Love Me Beauty Box October 13

This month's post on my Love Me Beauty Box (formerly known as Beauteco) is a tad late due to the fact that we've not had any internet at home for a while - the cause was two naughty puppies destroying the router, thanks for that, dogs! But on the plus side that means that I've had a chance to try every single one of the products I've received and can give you a little mini review along with a description of each item.

1) Lord and Berry | Smudge Proof Eyeliner

Full size: £7.50

To be honest with you I wasn't overly excited to get another two Lord & Berry products in this month's box, seeing as there had already been two lip products from them two months back which I've probably used twice and then given up on. To be fair that wasn't Lord & Berry's fault; it was just because the colours didn't suit me one bit.

The eye liner that came in this month's box was in the colour "Smoke", which unlike the lip products was a brilliant choice in my opinion. I've got more than enough black eye liners to last me a lifetime, but this is a very pretty off-grey with slight green undertones, which makes a nice alternative to a traditional smokey eye. When I opened my pencil, however, I found this:

For some reason the nib had sunk into the pencil!? But never mind, it was nothing a few quick twists in the sharpener couldn't fix. Unfortunately, however, the dodginess didn't end there. As much as I adore the colour, I found the pencil to be way too hard, which means that it pulls a lot on my eye lids, making smooth and even application almost impossible. And you can forget about using it on the waterline, unless you really insist on poking your eye out with a sharp object.

2) Lord & Berry | Scuba Mascara

Full size: £12

On to the second Lord & Berry product: The waterproof Scuba mascara. Upon first inspection I was sure that I'd quite like this product. The brush is densely packed with bristles and it seemed to be nice and pigmented in the tube. 

Unfortunately that doesn't translate at all to the lashes. For a start, the texture is way too dry - I'm not sure if my tube was simply gone off or if that's just how it comes every time, but it just wouldn't do anything to my lashes. Today I gave it some elbow grease and after five coats (yes, FIVE), I finally managed to get some pigment on my lashes - which resulted in flaking about three hours later and a lot of tears trying to get it off in the evening.

Now, I've got to add to this, that I received an email this morning from Love Me Beauty and Lord & Berry apologising about the poor quality of these two products. It seems that I wasn't the only one left thoroughly unimpressed and apparently this is not representative of Lord & Berry as a brand, so they're adding a lipstick to next month's box as compensation. While that's a nice gesture, this mascara is nevertheless going straight in the bin and I won't be happy if I see any more of their stuff in my beauty box.

3) Balm Balm | Indulge Bath & Shower

Full size: £6 for 5ml

This month's box featured three different scent options of this bath and shower oil and with the one I chose (Menu 3), came the "indulgent" variety. I would definitely say this is a strong, slightly spicy and very rich scent and throughout using it I couldn't really make up my mind about whether or not I like it. The little bottle lasted for three applications, which makes the £6 price tag a tad steep in my opinion. Maybe I've just been using too much, though, who knows? As I tend not to take baths anymore, I used this in the shower, but on its own it just didn't seem to clean my skin at all, so I ended up mixing it with my regular shower gel.

And oh my, this is scented heavily. I did not only emerge out of the shower smelling of this oil, without any lotion or even perfume standing the slightest chance in overpowering the scent - it actually left the whole flat smelling like "Indulge" all day long! Maybe I really have been using too much of this.... Nevertheless, now that it's gone I wouldn't say it's anything I'd consider repurchasing.

4) Weleda | Millet Nourishing Shampoo

Full size: £8.95 for 190ml / Sample value: £0.85

I haven't had a chance to sample too many Weleda products yet, so I was quite happy to see this brand featured in this month's box. This shampoo smells absolutely divine - it's got a fresh and citrussy scent but without that hint of detergent that you can get in a lot of citrus scented beauty products. 

Unfortunately, this was another dud for me. There was practically no lather when I used this on my hair and while I accept that this is common amongst "natural" shampoos that aren't full of SLS, it's still something that bothered me quite a bit. Even worse was the fact that it just didn't get my hair clean at all. I actually had an urge to apply dry shampoo straight after blow drying my hair, that's how heavy and greasy it felt.

5) Amie Skincare | Bright Eyes

Full size: £4.95 for 125ml

This is the only product that offered any real choice this month, as you could choose between this, a moisturiser or two packs of face mask. I decided to go with the make-up remover, as I was running low and didn't really fancy any of the other products. It might not be an overly exciting product, but it's been doing a good job at removing my make-up without irritating my eyes or leaving a sticky film on them. As it's oil free however, it will barely scratch the surface of waterproof make-up (such as the scuba mascara that came in the same box), so you'd need a separate product for that. Even though Amie has been featured in a previous box I don't mind seeing them again as I really love the face scrub that I received in an earlier box.

6) Mitchell and Peach | Body Cream

Full size: £36 for 180ml / Sample value: £10

I got an extra product in this month's box which isn't mentioned anywhere on the menu, so I'm assuming that this is part of Love Me Beauty's special offer that gets you a bonus product for every three months you've been subscribed. A great idea in my opinion! Who doesn't love a little extra surprise thrown in? The cream smells has a lovely and quite sophisticated floral, slightly woody scent. Unlike most body lotions that I always complain about it's not too thin and moisturises my skin very well. A huge thumbs down however for whoever designed the packaging of this sample - it doesn't squeeze and the cream is too thick to just run out of the top, so I can see at least half of this lovely sample going to waste just because there's no way for me to get it out. What a shame!

Total value: £31.30 (£41.30 with bonus sample)

Sadly, I have to say that this month's box was my least favourite out of all of the ones I've received. This is partly down to three products being repeat brands and partly down to four the items turning out to be complete duds for me. Getting four full sized products is still really amazing for any beauty box company and I've really enjoyed my little bonus sample this month. Maybe it's just that I've gotten so used to Love Me Beauty / Beauteco supplying me with products that I absolutely adore month after month - after all most of my last monthly favourites posts lately have featured at least one item from each box! You can't always be on to a winner, so I'm still happy with Love Me Beauty as a concept and I'm looking forward to hopefully discovering some new gems in next month's box. But please, pretty pretty please, no more Lord & Berry products!

Monthly Favourites: June 2013

Last month has been absolutely brilliant for discovering new products that I really, really like, so it was about time to whack em all into one neat little post just in time for the monthly favourites!

1) Neal & Wolf Intensive Care Treatment

For months I was absolutely obsessed with Aussie's 3 Minute Miracle and while I still think it's an absolutely amazing product, I've now found something that's just as good (or perhaps even better?) for my frazzled tresses. It leaves hair silky smooth, soft and easy to work with without making it all sticky or weighed down by heavy ingredients. What's not to love?

2) Bourjois Cream Blush in 03 Rose Tender

For years I used to avoid cream blushes, as they'd leave a shiny, slobby film on my cheeks that would slide off after about half an hour tops. Oh, how times have changed and the latest cream-to-powder formulations cannot be beaten for longevity and workability. On the high street, this new Bourjois formula is my new favourite alongside my beloved Topshop blushes. I'd say the Topshop ones are better for bright, heavily pigmented colour, while those that are after a more natural and easy-to-use colour are best off with Bourjois. You can read my full review here.

3) Models Own Nail Polish in Pink Punch

I bought this shade back in December, but now that the sun's finally out it really comes into its own. I am absolutely obsessed with neons at the moment and this colour just glows in the sun light like there's no tomorrow. It also looks brilliant against tanned skin and makes me happy every time I look at my finger tips. Lasting power is about average and depends heavily on the top coat you use with it.

4) Palmers Cocoa Butter Body Scrub

I'm not a massive fan of the Palmers Body Butter and to be completely honest I only picked up this scrub because that's the only one that wasn't sold out in my local Superdrug. And I'm completely blown away. It's like a rich body butter that dissolves into creamy, gooey deliciousness once on the skin, with loads of little scrubby particles suspended within. It smells absolutely amazing and satisfies my need for proper mechanical exfoliation all the while being soft and gentle on the skin. Cannot possibly recommend this enough.

5) Amie New Leaf Exfoliating Polish

Anyone else notice that face and body scrubs pop up quite a lot on my monthly favourites lists? Admittedly, I do love that stuff quite a lot. This one came in last month's Beautecobox and I loved it from the moment I opened the little tube. It smells like Solero ice cream and really gets my skin squeaky clean, but without causing any irritation. A perfect product for in-the-shower scrubbers who need something a little stronger that won't wash off straight away.

Beauteco Box June 13 - A new kid on the beauty box block

After last month's incredibly disappointing Birchbox I thought that was it - I was done with beauty boxes and the slew of same old samples, mixed with the bitter disappointment that personal beauty profiles seemed not to be taken into account at all. I was done wasting my money.
Then Beauteco popped up on the market, with a whole new concept. Rather than make you fill out lengthy profiles, only to ignore your input completely when the boxes were packed, they let you choose one of three variations for yourself, before it gets delivered.

At first, I was unsure. Getting to pick a box completely destroys the element of surprise, which was the main thing I loved about beauty boxes when they first launched. But when I took a peak on their website to see what was on offer, I couldn't help but feel a little excited, so I selected box 2 out of 3 and handed over my hard earned cash.

I cannot help but say a few words on the packaging of this box. At first Glossybox seemed to get it spot on with their luxurious packaging with plenty attention to detail. After a while, however, I just didn't know what to do with all those hard cardboard boxes - they were too pretty to throw away, but a girl only needs so many pink boxes in her life. Birchbox packaging on the other hand didn't appeal to me at all. A tiny brown box with this random drawstring bag that nobody needs in their life - it went straight in the bin as soon as it arrived.
Beauteco Box seem to have hit the nail on the head. There's no "box within a box" inception going on here, just one outer packaging which is filled with some pretty tissue paper and the products. No clutter, no unnecessary random bits, but still enough prettiness to make this feel like a treat. I'm impressed.

Now, while I knew pretty much exactly what would be in my box, I still couldn't help but feel rather excited about unwrapping it and inspecting each and every item. Here's the selection I went for.

1) Organic Surge | Gentle Cleansing Lotion

Full size: £5.99 for 200ml

I opted for the lotion over the cleansing wipes or the moisturiser, as I felt that this is what my skin will get on with the best (that and I just bought a really disappointing cleanser, so was in dire need of a new one). This is a full sized product, so I'm sure I'll get plenty of use out of it. It has a very refreshing herbal scent - you can really, really smell the rosemary, but it's not unpleasant. Two things I'm not a great fan of is that it's quite hard to get out of the tube and I can see myself struggling to get the bottom bits out. The instructions also say to wipe this off with a tissue or cotton pad and I much prefer to wash my face with something I can just rinse off with water rather than littering my bathroom with bits of cotton.

2) Headline Colors | Glamour Nail Polish

Full size: £9 for 10ml

Two items in and I've already made my money back on this box with another full sized product. Granted, the bright blue colour from box one would have been much more "me", but I'm sure I'll still enjoy this one as well. While I have plenty of blues in my nail polish collection, there's not a single gold colour, so it's going on my nails pretty much straight away!

3) Amie | New Leaf Skin Exfoliating Polish

Full size: £4.95 for 75ml

Woah, there - it's another full sized product in my box! This product was available in all three boxes, but I'm still very happy I got it. I love a good grainy exfoliator and this one looks like it fits the ticket perfectly. And the smell - oh my god, the smell. It smells like an even more delicious version of a Solero ice cream and makes my mouth water every time I get a little whiff. Cannot wait to try this out.

4) Balance Me | Wonder Eye Cream

Full size: £20 for 15ml / Sample value: £13.33

Though this is the first item that's "only" a sample size, it's still an incredibly generous sample which I'm sure will last me a long time. This is exactly what I have in mind when beauty boxes promise "luxury samples" and I would have still been happy if there were no full sized products, but all samples were this size.

Balance Me are a brand that has been popping up in beauty boxes before, but never in one I've had. I've never read a bad review of any of their products and they appear in loads of "Favourites" type posts, so I was dying to give them a go. This is another product that appeared in all 3 versions of this month's box.

5) Eve of St Agnes | Body Balm

Full size: £6

Here's me complaining about multi-purpose balms and then I go and pick a box with a body balm over a moisturiser or a nutritional supplement. Truth be told, I'm not quite sure yet how and when I'm going to use this. I imagine it will be of much more use to me in winter, when my skin can get quite dry, but at the moment a normal body moisturiser does the job just fine. This does have an amazing rose scent to it, so I'm thinking I might just use it in small amounts after showering and see what it does to my skin. Did I mention it's another full sized product?

Total value: £45.94

Overall, I have to say, Beauteco Box have simply blown me away. With four full sized products and one very generous sample - all of which I'm going to get some sort of use from, the box feels like a real treat to me. I didn't miss the element of surprise at all, but instead got rather excited about getting a box full of goodies that I know are tailored to my needs. 

Though none of the brands featured were luxury brands, I still made my money back both in mathematical, as well as perceived value. The fact that the focus is on natural and organic beauty means I get to try out loads of brands I've never used before.

Most importantly, however, Beauteco Box have managed to do something other subscription services have failed to do for the past couple of months: To really get me excited about beauty boxes once again.