Birchbox | January 2018

So Birchbox is back! That lasted long, I just missed it too much to not get it anymore. The annoying thing is , is that I’ve lost my vip benefits, but then I don’t think the benefits are not that great anyway as Ive never received anything from it. I feel like this is a very summery box, I thought they would of gone with a more subtle theme for just after Christmas but I guess sponsors are sponsors!

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NUXE – Prodigieux Shower Oil | RRP £10.50

Now I used this product and didn’t even know that I had. This did nothing to my skin, it didn’t make it glow or leave a shimmer like it said it would in the pamphlet it came with, maybe I didn’t use it right or something just because Ive had the oil from nuxe and I love it so to me this should of been a great product as well? or is it normal for products from the same brand not as good as the other? I really love in shower products so I was really excited to use this product, I will be honest my skin did feel a bit smoother after but nothing that was massively different. Im not downing on this brand because I do love the  oil that I had received in a box before so maybe I got a duff one.

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PARLOR by Jeff Chastain – Moisturizing Sea Salt Spray | RRP £17.00*

Everytime I’ve used sea salt sprays my hair has gone very tacky and felt horrible so I was scared to use this product, It did say in the pamphlet that it wouldn’t leave a tacky texture. It did. Not as bad as I’ve had it before but it did leave a weird texture in my hair and actually made it difficult to brush my hair at some parts, This did leave a lovely wave in my hair though. I blow dried my hair so it was straight and then sprayed this in (It does say you can do it on either damp hair or dry! ) so I thought I would give it ago that way as I do normally have a wave in my hair so after I sprayed it in and crunched it a few times and let it dry it left a really nice beach waves look in my hair. I will say I’m very lucky and my hair goes like it normally when I leave it to dry so I probably wouldn’t use this product again just because I don’t like the texture it leaves but I would definitely recommend this to anyone that doesn’t have a natural wave in there hair.

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Afterspa – Amazing Makeup Remover | RRP £5.50*

This was an awful tester product, This was basically a scrap of cloth from left overs of the full products. There was pink little sort of fibres coming off of it. I will say I have these in full size, not from the brand after spa but a cheap brand from B&M bargains ( I did do a review previously on my blog ) and they work amazingly! This little sample did work well, it did remove my makeup fine there just wasn’t enough space to get all my makeup off. These are a great idea just because it saves on the waste of wipes going into a rubbish pile in the ground so I would suggest getting your hands on some. I just don’t think this sample size gave the brand a very good first impression because the sample was so rubbish.

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Lord & Berry – Blusher Crayon in Peach | RRP £15.00

I have tried Lord & Berry before and liked it so I was excited to try this product, I’m very fussy on blusher though but this colour was so lovely on my skin tone. Im very pale but this brightened up my cheeks so nicely! It was so smooth to blend into my cheeks as well which some times I find my makeup rubbing off because I’m blending too much but this one just blended on! This was very expensive for £15 as this was a full size but I feel like this would last a long time. Its also very buildable which I love in blushers just because I like a more subtle look sometimes but then sometimes bit more vibrant.

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Marcelle – Waterproof Eyeliner in Charcoal | RRP £10.99*

I love love love this! I always have the issue with eyeliner where I put it on my eyelash line and It prints onto my bottom line, which is a big hate because I have to rub it off through out the day but this one didn’t do that! It didn’t budge or smudge all over my eyes. It applied very well as well and felt very creamy. I would 100% buy this full size, its not too expensive at £10.99 either and if it went I didn’t have to check on my eyeliner all the time I would pay a lot more than £11.00! Would definitely recommend!

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Now this box was a lot of mixed feelings, some samples just didn’t work well for me, not sure wether it was me or the actual product to be honest. I feel like this blog post is me just moaning about a lot of the products, but I don’t want it to seem that way. I am just giving honest opinions on the box I received, so I hope its not to negative for you!

Hopefully next month will be much better!

I do have a referral link that will give you £5 off of your first box!

LINK : http://www.birchbox.co.uk/invite/2kcq2

I also have a 20% off OHH DEER Coupon!

CODE: BIRCHBOX

Much Love

Amy

xxx

 

 

 

 

*RRP correspond to full-size items

Glossybox | January 2018

Its another year and Its still another Glossybox! Im always so excited to open these I can never hold in my excitement, I know that I always get my moneys worth with glossy box as they always fill it with goodies! Heres my reviews of the products that were in this months box!

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Boots Beauty Beneath Supplements | RRP £39.99

Unfortunately I can’t review these as I haven’t been able to use these! There not suitable for vegetarians and they also have vitamins in which I’m already on tablets for. They actually say that they are suitable for pescatarians but after I looked on the back of packet they contain beef gelatine but they have actually sent out an email stating this to everybody so make sure your aware if you are a vegetarian! I am sorry that I’m unable to review these for you guys though!

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Apicia Cream Blush | £22.00

This has been one of the best blushes I have tried! This blush is a really nice pink and it works really well with my skin tone. Its a great blush to build so if you want a subtle look its possible or if you want a more darker blush you can also have it with this. It smoothes onto the skin really well and easy it doesn’t take a lot and its very long lasting. Its quite expensive for the size it is but I also do like the size. I probably wouldn’t buy this product just because of the price if it was cheaper I would probably buy it. Im also not sure wether its cruelty free… It contains Bee Pollen and doesn’t say anywhere if its cruelty free but it does say that it is 99.7% from natural sources, I might be dumb and not know wether that means it is or not but I looked online and haven’t been able to find out sadly.

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Evelyn Jona Cosmetics Green Tea Primer | RRP £22.00

I love this primer! It smoothes over the face really well and you really do have to use a tiny amount, It really helped with my pores as normally they can show through my makeup but with this primer it helped so much. I feel like it also helped with my redness on my face, it might of been because my makeup applied better. Its the winter so I also struggle with dry skin on my face and no matter how much I scrub my skin when I apply makeup it always comes back and with this primer it stayed at bay! So I didn’t get horrible flaky skin after I put on my makeup. I feel like the tube is half full, I’m not sure wether its just me or if it actually is though. The price is quite expensive for the size the same as the blush because this is a full size product again. I wouldn’t buy it just because of the price the same as the blush but if it was cheaper I would. Its also cruelty free which is great!

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Nail Medic Nail and Cuticle Energizer |RRP £5.99

This couldn’t of come at a better time! Ive recently grew my nails out and they’ve just started getting really brittle and breaking so I really needed a nail strengthener! This one worked wonders, I had only used it ones and there was already an improvement in how my nails were! Its just a nail on so you literally just put it on and wait for it to dry or you can rub it in, which I just let it dry on. Its a full size product and it was a decent size. For the price that it is and how well its helped my nails I would definitely buy it again and I would definitely recommend.

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Dr Botanicals Moroccan Rose Superfood Facial Oil | RRP £55.00

This was the first time I have ever used a facial oil on my face because I have probably the worlds most oiliest face. This time when I received it I decided to just give it a try because it says it would help with skin complexion and I hate my red patches on my face so thought I would just risk it! Its helped with the redness on my face so that was a massive plus also I had a few spots under the skin and they were so painful and they were gone after one application. I feel like it make my skin a little oily but that was expected as I already have oily skin. It also smells amazing! Im not sure wether it was this or something else in the box but it made the whole box smell amazing. This is so expensive so I really wouldn’t be able to afford it as its £55.00 for a full size bottle, so I will just make this small bottle last longer than it should, but it is a really good size as a travel size.

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I thought this was a really good box, it seemed a lot of cruelty free brands which is amazing. I hope they include more clearly cruelty free products. I know they have special vegan boxes that I could get but its more of every should use more cruelty free products!

You can get Glossybox for £10.00 + P&P each month and I couldn’t recommend it enough!

I also have a coupon code you can use to get 20% off your first box!

My coupon code to get 20% off is :  AMY-RFN

Much Love

Amy

xxx

 

Glossybox : July 2017

This Is my first ever Glossybox! Im so excited to share with you my reviews of the products and the overall review of glossy box as a company. The first box is half price with it coming too £8.25 including postage. Normally it costs £13.25 which Is just bit more than birch box.

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Bellapierre Cosmetics – Banana Setting Powder | RRP £25

When I read that this was called banana setting powder I thought that it was going to smell like banana, but it really doesn’t. Im not sure wether its supposed too or not but I love it either way! The fact that this is a full size product with the RRP of £25 is amazing! wether its like birch box or not where it says its a full size product and it actually isn’t, I’m not sure but this does seem like a decent full size product. I used this too set my under eye because I always struggle with my black under eyes coming through so I can never find a powder that helps with that and this one was amazing! I definitely recommend this!

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Spectrum Collections – Small Fan A10 | RRP £4.99

I love this brush! Ive wanted a fan brush for ages, so when I seen this was in the glossy box I finally decided to get glossy box for a tester. I love the colours of the brush, I love spectrum brushes full stop, just because I think they have colour matches for everyone which is great because even when you want a less colourful makeup brush they have them like the white and light grey collection. This brush is perfect for highlighting and contouring! Its the perfect brush!

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MONU Professional Skincare : MONUspa Soothing After Sun Lotion | RRP £19.95

Now because I live in the UK and I’ve already had my dose of British sunburn week, I haven’t been able to use this product just because its tipping It down in the UK. I just wish I had this about 6 weeks ago because I feel like this might of saved me! I will definitely test this when I forget about suncream and give a review though!

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Cutebalms : Macaroon Tint Balm in Crushed Berry | RRP £5.99

The packaging for this lip balm is so cute! I really like it, the colour is lovely as well you can apply it so its subtle or you can apply it so its more bright. It isn’t very smooth on your lips though I found it quite drying, It also smells like kids makeup so applying also feels like kids makeup. It is a very cute product I just wish they product on the inside had a better smell and that the application of the product was better.

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Papanga : Spiral Hairbands | RRP £4.99

These are ok, They really do help with pulling out hair, I don’t feel like a lot of hair gets wrapped around it so no hairs are left on the hair tie. They aren’t very tight either which is probably why no hair gets pulled out so that takes some getting used too as I’m used to the really tight hair ties. They are quite comfortable, like normally I lie against the wall and a hair tie is uncomfortable and I always end up having to take my hair out which with these you don’t really have too. They do also stretch out so they don’t stay as small so long which is probably because I have thick hair when it air dries. I would recommend this product if you don’t mind spending money out often for new less stretched ones.

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This was my first Glossybox and it definitly won’t be the last! I love birch box and I don’t want to compare them but I have seen people on birch box’s Facebook page complaining and saying that glossy box is better so thats why I finally decided to try it. I do love both though, I can see why people say glossy box is better just because the product do seem better and the presentation of the box is a lot better. I think glossy box is going to be a great box to receive every month though and I can’t wait to share it with you guys!

Much Love

Amy

xxx

Birchbox : July 2017

This months Birchbox is a Summer Daze theme! I really love the pattern of the box! It feels so summery and just makes me want to go on holiday, which is a bummer because I don’t have one planned. This month we were all treated too 6 lovely samples to try!

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Origins : RitualiTea Oolong-La Face Mask |RRP £32.00

I was so excited to use this face mask because I’ve heard of origins and have always wanted to try there products so when I got this in my birch box I was itching to try it! I used this face mask after getting home from work so this was so nice! Ill be honest I enjoy the sheet masks because there so easy to apply, this one you have to add two teaspoons of water and mix it which was a little annoying when you just want to apply it, but the effort was so worth it! It has made my skin so so soft its unreal. Its a couple of days after and my skin feels just as soft as to when this came off so you basically get a facial feeling face for days after! I feel it is very expensive but it would be worth it, its over my price range to buy though but I feel like it would last a long time seen as though my face still feels good days after!

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Catherine Malandrino : Style de Paris Eau de Parfum | RRP £50.00

I LOVE the smell of this perfume! It smells so nice, and expensive! Its a very warm smelling perfume which is what I like my perfume to smell like because I don’t like them too fruity, so this one is great, even my partner likes it and he’s very fussy when it comes to ladies perfumes. Its very over my price range for a perfume which is bit annoying as if it was bit cheaper I would look into buying the full size. I do really like the size product they gave out, its very small and will probably last one day but the smell lasts a long time so thats not a problem.

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Balance Me : Flash Cleanse Micellar Water | RRP £16.00

Ive used Balance me products before and I’ve always loved them so I wasn’t surprised that I loved this one as well! Ive had stressed breakouts so this helped clear it up so much, I love that its natural products as well. It does seem to soap up on the cotton pad but I feel like it really helped to get into your skin as my skin was tingly after so it feels very nice on your skin. I would look into buying this for a full size product as I don’t find its too expensive for a micellar water.

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Rituals : Hammam Delight Foaming Shower Gel | RRP £4.50

For some reason I saw this product as a shaving gel, lord knows why as its clearly stated on the bottle and in the leaflet that comes with the box that its a shower gel, I even looked it up online to see if it was cruelty free and still thought it was a shower gel. But with that being said I used it as a shaving gel before finding this out and it was actually amazing, I feel like I would buy this just to be a shaving gel as it really helped to make my legs and underarms so smooth! Using it as a shower gel was great as well, the smell is a little bit too strong but it really does help to make your skin smooth as using it as a shower gel. I am going to be buying this full price as I really enjoyed this product!

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Benefit Cosmetics : Chachating Lip & Cheek Stain | RRP £25.50

This months box had Benefit in again which I was so excited for! This was the product that you could choose between the different colours and I chose the cha cha one as I felt that was more suited for me and I haven’t really got a lip or cheek product that has this colour. I really love the lip and cheek tints I think there so useful and subtle on the lips, It also helps with saving space in your makeup bag as its two in one! I love these and have multiple different colours of the lip and cheek tints.

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Percy & Reed : Perfectly Perfecting Wonder Overnight Recovery | RRP £20.00

I really liked this product! I love the fact that you put it in overnight and it stays in all night, I think thats so useful for someone with a busy life. It didn’t ‘disappear’ like they say it does when you put it in, it does sort of go wet in your hair but it does dry after a while and it doesn’t get your pillow wet or leave any stains or mess on the pillow so thats a plus, I think this is a really handy thing to have in your beauty products if your a busy person or just if you enjoy using different beauty products.

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I Loved this box! This box was really easy to use the products because I use all these things. I feel like birch box is definitely worth the money, if you want to try products out before you spend a lot on the big products its great for you which is what I enjoy to do, I like to try things out before I make a massive purchase and birch box is great for that because they give samples from expensive companies the same as a little cheaper companies. Now I have to choose which Spectrum Makeup brush I want next month!

Much Love

Amy

xxx

Birchbox : May 2017

It’s May already! So its already time for my review of this months Birchbox. I loved the design on the box this month, I’m keeping it the same as I did last month ( I just hope this doesn’t become a reacurence )

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Benefit Cosmetics : The POREfessional Matte Rescue|RRP £23.50

Iv’e always been a fan of benefit products they’ve always worked out for me like the mascaras and tints. This one has always been a go to for me as I’ve used this before, It is very pricy but I would pay full price (I’ve only ever been able to afford the small tubes) It always works well on my acne prone skin, it helps my skin to look less oily for much longer than normal products. The size of this product is really great, its good for traveling but its larger than there normal small size products. This was a really good product to come from Birchbox!

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Doucce : Punk Volumizer Mascara | RRP £18

This is my first time trying a product from this brand. Apparently it was a birch box exclusive! Im quite fussy with mascaras because Im not a fan of ones that clump your eyelashes together, so its quite difficult to find one that doesn’t do that as everyone seems to like that type of eyelash at the moment. This one was great! I didn’t put an eyelash primer on underneath and it worked really well! I would consider buying the full product but it is the same price as Clinique and I would prefer the Clinique one but this one is still great on its own. I wouldn’t say it didn’t give my lashes more volume but it didn’t clump my eyelashes so that was all that mattered for me so if your someone looking for one that can help with that maybe this one isn’t for you.

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Kueshi : Hair Mask Shine & Volume | RRP £10.50

This was a decent product. Lets just say I wouldn’t buy it, it made my hair too volumised for my liking, some people would like a product like that so if you like your hair to have volume this product does work. Its just not for me as I don’t like having volume to my already thick frizzy hair! I felt like it also made my hair very knotty which for a conditioner should do the opposite but that might be because of the dye build up on the bottom of my hair not suiting this product as normally my hair isn’t knotty so it might just not work well with this product. I personally wouldn’t buy the full size product of this but if your looking for very volumised hair then this is the product for you!

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Marsk : Mineral Eyeshadow in Fifty Shades | RRP £14.49

To be honest, I really don’t like the colour, but that is completely on me because I hate black eyeshadows, I find it hard to find an eyeshadow I like as it is and a black one to be is just completely off the ball! To be honest I haven’t tried this product just because I can’t ever wear black eyeshadow, I tried it on the back of my hand and it applied really well but other than that I can’t give an honest review of it. Only that I don’t understand why birch box didn’t let everyone choose which colour everyone would like because the difference between black and the light white colour they had is completely different and I would of used the whiter one but this one I can’t use which is a shame.

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Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics : Lip Tar Primer | RRP £15.00

I like this product. I feel like its worth buying instead of lip balms because it kept my lips very hydrated throughout the day and I didn’t feel the need to apply lip balm which obviously saves time throughout the day and saves product as I didn’t have to use it multiple times. I didn’t try it under lipstick because I’m not much of a fan but as it says on the product you can just use it as a lip balm so thats what I’m going to use it for. I would possibly by this product again it is very expensive for the size of It but I imagine it would be bigger for the price as they give testers so I would possibly see what size the full size is.

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I liked this box, its not amazing but its been better than the others, I just wished they had asked which colour you wanted for the eyeshadow then it would of been my favourite! I loved the box design thats definitely my fave because Im a massive fan of marble! Ive kept this one as well as the Boden one because they are very good to keep little odd things in and the designs are really nice!

Much Love

Amy

xxx

Birchbox : April 2017

This is Aprils Birchbox! I failed to upload last months as a lot was going on but I’m back to my normal routine!

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This is the ‘Luseta Beauty Keratin Smooth Conditioner’ and it retails for £5. I was bit confused as to wether this product would work with it not having a shampoo companion but I figured I would just try it with my normal conditioner and It was really great. The smell of the product is really nice, it doesn’t really leave a lasting smell on your hair though which is a bummer. It did smooth out my hair really well, Ive gone through troubles with flyaway with my hair lately and this product really helped! For the price of the full size product I would definitely buy because It’s quite cheap and It was a product that would really well for me!

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This is the ‘Polaar IcePure gentle scrub with arctic cream’ and the full size product retails for £23.50. This product doesn’t smell nice, well I’m not a fan, It doesn’t leave a lasting smell on the skin though so its fine. I liked this product, I don’t feel like it was amazing as it goes for in shower scrubs but as I’m a fan of the lush scrub this doesn’t even compare. Its not a heavy scrub so I don’t feel like it really does anything. It does leave the skin more moisturised but other than just putting on a moisturiser its not a product I would buy out for.

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This is the ‘Manna Kadar Cosmetics High Definition Powder’ and it retails for £27. This was the special product that everyone could choose there type that they would like and I chose the high definition powder because it sounded like something I would use more than the other choice. I was angry about this product it sounds stupid but being told that something the size of your pinky is a full size product can make you a little annoyed. I couldn’t even fit my brush into the powder its that small. It doesn’t even really do anything either, it doesn’t make my skin look any better or any worse. I 100% wouldn’t buy it as its such a stupid size. It’s a product I will probably end up just throwing out.

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This is the ‘Baija Paris Creme Moana In Fleur De Tiare’ and it retails for £15.90. This product is a French based company as you can tell by the name. This was my Favourite product this month, I LOVE IT! The smell from this lotion is amazing! I got a little bit on the bottle on the outside as I was using it and because I put it back into the box my whole birch box smells so nice! It rubs in so quick and doesn’t leave a horrible sticky feeling which is one reason why I hate body lotion. The smell lasts a hell of a long time as well which makes It even better as its basically a perfume at the same time. I will definitely be buying this product!

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This is the ‘ModelCo Eye Define Crayon Liner’ and it retails for £11 which for a eyeliner can be seen as expensive. Its a good Eyeliner, just nothing special, it does the same as what the others do which is smudge on the bottom eyeliner when thats not were you want it to be which is one thing I was hoping wouldn’t happen with this one. I would rather just buy a cheaper one that does the same really!

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This months birch box looked so pretty! I loved the box pattern so much! The products were decent it was just the powder that was very bad and thats just because of it being ‘full size’ I’ve seen a lot of complaints online about its towards birch box so hopefully they would sell another tiny product with it being full size! Other than that it was a really good box!

Much Love

Amy

xxx

Birchbox Subscription Box February 2017

Birchbox is a monthly subscription box service that provides you with 5 different sample products! It retails for £12.50 to the UK. There’s also a full site online that you can buy the full size products. You have to fill out a questionnaire which sets you to which products they will send you depending on what you like and use, for example if you suffer with oily skin they wont send you anything that you wouldn’t be able to use! Which is great because then all 5 products is something you would actually use.

This Is Birchbox’s February edition!

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For Subscribing In February I got a free ‘ Smith & Cult , The shining Lip Lacquer ‘ which Is a very expensive free product as I looked It up and Its $24! It’s a lip gloss which I’m personally not a fan off, sometimes I can use them but this one seems very sticky so I don’t think I will be using this a lot but the colour Is so nice so I will be looking for this colour but in a matt lipstick instead.

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This Is the ‘Spectrum Marbleous c06 Tulip Eye Contour Brush’ which retails for £5.99. Its a really nice brush, its not too soft but its soft enough so its really great on your eyes. I like the nice simple white handle as well with the slight rose gold top. The brush is very good for putting eye shadow on the bottom of your lash line as well which i always struggled to get that thin line on the bottom from using the wrong brushes. Its very good for shading with different colours as well by the different angles of the brush. I’m definitely looking into buying the other brushes in the collection.

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This is the ‘Pop Beauty eye shadow trio’ and it retails for £15.50 for the larger pallet that includes this colour .The colours are so nice all together! I’m not sure whether it was the brush i was using but it seemed as though you had to swatch it a few times before it came off on the brush but that’s the only negative about it. Its quite long lasting without a eye primer and they blend so well together. Its really small and compact so its easy to fit in depending on if your travelling or just a small piece in your makeup collection. Its good to use for everyday or on a night out. I would be interested to see more of there three piece or larger sets.

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This is the ‘ Daily moisture Conditioning Spray ‘ and it retails for £11.50 for a larger bottle as they send a sample size .  Its to help with frizz and knots in hair. Its such a nice smell product and that would be the only reason i would use it. It did help with knots and frizz but i found that my hair went very stiff like and it seemed greasy. By the end of the day my hair felt so knotty and horrible i wanted to wash it again. The smell of this product is the best thing but then it doesn’t stay after you dry your hair so it doesn’t last long. I also find that my curls didn’t stay in my hair as long because of how knotty my hair turned out. I wouldn’t buy this product on its own because to my hair it doesn’t suit.

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This is the ‘ Huile Podigieuse oil’ and it retails for £17.00 for 50ml which this one is smaller but its also a sample size.  I’ve only used this on my hair as my face has a very oily completion and my body skin is quite sensitive but i always use oil on my hair. I found this was very nice and the smell of the product is so nice! I could sit here and smell the bottle all day. It helps to smooth out frizz a lot. But like the moisturising spray the smell doesn’t stay for long which is just annoying because its such a nice smell. The dispensing of the product isn’t too great just because it doesn’t have a pump which is always easier when it comes to oil. I would recommend using this product if you suffer with crazy frizzy hair like me and it has a multi use product with being able to use it on your hair,body and face!

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This is the ‘ Keeome Hydration Therapy Mask ‘ and it retails for £29.00 for a pack of size, but this is just a sample size. I found that this face mask was really refreshing. I’m not a fan of sheet masks as I feel there stronger on my sensitive skin but this one was quite gentle. I think there very expensive for what they are as i feel like there the same as any other mask, even though these are more gentle on my skin. I also didn’t get much sleep this week so I feel like it really helped with giving my skin more energy! I’m not sure whether I would buy them separately maybe to have as a treat every now and then but they are over my price range to use weekly. Overall I think there a very nice product and would also be a nice treat present for someone.

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Overall I really love Birchbox! This was my first Birchbox as I wanted another subscription box to review for this blog and I really wish I had ordered it before! Its really nice sized products to just try different things so if you don’t like a product you don’t have a full product bottle to use up. The Birchbox site is so easy to use as any of the products that are in the box are on the website to buy. The way the Box is presented is so nice as well, the trouble is, is that as a hoarder of nice looking things I dont want to get rid of the box!

Much Love

Amy

xxx