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Love me Beauty

Beauty Boxes

Why I’m cancelling my beauty boxes

January 19, 2015

Glossybox January 2014

After what feels like forever, I’ve finally decided to cancel my Glossybox.

Glossybox was my first subscription box, and to be honest I’ve had a good run, but lately I’ve found myself getting less and less excited by the service, and after one too many disappointing boxes I’ve decided to take a break from not only Glossybox, but also Birchbox, Love me Beauty and You Beauty Discovery.

One of the main reasons is that my subscription beauty boxes were racking up to nearly £50 a month, and although you generally get far more for your money how often do you really end up with things that you actually want or need? That £50 is a new Urban Decay palette with change left over for the MUA counter, or a half-decent trip to MAC.

I think there has just been one too many lipstick shades I’ll never wear, far too much by way of skincare samples that I’ll never get around to using, and worst of all a stash of dreaded perfume vials.

Unfortunately (or fortunately?) my last Glossybox was actually pretty good, five full size products that all look very nice, however I would never have gone out and purchased any of them individually, so really I’m just bulking up my already overwhelming cosmetic stash with things I could probably live without.

There have been plenty of times where I’ve found wonderful products and brands that I now absolutely couldn’t live without – Laura Mercier Primer, HD Brows powder and Ciate nail polishes all come to mind right away – but they’ve certainly been outnumbered by perfume and skincare samples that I’ve got absolutely no interest in.

I don’t think I’m off the subscription box bug completely though, I’ve decided to keep my Pink Parcel subscription (mostly because of how handy it is – check out my review of this month’s PMT busting box here) and I might order the odd one-off box here and there, but having five or six boxes a month has really taken away the fun of it for me.

When I first started blogging about beauty products, it seemed that I could never get enough new things to try out but in truth it’s all just gathering dust (hypothetically…it’s all organised meticulously in Alex drawers of course…!) and taking up space that I could have filled with things I really really wanted.

If money and storage space weren’t an issue I’d probably keep them all, but both need a serious overhaul in truth so for now it’s bye bye boxes.

How do you feel about beauty subscription boxes? Have they become a bit jaded for you, or do you still wait by the postbox eagerly for your monthy surprise box of treats?

Totally hellbent for deciding what to spend the saved money on!

– Gem

Beauty Boxes

Love Me Beauty June 2014 – Edition 1

June 13, 2014
Love me Beauty June1

Love me Beauty June1Love me Beauty JuneLove me Beauty June

 

I’ve been watching the front door like a hawk ever since I saw this months beauty boxes showing up on my Twitter and Instagram feed and the first to make an appearance was this amazing selection from Love Me Beauty!

Unlike other subscription boxes where you get sent a random selection, Love Me Beauty allows you to pick the exact box you want from three menus (though individual shades can still vary!)

This month I chose edition 1 and I love absolutely everything inside!

 

Love me Beauty June - Model Co Shine Ultra Lip Gloss in "Fairy Floss"

Model Co Shine Ultra Lip Gloss in “Fairy Floss”

I was never much of a gloss person, but I’m a big fan of the Model Co formula and have a few shades that I like to dip into now and again. I’d never have chosen this colour for myself, Fairy Floss is a lilac-tinged pink but it’s very sheer on the lips. It has a very light sweet fragrance and feels really rich without ever feeling gloopy. The packaging is well worth a mention, very sleek and stylish with a built in mirror that is SO handy for on the go application!

Full Size

£12.00 from modelcocosmetics.com

 

Love me Beauty June NYX Cosmetics Nail Polish in Pastel Lavender

NYX Cosmetics Nail Polish in Pastel Lavender

Another shade that I don’t think I would have picked for myself, but actually I think it will probably get some wear as it almost perfectly matches a very pretty 50’s style dress I bought last year (and nothing is more satisfying then colour matching nail polish for a special occasion, right?)

The formula is lovely, and impressively fast drying for a none-fast-dry polish. I’ve not tried many NYX products but this has made me very curious about the rest of the range!

Full Size

£3.00 from nyxcosmetics.co.uk

 

Love me Beauty June Montagne Jeunesse Brazilian Mud Fabric Masque

Montagne Jeunesse Brazilian Mud Fabric Masque

Everyone loves a good face mask, right? This one includes purple Brazilian mud, acai berries, avocado and a whole host of yummy natural ingredients and is Vegetarian Society approved. However a scan over the ingredients shows that it includes Lactoperoxidase which is of milk origin. I’m a heavily vegan-leaning vegetarian and I haven’t drank animal milk for probably a year or so now, so I’m not so sure I am comfortable putting it on my skin either. It’s a dilemma, and one I will have to think about long and hard. I really like the sound of this mask but I don’t in honesty think I can use it without being full of mega-guilt at poor Daisy and her cow friends.

Overall I really like the ethics of this company, and an accompanying pamphlet talks all about their animal friendly ethos and green ways (including their own wind turbine!) but then I can’t quite understand why a company that says “Animals are our friends – that’s why we don’t bash bunnies or add bits of animals” consider milk an animal-friendly additive!

Full Size

£1.49 from montagnejeunesse.com

 

Love me Beauty June - Beauty UK Eye-shadow Collection in Earth Child

Beauty UK Eye-shadow Collection in Earth Child

This tiny little palette is adorable and full of earthy neutral shades that should suit every skin tone. The shadows are all very creamy for such a budget product, but do need to be built up a bit as they are not very heavily pigmented. In all honesty I don’t think the formula is a scratch on MUA or Make-Up Revolution’s similarly priced offerings, but I do like the tiny size which makes it perfect for travel or festival make-up bags.

Full Size

£3.99 from beautyukcosmetics.com

 

Love me Beauty June - Urban Vega Purifying Day Cream

Urban Vega Purifying Day Cream

I’ve tried this day cream before and my skin really got on with it, so this sample size is a nice reminder to go out and purchase some more! With neem oil, witch hazel and spearmint this really is a great choice for us ladies of slightly oilier skin, and also did wonders for my disgustingly oversized pores. It’s also worth noting that it is free of parabens and SLS and is Vegetarian Society approved! The only reason I didn’t rush out to repurchase this before is the lack of SPF, which makes it a little redundant for me in the summer months.

10ml Sample

£14.99 from urbanveda.co.uk

 

Love me Beauty June - Flavourly Voucher

Bonus – £10 Flavourly Voucher

For those inclined to try gourmet specialities this looks like a great food subscription service, but as there is no vegetarian menu (at least not that I can see!) this isn’t for me! Still £10 off brings the price of a box down to only £10, and it’s great to be able to try out such things at half price!

Find out more at flavourly.com

 

Overall another awesome box from Love Me Beauty, if you’d like one of your very own all three menus are still available for £10 (+P&P) from Lovemebeauty.com!

Totally hellbent for so many full size products!

-Gem

Beauty Boxes

Love Me Beauty Review – May 2014 – Edition 1

May 20, 2014

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I promised myself last month that I would cancel my Love me Beauty subscription, but the problem with knowing what you are getting, is that sometimes you want it even more. I just couldn’t resist keeping my subscription for another box when I saw the cute little notebooks in this edition. The one thing I adore about this box, is how carefully packaged it is. As you can see above, the products are placed so neatly, that it really does things to my OCD – being so organised and neat excites me more than it should!

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Lord & Berry – Smudgeproof, waterproof eye liner in “#720 Sand” – (RRP £8.50)

I have to admit, I was less than interested in this when pulling it out of the box. I have an array of pencil eyeliners and only break them out when I can’t be bothered with the liquid liner. Admittedly I judged way too harshly, although I have brown eyes, I still wear brown eyeliner when I pair it with green eyeshadow and after swatching this, it’s beautiful. It’s more of a gold-brown and and it applied so well, when I tried the “smudge test” it didn’t budge. I am impressed at the longevity of this, especially since my pencil eyeliners have a habit of travelling down my face and am definitely going to use this next time I’m going for a smokey green eye.

Lord & Berry website

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Raw Skincare – Natural Lip balm in “Hint of Mint” – (RRP £1.98)

A girl can never own enough Lip balms, especially with Summer fast approaching. This reminds me of Burt’s Bees, but with less of my favourite Peppermint tingle once applied. It feels nice, it’s natural and it will do the job. That’s all I can say on this one, although if I could make one improvement, it would be the addition of an SPF. Another addition to this years festival packing for when my lips are sore and in need of a little TLC.

Raw Skincare website

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Tea Pigs – “Chocolate Flake” Tea bags – (RRP £0.65 per tea bag)

I say this everytime I get tea samples – I’m English, I love tea! This flavour (along with the notebooks) swayed me towards picking Edition 1 this month, having spent some time browsing the Tea Pigs website, I know that this can be supped upon with a dash of milk and all the best tea is taken with milk. I can’t wait to try these out and if I enjoy them, I’m definitely going to spend less time browsing their website and more time loading up my cart and actually making it to the checkout!

Tea Pigs website

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Nail Girls – Nail Polish in “Nude Pink” – (RRP £13.50)

First of all, this polish doesn’t have the shade written on it anywhere and I had to consult the trust Love me Beauty card to tell me that this was “Nude Pink”. Despite the ridiculously girly pink colour, it applied really well and even though I swatched this with two coats, I only really needed one. I doubt I’m ever going to paint all my nails with this colour, but it may come in handy for some Nail Art and I think teamed with some pastel colours this could look really pretty if you are that way inclined. Unfortunately despite my vast collection of Varnish, my heart will always belong to the dark shades – probably very reflective of my soul ;o).

Nail Girls website

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GO Stationary – Pocket Notebook Set in “Vintage Ditsy” (RRP £5)

The red polka dots are what did it for me when deciding that Edition 1 was the box for me this month. These notebooks are so adorable – both Gem and I are a sucker for stationary anyway so when these showed up, we were all over them. The paper inside is plain and not ruled, which is fine since being an adult I have almost fine tuned my ability to write in a straight line and if things do go a bit pear shaped, I have no frowning teacher to shout at me. I’m also pretty pleased with the price, since it’s fairly reasonable for three beautiful books. I can’t wait to drop these in my various handbags ready to scribble in.

Go Stationary website

I’ve really enjoyed the variety of this box and I’m still trying to bring myself to cancel my subscription. As per usual the “I’ll just wait and see what’s in the next boxes” still reigns supreme and I admitted I have a serious problem long ago!

If you’d like to check out Love me Beauty, each month they release three boxes for you to select one of.  Head over the Lovemebeauty.com to get your’s for just £10.00 + p&p each month.

Totally hellbent for “just one more box” and eventually kicking that habit – one day – 

-Pants

 

 

Beauty Boxes

Love Me Beauty Box Review April 2014 – Menu 1

April 22, 2014
Love me beauty april 2014 contents

Love me beauty april 2014 contents

 

It’s the 22nd and my April Love Me Beauty box has only just arrived!

Unlike other beauty boxes Love Me Beauty allows you to pick from three menus, so you know exactly what you will get in each monthly box. This month I picked menu 1, and here’s what I received!

 

Love me Beauty April

 

Betty Hula Secret Wonder Oil Roller Ball

There’s been loads of oils in recent beauty boxes, and I was a sceptic at first but I’ve quickly fallen in love with the natural herb-y scents and amazing results! This reminds me of the Balance Me Radiance Facial Oil only for your body instead. I love the vintage design on the packaging and can definitely see me buying another once I’ve worked through this one!

Full Size

£6.25 from Bettyhula.co.uk

 

Love me beauty April 2014

 

Models Own Nail Polish in Coral Reef

I’m a big fan of the Models Own polishes and love a good bright coral shade so this was a perfect product for me! The bright pinky red went straight on my nails and gave such amazing coverage I only had to use one coat!

Full Size

£5 from Modelsownit.com

 

Love me beauty April 2014

 

Neal & Wolf Silk Smoothing Blow-Dry Balm

I’m pretty lazy with my hair as unless I’m in a hurry I just leave it to dry naturally. On the occasions I do use a hair dryer I find that I get lots of flyaway and frizz so this will be great to try out! It claims to provide moisture, balance and manageability and leave hair sleek straight and silky-smooth so I’ve got high hopes! It’s definitely worth mentioning that the smell is absolutely divine too!

Full Size

£12.50 from Nealandwolf.com

 

Love me beauty april 2014

 

Redken Colour Extend Conditioner

Considering I’ve had blue hair for about six years now, I’m always looking for ways to fight against fading colour and thus save me the hassle of a six hour hair dying session for a little longer! I’ve tried various conditioners for coloured hair over the years but none have really taken my fancy, I’m always willing to try one more though! There’s only enough for one use on my long thick hair, but if you have shorted hair I think you could get a few washes out of this.

25ml Sample

250ml for £9.99 from  Gorgeousshop.co.uk

 

Love me beauty April 2014

 

Hello Fresh Gift Voucher

This card wasn’t advertised as being part of the box so I was quite surprised to find it, however having peeked around a few other blogs it seems that everyone received one this month regardless of which menu they chose. It’s worth £25 but the cheapest thing you can purchase is £39. Definitely a perk if you use this service or are interested to try it, but not something I think I will use.

www.HelloFresh.co.uk

 

Overall I think it was a pretty good box with three full sized items. Nothing I’m ga-ga crazy about but nothing I dislike either (other than the voucher which I wasn’t expecting anyway).

If you want to try a Love Me Beauty box of your own you can order them from Lovemebeauty.com for £10 + P&P!

Totally hellbent for so many full size products!

– Gem

Beauty Boxes

Love me Beauty March Edition 2 Review

March 17, 2014

love-me-beauty-march

Gem and I finally broke and both ordered one this months Love me Beauty box. Okay, admittedly I blame Gemma entirely – since she ordered hers first which made it impossible for me to resist.

For those that may not know, Love me Beauty is a beauty box similar to Birchbox and Glossybox, but with a twist. Each month you get to see in advance what will be in the box, and you can choose from 2-3 “menus”. Each one has 2-3 staple products with the others being unique and a little different, giving you the option to choose the box you like best.

My first box, was edition 2. Even though I knew exactly what was coming, I was still really excited to receive this bundle of joy in the post this morning.

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The packaging – although nothing too fancy, was perfect. There was no inner box, so on opening the outer cardboard one, you are greeted with a perfectly placed card telling you all about the contents of the box. Underneath that, wrapped delicately in shredded and tissue paper lay the contents of the box.

Whoever packed this – deserves a medal! This is -the- best packed box I’ve ever seen and everything was so beautifully placed and packed I have no idea how it survived in transit.

Enough lusting over the packaging details and onto the products:

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Murad – Pore and Line Minimising Hydrator – 10ml sample – £49.50 for 50ml

This claims to reduce the appearance of pores and repairs skin breakouts to reeal a more even skin tone. Recently, my skin has been very dry which has resulted in some industrial strength moisturiser from the Docs. Unfortunately this is quite thick and greasy, which has left me open (and my skin seemingly) to pores – something I’ve never really suffered with. Usually this would be thrown Gem’s way but not this time. After sampling some, it doesn’t feel too heavy on my skin which is nice and almost has a somewhat clinical smell to it. It was quite pleasant to apply so we shall see whether this proves to be useful after a few weeks of using it. At nearly £50 for the full size though, I’m not sure I’ll be splashing out on this any time soon.

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BlanX – White Shock Toothpase – 15ml sample – £7.50 for 50ml

Brains and I saw the TV advert for this the other week, and for some reason it really tickles Brains. Allegedly, this toothpaste reacts to light and the more it’s exposed the more chance your teeth have of becoming whiter. I’m really intrigued to see the results of this – having seen it advertised I presumed this would be another fad that cost £20-30 a tube, but I’m quite impressed by the price tag for the full size version. Now I’m spending a little more time out in the garden, I’ll be putting this to the test. It seems to smell and look like regular toothpaste which is also a bonus.

Heres the advert for a little chuckle:

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Nip+Fab – Post Workout Fix – Full size sample – £9.95 for 50ml

This is the largely the product that made me pick this box. I love Nip+Fab and am a huge fan of their Dry Leg fix which worked a treat. Only the other week Gem and I had a heavy gym session, which rendered us unable to walk down stairs or get back up from the loo due to significant muscle aching. I’m really looking forward to giving this a go after next weeks Gym sessions to see how it fares. The great thing about this – is that it’s almost like a roll on deodorant, so you just roll it straight onto the desired area. Easy peasy, which means you don’t have to slap on more cream resulting in slippy greasy hands. It smells like a combination of Mouthwash and BIO freeze, so I imagine the notion is quite similar to other muscle gels.

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Deep Steep – Moisture Stick in “Honeydew Spearmint” – Full size sample – £3.60 for 15ml

I was expecting a lip balm sized stick when I saw this on ordering, but actually its much bigger. This is supposed to hydrate even the driest of skin, so it should work in perfect harmony with mine. It recommends trying it on cracked hands, lips, cuticles, heels or elbows so looks like it’s fairly multi purpose – I also noticed when checking the ingredients that there was a little note saying “we do not test on animals” which also bumped up the brownie points. This is a little like a glue stick, but when rubbing the stick onto your fingers or desired area, a little bit of the product melts gloriously onto your skin and it feels so soft and silky. I’ve tried a little on my face and it seems to be faring well. I reckon this is going to be a great addition to my festival packing and at only £3.60, it’s probably worth dropping into my hand bag for when I’m out and about. Full on impressed!

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Quintessentially English – Bath Salts in “SummerSolstice” – 50g sample – £4.25 for 100g

I absolutely loath baths – but I do -love- bath salts, and like to use them to fill up my make-up brush containers. Not only do they give off a lovely smell, they keep the ends of my brushes smelling fresh too. I was expecting this to be a little bigger, but it’s not big deal. I have to say, the smell of these are just amazing. It’s infused with lemongrass, so you get that lovely lemony smell that’s not too overpowering. It almost makes me want to sit in the bath just to use it. I’m sure I will find a pot to give these little delights a home to!

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The Vintage Cosmetic Company – False Lashes in “Gracie” – Full size – £6

One of my fav bloggers reviewed these the other day and they looked so adorable. I never used to be into falsies, but ever since I started receiving them in my beauty boxes I’ve been brave enough to try them out and they really aren’t that bad to apply. These look super classy and I’ve really enjoyed a lot of the other things I’ve tried from The Vintage Cosmetic Company. Definitely going to be wearing these on my next evening out.

I’m really happy with this box and I know, with four boxes now I’m going to have to choose one of them to go! I’m going to see what next month has in store for Love me Beauty. If you’d like to get your hands on one of their boxes, head on over to their website here for just £10 plus £2.95 P&P.

If you haven’t already don’t forget to enter our competition to win MUA and Etos goodies!

Totally hellbent for trying out new boxes

-Pants