Birchbox vs Glossybox October 2014

A few months ago I unsubbed from Glossybox to try Birchbox. I have now decided to resub to Glossybox so this month I received both boxes.

 

Here is my Birchbox....

The brands in Birchbox are always more high end and the sample sizes are usually quite a good size. You also get full size products. I have found that there is only usually a couple of products in there that I will actually use, and even if there are more I probably wouldn't purchase them afterwards as they are usually expensive.

Birchbox is a slightly smaller box but inside the box is usually a material bag with the products in that you can re-use. This month the products came in this pink zip up make up bag.

The past couple of boxes have included an extra that everyone receives. This time it was a pen in the shape of a lipstick.

This month's products were: Cattier pink clay facemask, KMS California hair serum, shaveworks cool fix gel for shaving rash, pixi Shea butter lip balm and meaningful beauty anti-ageing capsules.

With both boxes I find that some products match up with your beauty profile and others don't, so I don't really know if they pay attention to them or not.

Here is my Glossybox.....

This month's box theme was pop art. This was partly the reason for me resubbing this month as I wanted the box :) I find that the products are more "down to earth" and as I am a make up novice I find this a lot better for me. I also find that I am more likely to repurchase the products as they are available on the high street and aren't too pricey.

Some of the samples in Glossybox can be on the small side but they are mixed up with full size products.

You tend to get a lot of perfume samples in Glossybox and this month's Yves Rocher one was a nice size sample. I find these samples helpful as I like getting new perfumes but never know what to choose.

My products in my Glossybox were Rimmel BB cream, Nuxe facemask, So Susan mascara, Etre Belle lip peel, Ciate nail polish and Yves Rocher perfume sample.

So from now on I will just be receiving Glossybox. If some of you are confused on which box to go for hope this post helps.

Thanks for reading

George xx

 

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Sparkly Nails Witch Charms

A few months ago I got sent some lovely Geisha water decals from Sparkly Nails. They enjoyed my review and recently sent me some nail charms just in time for Halloween.

They are these cute gold witch charms :)
When I think witch I think of purple as the colour so decided to use a light purple with an accent nail of China glaze 'howl you doin'.

I found the witch charms easy to use although they are very delicate so you need to be careful with them. The problem I had was that my nails are quite curved and small so the charms didn't lie flat and had bits sticking up on either side.

These charms are ideal if you want a pretty, simple, sophisticated halloween mani :) They are also a bargain at £1.10 a pack!

These charms can be found on their website which is

www.sparklynails.co.uk

Thanks for reading
George xx

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Nails For Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

I would like to share with you all my manicure for breast cancer awareness month. The theme as always is pink :)

I used polishes by Models Own, Ciate, Nina and OPI.

The above OPI is called "You Glitter Be Good To Me" and is from the 2012 breast cancer duo called 'pink of hearts'.

On my thumb nails I did a version of the pink ribbon using pink nail gems. I saw this idea on a profile on Instagram and really wanted to try it. I used Models Own 'Sun Hat' as a base because it is nice and bright.

I used the OPI Polish on my ring fingers and a basic polka dots design on my other nails. Polka dots always seem to be my 'go to' design.

Hope you all like my design.

 

Thanks for reading

George xx

 

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My Swatchsticks

Recently I have changed how I swatch my polishes. I was using the swatch wheels but found that with swapping polishes and getting so many new ones all the time these were just getting all muddled up. So, I changed to using the single swatch sticks and organising them all by colour :)

I used ribbon to hold some together and the rest I used the screws that come with them. Neither of these are perfect as when I get a new colour I have to take them all off to slot it in so if anyone has any better ideas please let me know :)

Here they are.....

First up is the glitters....

My fullest collections are the purples as this is my fave colour, and the pinks. I'm not quite sure how I ended up with quite so many pinks as its a colour I don't wear very often!

My next largest collection is the blues.

I have swapped the swatches around quite a lot to get the colour groups right. I started with the oranges, yellows and Browns mixed up as I wasn't sure where to start separating the colours. In the end they ended up like this....

 

 

The blacks, greys and whites......

The greens and teals....

The Reds......

Last but not least, indies/mixed glitters, jelly glitters and effects.

 

 

Bit of a pic heavy post but wanted to share my swatches with you all :)

Thanks for reading :)

George xx

 

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Birch box September 2014

 I am abit in limbo over beauty boxes at the moment. I started off subscribing to Glossybox but then fancied a change so joined Birchbox. I'm not convinced however that Birchbox is for me so at the moment I have been having a look at several different boxes to see what they have to offer. I didn't quite realise how many there were!! For anyone interested in checking out some different ones take a look at www.whichbeautybox.com.

Anyway, onto the important stuff....

This month's box is really bright and cheerful which I like. It is much nicer than the plain brown box and the theme is 'Happy Days'.

In every box there was a cute little birchbox photo clip, mine was orange.

The first product I have to show you is the Agave healing oil treatment. This is for hair to smooth, build resiliency and boost shine and colour. This is a product that I won't use as I find oils don't seem to suit my hair. This is quite a small sample but buying a full size product would cost you around £16.

Next is Benefit's it's potent! eye cream. Was excited to get this as Benefit is a good brand and you can't really go wrong with it. This cream is to banish dark circles, smooth fine lines and protect against free radicals. This is a really cute 3g sample which I think isn't too bad. Full size costs £25.50. I can't wait to try this one out.

The Korres citrus showergel is another product I will quite happily trying out. Not a bad size sample (50ml), full size (250ml) is about £8. This product was made in Greece and I'm hoping will be nice and refreshing.

In my box I also received the Skin & Co truffle therapy serum. You massage this on your face after cleansing, before moisturising. It should help firm skin and restore a healthy glow. I should hope it would perform miracles at a cost of £42!! :)

The last (but not least) item in my box was the Modelco lip lacquer. Birchbox allowed it's subscribers to pick between two lip glosses and a mascara. This was what I chose in the shade of 'Viva' which a baby pink shade. The colour is this lip gloss is quite pigmented and it smells gorgeous!! I chose well! I'm guessing it's not a full size sample but full size is worth £15.

As another added extra (as well as the photo clip) I had some urban fruit. I am usually a fan of dried fruit but I'm afraid this just wasn't for me. I also think that at £13.20 for 6 they are quite a pricey snack!!

Hope you all liked your boxes this month ;)

Before I sign off I would just like to share this website with you... http://www.officialstorewebsites.com This is a website where you can find all sorts of stores and businesses and it has the contact details etc for these places. Hope this will be helpful to some of you :)

Thanks for reading
George xx

Stylfile Review

I have been abit quiet on my blog lately as have been busy with work and stuff. I found this quirky nail file in TK Maxx the other day and knew I just had to share it with you guys!

This is the Stylfile by Tom Pellereau.

I have never seen one like this before so was intrigued and had to buy it. It was only about £3.

It is curved to apparently make it easier to file your nails. It is not just a file but also a buffer and has 4 steps to using it which are shown on the back of the packaging.

I did find the file a little easier to use as my nails are quite curved so it seemed less vigorous when filing. 

It was also quite fun to use :)

Has anyone else tried this file or one similar?

I would love to know your thoughts on it :)

Thanks for reading!

George xx