YouBeauty Discovery Box January 2014

This is my January 2014 YouBeauty box. 

Chosen products

Kerasilk Ultra Rich Keratin Care Shampoo and Daily Intense Mask 50ml

This month I did the same as last month and went for the hair care as it included two products :)

They both smell nice but I can't say either the shampoo or mask really made much of a difference to my hair. Maybe you need to use them for longer?

Essie Repstyle polish 'Crocadilly' 13.5ml (full sized)

This was one of a set of six polishes by Essie. The colour was chosen at random by YouBeauty. Here is the full set:

My colour was a deep metallic green with silver shot through it. It's nowhere near as green as the press photos show. This is more like what my bottle looks like:

Normally, Essie polishes are great but I didn't like this one. The idea is to paint the polish on then use the magnet on top of the lid to create a snakeskin effect.

The polish itself was fine, however the pattern in the magnet was not centred so it was impossible to get the effect to look right. Plus, some of my nails are very curvy which means that these magnet thingies don't work very well for me.

Again, this photo makes it look really green but this is the effect that this polish is supposed to give.

It's a shame that this polish didn't work as well for me as it did for some of the others that have reviewed it, as I was really excited to try it and happy that I got one of the darker colours. Never mind!

Extras

Green People Age Defy+ Serum

Just a small sample sachet but nice as a free extra. I haven't actually used it yet as I'm not particularly focussing on anti-aging at the moment (way too many skin issues) but I will save it for when I do.

PopChips Barbecue Potato Chips

There are also not pictured because my other half claimed them before I had chance. Apparently they were very nice. A really good extra, thanks YouBeauty :)

Verdict

Overall, I'm happy with the box as the Essie polish alone retails for £9.99, even though it didn't work for me. Again, a box from YouBeauty that is worth much more than you pay!

Love, Sarah NailsfromNothing xx

Glossybox January 2014

This is the January 2014 Glossybox.

The theme for this month is 'Back to Basics'. They got that part right!

Before I received my box, I did what I do every month. I trawled the Glossybox Facebook page to see if anyone else had got their box, what they'd got and what they thought of it.

Quite a few people had already got theirs and they were united in their opinions - the January Glossybox was pretty... crap.

My box

Exactly the same as the promo photo!

Vaseline Essential Moisture Lotion 50ml (sample)

The first thing I saw was Vaseline.

Now, I have nothing against Vaseline. They are a very well known and loved brand, but their products are available in pretty much every shop in the country at low prices. I wasn't expecting something I could buy in a much bigger size from the pound shop in my Glossybox! 

It smells nice but it's just a basic body lotion. I guess the fact that I'm not a fan of slathering myself in lotions/butters/creams etc in the first place did not make me excited about this product, but going off what others said, I wasn't alone. It's something I'd expect to be thrown in as an extra to be honest, like the flipping perfume samples that come in some beauty boxes as one of your actual items!

There's usually always one varying item in the Glossybox, and this was the one this month. Instead of this product, some others received a BeautyUK CC Cream (worth £4.99) or two Montagne Jeunesse face masks (worth £2) and I'd much rather have got one of these instead. Never mind!

Worth approx. 35p (larger sizes £1.49 for 200ml or £2.48 for 400ml)

Yu-Be Moisturising Skin Cream 2x 3g (samples) 

Yu-Be is a Japanese brand who is pretty much unheard of over here. Apparently, this product is very popular over in Japan!

So what have we been missing?

This is a Glycerin-based moisturiser, enriched with vitamins B2, C and E. 

What's good about this product is that it's multi-purpose, which means you can use it for dry skin, lips, cuticles etc. It's even safe to use on burns and chapped skin. I have been using it on my lips and cuticles and I am enjoying it. It moisturises and soaks in really fast!

You don't need a large amount so even though these tubes are tiny they will probably last me a couple of months.

It has a strong smell of camphor that disappears a few minutes after application. Some people were complaining about the smell but I thought it was nice.

The fact that these are such small products in an already disappointing box is probably why they sent everyone two instead of one, but I'm not complaining because I like it :)

Worth approx. £2.45 for both (full size £13.50 for 33g)

Anatomicals 'Puffy The Eye Bag Slayer' Wake Up Under-Eye Patches (two sets)

Well, that was a mouthful! 

I don't get puffy eyes. I actually have sunken under-eyes so I don't really have a particular need for these. My eyes need puffing out a bit if anything ;) 

I tried them anyway but they did nothing noticeable for me. Ladies with puffy eyes, did these work for you?

Worth £4.00 (full size three sets for £6)

Note: The next two products are the exact same products I received in the YouBeauty Discovery Advent Calendar just weeks before. This wasn't a great move on Glossybox's behalf; somebody wasn't doing their homework when they picked the products!

Balance Me Super Toning Body Wash 50ml (sample)

Balance Me are a quite well known natural-product-making company. This particular body wash is of 99% natural origin.

I love the smell of it; it's not particularly strong but there's something really soothing and calming about it.

The only thing that I'm not happy with is the 50ml size. It got used up way too fast. I received a 100ml sized bottle in my YouBeauty advent calendar which was great. I would have expected it to be the other way around! I blame YouBeauty for doing such an amazing advent calendar ;)

Worth approx. £2.55 (full size £10.25 for 250ml)

The Vintage Cosmetic Company tweezers (full size)

As lovely as these are, I'd just got a pair of the same tweezers from the same company in my YouBeauty advent calendar, and despite being in an advent calendar they were still nicely boxed.

My Glossybox ones were just loose in a little plastic pouch that had split open at one end.

If I hadn't already just got some, I would have been a bit happier with these. My mum saw them and liked them so I gave them to her. 

RRP £8.00

Value for money?

Box cost = £10 + £2.95 P&P

Total box value = approx £17.35

Verdict

If you don't count the tweezers (which I gave away because I already had a decent pair of tweezers like most people do) then the box was actually worth less than I paid for it. This is one of the poorest value Glossyboxes I have ever seen.

Individually, the products are actually good. I think the sizing was the biggest disappointment for me. A bigger bottle of Balance Me or Yu-Be would have made me a bit happier. I was also underwhelmed more so because of the repeat products from the YouBeauty calendar.

I know that wasn't Glossybox's fault, but a little competitor research wouldn't have hurt - a lot of people would have bought both like me and been disappointed to find lesser versions of the same thing in their Glossybox just a month later

So there we have it - the very back-to-basics January 2014 Glossybox. I hope next month's box is a good one to make it up to the people that are still subscribed.

Did you get this box? What did you think of it?

Love, Sarah NailsfromNothing xx

YouBeauty Discovery Box December 2014

Here is a quick review of my December 2013 YouBeauty box.

I hadn't heard of the YouBeauty Discovery box before until I saw an advert for the 2013 Advent Calendar on Facebook, just before xmas. I bought this because it was on offer (as December was almost over with) and to be able to buy it I had to subscribe to the monthly box too. My intention was to cancel after the first month.

I ordered this and the calendar on the 23rd December, made my two box choices on the same day, and I received them both on the 28th December. How amazing is that? I really wasn't expecting it until after New Year so I was pleasantly surprised.

Here is my box:

Two chosen products:

Paul Mitchell Awapuhi Wild Ginger Hydrocream Whip and Hydromist Blow-Out Spray

I picked the Awapuhi products for two reasons. The first reason was because I actually used to use Paul Mitchell products (my hair salon was a Paul Mitchell salon) and once had a Awapuhi treatment which I liked. The second reason was because it was a two-product set, so two for the price of one :)

Dr. Nick Lowe Age Correct Eye Serum

I signed up for You Beauty box right at the end of December, which meant half of the products on the shortlist had sold out. I had never tried any Dr. Nick Lowe products before and I'm always up for trying a new eye cream, so I ordered this. This was also the second largest sample size that was left which swayed my decision in its favour. I haven't tried the Hydrocream Whip yet but I have been using the spray every time I blow dry my hair to give it a bit of volume. It smells quite nice too :)

Extras: 

Jimmy Choo 'Flash' sample 2ml

The packaging is super sparkly which doesn't show up on the photo. The fragrance is really nice too. The Jimmy Choo original EDP is one of my favourite fragrances but this isn't far behind. Quite expensive though!

Green & Black's Raisin and Hazelnut mini chocolate bar

This isn't pictured because I ate it before I had the chance. It was only tiny ;) and very yummy. Chocolate doesn't last long in this house!

Verdict:

I loved the concept of this box enough to keep my subscription going, and this is the one box that I will never cancel because it's such good value for money. You can't go wrong with £6.95.

Love, Sarah NailsfromNothing xx