August 2013 Glossybox

Glossybox time of the month seems to come round so quickly. This is the second box of my three month subscription and next months will have to be my last as the boy and I have found a flat! We are hoping to move out next week if all gets sorted out so I won't be able to afford non-necessities like Glossybox as we try to make the flat into a home. I seriously can't wait! It does mean things may be a little quite around here for a few weeks though, whilst I get settled and try to finish my Masters dissertation!

This is just going to be a quick post as I have seen soooo many reviews of this box already and they all seem pretty similar. This months theme is High Flyers, so beauty on the go I guess.

First up some £20 eye-lash curlers? Really? I love my £7.50 No7 ones and with a voucher that makes them £4.50. Can I see these being worth 4 times as much? Nope...they do the job but I wouldn't pay the price.

Secondly, and disappointingly the only real make-up product in the box, Jelly Pong Pong eyeliner and shadow crayon in black. Boring, plain, black. I love the other colours but this is just a fat eyeliner. Nothing special.

The TRESeme Keratin Smooth treatment is something I want to try. I love the split end treatment so I'm hoping this will help my heat damaged hair. Until it grows out a bit I am having to straighten it every day so I hope this will help do some good to my hair for a change.

I think about the last four or five boxes I have had contained moisturiser samples, so I wasn't too pleased to find another one and although it is nice, something a bit different would have been better. Plus on my beauty profile I stated I have dry not oily skin, well done Glossybox....I don't really want to use this in case it makes my dry skin worse.

Finally, a make-up remover pen from some unknown brand, price unknown? Seems a little strange but I like the idea. It seems perfect for eyeliner or eyeshadow mistakes or just to neaten up a little. The fact that it has 3 spare tips is good, as I can't imagine using the same one for lipstick as around my eyes.

All in all a pretty disappointing box this month. I have had a few boxes recently that I haven't been too keen on so unless next months is amazing, I won't miss them too much when I stop paying for them. 

Has anyone else had the same box? It isn't the worst ever but just a little boring, nothing really special or exciting.

Blog Sale (UK only)

I'm having a bit of a clear out to make some space and a little money as I am moving out soon :). I am off work until Tuesday so anything not sold by then will be given away or binned so feel free to make me an offer on anything left.

Postage:                   £2 for 1-2 items                     £3 for 3-5 items                    5+ depends on weight/size

Awapuhi Shine Spray (new) £2.                                               

Anatomicals Facial Spritz (sprayed twice) £1.                            

Elegant Touch Purple Haze Nails (new) £1.
Kiss Nails Wraps (new) £1.    

No7 Cuticle Cream (new) £1.

Stila Written in the Stars Palette (new) £5
MUA BB Cream Medium (very pale for medium, used once) £1
17 Smokey Eye Palette with mini eye liner and brush (new) £1          
JPP Fairy Lashes Mascara (new) £2
MUA Eye Trio Legendary (swatched once) £1

Model CO Lipgloss Strip Tease and Berry Pink (swatched once each on hand) £1 each
Collection Colour Pro It Girl and Show Off (both used once) £1.50 each
17 Lip Lustre 3 Little Words (used once) £1.50      
Soap and Glory Sexy Mother Pucker Punchbowl (used once) £2

No7 Moisture Drench Lipstick Mulberry (used once) £1
Sleek Pout Paints Pin Up and Peek-a-Bloo (swatched on hand) £1.50 each
Elizabeth Arden Frag Free 8 Hour Cream Sample (used once, tiny amount) £1
Figs and Rouge Coco Rose Lip Balm (used twice) £1.50
Molly Mabel Pastel Pink Pop Band (new) £1

Barry M Magnetic Red Sparkle and Blue (used twice each) £1 each
17 Magnetic Purple (used twice) £1                              
MUA Magnetic Regent Street (new) £1
17 Colour Switch gold/purple (new) £1
Seventeen Rock Hard Blue (used once) £1                      

Models Own Iced Neon Pink Punch (used once) £2                
Maybelline Color Show Polka Dots Shooting Stars and Speckled Pink (used once each) £1 each
No7 Stay Perfect Afternoon Tea, Thunderstorm and Milan (all new) £1.50 each

Models Own Mini Gold (new) £1
Ciate Speed Dial (new) £3                           
Revlon Moon Candy Satellite (used once) £2
Barry M Chameleon Blue (new) £1                      
17 Fast Finish Revenge (new) 50p              

Seventeen Quicker Slicker Caribbean Coral (used once) 50p

Rimmel Cocktail Colour Baby Bellini (used once) £1
Precious Stones Diamond Dust (used twice) £2
Metal Rush Purple Reign and Pearly Queen (used once each ) £1 each
Striping Tape Gold and Silver (new) 50p for both


Please comment with what you want and I will confirm a price to be sent to paypal: sally_c1@hotmail.co.uk. All orders over the weekend will be sent first thing Monday, please state if you want anything other than second class postage but it will cost more. If you leave an email I will confirm postage.

Happy shopping :)

An Amazing Polish Invention...

I no longer have a desk in my room (I replaced it with a second wardrobe...) so have to sit on my bed. I always paint my nails whilst watching TV and this has led to accidents on more than one occasion, ending with polish on my laptop, nails, bed, carpet....I am quite clumsy. I have been looking for something to use as a stand for my polish so that whilst I am painting my nails I am less likely to knock the bottle over. After a little searching on ebay and a week waiting for postage from China, I may have found the perfect thing.

This little rubber polish holder is great! The base is wide enough to make it almost impossible to tip over and allows you to tip the bottle if the polish is getting low so you don't have to tip the holder. I can easily paint my nails without worrying about making a mess. I have tried it with a few different brands and it is quite flexible meaning that most bottles will fit, including wide bases like Revlon. A few brands don't quite fit or won't go in at all (I'm looking at you Sally Hansen and Ciate!), but the majority will fit so it isn't too much of an issue. 

My only complaint is the colour, it only seems to be available in pink, I would have preferred something different, but I am not going to complain for the price. There are lots of these on ebay but the ones I got came in a pack of two, perfect for when you don't want a simple one colour manicure. 

My polish holder was from this seller and a pack of two was £1.24, with shipping taking just over a week. I can't recommend this enough if you don't have a sturdy worktop, it really has made things easier for me.

Baby Lips?

For months beauty bloggers in the UK have been waiting for the Maybelline Baby Lips to appear in our stores. I never really understood why they were such a cult product in the US, I mean they are just lip balms, so I had to pick up a couple myself, just to see what the fuss was all about.

Cherry Me and Pink Punch, two of the most gorgeous, colourful lip balms I have ever owned! I am starting to see what the fuss is all about. These balms glide on like a soft gloss rather than a sticky, thick balm. They smell amazing and give a lovely tint to your lips. I have been loving Pink Punch, which reminds me of cocktails in summer and I'm not usually a fan of pale pink lips, but this is just pale enough to suit me. 

For £2.99 these are well worth your pennies and I can see myself ending up with all six! They leave your lips feeling really soft and as they are lip balms, you can forgive them for not lasting more than a couple of hours. Plus they smell so amazing you will want to reapply!

I'm going to jump on the blogger bandwagon and say these are a must have! I can't wait to try some of the others.

A Budget Beauty Brand Discovery!

I love my bargain products and don't own anything make-up related which would have cost me more than a tenner. I just can't justify spending that much on something I will use a couple of times and most likely forget about or replace with something new and more interesting. I have been loving MUA over the last few months for their cheap as chips products which give you amazing value for money. I know they work under various different brand names but this post involves one of their brands which I had never seen before- Vivo. Vivo is stocked in Tesco, something lacking in my local city, which probably explains their absence in my life until now! They are currently holding a half price sale online so when I spotted them I had to give them a try.

This whole lovely haul cost me £14.88 including postage (£2.95) amazing yes? Nothing came to more than £2 and the nail polishes were about 50p, amazing bargain! The packaging isn't the best but I really like everything, the quality seems great for the price and the eye shadow palette will be getting a post of its own as it is amazing!

I love lip crayons so had to try some of these, the Colour Stay Lip Crayons in Sweet Dreams and Thing Called Love were £1.99 half price and the Laquer Shine Lip Gloss in Heavenly was 99p! The lip crayons look very similar to the MUA versions but with a better colour payoff. They also have the same minty scent. The Laquer Gloss is so pretty and a bargain for 99p, again it looks very similar to the MUA Intense Kisses. 

I also picked up a Blush and Highlighter Duo in Sweet Peach for £1.19. I LOVE this, the blush is such a perfect peachy shade without being too orangey, and the highlighter is a perfect shimmery match for the peach but isn't too glittery. I really want another of these, I love the idea of a matching blush and highlighter and who can go wrong for that price!

I wanted to try the Radiance Boost Highlighter as it was only £1.79 and I hoped it might work to cover up my dark eye circles. I doesn't seem to give much coverage and is a little pink for my skin but I will give it a go.

These lovelies were only £1.49 for the Nail Flare in When I Dance and an amazing 50p for the varnish in Funfair. I love the glitter polish and can't wait to try it. Funfair is the perfect pinky coral for summer.

Finally, the best product in the bunch, the 12 Shade Colour Block Palette in Unprotected, supposedly a dupe for MUA Undressed and the Naked palette. I can see the similarity between this and the MUA and I will be posting swatches soon but the colour payoff is sooo much better than you get from the Undressed palette so I will compare them. I love the look of the palette and prefer it to my MUA ones. I just think it looks more expensive and is a better shape to store. This was only £1.99 but even at the regular £3.99 it is still well worth buying.

I love the products I got and I'm really tempted to go back for more once the sale is over and they re-stock all the out of stock products. If you love MUA then Vivo are well worth a try and can be bought in Tesco or online at http://www.vivocosmetics.co.uk/ where everything is still half price!

Miss Glossybox July/August

I have been loving Glossybox for about six months now and when they revealed Miss Glossybox, I though a high street box would be perfect for me, as it would have products that I could afford myself and wasn't as expensive as the normal box. I wasn't too keen on the first box but decided to give it a second chance and ordered the July/August box. I have to say I am still not impressed. This box would perhaps be good for a 16-18 year old which I suppose is who they are designed for but a high street box aimed at everyone would be a much better idea!

I love the Miss Patisserie bath bomb, as soon as I opened the bag I could smell it and it is gorgeous, this was perhaps the only product I really liked in this months box. The sample of Beyonce Heat perfume smells nice, but I'm not too keen and was disappointed to find such a small sample. The Glossybox false lashes were also a bit of a disappointment, I would have preferred something more natural and from a brand you can actually buy!

I already have a can of the V05 Backcomb spray, and have tried it but prefer the texture spray as it seems to do the same thing but better, and to be honest the best volumising product I have found is the volume powder. The Kiss nail wraps would have been lovely if the design wasn't so tacky, I can't ever see myself wearing these.

All in all a bit of a rubbish offering from the Miss Glossybox this month, I won't be ordering one of these again!

Have you tried Miss Glossybox? I'm really disappointed with it and after hearing rumours of a high street beauty box from MUA, I will be saving my money for that one!