Glossybox | July 2015

How ironic that in one of my last posts I mentioned regular content, and then I disappear for a month. A much-needed month, as I've been busy with 'real life' drama, but I've missed blogging and I'm looking forward to getting back into the swing of things with regular recipes and some more fashion and beauty posts.

This post is also important as it marks a year of blogging, and over a year of eating consciously and healthily. Which is something to celebrate!

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I do just want to thank those that have supported me through this, even when I've thrust a camera in their face to take photos of them eating chicken wings, or moaned incessantly about being torn over eating home cooked food and just ordering a pizza. It's been tough but I'm enjoying blogging so much, and I can't wait to see where the next year takes me.

A few months ago I decided to subscribe to a couple of different subscription boxes, to give me some regular content to blog about (before disappearing off for a few weeks, whoops!). One of which was Graze - a healthy snack subscription box - and the other was Glossybox. If you're not familiar with the concept of Glossybox, it's a monthly beauty subscription box that carries a multitude of different brands, from the most expensive to independent companies and drugstore products. They regularly send out full-sized products too, and every so often they do a special 'themed' box.

 This month is one of those special 'themed' months, with a French skincare-inspired Glossybox. The box itself this month has been designed by Jamie Lee Reardin, who is a famed fashion illustrator, and has worked with the likes of Dior and Balmain: honestly I think I'd be happy with just the box, it's so beautiful. Definitely one to keep and repurpose into a storage box for something like hair bands and hair grips, just to keep it on your dresser!

 The first thing in this month's box is this cute little zip-lock pouch, which I think would be perfect for a holiday or even as your everyday makeup bag. I'm hoping to go on holiday at the end of the summer so this will be perfect for packing my essentials in!

 The first product I saw in the pouch was a full-sized Lollipops lip balm in Délicieuse. Originally an accessories company, Lollipops branched out into makeup in 2010, with a focus on being 'glamorous, playful, delicious and colourful' while being paraben and preservative-free. It's got a light vanilla fragrance and is so smooth and softening on the lips that this went straight into my purse as soon as I tried it, replacing my Ted Baker lip balm - and for £4.15 I will definitely want to purchase this.

The second product in this month's box was Teoxane Cosmeceuticals Perfect Skin Refiner, designed to plump, hydrate and perfect skin, minimising pores and reducing dark spots - and at £70 for a full-sized product you'd hope it does at least some of that. It does contain 10% glycolic acid, which is used to exfoliate and remove dead skin cells, and having used this for about a week now (once every two days) I certainly feel like it's doing something, but I'm not sure it would be worth the £70 price tag. I'm going to continue to use it and see how I feel in a couple of week's time.

 July's Glossybox also contained another pore-perfecting product: the NoxiDoxi Enhancing Serum Base. This light serum is very hydrating and helps to form an antioxidant shield, to protect skin against pollutants such as tobacco smoke. Personally, I don't smoke so this isn't really a big issue for me but I can see this being useful for others, and I love how lightweight this feels on my skin, but I won't be paying £33.46 to purchase this when my sample runs out.

 The final product in this month's Glossybox is an Yves Rocher perfume. If light and floral is your perfect scent then this is definitely something you'll enjoy but for me, it just reminded me an awful lot of something I've seen on my Nan's dressing table. It may even be this exact perfume. I'm sure some people will love it but it's just not 100% my thing. The full-size product retails at £24.50 but this sample could last you a good few months, depending on how frequently you use it - as a comparison, this sample contains 7.5ml and I have been using my 30ml Giorgio Armani Si pretty much every day since December, and I'm only a third of the way through it. This sample could honestly last an entire year if you used it sparingly, which is great for a subscription box!

I definitely enjoyed this month's box, and I'll be using some of the products regularly - the lip balm, daily - and if you're interested, you can sign up for Glossybox here.

What product would you use the most? I'd love to know!