November Birchbox review and first impression

Hi ladies! I would like to start be apologising - this was actually written two whole weeks ago and I have only JUST gotten around to taking photos for it, so I will have to slightly reword it (darn it). Also I’m sorry for my absence from the blog, second year is really starting to kick in already so sometimes (sadly) the blog has to go on the backburner.

Just to run through the basics birchbox costs £10 + P&P £2.95 for the rolling monthly sub, you fill out a beauty profile which explores any skincare problems, your complexion, hair type etc. so your box can be best catered to you AND you can collect reward points which you can use to spend in the e-shop. read about my experience of that awesome feature here. Oh and update! I redeemed my second free gift from birchbox and I picked up the Liz Earle skincare set and 2 BARS OF ORGANIC WHITE CHOCOLATE. ain’t no other subscription box getting my love ever again. ever.

I know some people hate subscription boxes, I certainly am sceptical of most of them, because there is always the worry that it’s not worth the money.BUT I’ve been SO impressed with birchbox for the past 3 months that I’ve been subscribed, they have the best value for money and each month I’ve received a full size product that would cost a lot more, which makes it well worth the tenner plus change. 

Free gifts from them thusfar: the beauty blender+ cleanser, Benefit bigger than BB cream, Liz Earle skincare starter kit and 2 bars of chocolate. Total value:  £72.53 Yeeaaah!!!

  Another thing that I love about birchbox is you can unsubscribe and resubscribe whenever you like, so if you fancy a break from the monthly sub, but then two months later you see a box that spots your fancy, you can pick it up! So because of this I’ve decided to do is a little round-up of my box’s content each month with an overall rating, which should hopefully help you.

So November’s theme is ‘cosy at home’ and I must say I adore this little card, with that famous phrase because (I warn you now you’ll get sick of me talking about this but it’s only been a week I’m still excited ok) I passed my driving test on the 5th of November, and it’s actually a date I will remember despite having the memory capabilities of a peanut. Nice little keepsafe there ^_^  I enjoyed the little bronzing ‘how to’ in the little magazine, as well as some more info on Dr. Jart+ skincare.

In my box....

I loved the full size Dr. Jart+ water-Act Skin Mist (£18), a huge 150ml bottle of GMO-free toner! I never understood the point of using a toner until I went to a Lush bloggers event and learnt about why it’s a great step to add in your skincare routine. I now use toned every-time before I moisturise and I feel like it’s really helped my skin! So to get a huge bottle of this toner, worth £18 was incredible - already more than the cost of the box.

I also love the LipGlam Natural Lanolin Lip Balm (£9.99), cannot believe I forgot to photograph sorry you guys ;( which is full size and retails for £9.99. I am always on the hunt for a good lipbalm, and the fact that this tube is 100% natural and claims to last up to 8 hours gets a huge thumbs up from me! It claims to absorb 300% of its weight in water AND is non-greasy. If this balm works as well as it promises I will be over the moon! Both of these are wonderful additions to my winter skincare routine, and with the value of £28 I’m chuffed to get them for a lot less!

Finally in my LOVE category, this was a like but I tried it ONCE and it has been upgraded you guys! The Beauty Protector Protect & Treat Hair Mask (£16). Another brand that I am new too, and I got two pots. Now I will be reviewing these soon because I am just THAT impressed with it, but basically if you have dry hair which needs a lot of TLC, look this way! I was blown away by how instant the product worked and also how little I had to use. I received two pots and they will last me a good few months which is again super value for money!

I liked the Lord and Berry Bronzer in Sunny(£19) although I was surprised to see how tiny it is! 2g is a decent size for testing a product out, however the packaging in this case isn’t very convenient, because unless you have a e/s palette with slots or a Z palette, you would have to keep opening and closing this to use it. That being said the bronzer itself is a gorgeous matte shade which will warm up most complexions beautifully without leaving a muddy, shimmery or orange complexion. It will also make the most perfect crease shade! ^_^ 

I wasn’t too fussed about the English Laundry (£60) Signature for her sample size. Although the full size retails for £60, I’m just not a huge fan of trying out new scents. A little like hair care I suppose, because when I find one or two that I enjoy I like to stick to them, but I do appreciate the fact that it’s in its own little spray bottle. I will probably be handing this over to the Ma.

The lifestyle element this time was a mini chocolate bar from Montezuma’s. It is stated that is it made with the finest organic cocoa beans, and actually I thought this was really really delicious. I’m not a huge chocolate person (more a candy girl) but this chocolate is so rich and creamy, its the perfect treat after a long day.

 

Overall rating for this box: 8

Highlights: Full sized Dr. Jart toner, 100% natural lip balm, super effective hair masks and the introduction to the Montezuma!

If you would like to subscribe to birchbox, feel free to use my referral link here which will earn us both £5 to spend in the e-shop! You can also get £5 OFF November’s box by using the code: NOV5.

If you are already subscribed, what did you think of this months box?

Thanks for reading!

 Follow Via Bloglovin' | Tweet Me | Follow on Instagram | Like The Blushing Giraffe on Facebook

November Birchbox review and first impression

Hi ladies! I would like to start be apologising - this was actually written two whole weeks ago and I have only JUST gotten around to taking photos for it, so I will have to slightly reword it (darn it). Also I’m sorry for my absence from the blog, second year is really starting to kick in already so sometimes (sadly) the blog has to go on the backburner.

Just to run through the basics birchbox costs £10 + P&P £2.95 for the rolling monthly sub, you fill out a beauty profile which explores any skincare problems, your complexion, hair type etc. so your box can be best catered to you AND you can collect reward points which you can use to spend in the e-shop. read about my experience of that awesome feature here. Oh and update! I redeemed my second free gift from birchbox and I picked up the Liz Earle skincare set and 2 BARS OF ORGANIC WHITE CHOCOLATE. ain’t no other subscription box getting my love ever again. ever.

Review & Giveaway | Travalo

Hello everyone! Today I am very excited to be reviewing one of my all time favourite products, something I have loved for over 2 years now and it pretty much stays in my bag at all times.

I discovered this through a youtuber two years ago, and it seemed like the perfect solution to the annoying problem of lugging around a perfume bottle all day. Once I had this in my life, I could never understand why ANYONE would carry around their perfume, not only does it weigh down your bag, but usually bottles are all sorts of awkward shapes and sizes , and can be a hazard at times too (especially if you’re clumsy like me.)

Let me introduce you to the Travalo!

It is a perfume atomiser, which is quick and simple to use, with no need for pouring and wastage of your chosen scent.  You simple remove the cap of the pump, put the travalo over the top and pump it up and down till you have your desired amount inside. I love how you can get through duty free with this, having no issues and how it’s small enough to fit into any clutch purse, makeup bag or even pocket! They are the light-weight, strong, easy to use option for carrying fragrance, and the little glass window makes it easy to know when to fill up again. There are a range of colours to choose from, and in my opinion these would make fantastic gifts!

Having owned a travalo for over two years and seeing how it is still as strong and in good use as ever, demonstrates the quality of the product! I was worried the lid would fall off easily,  but it’s stayed in place despite being moved from place to place. Another thing I appreciate about the travalo is how it’s fairly discrete, I love how I can quickly top up my perfume without pulling out a huge bottle and drawing lots of attention to myself, I know that sounds odd but I also know some of you know what I mean, haha.

The only ‘downside’ I’ve read about these is when you want to change scents it’s not always easy to clean  out the inside, however I address this by spraying out as much of the old perfume as possible, pumping once with the new perfume, spraying that out twice and I find the new scent is set in place with no problems. It’s not often that I do change scents, being a creature of habit, so like I said not a huge issue for me, but there are ways to get around it and reuse your travalo for a different scent  ^_^

I purchased the original one first, and then a few months after I started TheBlushingGiraffe I knew I had to speak about this, but I wanted to be able to share it with you all too. So I got in contact with the lovely team, and they kindly sent me one of their new ‘Classic Excels’ which holds 65 sprays, and they also sent an extra one for a little giveaway!

So if you would like to be in with the chance of winning a travalo, there are only 2 mandatory steps:

1. Follow TheBlushingGiraffe on Bloglovin’

2. Comment below telling me your favourite perfume of all time and why!

Rules:

UK only   -     This giveaway will end on Saturday 29th November

The winner will have 48 hours to reply to my e-mail. Failure to do so will result in another winner being picked. All competition/Giveaway accounts will be removed.

The added extras will just increase your chance of winning, so fill in the rafflecopter and good luck ^_^

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And if you cannot wait and would like to purchase the travalo you can from their official site here or from FragranceDirect here for less than £7! A bargain is there ever was one. This is a brilliant useful present for literally anyone in your life, and a HG beauty tool for me!

Thankyou to Travalo for providing the giveway travalo! oh and for creating such an awesome product too of course!

Have you tried the travalo yet?

Thanks for reading!

 Follow Via Bloglovin' | Tweet Me | Follow on Instagram | Like The Blushing Giraffe on Facebook

Review & Giveaway | Travalo

Hello everyone! Today I am very excited to be reviewing one of my all time favourite products, something I have loved for over 2 years now and it pretty much stays in my bag at all times.

I discovered this through a youtuber two years ago, and it seemed like the perfect solution to the annoying problem of lugging around a perfume bottle all day. Once I had this in my life, I could never understand why ANYONE would carry around their perfume, not only does it weigh down your bag, but usually bottles are all sorts of awkward shapes and sizes , and can be a hazard at times too (especially if you’re clumsy like me.)

Haul | The high-end kind (Oops)

Hey lovely people! So a while back, I think around the end of August I did a rather insanely large SpaceNK haul, and I bought a lot more than I anticipated, all because of this special deal they had on. The way I see high-end makeup is that it’s a real treat, especially as I have more than enough makeup circulating right now anyway ._. so when I do get a new NARS blush or whatever it’s a big deal! The majority of the haul is still in it’s box, and whenever I reach a personal goal I treat myself. I’ve worked out (as a psychology student har har) that I am highly motivated by rewards so its brilliant achieving something and getting that instant gratification! said every human being. ever.

I would definitely say I have shifted my views on the whole highend/drugstore. I used to be very much a drugstore girl and hated the thought of spending more than £10 on a product. Now that I have been working for over 2 years, and buying makeup for pretty much a year and a half, whilst reading blogs etc; I’ve learned that 80% of the time when you ‘invest’ in a high-end product you’ll be getting higher quality, longer lasting on the skin and longer lasting product because a lot of the times you have to use less of the stuff. That’s not to say I don’t still love drugstore, but I certainly adore the odd treat now and again!

So today’s haul is a mishmash of stuff I bought recently and stuff from August which has been ‘earned’ ^_^

One of my most recent purchases thanks to the ASOS 20% off sale has been the NARS velvet matte lip pencil Bahama which is actually my first ever NARS pencil and I was incredibly excited to get it! I’ve been eyeing up the line for months, but not wanting to purchase a red shade which I wouldn’t really use often enough to justify the price tag, I went for this dark nude colour, a mix of pink and brown and the kind of shade that I can slip on everyday and not worry about!

I also bought the NARS Sheer Glow Foundation in the shade Stromboli. This is another product which I have heard sooo much about, and I am super excited to try it. In a way it’s kind of my first proper high-end foundation which has medium/full coverage and which will probably be reserved for the more special of occasions! I don’t think I’ll be opening this just yet as I’m currently testing out the Bourjois Happy Light foundation and the Benefit bigger than BB cream, however I might just try a TINY bit for Sunday’s charity event....just a little ;D

I bought my FIRST ever Chanel beauty product at the beginning of September, and could it be anything other than the  Soleil tan de chanel . I mean I did linger at the little square boxes o foundation but the ridiculous amounts of bases that I have collected over the past 6 months firmly led me away from them! A little bit of of thought did go into this insanely luxurious purchase, I own the Bourjois bronzing primer and I adore the stuff. It’s a beautiful cream bronzer which can give me a healthy warm glow with little effort. The main disadvantage is it doesn’t quite as long as I would like, and a little birdie told me that Chanel and Bourjois are made in the same place, so I’m expecting beautiful things from this. Plus the size of the stuff 100% justifies the price tag, because it will last for ages! (like I said, you tend to get your monies worth with highend!)

The By Terry Baume De Rose was part of the SpaceNK bonus, and I think it’s one of the most adorable little pots I have ever seen in my life! Now the full size of this balm costs a whopping £38 for 10g which is a little bit insane. I don’t think I could ever justify such a huge price tag for a lip balm, but the mini version is a welcome addition - I wanna see my lips turn better than Kylie G’s for this price tbh  ._.

Finally I picked up the most ADORABLE mini palette in the whole wide world, from the wonderful theBalm of course! I coincidently saw this the day I passed my driving test and so of course I HAD to pick it up from the ASOS sale! theBalm Auto Balm - California Face Palette  is ALMOST the most perfect travel palette I have ever seen in my life. It is a little bigger than my bank card, and includes a blush (not a shadow shade for me at all though!), crease/brow shade lid/liner shade and a highlight shade. It would be the ultimate palette if it had more of a neutral base shade for all over the lid, but aside from that I think its fabulous for the price and the fact that is it in the design of a driving license is SO darn adorable!! It was fate that I picked it up on the same day, and lets be honest here - the perfect excuse ^__^

That concludes my haul for the rest of this month and I’m very excited to be using all of these over the coming weeks!

Have you tried any of these? What are your thoughts? (:

Thanks for reading!

 Follow Via Bloglovin' | Tweet Me | Follow on Instagram | Like The Blushing Giraffe on Facebook

Haul | The high-end kind (Oops)

Hey lovely people! So a while back, I think around the end of August I did a rather insanely large SpaceNK haul, and I bought a lot more than I anticipated, all because of this special deal they had on. The way I see high-end makeup is that it’s a real treat, especially as I have more than enough makeup circulating right now anyway ._. so when I do get a new NARS blush or whatever it’s a big deal! The majority of the haul is still in it’s box, and whenever I reach a personal goal I treat myself. I’ve worked out (as a psychology student har har) that I am highly motivated by rewards so its brilliant achieving something and getting that instant gratification! said every human being. ever.