Love Me Beauty Box May 14

Just like last month, Love Me Beauty's menu choices for May didn't get me particularly excited, either. But seeing as I did end up positively surprised last time around, I opted against skipping the month and chose the third Edition, as I found that one the most appealing. I'll be honest from the start and say that there was no element of positive surprise when I opened this box and for the first time since the very start of my subscription (almost a year ago!) I feel disappointed with the contents of my box.

1) Nail Girls | Nail Polish in "Nude Pink"

Full size: £13.50

This is probably my favourite product in this month's box. After getting rid of all the polishes in my collection that had become crusty and/or separated, I was left with a gaping hole in the "soft pinks" compartment, which this nail polish will fill nicely. I've never heard of the brand Nail Girls before, but I'm more than happy to give them a go. The brush is nice and wide and upon first inspection the polish seems to be nice and thick and non streaky. This product was featured in all three Editions.

2) Raw Skincare | Natural Lip balm in "Rescue Me"

Full size: £2.98

I didn't really fancy the mint or the ginger lip balm that was available in the other Editions (they're both tastes and smells that I don't really like), so I went for the deeply moisturising option instead. I always manage to lose my lip balms, so I'm happy to have another one to keep me going for a bit, especially seeing as Raw Skincare is yet another brand that's completely new to me. It has that typical natural lip balm texture, which is a little waxy and grainy, though it's fine once you've had a little bit of time to get used to it. I like that it's non-greasy, but I'm not sure it would really manage to rescue my lips if they were as dry as they get in winter, as it doesn't really feel all that moisturising.

3) GO Stationery | Pocket Notebook Set in "Meadow Bird"

Full size: £5.00

This product has actually genuinely annoyed me this month. While it's a nice design and I'm sure I'll find a way of using all three of the little notebooks, they just do not belong in a beauty box. I've always said that I like it when subscription services think outside the box a little bit, like when they included vitamin supplements for skin and hair, but this is just a step too far. If I wanted a notebook I'd go to WH Smith or Paperchase and I'd get myself a notebook. It's got nothing to do with beauty and is just a completely random space filler in this month's box.

4) Suti | Trial Pack in Cleanse Balm, Purity Balm and Fabulous Foot Balm

Half a trial pack / Value: £3.25

On to the next disappointment. I was really looking forward to trying this pack of three balms, but my excitement diminished when I saw the size of the samples. They're just so tiny! I reckon I'll get about 2-3 applications out of each, which isn't really enough to judge a product's efficacy. Suti actually sell this trial pack on their website, but on there it comes with two face oils and a moisturiser as well, so I feel a little cheated out of half of the products, especially as it's advertised as being the full trial pack on the card that came with my box. To be honest with you, I probably would have preferred to just have one larger sample than those three tiny little ones.

5) Tea Pigs | Tea in "Super Fruit"

3 Tea Envelopes / Value: £1.95

This is another product I'm really annoyed with this month. It's not the first time I've seen tea in beauty boxes and while I can see the connection if you're going for a "health and beauty from within" angle, it's okay if it pops up as an extra - but not if it's considered to be one of my beauty samples! Granted, I've wanted to try some Teapigs tea for a while, so I'm happy to finally have some to try, but I would have much preferred to have another cosmetic product in my box instead.

Total value: £26.68

This month's box gets a big fat, thumbs down from me. I can deal with the minuscule balm samples, but having not one but two products in my box that are completely unrelated to beauty has really annoyed me. Thankfully I'm really looking forward to using the nail polish once my nails have healed up a little bit, so that alone has made this box worth it for me. I guess we've been really spoilt with Love Me Beauty boxes over the last year. Every month there would be three to four full sized products and almost all of them were absolute hits, so it was only a matter of time before they started to not live up to their high standards. Box value has also been steadily decreasing over time and while I'm not one to only demand super high-end samples (not that I could afford to buy the products anyway), I do feel like I'm getting less bang for my buck lately. I really hope that Love Me Beauty will be back on form again next month.

NOTD: Rimmel Green Grass

It's been a while since I last did a nail post, mainly due to the fact that my nails have been incredibly weak and brittle lately and I didn't feel like drawing attention to all my snapped off finger nails by painting them any bright colours. Maybe it's time to get myself a bottle of Nail Envy to build them back up a little?

Either way, spring has officially sprung and that means there's no more reasons to hold back the pastels and the brights.

Rimmel polishes are highly underrated in my honest opinion. Their brushes are nice and wide which makes painting your nails a breeze and the formula requires no more than one coat on the darker shades and two coats on the lighter ones.

What I like in particular about this bright green shade is that it's quite a unique shade you won't find very often. Greens tend to be either very dark, or light and milky, but this is a really bright, in-your-face variation that just screams happiness and spring.

Face of the Day #05

I used to hardly ever wear lipstick, especially any loud, bright shades. They're just such high maintenance and not only do I end up with lipstick marks everywhere, the constant reapplication needed to keep bright lipstick looking good is just too much of a faff. However, my recent purchase of the bright orange L'Oreal L'Extraordinaire has changed everything (at least for now). I've never had so many compliments on my make-up as when I wear this lipstick. So I thought, sod it, if I have to deal with orange marks on my straws and more frequent trips to the bathroom to reapply, that's just a sacrifice I'm going to have to make. To balance out the bright lips I've kept it a bit more plain on the eyes with another new purchase, the much hyped up Rimmel Scandaleyes Shadow Paint in Rich Russet.

FACE/BASE

As you can see by the severely squished tube of Laura Mercier oil-free Tinted Moisturizer, there really wasn't much left when I did this look and by the time I'm typing up this post, it's sadly served its purpose and there's not another drop that I can squeeze out. For concealer I stuck with my trusted Seventeen phwoarr Paint - I don't think I'll ever buy any other concealer again (yes, that's a big, big statement right there). For cheeks I stippled on some Bourjois Cream Blush in 03 Rose Tendre - for a drugstore formula, this blush is pretty much unbeatable, even though the packaging does get a bit manky with time and almost all the writing wore off on mine already. For setting, I stuck with another old faithful, the Rimmel Stay Matte powder, dusted just along the T-Zone.

EYES

As my lips were pretty bright with this look, I kept the eye make-up a bit more simple with a slick of the Rimmel Scandaleyes Shadow Paint in Rich Russet. I just applied it straight to the lids with the wand, then waited for it to dry for a few seconds and eventually just smudged out the edges with my finger. You can use a brush for that if you want, but I find that fingers work just as well, if not better, as they don't absorb any product. While the Shadow Paint sets, I topped up my brows a little with my recent re-discovery, the Benefit Brow Zings in Medium. To top it all off, I applied one coat of the Bourjois Elastic Mascara on top and bottom lashes. I really love this mascara, but sadly it's starting to run a little low now, so it's going to be time to move on to a different one, soon.

LIPS

On to the star of the show, the L'Oreal L'Extraordinaire by Color Riche in Tangerine Sonate. The main reason I don't mind faffing about with topping up my lip colour all the time is because this gloss/balm/lipstick hybrid does it all in one go for you. One slick and you've got colour and shine right on your lips - no need for two or three different products. At the same time it somehow manages not to be sticky at all, so no awkward hair in mouth situations there.

Review: Denman Grooming Brush

As much as I'm dreaming of investing in a Mason Pearson brush one day, it seems like there is always something I would much rather spend my money on than an expensive hair brush. So at the moment, I'm on the lookout for a decent drugstore brush and so far, this is the best one I've found.

My hair is thick and can get pretty tangled up in the mornings, so a lot of brushes just tug and pull on my roots. This brush has lots of long, stiff plastic bristles encased in smaller, short, natural bristles. At first I thought it wasn't actually doing anything, but it actually manages to smooth my hair out without any tugging whatsoever.

In the six or so months that I've had it, it's held up pretty well. It's still got all its bristles (unlike a lot of other cheaper brushes that I'd bought in the past) and it cleans easily enough as well. The natural bristles do make it a bit of a dust catcher, so I need to wash it about once every other week, but I've not seen any detriment to it (such as glue coming loose) from washing it.
But the best thing? Being able to brush my hair without having to pull clumps of hair out of my hair brush.

The Denman Grooming Brush comes in three different sizes: Small, Medium and Large. The one I've got is the medium sized one which retails at £9.79.

Review: Sienna X Polishing Body Scrub

As someone who is still completely terrified by fake tan (I'd rather embrace my pasty white paleness), Sienna X is not a brand I had anything to do with so far. But from what I've gathered there seems to be one key ingredient in getting fake tan on evenly and that is thoroughly exfoliated skin. So, as a result, a fake tan brand should surely know a thing or two about a good scrub, right?

Something I always look for in a body scrub is fine granules and a dense texture, so that the scrub doesn't just slide straight off your skin and down your drain. Thankfully, this Polishing Body Scrub ticks both of those boxes. It has a texture similar to sand, but suspended in a thick, creamy base. The scent is light and refreshing thanks to the lemongrass and ginger, but once you've washed the scrub off, the scent no longer lingers on the skin.

As it's a scrub aimed at preparing skin for self tan, there is no oily residue, which I know some people hate anyway. I prefer my scrubs to be more on the oily side to leave my skin nicely moisturised, but even if you don't fake tan this is still a good one to use on warm days when you don't want to be covered in anything sticky when you step out of the shower.