Love Me Beauty Box December 13

Let me start off by saying that I was going to write a pretty angry post about this month's box. The December box featured two Lord & Berry products once again, as did two previous boxes and each and every time those products were completely useless, effectively leaving me with three products for £12.95. The third product that was consistent through all three options was a Headline Colors nail polish - again, Headline Colors is a brand that has featured in Love Me Beauty before and I still haven't even touched the Models Own polish that came in last month's box. Fortunately, I was positively surprised by a few of the products, so my initial frustration has passed.

1) Lord & Berry | Intensity Lipstick in Glazed Pink

Full size: £12

There was a Lord & Berry lipstick in the August Love Me Beauty box (back then known as Beauteco) and I think I've used it twice and then abandoned it in the back of my make-up stash. There wasn't necessarily anything wrong with the lipstick, but the colour made me look as if I'd drowned in a river several days ago. That's why I'm not such a fan of receiving make-up in beauty boxes - I know which shades suit me and which ones don't, so I'd rather pick my own products.

But this made me change my mind about this month's whole box. When I saw it in the bullet and swatched it on my hand it looked horrendous - a frosted pale pink, like something straight out of the 80s. But on the lips, this is a whole different story. It's a colour I've been looking for forever, but could never find. The perfect shade to blot out the natural colour of your lips, but with enough pink undertones to stop it from looking like "concealer lips". I would imagine it to be stunning with a smokey eye or graphic 60s style eye liner. I can actually imagine this becoming my favourite lipstick ever!

Left: Lord & Berry Lipstick in Glazzed Pink | Right: Lord & Berry Lip liner in Romantica

2) Lord & Berry Kiss Proof Lip Liner in Romantica

Full size: £7.50

Again, this is another repeat product, just in a different shade. Romantica is what I'd describe as "Barbie pink" with some very apparent blue undertones. While the shade suits me a lot more than the one I received in August, I don't have any lipsticks that match this liner, so I'm going to struggle to find a use for it. It does say on the card that this can be used all over the lips and I've used it in that way before and found that while it stayed on for ages, the pencil is just a tad too hard, meaning it drags the skin and really emphasises any existing dryness.

3) Headline Colors | Nail Polish in Quicksand

Full size: £9

Aaaaaaand guess what? Another repeat product. I got a golden Headline Colors polish in my first ever Beauteco box and now I've got another one in this murky nude shade. I don't mind that much as my nail polish collection consists predominantly of reds and neon brights, so it's nice to have a colour that's a little more muted for a change. The golden shade I received before applied pretty streaky, but that could be due to the fact that it was a metallic, so I'm hoping that this one will apply a little better.

4) S5 | Vitality Mask

Full size: £42 for 100ml (??) / Sample value: £6.30

Now, this is an interesting one. On the card it says that this mask is an exclusive to Love Me Beauty and while I did find press releases online discussing a launch for March 2013, but it's not available to buy anywhere. I found the pricing information on a blog after a quick Google search, but I don't know how accurate it is. I've had an S5 product in another Love Me Beauty box before (no surprises there, again), but I quite liked it, so I'm happy to try this one. It's a bit annoying that I got two face masks with this box option, as I would have much preferred two different skincare products, but as it was still the option that suited me most, I'm in no position to complain.

5) Rodial | 5 Minute Facial

Full size: £35 for 50ml / Sample value: £7

This is another fairly interesting one. I've never owned or used any Rodial products before, but they've popped onto my radar with their rather questionable marketing (Diet powders, anyone? Or how about size zero cream?). Now, I've actually already had a chance to play with this a little bit and slathered it on when I got home from work and I'm loving the results so far. I suppose you shouldn't knock something until you've tried it - and I'm quite glad I got introduced to this product through a beauty box, as I would have never picked it up in a store!

Total value: £41.80

As mentioned before, I actually like this box a lot more upon better inspection than I thought I would. This is mainly due to the absolutely gorgeous colour of the lipstick. Nevertheless I have a few negative points that I feel need mentioning. Most importantly, what drew me into Love Me Beauty, or Beauteco box, was that they weren't so full of marketing speak and empty promises as other beauty boxes and right now they've fallen into that exact same pattern again. The Rodial sample this month was meant to be a deluxe sample - it contains 10ml, which is anything but deluxe. All boxes were meant to have a value of at least £50 - they didn't. And apparently there was meant to be "a little something extra" in my box as well according to my card, but once again, nothing. I don't mind the value of my box, I don't mind the Rodial sample being the size it is and I don't mind not having an extra - but don't promise things you're not going to keep.

I also feel that the repeat products are really starting to become an issue now. If I see any more Lord & Berry I don't think I'm going to keep up with my subscription. It's a shame, really. A beauty box that started out so strong and had me completely swooning over it and praising it to anyone who would listen is starting to become "just another subscription service". I would hate to see that happen.

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.