Carmine Beauty Box - October 2011

If you haven't already heard of Carmine where have you been?! They're the latest beauty box in the UK offering 5 lovely products for all us beauty-crazed women to try. There are 3 different types of subscriptions you can go for, monthly which is £10 plus £2.75 P&P, 6months which is £60 plus £16.50 P&P or 12months which is £110 plus £30.25 P&P resulting in 1 box free! After this box I'm really debating as to whether I should sign up for a year's subscription and save myself some money...

Onto their first ever and my first ever box! I subscribed on Wednesday and had the box with me on Saturday, very impressive.

First a few snaps of the box and packaging:

Then what's inside:

Trind Nail Repair Natural - Full Size 9ml - £12.95

balance Me Super Moisturising Hand Cream - 30ml sample - £4.35

Caudalie Vinosource Quenching Sorbet-Creme - 10ml sample - £5

theBalm FratBoy Shadow/Blush - Full Size 8.5g - £16

Daniel Sandler Eye Delight in Peach - Full Size 3g - £10.25

Total Value of Box: £48.55

Amount Paid: £12.75

Total Saving: £35.80

First Impressions of Carmine:

They seem to be a very relaxed, friendly and fun brand. I love their wording and descriptions on the website, one even made me not feel so bad for having to pay for P&P. I love that they were able to ship out their boxes so soon after subscribing, it really makes a huge difference to me. Especially as when signing up for previous boxes I've had to wait months to receive them - ridiculous! I look forward to what more Carmine have to offer.

First Impressions and Thoughts on the Beauty Box:

I really love this box, I found the contents to be quite similar to Feel Unique's beauty box this month, but I love it. The bright colours and the large black box are great, however I did have a hard time getting the box open because it is so secure. The lid covers the entire depth of the box and not just the top portion so it was a bit annoying getting it open! The box itself is larger and much more rectangular than any other beauty box I've mentioned on here. There's also a very helpful leaflet explaining the products and codes for money off and discounts too.

Now I'll let you know of my thoughts on the contents of the box individually. The Daniel Sandler loose eyeshadow looks amazing, I'm not an overall fan of loose eyeshadows because anything loose in my opinion will be messy, I do however ignore that when reviewing or using something unless it makes a significant mess. I haven't yet used the eyeshadow but I love the colour, very versatile, I'd personally use it as an overall base colour or for highlighting specific areas, and depending on the texture even my face. I was very happy to see a Caudalie cream in here because I'm a huge fan of French brands, I'm sure I'll love this cream too. The balanceMe hand cream is a lovely treat, I love the size and the bright packaging, it's also made up of 98.8% of natural origin ingredients and is definitely cruelty-free. I'm glad that the Trind nail repair was included because overall in the colder seasons I find that nails aren't as strong, although I put that lightly because fortunately my nails aren't so bad overall. It looks like a great treatment and is yet another full sized product included this month. Finally theBalm's gorgeous blush/eyeshadow, this is also a full sized product and a release that is very difficult to get hold of in the UK as of yet. It was released for Summer 2011 and looks beautiful, it is a peachy-pink blush perfect for all year round.

I'm very very happy with Carmine's first box and I cannot wait for future boxes. I do believe that I'm very close to deciding which boxes to keep and which to unsubscribe from. I'd like to add a huge thank you to Carmine for bringing back my belief in amazing customer service and quality of service. Not to mention value! Overall based on my first impressions and thoughts this box gets a 9.5/10! The 0.5 less because I couldn't get the box open for ages!

What do you think of Carmine's Beauty Box? Will you be signing up?


If you'd like to sign up simply click below:
Sign me up now!

50% Off ELF Haul

I picked up a lot in one of ELF's frequent 50% off sales and I thought I'd share what I got, I'll slowly be using and reviewing everything too. All prices given are full prices.

The box filled with ELF products

Face Products (All Studio Line) - Mineral Infused Face Primer £6, Tinted Moisturiser SPF15 Beige £3.50,  Blushes - £3.50 each, Candid Coral, Tickled Pink, Fuschia Fusion, High Definition Powder £6, Flawless Finish Foundation £6.50.

I have no idea whether the foundation will be the correct shade for my skintone, I ordered Caramel but on the bottom there is a little sticker saying Buff...and I found it very difficult choosing a shade in the first place from the website...

Another HD Powder £6, 3pc Eyelid Primer Set £3.50, 3pk Shine Eraser Set £3.50.

I have yet to use the Eyelid Primers, although already use ELF's Mineral Eyelid Primer and love it, the HD Powders are repurchases, and I've tried the Blotting Sheets and find that they're too small and I use about 10 of them after a few hours of moisturiser in a busy day.

Mineral Lipglosses, Night Owl, Sorority Girl, Daring £3 each (not in order), Studio Conditioning Lip Balms SPF15,  Mellow Melon, Romantic Rouge, Blissful Berry, £3.50 each, Mineral Lipstick, Barely Bitten £3.50.

I haven't tried any of the lip products yet, the shades of the lipglosses look very similar although I'll see if that's true when on the lips.

My beloved Nourishing Cuticle Pens, £1.50 each, Angled Contour Brush, Angled Foundation Brush, Angled Eyeliner Brush, £3.50 each.

I love the Nourishing Cuticle Pen, read about it here. The brushes I have yet to use!

Powder Brush, Fan Brush, £3.50 each.

Again I haven't used much of my order to be able to give you first impressions or full reviews on them, when I have done I will be putting up reviews!

I hope this maybe gives you some ideas of what to try when ordering from ELF as I think they have yet another 50% off sale on at the moment!

Sleek Makeup Mediterranean Collection Round-Up

Here you can find all my reviews for the Sleek Mediterranean Collection - just click on the product name below:

- Monaco Eyeshadow Palette
- Santorini Blush
- Monte Carlo Pout Polish

Thank you for reading :)

Review: Sleek Makeup LE Mediterranean Collection - Santorini Blush

This is the blush from Sleek's Limited Edition Mediterranean Collection which was released this summer. To read an overview post please click here. It cost £4.29 for 8g from Superdrug and is an amazing blush for summer - I really like it as you can already tell...

Ther packaging is very sleek, as per usual and is very pretty with the addition of the Mediterranean artwork. It includes a mirror on the opposite side of the blush which I love with all Sleek blushes, sometimes I forget my mirror in another bag or at home and having a mirror about is so useful. The pigmentation on this blush is very high, one swipe results in a very pigmented swatch, so very little is required for both cheeks. The texture is soft and blendable, which I think is an absolute neccessity due to the pigmentation! The blush wears on me without fading for at least 8 hours. A lovely rosy bright pink colour is remains on my cheeks throughout the day, blended well it appears very natural. I use a blush brush, either from Mac or ELF and both work well for ease of application.


Swipe on left, blended swatch on right.

As long as you're not put off by the very bright colour I do think you'll find this to be a lovely blush for summer - even though I don't feel it visited us here this year...I wouldn't repurchase this simply because I don't think I'll ever finish it! In terms of value you do receive a lot of good quality product for a relatively low price, another thing I'm happy with!

Product: 8.5/10

Pigmentation: 8.5/10

Texture/Formula: 8/10

Wear: 8/10

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

Overall: 8.2/10

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.

Sleek Makeup LE Caribbean Collection - Summer 2011

Here is the second collection of Sleek's Summer 2011 releases. Aptly named Caribbean Collection, the packaging suits the name perfectly, the colours coincide with the Summer feeling and look very pretty.

Like the Mediterranean Collection and most of Sleek's Collections there are 3 items in it;

- Curacao Eyeshadow Palette (£6.70)

- Aruba Blush (Bright Orange - £4.29)

- Bonaire Pout Polish (Bright Orange - £4.29)

This is a Limited Edition Collection and will be available in Superdrug from Wednesday 6th July 2011. I'll try to post reviews/swatches before the date so you have an idea of the items before making the decision to buy or not!

I was lucky (because I spend most of my time in Superdrug...) that my local Superdrug had these on the shelves and I picked them up! Reviews coming soon!

Thank you for reading :)

What do you think of this collection? Worth it? Better than the Mediterranean Collection? Or you want both?

Sleek Makeup LE Mediterranean Collection - Summer 2011

Woo! That's a mouthful of a title I hear you say! - I agree whole-heartedly and please accept my apologies for it. However...this is a very interesting post as you will come to discover once you read through it! (OK, maybe not that amazing but I love the collection!)

Here is Sleek's Limited Edition Mediterranean Collection for Summer 2011, but that's not it, there's another collection too! (More on that one later). This was released at the beginning of June and has pretty much disappeared from the shelves in Superdrug, I had a very hard time finding the blush because it was out of stock everywhere I went. I started to get funny looks from the sales assistants there too...but you should still be able to find most of it - hopefully.

In this collection there are 3 items:

- Monaco Eyeshadow Palette (£6.70)

- Santorini Blush (Slightly deep shade of bright pink - £4.29)

- Monte Carlo Pout Polish (Bright Pink - £4.29)

Sleek palettes now include names of each eyeshadow in the palette, unfortunately my transparent plastic sheet was slightly crumpled up, but I'll let you in on the names in the review posts. My first impressions of this collection are WOW! I think it looks beautiful, and so perfect for the summer months.

Keep an eye out for future reviews of these items which will include swatches and a much more in depth analysis of each item.

Thank you for reading! :)

Have you got your perfectly manicured hands on this yet? Or is it just another collection by Sleek for you?

Glamour Magazine and Benefit Freebies!

I know this post is definitely past it's sell by date but I still wanted to write it, just in case anyone has missed out and assuming that a miracle has taken place, and there are still Glamour magazines out on the magazine racks!

So, as we've all read a £2 Glamour magazine with Adele on the cover (aka July 2011 copy), is going to give you one of 3 of Benefit's awesome products. On offer are:

- High Beam (4ml)
- Benetint (4ml)
- Posietint (4ml)

Altogether the sample sizes are worth £28 and you can get them for £6. I bought 3 of each, because I'm a piglet, yes. Also because I will use them all! Even though one should last a reasonably long time...it's hard to convince myself of my crazy makeup splurges anymore...*sigh*

So there we have it! It's all that you need to know really, so if you haven't already picked at least one of these up, you are now armed with the information to go get you some Benefit!

Thank you for reading! :)

Review: No7 Natural Blush Cheek Colour in Candy Pink

This is such a pretty blush with a gorgeous colour to it once applied onto the cheeks. It's by No7 and named Candy Pink very appropriately I think. It costs £9 and is available from Boots but with the £5 off vouchers currently in circulation it'll only cost you £4! Bargain!

The texture of this blush is very soft and "powdery", which in turn begs the question (in my head anyway) why it isn't chalky...that just shows the brilliance of the blush in my opinion! It goes on very well with your fingers or a blush brush, I use Mac's usually and I find that it leaves a very pretty natural looking blush on my cheeks.

I usually tend to put on a bit more as it tends to wear off during the day but by midday it looks absolutely perfect with my skintone. I also think it would look great on all skintones because of the buildable nature of this blush. You can either pile it on straight away by picking up lots or gently build up, it's completely up to you. It's very natural looking generally, but you can choose to go for a more dramatic look if you wanted.

I really love the packaging, it's very sleek and compact and fits perfectly into all my cosmetics bags, large or small! I've bought a back-up of this blush just in case it runs out soon, (seeing as I'm using it very often), but on the compact it says that they've changed the formula and the blush looks a lot more pink...hmm...

You receive 5g of product which is quite a bit of blush and it's lasting me for a very long time. It is definitely one of my favourite blushes that I've come to love recently. Overall it's an 8/10 from me!

Have you tried this? What did you think? Please leave your comments below!

Thank you for reading :)

Review: E.L.F Cosmetics Studio Blush in "Mellow Mauve"

An e.l.f studio blush costs £3.50 for 4.75g/0.168oz and is most definitely one of the greatest blushes I have used to date.

The Packaging: The packaging is very sturdy and I love the compact styling, I think it's similar to Nars - but I haven't tried any of their blushes yet. I kept it in my handbag for days (I forgot it was there!) And the little pocket was completely fine afterwards, no extra powder anywhere either. It also has a tiny horizontal mirror in it which I think is quite handy albeit small.

The Colour: The colour I chose is "mellow mauve" which is a deep pinky colour, (sorry for the not great picture!) It's very pigmented because I always manage to get too much on my face and have to blend for about 2 minutes! It does have a bit of shimmer in it which is pleasant but not overwhelming, and only shows up very clearly if you decide to put a ton of it on. I would also think that this would suit all skin tones, depending on how much you layer on.

The Texture: I found the texture to be nice and soft, doesn't feel scratchy or anything.

Overall: Very nice colour, nice texture, awesome price, very good value, lots of product, 8/10.

Thank you for reading! :)

My August Favourites!

I thought I'd do a favourites blog because I love watching them on youtube! I'd also like to add that this will become a monthly feature on my blog and I hope you enjoy reading it :)

This month I have only had very few favourites because I haven't tried many new products that I absolutely love...I  also stopped taking care of myself for a period of time because I had the "I just cannot be bothered" phase...but don't worry I'm back to my usual self now!

1) Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in "Yeyo"

The reason I love love love this is because of the ease of application, the gorgeous colour, the simple-ness but fantastic effective qualities of the pencil. It's a shimmery white colour and looks very flattering on the eyes. I use it alone, I use it as an inner corner highlight, as a base, as an eyeshadow, on the entire waterline, only on the lashline, you name the use and I use it! £11 from Debenhams/Boots

2) Bourjois Kohl & Contour Eye Pencil in "Blue Virtuose"

This is an amazing shade of eyeliner especially on the lash line, however on the waterline it looks very similar to black unless you go over it about 4 times, which I don't want to do on my waterline all the time as it can cause infections and is very harsh for such as sensitive area of the eye. It is in my favourites because it's such a pretty colour and looks lovely on the eyes. £4.29 at Boots/Superdrug

3) Bobbi Brown blush in "Plum"

To read my post on this blush please Click Here

To be honest those are the 3 products I have used most this month and that I think are so lovely! :)

Thank you for reading!

(N.B I don't mention all retailers of prooducts because I'm not 100% sure if some stores sell them, as sometimes they are not listed on the internet)

Review: Bobbi Brown Blush in "Plum" (05)

Hi! :)

This award-winning blush is by far my favourite at the moment, Bobbi Brown's in the plum shade! It's very pigmented and soft to touch (like the shadows) and also most importantly for me easy to apply and a lovely colour. If you wear moisturiser before your makeup goes on, the blush blends into the skin really well. Depending on how dark you want to wear the colour, you can control the sheer-ness or deepen the colour quite easily; as this is quite a bold vibrant colour I chose to keep mine sheer for fear of being classified a clown!

The packaging is very much the same as all of the other shadows and blushes in the Bobbi Brown range, very sleek looking and slim so fits in easily into your travel makeup bag and into your larger home collection too. The Bobbi Brown blushes are slightly more expensive than the shadows retailing at £16.50 in the UK, and $22 in the US. I would definitely recommend this blush as I have no complaints and I think it is a blush that will work with every skin tone, fair to dark, and you control how deep you'd like the colour to be so no issues there either!

I'm sorry if my reviews are short, and if there's anything you'd like me to talk about more, please comment and let me know.

Overall I think this blush is a must-have for all, but don't hold me to it if you don't like it! (I'm 99.9999% sure you will!)

Thank you for reading,

nav x