Birchbox Uk January 2013

I'm sure by now everyone and their granny has seen a post (or 70) about the January Birchbox, the first one under the Birchbox branding to be released in the UK.I'd been tempted by Joliebox a couple of times but when it changed to Birchbox i thought i'd give it a punt.

I'll not bore you with the ins and outs of the whole Joliebox/Birchbox thing :-) But to keep things interesting I've held off from doing this post until I've actually used the products so its less 'this is what i got' and more 'this is what i thought' (let me know if you like this idea in the comments!)

I have previously subscribed to Glossybox which, in my opinion, started great and went downhill rapidly, and i unsubscribed after a few months. I then signed up for the feelunique.com box, i absolutely LOVED every one of those boxes and i was really disappointed when they scrapped the beauty box idea and i haven't ventured back into the subscription box world since.

Until now....

Here is what my box looked like:

Onto the reviews (from left to right):

Reverence de Bastien Unguent for nails and cuticles: this stuff smells AMAZING like berry flavoured sweets. I've only used it the once but it did the job well, and it certainly smells much nicer than what i'd usually use.

Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment in Rose: This was actually the first thing i spied when i opened the box. I've been wanting to try this for ages so i immediately had a shot. Its nice, i'm not sure what i was expecting but it makes my lips soft so that's good. I do find the lemony scent a little off putting though, to me its a little reminiscent of Lemsip, I've now got this in my bag as i will use it up but i probably wont be forking out for a full size, so if nothing else this box has let me try something i thought i wanted but now i know i can do without :-)

Teapigs Chamomile Flowers tea:  I adore Herbal tea so this was right up my street although i can see why it wouldn't be everyones cup of tea (see what i did there). I'm actually drinking this as i type, its nice, the bag is quite different, less bag of dust more bag of dried flowers. It certainly looked pretty floating around.

Wei Royal Ming firming and hydrating cream: This sample was positively teeny tiny, but since everything else was a decent size i'll overlook that. I'm actually glad it was small because i really didn't like this. After i got over the hilarious name (Ming means something nasty where i'm from) I found it was thick, kind of sticky and took forever to sink into my skin and even then my skin didn't look or feel any better than usual. I'll be giving this a miss.

And last but certainly not least..

KMS Add Volume spray: When i read on the card that this had a eucalyptus scent i was a bit concerned as i'm not usually big on that but when you spray it its not overpowering and it doesn't stick around in my hair. This did give a nice amount of volume to my flat hair and it made my hair extra shiny so happy days all round.

All in all i'm really happy with this box, i didn't love everything but they were all things i was more than happy to try. And the products we're all of a good enough size to actually try more than once, well except the tea obviously!

So how have you found your box?
If you've not subscribed are you tempted?

If your interested i have a refer a friend link: http://birchbox.co.uk/?raf=9794

I feel i should point out i'm not affiliated with birch box in any way,x

So I went shopping....

The good thing about having a job in sales, especially where i work, is that although there can be some really stressful times there can also be great rewards. As was shown by my lack of blogging in December, work was a busy busy time for me and after a long long looooong January i finally have my reward.

Hello bumper pay cheque!

So i did the usual and paid some bills, got myself some food blah blah blah...

I went shopping for some good stuff :-)

First off i took my monthly stroll around the wonderous haven that is Boots.....

I picked up:
Barry M Gelly Nail Paint in Prickly Pear- You can never have to much pale purple polish!
17 Supreme Shine Polish in Wave- I have a thing about blueish-green just now.
Then there was a Rimmel 3for2, it would've been rude to not partake.
Rimmel Lash Accelerator Endless Mascara- word to the wise the brown and the black versions of this have exactly the same packaging, it was the girl at the till that saved me from buying the wrong one!
Rimmel Scandaleyes Waterproof Kohl- I've heard good things about this.
And last but not least Rimmel Apocalips in Galaxy- Well I had to jump on that bandwagon eventually!

Then was my wander around Debenhams.

I had to go here to pick up the prize for the giveaway but got myself a couple of treats as well...

Diesel Fuel for Life Unlimited- Smells so so good
and
Urban Decay Ammo Palette- It was on a blinder of a deal for 13 quid, i couldn't really say no!

I got this super cute ring in Accessorize for £8 i <3 it...

Im supposed to be on a bit of  clothes buying ban until i complete my self imposed 'Project Bikini' target but Primark have brought out thier version of the much fabled Disco Pants, I tried them on for a laugh, but ended up having to buy a pair.

Now I'm not 18 and i'm not size 8 but i did manage to wear them to the pub last night without dying of embarrassment  i might even do an ootd with them..
And the grey jersey top is for TKMaxx from a company called Zenada Outfitters, whenever i see something from this brand i buy it, the quality is just incredible, so soft, so comfortable and there must be something in the way its cut because everything buy them is so very flattering.

Last but not least the blue dotted bag, i bought from Primark mainly because it was majorly snowing when i was out and paper bags do not fair well in snow, but i thought it'd make a cute beach bag for my holibags :-)

Hows your weekend going, grab any bargains?

Be sure to let me know in the comments below,x

Friday Favourite #2 (Naked Basics Palette Giveaway)

So as i mentioned in last weeks version of this my Friday favourite is not always going to be polish related, and this week is definitely one of those weeks.

You see this weeks favourite is YOU GUYS!

I might not be the most diciplined blogger in the word with a fancy schedule and the latest never before seen products but i started this wee slice of the internet to catalouge the random things i do like, kind of like an online snapshot of my mere existence on this little planet (ooft now thats getting a bit deep!)

But the best thing i've found so far about this blogging malark is that i've found a community of people that like the same things as me. And the very idea that people are actually interested enough in what i have to say to make the decision to click a button so they stay updated is mind boggling. But it is nice to know im not just wittering on to myself.

Anyway, i would like to say thankyou to the people that smile at me from the sidebar on my blog and i thought what better way to say thanks than with some lovely makeup.

I went and got this today for one of you:

How do you win i here you say?

Well let me explain, its quite simple, i've even created a rafflecopter thingy so its nice and straightforward. For this giveaway you can follow by GFC or follow on Hello Cotton you MUST follow on at least one of these platforms to be eligible to win (i'll work on adding extra platforms for the next one, but this is my first time doing this!x) and then for extra entries you can tweet about the giveaway once a day, the details of what to tweet are in the widget.

The giveaway is open internationaly, but make sure that if your under 18 you have the permission of a parent or guardian to enter as i will need your name and mailing address for you to get your prize if you win!

Be sure to use the rafflcopter widget to enter, leaving a comment below without doing this will not count.

It'll start at midnight tonight (25th Jan) and run for 1 week.

a Rafflecopter giveaway




The winner will be announced on here once the giveaway has finished and will be notifed by email, make sure you use an email address you check regularily, as winners will have 72 hours to respond before a new winner is picked.

Good Luck!xxxx

The soon to be giveaway....

Hello my lovelies!

I'm in a really very jolly mood today :-)

I have an entire week off work so i'm going to spend it doing all the things i love sleeping, eating, spending time with friends and once payday hits SHOPPING!!

Now over the past few months I've grown quite attached to my little blog here and I've even managed to get a few of you to join in.

I'd like to thank those that have clicked the button to keep up to date with my crazy going ons, so to combine the shopping i'm doing this week i'm planing on picking up a little follower giveaway present, an Urban Decay Naked Basics palette to be precise.

There will be a post letting you know when this giveaway gets going so i suggest you click on the GFC button over there -------> so you can make sure to get your entry in.

The giveaway will begin once i hit 50 friends on GFC so make sure you let others know by sharing this post on twitter, google+ etc as the quicker we get to that point the quicker someone will win!!


And on a completely unrelated point.....

Should i reinstate my crazy short fringe?

I know it looks a bit 'out there' but i'm dying for a hair cut! (sorry for the awful quality of the photo, old skool camera phones and dingey clubs don't mix well!)

Favourite Friday #1

Welcome to a new semi-regular series that i'm planning!

The title of  this series is pretty self explanatory, on Fridays i'm going to blog about a favourite.

I know this is not an entirely new concept in the blogging world but i always really enjoy reading about what people are loving right now. So hopefully other folk feel the same.

The topic of this post may vary wildly depending on what i feel like i'm loving at the moment so expect posts on beauty, lifestyle, food, fashion, and everything else in between!

I'm one of those people that once i like something i stick to it like glue, well at least until something else catches my eye,just ask my folks about the time i'd eat nothing but fish fingers!.

This week my main love has been... Essie Tea and Crumpets

Firstly lets take a moment to bask in the cuteness of its name, i mean who doesn't love a nice mug of tea with a wee crumpet on the side. The name itself screams comfort and security, and that's exactly what this polish offers.

Its nude enough to make even stumpy nails look lady like, even if it does get a bit of tip wear it still manages to look classy and the best part is it goes with EVERYTHING!

Whats your current favourite?

Penny for your thoughts?

I've seen quite a few blog posts recently talking about various "no spend" type challenges where people are challenging themselves to only by things that they've run out of or genuinely need (and things like food and bills obvs!) but not buying things that they just fancy the look of. And I've found myself drawn more and more to this idea.

Now obviously doing something like this would probably do my bank balance the world of good, after all I've a holiday to pay up and i did promise myself that i would pay off those pesky credit cards this year.

However, and this is my dilemma, short of randomly writing product posts about things like how much i like my toothpaste and lifestyle posts that way up the pros and cons of beans on toast versus beans with toast how would being a blogger work without spending a bit of unnecessary money?

I am a chronic spender, i'll buy anything if i can justify it to myself and i work in sales, thinking up reasons to justify buying stuff is essentially what i do all day everyday. But I've been thinking about this for a couple of days and today i was stood in Superdrug with a fist full of nail polish and the oddest thing happened, i went and put them all back and left empty handed.

I seem just to be musing over my thoughts here but i'm genuinely interested in what you guys think about this idea. Do you "take care of the pennies so the pounds take care of themselves" or are you in the same camp as Oscar Wilde and reckon "Anyone who lives within their means lacks imagination"?

Let me know in the comments below or give me a tweet (link in the sidebar)

And just in case you were wondering this is currently my favourite toothpaste :-)

MUA Fur Effects Fluff & Cuddles

After my previous foray into the weird and wonderful world of textured nails with the MUA Nail Constellations. I was excited to see the Fur Effects range launched.

I bought mine online straight from the MUA website and i was most impressed i chose standard shipping and my product was with me near enough the next day.

The little tub essentially contains coloured fluff and the instructions say to apply it over your favourite MUA polish. I don't have an MUA polish in a colour similar enough so i dug out my OPI Louvre me, Louvre me not, which although not the exact color i felt it gave a good base for the raspberry coloured fluff.

Now the idea is the you paint a couple of coats of polish on and the shake the fluff through the sifter inside onto your nails. 

For the life of me i could not get the stuff to come through the sifter so i took the second option of application which was to remove if the sifter and roll my nails directly in the fluff. I would recommed, er, fluffing up , the fluff before doing this. Once you've got the fluff on give it a minute or so before gently using a small fluffy brush to brush of the excess back into the tub.

The finished effect, as you can see in the picture below, is what i'd call "interesting" it reminds me alot of the fuzzy felt i used to play with as a kid. Its also a bit on the clumpy side for my liking, but i reckon a bit more fluffing (i'm sorry that just sounds wrong!!) before application would sort that and i think next time i give this a try i'd leave a bit more time before brushing off the excess as i seem to have left my poor old pinkie with a
slight bald patch.

As for how this wore throughout the day, well, it actually held up quite well, even through washing my hands, obviously i took a bit more care than usually but they dried after a minute or so. I wouldn't want to do anything too challenging with my hands while wearing this but i do think it makes a nice novelty nail for those times where i'm in the mood for something different.

Have you tried the Fur effects? How did you get on?

If you'd like to see more reviews, hauls and life post please feel free to subscribe, its FREE! ;-)

A little catch up...

Hey, how are you?!

First off i'd like to thank all you you that left me a comment or sent me a tweet about my last post.

The night out didn't really go as planned but i ended up having an absolutely awesome night with my friends so all was not lost. We had a few (too many) drinks and at the end of the night there was a pair of ear muffs, no one can quite remember where we picked them up from (i have a horrible feeling they were abandoned on the the street, ewww!) but we all had a shot at wearing them, which amused us immensely.

Sorry for the blurfest but, as i said, we'd had a drink or 7.

Blogmas obviously fell by the way side slightly but due to a bit of a hiccup at work and trying to fit in a teeny bit of Christmas pub going fun i ended up with no time. I did do a festive mani that i had meant to blog about so here's a wee pic here....

New Year was an interesting one, I headed to a local pub/club with one of my mates. There were drinks, there was dancing but thankfully because we'd stayed local there wasn't a 4 hour wait for a taxi home :-)

Did you make any new years resolutions? Are you managing to stick to them?

The only thing i resolved to do this year was pay off my credit cards, its not got off to a great start with me booking a holiday for later this year but i haven't left the country in literally years so i could really go some snoozing on a sun lounger on a beach. We're heading for Bulgaria (does that make anyone else instantly think of the wombles? showing my age a bit there). We're going to be staying at Helena Park in Sunny Beach...

Image Credit www.firstchoice.co.uk

I've never been before but the hotel has good reviews, its all inclusive and i'll be there for my birthday so i'm super excited. Absolutely cant wait to do a 'holiday haul', i have a bit of an obsession with those miniature toiletries......

Have you ever been to Bulgaria? Do you have any tips for places to go/things to do?

I'll hopefully have a new review up on sunday, i picked up some MUA fur effects recently so i'm keen to have a go.

Is there any other new products you think i should check out? Leave a comment below or send me a tweet(link in the sidebar) and i'll check them out.