A Late Unboxing Of Glossybox UK - March 2021 Edition - Pretty Pleasures*

After a little break where I posted some slightly different content, I'm back today and I'm playing catch up again!

Even though our thoughts are now heading towards Autumn and dare I say it, even Christmas, let's take a trip back to the newness, and the hope that springtime brings, as I share with you my thoughts on the March 2021 edition of Glossybox UK.

After the retro cassette tape design of February's "Sing, Dance, Love Repeat" box, March's box saw a return to the classic design and the traditional pink and black colour way.

As per usual the information leaflet gave us not only the lowdown on the products inside the box, but it also revealed the theme of March's box which was "Pretty Pleasures". The contents was specially selected to remind us of the newness and prettiness of Spring, providing us with a range of pretty pastel tones products that would look great and make us feel great.

Figs & Rouge Satin Soft Blurring Primer & Finishing Fix - 30ml - Full Size - RRP £38

I think I've mentioned this before but I can never quite decide whether primers are actually skincare products, or make up products. It's a tough one isn't it? Especially since the majority of primers now contain a whole host of skincare ingredients.

So whether it's make up or skincare, the first item in March's box was a primer and a finisher from UK based, ethical and vegan skincare brand Figs & Rouge.

Containing marshmallow root extract, arctic cloudberry, hyaluronic acid and beta hydroxy acid, this silicone free primer can be used both under and on top of make up, and is designed to blur imperfections, banish shine, minimise pores and prevent blemishes.

Packaged in a gorgeous pink and gold tube, the primer itself is pale pink in colour and it has a thin, liquid, almost serum like texture.

After cleansing and moisturising, you just pat a tiny amount of this subtly sweet smelling primer over your face, concentrating on the t-zone. It is super lightweight and absorbs into the skin almost straight away, leaving it feeling smooth and silky, without the heaviness and tackiness that you can often experience with silicone based primers.

Straight From Tube

Slightly Blended Out 

I tried and tried to capture the effect on my face but for some reason you could never quite see what I was seeing in real life. In the mirror I noticed a definite mattifying effect, and an almost blurring of my skin texture, which you can just about see in the swatch photograph below.

When Fully Absorbed

This primer just made my skin look smoother and more perfected. Since it was so lightweight it was a perfect base for foundation. I used it with a liquid foundation and there was no heaviness, stickiness or separation, just a really smooth finish.

Not only is this a primer though, it can also be used as a finisher to help set your make up, and to blot down shine. I used it on top of both a liquid foundation and a loose powder, lightly patting a tiny amount onto my t-zone. It was lightweight enough not to really disturb the make up underneath , and it didn't cause any pilling or separation, it just tamed the oiliness and helped to blur the obvious pores on my nose.

I completely understand the pull of silicone based primers, they create an almost glass like, velvety finish, they you foundation pretty much sticks to, but sometimes they can feel a bit heavy and to be honest they can sometimes make my oily bits feel even more oily, which is why, especially lately, I seem to moving more and more towards silicone free, and more lightweight primers like this one.

Not only does the more liquid texture and lack of silicone of this particular primer, feel lighter on the skin, but it also does exactly what you would want it to, pores are less obvious, oiliness is reduced, it's a great make up base, and it just makes your skin look better.

With an RRP £38 this isn't the cheapest primer on the market, but if it sounds like a texture that you might like, then it's well worth it. You can buy it exclusively from Amazon UK via Figs & Rouge.

Nails Inc Nail Polish - Palace Gardens - 10ml - Full Size - RRP £11

I love me a nail polish but whether it's down to logistical reasons, or whatever, you don't actually see that many nail colours in subscription boxes, so its always a bit of a bonus for me when you get one, even if like this one, it's a polish that you already own.

I have a lot of nail polishes and I probably own more Nails Inc polishes than any other brand, so I guess it's not real surprise that I already had this colour in my collection.

In the old style, cylindrical bottle Nails Inc Palace Gardens, is a dusky, duck egg, blue, grey colour.

Unlike the now common Nails Inc thick brush with a slightly curved edge, this brush had a slightly curvy edge but it was quite thin and a touch straggly, and as a result it wasn't that easy to control. The polish also seemed quite thick so it wasn't the easiest nail paint that I'd ever done.

Probably because of the thickness of the polish, the coverage was excellent, it was pretty self levelling, and you couldn't really see any brush strokes. I could potentially have just got away with one coat. especially since the polish was quite slow drying, but as per usual for full coverage I went for two coats, and as per usual since I was reviewing the polish - no top coat.

It had a lovely glossy finish, and I loved the colour and finish even on my relatively short nails, but to be honest this wasn't the best Nails Inc polish that I'd ever used. As I saw the brush and the formulation just weren't what I've come to expect from Nails Inc, and the wear time wasn't up to scratch either with the first chip appearing after less than 24 hours wear!

I sometimes wonder if brand like Nails Inc manufacture products like this especially for brands like Glossybox at a lower price, and they just aren't the same quality as their normal full price products. Strangely enough the other bottle of Palace Garden that I have was a magazine freebie in a similar cylindrical bottle, so who knows?

It's a real shame either way as this is such a pretty colour and Nails Inc as a brand is usually fairly reliable.  Other than the secondary market this particular polish is nearly impossible to find, although you maybe ben able to find in the new style bottle in the Nail Kale formulation.

Beautaniq Beauty Nourishing Mascara - 8ml - Full Size -RRP £15.00

Next up a make up product, and pastel theme continues, not in the Beautaniq product itself but instead in the pink and duck egg blue packaging.

I honestly thought that I'd tried more from this brand, but I can only find one other review from them, and it was for a pair of beautiful angel wing under eye patches, that I received in the June 2020 edition of Glossybox UK.

If you haven't heard of them Beautaniq are a cruelty free, plant based, earth loving, sustainable, UK manufactured, make up and skincare brand.

The product that I received in March's box was the Beautaniq Beauty Nourishing Mascara. Containing nourishing ingredients such as camellia oil, and almond oil, which are both rich in vitamin E and Oleic acid, this mascara claims to add volume, thicken, lengthen, and curl the lashes, as well as separating, defining and evenly coating every single lash

Beautifully boxed, this mascara is packaged in a squeezy tube. Although in my experience they do dry out a little bit more quickly than conventional mascaras, I am actually a fan of squeezy tube mascaras because you do same to waste less product, and from the start to the finish it's really easy to get the product onto the brush.

The consistency of the mascara was good, it wasn't too wet and it wasn't too dry. The mascara comes with a nice, traditional, full bristle spoolie. It was really easy to apply, the coverage was good, and the spoolie did a really good job of separating the lashes.

I'm wearing two coats in both of the after pictures - 1 coat gave a really, really natural separated look, where as two gave a more noticeable separated, fuller, longer, darker, lash look, so it's definitely a mascara that you can layer up for more of an impact. I haven't used a lash comb in these pictures and as you can see there is virtually no clumping or blobbing.

Before

After

There was a tiny bit of transfer at first but bar a tiny bit of under eye smudging towards the end, I got a good 5 hours plus of wear out of this mascara on a pretty warm day. By and large it stayed put and it felt comfortable on my lashes and it didn't made them feel dry, stiff or heavy.

Before

After

Although it's fairly buildable, this isn't the most dramatic mascara that you'll ever see but it is a great everyday mascara that again does what it says it does. I was particularly impressed with the separating aspect and the fact that it doesn't clump or dry out the lashes.

Glossybox put a price of £15.50 on this product, and whilst it was £15 as of September 2022 it's actually now £19 on the Beautaniq website, all be it though in a different outer box. 

So Eco Complexion Sponge - Full Size - RRP £6

From a make up item to a make up applicator, and this time, in keeping with the pastel theme it's a another make up sponge.

I've had a few make up sponges from Glossybox now but this one is a just a little bit different - So Eco are a UK based make up brush, and beauty tool and accessory brand, which produce a wide range of products that are approved by PETA, and as well as being cruelty free, their products are also made to the highest ethical and sustainable standards, and their packaging it also made from ethically sourced, compostable, recyclable, and biodegradable materials. They also support the charity Tree Nation, planting one tree for every 100 products that they sale, so this is probably the most ethical sponge in my collection!

Their complexion sponge is in the traditional, almost pointed egg like design with a large rounded end, and a pointed tip. It felt nice and dense, whilst at the same time super soft, and lightweight.

The larger rounded end is great for applying foundation, and as I often use it for, loose powder, to larger areas, where as the slightly pointed tip is great for smaller areas such as around the eyes and nose.

This sponge washes incredibly well, and whilst there is a little bit of staining, which is probably down to the pale colour of the sponge, it's still going strong after around 3 months of use without cracking or splitting.

There are loads of sponges like this on the market at all different price points, but if you want to go for a more ethical option from a company that gives back, this one could be worth trying. It retails at £6 and is available from a variety of retailers including Beauty Bay, Look Fantastic, Holland and Barrett, HQ Hair and Tesco.

Lord & Berry Line / Shade Eye Pencil - #221 Travel Black (Dark Black) 0.7g - Deluxe Mini - Est. RRP £10

Ah my nemesis, eyeliner! To be fair though after creams and gels, for me at least pencils are probably the next easiest to use - although you probably can't tell that based on my pictures ;)

From affordable artistry brand Lord & Berry, this is a deluxe size of one of the many different type of eyeliner that they sell.

In the shade Travel Black, or Dark Black as it also seems to be known, for me it has quite an ashy black finish compared to a lot of the more glossy black that you seem to see out there.

Containing 63% natural origin waxes, it's very soft and very creamy, good in the respects that you don't need to press too hard to get some colour pay off, and it doesn't pull or drag on the eyes, but not so good in others.

It was so soft and smudgy that I really struggles (even more than usual) to get a precise line, but I hope you can see at least what I was trying to do.

On Application

Alas though i had the same issues that I often have with liners, it just wouldn't stay put, in fact it didn't even last long enough to take all of the photos, and you can already see some transfer in the picture below.

With 5 minutes it had smudged all over my upper lid, so instead of taking it off, I roughly blended it out for a very rough and ready, impromptu smokey eye, which lasted roughly an hour before disappearing completely.

Roughly Blended Out

I'm in no doubt that the softness and creaminess of this pencil lead to not only the poor wear time, but also the snapping issue that I had, and also the fact that it was so hard to sharpen it properly.

If you like creamy pencils and a super smudgy look then by all means give this a try, just don't expect it to last very long especially if you have oilier eyelids.

Glossybox place a price of £10 on this deluxe mini / travel size which is available direct from Lord & Berry from where you can also get the full size pencil which retails at £13.

So several months later than anticipated that was my review of the products in the March edition of Glossybox UK. Although I didn't really get on with a couple of the products in the box (and what does a black eyeliner have to do with spring and pastel colours?) I was still pretty pleased with the other 3 items in the box, and as per usual the box was well worth the money x Don't forget to use my link to find out more about Glossybox, and you can also use it to find out a little bit more about this years Glossybox advent calendar. Thanks for reading and I will see you later this week with another post x 

*This Post Contains Added Automatic Affiliate, Added Affiliate And Non Affiliate Links

A Review Of The Bare Minerals By Popular Demand Gift Set

I'm not a huge fan of taking pictures of make up that I've already used, but in this case I'm going to make an exception. I bought this kit a couple of years ago now from QVC but after a few showings it disappeared never to be seen again. I'd intended to review it at the time but I never got round it, and to be honest I never thought much more about it -  I used it and loved it but that was about it. Last month though, a familiar looking kit appeared on the Boots website, and because I loved it so much I thought I'd review it for you.

I've been a fan of the Bare Minerals make up line for quite a while now. Their loose mineral foundations are probably the best of that type that I've used, and the pigmentation and wear time of loose eye shadows and blushers are excellent. Loose minerals aren't for everyone though, and they can be messy so over the years Bare Minerals have introduced a wide variety of liquid items, including a liquid foundation, lip glosses and mascaras, and pressed mineral products with the launch of their popular READY line.

Bare Minerals By Popular Demand is an all in one kit for eyes, cheeks and lips, everything coordinates with everything else, meaning that this is a perfect kit for make up newbies and people who aren't that confident with make up.

The kit comes packaged in a magnetised cardboard box. I'm not the hugest fan of fan of cardboard packaging but this one has such a beautiful, iridescent almost oil in water finish that I'll make an exception in this case. It will get a bit grubby though so do bear that in mind. There are four removable items in this kit, and 3 which are fixed. Being cardboard though it would be quite easy to depot the blusher and the shadows if you wanted to.

 

The box contains a 0.75g removable pot of Mineral Veil in Brightening Pearl, a 6g READY Blush in The Aphrodisiac, a 3g READY 2.0 Eyeshadow Duo in The Top Shelf, a mini 0.6g Round The Clock Waterproof Eyeliner in 9pm, a mini 2.25ml Mini Marvellous Moxie Lipgloss in Sparkplug  and a small double ended eye and cheek brush.

Mineral Veil is one of Bare Minerals most popular products. Depending on the shade it can be used to finish your make up and as a cheek colour, or as a highlight.

There are 3 permanent shades in the line but this one is a limited edition so I can't make a price comparison. Brightening Pearl is a loose peach toned powder, with a hint of iridescence and shimmer. I've been using this one predominantly as a highlight shade. 

The second cheek product that you get is a full sized READY Blush in The Aphrodisiac. This 6g size in a separate compact retails at £22 which just shows the value of this kit. The Aphrodisiac is probably the reason why I bought this kit. It's a lovely peachy, coral shade, with just the tiniest hint of shimmer.

This kit also contains 2 eyeshadows totaling 3g, Mixologist and Cognac, with together constitute the READY Eyeshadow 2.0 Duo -  The Top Shelf. These two shadows in a separate compact retail for £20. Cognac is a beautiful metallic copper shade and Mixologist, a shimmery, creamy champagne. I've been using Mixologist all over the lid, and applying a bit of Cognac into the outer corners and crease.

All of the mineral / powder shades in this kit are soft and silky and feel almost like creams. As you would expect from this brand the pigmentation is superb and all the colours blend like a dream.

As well as the powder products this set also contains a mini 0.6g Round the Clock Waterproof Eyeliner in the shade 9pm, a deep, almost matte, chocolate brown. This is a half size, the full 1.2g size retails at £13. It's creamy and pigmented and it does seem quite long wearing. It didn't sharpen that well, probably because it was so soft and I've never been able to replicate the original sharp point.

The final make up product in this kit is one of Bare Minerals' famous Marvellous Moxie Lipglosses. The shade in this kit is Sparkplug, which is described as a dusky, pink pearl but for me it's more of a nude pink with a bit of sparkle. These glosses contains avocado, and shea butter and they also contain a bit of mint so they do have a bit of a tingle and a plumping effect. The gloss in this kit is 2.5ml, the full size is 4.5ml and retails at £16.

The final item in the kit is a small double ended brush, one end is a fluffy eyeshadow brush, and the other end is a small blush brush. The brush is a nice quality and it's actually something that you would use and not just a throwaway extra.

These pictures aren't the best and please excuse the brows but hopefully this gives you some idea of what you can do with this kit. It isn't the most dramatic or fashion lead kit out there but it's ideal for creating a natural, healthy look.

This kit retails for £25 which sounds a lot but when you look at the value of the individual items within it, it's well worth the money. I'm a huge fan of the entire Bare Minerals line and this kit gives you a perfect opportunity to try 5 different products at a reduced price. I've looked and looked and I can't find this kit anywhere else bar Boots. It keeps coming in and out of stock online so it's worth keeping an eye out, and it might be worth checking out the Bare Minerals counters in Boots stores too. If not then every item in this kit bar the Mineral Veil is available separately. I'm a big fan of this kit and I think that it would make a great gift for any make up lover, whether they're a new or current Bare Minerals user. Are you a Bare Minerals fan?  If so leave me a comment and let me know your recommendations x 

Embracing The Coloured Liner Trend With Eye Of Horus Scarab Sapphire Goddess Pencil*

I'm going to start this post with a bit of a disclaimer, I don't get on with eyeliner! When you combine my facial palsy, watery eyes, wobbly hands and probably the greasiest eye lids on this planet you have a recipe for disaster. Over the years I've tried lots and lots of eyeliners ranging from gels, to creams, to pencils and felt tips, and very few of them apply evenly or last more than a few hours on my eyes.

Like everything else in my life though I refuse to beaten, and I'm always buying and trying new products hoping to find the one thing that gives me the perfect flicks and cat eyes that I crave. One of the most recent product that I tried was from a new brand to me, Eye Of Horus.

Named after Horus, the ancient Egyptian god of vengeance, sky and kingship, this brand produces a small range of eye products based on ancient Egyptian formulations. All of the Eye Of Horus products contain high quality natural ingredients,  essential oils and plant waxes, including the beauty bloggers favourite, Moringa oil. The entire line is also paraben free and none of their products are tested on animals.

As I say the range isn't the biggest by any means but the most popular and most talked about product has to be the Goddess Pencil.

Available in 10 shades, this is in it's simplest term is Eye Of Horus' pencil eye liner. Formulated with a combination of natural oils and waxes, these pencils claim not only to offer smooth, pigmented, long lasting colour but they also claim to be kind to the sensitive skin on the eye area

One of the most recent editions to the Goddess Pencil line, is Scarab Sapphire. A beautiful dark sapphire blue with just a touch of sparkle.

The full sized pencils come boxed, and are double ended. On one end you get your basic pencil and on the other you get a firm, sponge smudger tip.

The first you notice about this liner is how smooth and creamy it is. It feels silky soft on the skin, and even when I was swatching it I could tell how smooth and creamy it was. As you can see from this picture the pigmentation is superb. It's looking a little bit darker here than it does in real life but this isn't a crazy, bright neon blue, it's a lovely midnight tone which great for people who want to wear a coloured liner without being too obvious.

Applying it on the eyes was no different. The smooth, creamy texture made for easy application, and the colour just glides across the lid, without any pulling or dragging. I just managed the one not amazing picture thanks to the awful light but I hope it gives you an idea.

I love the colour and the initial application was fine but I'm going to be honest and say this just didn't work for me. The product is very, smooth and creamy and as a result on my oily lids, the line moved and started to transfer within seconds of application, and to be honest it just didn't last that long on my eyes. The only way for me was to use copious amounts of eye base and liner sealer, which kind of defeats the object.

I had a little more success using this as a shadow, I applied it as a thick line then using the smudger end I blended it out to give more of a cream shadow type look. Again the wear time wasn't amazing but again a good quality eyeshadow base, did make a difference.

I really, really wanted to love this but it's just not going to happen. I love the colour and the texture but it just didn't work for me. I love the smoothness and the creaminess but on my oily lids maybe it was just a bit too creamy. How many times does that happen? What makes you like a product, makes you dislike it at the same time!

With base and sealer I can make it work but unfortunately it's not the apply and go product that I wanted it to be, and it's not a purchase that I could justify. If you have an oily lid like me then this is probably a no go, but if your drier or sensitive then I would definitely recommend you give this a try. It definitely seems to work better on drier skin, my mum liked it, and the swatch that I put on my hand seemed to set fast, and took a while to get off. Damn you oily lids, you win again! Eye Of Horus Goddess Pencils come in 10 shades, and retail at £17 from BeautyBay. Have you tried Eye Of Hours before? I'd love to know if you've tried the Liquid Define Liner so if you have please let me know below xx

(*PR Sample)