Glossybox January 2012 Contents

I was just about to head out for a run (I'm being good again despite the fact that I get out of breath after about 30 seconds), when the doorbell rang and the postman handed me a familiar looking package. It's Glossybox time again!
I filmed a video of me unpacking the box again with completely honest reactions, which is particularly clear when it comes to the last product of this month's box. Watch the January 2012 Glossybox Unboxing video here.

This month's box took forever to come, considering this is supposed to be the January box and we've only got two days of January left! In all fairness, though, anyone who's been subscribed to Glossybox before got a warning on last month's card that it would take a little longer, as this box was supposed to be "extra special". Needless to mention, my hopes were high, also taking into consideration that this is yet another limited edition box and the last limited edition one was pretty amazing!

As usual I can't fault Glossybox for its packaging. The box is a hot pink to keep in line with its Valentine's Day theme, with pretty pink ribbon paper inside cushioning all the samples, a heart sticker on the tissue paper and even a little Glossybox sweet! But on to the products.

There's one full sized product in this month's box and it's the Eyeko Skinny Eyeliner in the shade Midnight Blue (though I first thought it was a dark green, whoops!). I don't really get the weird pointy handle. After a bit of reading up I found out that it's there to make application easier when it's sharpened down to the bottom, but I can just see myself taking someone's eye out with this and if you ignore the long silver pointy bit, it's actually a lot shorter than standard eye liners.
Having said that I'm very glad I didn't get a black eye liner, which I've certainly got enough of already. I'm also very much in love with the make-up models were wearing at Chanel's last couture show, so this will come in very handy to recreate that look!
Sample value: £9.50

Moving on to sample sized products I got this 15ml tube of Clarins Extra Firming Night Cream. I like Clarins and even though I've only tried a few of their products I've been impressed with every single one so far. I was a bit disappointed to get more skin care, just because I've got loads of samples to get through at the moment, so it's going to take a while until I'll be able to use this, but generally speaking, I think skin care samples are brilliant in beauty boxes, as they're exactly the type of product that you want to try out before committing to a full sized product.
This is aimed at every skin type, so my skin should get along fine with it. At age 23 I doubt my skin needs a lot of firming, though I've been positively surprised by anti ageing products before, so I wouldn't write it off from the start.
Sample value: £14.40

To go with the night cream the Glossybox team have also included the Clarins Extra Firming Day Cream. While I can see some people getting annoyed that two of the samples are of the same brand, I actually think this is a brilliant idea! This tube also contains 15ml, so should last as long as the night cream which means I can try both products in conjunction to see what they really do to my skin.
Sample value: £13.95

The card I got with my box claimed that I got the FAB Gentle Body Wash, though what I actually received was the Body Moisturizer. The texture of this seems to be very thick which is a plus for me, as I just can't do with runny lotions that just sit on top of your skin. It says on the packaging that this is fragrance free and boy do they mean it! This really doesn't smell of anything, which is fantastic for people who don't like strong scents.
Sample value: £2.50

Lastly I got a sample of the Murad Hybrids Skin Perfecting primer with Dewy finish (as opposed to the matte one). I wanted to try something from this brand for ages, but for this product I only have one word: Eww. Ewwww eww eww. I recommend watching the video if you want to see my face drop as I swatch this product.
The website claims that this "Restore[s] smoothness while a universal shade provides the perfect skin tone match" - maybe if you're an Oompa Loompa. Just swatched this made my hand a patchy orange colour and I'm a bit frightened to put this anywhere near my face. It's very rare that I have no use for a product, as I'm willing to try pretty much anything, but this is seriously testing my limits.
Sample value: £4.83

And let's not forget the little Glossybox sweetie they packed in as a cute little bonus!


This month's overall value comes to £45.18, so even though I'm not overly impressed with its contents you certainly get your money's worth! Calling it a "Limited Edition" box is a clever marketing ploy which in my honest opinion has completely backfired. December's box was fantastic and telling us this edition would be particularly special and also limited edition only got my hopes up very high. In reality, all they did was change the packaging whereas the contents are very, very average.


As usual I shall put these to the test (yes, even the Murad primer, even though I'm very reluctant with this one) and let you know what I think of all the products in another post towards the end of next month.

(The reviews are up now, you can find them here.)