Review: Birchbox ‘World Cup’ June 2014 Beauty Box

Birchbox ‘World Cup – Brazil’ June 2014 Beauty Box

This month’s box had a lot to live up to after last month’s Harper’s Bazaar collaboration box. 
I was actually surprised when the ever enthusiastic delivery guy (can you feel the sarcasm leaking through you screen?) turned up with my box, due to a lack of correspondence from Birchbox themselves. Still, I’m not going to complain about a box turning up without a dispatch email when it could have easily been the other way round. Opening up my box I didn’t really know what to expect. I hadn’t seen any mention of a theme, and honestly, my heart dropped a little when I saw the green and yellow. I’m not a football fan and lately every brand out there is trying to be included in the World Cup glory. 
The branding was clever with this box, but I wasn’t drawn in by the theme.
Inside my box was…
Embryolisse – Lait Crème Concentre
Silk + Honey – Shea Butter Hair Mask
Birchbox – Brazil Inspired Keyring
Thoughts?
I’m not one to judge a book by it’s cover, however my dismay at the month’s theme did translate to the products slightly. I don’t really know where to start. Maybe I should talk about the products I’m happy with first. The reasonably sized Silk + Honey Shea Butter Hair Mask is certainly something I will use and enjoy, so I’m more than happy to have it in my box. I was excited by the Yves Rocher Lipstick, but when I tried it on it was no different than a lip balm, as the ‘tint’ of colour wasn’t present. I was also a bit sad that the YR logo had scratched off my tube slightly, making me think these were seconds. The OPI polish is a lovely shade, and certainly something I’d wear, but I have a love hate relationship with OPI. I’ve found some of their polishes to be poor quality, but I have high hopes for this one. The Naobay lotion, and the Embryolisse moisturiser are items I could take or leave. I already have a bunch of moisturisers and sample size lotions, so these will just go into my ever-evergrowing pile. Finally, the keyring. Maybe I’m a buzzkill but it reminds me of the tacky souvenirs found at so many British seaside resorts. I do see the fun in it though so I can’t hate on it, I just won’t be using it.
Overall I’m a bit disappointed in this month’s box, and if it wasn’t for the quality of the
previous boxes I’ve received I would be unsubscribing. Here’s hoping next month’s Birchbox gets back to form!
You can subscribe or buy the ‘World Cup’ box at Birchbox.
Using my link will give you (and me) £5 worth of points to spend in the store.

Wish List: Happy Halloween

Halloween Wishlist


My Halloween Inspired Wishlist


Today may be Halloween but I intend to keep the spirit alive for as long as possible.
That’s why I did my first wish list in a very long time, and it’s Halloween inspired!
I’ve included pieces from some of my favourite stores, brands and designers:
Stay spooky everyone!

If you’d like to find out where you can buy the items above, they are all listed here.
Source: 1

Haul: ASOS & Maybelline Baby Lips

Shoes, Anatomicals: Sleep Balm & Eye Patches, OPI Matte Top Coat, Maybelline Baby Lips

A couple of Friday’s ago I won an ASOS voucher. I wasn’t after anything particular (that they had) so I saved it. I knew I needed a pair of plain black sneakers (for this & that) but knew they would be cheap. So after choosing those and seeing that I had a considerable amount left I headed to the beauty section. I am seriously impressed with the selection of products that ASOS carry on there! They have such a great variety and some really good deals.

Since I wasn’t spending my own money I bought things I’ve wanted to try for a while but wasn’t too sure about wasting money on. Anatomicals is a brand that I have seen a lot of and wanted to investigate further, especially the sleep balm – so I picked that up and paired it with some eye patches (for to an upcoming post). Then I headed to the nail varnish section. Honestly I have so many polishes it’s hard to find a shade I don’t already have by another brand, so I was looking for something different. That’s where OPI’s Matte Top Coat came into play. I am so excited to try this and play around with it, I feel like it’s Christmas already! I knew I had picked the right products as I was really looking forward to receiving them and was still happy when I ripped open the parcel – that’s always a good sign for me.

As for the Maybelline Baby Lips, they kind of tagged along in this post. I have been searching for them for a couple of weeks now and had no luck until last Friday. I managed to finally find all of them in Superdrug, but was actually left feeling a bit uninspired. I picked up ‘Cherry Me’ though as I knew it was a shade I would use often.

You can find links to all of the products under the photo at the top of the post.