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Review: Nourish Golden Glow Toning Soufflé

Nourish Golden Glow Toning Soufflé*

Nourish are a skincare company who targets their products at your skin’s needs and health.
This Christmas they are doing just that and bringing you their golden glow toning soufflé with frankincense & myrrh.
The light reflecting particles in this cream are said to:
 “Even skin tone, giving a smooth lustrous appearance and a naturally healthy sun-kissed glow. Golden resins of frankincense and myrrh, combined with a nutrient rich phyto-active marine extract, tone the skin, firming and boosting suppleness. With super-hydrating hyaluronic acid and tripeptides to stimulate the production of collagen, skin feels smoother, softer and has a refined, fresh appearance.”

Definitely not an easy product to capture on camera

Pros:
+ Absorbs into the skin quickly
+ Leaves a subtle sparkly sheen
+ My skin felt soft and smooth after application
Cons:
– Slightly odd scent
Notes:
First off I have to say how much I love the consistency of this product.
It wobbles like jelly and reminded me of custard – I like both those things so I liked this.
The ‘soufflé’ absorbed into my skin very quickly, and I was really impressed – waiting around for creams to dry is a pet hate of mine. This dried within a couple of minutes so it definitely gets bonus points from me!
As for the ‘odd scent’ I mentioned. It’s not terrible but it just didn’t seem to match the decadence of the product.
Some of you may think this review is a little late for Christmas, but I believe in sparkling all year round.
If you really need an excuse though, this cream would be perfect for any New Year celebrations!
You can buy Nourish’s Golden Glow Toning Soufflé here.
bloomzy /

MUA Cosmetics ‘Berry’ Haul

MUA Cosmetics Berry Themed Haul

Slowly the word ‘haul’ is growing on me, though I feel out of necessity more than love.
Anyway, I feel it suits these kind of posts where I’d just be saying ‘a bunch of stuff I bought from MUA’ instead.
Some of you may know that recently MUA hit 35,000 likes on Facebook and with every 5,000 likes they do a promotion.
This time the promotion was 35% off and free shipping – that’s absolutely amazing, right?
What did I buy?
– Brow Kit –
– Lipstick in Shade 1 –
– Liquid liner in Shade 5 –
– Nail Varnish in Plum Noir –
– Lip Boom in It’s a Situation –
– Mystical Glitter Nails Polish in Jellyfish –
– Intense Glosses Shimmer Kisses in Stolen Kisses –
You probably noticed already that there is a general theme here. I love the current berry trend especially worn on the lips, so I choose a couple of lipsticks and glosses, as well as some nail polishes to go along with the trend. I had wanted to buy a bunch of stuff from MUA but I decided to wait until they had another promotion. I’m so glad I did because I was able to grab everything I wanted, and more! I’m really happy with all the items. 
That’s £14 worth of products for only £9.10, with free shipping – bargain!
bloomzy /

Review: Joliebox

Joliebox gift box from the Birchbox event*
When I attended the Birchbox champagne afternoon tea event last week I was gifted with a Joliebox.
If you didn’t see that post then you might be confused, but this is because Birchbox have taken over Joliebox.
If I remember correctly the box wasn’t a particular month, it was a mixture of products & previous month’s boxes.
The box contained samples from previous boxes and new items, such as:
– Twistband –
– Ritessens Exfoliant –
– RMK Cleansing Balm –
– L’Occitane Angelica Hydration Cream –
– Dr Bronner’s Pure-Castile Soap Pillows –
– Redken Protective Straightening Lotion –
This box was a great way to introduce someone to some of the wonderful brands that Joliebox has worked with.
It also shows you an example of what you might receive in a box; beauty, skincare, hair & lifestyle products, travel essentials, and even full size samples. Birchbox allows you to create a personal profile which your samples will be based on – which is a great feature, I hope they keep it when the takeover happens in January. The magazine is something which is unique to Joliebox and is very popular with a lot of subscribers, so it was nice to receive one with my box.
Joliebox will soon become Birchbox, and is a monthly beauty box service.
For £10 (plus postage) a month you will recieve 4-5 beauty samples to your door.
You can sign up and subscribe here.

bloomzy /

Giveaway: Ted Baker Gift Set

Ted Baker Butterfly Blossom Gift set

As Christmas is nearing there is no better time for me to host a giveaway.
You could enter for yourself or maybe for the chance to win the set for a friend/family member’s present.
We all know how popular gift sets are at this time of year, so that’s exactly what I’m giving you the chance to win.

What can you win?
A Ted Baker Butterfly Blossom Gift set
The set includes: 1 x Body Wash, 1 x Body Spray & 1 x Body Lotion

How to enter:
+ Be a follower of ‘Bloomzy’ via GFC or Bloglovin
+ Earn extra entries via Twitter & Facebook
The giveaway is open for 1 week (ending 4th Dec)
This is open to UK residents only – sorry!

Good luck!
bloomzy /

Review: Evian Brumisateur Facial Spray

Evian Brumisateur Facial Spray

Remember when I visited France this Summer and picked up some facial sprays?
Well here is my first review of the bunch – Evian’s Brumisateur Facial Spray.
What is it?
A moisturising and toning facial spray to be used throughtout the day, or in your daily skincare routine.
You can spray it throughout the day if you feel your skin needs a pick-up, or if you need to cool down.
What can it do?
Evian claims that their facial spray will hydrate, moisturise, refresh and even tone your skin.
It also claims that it will help hold your make-up – just spray your face gently with the product after application.
Does it work?
I think that a lot of people just see this as water in a can.
Well I don’t know whether that’s true or not, but after using it I don’t think it is that simple.
I can be quite lazy in my skincare routine, so I will grab any cheat I can get. So naturally the idea of a spray that does the work of a toner and moisturiser, as well as holds my make-up appealed to me. Was I let down by the product? Not at all! Sometimes my skin can feel a bit raw or dry (not in a scary way) after I’ve washed/exfoliated, and a quick spray of this automatically helps ease my skin so that it feels normal again. I also agree that it can help hold your make-up although you need to be careful not to spray until after everything has dried (mascara, eyeliner etc.), or you might end up with a smudgy face. It works great as a toner, and it certainly helps moisturise. It’s also very gentle on the skin, so no chance of breakouts or dry patches.
The Evian facial spray is perfect to carry in your handbag, use as part of your routine, or just to take on holiday.
You can buy it in selected branches of Waitrose or online here.

bloomzy /

Discuss: Would you rent a nail polish?


Most nail polish addicts will have a favourite designer brand. However most of these brands are expensive, even if the quality is good. So what if someone told you, you could have designer nail polishes but without the price tag? Well that’s exactly what US brand Lacquerous are planning to offer.

The concept behind the brand is simple; You pay $18 a month and they send you 3 designer nail polishes (of your choice). The catch? You’re only renting them. Yep, at the end of the month you send the polishes back. You then pay another $18 and are sent another 3 polishes, and so on. They’re the “Netflix for Nail Polish”.

This all sounds great, especially if you don’t use a polish more than once a week, and switch often. However the small print is where it starts to sound a little less likeable – you can only use each polish up to 3 times. Now for me, that’s a big no no. If I was going to pay £12 a month (the equivalent to $18) for 3 polishes a month I would want to get my moneys worth, designer or not. Sure most people probably won’t even use them more than 3 times, but what if you happen to dislike the other colours you choose, or you really fall for one or two in particular?

At the moment the company is invite-only to American citizens, with no talk of taking the venture overseas. They say they have over 2,500 people on their waiting list, however when you think about the size of America…well that’s not much at all, is it? I guess only time will tell as to how popular the idea and company will be.

Would you rent a nail polish? What do you think of the idea behind Lacquerous?

Source; 1, 2

bloomzy /

Event: Birchbox Champagne Afternoon Tea

Birchbox – Joliebox Champagne Afternoon Tea event

As soon as my plus-one and I walked through the doors we were giddy. I’d invited her to the Birchbox event as we both share a love for champagne and afternoon tea. It was held at The Soho Hotel, which is fashionably fancy, as is the drawing room which we were directed to. The tables were lined with cakes, sandwiches, biscuits and scones – with jam and cream, of course!

We arrived early and were greeted by the lovely team behind Birchbox and Joliebox. We were shown samples of October’s Joliebox, whilst waiters offered us salmon sandwiches and champagne. I loved the effort that the team went towards to greet and have a proper talk with everyone, not just a 5min chat. I knew quite a bit about Joliebox but I was really interested in finding out more about Birchbox, an American monthly beauty sample box company which are now moving into the European market, hence the event.

We even got to meet Katia Beauchamp, one of Birchbox’s co-founders – an incredibly funny, intelligent and gorgeous lady – definitely a power woman if I did ever meet one. I thought having some of the American team there was a really great edition to the event and showed just how passionate they are about making it here in Europe. Although I won’t lie, the highlight of the event were the ornately decorated (and incredibly yummy) biscuits! I think we can all expect big things from Birchbox once it’s launched in the UK – I can’t wait!

Birchbox UK will be launching in January 2013.
Joliebox will now be merging with Birchbox and becoming Birchbox UK.