British Beauty Blogger Dream Box 2

Had to go collect some parcels from the sorting office and there were so many the postie gave me a plastic Royal Mail crate to cart them home!

Among them was the much anticipated British Beauty Blogger Dream Box 2 collab with Latest In Beauty. I really like Jane Cunningham's Blog so this was the first parcel I opened (even though there were 4 Memeboxes! and the Harveynicks/LIB box) and for £22ish have to say I'm blown away with the choice and quality of the products.

Most of it I will use and come back and give more detailed accounts of how they all fair, some will go into swaps.

This is what was in the box, a quick run down but I will try some of them and write more in depth reviews.

Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream Lip Protectant Stick - WOW love this brand and needed some new winter lip protection so couldn't have come at a better time for me. There is also a free gift offer on if you buy 2 EA products just now in Debs so will investigate that.

LOLA By Pesse Lipstick (I got shade 007 Strawberry Fields) Delighted and will definately give this colour a chance!

Essie Nail Polish (I got shade 285 Toggle to The Top) Christmas party comes to mind, not sure if I will hold onto this as not a fan of many reds.

Moving on.....

Nude Pro Genius Treatment Oil- have several samples of this from various boxes but I like it so will use.

Burt's Bees Lemon Cuticle Cream - Not a fan, they are Ok as a brand but have tried a lot of their products and don't do it for me, will swap this one out.

Invisibobble Traceless Hair Ring - Will give this a go, don't really tie my hair up much but keen to see what the fuss is about.

Sleek Pout Polish (I got shade 958 The Show) - Again have never tried this product, only own sleek eye palletes so not sure if this is my thing, have heard the pout paints are good but this is a tinted polish or lip conditioner, may also swap this out.

Le Courent des Minimes Gardener's Hand Healer - love the smell of this cream, apparently contains shea butter and seven magical plants! my french is not great but appears to have rosemary, marigold and mimiosa among others. This will get used up as I work outdoors a fair bit so always need hand productsss.

Next up we have.....

Keratase Bain Satin 1 and Keratase Lait Vital - I've had a couple of thigns from this brand in the past and really rate them so was happy to get these 2, one is a shampoo and the other a leave in conditioner sort of thing. I've been heavily colouring my hair lately so been using lots of leave ins and if this is as good as L'oreal mythic oil then I'll happily buy the full size.

Mio Double Buff Dual Action Enzyme Exfoliator- never heard of Mio, this is a body exfoliator and contains pumice so should be nice and gritty, also bamboo, papaya and pineapple, have to say I'm not getting much of a scent of it.

Body Shop Satsuma Beautifying Oil- anything orangy is ok in my book so will find a use for this oil.

Then.....

Vichy Aqualia Thermal Light Cream - A big claim here, 48 hours of moisture Vichy reckons! don't have much experience of Vichy but they are paraben free so will see how it goes although the smell is kinda old fashioned if that makes sense?

Eyelure Brow Crayon - Really don't know when I'll get round to trying this as I'm still experimenting with my Tony Moly 7 day tattoo but what can I say it's mid brown which suits me just fine..

Ciate Lashlights- Nail Varnish is normally what I think about when seeing Ciate and I'm thinkng they should stick to what they know best, won't be using this electric blue mascara, will gift it away.

Last but by no means least....

Ardell Demi Wispies - again keep hearing about this brand in blogland so excited to try them and at least it's a semi noraml looking pair of lashes so happy to get these.

Bourjois Delic de Poudre Bronzing Duo- I don't use bronzer at all so will swap this item but have to say it really does smell of chocolate.

Agent Provocateur Fatale- love fragrance samples so this will add to the pile.

Lorac Mega Pro Palette

Never having owned anything by Lorac I was totally swept away in the hype and rush of getting my hands on such a limited edition. It sold out almost immediately and for some stroke of fate I got one on amazon.com. When I ordered it came through looking as if I had bought it as a gift for myself and the invoice said it was a gift to me from me! pretty weird.

There are 32 shades and 28 of them are new and from what I hear once stock is gone it's gone and won't be out again. So 16 mats and 16 shimmers. What attracted me to this palette were the plums and teals which are ideal for my green eyes.

I have to say I prefer the shimmers already even though I've only done 2 looks. The mats are fine on their own but when I tried to blend them they didn't perform as well as they should. My favourite shades so far are Mulberry, Smokey Topaz, Copper and Orchid. This palette will be getting a lot of loving over the winter.

Skin Pep Prize from Glossybox

I was lucky enough to win a Glossybox competition for a full set of http://skinpep.com/ anti ageing treatments.Delighted is not the word especially when I totalled up the value into a whopping £229.92!

Here's what I got....

Collagen Renew Groth Factor Night Cream 30ml, retails for £39.99
Collagen Renew Growth Factor Day Cream 30ml, retails for £34.99
Dark Circle Eraser 15ml, retails for £44.99
Revitalising Cleansing Foam 150ml, retails for £14.99
Revitalising Toner 150ml, reatils for £14.99
Brightening Enzyme and Acid Peel 15ml, retails for £29.99
Wrinkle Clear Growth Factor Serum 30ml, retails for £29.99
Collagen Growth Hydro Gel Mask 5 pack, retails for £19.99

Obviously these are anti-ageing treatments and are heavy on the collagen and hyloronic acid but they have no nasties and lots of other goodies like snail serum, algae, grape seed and various natural ingredients. I will try them this weekend and do a review.

Muji 5 drawer units

Woohoo these 2 babies arrived today. I had swithered over them for ages, lets face it they are pricey. I do have some smaller Osco ones that were a bargain find and some other acrylic bits from ebay (quality is just not there) however these were on my lust list and hey ho I work hard so bit the bullet. They arrived within a few days and packaged well. Can't wait to re-organise all me make-up now.

Picture quality not great but I will take more when they are settled into their new home and filled with awesomness.

Favoutire single eyeshadows

Been having a real love affair with single eye shadows recently. My current favourites are the Maybelline Colour Tatoos and the Bourjois Colour Edition 24H.

Must mention some of my L'oreal ones too as these have never let me down.

Post Referendum Blues

Being a Scot living in Scotland I thought I'd share a wee bit about my feelings 2 days after the No Vote. I voted Yes and yesterday was hellish for me both physically and mentally. I had a really sad sense of dissapointment in the result.

The reasons I voted Yes were not just for Scotland as a nation but especially for the future of the younger generation and for people all over the UK to help them get back more say over how decisions that affect us all are made. That and the abolition of Trident.
I was interested to read that the majority of 16/17 year olds voted Yes too and this gives me hope, hope that they will vote the right way in the genral election when they are 18. I was also so sad for the overwhelming Yes votes that came from our most deprived areas of Scotland.

I am saddened that the majority of No Voters were over the age of 55, I can't help feeling how selfish of them! Will they feel the same way if their free bus passes and prescriptions are taken away.

One thing I am determined to do is involve myself more in politics at a grass roots level, maybe as an activist in keeping young people more involved and engaged in their future.

Make Up Palette Addiction

Finally found the time to sort out my make up collection and been able to devote a tiny space at home into a powder room. Still working on storage so will put pics up when it's sorted.

Whilst doing this I have coem to the conclusion I need to stop buying eye shadow palettes. I have 27 ranging from Too Faced to Urban Decay, Sleek, Boots, Dior and ELF. I'm no high end snob and most of my dearer ones are bought on ebay.

Would love to hear from anyone with similar addictions!