British Beauty Blogger Dream Box II

I may have temporarily cancelled my YBD box subscription this month (I didn't really need/want any of the products available) but I couldn't resist purchasing the Dream Box II by The British Beauty Blogger and Latest in Beauty. With a total of 18 full, travel and sample size products (worth approximately £130) for the price of £21.95, I was logging into my Latest in Beauty account as soon as lunchtime came around. Unfortunately the site was down (because of the popularity of the beauty box), so I signed up on the waiting list and was able to purchase the box the next day. It's really no surprise that the box is jam packed with products. Once I had opened it up, I couldn't get everything back in to close it up!

The products included in this box are all hand picked by Jane (British Beauty Blogger) and I'm looking forward to trying them all out. Included in this box are the following products:                                                                                                                 

Ardell Natural Style Demi Wispies (Full Size)
Vichy Aqualia Thermal Light Cream (15ml)
Kerastase BAIN SATIN 1 (30ml)
Kerastase LAIT VITAL (20ml)
Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream Lip Protectant Stick SPF15 (3.7g)
Mio Double Buff (50ml)
Sleek MakeUP Mini Pout Polish (4.5g pot)
LOLA Make Up Ultra Shine Lipstick (full size 4g)
invisibobble The Traceless Hair Ring (3x hair rings)
Agent Provocateur FATALE (2ml vial)
Eylure Brow Crayon in Mild Brown (0.23g)
Le Couvent des Minimes Gardener's Hand Healer (25ml)
The Body Shop Beautifying Oil (100ml)
NUDE Skincare Deluxe Pro Genius Treatment Oil (10ml)
Essie Nail Polish (1x 5ml)
Bourjois Delice de Poudre Bronzing Duo (full size)
Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream (8.5g)
Ciaté London Lashlights (6.5ml)   I'm most looking forward to trying the Burt's Bees Cuticle Cream, the Mio Double Buff and the Vichy Aqualia Thermal Light Cream. I can't believe I've never bought the Bourjois Bronzing Poweder before, so this product will also be on my first to try list. As I'm a big fan of the L'Occitane Shea Butter hand creams, I'm wondering how the Le Couvent des Minimes Gardener's Hand Healer will compare as it also contains 20% Shea butter.   Overall, I'm loving this box as these are products that I would never have picked up for myself (especially the Ciaté Lashlights and the Elizabeth Arden Lip Protectant) as well as products that I would have liked to try earlier, but my student budget doesn't allow for it. Hopefully I'll be posting a few reviews with my thoughts on individual products, but for now I'm just going to enjoying trying them all out (not all at once though!)

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Latest in Beauty Stocking Filler Box

You know that when it comes to Christmas, there's going to be plenty of beauty products and gifts around to buy. I was actually really tempted to purchase an advent calender this year, because even though I don't celebrate Christmas, I can still treat myself to what is essentially a set of sample/mini luxury products. The main one that I had my eye on was the Selfridge's Beauty Advent Calender, but couldn't justify spending that much money (plus it's sold out, so I don't a have a chance of getting it now). Luckily, Latest in Beauty have come up with a collection of Stocking Filler boxes, each one filled with a different selection of goodies. I chose to get the Editor's Faves Stocking Filler Box, as I knew that I would use most (if not all) of the products that came inside. The box cost £19.95 and I was lucky enough to order last weekend when they had free shipping (which would have cost £2.95).

And it arrived yesterday!

It contains:
BioEffect EGF Serum (3ml)
Steamcream Nourishing Moisturiser (75g)
ESPA Lift & Firm Intensive Eye Serum (3ml) & Moisturiser (7ml) (inside the purple box)
Aromatherapy Associated Revive Morning Bath & Shower Oil (3ml)
Trilogy Rosehip Oil Anitoxidant + (2.5ml)
Jo Hansford Intensive Masque (40ml)
Perricone MD No Foundation Foundation (7.5ml)
Richard Ward Volumiser Root Booster (50ml)
L'Occitane Shea Butter Hand Cream (10ml)
Mont Bleu Crystal Nail File (90mm)

There's a few products that I'm really keen to try (and are the reason as to why I chose this box over the other two options). I'm loving the full-size Steam Cream tin, as this is a product that I've always wanted to try and the packaging is so pretty! The BioEffect EGF Serum sample is also another product that I'm looking forward to using as the full size product is pretty pricey! The Perricone MD No Foundation Foundation will also be interesting to try (and it contains spf 30 sunscreen, which is an added bonus). The mini Mont Bleu glass nail file will be handy to keep in my bag when I'm out and about.

Has anyone else picked up a beauty advent calender or something similar? What do you think of this stocking filler box?





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Estee Lauder DayWear BB Creme review

I purchased a sample of the Estee Lauder BB creme from Latest in Beauty for £1.50 (covers the cost of p&p), via text message last week and these are my thoughts after trying it out. Thankfully Latest in Beauty do take into consideration your beauty profile and they sent me the 02 Medium shade, which has a neutral-olive undertone. The BB actually stand for 'beauty benefit' rather than blemish balm, and it comes in a 5ml tube which I think would be sufficient for 3-4 uses. The creme itself smells fresh and reminds me of cucumbers, which I think fits in perfectly with the colour of the packaging.

Swatched on my wrist:

Top: straight from the tube

Bottom: Partially blended

The BB creme is easy to use, I simply dotted around my face and used my fingers to blend in. The medium shade blended perfectly to match my skintone (I'm an NW35) and applied more like a tinted moisturiser than a foundation. I did have to use a little mineral foundation on my T-zone as I prefer a matte finish, whereas the BB creme gives a more dewy finish (which you may prefer). It also contains SPF 35 which is great as the weather seems to be brightening up. As someone who wears more mineral and powder foundations rather than liquid based ones, I was quite pleased with how it felt on the skin and didn't really notice that I was wearing foundation. The coverage is also light which I prefer for everyday wear, although next time I would apply concealer to cover any blemishes.

Overall a really good product, although I'm not too keen on the price! (£32.00 for 30ml). If you would like to try a sample of the Estee Lauder DayWear BB creme then head over to the Latest in Beauty website =)




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Little Beauty Box - Latest in Beauty

[Note: Long Post]

There's been an increase in the number of beauty boxes available, with the general concept being that you get to try a range of full-size and sample products, for a fixed cost every month. The most well-known beauty boxes are GlossyBox and Carmine, with others such as Jolie Box (formerly known as Boudoir Prive) and Feel Unique.

However, the longest running beauty box comes from Latest in Beauty and costs a mere £1 (which is charged to your mobile), where you get to choose 3 different samples to put into the little beauty box. I've been ordering the Latest in Beauty 'little beauty box' for quite along time (must be at least a year now!) and I love the concept. You're allowed to choose 3 different samples, each from a different section (in which there are a set number of samples). Now unlike the beauty boxes above, these are actually sample sachets/tubes so don't expect a full size product (they tell you the sample size for each product), but they are great for trying products out that you may not normally have the opportunity to try. Also, there's no subscription so you don't have to pay a monthly fee, just pay when you order a box (although for a pound, it's quite hard to not order one every month!). After you've tried out your samples (or when you order another box), you'll be asked to complete a few questions about the samples you recieved (although if you haven't used them yet, there is the option to select that you haven't tried it). The Latest in Beauty little beauty box allows you to order a sample box every 30 days.

Brands which are currently featured in the little beauty box include RENU, Crabtree & Evelyn, Lavera, Sasy n Savy, Nicky Clarke and Dr Organic (alongside others), however the products and brands are always changing so that there will be different products to choose from. In the past I've tried Mary Kay (makeup and skincare), Murad, Olay, Burt's Bees, L'Occitane, Melvita and Moa (and plenty more).

So, this is the box I ordered most recently:

Box easily fits through a standard letter box and can be recycled (love the pink colour!)

Note explaining what the samples are and a few extra leaflets about specific products

 Samples I ordered: Ginerva Whitening Marvel Gel, Sun Shots Sun Protection, Sasy n Savy Hand Creme.

This month I was a bit limited as to which products I could order, as you can only order each sample once. Although there is no sun in the UK, I thought the Sun Shot sun protection would definititely come in useful once the weather warms up a bit. The hand creme is smells more of rose than lavender, which I like and is pretty moisturising (I like to take a small amount and massage it into the cuticles). Also the small tube size means that it can easily fit into small bag or even your pocket. I haven't tried the whitening marvel gel yet, but hope to do so soon =)

Overall I do like the little beauty box from Latest in Beauty and although there have been occasions where I'm not too keen on the samples available, I'm quite happy to choose them to try out. Who knows, I might actually end up loving the product!

Latest in Beauty have recently added a luxury samples area to their website, where you can buy larger sample sizes of individual products to try out, starting from £2.00. They have also introduced themed boxes which are released 6-7 times a year and cost from £4.95 to £6.95 and include a range of sample products. Their current box is the Refresh and Recover Box which can be found here. I haven't tried these boxes yet, but hope to do so in the future =)

Hope you found this post useful (even if it is a bit long!) and let me know if you do decide to order a little beauty box =)

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(By the way, this is not a sponsored post. Just my experience with LiB and their LBB) =)

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