My Little Box Diary Winner Revealed

Hi Guys x Just a quick little post for you today and for one of you it will be good one. My, My Little Box Diary Giveaway ended at midnight,so I thought I'd try and get the winner up ASAP. I had a lot more entries than expected, so thank you all for taking the time out to enter, and to follow my blog and all my other social media channels. I really enjoyed reading about your new years resolutions and you've definitely given my a few goals that I could maybe try and achieve myself in 2016 - good luck to all of you and I have that you all achieve you goals and your dreams. Unfortunately there can only be one winner though and that winner picked at random via Rafflecopter is....

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Jennifer Haden

Congratulations Jennifer x  I will be sending you an email shortly x  Jennifer won by following me on Instagram so always remember to utilise as many entry options as possible. If you weren't lucky enough to win this time don't worry I may have a review post and an early blogging birthday giveaway going up this weekend, so stay following for the chance to win a prize you'll really want to win x

My Little Box UK January 2016 Edition- My Little Wish Box And A Giveaway

I've got a special treat for you guys today, a subscription box, unboxing post. I normally post unboxing videos on my You Tube channel but because my face is still a bit puffy and my skin looks like rubbish, I'm posting it on here instead. Today then I'm showing you what's in the January 2016 UK Edition of My Little Box.

Every My Little Box is themed and this months box is entitled My Little Wish Box. All of the boxes are beautifully illustrated and this one is no exception, I always try and use my empty boxes and these ones are probably my favourites to reuse. They're nice to keep on show, and they're perfect for tidying away bits of stationery, crafty bits, and of course all those bits of make up, and nail polish, that you never seem to have any room for.

The first thing I normally do when I open the box is have a look through the bits of paper, My Little Box usually includes a couple of information cards on the products in the box, a quote card, and a mini magazine. I was never a fan of the fold out poster so I'm really pleased to see the return of the magazine but for me the paper stand out in this box is the quote card. It's one of my favourite quotes (although I have seen slightly different wording on occasions) and it's from Walt Disney  "All our dreams can come true, if you have the courage to pursue them" Definitely something to bear in mind when you're having a bad day.

My Little Box is very much a beauty and lifestyle box, so in each box you normally get a few lifestyle products, be it a piece of jewellery, stationery or even clothing. The stand out lifestyle product in this months box was this lovely, hard backed 2016 diary.

I'm not sure how well it's coming across here but it's in a beautiful duck blue, mint colour and it features the words "Dear Year, I Like You (Love Me) in metallic, rose gold, embossing on the front. It's a really nice quality diary and it features a week to two pages, so it's perfect for organising your schedule and keeping track of appointments

I really love it but why oh why wasn't this in say the December box. I already have two 2016 diaries, one handbag sized one that I got for Christmas, and a pretty, sparkly desk one that I bought myself so I can't justify keeping this one no matter how nice I think it is. I've asked around and all my friends and family already have their diaries and planners so I've decided to give this one away to one of you guys. So if you haven't got yourself a 2016 diary yet just fill in the Rafflecopter form below and I'll pick one lucky winner in a weeks time x This giveaway is open worldwide but the diary is in English but if you want it get entering x

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Next up another lifestyle item, the Petits Riens Bracelet Card, which is a jewellery item, come gift, come inspirational quotes, all rolled into one.

You get 4 tear off cards, each of which comes with a sentiment printed ribbon, and another card which has a curved metal charm, friendship bracelet on a mint / duck egg blue cord, with a Chinese / love knot style fastening.

I like the idea of this and the idea of giving your friends the sentiment that most suits them but what exactly do you do with the ribbons? I've seen some pictures with people wearing them as bracelets but for me they are nowhere near long enough to wrap around my wrist. I think I'll end up using mine for card making or scrapbooking, but since I love friendship bracelets, and things that you can stack I'll definitely be keeping the bracelet.

Now the bit you've all been waiting for the beauty items - first up a shout out to the little bags that you get, that usually contain the beauty products. Unlike the Birchbox bags these ones are a nice, size, they're made of a good fabric, the designs are cute, and you can reuse them. They are brilliant for popping things in, in your handbag, and they're great for packing things like cotton buds when you go on holiday.

The first item inside the bag is from My Little Box own brand, My Little Beauty, and it's the My Little Beauty Make A Wish Vanilla Scented Lip Balm in a 1.5g size. As useful as lip balms are I can't help but think they're a bit of a filler in beauty boxes and particularly when they're own branded ones like this. They do appear in an awful lot of boxes but it's something that I will probably use. I always have quite a few lip balms on the go at once so I hardly ever seem to use them up but they're always useful.

Next up something a little bit more interesting, a 50ml bottle REN Rosa Centifolia 3 In 1 Cleansing Water.

I'm slightly obsessed with cleansing waters, and I love all in ones and micellar waters for speed and convenience, so I can't wait to give this a proper go. It recommend for all skin types including the most sensitive and it's crammed full of rose otto, to calm and soothe the skin, a must have at this time of year. I'll probably do a Sample Saturday post on this when I've had a chance to try it.

The final product in the box is a make up item, and it's something that I've been wanting to try for a little while now. Too Faced Melted Liquified Long Wear Lipsticks, have the pigmentation and staying power, of a lipstick but with the convenience and ease of application of a gloss.

Packaged in a squeezy tube, it comes with a velour tipped, applicator tip, give it a squeeze and out comes oodles and oodles of thick, luscious liquid lipstick. I've tried a few different liquid lipsticks but this one seems to be in a different class, it tastes lovely, it feels nice on the lips, it's moisturising, and the pigmentation and wear time is worth writing about.

The colour I received is Melted Fuchsia, which is a pretty hot pink. You can apply it with a light hand for a gentler finish, but I can see myself saving this one for the summer months when I've got a bit more colour. This is only a 5ml size compared to the 12ml full size, but this is a great size for trying a pricier product and I can definitely see myself maybe picking up 1 or 2 more shades after trying this one x

Overall I don't think that this was a bad box, I've seen a couple of different variations and I definitely prefer the one that I got. I love the lipstick formulation and I'm really looking forward to trying the cleansing water, My lifestyle highlight is definitely the diary, I just with it had been sent a month or two sooner.

I was feeling a bit mehhh about My Little Box towards the end of last year, but I've really liked the last two boxes so I'm sticking with them for another month. You can find out more about My Little Box here x Do you subscribe to My Little Box? Did you get the same as me? Let me know x

Trimming My Stash - September 2015 Edition - Empties And Mini Reviews

Up until last night, September's Trimming My Stash performance could have been described in one word, rubbish! but 24 hours is a long time in football, and in beauty as it happens, so instead this month's empties total looks a little bit more respectable then maybe it could have done.

MAC Shadestick - Cakeshop -1.5g
Alpha H - Liquid Gold With Glycolic Acid - 50ml
My Little Beauty Sailor Scrub - Salty Fresh - 75ml
Bumble And Bumble Bb Hairdresser's Invisible Oil Sulfate Free Shampoo - 60ml
Bumble And Bumble Bb Hairdresser's Invisible Oil Conditioner - 60ml
Total - 5 Items 

5 items doesn't exactly equal a vintage performance but it's way better than the 3 that it would have been this time yesterday. Nothing was exactly huge in size but still I finished a good variety of things even if the make up item is a tiny bit of a cheat and  I've also been good and not included the Agadir Argan Oil sachets that I finished a few weeks ago - bottles, jars, tubes and full sized sachets only :)

1. MAC Shadestick - Cakeshop - 1.5g

Released many moons ago as part of the Sugarsweet collection, Cakeshop was a beautiful, taupey, silvery, green, cream shadow in a stick. I know Shadesticks weren't that popular with a lot people, which is probably why they were discontinued, but I quite liked them. They were ideal for lazy people like me, just scribble a bit on your eyelid, blend out really quick and you're good to go. They also made quite a decent base for powder shadows because they weren't too wet or too creamy. I must admit I haven't shown this one a lot of love lately, so it was no surprised that when I went to use it today that last half an inch was dry and crumbly :( It's a shame because this was a really nice colour - ah well at least I have another Back 2 MAC item x You can see some pictures of my Shadestick collection including this shade here x

2. Alpha H Liquid Gold With Glycolic Acid - 50ml

I love, love, love the feeling of acids and exfoliating toners on my skin. I'm prone to quite uneven and bumpy skin, and I have quite large and visible pores so I find that they really with the texture and the feel of my skin. I've used quite a few now but I keep coming back to Liquid Gold. I personally don't feel much of a tingle when I use it anymore but I can still feel, and see the difference when I use it. Acids and liquid exfoliants are a huge part of my skincare routine now, and whilst Alpha H is a brand I'll keep coming back to (I already have another large bottle in my stash), I'm always keen to try new things and I'm currently waiting for some Pixi Glow Tonic from QVC, and I have a little bottle of Paula's Choice Skin Perfecting Lotion to use, so I'm well prepared for all skin texture emergencies.

3. My Little Beauty Sailor Scrub - Salty Fresh - 75ml

I'm a huge body scrub lover and I particularly love salt scrubs so I really pleased to get this own brand product in a recent My Little Box. This easy to massage, salt scrub, had a lovely fresh, but not overpowering, fresh, aquatic fragrance. It was a nice gritty scrub. that was strong enough to give you a decent scrub but it wasn't too scratchy or harsh. I really liked this and if it was more readily available I might consider a repurchase x

4. Bumble And Bumble Bb Hairdresser's Invisible Oil Sulfate Free Shampoo - 60ml
5. Bumble And Bumble Bb Hairdresser's Invisible Oil Conditioner - 60ml

I was sent both of these products to review and I recently posted a full review which you can see here. I'd love it if you'd have a read but in case you don't fancy all I'll say is that I was impressed enough with both of the products to make a little Space NK purchase x

So from 3 to 5 in 24 hours, sometimes you just have to focus and try and use a few things up. I'm really hoping, well I already know that October is bound to be better, I'm nearing the end of 3 skincare products, and a fragrance, so fingers crossed I'll end 2015 with a few decent months. Have you tried any of the products that I finished this month? Let me know your thoughts x