Boudoir Privé October box

I received my second Boudoir Privé box through the post on Tuesday (by a lovely Sheffield lady postie. Sheffield people are so friendly!) I spoilt it for myself (again!) by reading blog reviews like Lilys, but I was still looking forward to it.

The products in this month's box were: Rose&Co Rose Petal Lipsalve, Studiomakeup eyeliner pen in black, Cetuem Illuminating skin mask and Créme de Lite, Leonor Greyl Huile de Palme pre-shampoo conditioner, Korres Quince body butter and Mémo Paris Les Echappées parfum.

I always enjoy products that I can start using right away, and I was happy to see a liquid eyeliner in the beauty box as I had been meaning to buy one. My liquid eyeliner skills are not great so I'll have a bit of practice before showing you the results of this.

I was happy to receive a lip salve, as my lips do suffer in winter with the dryness of air-con/central heating, however the container of the Rose&Co Rose Petal salve was made of a metal-like material (a bit like vaseline tubs) which I find a turn-off as it can feel greasy to touch and consequently I'm never sure whether the container is clean. I much prefer lip balms to come in tubes.

I really need to start using up my hair treatment samples otherwise I will end up with a backlog from my beauty boxes! In this month's box was a pre-shampoo conditioner for dry and damaged hair from Leonor Greyl. It is to be used before washing your hair as a leave-in treatment from 5 mins to overnight. I think I will give it a try overnight next time my hair is due for a wash. A little looks like it would go a long way with this hair oil.

I really like the packaging for the Quince body butter from Korres, and that really makes a difference to how inclined I feel to use it! (Am quite a visual person). The body butter goes on really smoothly, like a thin cream and sinks into your skin well. The smell is quite mild with a hint of avocado and what seems like rose. It is described by Boudoir Privé as: "An extremely rich and soothing cream for dry and chapped skin. The combination of vegetable oils has excellent compatibility with the skin, allowing for easy absorption. It provides uplifting and long lasting moisture."

The Memo Les Eschappées eau de parfum was my favourite product out of this month's box. I always enjoy different scents and the varying affects they can have on our memory, mood and feelings. This scent is described as "A spicy tuberose underlined by pear." I really liked this perfume as it is so different to my usual scents (citrusy). This perfume is spicy and deep, a little musky, and would be great for winter. It reminds me of drinking mulled wine and eating toffee apples.

What did you think of this months' Boudoir Privé box? Are you subscribed to any other beauty boxes?

Boudoir Privé September box

I received my first Boudoir Privé box yesterday. Unfortunately I wasn't at home when it was delivered so I had to wait until last night to pick it up. For those of you who don't know Boudoir Privé, I will give a brief description.

Boudoir Privé offers a monthly subscription for £10 of 5-6 sample sizes of luxury beauty products delivered to your door. I think the concept is great as I know lots of us spend too much on trying+testing full size makeup products that turn out to be not right for us. I also particularly like the Boudoir Privé website; they have their own blog and have a useful video about this month's box.

The box comes beautifully wrapped with black paper tissue and a pink ribbon. In this month's box was: Agent Provocateur L'Agent perfume, Macademia hair repair, Tropic Skincare Body Smooth, Colbert MD Nourish Eye Cream, Zoya nail polish in Marina, Cargo Cosmetics Boogie Nights Eye Pencil in purple and Mai Couture Blot & Bronze blotting paper.

Also contained in the box was an information booklet with some information about the background and use of each product which I found really helpful. Each product was listed underneath a category: bodycare, haircare, skincare, fragrance, lifestyle, and makeup.

Bodycare: Tropic Skincare Body Smooth
When I first read the reviews of this month's box, I thought that the Macademia hair repair would be my favourite product as I love a good hair treatment, but the body polish is looking to rival that. I can't get enough of its smell! It is infused with Sea Minerals, Jojoba and Macademia Oil. The brand is Tropic Skincare which was founded by Apprentice finalist Susan Ma. Being an avid Apprentice follower this was definitely an added interest for me. The full size version of this product retails at £19.95.

Fragrance: Agent Provocateur L'Agent perfume
I love trying different perfume samples, so I was excited to recieve this in my monthly box. The scent, as described by the Boudoir Prive girls in their video would be most fitting for an evening. It's very musky, and the scents that really hit me first were rose, sandalwood, and ylang ylang. This is definitely a scent where less is more!

Skincare: Colbert MD Nourish eye cream
This is a brand I hadn't heard of before, but it has an impressive celebrity client list, including HRH Catherine Middleton and Sienna Miller. The information booklet says it reduces dark circles so I'm looking forward to trying this. The full size version of this product retails at £90 so I can imagine I will be using it sparingly!

The last piece in the box was an information booklet about Zoya nail polishes and a swatch of their smoke and mirrors range. In the boxes this month we could have had a selection of the polishes from the mirrors range. I got the Marina shade which is a really nice dark turquoise shade.

Boogie Nights Eye Pencil There were four colours that could have been included each box, and I was really pleased with the colour in my box; purple 03. It was as easy as your average eye pencil to apply on your inner eyelids but I loved the easy way it slid onto my upper eyelid and it slid quite easily into a mini cat flick eye. My eyes are a natural green-blue but I think this purple colour would suite a browner iris. At £13 for a set of 5, Cargo is definitely a brand I would consider in the future.

Overall I enjoyed the excitement of having a pretty box delivered to my door and loved the luxury feel of the ribbon, tissue and box as well as the samples themselves. However this was my first box so I don't have previous experience to compare it to. Did you receive this month's box? How do you think it compares with previous boxes and other competitors?

Harajuku Lovers: Baby Perfume Product Review

In 2005 Gwen Stefani launched her clothing, stationary and perfume collection 'Harajuku Lovers' based on the style of cuteness (kawaii) common in Japan. The collection features 4 girls with distinctive personalities: Love, Angel, Music and Baby, in addition to Gwen herself.

Harajuku (hara joo koo) n.1. style and attitude of Japanese girls from Harajuku, Tokyo.
n. 2. anything goes, outrageous, layered, and eye-catching.

Harajuku Lovers Fragrance N.1. A Fatal Attraction to Cuteness.

snow bunny (snoh) (buh neh) N.1. An uber fashionable girly-girl who uses the snowy streets of Harajuku as her own personal catwalk.

For Christmas I received the Winter limited edition Snow Bunny 'Baby' perfume. I can see why my mum bought it for me: it is so kawaii! I love things in miniature and a miniature Japanese girl that is also a perfume appealed to me so much. And for anyone who is an aesthete with their fragrances, both the perfume itself and the box it comes in are very aesthetically pleasing. Baby is dressed in a snow bunny outfit for the Snow Bunnies winter edition collection. She is a great addition to my perfume collection and watches over my other perfumes for me. :P

To get to the perfume you pull Baby off the stand by her feet. The base is the actual perfume, so the bottle itself is very small (10ml). The box itself that it comes in features cute slogans like: "A fatal attraction to cuteness" and a definition of cuteness. Gwen Stefani's website details the ingredients of the fragrance as: "Vanilla floral- with white peach, red apple, pink freesia, pink plumeria, lush orchid, jasmine petals, glowing amber, sensual musk and creamy sandalwood." The scent itself is very musky- not dissimilar to The Body Shop's White Musk- but with more woody overtones (I guess the sandalwood). When I smell it I think of Japanese flower gardens with cherry blossom and women in white coats doing manicures.

For teens or Japanese-lovers I'd say this is a perfect product, as it's fun, funky and a little bit different.

I hope you liked my review and it helped you with your product choices. Do you have any of the Harajuku Lovers perfumes? Do you like the fragrances of the other characters (Love, Angel, Music, Gwen)?

The Body Shop White Musk - Product Review

I received this gift set for my birthday, and wow, what a blast from the past! Most of you who know The Body Shop know that its iconic scent is White Musk. It was very popular in the late 90s, and although I don't think it was discontinued, it seems to be having a revival. This set contains: White Musk Sumptuous Silk Shower Gel 250 ml, White Musk Smooth Satin Body Lotion 250 ml and White Musk Eau de Toilette 30 ml

First: the Shower Gel. The Body Shop website promises: "a sumptuously sensual soap-free body cleanser with a silky smooth gel texture that creates a creamy, foamy lather in the shower and leaves skin feeling cleansed, refreshed and subtly scented with...White Musk." The scent is lovely and prominent as soon as you open the bottle. It slides across your body well and works into a soapy lather. However the scent doesn't remain on your body as much as I would want it too; after a few minutes in the shower you can't smell it anymore, and I wanted it to last longer. The bottle itself is a good size and easy to keep clean. Positives: texture and ability to clean. Negatives: scent doesn't last.

Second: the Body Lotion. In contrast to the Shower Gel, this smell does last on your body for a long time. It also scents the room you're in when you put it on. I would recommend this body lotion as it glides on well, there's no complicated dispensing, and it rubs in smoothly, with no marks and doesn't colour the skin at all or leave it feeling sticky.

Thirdly: the Eau de Toilette. The scent of this also lasts a long time. White Musk, like it says on the tin, is a musky, strong scent. It is a very clean smell, and makes you think of washing your hair at the hairdressers or running a bubble bath. I like to use this perfume to stay fresh when I might be going somewhere with strong smells, like a food market.

Overall I enjoyed this gift set. At £3, I would definitely buy the shower gel again. The perfume and the body lotion are a little steeper at £9 each, and I don't think I would buy them on their own. The gift set is currently in the sale at £15, which I think it's worth (and it comes in a pretty box with a ribbon).

I hope this review helped some of you. Do you have any White Musk products? What do you think of them?