April GlossyBox First Impressions

Good afternoon,

So the blogs have gone crazy once again for this months offerings from GlossyBox. I was pleasantly surprised to receive an eco-box, full of organic products and 100% biodegradable packaging, although, like others have pointed out, why the packaging is not 100% biodegradable every month is beyond me. I do like to make use of my boxes so I will not be throwing it away, but many probably make it to landfill. I try to make sure I am eco-concious, so to test products that support this philosophy is great, and it gives me an idea which brands to look for in the future.

Anyway, I could go on about eco-ness all day, being a bit of a warrior for it myself, but I won't, and instead will show you what was in my box...

So the box looked quite exciting when I opened it, I was pleased to see some quite big products. At first I thought I had only got four products but one was hiding from me.

Here are my first impressions...

This smells lovely! It will be making it's way to the side of my bath as soon as I have used up the last of my Naked Ooh La La Shower Gel (which has lasted me forever, and smelt beautiful!). I am pleased to see this is quite a big bottle, I think it is full size. It is supposed to be £4.95, which is not bad, but, as someone who normally buys their shower gel in Poundland, it is unlikely I would buy this, but hey, that's why GlossyBoxes are such a treat!  I can't wait to try it as like I said it smells lovely, (I love coconut!), and it sounds like it has some great skin-loving ingredients in it. So I will let you know how I get on with that. 

After using up the last of my Blistex Roller Ball I have been testing all of my lip balms to find a suitable replacement as my night time lip treatment. I need something that stays hydrating for a long time. I find that some lip balms are great for a little while, and then actually make your lips drier, so you have to apply more, which isn't ideal for when trying to sleep. However, I think I have found the answer in this! Oh. My. Gosh is this moisturising! The rose scent is a little heavy, (the peppermint one that was in other people's boxes sounds lovely), but I can live with it, I like nice scents around me when I am going to sleep. At first I thought it was a little weird because it feels a bit grainy when first applied, but it sort of melts onto your lips and goes so buttery and smooth and lasts for ages. I think it's ideal for on a night because I wouldn't really want to eat or drink soon after applying this, because it doesn't really sink in. It can also be used as a face or hand balm which I like. I imagine if you had a cold and a flakey nose from all the tissues this would be a welcome relief. Anyway, I will stop rambling about this, it is a full size sample and is supposed to be £3.29, which I think I would pay for something organic and this moisturising.

I have never really considered that an eye pencil could be organic, but here we have the Inika Organic Eye Liner in 07 Graphite. I will do swatches in my follow up post, but from my initial try I can say that the texture is lovely! It's so soft and easy to apply and blend. I usually don't use eye pencils above my lashes but I tried this today and it went on beautifully, without that whole 'dragging your eyelid' experience you can have with other eye pencils that are too hard or dry. The only thing that puts me off is the £11.95 price tag. With eye liners I just think that they are something you can buy cheap and get away with it, so I couldn't justify this much on a pencil really.

So the above product was my only 'kind of' disappointment. I say kind of because all the other samples are quite large, so I can't be too disappointed with one mini mini product. I do think that if beauty boxes are doing perfumes though, they should be proper samples, and not just a vial of liquid that you can maybe use once or twice, the Fendi sample in the Harrods box was a perfect size. This is a perfume oil to be applied to the pulse points and I am not sure if it is supposed to be calming. The scent is pleasant but unusual, not something I would usually pick but I am happy to give it a try, but for £41 for a full size product, a try is all it will be getting!

I was very excited to see a Caudalie product in my box, after reading all the hype over other Caudalie products. This is a S.O.S Thirst Quenching Serum, that uses plant-based ingredients. I read on someone else's blog (I can't remember who's) that they use this as an under eye cream, so I have decided that's how I am going to try it. On a night I take my make-up off with a wipe, then moisturise my face, currently with the SKII moisturiser sample that came in the Harrods GlossyBox, I will therefore just add the eye serum into the routine and see how we go. If it performs miracles then the £29 price tag might be justified, I'll keep an open mind for now...

So all in all I am very impressed with this months box. I like the fact that GlossyBox is drawing attention to eco and organic brands in a positive way, (unlike a certain soap brand that recently went about proving it's point in a very controversial fashion...), and have delivered them in beautiful packaging once again. 

Not everyone can be pleased by the contents of beauty boxes, and some say that the 'hype' about them is over. However, as relative new-comer to the party and the concept of beauty boxes. I am still excited by the idea and will probably continue to be so. I mean, how can you not be excited about getting little presents through the post?! If I encounter anything I particularly don't like but I know someone who will I will just pass it on to them, I don't feel like I am losing out just because I don't fall in love with everything, I just like trying new things without having to pay ridiculous price tags. £12.95 a month for a little me time with some high end products I would never buy myself is definitely worth it for me... but what do you think?

(sorry for the essay, a short sharp post tomorrow I promise! And I am going to the Festival of Vintage tomorrow, so keep your eyes peeled for the post on that!)

See you soon :)