APRIL GLOSSYBOX REVIEW!

Hey sugarplums! Hope you are all having/will have a lovely day today and thank you visiting my blog!

Let's get right into the review of this month's GLOSSYBOX! The box was the same beautiful, girly design as always - its no secret I love the design of the boxes, very pretty. The first product in the box was a set of STYLondon temporary white henna tattoos which retail for £5.99 on the stylondon website. I think these are a really nice addition to the box and they'll be perfect for summery occasions such as holidays and especially festivals! You apply them by cutting out the tattoo and placing a wet cloth over it on the area you want it to be for a few minutes. I don't think this is something I'd buy myself so its nice to receive it in the box.

The second product was an ESSENCE Mosaic Compact Powder which retails for £3.00 on the ESSENCE website. This bronzing powder is a mix of five different bronzing shades and I think it could look quite nice dusted over your skin when you have a tan. However, I don't usually buy ESSENCE products as I don't think the quality is very good - this isn't the worst product but it has slightly too much glitter rather than a subtle shimmer that I prefer. 

The third product in the box was the LEIGHTON DENNY Expert Nails Miracle Mist which is £12.00 and works to dry your nail varnish quickly. I absolutely love this as I'm so impatient when it comes to painting my nails and I always find myself fidgeting and ruining them. I think this is a genius product and I have not seen this type of product before in this spray-form. If this works as miraculously as it claims to, I think I would actually consider paying £12.00 for this as it would save me so much time and irritation painting my nails. I think this is possibly my favourite product from this month's box.

The fourth product in the box was a STUDIO 10 Brow Lift Perfecting Liner which retails for £22.00. Personally, £22.00 seems like a ridiculous price to me and I wouldn't have purchased this myself for that price! I'm not all too impressed with the eyebrow pencil anyway - I don't like the design of the product as you have to sharpen the pencil rather than it being a twisting liner. I don't think the brown shade which you use to fill in your brows is too bad but I find the 'highlight/lift' side to be too peachy-orange of a nude (for my paler complexion anyway). Its not a terrible product by any means but I don't think it is worth the price you pay.

The last product in the box was a sample (the rest of the products were all full-sized) of the Body Shop Oils of Life Intensely Revitalising Facial Oil which retails for £28.00. For some people that may be a ridiculous price which I completely understand, but for skin care I always find I am more willing to pay a higher-end price as looking after your skin is extremely important. I've wanted to try out this oil for a long time now and I think it is a brilliant sample to be provided in the box. It allows you to try out a more expensive product and then decide to buy the full-sized version rather than buying the full-sized version without being sure you'll like the product. The oil itself feels really moisturising and smoothing without being greasy and the scent is a slightly herby, fresh scent as oppose to a sweet scent. Brilliant!

You can also watch the video of my April GLOSSYBOX unboxing via the video below or through this link to my YouTube channel!

The overall value of the full-sized product in the box was £43.00 and I really like that you get a sample of a facial oil which is nearly £30.00! I think the products in this box have been a little hit-or-miss but I am overall happy with the variety of products provided!
As always, thank you for reading this post and watching the video if you have done! I appreciate every single view and supportive comment I receive its really encouraging. 
Lots of love to you all, 

Holly Amber X

GLOSSYBOX VS BIRCHBOX!

Hello to all of you lovely people!
I thought you might be interested in a comparison of the GLOSSYBOX and BIRCHBOX subscription services after being subscribed to both of these for a couple of months each as I have a lot of thoughts to share with you!

A little about both of these for starters; each of these monthly subscription services cost £10.00 + postage (which is a little more for GLOSSYBOX) for around 5 products and, if you subscribe to the monthly service where you pay each month, you can cancel your subscription at any time. They both offer a range of products including beauty, makeup and hair and when you sign up you fill out a 'beauty profile' for each which is meant to tailor the products you receive a little more to you as an individual. I have found that there seems to be a lot more variation in what people receive for BIRCHBOX each month than GLOSSYBOX so it may be that BIRCHBOX take into account these profiles you fill out when subscribing but I'm not completely sure.

Now onto the packaging; both of these are obviously boxes. I kept all of my GLOSSYBOX boxes as they were so sturdy and the perfect size to store makeup in - I also love the simple pink with black writing design, so pretty and girly. Although the BIRCHBOX designs are always beautiful, I never keep my boxes as they are quite small and they're not as sturdy as the GLOSSYBOX ones. Also, the products in the GLOSSYBOX boxes were packed with tissue paper as padding whereas the BIRCHBOX's only contain a bag the products come in (I personally think the bag is quite pointless). I've not had any of the products come broken is either of these anyway - I think I do prefer the GLOSSYBOX packaging overall. 

In both boxes there is a information leaflet (GLOSSYBOX)/booklet (BIRCHBOX) which contains information on the products, where you can purchase them, how much they cost and other general information like that. The BIRCHBOX booklet does have some other bits of information in and is a magazine-style in some senses with small articles on makeup or hair etc. However, I am mainly concerned about the products in the box so I slightly prefer the GLOSSYBOX leaflet.

Both of these services have a 'points system' but they are used slightly differently - for GLOSSYBOX, you can refer friends and complete surveys to receive points which you can collect to eventually put towards a free box (1000 points = £10.00) whereas BIRCHBOX gives points mainly for referring friends (some for surveys also) which can then be spent at the BIRCHBOX shop which has a large range of products (100 points = £10.00)! I do love both of these points systems, however, points can take a long time to save up on GLOSSYBOX and, for BIRCHBOX, the points only last for 6 months until they are wiped off and I also find the products which I want to use them on the most are always out of stock which is slightly disappointing.

Some products received
in my GLOSSYBOXES

Some products received
in my BIRCHBOXES

One main difference between the products received in these is that BIRCHBOX tend to provide many more samples than GLOSSYBOX (when I say 'samples' they are luxury-sized samples in my opinion). Although it is nice to receive full-sized products, I do find that BIRCHBOX provide products which are slightly more higher-end and a wider range of brands which is lovely to try out. I really enjoyed the products in my GLOSSYBOXES when I first signed up in September, however, my last few boxes were slightly disappointing because they were using brands such as MUA and ESSENCE which are extremely cheap and easy to get hold of anyway (Note: I do like some MUA products but I prefer to receive brands which I may not have tried before or which are slightly better quality as it is more exciting). 
It's really hard to decide between choosing a box which provides a wider variety but does so in sample-size or a box which is slightly hit-or-miss but provides more full-size products. I personally haven't re-purchased/purchased the full-size version of the things I have received as samples so I think I'd lean more towards the GLOSSYBOX products (very slightly).

I understand that beauty box subscriptions are going to be hit-or-miss because you never know what you're going to get and what you may love one month, another may hate or vice versa. I love receiving either of these a month as its so exciting and for only £10.00, you get to try out products which you may not usually purchase or that you haven't even heard of before. I'm currently not sure which subscription service I'm going to go with next month - I may even search around to see what other beauty subscriptions there are to try so if you have any suggestions let me know!

I hope this was helpful to anyone trying to decide between these two services! Lots of love and happy days to you all as always,

Holly Amber X