OCTOBER GLOSSYBOX REVIEW!

After being so impressed with my first glossybox, I was beyond excited to receive my second!

October GLOSSYBOX.

As always, the box was beautiful in itself and the packaging of the products. I love the simple, baby-pink and black colour scheme of the box - so simple but so pretty!

Upon opening the box, I found a very exciting leaflet about glossybox teaming up with NARS in November where subscribers can receive a special box of NARS products for only £30! An option to sign up for the sales information of this box can be found here and the box's go on sale on the 16th of November - absolutely thrilling!

The first product I picked up in my box was the NICKA K Airbrush Blending Sponge. 

NICKA K Airbrush Blending Sponge.

I LOVE THIS SPONGE.

The domed-shape is perfect for blending into the small areas such as around the nose and under the eyes. You can use this is a rolling motion to give a flawless finish on your foundation and it does not absorb much of the product into the sponge which I was pleasantly surprised about. 
Like other blending sponges, it is advised to dampen the sponge and squeeze out the excess water before use to prevent it from absorbing any product.
It can be purchased on the Beauty Crowd Website for £6.50 and I definitely would recommend it! As an added bonus, the colour is gorgeous and overall, I'm very happy with this product.

TALIKA Photo-Hydra Day Cream.

The second item I looked at in my box was the TALIKA Photo-Hydra Day Cream. The instructions for use are: "Apply in the morning to a thoroughly cleansed face, neck and décolleté." 
The cream itself is quite thin (and works very well as a primer) and doesn't have a very strong, if any, scent at all which I do like in a day cream. I find that, if a scent is quite strong, it can become overwhelming and sickly having it on your face all day. 
The consistency of the product means it applies smoothly and absorbs quickly whilst still being moisturising and I much prefer a thinner face cream for daytime use so my skin doesn't feel too thickly-covered. The only thing I dislike about this product is that, as far as I can see, it doesn't have SPF in it which I think is vital for an everyday moisturiser. For this reason, I would probably apply a product with SPF under this (such as my N-SPA brightening day-cream with SPF 15) and then use this as a primer before my make-up.
This can be purchased at BOOTS for £43.50 (for the 50ml version).

So Susan Haute Light Highlighting Pencil.

The next (and least favourite) product in the box was the SO SUSAN Haute Light Highlighting Pencil which is a peach-hued colour. In the description of this product, it is described as a "creamy crayon (which) flatters everyone and can be used in numerous ways". 
I do not dislike this product completely, but I do not think the consistency is very "creamy" and I struggled to use it along the inner-rim of my eyes like the instructions suggested.
However, to use on the brow-bone or cheek-bone, the colour of the product is very pretty. I will probably go on to use this as a base highlight for my cheekbones which I will then apply a powder highlight over the top of. 
The packaging of the product is absolutely gorgeous but I just do not, personally, like using pencil highlights anyway.
This can be purchased on the SO SUSAN Website for £14.95. For this price, I wouldn't re-purchase this or recommend it to somebody else.

Lanolips 101 Ointment.

The next product in my glossy box was the LANOLIPS 101 Ointment. The baby pink packaging with gold text is very appealing and the product itself contains 100% pure medical grade lanolin (this is a natural ingredient found in sheep's wool which has protective and moisturising properties). 
"Lanolin is an excellent moisturising ingredient for dry skin, as it emulsifies water on the skin and holds it there; its cushioning, plumping effect is noticeable."
It is a multi-purpose treatment but I think I will be using it primarily on my lips throughout winter where the weather can be extremely drying and damaging. Although I don't mind this product being unscented, it would be nice for it to have a mild scent (such as a fruity scent) as I like this in other lip balms/treatments but it is still my favourite product in the box this month.
This can be purchased at BOOTS for £10.99 and I definitely recommend it!

Jelly Pong Pong Fairy Lashes Mascara.

The last product in my Glossybox was the JELLY PONG PONG Fairy Lashes Curl Mascara. I was so happy to see this brand in my box as I've previously used some of their other products and loved them (so I had high hopes for this).

It definitely didn't disappoint me! Although I wouldn't say that it is extremely volumizing, I definitely noticed as increase in length and it curled my lashes beautifully so I was very happy with it for everyday use. It is also very build-able for someone who would prefer a more volumized look.

As an added perk, I LOVE the packaging of the Jelly Pong Pong products - very appealing. 

The mascara brush itself was a nice shape for coating every eyelash right from the root and was also good for the bottom lashes as the brush wasn't too big.

This can be purchased on the JELLY PONG PONG website for £17.95 and I do believe it is worth the price.

Overall, the total cost of the products in my box was just over £72.00 which is amazing for the price you pay for the whole box being just £10.00! If you are interested in signing up for the monthly subscription, I'd really appreciate it if you did so through this link as I receive reward points :)

Thank you so much for reading!

Holly Amber x

MY FIRST (SEPTEMBER) GLOSSYBOX! REVIEW.

I've been super excited to receive my first glossy box after hearing so many good things about the subscription. 

Glossybox is a monthly subscription service where you receive 5 make-up products (mostly full-sized) for just £10.00! After hearing about this from a friend, I thought that paying just £10.00 for over £60.00 worth of products was a no-brainer and signed up to try it out - I am not disappointed. 

First of all, the design and packaging of the box is beautiful! A very simple but attractive design. When you first open the box, you find a card of information with all the products on - this describes the product and also gives you the normal price of the product and where it can be purchased from. 

Underneath this is the best part; the 5 beauty products.

The first item I picked out was a beautiful, nude-pink nail varnish called UPTOWN from NAILSINC. This product was full-sized and can be purchased from www.nailsinc.com for £11.00. 

The first thing to point out is that, just this nail varnish alone, is more than what you actually pay for the whole box! 

The nail varnish itself dried very quickly which is perfect for people like myself who get frustrated waiting for their nail varnish to dry. The consistency of the product was a little thin which made it slightly harder to apply neatly but apart from that I loved everything else about the nail varnish. The colour itself looks so pretty on my nails and has a slightly matte-finish but for £11.00 I don't think I would be purchasing this myself.

The next product in my box was the traceless invisibobble hair ring which can be purchased on amazon for around £4.00. Although this was the cheapest product in my box, this was probably my most useful one and I have actually been meaning to get some of these for a while. These bobbles are easy-to-use, prevent kinks appearing in the hair and reduces the chance of split ends whilst still having a strong grip on the hair. 

For someone like myself who regularly gets headaches from having their hair up, this is the perfect hair tie as it puts a lot less tension on the hair than a normal hair tie would. 

The third product in my box was MARIA NILA Luminous Colour Hair Masque which was also a full-sized product. This would usually be £18.95 and can be found on www.sallyexpress.com.

I wasn't crazy about the packaging of this product at first but the pomegranate scent of the product itself is gorgeous. 

This product is for colour-damaged hair which needs deep nourishment or coloured hair which needs colour protection to sustain it. 

I also have a 20% off code on Maria Nila products on the www.sallyexpress.com website if you are interested in trying out any for their products: GLOSSYMN (valid until 31/10/2015).

The next product in the box was MARSK Eyeshadow Brush pro which is (obviously) full-sized and can be purchased on www.marsk.com for £16.70. 

The brush is shaped to a pointed end and has tight, compact bristles. It gathers eyeshadow really well and deposits it onto the eyelid accurately. It's perfect for applying a base coat of eyeshadow which you can then go on to blend out for a smokey look.

The final product in my glossybox was a BELLAPIERRE COSMETICS Shimmer powder in the colour WHESEK.  The colour of the powder is a shimmery grey-silver which is the perfect base colour for a smokey-eyed look. This is a full-sized product which can be purchased on www.bellapierre.co.uk for £12.99 where they have a range of beautiful, pigmented colours. I would definitely purchase another one of these in a different colour as the quality of the product is wonderful and a little of this powder goes a long way; this means it will last you a decent amount of time and therefore, is worth the price you pay. 

I am extremely happy with this month's GLOSSYBOX where the products I received totalled at £63.64 and I really do suggest you take a look at their subscription service too. If you are interested in signing up for their subscription, please do so through my personal link (www.glossybox.co.uk) as I receive GLOSSYBOX points which you can collect to receive a free box :)

Thank you so much for reading!

Holly Amber x