Monthly Archives

December 2014

Beauty Boxes

Birchbox December 2014 Box Review

December 28, 2014

Birchbox is definitely going up and up in my estimations, after a good few month’s of rubbish Glossybox contents, they have come to the rescue and gifted upon me all things I enjoy. This month was mostly no exception and with the exclusive Sophie Webster design, brought a little sparkle to my day when it eventually arrived through the post!

Whats in the box;

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Eslor Firming Collagen Day Cream – 10ml sample – £50 for full size

This is where the “mostly no exception” comes in. As much as I love the idea of slapping firming collagen day cream upon my self, I can not use this. Although eslor say their products are not tested on animals, this cream contains hydrolyzed marine collagen, which is extracted from fish. So that is all I have to say on this cream and I will be gifting it upon someone who will at least use it.

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Electric Hair Electric Hydrate Shampoo – 30ml sample – £17.50 for full size

This smells amazing, and allegedly promises to repair damage and improve shine. I can probably squeeze two applications out of this little sample but it will be strictly saved for when my colours have faded and I’m left with cotton candy pink hair as I am a strict sulfate free Shampoo user these day’s as I do not enjoy the 5+ hours it take Gem and I to complete the mammoth task of dying our hair, thus like to delay the inevitable for as long as possible.

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Eyeko Fat Eye Stick in “Smoke” – 4g product – £8 for full size

I do enjoy Eyeko quite a significant amount – my first product of their’s was the Skinny Eyeliner pen that I literally bled dry. This is a little thicker than that though and I’m glad I received the shade “smoke” which is a very blend-able black. Application wise this glides on like a dream, however the longevity of it is a little more disappointing with a tendency to smudge a little and give you those panda eyes. Having said that I’m sure a little bit of primer will go a long way with helping this problem out and even a little makeup setting mist to help with the corpse paint look.

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Benefit Christmas Cracker High Beam – sample received – £19.50 for full size

First of all I have to say, if you do not own this already as a highlighter, you really do need it in your life. I have about three of these tiny samples in my collection and I haven’t even dented the first one. It’s my staple go to highlighter which I use on my brow bone and to highlight my cheeks. It blends beautifully and can be built upon as required. Best of all, once applied, you can guarantee it will see you through the night until you reach for your trust micellar water to wipe away your face. So in a nut shell, thanks for another Birchbox, I absolutely love it.

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Models Own Velvet Goth Nail Polish in “Absinthe” – 14ml product – £5 for full size

I coerced Roode Gem’s partner into buying her the Velvet Goth set for Christmas last year. Neither of us are particularly into Model’s Own, for no reason other than we hadn’t really tried much of their stuff, but as soon as I saw the glittery matte goodness of this collection I knew she needed it in her life. After sampling the red on boxing day with a post Christmas, hangover fueled nail painting session in her living room I was so jealous. When Birchbox announced that we would be receiving these in this month’s box and we got to choose our own colour I was definitely over the moon. I don’t actually remember choosing Absinthe, which is an emerald green, but I obviously did because it’s now mine and I don’t mind one bit. I enjoyed swatching this so much for my photo’s that when I used my Birchbox points to purchase a Benefit push up liner a few day’s ago, I also picked up two other shades from the collection. I definitely recommend a really good base coat when applying these though as they are difficult to remove, but so worth it. I also love how a top coat can be applied to transform the Velvety consistency to a bright and shiny nail for a completely different look.

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Trilogy Certified Organic Rosehip Oil – 2.5ml sample – £16.50 for full size

Oil seems to have been a pretty popular product this year, not that I’m complaining because I’ve become quite a fan, it’s incredibly multi functional and I find does wonder’s for my dry skin but is also great for a massage when the other half is helping me to de-stress! What I love about this sample is the pipette applicator, which makes applying it so much easier. Although this is only a 3.5ml sample I expect it to last a fair while too.

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Sophie Webster Purse – £25

To top the box off and in keeping with the theme of course, this month’s box features this utterly adorable Sophie Webster purse. A perfect fit for throwing into a handbag or clutch and with a cute leopard print design I’m imagining this will go with pretty much any outfit I throw together.

Overall this month’s box has been another spectacular one. Birchbox are definitely in the lead as far as beauty boxes for for me at the moment and with an amazing 7 products, all of which I’m enthused about (with the exception of eslor of course) I really do feel I got my money’s worth this month. If you’d like to try Birchbox, you can sign up here via their website for just £10 a month plus p&p.

I’d love to know what your thoughts were on this month’s box or whether you are thinking about signing up – just leave a comment below to share.

Totally hellbent for glittery nails and benefit crackers

– Pants

Beauty Boxes

Glossybox December 2014 Christmas Box Review

December 17, 2014

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I simply can not believe it is Christmas already. I also can’t believe that this box has been sat on my desk waiting to be reviewed for nearly two weeks now too. Time seems to be flying by and there simply aren’t enough hours in the day, but at least when it’s time for beauty boxes it feels like time pauses just for a moment as you lose yourself in the unveiling.

Glossybox are usually renowned for having spectacular festive boxes so I was super excited to find out what was in this month’s box, especially after the rumors of receiving some full size products.

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TRESemme Nourish & Renew Tonic – 150ml full size product – £5.50 for full size

I’m not really sure what to make of this. It’s a solution you apply to your scalp and leave in, styling your hair as normal. It claims to help nourish the scalp and renew hair – I am already imaging how big this could potentially make my locks if I applied this though, given a) the amount of hair I have and b) my hair’s intolerance to liquid of any form. After trying it on a small section of my scalp, I can’t say I’ve noticed any real big difference other than my roots feel a little greasier in one spot and I can’t say I’m excited to try this out on my whole head as I imagine it would take a pretty long time to apply. Perhaps over the festive season I’ll put some time aside to give it a go properly and see how it fairs.

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Skin Pep Hydra Boost Pure Haluronic Acid Serum – 15ml sample – £8.99 for 15ml

Admittedly this is a bit of a boring product for me. I have serum stock piled in my drawer’s like no tomorrow so yet another sample isn’t overly welcome. If this wasn’t enough to put me off, the Skin Pep website is something of a pharmaceutical wannabe company which frightens me a little. After trawling through their products I couldn’t see clearly whether all their products were tested on animals but a few select products which had FAQ sections stated their products were not tested on or contained any animal products. Having said that I’m still a little apprehensive about using brands who don’t have an open policy on animal testing. Edit: Thankfully I’ve been kindly informed of the black banner across the top of the Skin Pep website that clearly states “Pep Cosmeceuticals products are not tested on animals”. I think in my desperate frenzy of ingredient checking, I completely bi-passed this! Despite these qualms, there seems to be a lot of positive feed back for this product in particular especially for people who tend to suffer with dry skin that worsen’s during the colder month’s (yup, that’s me!) so this will be one for the “Winter Serum” pile.

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anatomicals zap! zap! zap! gets that chap day and night spot stick – 3.5ml full size product – £3.00 for 3.5ml

anatomicals are a brand that I’ve really grown to like. I own quite a few of their products, including their head ache balm which has done wonders for my severe migraines. Although I don’t often suffer with spots I don’t mind receiving this so much as it’s a handy something to have stashed away for the hour of need. Judging by their previous wonder products, I hold high hopes that next time I’ve indulged in too much junk food and my body is paying me back that this will get me out of a spotty situation.

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bellapierre cheek and lip stain in “coral” – 5 gram full size product – £12.99 for full size

Another product to add to an ever growing pile of cheek and lip stains (do you see a theme here?). I’m glad I ended up with Coral from the range as it’s one of my favourite go to colours besides red. The consistency of this is quite nice for applying to lips but I found after swatching it wasn’t so great for blending, thus I’m not sure I’d be brave enough to try this out on my cheeks when I have so many other’s (the balm’s palette for one) to use. One thing worth mentioning here though is it does contain bees wax. I’m actually Okay with this, providing it’s sourced ethically. I know there are a lot of Vegan’s who are high and mighty about products from bee’s such as wax and honey, but a lot of bee keepers really nurture their bees and are at least doing their bit to preserve a species on the brink of disappearing and I fully thrive off bee’s, I think they are absolutely beautiful. That aside, I’m sure I’ll put this to good use once Summer come’s round and I lay my moody, dark red’s to rest until the following Winter.

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all that jazz nail varnish in “Sofie’s – I own the runway” – 15ml full size product – £9.95 for full size

Now this is a brand that I have seen around but have never really been that interested in. The packaging is pretty underwhelming when you compare it to me current fav’s such as Ciate and Nails inc and I now have such a vast collection of varnish that I find it hard to get super excited about them. Having said that, the glittery purple hue of the bottle made for a promising colour so I was pleasantly surprised when I swatched it and there was not a purple spec in sight. This is actually shimmer green and definitely not purple which is fine by me because I lack a variety of green’s in my collection and it is absolutely perfect for the festive period. I don’t think I would spend £9.95 on this, but I probably wouldn’t spend that on any brand of varnish, but it’s welcome upon my nail varnish rack and I vow to use this at least once before the end of the year.

So that concludes the Glossybox Christmas box. I’m not ashamed to say that I was disapointed by the contents of this month’s box. I’ve held onto my subscription hoping they would win back my love with this box but it just doesn’t do it for me. So much so that I’ve cancelled my subscription (again!) and have promised myself to use the £13 I’ll be saving a month to buy a product that I actually want. If you do like what you see though, you can subscribe to Glossybox for £10 a month plus postage and packaging via their website here.

What do you think of this month’s box? Are you a Glossybox subscriber or thinking of becoming one? I’d love to know your thoughts in the comments below.

Totally hellbent for finally breaking free of my first ever Beauty Box

– Pants

Vegan, Vegetarian

The Vegan Kind #TVK14 December 2014 Review

December 15, 2014

It’s feels like such a long time since I put pen to paper – or rather mouse and keyboard to WordPress backend but as always life has a funny way of stopping you in your tracks and forcing you to take an unwanted break. The past few weeks have been absolutely crazy, from personal problems to a mountain or work I just haven’t had any time to blog at all. To top things off, we had a huge problem with our server as of late which meant we have been unable to upload any images to Hellbent for Lipstick because we are greedy and stole all of the server space. Unfortunately we ran the risk of the server going down if we did post which would result in all our our client’s websites going bye bye’s too. Definitely not something you want three weeks before Christmas. Alas we’ve finally sorted out a much bigger server which means I can now share with you all this month’s The Vegan Kind Box – and boy did it come at the right time when I needed a little pick me up after being stuck in the middle of an office refurb surrounded by paperwork, flat pack instructions and unorganised stationary. So rambling aside, here is this month’s box;

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Harper’s Bizarre Jingle Bells Christmas Candle – (RRP £5 full size) My heart sang the most beautiful song when I opened the box and was greeted with this. In fact it took me at least ten minutes to even look at the rest of the contents because I was so content to sit in my chair and smell the most Christmas candle ever. For those of you who have not had the pleasure of discovering Harper’s Bizarre yet, well you simply must head over to their website and pick up an array of items. We were lucky enough to meet the brains behind the operation at this year’s Vegan festival in Wolverhampton and each candle is lovingly hand crafted from soy wax – each label has also been hand drawn and designed by Harper’s Bizarre themselves and they support the Jerry Green Dog Rescue with the candles from their charity range. I already have a Cinnamon candle, which is un-burnt but I leave the lid off and it fills the room with such a beautiful scent. I already had a list of things to by from their online store.

Please head over to Harper’s Bizarre and feast your eyes upon their range of amazing candles.

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Wholeplus Gingerbread Toppers 100g – (RRP £2.20) Cue obligatory grumble about dates … Actually no, this looks really nice and something I’m definitely going to be sprinkling over my porridge now that it’s far too cold for iced smoothies in the morning and to make things even more festive, I may add a dash to a few Chai Latte’s and Hot Chocolates (Vegan of course).

Visit Wholeplus online here.

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Olive Branch Gluten Free Sweet Biscuits 130g – (RRP£2.79) Mmm biscuits. I do love a good biscuit to go with a decaf earl grey or english breakfast. There were three flavours available in this box; Cinnamon, Almond & Clove and Orange. Although I would have preferred the Cinnamon, I’m happy with these. After taking my photographs I had a sneaky nibble and they are sickly sweet, but very nice. They are currently sat on Brain’s desk as we work late, taunting him to have another nibble.

View more of their range here.

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Teatonics Mind Awakening Yerba & Laid Back Botanical Tea – (RRP £1) I have to admit, I do enjoy receiving tea samples as I am somewhat of a tea fiend. Although I’m not massively into herbal tea and I can’t really stand the taste of green tea I do at least give new flavours a try. Laid back is green rooibos (red bush tea I believe) blended with hops, elderflower, chamomile and lavender – I do love all of those ingredients and this is a perfect wind down for the end of the day readying you for bed. Yerba is blended with grapefruit, citrust peel, peppermint and rosehips – probably a concoction I would usually steer clear of but I’ve found most herbal tea can be made a little better with a teaspoon of honey. This blend contains three lots of feel good compounds and lots of antioxidants, great for kick starting your morning.

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tvk-14-toothpaste Green People Toothpaste 50ml – (RRP £3.50) Now I’m a little ashamed to admit, that although almost every aspect of my goods purchasing life is plagued by label checking, toothpaste isn’t something I’ve ever thought about! I’m always as careful as can be with cosmetics, Shampoo, Condition you name it, but when it comes to the weekly shop, a tube of Colgate is tossed into the trolley without a second though. What I love about this box is how it has opened me up to the variety of cruelty free brands, from body wash, to washing tablets and now toothpaste. I’ll certainly be thinking more carefully about which brands I take home with me in future. Take a peek at the Green People site here. tvk14-recipecard

This month’s recipe card was for a red lentil and cashew nut loaf. What a perfectly festive dish to finish the box off – courtesy of “Bit of the Good Stuff.”

I know you are all probably sick to death of hearing about me talk about how amazing The Vegan Kind but this is yet another great box filled with lot’s of new and exciting brands and bringing a little Christmas cheer with it. Each box bought donates 10p to a charity chosen by subscribers and this month it was the Soi dogs foundation. If you’d like to subscribe you can do so for just £10 a month plus postage and packaging by visiting their website here. You should also keep an eye out for their quarterly beauty box. If you subscribe or are thinking of doing so, or just liked reading the post I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comment below.

Totally hellbent for a Vegan festive period with not a Turkey in sight.

– Pants

Events

#BHMBloggerMeet @ The Body Shop

December 4, 2014

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It’s rare that we will venture together into Birmingham City Centre this time of year (there are plenty of quieter spots to do your Christmas shopping without the manic queues you get in town!) but we were very excited to be invited to the #BHMBloggerMeet, and couldn’t resist the lure of  a night in The Body Shop with fellow local Bloggers!

Of course whilst we were already in the heaving shopping centres it would have been rude not to do a little shopping. Or a lot! We had a fair few bags by the time we made our way to The Body Shop, but it seemed everyone else did too! After all the shopping was stashed safely away we had a little time to mingle and browse before the fun and games started, but really the whole night felt very casual and fun from start to finish.

Time flew by in a whirl of make-up demonstrations, hand massages, games, sampling all the treats on offer and of course shopping. The staff at The Body Shop were all so passionate about their jobs and the core values and ethics of the company, they really made the night for us and recommended quite  a few products that we’ve never considered before (which of course we snatched up right away!)

One of the games involved writing a little message for a cupcake and instagramming the results and Gemma won a goody bag for the best caption (or possibly the best Instagram filter ;)

Remember that sparkles are forever, not just for #Christmas! #bhmbloggermeet #bbloggers

A photo posted by Gemma Lawler (@gemma_dakesis) on

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The night was so much fun and time flew past so quickly, but of course we made time to grab a whole host of treats for ourselves with a very generous 50% off, which has now unfortunately ended, but don’t let that stop you popping in store or online to grab some festive bargains. We definitely recommend the seasonal ranges – Glazed Apple, Vanilla Brulee and Frosted Cranberry. We only planned on indulging in the hand creams (which Amie reviewed here) but at 50% off we couldn’t resist quite a few other pieces!

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At the end we were given a lovely goodie bag containing even more treats from The Body Shop including vouchers and samples of the seasonal body butters, a bag of scrumptious Propercorn,  a reusable cup from Starbucks, and an adorable chocolate reindeer!

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We will be sharing our mini-hauls in another post later in the week, so keep an eye out!

Finally we have to say a massive thank you to the lovely Abbigayle of StealStylist.com for hosting and organising the event, and to the amazing staff at The Body Shop for their warm hospitality and infectious enthusiasm!

Totally Hellbent for some of our favorite things – bloggers and The Body Shop!

Gem & Pants