Amarya Beauty Box - September 2011

I received my Amarya Beauty Box in the post this morning and I'm quite happy with it - especially with one item. I've also decided to do a comparison post of all the beauty boxes available in the UK every month as I'm now subscribed to all 4. I'll put this post up closer to the end of the month so that I'm able to use the products for a little while. The Amarya Beauty Box costs £10 per month for a selection of organic products and is available from here.

This is my first ever Amarya Beauty Box and here are some pictures showing you the packaging and the items:

The Box and the Amarya logo

I got an Amarya Beauty Cloth Bag!

The smaller box inside...

Leaflet with more information on other products

Beautifully presented information on each product inside the box

The box wrapped

The box when opened

The products inside the box

Finally! The products themselves!

 Lavera Hand Cream - 20ml sample - worth £1.00

REN Active 7 Radiant Eye Gel - 3ml sample - worth £3.60

Dr Hauschka Skincare Samples - 1.5ml each - worth £1.99 and £2.70

Madara Moon Flower Tinting Fluid - 50ml full size - worth £23

Total Value of Box: £32.29

Amount Paid: £10

Total Saving: £22.29

The values/totals calculated are excluding the lovely bag I received! My first impressions of Amarya are as follows:

- They themselves are very polite and helpful.

- The box was on time, so punctual.

- Everything in the box was as promised and more.

First Impressions of the contents of the box and the box itself:

- I wouldn't keep the actual boxes purely because I have no room left for anything in my room, but the quality is fine and very reusable.

- All products are organic and a lot of them cruelty free - huge tick from me.

- The Lavera Handcream smells very fresh albeit natural, and moisturises my hands well, also the full size (75ml) is only £3.75 so if I do fall in love with it, I may repurchase.

- I don't use eye creams/gels very often but probably should so I'm happy I received the REN eye gel.

- The Dr Hauschka skincare I believe was from the regenerating line and therefore anti-aging so I've given those away.

- The Madara Tinting Fluid looks amazing, so luxurious and I was very happy to see it in my box, I can't wait to try it and it's full size!

Based on my first impressions and everything so far I'd like to award this box a 9/10! :)

GlossyBox - August 2011

I finally got my GlossyBox when I went to pick it up from the delivery office because the postman decided ringing the doorbell would be too much of a task for him. But I got it, so yay! This month's GlossyBox includes a few things I'm really looking forward to trying and another few which are completely unnecessary and unwanted - but that's what is to be expected as it is a surprise box each month!

So this month's GlossyBox included the following:

Ahava DeadSea Water Mineral Body Lotion (40ml - £3.52)

Murad Time Release Acne Cleanser (30ml - £4.35)

Daniel Sandler Baby Jet Mascara (4.5ml - £12.80)

KMS California Hairstay Style Boost (200ml - £13.70)

Rebel Nails Nail Wraps (£5.99)

The total value of this month's GlossyBox is £40.36 resulting in a saving of £30.36 as it was only £10 for August. I haven't used anything from the box yet seeing as I'm still trying to use up so many products already but I'll let you know of my first impressions now. The Ahava body lotion looks and smells great, I'd never heard of the brand before so I'm glad they included it, I'm also happy about the Murad Cleanser because I'm always on the lookout for magic cleansers that will improve my complexion.

Although the Daniel Sandler mascara is full-sized and probably a great mascara I feel like I already have too many and that a mascara specifically for the edges and smaller lashes isn't a necessity. I'm excited to try the KMS California Hairstay Style Boost because I don't own anything like this and haven't tried anything like it before too, a full-size version of this is a real bonus! Finally the nail wraps, these are of no use to me at all, I think removing and applying nail polish would actually be quicker than using these, especially as I don't even own a hairdryer! - shock, horror, I know (I'm looking for one I assure you!).

My overall thoughts: I think in terms of value for money GlossyBox exceed expectations every month, I love that they include full-sized products but for this month I'm only interested in 3/5 products, but as the value is so great I give this box a 7/10.

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Boudoir Privé - August 2011

I received my Boudoir Privé Beauty Box and I really liked it. I haven't included many pictures because I don't really like very image-heavy posts. It included the luxury samples as promised, and in different categories - makeup, haircare, bodycare, skincare, lifestyle and fragrance. It arrived with a lovely, very thoughtful handwritten card by the Founder of Boudoir Privé - Thérèse and a highly informative leaflet providing details about each sample included.

Here's what was included in my box:

- Sachajuan Hair Conditioner (100ml - £10)

- Jane Iredale PureLash Extender and Conditioner (small sample - full size 89ml RRP £13)

- Babor HSR Lifting Extra Firming Cream (small sample - full size 50ml RRP £82)

- Etat Libre D'Orange Archives 69 and Rien (1.5ml each - full sizes respectively 50ml £74 and £52.50)

- Olavie Antioxidant Body Butter (small bottle - full size RRP £43.55)

- Bloom Green Tea and White Tea Duo (sample each - full size pack of 10 RRP £4)

I haven't tried everything yet but I am happy with the box overall. I feel like this particular box is aimed at an older audience, I gave the Babor cream to an older lady, the tea I think is a nice touch, whether you drink tea, despise it or enjoy it once in a while. I found the PureLash Extender and Conditioner to be very lengthening to my lashes however I don't think it is a deluxe sample - especially as the full size is 89ml! The packaging of the Etat Libre D'Orange perfumes slightly annoyed me because of the explicit sexual image on the Archives 69 sample but they do smell nice once applied. I have heard of Sachajuan before but I haven't ever tried any of their products so am glad that their hair conditioner was included. Finally, the Olavie body butter I think is amazing, I'd never heard of the brand before this box though.

Overall: I think this is a good box with a value above the £10 paid for the P and P, the box and the products inside. It was personalised which I loved, the customer service and interaction from the company is brilliant and efficient. Before making a hard and fast decision I would deem it wise to experience a few more of their boxes. I give this month's box a 7/10.

What did you think of this month's box? Will you be subscribing?

Review: 17 Miami Pop Collection Lipgloss

This is part of 17's Limited Edition Summer Collection named Miami Pop. Today I'm reviewing the lipgloss, which was available from Boots at £3.99 for 6.5ml. (I'm not 100% sure if it's still available or not...I haven't seen the collection in Boots for some time now though!) It's a very bright pink colour without any shimmer but with a pretty shine.

It has a doe foot applicator and very sleek packaging. I love the bright pink and flamingo on the tube. When applying it takes about 3 pumps to cover my lips entirely, but as they are quite pigmented already only a pink sheen is visible, it can be layered to make it more opaque but I liked the touch of colour for summer. The applictor remains very clean only picking up product on the doe-foot, I really like that about this lipgloss. It wears on me for around 2-3hours with eating and drinking, and didn't look terrible when worn away either. It isn't sticky which is something I always look for in a lipgloss so is great in that sense. The formula seems to soften and moisturise my lips, I hadn't applied any lip balm prior to putting the lipgloss on but my lips felt moisturised upon application.

I think on less pigmented lips this would look a lot brighter and more "summery". Although I really like this lipgloss I wouldn't class it as an essential or an absolute necessary buy, but it is a bargain at £3.99, and has many pros.

Product: 7/10

Pigmentation: 7/10

Texture/Formula: 8/10

Wear: 7/10

Packaging: 5/5
Application: 4/5
Repurchase: No

Overall: 7.6/10

This new rating system is to provide a quick snapshot of my experiences with the product. The product itself, the level of pigmentation in comparison to how pigmented it should be, the texture and/or formula of the product. Wear is a rating of how long and well the item stays on, packaging and application are also reviewed. The repurchase line is whether I would repurchase the item again or not. Overall shows the average scoring of the product out of 10.

GlossyBox - July 2011

My GlossyBox arrived today so I thought I'd put up a quick post about my first thoughts on it!

The 5 things it contains this month are:

- Illamasqua Pure Pigment in Conquer (1.3g/0.04oz)
- Xen-Tan Weekly Self-Tan (30ml/1oz)
- Weleda Pomegranate Regenerating Body Oil (100ml/3.4fl oz)
- Ciaté Paint Pot in Beach Melba (13.5ml)
- 2 Etat Libre D'Orange Eau De Parfum (1.5ml x 2)

I love the Illamasqua Pure Pigment, Conquer is a deep green shade and looks very pretty. I've never used any Illamasqua products because I am trying to spend the least I possibly can on makeup because my collection is very large now! This is also a full-sized pigment worth £15.50, very impressive!

I have no interest in the next product, the Xen-Tan Premium Sunless Tan because I dislike tanning! Therefore will be thinking of what to do with it... The sample size is great though - 30ml.

The Weleda Body Oil looks interesting, but the claims "Indulgently firms and renews" imply that this is for an older target audience, but I'll give it a shot and if I don't feel like it's doing anything for me, hand it over to a lady older than myself! This is another full size product worth £19.95!

The Ciaté Paint Pot is another great product but I have too many pale pink/nude shades so I would have liked a different shade! This is worth £9 and is another full sized product!

Finally, the Etat Libres D'Orange are very small samples of 2 different perfumes, that upon first "smelling" smell great!

Overall I am very impressed with this month's GlossyBox, it contains 3 full size products worth £44.45 together without the self-tan and tiny samples, although I expect the perfume samples would be free anyway. So a £44.45+ box for £10 and free delivery, I'm impressed! I give this month's GlossyBox a 8/10! Products will be reviewed individually too.

The last point I'd like to make though after seeing a few other GlossyBoxes I would have much preferred the UltraSun sunscreen instead of the tan! A nice little bottle of Orla Keily instead of the random perfume samples and a coloured Ciaté Paint Pot! GlossyBox should get a move on with their profile-creating!

Thank you for reading!

Have you got your GlossyBox this month? Like it? A fail? Let me know in the comments below!


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My first ever GlossyBox! June 2011

Hi!

Sorry I haven't been posting as frequently as I'd like to, I've had many busy days and some very lazy days so no blogging gets done! This post is going to be a little snapshot of what I got in this month's GlossyBox and my first impressions of the box, its contents and Glossybox in general.

This is my first ever GlossyBox, I ordered on 6th May and the email I received said I would receive a GlossyBox on 6th May! So I asked GlossyBox on twitter what this meant and it turned out that I wouldn't be getting one until June...I was very disappointed. I think as a brand new company it should have been prepared for such a high demand for the service and been able to provide for all those interested! When you usually order things, they are in stock unless stated otherwise and depending on delivery are received pretty quickly. I was very excited to receive my first box...

Onto the contents of this month's box and my first impressions:

There's a small leaflet(?) explaining what's in the box along with some discount codes on separate pieces for the brands in the box.

Here we have this month's 5 luxury samples... I could honestly go off on one about how damaging and unthoughtful it is for GlossyBox to have placed a £1.52, 50ml bottle of Batiste Dry Shampoo in Original, in the box but I will say so politely. GlossyBox advertise themselves to provide luxury samples, from luxury brands, Batiste is not a luxury brand. I cannot emphasise enough how disappointed I am again, especially as this box is/was a lot of customers' first box.

Next up, is an eau de parfum by Perles de Lalique, definitely a luxury brand thank goodness. The bottle is beautiful and I loved the packaging too, it's only 4.5ml but looks like a lot of perfume. Eau de parfum is the most concentrated form of scent available so it would be the most costly if bought alone, £68 for 100ml. The only issue I have with this is the scent itself, it's a sophisticated scent, but one for a much older lady in my opinion, so I'm not sure if I'll be keeping it or just using it up when I can.

In the little pouch is the Bioeffect EGF Serum, the wondrous skincare product from Iceland. This sample is worth £30, and a full sized 15ml vial is £125 and 5ml for £49. I would expect this to be for an older lady again but the leaflet does say it is for any age and any skin type so I will be trying this and hopefully reviewing it soon.

Next is the small designer nail lacquer by OPI in Coronation, the other one available was Extravagance. I really like this colour and the application seems to be good too, I will review this too, but very happy with this item!

Finally in my box was a 100ml bath and shower gel by Abahna, in the white grapefruit and may chang scent. I haven't much to say about this product as I have yet to try it out, so will put it in a review for you. For 250ml it is £17 so a luxury product for sure. Instead of the bath and shower gel there were many other possibilities of various items that could have been in the box, one of which being a Rouge Bunny Rouge lipgloss, that I wish I'd got!

The box itself I am impressed with, the sturdiness and classy décor is something I also love. It's perfect for storing various bits and bobs, and depending on future contents of GlossyBoxes I'd love to have a little stack of these filled with various items. They could also be used to house presents for other people. Love the box itself.

Finally, GlossyBox overall. Disappointed with the fact that I didn't receive a "May box" when I ordered in May, very upset with the £1.52 worth of Batiste - clearly not a luxury brand, disappointed again with the increase in price of GlossyBox from September, to £12.95, the extra £2.95 for P and P - no indication of this was given when advertising the box. Happy with the box itself and most of the items. For June, I give GlossyBox a 5/10. I will review items separately too.

Thank you very much for reading! :)

What was in your GlossyBox? Love/Like/Hate?

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17 Summer 2011 Limited Edition Miami Pop Collection

Hi!

I thought I'd write a blogpost on 17's Miami Pop Collection for this summer as I haven't seen that many posts on it so far, and as you know I'm a fan of 17 so I thought I should!

This collection is out now and available in Boots stores across the nation, starting from as little as £2.99 to a slightly higher price of £4.99. As you can imagine, in my excited state I bought the lot! The items themselves are of a decent size and the packaging is very clean and funky with flamingos patterned on top.

There are 4 items in this collection, very bright, colourful and on trend with pinks and oranges. These are as follows:

• Bronzer - £4.99
• Lipgloss - £3.99
• Nail Polish in Palm Beach and Down Town - £2.99 each

This is the first bronzer I've ever purchased so I'm hoping it doesn't make me look terribly orange, like all other bronzers and their respective artists have piled onto my face resulting in a walking-talking orange...me. *shudders at the memories*

So anyway, there will be separate reviews as soon as I've tried the collection for a period of time I consider to be adequate for review. At the moment there is also an offer on 17, so when you buy any 2 17 products you receive a Nail Bar in a Bag. This consists of 2 polishes, nail art stickers and a nail file - brilliant! I'll put that up in another post for you too.

Thank you for reading! :)

What do you think of this collection? Will you be buying?

Any Questions or Requests? - February 2011

This is February's Questions/Requests, please leave your thoughts in the comments below! :)

Every month I post a similar post asking if you have any specific questions or requests with regards to the blog that I may be able to help with. Please leave your comments below and thank you so much for visiting BBA!

January 2011 Favourites :)

My top 5 products that I've used over and over in the month of January...

1. E.l.f Studio blush in "Mellow mauve" - such a high quality, pigmented powder blush for the tiny price of £3.50

2. 17 Eyes Trio in "Metallic toffee" - the easiest, quick and simple neutral eye

3. No7 Stay Perfect Nail Polish in "Totally Teal" - a very pretty autumn/winter shade

4. Bourjois Khol and Contour Eyeliner in "01 Noir Expert" - I love this eyeliner so much! I'll be writing a review on this very soon and comparing to all black eyeliners I have tried, but it is truly worth it!

5. Blistex Lip Massage Lip Balm - I love the smell/taste of this balm and the slanted applicator, overall thumbs up :)

Any Questions or Requests? - January 2011

Hi! :)

I've decided that at the beginning of each month I'm going to post a similar post to this, asking you if you have any questions or specific requests you would like me to do with regards to the blog,

Please don't forget to comment and let me know!

Thank you so much for visiting Beauty Blogging Away!