Love Me Beauty Box November 13

Another month, another Love Me Beauty box. I seem to be the complete opposite to most other beauty bloggers and was actually a tad disappointed to see a heavily make-up based beauty box this month. Give me skincare and hair care as much as you want, but with make-up I much prefer to pick my own shades after swatching them in a shop. Thankfully you were able to pick your preferred nail polish and lipgloss colours from one of three editions (formerly known as "menus"), so I still had some choice and opted for edition 1.

1) Absolution | Le Soin Purifiant

Full size: £24 for 50ml / Sample value: £19.20

I can't say I've ever heard of this brand before, so testing this was quite the novelty! The mask feels very smooth and soft on the skin and is nowhere near as messy and sticky as most other clay based masks I've tried. You can definitely feel this working, as it made my face a bit hot towards the end of the 10 minutes you're meant to leave it on for. Afterwards, my skin felt thoroughly clean and my moisturiser sank in in record time.

2) Jelly Pong Pong | 2-in-1 Bronze Shadow/Liner

Full size: £10.50

The colour of this shadow and eye liner stick is absolutely stunning: a deep rich brown that leans slightly cranberry red and is shot through with golden shimmer - absolutely perfect for this time of the year! The big pencil glides on without tugging the lid, but I found that on its own or even over a primer it creases very easily. It lasts much better if you set it with a powder eye shadow, but will still crease after about four hours. If it wasn't for the stunning colour, I would have been pretty gutted about this, as the quality simply isn't there.

3) Mitchell and Peach | Shower Wash

Full size: £20 for 250ml / Sample value: £4

Last month I received a Mitchell and Peach body lotion as an extra product and this month I found the matching shower wash in my box. Once again, the packaging may be pretty looking, but makes getting the product out a bit more difficult than it needs to be, especially when your hands are all wet and slippy from the shower! Thankfully the shower gel is runnier in consistency than the body lotion, so I am yet to give myself a black eye trying to squeeze this out. It's a nice shower gel with a very pretty herbal/floral scent, but I'm not sure I'd spend £20 on a full bottle of this.

4) Models Own | Nail Polish "Hot Pink"

Full size: £5

I'm a huge fan of Models Own polishes and would be quite happy to own every single shade in their collection, so I was rather excited to see their polishes pop up in this month's boxes. They're great quality and pack a lot of pigment at a very reasonable price. I have to admit that I was a tad gutted when I opened my box and realised that the colour I picked, "Hot Pink" is almost identical to another Models Own polish in my collection, "Pink Punch". I've not yet worn it on my nails, however, so it might look completely different on!

5) Art Deco | Hydra Lip Booster "36 Translucent Rosewood"

Full size: £11.50

Now, usually I get a little annoyed when there's too many repeat brands in a subscription box, but Artdeco is a brand I literally can't get enough of and this lip gloss only adds to that sentiment. It glides on silky and smooth, actually feels quite moisturising on the lips and is just the perfect shade of nude: opaque and milky enough to make lips step into the background and really bring out the eyes, but sheer enough to let some natural lip pigment shine through and prevent that "undead" look. Absolutely brilliant!

Swatches: Left - Artdeco Hydra Lip Booster in Translucent Rosewood, Right - Jelly Pong Pong Bronze Shadow/Liner

Everyone who received last month's Love Me Beauty Box also got an extra Lord&Berry lipstick to make up for last month's underperforming mascara and eye liner. Well, not everyone, because I didn't. And when I sent an email to customer services about that and the fact that I keep getting charged twice a month for my subscription, they sent me a rather moody email back which completely ignored the issue of my missing lipstick. Can't say I'm impressed!

Total value: £50.20

Once again I've more than made my money's worth with this month's box, but I can't help but feel a tad underwhelmed. The mask is really nice and the lip gloss is amazing, but the other products haven't really blown me away. Add to that my rather mediocre customer service experience and I feel my love for Love Me Beauty waning slowly. I hope they can get themselves back in the game with another knock out box next month!

Monthly Favourites: August 2013

1) Laura Mercier Oil-free Tinted Moisturiser

I've seen people rave and go on about these for so long that eventually I just caved and had to give it a go for myself - and I have to admit, it's a pretty awesome product! My skin is behaving pretty well at the moment, so I don't need anything with massive amounts of coverage and this tinted moisturiser just fits the bill perfectly. It just seems to smooth things out a little bit, while feeling light as a feather and leaving a natural, healthy glow. My one bug bear (aside from the price!) is that seeing as it's oil free it could do with being a little more mattifying - it seems to leave my face extremely shiny, but that could just be down to the hot weather in all fairness.

2) Models Own nail polish in Luis Lemon

Another Models Own polish in my monthly favourites! I'm seriously obsessed with them - the formula never fails me and the shade selection is just amazing. During the last month of summer I've particularly been loving this neon yellow to put a spring in my step. It's phenomenal for a night out as well, as it literally glows in black light! You can read a post I wrote about this nail polish here.

3) Rimmel Scandaleyes Waterproof Kohl in Nude

I'd been hunting for a nude eye liner for months about a year ago, until I finally gave up and forgot all about it. Then I went out to do some beauty shopping with a friend when we stumbled across these and though I wasn't that fussed anymore I thought I'd give it a go. Great decision! The formula of this pencil is just amazing - soft, creamy, pigmented and stays on the waterline for at least 5 hours. The nude shade is perfect for a wide-eyed, healthy look, but without being quite as harsh and obvious as a white pencil.

4) Artdeco Clear Lash & Brow Gel

Apologies about the tube looking a little manky - unfortunately that's what tends to happen with clear brow mascaras when you apply them over brow pencil or powder. Aesthetics aside, however, this does an amazing job of keeping my brows in place ALL DAY LONG. Literally, they won't budge until I give them a swipe with make-up remover. For somebody whose brows always seem to have a mind of their own this is an absolute god send - it just makes me look so much more groomed than brows that are all over the place. Bear in mind, that it does make them a bit crispy and glossy, but to me that's not necessarily a downside.

5) Benefit They're Real Mascara

I'll admit that I was anything but blown away by this mascara when I first tried it and I'd even go as far as saying that I felt that I'd wasted my money a little. Yes, it makes lashes look really long and it's not too bad for curling, but somehow it was just missing a little bit of oomph. However, slowly but surely, this is really growing on me. There's just something about the brush that makes it grip literally every single one of your eyelashes. Nowadays, when I want a little more impact I just apply two or three layers and it works brilliantly, without a single clump in sight.

Beauteco Box July 13

Seeing as last month's Beauteco Box completely blew me away and managed to reignite my excitement for sample boxes, I couldn't wait for this month's choices to roll around. It's a little unfortunate that I already own quite a few of the products that came in this month's boutique (namely the Neal and Wolf Harmony conditioner and the Artdeco eyeshadow base and eye liner), but nevertheless I still made a choice that I was very happy with.

1) Neal and Wolf | Elevate

Full size: £11.95 for 200ml

Neal and Wolf were kind enough to send me a few of their items to trial a while ago, those this is not one of them. I'd never used anything by the brand before, but every single one of their products has seriously impressed me so far, so while I'm a bit gutted that I don't get to try a new brand with this month's box, I'm more than happy to give another Neal and Wolf product a go. This was one of the two products available in each of the three options.

Neal and Wolf | Harmony

Full size: £12.95 for 200ml

This is the second product that was available in all three boxes. I own one of these babies already, but I'm starting to run low and I love it so much it's actually made it into last month's favourites (here). It's an absolute god send for parched and damaged hair like mine and I would repurchase it in a heart beat. I'll get a review up soon for those who may be on the fence, but till then just trust me - it's amazing.

3) Pukka | Radiance Serum

Full size: £32 for 50ml / Sample value: £6.40

And finally, this is the third item that came in each of the three box options. There may have been a bit of a situation when I pulled the protective foil off the tube and squirted serum everywhere - whoops! It's quite runny and has a very strong medicinal smell; you can really, really smell the manuka honey in there. Pukka is not a brand I've ever purchased anything from, so I'm quite excited to give this a go.

4) Eve of St Agnes | Refining Bamboo Exfoliating Polish

Full size: £18 for 50ml / Sample value: £5.40

Eve of St Agnes had a sample in the last Beauteco box and to be honest with you I didn't think their body balm really was that great. This sample, however, seems a little more promising. The exfoliator is thick and balm like and looks smooth from the outside, but is jam packed with tiny granules on the inside. And we all know I love a good and proper scrub! The scent is not entirely my cup of tea, but I'm still keen to see how my skin will react to this one.

5) Artdeco | Clear Lash & Brow Gel

Full size: £9.75 for 10ml

Yaaaaay, I'm so happy to see Artdeco pop up in this month's boxes! Growing up in Germany this was basically our version of Mac at slightly more affordable prices. I love their foundations and their huge colour spectrum, as well as their magnetic palettes which you can fill with every eye shadow / blusher / concealer / lip colour combo imaginable. It's a shame they're so hard to get hold of in the UK. I already own the eye shadow base that came in one of the other boxes as well as a few of their eye liners - and they're all pretty good! This one looks quite promising - I'm currently using MUA's clear mascara to hold my eye brows in place and it's not quite strong enough, so hopefully this will do the trick. One word of warning, though: Don't put it near your nose, it literally smells like PVC glue.

Total value: £46.45

So, have Beauteco box done it again? I'll be honest and say that I was a little disappointed that two of the main products this month are from a brand I already know with a product I already own. But, as I've already said, they're very, very good products that I'd happily repurchase anyway, so while the novelty factor isn't quite as high as it was last month, I still feel like I got a brilliant box. Once again, they're all products that I will use (probably till I can't squeeze another drop out of them) with impressive value for money. I'm already eagerly awaiting next month's offerings.