UNBOXING: You Beauty Discovery September 2014 – Birthday Special

The theme of this box was Birthday Special. We weren’t sure why until we realised that YBD is one year old! As our favourite subscription beauty box, we’re happy that its made it to this anniversary!

For their birthday, YBD offered a cracking selection, but we were actually away so had to choose from the leftovers. But no fear! YBD had included a birthday bonusload of extras, including a full size Toni & Guy Volumising Whip. How generous!

EYEKO: Hydrogel Eyepatch, 3g x 2
Value: £3.75

“For radiant bright eyes. Botanically infused eye patches that instantly brighten and revivie eyes for a wide-awake look. Concentrated anti-stress and anti-fatigue ingredients treat the delicate eye area visibly diminishing dark shadows and puffiness, leaving skin hydrated and firm. Revitalise tired eyes in just 20 minutes.”

OFFER: Thanks to YBD, you can get 20% off all products at Eyeko.com using the voucher YOU20 (valid until 31st Oct 2014)

BT INITIAL THOUGHTS: We love to try out fun things like this. Although this would have been better suited as an extra rather than an option, it’s a good brand, we’re optimistic!

Mavala: Mavadry Manicure Time-Save Fast Drying Nail Polish Finish, 5ml
Value: £5.00

“Mavadry dries nail polish in 60 seconds, prevents flaking, enhances nail colour and leaves a brilliant sheen.”

BT INITIAL OPINION – We only selected this because we missed the boat with ordering items for the box. Nevertheless, we’ve heard great things about this product and it’s a useful thing to have in our arsenal. We don’t imagine that it will get used all that often, but will come into its own when needed. Imagine that we’ll be super grateful to have it when we’re in a rush!

EXTRA TREATS:

TONI & GUY: Glamour Volume Plumping Whip, 90ml
Value: £6.99

“The ultimate hair treat to give your locks all-day body and bounce from the roots. The non-sticky formulation slifts hair for glamorous, voluptuous volume without any fl y-aways. Just apply a walnut-sized amount at the roots and blow dry to unleash beautiful sleek body throuhout the hair – the perfect prep for creating a volumised up-do.”

BT INITIAL OPINION – We would never have chosen this ourselves, but what a fun product! How can anyone not be happy to receive it? We look forward to trying this!

CRABTREE & EVELYN: Teabags x 2 – Blackberry Tea & Afternoon Tea
Value: £0.28

BT INITIAL OPINION – Who knew Crabtree and Evelyn did tea? We love teas. All teas.

UNBRANDED: Face Sponge
Value: Unknown, estimate £1

“Cute, handy – perfect for a post-summer make-up bag refresh.”

BT INITIAL OPINION – As a freebie, we can’t really complain. Can’t remember the last time we used a sponge like this though! With some incoming air cushions, could be a good backup for that?

HELLO FRESH: £25 discount card
Value: N/A

“Hello Fresh’s unique service delivers great healthy recipes and fresh ingredients to your doorstep each week.”

BT INITIAL OPINION: We always feel a bit conflicted about things like this – it is a generous discount, but at the end of the day is just advertising. It’s pretty relevant though and does further compliment the rest of this month’s offering, so we’ll let it pass 😉

OTHER OPTIONS:
Germaine de Capuccini: Excel Therapy O2 Continuous Defense Cream & Multi-Regenerating Rose Hip Oil
Pixi: Endless Silky Eye Pen
Pixi: Tinted Brilliance Balm
Perricone MD: No Foundation Foundation
Wild About Beauty: Nutrilips Colour Lipstick SPF15
John Frieda: Brilliant Brunette Colour Protecting Moisturising Shampoo & Conditioner
ARK: Body Butter & Shower Gel Duo
Sanctuary Spa: White Lily & Damask Rose Body Lotion

OVERALL VERDICT:

We were a bit gutted to have missed out on the Pixi and Perricone products, but this actually turned out to be a super fun box. It’s nice to try out products that aren’t the standard ones we’d usually go for and YBD had really outdone themselves with their birthday offering of extras. We look forward to YBD going from strength to strength this year!

Box price: £6.95 inc shipping
Total value: £17.02

Note: We paid for this You Beauty Discovery Box with our own hard-earnt pennies

Like the look of You Beauty Discovery? Sign up here http://www.youbeautydiscovery.co.uk

UNBOXING: You Beauty Discovery August 2014 – Summer Essentials

The theme of this box was Summer Essentials.

The selection varied wildly in value this month. We were lucky enough to get the premium products we wanted which was lucky as they were the only two we would have been really happy with. Hopefully YBD will improve the options in future.

EUCERIN: Sun Mattifying Face Fluid SPF50, 50ml
Value: £15.00 (full size product)

“A sun fluid for the face that has a three-dimensional protection system: It provides high UVA protection, UVB protection and biological cell protection which strengthens skin’s own cell protection and DNA repair mechanisms. The light fluid is suitable for combination to oily skin, and provides a non-shiny and non-sticky feeling, leaving a mattifying effect on the skin. Also suitable for sun sensitive skin.”

BT INITIAL THOUGHTS: We’re interested to see how this performs and how it looks/feels on the skin. We’re not entirely sure why you would want this above any other skincare product with high SPF or a normal sunscreen.

THE BEAUTIFUL TRUTH (review): This seems both a good product undergoing identity crisis…after using it during a period of 3 weeks alongside a normal sunscreen on our bodies and with and without makeup, we are not really sold on it. Mainly because we are not sure when/why to use it or therefore why anyone would buy it. Maybe we are missing something?. It is not without its merits – it is not oily and feels great on the skin (compared to an ordinary sunscreen). You can apply makeup pretty well on top of it, but it does feel heavier than a lotion with SPF and with continued use, made our combination skin slightly more oily. If it were waterproof, then we’d totally understand the benefit as it would be perfect for the beach, but as it is, we’re not sure why you’d use it in place of a high SPF BB cream or moisturiser, especially at the price. £15 for a relatively small bottle (which is plenty enough for a 2 week holiday)? we’d rather buy some Clarins 🙂

Score: 3/5…mainly because we can’t figure out why you’d buy it

GAZELLI: Triple Youth with White Oil Duo, 10ml (5ml x 2)
Value: £16.00

“Gazelli’s Luxury Discovery Set is the perfect one-week introduction to the Triple Youth Range, and includes an Ultimate Firming Serum and Intensive Age-Repair Cream to give your skin the ultimate rejuvenation.”

BT INITIAL OPINION – This has to be our first beauty product made in Azerbaijan! Just on this basis and the product’s luxe feel, we are excited to try this 🙂

EXTRA TREATS:

JIMMY CHOO: Eau de parfum and MAN Eau de toilette (2ml x 2)
Value: £3.59 (£1.92 + £1.67)

“Luxury in a bottle.”

BT INITIAL OPINION – We’re always happy to receive mini-sprays as these are useful when travelling and much better than tiny one-use samples. We like the inclusion of both the men and women’s variants. Nice touch 🙂

4-way Nail Buffer
Value: Unknown, £2 estimate

“On-the-go nail perfection.”

BT INITIAL OPINION – Some people got a lipstick instead of the nail buffer. As it’s just an added extra, we’re pretty happy with this nail buffer as it will get used, even if it is a bit bulky.

FACED 3-LURONICS: Instant Effect Cream Serum, 2ml
Value: £1.66

“Visibly reduced wrinkles and expression lines”

BT INITIAL OPINION – What a crazy named company! This product might be good, but doubt we’ll be wowed by this little sachet. Still, a nice extra.

OTHER OPTIONS:
Peggy Sage: Nail Polish (Summer & Nude Collections)
Rose & Co: Cherry Kiss Lip Balm
Daniel Sandler: Long Lasting Waterproof Eye Liner (Aqua)
Marsk: Gold Eyeshadow “Rich List”
Louise Galvin: Sacred Locks Treatment Masque
Justbe: Hydrating Serum

OVERALL VERDICT:

We think if we hadn’t got the items we’d really wanted, we would have been slightly disappointed with YBD this month. Not because it doesn’t deliver value for money, it always does – but because we’ve been so spoilt in previous months that we’re used to having a hard time making a decision between lots of fabulous products. As we managed to get the Eucerin and Gazelli, our luck was in this week…together with the 4 extras! The summer theme was tenuous, but we loved our box regardless. We would never have tried products like the mattifying sunscreen or potions from Azerbaijan without this service and YBD remains our favourite subscription beauty box.

Box price: £6.95 inc shipping
Total value: £38.25

Note: We paid for this You Beauty Discovery Box with our own hard-earnt pennies

Like the look of You Beauty Discovery? Sign up here http://www.youbeautydiscovery.co.uk

UNBOXING: Birchbox July 2014 – the one with a Porefessional (if you were lucky)

This month’s theme was Sun, Sea & Sand…very loose theme we felt!

We forgot to cancel our second Birchbox subscription, so ended up with two of these boxes and are able to do a side by side comparison! They were slightly different and we do have a favourite. See what you think…

BOX A:

Weleda: Millet Nourishing Shampoo 18ml
Value: £0.85

“Keep hair in top condition this summer with this natural organic fortifying shampoo.”

BT INITIAL THOUGHTS: Weleda is a good brand that we’d like to try, but this isn’t really a useful sample size, other than for perhaps a night or weekend away. We don’t think it will be enough to determine how good the shampoo is, but at least it’s still useful!

Balance Me: Wonder Eye Cream 7ml
Value: £9.34

“A light, hardworking formula to brighten the eye area and keep wrinkles at bay.”

BT INITIAL OPINION – This is a great brand, but we tend to find that eye creams don’t work as well as eye gels or serums on combination skin. We will still give this a try anyway.

Laqa & Co: Sheer Lip Lube Pencil, Bees Knees 2g
Value: £14 (full size product)

“A high-gloss pencil to add a pop of sheer, nourishing and wearable colour.”

BT INITIAL OPINION – We were really looking forward to trying out this chubby stick-esque lip tint. However, we were dismayed that Birchbox clearly ignored profiling as both the boxes we received had this colour tint, which was lighter than our own lips, rather than the dark pink that was going around and would have been much better. Sad pandas!

Gilchrist & Soames: English Spa Sea Kelp Extract Mineral Bath
Value: £1.91

“This delightfully foamy gel contains marine nutrient sea kelp to invigorate the skin.”

BT INITIAL OPINION – Erm. This is like OK…the kind of thing you get at an OK hotel? Not really at all exciting, but it is at least useful.

Compagnie de Provence: Mediterranean Sea Hand Cream 30ml
Value: £0.85

“This luxe, hydrating lotion direct from Provence hydrates hands and leaves them silky-soft.”

BT INITIAL OPINION – Again, just OK. Pretty indifferent towards this…but we’ll try it.

LIFESTYLE EXTRA:

ULTRADEX: Fresh Breath Oral Spray
Value: £3.65 (full size product)

“A handbag-friendly spray that kills harmful bacteria and keeps breath minty-fresh.”

BT INITIAL OPINION – Lol. Breath spray? Really? This would be an OK extra if the other items had been more exciting.

BOX B:

Whish: Three Whishes Lavender Body Butter 22ml
Value: £2.13

“Not your granny’s lavender – this sweet-scented antioxidant-rich lotino nourishes skin.”

BT INITIAL THOUGHTS:

Balance Me: Wonder Eye Cream 7ml
Value: £9.34

“A light, hardworking formula to brighten the eye area and keep wrinkles at bay.”

BT INITIAL OPINION – This is a great brand, but we tend to find that eye creams don’t work as well as eye gels or serums on combination skin. We will still give this a try anyway.

Laqa & Co: Sheer Lip Lube Pencil, Bees Knees 2g
Value: £14 (full size product)

“A high-gloss pencil to add a pop of sheer, nourishing and wearable colour.”

BT INITIAL OPINION – We were really looking forward to trying out this chubby stick-esque lip tint. However, we were dismayed that Birchbox clearly ignored profiling as both the boxes we received had this colour tint, which was lighter than our own lips, rather than the dark pink that was going around and would have been much better. Sad pandas!

Gilchrist & Soames: English Spa Sea Kelp Extract Mineral Bath
Value: £1.91

“This delightfully foamy gel contains marine nutrient sea kelp to invigorate the skin.”

BT INITIAL OPINION – Erm. This is like OK…the kind of thing you get at an OK hotel? Not really at all exciting, but it is at least useful.

Benefit: The Porefessional 7.5ml
Value: £8.36

“An award-winning primer that magically erases pores and leaves skin velvety.”

BT INITIAL OPINION – A great sample that we look forward to trying! Have heard great things about this and given we have combination skin, this is bang-on target for us. Yay!

LIFESTYLE EXTRA:

CHIA SHOT
Value: £0.49

“Bonafide superfood, packed with health-boosting omega 3, protein and more.”

BT INITIAL OPINION – This is a nice little extra that we’re curious to try. Would never had thought about buying this, so a great inclusion!

OVERALL VERDICT:

Well we only ended up with two boxes by accident but am pretty surprised by the marked difference in the boxes…the actual value weren’t too far apart, but Box B was so much more exciting in general, not just because it had a Benefit item, but because the actual selection was a well-rounded box, whereas Box A came across as containing unimpressive small samples of no particular quality.

We used to like Birchbox because everyone got the same thing – our general feeling is it that it’s fair enough for people to get different things but that should be in accordance with their profiling (didn’t get lipglosses that suit our colouring). But the products that differ should be of equivalent quality/value – here, rather than a Porefessional, in box A we got an 85p moisturiser (the equivalent in Box was the handcream!) Terrible.

Considering both boxes – this was an average offering from Birchbox. Judging solely by Box A, this was a lame month. Judging solely by Box B, this was a pretty good month!

Box price: £10.00 plus £2.95 shipping (rolling month by month subscription)
BOX A total value: £30.60
BOX B total value: £36.23

Note: We paid for this Birchbox with our own hard-earnt pennies

Like the look of Birchbox? Subscribe at www.birchbox.co.uk and you’ll get £5 worth of points! You’re welcome 😉

UNBOXING: Birchbox June 2014 – the one with the Beauty Blender

This month’s theme was Global Strikers. I think it pretty much lives up to this title – it’s definitely a heavyweight box!

The promise of a Beauty Blender (guaranteed with an offer) was enough to tempt us back onboard to Birchbox, who we felt offer a great service, but we found hard to justify in addition to the impossible-to-not-subscribe to You Beauty Discovery Box and Korean Service MeMeBox.

Anyway, we are very happy to be back with Birchbox and although we know we received one of the best variants (most but not everyone got a Beauty Blender), this box was a corker!

Naobay: Body Radiance Lotion 30ml
Value: £1.68

“A lemony fresh organic body lotion with shea butter, olive and avocado oils for soft skin.”

BT INITIAL THOUGHTS: Not amazingly exciting, but seems decent quality and a great size for popping in your handbag. We’ll use this.

Silk & Honey: Shea Butter Hair Mask 50ml
Value: £2.75 (£55 for a DIY kit to make 5 x 200ml tubs)

“This deeply nourishing mask protects and softens hair, while fortifying its elasticity.”

BT INITIAL OPINION – Interesting that this is a DIY kit, but the sample provided is already mixed. Again not too exciting, but have never heard of this brand and look forward to trying this natural product.

OPI: Nail Lacquer – The Brazil Collection (mini) 3.75ml
Value: £3.65

“A vibrant polish inspired by Brazil’s tropical rainforests and sandy beaches.”

BT INITIAL OPINION – love these little bottles! We would have preferred any of the other shades, but this is still a fun shade for the summer. Thanks Birchbox.

BeautyBlender: Beauty Blender + BlenderCleanser Solid
Value: £26.00

“An ingenius egg-shaped make-up sponge to ensure a flawless base – plus, a solid soap to clean it.”

BT INITIAL OPINION – BEAUTY BLENDER! Enough said. Lol. Love this…have never had the chance to try one, but know it’s a Holy Grail type product. We’re SUPER excited to use this 🙂 🙂 If it lives up to its reputation, this coule be the best item ever received in a beauty box…

Caudalie: Vinoperfect SPF15 Day Perfecting Fluid 10ml
Value: £9.03

“A light oil-free facial moisuriser to hydrate, brighten and even skintone.”

BT INITIAL OPINION -We don’t usually get along with Caudalie (the products do not seem to do much/justify the price), but we are happy to receive a decent sized sample in our box as we’ve not tried this product yet. Great to have more than one decent brand in a box.

LIFESTYLE EXTRA:

“A fun flip-flop keyring to brighten up your bag!”

BT INITIAL OPINION – Well it’s cute, but not giftable as it says Birchbox on it. Unlikely to use it because of this too.

OVERALL VERDICT:

The Beauty Blender alone makes this a standout box. Add in the Caudalie and it makes it amazing. OPI too and it could be the best box ever? The other items are all decent quality too…this is a very, very strong offering. Keep it up Birchbox. Seeing as you’ve won us back, hope this will be just the start of a beautiful long love affair.

Box price: £10.00 plus £2.95 shipping (rolling month by month subscription) – although we got this on a discount offer
Total value: £43.11

Note: We paid for this Birchbox with our own hard-earnt pennies

Like the look of Birchbox? Subscribe at www.birchbox.co.uk and you’ll get £5 worth of points! You’re welcome 😉

Beautiful Truths

Frank beauty opinions…where Far Eastern & Western beauty meet

2014

UNBOXING: You Beauty Discovery September 2014 – Birthday Special

UNBOXING: You Beauty Discovery August 2014 – Summer Essentials

UNBOXING: Birchbox July 2014 – the one with a Porefessional (if you were lucky)

UNBOXING: Birchbox June 2014 – the one with the Beauty Blender