was so happy with the boxes I received. One thing that is very appealing about Glossybox is the actual box you receive. It is a lot more attractive than the Birchbox one and occasionally you get a themed box with a nice design on it. I love how you could re-use these boxes for storage for makeup products and they would look really pretty on a makeup table or on a shelf. I was also pleased with the items in both of the boxes. Each box contained 5 products each. The April box was a Pearl Lowe box and was so prettily decorated with a dusty pink background and white flowers printed on the box. When you first open a Glossybox you have a little tissue wrapped package with a nice bow wrapped round it too, it's like opening a Christmas present. In the April box I received a small Yves Rocher So Elixir Purple perfume sample, a Model co Cheek and Lip Tint in Rosy Red, a Sun Sense SPF invisible tint finish, a Nip and Fab coconut latte dry skin fix body butter and a normal sized Essie polish in Nice is Nice. The July box was also so pretty with a beach themed blue box with starfish on it. In the box I received a small sample of Ila beyond organic face oil, a Coola mineral sun screen tinted moisturizer, a Bamboo Style texture mist, a full sized Inecto Pure Coconut Dry Shampoo and a full sized Ciate nail varnish in a gorgeous shimmery orange shade. 

Overall I am really happy with all the beauty boxes I have received and sampling both has made it even more difficult to choose which one to stick with. Birchbox did have some great products, but so did Glossybox and they have much nicer packaging. I also like the fact that you get a whole sized nail varnish pretty much all the time with a Glossybox. I'm still waiting for my September Birchbox so maybe that will help me to decide.

Birchbox Beauty Boxes: http://birchbox.co.uk/?utm_source=birchbox us&utm_medium=modal&utm_campaign=geoip
Glossybox Beauty Boxes: http://www.glossybox.co.uk/

Do you subscribe to any beauty boxes? Which beauty box is your favourite?