Latest in Beauty - The Glamour beauty power list 2014 UNBOXING

Hello everyone, Recently I was looking into signing up for a monthly beauty box and came across www.latestinbeauty.com beauty site. You can choose your box and see the products before buying the one off box (so no subscription) this is great for me because I'm worried that if I pay for a subscription I will end up with a lot of products that I don't actually use. I decided on 'The GLAMOUR beauty power list 2014' box. Here is my unboxing and a quick overview of the products, delivery and service I received.

Delivery and service
I placed my order late on Thursday 16th October and received my order on Friday 24th October with Standard delivery (2-5 working days). My box wasn't dispatched until monday and I was then given a tracking code that was useless. It was rarely updated and eventually it was updated with 'Your parcel has been given to royal mail, it will be with you in the next two days'. I have to say this was very annoying to say I'd been given a tracking number and I had no idea when the parcel was coming. I am used to asos and they usually give you the exact hour of when your parcel will come (that is with next day delivery though). I would rather have not had a tracking number.

Price

The total price of the box was £15.99 including delivery.

Unboxing
The Glamour box contains 7 items and a years subscription to glamour for iPhone/ iPad. The box is very nicely packed and looks beautiful. I haven't really tested out the products so I can't give a fair review.

Bourjois volume 1 seconde mascara in '61 black'- I haven't heard much about this but I'm always up for trying new mascaras. It claims to create 360° volume and  is clump free- yay!

Nude Maybelline colorsensational lipstick in '725 tantalizing taupe' - Its strange but this is my first ever true nude lipstick. I've always been scared nude would wash me out because I'm pale with naturally quite red lips. I wore this for work and I love the way it looks, its about time I got on the 'Kylie Jenner lip' hype.

Eyeko mascara off eye makeup remover wipes- Again I've not heard much about this product but I'm looking forward to trying it. Unfortunately my mum just pointed out that this contains aloe. In the past I've had reactions to facewipes, lipbalms, cleansers and other skin products containing aloe (it seems to be the common denominator but I'm not 100%) . So I'm not sure if this will give me a reaction or not but I'll probably give it a try on my lashes.

Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish hot cloth cleanser (and cloth) -I've been wanting to try this for aaaaages! It's for all skin types and the mini size is perfect for testing it out.

Laura Mercier foundation primer- This is a gel Primer that is full of vitamins perfect for normal and combination skin types. I'll be letting you know how this goes!

James Read sleep mask tan -this is the only product I might not use because I don't normally fake tan, It is a sort of gradual tan that you can either use like a mask and wash off after 2 hours or leave on over night and wake up sunkissed.

Philip Kingsley daily damage defence conditioning spray- I'm always testing out new hair products and this looks great because my hair is in need conditioning. The dying is really taking its toll!

I also received one leaflet explaining each product and another with a few offers from some of the brands in the box/ glamour/ latest in beauty. For example, a free L'Oreal lip colour on my next order at latest in beauty.

Overall I am please with my purchase, It gives some an opportunity to try a few things I maybe wouldn't normally pick up. I'm looking forward to trying everything and I'm sure I'll let you know how they go!

Thanks for reading, Alex

John Lewis price match HAUL!

Last week there was 'price match' at John Lewis, certain brands were on 10-25% off (I believe). Most beauty brands at John Lewis were included in this as I believe the prices were matching the Debenhams promotions. This usually happens a few times a year- fingers crossed there will be one near Christmas like there was last year! Obviously I bought a few things, all beauty of course. I bought things online and in the Newcastle Eldon Square store because I was staying with my sister over the weekend. Unfortunately the promotion ended on sunday but its definitely worth a check next time they do price match!


Mac Lipstick in Cyber- Normally £15.50 bought for £13.95 -A beautiful 'almost black' purple, satin finish lipstick. I've been wanting to get this for a very long time but never had the guts. I love any kind of dark lipstick and this is my darkest yet. I've tried this on once and its amazing. You'll be seeing plenty more of cyber on my blog!

Mac Prep + Prime Lip - Normally £13 bought for  £11.70- I've heard great things about this lipstick primer and because I have a lipstick addiction I thought it is worth a try- especially for my matt-er shades. I've been waiting for this to come in stock for ages on John Lewis so the timing couldn't have been better.

The Real Steal - They're Real eyeliner and mascara- normally £19.50 bought for £15.60. Yet another thing I've been dying to buy. I did have a sample of the mascara a while back and was very impressed but until my Le volume de Chanel ran out I didn't have an excuse to buy an expensive mascara. Also I've heard mixed reviews on the eyeliner so the mini size is perfect for a trail run.

Babyliss Boutique Soft Waves - out of stock similar curler here - (cheat this item wasn't on price match but it was pretty cheap at £24.95 with 5 years guarantee) I have needed a curler for a very long time and as my hair is very long, finding a wide long barrel is essential. I was planning on buying this styler online but it went out of stock just before I tried to buy it. I saw it in the Eldon Square store and got very excited, at £25 you can't go far wrong.

Thanks for reading, Alex.

LUSH mini haul and favourites

The other week I went into my local Lush in Sheffield with my friend Joyce from fairysocks. I picked up a few things (as always) so I thought I'd just show you what I bought. I have used up all my bath bombs so of course wanted to stock up. I usually gravitate to fresh smells- citrus in particular (happy hippy shower gel is amazing) but I was a bit more adventurous this time.


Granny Takes a Dip £3.25 - This one smells sort of soapy (if thats a thing?) and slightly citrus, according to lush it is ginger, pepper and lemon scented. It makes patterns in the bath that look like they came straight for the 70s!

Twilight £3.25 - This one smells very floral which is not a usual pick for me. Honestly I mostly picked twilight because I heard fellow Sheffielder velvetgh0st raving about it! It is made with essential oils and scented with lavender, it makes swirls of pink and purple in your bath -can you see a theme here?

Space Girl £2.35 - This smells bath bomb like again with a hint of sweet. Its made with grapefruit oil and bergamot oil and POPPING CANDY! This one is sparkley and purple so it should be a winner!

I hope you enjoyed this mini haul, I have a few ideas of new posts so watch this space!

Thanks for reading, Alex.

REVIEW! Limecrime's velvetine in wicked.

My first review!

Limecrime velvetine in the shade 'wicked'

On the limecrime website it describes the product as "Matte burgundy-red. Ground-breaking formula that goes on liquid and dries completely matte. Touch-proof, transfer-proof, long-wearing and utterly addictive!"

I would say the colour is spot on and it's gorgeous! I also love how matte it is and I don't find my lips to look flakey at all (sometimes mine do with lipsticks or lipliners)

It isn't the easiest to apply but after 4 or 5 applications I've got the hang of it - I use my real techniques detailer brush from the core collection round the edges first then fill in the the 'doe foot' applicator it comes with. The packaging is exactly like a doe foot lipgloss, so the fluffiness of the brush makes it hard to apply crisp lines.

Once you've applied the velvetine it does become matte and pretty much non transferable after about 30 seconds or less. 

I do have a pet peeve with the application and that it that it never sticks to the part or my bottom lip closest to my teeth, it's probably because this part is too wet naturally but when I pout or pull a silly face you can clearly see the area of pink next to the deep red and I don't find this with my MAC Russian red. 

I would say this product is long wearing UNTILL you eat. On me it tends to take off the inner part of my lips lipstick and doesn't like nice, it doesn't fade like if say Russian red does, it just takes parts completely off. Of course you can reapply these bits but it doesn't look as nice as at the start of the day. I have heard reviews of people who haven't had this problem so it could just be me?

I would consider this lipstick a winner but not for meals out - for nights out it's perfect! No more reapplying in the toilets all night long. And I am in love with the colour. I believe it now comes in 7 colours in total.

before setting

after setting

In terms of where to buy it I found the shipping to be a ridiculous price for the uk - http://limecrime.com/

But I used 'cocktail cosmetics' as the velvetines are sold for £13.50 this was quick delivery (£3.50) and they provide you with a tracking number. I believe I received a discount code if I ordered again within the next month. - http://www.cocktailcosmetics.co.uk/

Amazon also sells limecrime but for some reason it was ridiculously expensive!  I can't work out why. For example http://www.amazon.co.uk/LIME-CRIME-Velvetines-Liquid-Lipstick/dp/B00L6Q3BH6/ref=sr_1_1/276-9362928-5375748?ie=UTF8&qid=1409765336&sr=8-1&keywords=lime+crime+velvetines

I also found another website called 'Cutecosmetics' - http://www.cutecosmetics.co.uk/ this was pretty similar in price to cocktail cosmetics but I just chose them because of their excellent reviews. Though I'm sure this website is just as good!

Thanks for reading! X

My trip to Edinburgh zoo!

Heres a few pictures of my trip to the zoo a few weeks ago. Enjoy!

spot the animal!

this is my favourite picture- because of the day old chick!

penguin selfie