Glossybox - November 2011

So I guess you've all heard about these deluxe beauty sample boxes where you pay a certain amount for a monthly subscription and you get around 5 product samples sent to you to try at home. That way you can try the product at home before you actually go out and buy the full-size product. It's a neat way of trying it in your own comfort of your own home. 

I remember watching my youtube beauty gurus and they got boxes like Birchbox (US) and Glossybox (UK) and I was always so jealous cos they always had awesome products like NARS and Smashbox, sometimes even full sized products for only $10 a month. 

I kept waiting for Australia to come out with their boxes. I remember hearing about Hautebox in July or around that time and they said they were going to release the first box really soon and that never happened lol. I thought that was the only box to break through. 

But it all began starting a few months ago, and so many different versions came out all at the same time, making us chicks hard to find what beauty box was worth subscribing to. 

There was black and white LustHaveIt, which I received from ABBW. There's also the blue Bella Box, there's an ILoveThisBox and this one, Glossybox. Glossybox is originally from the UK, but it joined forces with Beautybox.

I chose Glossybox because their brands appealed to me the most. Some of the brands in their box may include products from Australis, Bobbi Brown, Essie, Sally Hansen and YSL. I was mostly drawn to Essie and Sally Hansen because of their nail products hehehe.

November's Glossybox was the first box after the collaboration of Beautybox and Glossybox. So I was really excited. It did take a while for the box to arrive though....I personally would've liked to receive the box in the earlier weeks of Novemeber rather than right at the end ... (I received it on Nov 28) but they had issues with their suppliers or something.

So when it finally came, it was a sturdy black and pink box with the Glossybox logo.

Inside the box is the actual box.

Nicely wrapped with a cute pink bow and a sticker sealing the contents.

The card with all the items and a description.

What's in the box?

Pink jellybeans!! So cute.

All the products:

1. Bobbi Brown Cleansing Oil
Full size: 200mL - $60
It says that it's a 2-in-1 formula that removes all traces of makeup and cleanses skin. I'm yet to use it, but its Bobbi Brown, so I have high hopes for it. But even if it's that good, I don't think I'd be purchasing the full price product cos its $60 phwoar! I use FOA and thats less than $10 for 125mL.

2. Essie - Braziliant
Full size: 15mL - $18.95
Yay for Essie nail polishes! I'm growing a big love for Essie now :) I'm glad I got this vibrant orange colour because I actually don't have a shade like it. Perfect for summer and it's so cute cos it's the mini version (5mL)

3. Jurlique - Purely Age-Defying Ultra Firtm and Lift Cream
Full size: 50mL - $90
Now I know Jurlique is a high-end brand. But to be honest I've never really cared much for my skin in terms of using those skin care products that "lift" your face and all those anti-aging stuff. I've always stuck to moisturiser and I think that's all I'll ever use until I feel like I really really need to. So yeah, this is the one product in the box that I didn't have much interest in, so I'll probably pass it along.

4. Bio Oil
Full size: 60mL - $14.95 / 125mL - $24.95 / 200mL - $34.95
I received the 125mL bottle and I've heard of bio oil before and I've heard about the hype but I've never actually tried it out. It says that it's affective against scars, stretch marks and uneven skin tones. I don't really have any of those...maybe uneven skin tone. Maybe I might give it a go though.

5. Mirenesse 3D Forever Gloss - #5 Hot Kiss 
Full size: 14g - $39.95
I first knew about this brand from IMATS and ABBW, and I knew they had really good products so I was exccited to see it in the box. At first I saw the gloss and I was like....I would never wear that colour. But when applied, it's a really nice dark plum red colour. Not sticky at all, super moisturising and has this yum lemony scent.

Other goodies packed into the box included yummy pack of hot pink jellybeans "packed for: glossy box", a voucher for 15% off Jurlique products storewide (which ends 30 Nov, which I find a little dumb because I got the box on the 28th?) and also a free offer for a gel liner from the facebook page of Mirenesse Cosmetics (for the first 500 people only).


So. Thoughts on the box overall?
Considering this box was super super delayed in shipping out, I expected it to be a big one to make up for time lost. And I guess they did because of the voucher and the free gel liner. I'm not gonna lie and I'm going to say that I was a little bit disappointed at first sight. I thought to myself...."I'm never going to use these products, what a waste."
But after reading the info sheet and everything, I realised I could put some use into these products and maybe it wasn't so bad after all.




So is it worth spending $14.95 every month?
Judging by this box...and other beauty sample boxes, I would say yes. It's a good collection of products. It can introduce you to new brands and next thing you know, you might not live without it :)
It's too early to decide if I want to keep going or cancel my subscription. You can cancel it at anytime! So I'll continue my subscription for next month and we'll see how it goes.

Hope you guys found this post helpful!
And I'm so sorry I haven't been blogging lately, I'll make it up with a giveaway really really soon, promise!

BYS - Beautifully Bare

A couple of days ago I visited the new Gloss Cosmetics store in QVB to check it out and I cam across these BYS polishes. There were soooo many! 

To be honest, I was kind of put off BYS nail polish only because it was sold in RONI'S bankstown LOL and that's not the best store ever .... but I thought I'd give it another shot. There was just so many colours there and I didn't know what to get.

I ended up with 3 colours. A hot pink, a purple glitter and this shade that I'm going to show you today which is like a mushroomy taupe brown grey, greige if you wanna call it. That kinda colour. It's BYS - Beautifully Bare.

Each bottle is $4.95...which I guess is kinda cheap. But if I put it this way, China Glaze is only $6 near my place...and I trust China Glaze a lot more, so I guess I could just buy CG instead of BYS.

But having said that, this certain nail polish glided on gorgeously, opaque colour in just 2 coats, but I always do 3 nowadays.

Definitely more respect for BYS nail polishes now.

Pictured: 3 coats + Seche Vite top coat

It's such a pretty colour! Perfect for those colder days :)

Thumbs up for BYS nail polishes! Definitely gonna purchase a few more.

Disclaimer: All products were purchased by me for my own use. For more info see Disclosure policy.

Money well spent

I love having a debit mastercard, hehe.

Pyramid Metal Tip Clutch - ASOS

Shilah Wedge - Rubi Shoes

Ostrich Foldover Turn Lock Tote - Colette Accessories

Wall Decal Letters - Typo

Sunday OOTD + NOTD

Just a quick post on what I wore yesterday :)

It was pretty humid, the weather was 35 or something but by the end of the night it got pretty cool.

Top: Chicabooti

Shorts: Glassons (how pretty is the pattern! :D)

The top is just a collared top with gold buttons. This is what the back looks like, super like!

NOTD: gold gold gold!

China Glaze - Midnight Kiss

That's all for this post!

My cherry culture order should (hopefully) arrive this week

and I also bought some jewellery off wholesale-dress too. But shipping for that takes forever so I don't expect that to come anytime soon haha.

Here's to the beginning of a new week! Enjoy it guys :)

Brown to brown & photo updates

Just a bunch of updates and pics from my phone :) I don't have an iphone, otherwise this would just be an instagram post haha.

I recently dyed my hair again...and it went darker than I wanted it to. 

It's still brown but its a lot darker and it's so different when I look down at the ends of my hair and I see an almost black instead of lighter brown, sniff. I guess it'd suit like a colder season, but right now it's spring, almost summer.

With dark hair I look a lot whiter. And with white skin, I gotta be careful with dark eye makeup cos then I just look really really goth-like. Scary.

I've tuned into an interest of what I like to call "grown up" watches. Hahaha. I currently have a swatch and now that I'm 20, I'd love to have these kinda watches, makes me feel much more mature than I feel like I am.

Rose gold is really popular, but I think I'm leaning towards white :)

These are Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors and DKNY.

So pretty!

I managed to finally get a coke can with my name! 

Certain Westfield shopping centres have these coke stations set up (check their fb page for locations and times). I got this one at Burwood and the line wasn't that long. The whole process takes 5 seconds. The only long bit is waiting in line for a little bit.
All they do is type your chosen name into the computer, it prints out this red rectangle label and they stick it on the can. It's still cool though :) I decided not to drink it, but now it's just sitting pretty. Haha

Wearing Face Of Australia's - Knickers in a Knot. A gorgeous watermelon shade, perfect for your fingers or toes in the summer :)

A couple of weeks ago I went to Daiso in Chatswood. If you guys haven't heard about it, it's pretty much this japanese store that sells everything for $2.80. They sell so much stuff, from containers to stationery to make-up and pet stuff. It's pretty much a $2.80 version of Hot Dollar or Top Bargain.

I managed to get a few things, but I really wanna go back and have another look.

A square corkboard (30x30cm), make-up bag, nail deco and cute pair of chopsticks.

I also bought an extra make-up bag and nail decos for my giveaway later next month hehe.

I don't know why I even bought that nail sponge when a sponge at home works perfectly fine hahaha.

Ohhh and I managed to get a hold of one of my favourite lollies when I was a child. 

THESE WHITE RABBIT MILK CANDY CHEWS are loveeeee!

Did any of you guys eat these?

(skip this if you don't wanna read about fan girl spaz LOL)

Last week was the Kpop Concert held in Sydney. I didn't actually go because I didn't think I'd regret it because Big bang, 2PM and Super Junior weren't gonna be there. But as the date got closer and when 7pm rolled around on a Saturday night....just knowing that those kpop stars were only about 5 suburbs away, I couldn't resist and ended up driving to the stadium, to just listen to their songs. 

I ended up getting there just before 930pm, and I could hear MBLAQ and all the fans screaming. I went with my cousin and I was like, "Okay, we'll walk around this stadium once and we'll go home."

So we started walking around listening to the music and the fans. We got around a quarter of the way around the stadium and saw this guy just sitting right up against the barrier and looking inside. So we made our way towards the guy and realised why he was sitting there. 

Through the barrier you could see the stadium and through gap of the stadium, we could see the screen!

It was so cool cos C.N. Blue was beginning to play and omg, seriously guys, I was like smitten. I could see JUNG YONG HWA in perfect view on the big screen, and boy was he looking mighty fineeeee.

I first knew him from the drama "You're Beautiful" which is one of my fave dramas of all time after "Goong". He was so good looking in that drama and I fell for his charm. Then I realised he was the lead singer in C.N. Blue and that's how I got to know him more.

The past few days all I've been listening to is C.N. Blue, seriously. LOL.

And I've been watching We Got Married with him and SeoHyun and I am absolutely smitten. His personality is so adorable! I just wanna cuddle him.

Anyway, so the concert ended at like 10pm, which I thought was suprising, but I'm so glad I got to see some of the concert. Can I just say that Changmin and Yunho are just so damn good looking?

I went to sleep happy that night.

Right now I'm listening to C.N. Blue - Love Girl hehehe.

x

China Glaze - Awakening

Was browsing through my fave nail polish place (ProNail Supply located in Bankstown) and I came across this lone bottle among the China Glaze racks. It just stood out to me because of the gorgeous colour. It's kinda like a duochrome. A metallic purpley pink mix with gold tinge. With shimmer. As I'm looking at my fingers, I'm trying to see what colour it is, and it's just so hard to describe. I wouldn't even call it pink actually. Ah, I don't know.

It's really such an amazing shade and I knew I had to grab it. When it comes to describing this colour, the first word I think of is Royal. You know, how royal is kinda like purple and gold? Let the pictures show you :) Camera can't capture the awesomeness, but I tried my best.

Don't get confused with this colour from the China Glaze 2010 Awakening Collection.. cos it's actually not from that halloween collection at all. 

China Glaze - Awakening

See how its purple/pink and then gold? So pretty!

You can see the tiny shimmers in this flash photo

How it looks like on my nails:

Outdoors

Indoors

This last picture captures the colour perfectly :) You can see all the duo goodness AND the shimmer.

I personally think this colour looks great on shorter nails. I tried this colour on my longer nails and it didn't look as good. Made me feel like an old lady hahah. Shorter nails make all the difference guys :)

I also managed to grab the popular Seche Vite topcoat ($8) and a new base coat from Essie ($6). It's my first time using Essie base coat, so far so good. I used to use NailTek Ridge Filling Base Coat, but it ran out.

And the top coat is so cool! It literally dries my nails super fast, and I usually paint my nails before I go bed, so with this fast drying top coat, I don't have to worry about smudging it at night :)

Think of a nail base coat like a face or eye primer. It helps adhere to the nail better, and makes the colour stand out. It also helps prevent yellowing on your nails :)

Disclaimer: All products were purchased by me for my own use. For more info see Disclosure policy.

NYX Doll Eyes Mascara

Hey guys! :)

I'm gonna show you guys my latest love love loveeeee. It's NYX Doll Eyes Mascara. I got this from my recent Cherry Culture haul last week. If you haven't read about it, check it out here.

I first read about this mascara from Everyday Makeup Blog and from then, I knew I had to get my hands on it. It took me a while, but I finally got around to it because I took advantage of the 20% sale.

But guess what guys? If you don't already know, Cherry Culture is having a 40% sale on NYX items! (here)You just gotta use the code NYX40 at the check out and you're good to go! :) I'm gonna head there later and see if I can grab extra goodies. Ends Nov 13.

My pictures really dont do any justice to how much I like this mascara. But I do hope you get the gist that this mascara is really amazing. Check out other reviews, trust me. 

The brush has an hour glass shape. I'm no expert on brush shapes of mascaras, so I have no idea if that shape is better or not compared to others haha.

  

The formula is quite dry, but not crazy overwhelmingly dry. I prefer dry formula mascaras anyway because since I have short sparse lashes, they tend to weigh down on my lashes and can't hold the curl :(

When I first applied this mascara on my lashes, I was so amazed. It was like they brought my lashes to life! Definitely lengthened and voluminised. I found that after a few coats, when I went back after a few mins for an extra coat, my lashes were already dry, and made it hard for another coat. So if you coat your lashes many times, do it all on one eye first and then go to the other eye. Or maybe that's just the waterproof version. 

This mascara definitely held my curl all day and stays put on your lash for a long time. The only time I found it flaky was when I was removing it with eye make-up remover but that's okay since I think I have the waterproof version, and plus, you're removing it anyway, so it doesn't matter if it flakes or not haha.

Left: Before 

Right: After

Look at the difference!!!!! :D

In summary

The good:

- Voluminises and lengthens your lashes

- Dry formula helps hold the curl and adhere to your lashes better

- Reasonable price at $9 at CC :)

The bad:

- Nothing much really haha. I do find it a little hard to remove, but only because I think it's waterproof.

Hope you guys found this review helpful!

Now hop to the NYX 40% sale! :)

OOTD - Maroon wrap dress

I haven't had an OOTD post in ages! Only cos I always wear the same thing out and about everywhere haha. And I haven't shown my face in a while n_n"

I bought this dress at Glassons quite a while ago actually but never had an event to pull it out. It was on sale for $20 :) It's kinda like a wrap drapey dress but its not loose or anything, its sewed on so it's not like the dress is gonna like open apart..........that'd be pretty scary.

But I really like the colour and I think it makes my skin stand out, since I'm soooo white. Especially my arms omg lol.

We ate at the Parramatta Firehouse and their seafood pizza is SO YUMMY

 The Wildfire - Mozzarella, Garlic, Calamari, Prawns & Octopus

Tortellini Boscaiola - pasta  filled with veal mince in mushroom, bacon & cream

Mini lamb Souvlaki - Lamb skewers served with garlic mayonnaise 

I ain't the best food photographer but seriously everything was sooo delicious!

I wish i had a bigger stomach though, we couldn't finish the pasta :(

I've got one last exam to go on the Thursday and then I'm freeeeeeeeeee! Summer holidays, yay!