Feel Unique Beauty Box - October 2011

I received my first ever Feel Unique Beauty Box on Friday and I loved it so much I honestly didn't want to share it with anyone! Feel Unique is £9.95 per month and the box and its contents are amazing.

TIGI Catwalk Sleek Mystique Straight Collection Blow Out Balm - Full Size 90ml - £10.35

Crabtree & Evelyn India Hicks Island Living Spider Lily Ultra-Moisturising Hand Therapy - 25g Sample - £3.50

Caudalie Vinexpert Radiance Day Fluid SPF10 - 10ml sample - £10.20

Bliss Fabulous Foaming Face Wash - 60ml - £5.60

Orly Nail Lacquer in Green With Envy - 5.3ml - £5

Burberry Body Perfume - 1.5ml sample - £1.38

Total Value of Box: £36.03

Amount Paid: £9.95

Total Saving: £26.08

The Feel Unique box itself is a small compact slide-out sleek black box which I love. The contents are from luxury brands and are of deluxe sizes. I love this box! To be honest I'm very grateful for the TIGI Styling Balm but I have no idea how to use it because I don't own a blow-dryer...maybe I should get one at some point...let me know what you think! The Crabtree & Evelyn hand cream is a wonderful addition as I've been wanting to try their products for ages and still haven't. Caudalie is a French brand and I have a bit of an amour for them, also very high-end, I love the sample sizes because I can take them away with me when I travel, this fluid also has an SPF of 10 which is always helpful. Unfortunately my heart sank a little when I saw the Bliss Face Wash because I already have 2 exact bottles, but I hope it's good, so I can use them all up! I love the Orly nail lacquer, and the shade is lovely but not one I myself would associate as a pre-Winter warmer, as the theme of this box is. Finally I really liked the addition of a fragrance sample, I have so many I don't think I'll ever need to buy a perfume bottle! I liked the fragrance of the Burberry Body, although I do feel I should wear it a little more before deciding definitely.

I was very happy with this box and am proud to present it with a 10/10 based on my first impressions and thoughts. I see no flaws in this box, the packaging, the price or the delivery. I'm considering going for the 12 month subscription but again, I have to yet decide which beauty boxes to unsubscribe from!

Thank you so much for reading! What do you think of the box? Will you be joining up?

Amarya Beauty Box - October 2011

I received my lovely beauty box by Amarya yesterday and I was thrilled with the contents. Here's everything and my thoughts:

Lavera Eye Gel - sample sachet (1.5ml?) - price/worth unknown

terre d'Oc Powder Eyeshadow in 502 - Full size - £12.95

Dr Hauschka Daily Revitalising Eye Cream - 1.5ml sample - worth £3.35

Neom Organic Body Wash - 50ml - worth £4.25

Madara Eco Face Travel Set - Full size - £6.95

Total Value of Box: at least £27.50

Amount Paid: £10

Total Saving: £17.50

Here are my first impressions of the box:

I really loved opening it this month, it really and truly felt like I'd got a surprise birthday present, I'm not sure why though! Probably because I hadn't had a package in so long! Anyway...I'm happy with the box overall, very happy with the Madara travel set and as I have combination skin-tone I was impressed with Amarya, even though I secretly knew that everyone has got the same one. I've stored it away for when I do travel, I love the look of the Neom body wash and it smells nice too, think herbal scents. Although I haven't tried the Lavera eye gel or Dr Hauschka's eye cream, I don't like sample sachets to try the creams or any creams, because they dry out before I can utilise them properly - unless I transfer them to a little pot which are always occupied so hard for me to do. Finally the terre d'Oc eyeshadow, it's a loose eyeshadow in a very unique shaped pot and a very pretty colour. I think I'll use it as an all over shade on my lazy days!

Based on my first impressions this box gets a 9/10!

Thank you so much for reading, let me know what you think of your Amarya box, or if you haven't signed up, are you tempted yet? :)

Secret Santa/Christmas Swaps

Hi!

To formally register your interest in partaking in the Secret Santa/Christmas swaps please read the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy below. Jade from Fashion & Beauty Disaster kindly offered to help me organise everything so when I say "we" I mean Jade and myself, otherwise I will say "I" for myself only. To help everyone feel safer about the swap I've compiled the terms and privacy policy. It's a lot to read and comply by but it'll keep everything safe and secure and allow this to take place without any issues!

Source

PLEASE REGISTER YOUR INTEREST BY 25th OCTOBER 2011.

Terms and Conditions:

- Minimum value of present must be GBP £15/ USD $23/ EUR €17.

- Packages must be sent out before or on 1st December 2011.
- You must be 18 or over or over the legal age in your country or have your parents' permission to participate.

- You must contact either Nav or Jade to inform them of your chosen delivery method. (1st class, recorded, etc) So that we can help your Secret Santa should their package not arrive AND please email a picture of your proof of postage to naviliciousbeauty@yahoo.com.

- Once you fill in the form below you must partake in this swap, if there are any issues with this please email Nav or Jade.

- To participate in the swap you must accept both the terms and conditions and privacy policy.

- Neither Nav or Jade will be held responsible for missing packages or packages which do not comply with everything mentioned in both the privacy policy and the terms and conditions.

 - Please inform Nav or Jade once your package has been received.

- When sending package please include a little note saying who it's from so you may be thanked!

Privacy Policy:

- The data collected (name, postal address, email address) will not be passed onto any third party, it will only be accessible to the sender of your package and Nav.

- Your information will only be used for the purposes of this swap and no other reason.

- As the sender you must remove your Secret Santa's details once the package has been sent.

- All personal information and data collected will be removed from this database once everyone has received their packages.

You will also be sent an email to verify you have chosen to participate before we send any details to you to protect privacy as best as we can.

Monthly Facials: Deep Cleansing Facial

I had my first ever facial a few days ago and I can now report my thoughts and opinions! It cost £20 for around 40 minutes, I didn't expect anything too fancy for that price but a decent service and possibly good results.

Here's how it went:

I asked for their deep cleansing facial and the lady told me to take a seat, another lady then came out and mumbled if I wanted a facial, and I replied yes, to which I was directed upstairs and told to change. I didn't know what to change into and the wrap on the bed looked very recently used, so I sat on the edge and took my shoes off and jumper off waiting.

 After about 4-5mins the lady came back with a tray of scrubs and creams, she then put the wrap on me asking to remove my t-shirt and told me to lay down. The bed was fine, and the music calming. She wrapped a headwrap on my head and began very roughly rubbing in a cleanser. After the cleanser she wiped off with a face towel, she put an exfoliator on my face which I think she managed to get into my nostril as well seeing as she was so incredibly rough. I felt heat coming from directly above my face to the left a little and felt truly suffocated. She hadn't asked if I was asthmatic, experiencing any breathing difficulties or even if there was a heart condition - I'm aware that these things can be affected by sauna like steam. But anyway, I was suffocating for a while as she rubbed everything around my face very roughly, blocking my airways as she worked on the sides of my nose as well.

The light was then turned on and a metal like tool attacked my face, specifically around my nose, wincing a lot I heard her say "yes it is painful!" I assumed this was the manual extraction part. Fortunately this was soon over and another cleanser applied while the steam was removed, this was swiftly rubbed in and wiped off and yet another cleanser applied! Only it was a mask that felt like a cleanser, wet cotton pads were also dropped on my eyes and I heard the lady leave the room.

So after about 7 minutes I would say, she returned and wiped the mask off, after she was satisfied with that, the cream was applied again, roughly but also heavily to my face, straight after I was told "ok, done!"

The entire facial lasted 40minutes, my skin looked very glowing, my nose was nice and red, but clear. Throughout the rest of the day my face looked like I'd purposely dropped an open bottle of baby oil on it, I eventually saw my face and used a wipe to smooth things over. After this my skin felt fantastic, so soft, very cleansed although the pores around my T-zone seem to be more noticeable - even though immediately after the facial they appeared to be significantly smaller.

Despite the rough rubbing of my face and the not very long or perfect facial, I think it did make a difference, even if ever so slightly and I hope that the regularity will help to improve my skin in future. Sorry for the long post!

Christmas Swaps!

Image from http://crazy-frankenstein.com/403.html

I had this idea some time ago and I'm not sure how everyone will receive it. I wanted to send my "blogging/twitter" friends Christmas presents! I'm not entirely sure how this will work, but I'm thinking that if you would be up for it please register your interest in the form of a comment below. I don't want this to be something that only a few people can do, everyone is welcome and I don't think the value of presents should be an issue. It's up to everyone individually if they'd like their swaps to be international or not, but whichever way I think everything should be sent a little while before Christmas to ensure it gets there on time!

Another way to do this might be to send your blogger friend an email or tweet asking if they'd be interested and you can go ahead and do so!

Please let me know what you think in the comments below. I hope there's enough interest for the first Christmas blogger swap to go ahead! :)

Thank you so much for reading x

Boudoir Privé - September 2011

Hi!

I received my Boudoir Privé box last Monday and I've had a chance to play with everything well enough for first impressions/a mini-review. Boudoir Privé kindly offered to send me a box free of charge and I replied too quickly not recalling I'm already a subscriber! However, I told them later on and they were absolutely lovely when I said I'd either be giving it to a family member or holding a giveaway on the blog. I ended up giving it away to a family member for her birthday and she loved it, she took most of the stuff leaving me the box.

So anyway, here's what was in it and my opinions on it:

Lovely note in review box (given away)

My £10 box - and I've forgotten to take a picture of the Tropic body polish because I'd already used it :/

Tropic Body Smooth Refreshing Polish - I really liked this, I used it on my legs and it made them feel a lot smoother and scrubbed, I'm not entirely sure if I'd repurchase as I think I've found the scrub of my life at the minute, but overall it's lovely, works well with a citrus fragrance.

Zoya Professional Lacquer in Tao - I really like the shade of the nail polish, from Zoya's A/W collection Smoke & Mirrors, it applies well and looks good. Normally retails for £9.98 per bottle.

Cargo Boogie Night Eye Pencil - I swatched both of these from both boxes on my hand and I really didn't like the colour payoff or feeling, I think these would be way too harsh on my very sensitive eyes - they'll be in my blogsale soon. 5 retail for £13.

Colbert MD Nourish Eye Cream - This is amazing, I love the consistency of this eye cream and I think my sample will last me for months, it's a nourishing cream and not anti-aging like every cream I come across so I'm glad. Just a basic cream I need. 15ml for £90.

Macademia Healing Oil Treatment - This is another product I love, it's nourishing to the hair without being oily, I think I may repurchase this when I run out or just some more for all of my hair.

Agent Provocateur Fragrance -  This smells lovely :)

Mai Couture Blot & Bronze sheets - I really like these, I was confused as to which side to use but I just used both and I love the slight shimmer they add.

Zoya swatches - I'm glad these were included so that when Boudoir Privé open their online store I can pick up some more shades I love!

I think this box was the best box so far! I hope you enjoyed and thank you for reading, let me know what you think and if you'll be subscribing to Boudoir Privé soon! :) Another thing I forgot to add is how much I love that Boudoir Privé put the samples into the box so they're hidden! I love looking for them! :)

September Empties - 2011

I really like doing these posts because it makes me feel better about what I've used up! :) For the month of September I have used up a lot of samples and sachets and a few full/travel-sized products.

Starting off with some samples, I used up 2 REN face creams, one for night and the other for the day, I really liked both of these but I don't think they were a perfect match for my combination skin.

I also used up my Tropic Body Smooth Refreshing Polish from my Boudoir Privé box this month quite quickly, I thought this was pretty good, it's like a sugary scrub but once applied to the skin the scrubbing parts seem to melt into the formula, smells strongly of lemons and leaves skin moisturised after use too.

I'm so glad I finally used up this Neutrogena concentrated hand cream, I found it to be extremely moisturising to the skin but didn't love the texture very much after a lot of use, it lasts for donkey's years though. I love the scent of this Ted Baker bodyspray I tend to carry it around with me and spray it all day because it's so lovely!

I've been using The Body Shop's Seaweed Mattifying Moisture Lotion SPF15 for ages, it's a great moisturiser for combination skin although sometimes my skin can get very oily after about 6 hours of having it on, also glad I finished this!

I used up 2 Lush Fresh Face Masks, technically only one because I had to bin the Love Lettuce mask due to mould constantly forming on it. Way before the expiry date and afterwards. The BB Seaweed mask had the same issue but once I took the layer of mould off it didn't reappear, so I wasn't too dissapointed with it. However the Love Lettuce mask was basically throwing away £5.50 for nothing.

The Brilliant Brunette Shampoo and Conditioner travel sized items by John Frieda are amazing and I loved them both, you can read a more in depth review here.

I also finished one of three Dove Intensive conditioners, they came with Marie Claire and I can safely say I loved it and it's a great product for taking away frizz and making my hair feel nourished, unfortunately I threw it into the plastics before I had a chance to take a picture!

Thank you for reading x