This box is on a whole new level
Beauty boxes, I’m sure you’re familiar with the concept and have most likely read several blog posts featuring the likes of Birchbox, Glossy box as well as the standard Latest In Beauty boxes. I, however, am more a fan of the one-off limited edition boxes. I’ve recently spoken about previous boxes by Latest In Beauty including The Greatest Showman Box and The Beauty And The Beast Box, both of which were prepared boxes that somehow corresponded with the films. This beauty box, however, is one in which you get to pick your own products, with most of them on offer are full sized! The Style Beauty Awards Box is in collaboration with The Sunday Time beauty awards with all the products involved being contenders to win awards.
While there are several brands I’d never heard of there are also massive brands like Mac, Charlotte Tilbury (which all the products are now sold out), Real Techniques, Essie and Garnier to name a few. I waited until the last re-stock in hopes that I might be able to get my hands on a couple of the Charlotte Tilbury items, but alas I did not. What I did manage to do though was pick up some other amazing products, all of which are full size!
Now I love trying new products so you think I’d have a subscription to every beauty box out there when in reality I don’t. I’m often put off by the inability to chose the products I want to try and when they do arrive they’re more often than not small sample sizes that only have one or two uses. Since I’m someone that likes to try a product for several weeks before deciding if I want to permanently add it to my collection or if I’m going to pass it along. I think more beauty boxes should up their prices slightly but in return offer full-size products. I know Cohorted is an example of this and I really need to give them a go.
Anyway enough of my rambling about beauty boxes, and onto the products I picked out!
THE BODY SHOP JAPANESE MATCHA TEA FACE MASK
I’m currently sat with this face mask on and it smells amazing, if you’ve ever had matcha tea then it smells exactly like that. I’ve been wanting to try this mask from The Body Shop for a while now since it’s for pollution clearing, but at £17 a pot I was put off slightly since I typically use 7th Heaven masks or sheet masks. I’m slowly realising that sometimes it’s worth spending that extra dollar on skincare especially as I live in London at the moment but whenever I travel away to Portsmouth I always notice my skin becomes a lot better while I’m away and I blame it on all the cars and pollution in London.
I suffer from typically drying skin but occasionally get really bad breakouts in my t-zone and on my chin…I also get the worst blocked pores ever even when I don’t wear makeup for days. So I’m not sure what that’s about which is the thing that leads me to place the blame on pollution. I’ll let you know in a few weeks (over on my Instagram stories) if using this face mask has helped my skin improve or not.
REAL TECHNIQUES POWDER BLEU SOFT POWDER BRUSH
Real Technique’s brushes were some of the first ever makeup brushes I purchased, and they’re still some of my go-to brushes. I’d been eyeing up the Powder Bleu collection for a while but £22 for a brush just seemed like a lot of money…so obviously when I spotted it as an option to get in my box I jumped at it. Holy crap it’s soft. I’m yet to use it to apply any sort of product but I can see it being really good for swiping away powder from baking or even for blush. You can bet that I might just treat myself to more brushes from this collection.
This brush is definitely a lot higher quality than the core collection, and just feels and looks more luxurious but not quite to the same point as the bold metals collection. I feel like these are the next step in brushes, it’s kind of like ‘yeah I love makeup and ready to spend the extra money on decent items now’.
MAC LIPTENSITY LIPSTICK IN CLOUDS IN MY COFFEE
I’m an absolute sucker for MAC lipsticks and while I don’t have the biggest collection of them (at £17-£19 each who can afford to now?) but they’re some of my most reached for lipsticks. I hadn’t actually tried any from the Liptensity range until now and I’m in love with the formula. It’s not quite a matte formula but it’s not super shiny either it’s kind of that in-between stage and this particular shade reminds me of Velvet Teddy but slightly more pink, either way, I can see me reaching for this quite often. Especially as I’m starting to run low on Velvet Teddy but want to wait a couple of months before re-purchasing it.
SIENNA X 1 HOUR SELF TAN
The time had come to crack out the fake tan, the sun was shining in the sky and it was nice and warm just last week…now, however, it appears the April showers have arrived and I’ve had to put my heating back on. After tanning for the first time in a month I realised how much I actually love having a tan and how much more confident it made me. The one issue is that I use a developing tan that I sleep in, which is no good if you have last minute plans and only have a couple of hours to become a bronzed goddess. When I spotted this Sienna 1 hour self-tan I had to give it a try, while I haven’t tried it out personally yet it seems to have received some decent reviews and I’m tempted to use it as a way to top up my current tan.
The current tan I’m using at the moment is Superdrugs Solait Dark Mousse which is normally around the £5 mark, this Sienna tan is £20, which will make it the most expensive tan I’ve ever tried…so I’m hoping this means it’ll be good since my Superdrug on is my holy grail even if it does turn my sheets a muddy brown colour.
GARNIER ULTIMATE BLENDS ARGAN OIL AND ALMOND HAIR MASK
My hair is dryer than my phone…and that’s a bloody miracle. It seems that no matter what oils, masks and treatments I try my hair just remains a dry, frizzy mess. Anything that will help make it look and feel healthier I’m all for trying and while I’m only tried this mask once in my hair I do believe it’s made a difference. My hair isn’t quite a poofy as it would normally be after being washed. Hopefully, after a few more uses it’ll give me soft shiny hair like Maria J’s…who is hair goals. At only £3.24 from Boots, I won’t mind re-purchasing this if it works and gives me the princess hair I desire.
If anyone with naturally frizzy and dry hair can give me any tips that would be great, I rarely use heat on my hair and if I do I use a protective spray beforehand so that’s not really the cause and it’s not like I’m in an extremely humid country either. It’s just one thing I can’t seem to find anything to work.
DR SEBAGH SERUM REPAIR
So I’ve recently started to get into using acids and serums on my skin and I currently use The Ordinary Latic Acid 5% + HA 2% so when I saw this up for grabs I added it to my box. Now I’ve never heard of this product, but after googling it and discovering it retails for £69! I’m kinda scared to try it in case I fall in love with it like I did with my favourite moisturiser and now don’t want to spend £85 to repurchase it. It’s a moisturising serum that immediately tightens and lifts the skin in the battle against wrinkles and fine lines. Now I’m only 21 but it’s probably good to get started with anti-ageing now before any wrinkles appear rather than trying to fight them in a few years time. While it is pricey I’m excited to give it a try and maybe it’s something I can incorporate into my skincare routine once or twice a week so that I don’t have to re-purchase it too soon if I do actually like it.
Have you managed to get your hands on one of these amazing boxes yet?
Love you lots like jelly tots x
Photography
All photos within this post were taken by my myself on my Olympus Pen E-PL7 using the 45mm lens in natural lighting. They were then edited on Photoshop CC 2015 and VSCO.
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